The View From Pingtung: Michael Goes South

Be sure you check out Michael Turton's excellent ride report on his trip through Pingtung at The View From Taiwan.

It looks awesome and I have to say, Michael is looking pretty good too.

Low Budget: Another Great Taichung Bike Shop

Here is another addition to my list of Taichung bike shops.

Hong Shiang - Irland GT

Manager: Chen Bing-hong

No. 527 Taiyuan Rd. Sec-3

Beitun Dist. Taichung City, Taiwan

Tel: (04) 2437-0663

Cell: 0923-234544

email: d0923234544@yahoo.com.tw

I am not simply interested in the high end, but I also feel there is plenty of room for the lowest end. These are the work horses of Taiwan. The Irlands, The Top keys and the Jelums. These are the bikes of students and foreign workers. This shop sells low-end Irland alloy bikes and just about everything under the sun. I am sure you can find a cheap set of wheels and parts to boot. The atmosphere was relaxed and I didn't see a hint of carbon fiber. Excellent! Check it out if you are simply looking for wheels.

Bryton GPS Loses Way And Finds Lawsuit With Garmin

The clip above comes from the Steve Martin/Eddie Murphy film, Bowfinger, and depicts a trailer for the fictitious movie, Fake Purse Ninjas. When I saw this movie at the theater in Taichung, either the government or a patriotic distributor scratched out the sound when the on-screen duo declare in unison, "We're going to Tai-Wan!"

Film censorship and speech freedoms wax and wane in Taiwan (waning now), but some things are more constant... like ripping off the competition.

----------------------------------------

According to the Kansas City Star, Bryton, the Taiwanese Cycling GPS manufacturer is being accused by Garmin of patent infringement for its line of Rider-30 cycling GPS cycling computers.

The story states:

Andrew Etkind, Garmin's vice president and general counsel, said the company is "proud of the intellectual property rights awarded to our innovative products and we have little tolerance for companies that attempt to trade unfairly on those rights."

The company is seeking a preliminary injunction to bar the sale of Bryton's Rider 30 product in the United States.

In a related development, a district court in Germany has issued a preliminary injunction against Bryton and several of its German distributors banning the sale of the Rider 30 in Germany.

Trade Shows, Prologues and Weekend Links

Iced Latte at Warehouse 185

My weekend riding was pretty much a wash. I rode the La Cruz "The Moose" for a little bit on Saturday, and took the Seven up to Dakeng on Sunday. The leg issue is still a rehab assignment in progress, where I can ride for several kilometers without issue and then things get painful. When the pain sets in I'll so dome stretching and I'll be fine for a while longer... and repeat. So, I climbed two-thirds the way up to the CKS Campground and enjoyed a descent nice enough to put a smile on my face. I then cooled my knee at the 185 Warehouse cafe with James Murray, the sales manager there.

In other Taiwan related bike news...

• The Taipei International Cycle Show wrapped up with mixed reviews. I guess it depends upon which end of cycling you're from. Sabinna from Cycling Satin Cesena and Primavera Cycles loved the colors, lights and the collection of the entire supply chain under one roof. OzSoapbox was a little less excited by a show that is more geared toward industry wonks rather than the consumer. Still, I think I could get excited about bamboo bikes.
• The Tour of Taiwan is now well underway with the South Korean, Park Sung-baek, taking the first stage (I'm sure he cheated *wink!*), after the prologue was taken by the Aussie, Adam Phelan. It appears Taiwan's government is shilling for TOEIC standardized testing by requiring a TOEIC certificate to serve as an official translator for the Tour of Taiwan.

The Bicycle Officially Becomes "Traffic": Amendments Seek To Protect Riders

In a major step to better incorporate the bicycle into Taiwan's traffic grid, the Director of Highways and Transportation, Chen Yan-bo, has proposed amending the current laws with the aim of bringing accidents between bicycles and cars within the jurisdiction of the police and prosecutor's office.

According to a report from the Liberty Times, an average of 140 Taiwanese cyclists are killed annually. With the growing number of bicycles entering the roadways, the rights of cyclists can not be ignored.

Under the current laws, accidents between bicycles and automobiles are considered to be strictly a civil matter outside the jurisdiction of Taiwan's criminal code.

In the past, the difficulty with implementing and enforcing laws to regulate and protect cyclists has stymied efforts to include the bicycle into the transportation grid.

The changes still must undergo a 3 month review process before they can be implemented, but it appears positive change is in the works. Enforcement of these laws will be key to helping integrate the bike into the urban environment.

New Bike Plan B: La Steel, La Disc, La Cross... La Cruz!!!

And That Means Its Good!

I started out my year on a bit of a sour note. The bike I had been riding for three years, the bike which had defined so much of my riding experience in Taiwan, had developed a fractured head tube. When I saw that hairline crack in the lower lefthand corner of the tube, my heart cracked as well. I loved that bike. It could do so much so well, and we'd been so far. Still, a defect like that could have led to a serious injury.

I could have been upset and made a gripe about the quality and design of Salsa bikes, but I don't think that would have been right or responsible. I don't blame the company, the design or the manufacturer.

A long time ago when I was a flustered teen trying to cope with a Murphy's Law moment in a fast food drive-thru-- which is sort of like taking the Bar exam for Murphy's Law-- a customer imparted on me some words of wisdom that have stuck with me since. As I continued to get worked up over a hamburger, he calmly called through the window, "Shit happens... and when it is not happening to you it is happening to me or to someone else."

This is sooth.

I think it was just shit that happened. No need to assign blame.

I also feel Salsa's 5 year warranty backs up their own confidence in the engineering and manufacture of their frames.

When people ask me to suggest some bikes for riding around Taiwan, Salsa is at the top of my list and I think, even after the broken head tube, I still wouldn't hesitate to put Salsa at the top of the list.

Unfortunately, I picked up one of the last of the Las Cruces framesets before they divided the bike into two different bikes designed with diverging purposes.

What really attracted me to the Las Cruces frameset was its versatility. It was light and responsive like a cyclocross racer, but it had disc brakes and could easily do double duty as a dirty roader or even a light tourer. It was made from scandium alloy tubing and the frame itself weighed in at only 2.5 lbs.

Still, the UCI had balked at sanctioning disc brakes and riders want to look pro, so the Las Cruces was discontinued and replaced by the Chili Con Crosso cyclocross race bike-- a lean, mean, racing machine focused purely on racing on a circuit of mud. It was also replaced by the La Cruz, a steel framed bike with relaxed cyclocross style geometry, but with disc brake exclusivity, eyelets and a steel fork. With a frame weight of over 4 lbs, it was not a lean racer, but it was ideal for almost everything else.

The La Cruz could be built up as a cyclocrosser, a light tourer, a commuter, a flatbar singletrack splitter, a smooth longhauler and a gravel roader. As a steel framed wonder, riders found a way to mold it into whatever they needed. It was such an expandable frame, it quickly became legendary in the same way its QBP stablemate, the Surly Crosscheck, has become an everything bike. The allure of shiny disc brakes made it even better.

And it was orange.

I have recommended the La Cruz to numerous people and brought them to Famous Bikes in Taichung to have a look in person.

This is the bike so many riders in Taiwan should be riding right now. It is made for the way real people ride.

After a rough start in trying to figure out how to replace my frame due to my location in Taiwan, Salsa was incredibly helpful in offering a solution. Since Salsa's Taiwan distributor does not have the 2011 models in stock, and will not have them for a while longer, I was offered a 2009 Salsa La Cruz as a replacement. I thought that seemed fair and accepted the offer.

The La Cruz is made from True Temper OX Platinum steel tubing, which is a very hard, durable alloyed steel tubing, allowing strength with lighter weight. It also lends itself to TIG welding, which is how the La Cruz is welded. Actually, I have been really impressed with the quality of the welds on the La Cruz. And that is coming from a Seven owner.

The complete La Cruz comes with a lot of Salsa branded extras, like the Salsa embroidered WTB saddle, which is soft and seems easily comfortable enough to keep the backside cool from Taichung to Kaohsiung.

The bike also came stocked with a shiny Cane Creek headset to highlight the "orange pop" paint job. The paint is sort of tricky to photograph. It has a satin sheen to it and a little sparkle. Really nice.

I was happy to get another set of off-road tires with the Panaracer Cross Max, but they were a little softer and slower than what I would normally have on the road. I will probably switch them out for a set of Continental 4000GP 25c road tires and possibly a commuting tire as well.

The 430mm chainstays can accommodate a 42mm dirt tire, so this bike could conceivably be used for some more heroic dirty riding than I have done so far. I might try to ride the entire length of the Highway 16 to the helicopter pad on this beast.

The drivetrain uses Shimano's trusty 105 group set with a Truvativ compact crank (50t/34t) and a 12-27 rear cassette. This is pretty much what I had been using before.

The La Cruz also uses Shimano's XT mountain bike hubs laced to some sturdy Salsa Delgado Race 29er Rims. These should make for some bomb proof wheels to handle anything from potholes on Taichung Harbor Road to the stony betel nut tracks of Taichung county.

With rear eyelets, I hope to strap a rear rack to the back and make this machine a regular commuter. I had been overstuffing a backpack, but it was too cumbersome and a rack set-up would really give me more of a utility angle than what I can currently do. What makes the La Cruz so awesome is that it can easily go from a quick road bike to a hauler with the snap of a rack. So many of the bikes sold in Taiwan for this purpose are ill suited for actual use. There are far too many flatbar aluminum bikes with panniers hanging off their seat posts.

The La Cruz sports some relaxed angles, which are great for comfort, touring and easygoing in traffic. The seat tube and head tube angles are each about a degree back from my Axiom. This would be perfect for riders with reach or back problems. It brings the bars closer in a more upright position as opposed to stretching way out over the top tube to reach the handlebars.

The Avid BB7 disc brakes are really a fantastic feature. I am still assessing them for their stopping power and ease of use, but I have been eager to compare them to my old Shimano Br-505R disc set. I was having some noise issues with the Shimanos, and thus I am pleased with Avid. The stopping power of discs trumps the cantilever brakes that are usually found on cyclocross and commuter bikes, and I can recall a few rainy days where the discs saved my ass in traffic.

In my early assessment, the bike rides like a Cadillac compared to the stiffness of the Las Cruces. Not that I didn't like the snap of the Las Cruces, but the steel tubing, long stays and fat tires really made for a plush ride. I am sure it will firm up a little with road tires, but I could just roll over anything.

The handling was much more firm and deliberate. The Las Cruces was just inside twitchy, while the La Cruz was firm. I could cut through scooters and cars while craning my neck without having to look back at the bars to be sure I wasn't going to lose control and hit something. I must say, I did miss the raciness of the Las Cruces, but the Seven has it in spades, so a little more stability is welcome at this point.

Another feature of the bike I am just getting used to is the Moto Ace Bell Lap Bars. These are really shallow bars with a slight flare to them. Once in the drops, they are pretty easy to reach the controls. I am used to the Deda Newtons, so it might take a little time to adjust. The shallowness would be very welcome for a rider with flexibility issues.

The front fork is also made from True Temper OX Platinum Steel. It feels rigid and absorbs the abuse from the road with aplomb.

This is really a gem of a bike and after trying to get so many people to pick one up for themselves, I can enjoy the ride for myself. This is really a special bike and an ideal ride for Taiwan.

Steel is resilient and can take a pounding on Taiwan's roadway, but also in train cars, busses and in the back of a van with a load of other bikes. It can take the right sized tire for the job and it can easily take you from the city to the mountains, from road to track without having to change a thing.

The rack mounts can allow you to take your regular ride and do the fabled round-island tour with a full load of gear. They just don't make enough of this type of bike.

Sadly, this version of the La Cruz is out of production, but Salsa does offer several models that I regularly recommend to riders in Taiwan for their stated purpose:

La Cruz Ti: The steel La Cruz may be dead for now, but its titanium brother survives. Salsa has been incorporating several affordable titanium models of their popular frames and the La Cruz Ti looks like a winner. Although it lacks the signature disc brakes, it could be a great bike.

Vaya: The Vaya can be viewed as the successor to the steel La Cruz. The Vaya is a ChroMoly steel frame that has been optimized for the credit card adventurer. It has disc brakes, relaxed geometry and it is orange.

Fargo and Fargo Ti: When the Fargo was introduced it immediately reminded me of a fighter plane-- The A-10 Warthog. The Warthog isn't pretty, but it is unstoppable and completely lethal, which is why it has been in continual service since 1977. The Fargo is a steel or titanium drop-bar go anywhere bike with disc brakes, rack mounts and five water bottle mounts. I can see this being used for touring and camping around Taiwan's East Coast.

Casseroll: If there was ever a perfectly balanced road bike for the non-racer, the Casseroll would be it. I have begged people to try the Casseroll. It has rack and fender mounts, room for 38mm tires, but more roadlike geometry. Steel. The Casseroll can be built as a geared, single speed or fixie. This is the All Rounder. Why won't anyone listen to me? So many riders in Taiwan would love this bike.

Salsa has several other models, including several mountain bikes, but the bikes above should be on your short list if you are looking for a well thought out, versatile, and tough bike that should last you a long time on Taiwan's roads. Although my alloy frame broke, I don't think it is indicative of Salsa products. Beyond that, Salsa backs up their frames with service that can only be described as Above and Beyond. I was in regular communication with Chuck at Salsa during my warranty process and he was courteous and he seemed to really care that the company stood behind their products and service. It is easy to tell that Salsa is a company of people who are passionate about what they do.

Unfortunately, the Salsa brand suffers a bit of a disservice in Taiwan as the local distributor has not done much in the way of promoting or preserving the best qualities of such a great brand for Taiwan's rugged landscape, so you may not even be aware of where to check them out if you are interested. Although I am aware of several distributors that would love to add Salsa to their stables, I am only aware of one dealer: Famous Bikes in Taichung.

Frame: Salsa La Cruz (True Temper OX Platinum)
Fork: Salsa True Temper OX Platinum
Group: Shimano 105 -> Ultegra 6600 (50/34 to 12-27)
Headset: Cane Creek -> Chris King
Bars: Salsa Moto Ace Bell Lap -> Deda Newton
Stem: ? --> Something Smaller
Seatpost: Salsa ?
Saddle: WTB --> Selle Italia Flite Gel
Rims: Salsa Delgado 29er Race --> DT Swiss1.1 / 1.2
Hubs: Shimano XT --> Chris King ISO Disc
Brakes: Avid BB7 Mechanical Disc
Tires: Continental 4000GP 25c / Panaracer Cross Blaster / Others

Pedals: Crank Bros. Candy SL (Generation 1)

Great Bikes. Great People. Great Company!!!

For any questions regarding Salsa bikes or their availability in Taiwan, contact Salsa: pman@salsacycles.com

------------------------------------------

This review has in no way been paid for or supervised by anyone other than Taiwan in Cycles.

Taiwan In Cycles Policy For Advertising and Product Placement.

Radiation fears Prompt German Cyclists To Drop Tour of Taiwan

The German squad has decided to take precautions against the risk of radiation exposure and dropped from their scheduled appearance at the Tour of Taiwan.

This decision was based largely on the advise of the German government, which issued a travel advisory to the Asia/Pacific region.

According the a quote from the article:

"The cyclists said they were advised by German authorities to avoid visiting the Asia Pacific, not least Taiwan, which is so close to Japan," said Sara Chen, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Taipei Cycling Association.

Ironically, most of the radiation appears to be blowing out toward North America.

Update:

Mueller? Mueller?

Only one German cyclist will skip out on the Tour of Taiwan. Dirk Mueller decided to drop due to radiation fears.

In other parts of the news...

With both natural and man made disasters having killed scores of Japanese in the worst human calamity to strike Japan since the bombing of Nagasaki, I am sure the first thing one your minds was how this disaster was going to affect the price of the bicycle parts you so badly covet.

Luckily, you don't have to concern yourself with this problem...

In a syndicated report from the CNA:

Taiwan - (CNA) - Giant Global group, the world's largest bicycle manufacturer, said Wednesday the shopping rush for bicycles in some quake-affected areas in Japan will strain the supply of bicycles on the market.

Media reports have said bicycles were sold out in some disaster areas in Japan, including Tokyo, that were stricken by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake in March 11 after the Japanese government announced rolling blackouts. Such blackouts have limited the availability of mass transportation, such as subways and high speed railways.

"The earthquake will definitely increase demand for bicycles for a period of time, but it will also lead to supply problems, " said King Liu, president of Giant Manufacturing and chairman of the Giant Global group, on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Taipei International Cycle Show.

"The temporary demand is not good for the whole industry and our company because we have operated with the expectation of a balance between the market supply and demand," he said.

Although Giant is taking emergency measures to increase bicycle supply to Japan, the Taiwan-based bicycle maker still faces difficulties to meet the boosting demand, Liu said.

I would like to know if anyone with experience in the logistics in gathering and transporting large amounts of bicycles overseas has considered organizing a bicycle drive for Japan to donate used bikes for the victims of the earthquake. This would be a wonderful gesture to the Japanese, who have seen their cars vanish among their other possessions, and their built environment destroyed.

The bicycle would not only be a practical form of transportation in the affected areas, but it would be a great way to think about rebuilding those areas in the wake of a disaster that is the result of our reliance on more dangerous modes of energy production.

Bikes are also great for escaping from any more tsunamis.