Likin’ Bikin’ News

Though not insurmountable, NE winters can create a problem for even the heartiest of cyclists. I’m talkin’ about snow. Deep snow. Not the hard packed stuff that’s so hook-up-able to studded tires either. No, I mean the high soft snow that sinks even the lowest pressured Pugsley’s. When that happens, it’s snowshoe time.

Last year, we spent several would-be-ride-days enjoying local singletrack with the help of this large flat footwear. As a result of this new found appreciation, Likin’ Bikin’ will add out first non-bike winter gear to inventory this year. Dion Snowshoes.

Why Dion? After talking to reps and researching several brands, we (as bike people) were overwhelmed by hundreds of features and models. Then with their quality shoes made in Vermont and in just 4 completely customizable frames to cover the range of ” just right for everyone”, Dion easily rose to the top. Simply pick your frame, binding, and cleat (or go with our pre selected packages), and you’re all set. No 50 shoe catalogs with gender specific colors to confuse you (or us). Just base selection on how you plan to mostly use ‘em:

Running/Racing - Dion 121 (shown with Quick Fit binding and standard cleat)

Running/Fitness - Dion 132 (shown with Quick Fit binding and standard cleat)

Hiking - Dion 166 (shown with Secure Fit binding and stainless steel ice cleat)

Back Country - Dion 220 (shown with Secure Fit binding and deep cleat)

All in stock and ready for you here at the shop.

And check this out, according to a pleasant voiced lady with fancy YouTube graphics, snowshoeing will keep your cycle muscles from winter hibernation. See if you can spot the difference here:

(couldn’t find “Snowshoeing”, but it’s like Walking, just with more lift)

Find that difference? If you said the banner in the background, you’re correct. And how can you argue with pleasant voiced ladies on YouTube?

Scheduled snowshoe outings to follow. Watch for updates via FB and Twitter.

Likin’ Bikin’ is a bicycle shop. And we are especially proud to be a bicycle shop all year, with two weekly rides throughout the winter!

Likin’ Bikin’ is aslo a bicycle shop located in Alton NH (average seasonal snowfall of 67″), and we’ve been known to sometimes mix-it-up with other outdoor winter activities. So many activities!

Due to our location, we’re lucky enough to have excellent snowboarding, skiing (alpine, xc skate and xc classic), and snowshoeing, all readily available to us via local trails as well as a ski area just minutes away.

So, starting this year, we’ll begin to embrace that white stuff out there and officially schedule some out-of-the-shop wintery fun (in addition to the wintery fun of the semiweekly studded-tire MTB rides of course)

First up, starting this week (tonight) we will be having Tues Night Slidin’,  snowboard/alpine ski night at Gunstock. Night skiing is 4-9pm. Lift tickets are $30, however!… Tues is 2-for-1 night  So, non-season pass holders just need to pair-up and it’s 15 bucks each.

Next, we’ve partnered up with locally (VT) made Dion Snowshoes, which are in-stock at Likin’ Bikin’ now! (Next blog post will have details on the shoes themselves) We are working on some outings along with Alton Parks. Stay tuned for dates and times. Also, you can contact Gunstock Nordic Center for tours there, including lift accessed ridge tours (not LB related, but highly recommended)

And finally, we are now Swix and Toko dealers, and offering waxing, edge tuning, and base repair of boards and skis of all types. So bring your gear in for pre Tues Night  Slidin’ tune-ups. We’ll get your set-up slidin’ fast and carvin’ strong. (or kickin’ and glidin’ if Nordics your thing).

Hope to see you tonight!

We just received out first order of Rolf Prima Ralos MTB Wheels. And dang!

Now we all knew they’d be awesome (from last week’s FB post)  “Really, with custom US made hubs (White Ind.), 25mm No Tubes rims laced with SAPIM hardware in Rolf’s paired spoke technology, these are impossible to deny as some of the best wheels available. And available they are! (LB)”

Now that they’re in-hand, the pics and super-stats still don’t do these babies justice. Serious 29″ round beauty! (talking about bicycle wheels here people, focus).

The first set, ordered as QR front/135mm QR rear, showed up with skewers and fully tubeless ready (Stan’s yellow tape and valve stems included). Run’em tubed if you want, but here’s your chance to try tubelessness.

The first sets are 29ers, with a set weight of 1655gm (750gm front / 905gm rear). Awesome numbers for stiff 29er’s with 25mm rim width.

How do they look?

Rolf Prima Ralos9 29er MTB Set QR/135mmQR

Front & Rear American made Hubs by White Ind. and Tubeless Readiness by Stan’s

Here at Likin’ Bikin, we’ll be carrying mostly the Ralos9 sets. Due to the various axle configurations (Front: QR, QR15, 20mm thru / Rear: QR 135mm or 142mm x 12mm), please contact us with your exact wheel needs.

If you’re 26ing it, or would like any of the road line, please do not hesitate to contact us. We’ll gladly get your set here quickly and conveniently.

Oh yeah, I forgot we had a blog! To all our non-Facebookin’ fans, I do apologize for this long neglect.

Getting back into it, there’s too much to catch up. So we’ll just pick up at the present.

And presently, we have our first sets of Rolf Prima Ralos MTB wheels in the house….

This Sunday we took L’B’ mobile. Yes, we packed up the bikes and some choice “must-have” items, and headed to Bear Brook State Park for a day of demos, rides, friends, food, music, and laughs.

The day started early, with Taylor (master pumpkin carver), Bri, and Dan (me) setting up the L’B’ spread. We brought bikes from Misfit, KHS, BlkMrkt, and Pivot for test ridin’, loads of Kali helmets and various accessories for sellin’, and Meetinghouse Sodas for sippin’.

Throughout the day, the Pivot and Killswitch each got lots of attention (of course), and the Misfits were out on test rides almost the whole time.

We all had a great time. The scene was festive, and the people were awesome.

As the day wound to a close, we tallied up the waivers and determined we had 1,000,001 test riders on the Misfits. Wow!

Thanks to our friends and crew: Taylor, Kyle, Quiet-Mike, Denunzio, and Jim for helpin’ out. And to Darla for the delicious “monkey bread”!

And to Mr. NEMBA, Philip. We’re already lookin’ forward to next year.