Spot Brand Bikes Dropout

Sleek, effective, refined. A sneak peak behind the curtain at SPOT BRAND BIKES gave glimpse of things to come. A few changes since THIS BEAUTY came out. Spot soread out the forces on the bolt fasteners and also included front & back directional fine-tune adjustments that you may or maynot need. The CDS system really excels when it is dialed in so the added adjustability invites you to ensure it is D I A L E D.

One last stop before 10,200 ft.

On the way to Leadville for race #1 we picked up a birthday gift for Dale. A full on custom Raven Snowbike complete with Gates CDS Centertrack drivetrain. Our buddies at Raven Cycle Werks have a good little local thing going, check them out HERE.After scooping up this beauty we headed west & stopped at Dillan Dam brewery to fill up for the weekend of high country racing. Too funny, we talked to Corey the head brewer and ran into the one and only Christina Beggy. We shared beers, stories & starred at beer & bikes....a perfect start to the trip.
There are many more details to this rig, more to come.
Leaning in the brew house at Dillon Damn, dat's some fatties. Happy Birthday Dale!
After beers and a late entry to Leadville we had to test this baby out.

She did not dissappoint. Doug digs into the snowbank.

After an hour of fine tuning & playing around we finished our Dale's Pale Ale & hit the sack ready for the morning race.

Spot Brand Longboard Belt Drive SS for SS USA

Spot Brand Bikes made the TWENTY TEN Longboard available for the Oskar Blues crew heading down to SS USA last weekend in Tucson, AZ. This beauty sports the next generation Spot Brand drop out...let me tell you this thing is slick, compact, set it-and-forget-it dialed. I've run the Gates Carbon Drive System for 2.5 years now & have had only one issue during the duration of miles & diversity of conditions. The drop outs & rocket adjusters in addition to the learning curve of "handling instructions" of the belt caused some issues for the masses. They were mostly in the "ease of use" or "learning curve" category & not the lack of performance category. As long as you paid attention to how you handled the belt (most noteably not to twist the belt) while installing it & made sure belt line was 100% on the sprockets you would more than likely chew up any conditions without any maintenance or lube...and I did from snow to mud, dust & rocks. The biggest issue was getting all of those variables aligned while having the trailside flat. This new system allows you to set it once & then forget it. Once the belt tension & aligment is set you only have to pop the wheel out of the drop out to change a flat, everything remains uber dialed. In addition to the slick new drop out the Twenty Ten Longboard went back to a smaller front chainring & sprocket set up. This allows less of a dimple on the drive side chainstay & increased strength on the stay. It also comes in this super-f*ing-dope Black Chrome finish that shows John's consistant & pretty welds. Cheers to Taylor & John for this product of craftsmanship & beauty. The Carbon Drive System in the sleak new Spot drop out....mmmmmm, pretty. You can really see the welds & "Black Chrome" finish shine on the non-drive side mounts. This finish is available on the Twenty Ten Longboards. Another view of the tight new digs. She sits ready for 47 miles & 6,000 ft of climbing AZ desert style....thanks Dejay & the AZ crew for throwing a quality SS event...YEP, SS USA is coming to coloRADo this year! Here is a peak of the old Spot Brand System. Still a pretty bike, Ten FIDY custom paint but clearly the new system is a large step forward. Cheers to the evolution of the bicycle, BEER & BIKES! CM