More details (more bikes!) on Oct 5 Demo Day!!!

Posted by Patty Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:29:00 GMT

Hey great news! After Charles got back from Interbike we started getting the calls and emails: “Hey, thanks for stopping by the booth and checking out our ‘09 product; here’s our pdf catalog… how about an order…. anything else we can do for you?”

Demo Bikes at Passion, May, 2008

You know, that can be pretty effective when it comes from manufacturers whose product we love. . . . so . . . We now have demo bikes coming from IBIS and Maverick too, to go along with the fleet of Specialized rides! AND, some Santa Cruz and Giant bikes in limited models and sizes. Awesome! Test rides on the trail are FREE this Sunday, come on down!

Remember to make a reservation—send Daniel a note at daniel@passiontrailbikes.com or phone him at 650-620-9798 and let him know what size bike you ride, what time you want to ride, and which make and model you’d like to try, what size (sm, med, lg, xl) and time, 9am, 11am, 1pm.

Specialized Demo 8, Demo 7, SX Trail
Specialized Enduro, Pitch
Specialized Stumpjumper, Safire WSD
Specialized Stumpy 29er
Specialized Epic, Epic Marathon
Specialized GLOBE
Maverick Durance and ML8
IBIS Mojo
Santa Cruz Blur XC, Blur LT, and Chameleon SS
Giant Reign X, Trance X

Posted in Bikes | 2 comments

2009 Specialized Test Fleet @ Passion Trail Bikes & Waterdog Park

Posted by Patty Sun, 28 Sep 2008 03:21:00 GMT

You can be the first kid on your block to test ride brand new 2009 Specialized Bikes at our Demo Day at Passion Trail Bikes and Waterdog Park for FREE on Sunday October 5th!!!

We are psyched! We nabbed the first chance for non-industry riders on the West Coast to test ride bikes immediately after Interbike!! Come on down and test ride a bike from the 2009 Specialized line. We will set you up with a bike dialed in for your riding style, and you can take it out and get it good and dirty on the trails. Give it a good shake down, and let us and our Specialized Rep know what you think. They love it when we tell them exactly what our customers think about their latest stuff.

Specialized is sending the trailer up from Morgan Hill with a whole fleet of the newly re-designed Epic and SX Trail models as well as Stumpjumper, Enduro, Pitch, Stumpy 29er and Safire bikes. We will have them all available for a dirty demo ride. There will be rides launching from the shop at 9, 11 and 1 o’clock through the singletrack at Waterdog Park as well as big bike rides through the dirt jumps and drop-ins at Carlmont. We will have ride leaders for you so you can get a good lead on a test route through the park, and our usual test ride fee is waived for this special event (normally $75 per day).

Of course, we are going to have a party and celebration while we are at it, how could we not? Looks like more of this awesome warm Indian Summer weather, so Patty will be setting out a wonderful spread of grilled goods and side dishes for the test riders to compare notes over a nice plate of munchies. Come ride, hang out and moisten your sunburn with a frosty one!

We will also be having a sale on select merchandise. Stay tuned for details!

If you are looking to get into a new bike in ’09 or even just want to see the new technology come and give a new 2009 top-of-the-line Specialized mountain bike a spin!

Test rides are available now but we highly recommend you make a reservation today! We expect the slots to fill up so don’t rely on chance for day-of availability. All bike reservations can be made by sending Daniel an email at daniel@passiontrailbikes.com or by calling the shop at 650-620-9798 to let him know what size bike you ride, which model you want to test and at what time.

Posted in Bikes | 3 comments

Interbike Dirt Demo Part 2

Posted by Charles Wed, 24 Sep 2008 06:41:00 GMT

Filling my Camelbak with ice and water before I leave the hotel in the morning is key to survival in the desert for this coastal climate primate. Clif, Camelbak and Powerbar have all been kind enough to set up hospitality tents around the outdoor expo, where they are giving away huge quantities of premixed replacement and recovery drinks. As my reservoir runs low, I am able to top if off with electrolytes over ice.

This morning with John and Daniel’s company, we started again at the Turner tent, this time with much better results. We rolled out with two 5 Spots and a Sultan for an orientation lap and a stab at some of the trials features at the top of the course. We were all pleasantly surprised at the ride quality of the new DW Link equipped Turners, and after a lap, I handed my Sultan off to John so he could have a go at it as well.

Posted in Bikes | 9 comments

Some 2008 bikes are on sale

Posted by Patty Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:19:00 GMT

Charles is getting ready to take off for Interbike next week, where manufacturers will be showing all the new product for 2009. This is that awkward time of year when we get all starry-eyed over NEW! SHINY! product, even though a lot of it is not really available yet. Pictures in magazines, one-off samples on the trade show floor… what is vapor ware and what is for real??? We don’t know. We do know that we do need to make space so that once product starts to ship we have parking spaces and some cash to pay for it.

If you’ve been jonesin’ for something that’s been in the store for a while and you’re weren’t sure you could talk yourself into paying full price for it, or maybe your just biologically allergic to paying retail, whatever the itch, we have some stuff on sale that will look real good in your bike rack when you load up on your way to Skeggs, Pacifica, Demo, UC, Downieville or Northstar. And all with our famous PTB new-grease build, custom fitting, all that. Ahhhh. Sometimes scratching feels so good!

2008 Specialized SX Trail 2—like the one above but with a much fancier component spec. Size medium.
Was $5100, now $4000, you save over 20% and keep a whopping $1100 in your pocket. Cool!

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MTBR Best Of 2008 reviews

Posted by PeterD Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:53:00 GMT

MTBR is about to choose their best of 2008 products, and will be basing this on the reviews on their web site. Here is your chance to help them choose the best products of the year. Announcement below:

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SSWC

Posted by PeterD Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:05:00 GMT

Posted in Bikes, Trails | Tags singlespeed, SSWC | 1 comment

Crank Brothers Cobalt Wheelset

Posted by PeterD Wed, 21 May 2008 22:30:00 GMT

Got our first set of Crank Brother Cobalt wheels in. Pretty cool looking.

I think we got 2 sets in the door, but one has been sold already. Come check out the remaining one while it is here.

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Giant Training - Part 2

Posted by PeterD Fri, 07 Dec 2007 18:48:00 GMT

A piece of good advice I once heard was that you should avoid debating about religion and politics, as people hold strong feelings on these that they rarely will change. I think that Mountain Bike Suspension design could be a third area to add to the list.

That being said, here is the second part of Berry’s report from the Giant Training he and John went to a few weeks back. This will be on various suspension designs…

The most interesting part of the talk was given by Andrew Justaitis (sp?), which contained a lot of basic and useful info on all the various kinds of rear suspension designs, how they work and their characteristics, both good & bad. He called it a Suspension Rating Report Card, giving ratings for Activity, Efficiency and Independence; how well the rear suspension works separately from the rear brake, whether they influence each other or not. Below is his Report Card, which I found very informative. He went to great lengths to be fair and neutral and didn’t bad mouth any other brand or design type.

Posted in Bikes | 1 comment

Giant Training - Part 1

Posted by PeterD Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:16:00 GMT

John and Berry went to Santa Cruz a few weeks back to attend the Giant Maestro Suspension training event. Here is what Berry had to say about the event:

They had sales and tech info in the morning, the lunch & dirt demo in the PM at DeLaveaga Park, where they had Anthems (3 1/2” Race bike), Trance Xs (5” trail bike), and Reign Xs (6.7” freeride bike) available to ride. I rode a Trance X and a Reign X. Loved the Trance X, the rear suspension truly worked very well; if it had had a Vanilla RLC on it, would have tried to take it home. It weighed 26lbs.

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Now that is scary

Posted by PeterD Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:56:00 GMT

Being Halloween season, I thought I would post something scary today. Charles dropped this honking big Chris King headset on the counter in front of me. It comes wrapped with a black instruction sheet, so to me looked like a can of Guinness (and about the same size).

To show the size of this 1.5” headset, the photos show it next to a standard (1 1/8”) size that we are all familiar with.

Posted in Bikes | Tags 1.5, Chris, headset, King | no comments