A Little Housekeeping...

As noted near the top of the page, I've started a new blog entitled PDX Pro Road to highlight the cool things we have going on at the store. And so, I'm making the conscious decision to make the PDXPR page more product and service oriented while my own page will include things of a more personal nature. My personal opinions, experiences, and thoughts will still be found here. I'll also double-post some of the product highlights and reviews for items that I'm particularly excited about or personally using. PDXPR will be more product oriented and focus on what we are doing and have in stock at the store.

However, I'm a pretty flexible guy and I mostly want to keep things interesting for those who regularly read my mindless drivel...so if you have an opinion one way or the other: love or hate; leave a comment on this post and let me know what you'd like to see.

So, that said; my promised Parlee updates can be found at PDXPR, while I'm continuing to format and draft my thoughts on my conversation with Bob Parlee at NAHMBS and will post that here, probably linked (or double-posted) at PDXPR. Stay tuned...

Thanks, as always, for reading!

Don't believe everything you read...why published weights don't matter.

This is one of my favorite topics. It annoys me to the core how much emphasis people will put so much "weight" (sorry, I had to) into companies' claims of their bikes' total weight. "Yeah, but this bike weighs x.xx lbs and this bike weighs x.xx lbs more..." blah, blah, blah... There's an excellent example in one of the latest stories at cyclingnews.com.

The "New Arrivals" feature is one of my favorites that they run; as they receive some of the newest gear sooner than many other publications and it lets me know what to expect to see tests on in the near future. For example - I believe they've released the first comprehensive test of Sram Red. This time, they're highlighting three top-end road bikes that have just rolled into their stable: the Jamis Xenith SL, Serotta HSG Carbon, and Isaac Sonic. All somewhat obscure bikes that you're not likely to see in the bike shop on the corner or hear long discourses on at the next Saturday club ride. But the story provided some very interesting information; buried in the specifications list about each bike, that I think slipped by most people. The weights of the complete bikes, the weights of the frames, and the other details of the bikes' builds. "Not exactly rocket surgery there, Matt."