Friday, February 28, 2014

Congratulations to our winner of the Electra Townie 7D bicycle from the Great Big Home & Garden Show!

Congratulations to Linda Chernitsky! She's the winner of our Electra Townie 7D bicycle!

Linda's  name was chosen at random from all of the entries we received in our booth at the Great Big Home & Garden Show earlier this month.

As you can see, Linda chose the Fuchsia (hot pink) Townie, and decided to outfit the bike with white fenders, and a bright green basket to match the bright green rims on the bike!

Thank you Linda, and thank you to everyone to visited us at the Great Big Home & Garden Show!

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Come to our Spring Kick-Off Fiesta! Friday, March 7 at 7:00pm in Rocky River


Spring is just around the corner ... WE PROMISE!

We'll celebrate the new cycling season with our annual Spring Kick-Off Fiesta! Everyone is invited; no RSVP necessary!

When: Friday, March 7, 2014; 7:00pm

Where: Century Cycles, 19955 Detroit Road, Rocky River, Ohio

In addition to food, drink, and talk of cycling adventures past and future, we'll also be celebrating Century Cycles' 22nd Anniversary, and the launch of our newest bicycle brand, Salsa Cycles! We'll be giving away door prizes of cool stuff from Century Cycles and Salsa Cycles!

We hope to see you in Rocky River next Friday night!

Please note: Parking is very limited at the store. We suggest that you park in the shopping plaza next door (home of Minotti's Wine & Spirits), or the plaza across the street (home of CVS).

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Get your Bike Cleveland T-Shirts at Century Cycles!

Bike Cleveland works daily to make Greater Cleveland a fun, safe place where people of all ages and abilities can ride their bikes!

Show your support by wearing your own Bike Cleveland T-Shirt! Available in all three Century Cycles stores, in gray or orange, in a full range of sizes for Men and Women!

Just $19.99 each, and ALL proceeds go back to Bike Cleveland!

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Century Cycles is hiring! Join our team!

Ever wanted to work in the bicycle industry! Now is your chance! Century Cycles offers competitive pay, good benefits, and a fun working environment!

Previous bike shop or other retail experience is a plus, but not required. You should love cycling, of course, but you must have the ability to smile, learn, be hard-working, enthusiastic, and love talking to people.

We have the following openings available:

  • Sales and service staff in our Peninsula and Rocky River stores
  • Bookkeeper/Office Manager - We are seeking a reliable person to handle management of our accounts payable, payroll, office supplies, and other general administrative tasks. Experience with office productivity software is a must. Familiarity with QuickBooks is a plus. Part-time, flexible hours. Based in the Peninsula store, but location may be flexible.
Click on over to http://centurycycles.com/to/apply to fill out our online job application!

Monday, February 24, 2014

Now in stock: Wahoo Fitness RFLKT iPhone-powered Bike Computer

Problem: you want a device that tracks your speed, distance, and even a map of your route. You carry your smartphone on your ride anyway, so you can use one of the many fitness tracking apps out there as your bike computer, but keeping the screen active to see your progress the whole time drains your phone battery. You don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on another device.

Enter the RFLKT bike computer from Wahoo Fitness.

The Wahoo RFLKT is the world's first iPhone powered bike computer! All the power of your iPhone is now in the size of a sleek cycling computer.

Keep your iPhone safely tucked in your jersey pocket and access all of your App data from your bars. RFLKT displays GPS, heart rate, and other sensor data from your iPhone—and controls your music playback.

RFLKT is compatible the NEW Wahoo Fitness v3.0 App for Cycling, and many other top rated cycling Apps, including Cyclemeter and Strava.

The RFLKT waterproof, and uses a single coin cell battery that lasts for a year, so there's no recharging and no extra cables to keep track of!

Now in stock at all the Century Cycles stores!

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Playing with new toys in the snow

After a couple of months of waiting, my new Salsa Mukluk 2 snow bike finally arrived this week! On Wednesday, I got it put together. I kept all the parts as what comes stock on the bike, except I swapped out the black Surly rim strips for orange, the black grip clamps for orange, and added a pair of orange BMX pedals. The gold color of the Mukluk 2 looks kinda orange, but I wasn't quite as taken at first with the gold/orange combination as I had hoped, but it's kinda growing on me now.


I then headed straight out to the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail for the bike's first spin. The snow cover on the Towpath was still pretty good, but the day's warm temperatures made the top layer pretty soft, so that gave the Mukluk's Surly Nate tires plenty to grip on. I did a quick spin up to Highland Road and back, taking a little over an hour for the 9-1/2 miles. Needless to say the bike was a blast to ride.

I took this opportunity to try out another new toy, the Garmin Virb Elite video action camera. Garmin is a newcomer to the action cam market, but they've used their head-start with GPS knowledge to make a cool product even cooler. In addition to taking high-def video, the built-in GPS tracks your ride, and you can easily add displays of your ride data (speed, elevation, grade, etc.) to your videos. If you've got option ANT+ sensors for cadence, heart rate, or power, you can display that data, too.

You can also set the Virb to record in time-lapse mode, telling it make your video by taking a still picture every few seconds (you can set however many seconds you want). I figured it would be more interesting to get a quick overview of my trail ride rather than watching me slog through the snow for an hour, so I set the Virb to 5-second time-lapse intervals, and here's the result:


Click here if the video above is not appearing for you.

If you're interested in seeing what a regular real-time video looks like, I also shot this quick spin around the block, and added the speed, elevation, and grade gauges:


Click here if the video above is not appearing for you.

Look for more videos of my cycling adventures using the Garmin Virb Elite in the weeks and months to come!

FYI, we've still got a Salsa Mukluk 2 in stock in size Large, and a Salsa Mukluk 3 snow bike in stock in size Small, color Red:

Friday, February 21, 2014

Join Team CC for the Bike MS Pedal to the Point!

The Bike MS Pedal to the Point is August 2-3, 2014. It is a two-day bicycle ride from Brunswick to Sandusky, Ohio. The ride is 75 miles each way, with a 100-mile option on the first day. The one-day options are 30, 75, or 100 miles. The fundraiser event is organized by and benefits the Ohio Buckeye local chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

For over 20 years, Century Cycles has been proud to be an Official Event Bike Shop for the Bike MS Pedal to the Point, and continues as a Gold Level Sponsor for 2014. We provide mechanical support at one of the rest stops on the route and have many staff members who participate personally in the event.

NEW for 2014, we have formed Team Century Cycles, our first-ever shop team for Pedal to the Point!

Anyone is welcome to join our team! Just go to the Bike MS Pedal to the Point Signup Page and click "Join a Team." Search for Century Cycles and join us!

Team members enjoy the following benefits:

  • 10% discount on new bicycles
  • 15% discount on clothing and accessories
  • 30% discount on our custom Century Cycles jerseys and shorts!

Stay tuned for information on team training rides!

For tips on preparing for the Bike MS and other event rides, see our Event Ride Headquarters.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Drawing for the winner of the Electra Townie 7D bicycle

Thank you to everyone who visited the Century Cycles booth at the Great Big Home & Garden Show at Cleveland's I-X Center last week! We received over 1,400 entries in our drawing for an Electra Townie 7D bicycle! We held the random drawing in our Medina store on Monday:

Click here if the video above is not appearing for you.

Congratulations to the winner, Linda Chernitsky! We'll be in touch with Linda, and post a photo of her and her new Electra here!

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Giant AnyRoad bicycles now in stock!

2014 Giant AnyRoad 1
A new breed of bicycles has been hitting the streets and trails lately. Some are calling them "gravel road bikes," but Giant Bicycles tells the real story, with their AnyRoad series, new for 2014.

What makes a gravel road, or AnyRoad bike, different? You've got the drop handlebars of a "regular" road bike, giving you efficiency and the comfort of multiple hand positions--good for long, all-day rides. You've got clearance for wide tires (like a cyclocross bike), so you're set whether your adventures take you on pavement, grass, gravel, or dirt. You've got disc brakes for sure stopping power in all weather conditions. You've got more upright, relaxed geometry--again, good for all-day rides. You've got an extended wheelbase and lower crank height for more stability and easier handling when the road turns rough. Finally, you've got a wide gear range to tackle those roads however steep they may turn up. And, exclusive to the Giant AnyRoad bikes, you've got Giant's Ergo-Control bar-top levers, which give you access to your brakes from even more hand positions than traditional bar-top brake levers.

2014 Giant AnyRoad 2
The lineup starts with the Giant AnyRoad 2 ($1,029.99). It features Giant's ALUXX-grade aluminum frame, Giant Composite fork, Avid BB5 mechanical disc brakes, and a 27-speed Shimano Sora drive train with 50/39/30  chainrings and an 11-32 cassette to power up the steepest hills.

Step up to the Giant AnyRoad 1 ($1,229.99), and get the same Giant ALUXX-grade aluminum frame and Giant Composite fork, plus Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes, and a 20-speed Shimano Tiagra drive train with 48/34 chainrings and an 11-34 cassette.

Both bicycles feature Giant S-X2 wheels with alloy rims and hubs and stainless steel spokes, Giant P-RX2 Flatguard Deflect 700x32 tires, and Giant Connect XR Ergo Control handlebars.

Stop in at your nearest Century Cycles for a test ride!

Reviews:

Road.cc - Eye-Catching Bike of the Day: Giant AnyRoad 1

Men's Journal - Best Commuting Bikes for Any Route

BikeRumour.com - Found: Giant AnyRoad - The Best Bike They Make That You Can't Buy in America (outdated info ... you CAN buy it in America now!)

Bicycle Times - Interbike First Look: Giant AnyRoad

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

A Recycled Cycling Gift from Ohio to Florida


The Century Cycles store in Rocky River had an unusual visitor last month. An alligator! Made out of old mountain bike tires!

The brainchild of Dan Ward, Rocky River's Bike-Builder Extraordinaire, the 4-foot reptile was created as a house-warming gift for a mountain-biking friend. Warm being the operative word. For a house in Florida. Thus the alligator.

Last February, Dan's friend, Ray Petro, founder and owner of Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park, invited him down for a glorious ten days of Florida mountain biking. Mountain biking in Florida? You're damn right. But that's another story.

The house was so sparsely decorated that Dan decided to spice it up. The gift was shipped last week and Ray will open it this week when Dan goes down again for another mountain biking trip.

The base is a chain-sawed-into-shape block of wood, skinned with old tires and tubes, and detailed-out with presta valve caps, cable housing and ferrules, and marble eyeballs. It took 40 hours.

Aside from liking to create artistic things, Dan's humble mission is, one at a time, to put one less old tire in the landfill. More evidence of this mission can be found around the shop, where Dan has used old tires and tubes as wall corner guards, cork board borders, stool covers, and even a mountain bike tire Christmas tree.

Come on in and see for yourself, and ask Dan about mountain biking in Florida. Or anywhere in Ohio, too, for that matter.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Radio Century Cycles returns Tuesday February 18

Radio Century Cycles, our online cycling talk show hosted by Bob Soroky from the Century Cycles store in Medina, returns tomorrow, Tuesday, February 18, 2014.

This month's guest is John Dewey from Tifosi Optics, who'll be sharing the importance of eyewear to the cyclist, as well as the latest and greatest designs from Tifosi.


You can listen live at 10:30am (Eastern Time), or any time after that, by clicking here: http://bit.ly/1kO86HR

You can listen to all past episodes of Radio Century Cycles on the archive page.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Bicycle Advocacy Weekend; Sunday Edition

Continuing on the heels of yesterday's dual call to action for bike advocates, we've got another local issue and non-local issue to lend your voice to.

The proposed protected bike lane on Lorain Avenue in Ohio City on Cleveland's west side will be further discussed at the Lorain Avenue Streetscape Meeting #2:

  • Date: Wednesday, February 19, 2014
  • Time: 6:00pm
  • Place: Urban Community School, 4909 Lorain Ave, Cleveland
Finally, making the rounds in the bike blogosphere over the past few days is a letter from Thomas Barraga, a legislator in Suffolk County, New York. Mr. Barraga received a letter from 17-year-old Matthew Cutrone asking for safer streets for bicycling. In his response, Mr. Barraga said, among other things:
"No one who lives in our hamlet or for that matter in Suffolk County should ever ride a bicycle."
Read more details and follow a link to provide your feedback at this post from the People for Bikes blog.


Saturday, February 15, 2014

Bicycle Advocacy Weekend; Saturday Edition

There's never a shortage of opportunities for every to exercise their bicycle advocacy muscles, and here are two easy ways that you can do RIGHT NOW!

First, the Safe Streets Act was introduced in the US House of Representatives last year, and the same bill was introduced in the Senate last week. Both chambers are drafting transportation bills as we speak, so now is the time to let your elected representatives know that you want complete streets included! Use this easy form from the League of American Bicyclists!

Next, right here in our backyard in Northeast Ohio ... Geauga County is close to completing the Maple Highlands Trail, a 21-mile multi-use path. However, county commissioners are stalling to grant the necessary approvals for the final 1.33-mile section to connect the two halves of the trail in downtown Chardon. Use this handy-dandy form provided by Bike Cleveland to let them know how you feel!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

40% OFF Select Tifosi Sunglasses - Hot Deals for Cold Days #8

Blue skies and sunshine are just around the corner, and to help you get ready for them, our FINAL Hot Deals for Cold Days bring you two sunglasses from eyewear leader Tifosi Optics!

Tifosi Tyrant Fototec
Sunglasses in Gunmetal
The Tifosi Tyrant Fototec Sunglasses ($41.99, regularly $69.99) boast Tifosi's exceptionally tough Grilamid frames and their Fototec lenses that automatically adjust to changing light conditions so you always have the ideal tint. In Gunmetal color only.

The Tifosi Mast Sunglasses ($35.99, regularly $59.99) sport stylish wrap-around frames and three sets of easily interchangeable lenses so you'll have the right one for all light conditions. In Pearl White color only.

Tifosi Mast Sunglasses
in Pearl White
Both sunglasses feature large, impact-resistant, polycarbonate lenses for a wide field of vision and to protect you from debris, while the lens vents ensure fog-free vision. And, you'll love the hydrophilic rubber temple and adjustable nose pads that grip better when wet for a comfortable fit that stays put.

Both models also provide 100% protection from damaging UVA/UVB rays, which is essential for outdoor enthusiasts (even in winter) to help prevent:

  • Premature Aging
  • Cataracts
  • Skin Cancer
  • Macular Degeneration
  • Photokeratitis aka "snow blindness"

The Fine Print:
These Hot Deals are good only February 13 through 26, 2014 while supplies last on in-stock merchandise only. Cannot be combined with other discounts. In-store purchase only; no online or phone orders accepted. No coupon necessary.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Video: One Man. One Bike. One State.

Jack Williams is an Ohio man who in the summer of 2013 decided to undertake a solo bike adventure. He pedaled the Ohio to Erie Trail from Cincinnati to Cleveland over six days. He survived flat tires and sore feet, and made this short documentary film about his experience:

Click here if the video above is not appearing for you.

You can order your own four-part map set of the Ohio to Erie Trail here, or come check out some sample copies we have in our stores!


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

MacGuyver does bicycle touring

From Treehugger.com:
Here's the cool bike fact of the day, which happens to also be celebrity trivia: According to his IMDB bio page, actor Richard Dean Anderson, best known for his roles as MacGyver and Colonel Jack O'Neill on SG-1, was quite the long-distance cyclist:
"Richard was very much a restless teenager, having had many adventures hitchhiking on the open road. This sense of adventure is most evident from his 5,641-mile bicycle trip from his home in Minnesota to Alaska. Though accompanied by several friends at the beginning of this trip, he traveled the last thirty-three days alone. This experience gave him a more centered sense of direction in his life."
It probably also gave him the experience to come up with lots of impromptu life-saving gadgets, like the famous coffin jet-ski:


Another reminder -- we are CLOSED today (Tue Feb 11, 2014) for our annual staff training day. Sorry for any inconvenience!

Monday, February 10, 2014

Video: Courageous Good Samaritan foils bike thief

Bike thieves are the scourge of cyclists in cities large and small, but one Good Samaritan in New York City who happened to be carrying a video camera bravely confronted a thief when caught in the act:

Click here if the video above is not appearing for you.

Now would be a good time to review our 5 Tips for Preventing Bike Theft!

Sunday, February 9, 2014

We will be CLOSED Tuesday February 11, 2014

PLEASE NOTE: All three Century Cycles stores will be CLOSED on Tuesday, February 11, 2014 for our annual staff training day.

Sorry for any inconvenience!

Saturday, February 8, 2014

See you at the Great Big Home & Garden Show!


Century Cycles will be at the Great Big Home & Garden Show, which runs from today, February 8, 2014 through February 16, 2014 at the I-X Center.

Stop by our booth, #1206, to see a selection of our favorite bicycles. Our expert staff will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about bicycles and bicycling.

You can also enter to win our drawing for an Electra Townie Original 7D bicycle! The winner will be any to choose from any available color in the Men's or Women's model!
Women's Electra Townie Original 7D
Petch and Bob from the Century Cycles store in Medina at the
2013 Great Big Home & Garden Show

Friday, February 7, 2014

Winter bicyclists around northeast Ohio take to the streets with 'Fat Bikes'

Josh, from the Century Cycles store in Rocky River, took his star turn last night, as WEWS News Channel 5 stopped by to talk about the growing trend of winter cycling in Northeast Ohio, including the use of snow bikes.

You can read the story on the WEWS web site; here's the video from the segment:

Click here if the video above is not appearing for you.

We've still got the Pugsley and Pug Ops snow bikes from Surly Bikes in stock, and we are expecting to receive a Mukluk 3 and Mukluk 2 from Salsa Cycles any day now!

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Adventure Cycling Association Launches Youth Touring & Leadership Scholarship

Adventure Cycling Association is now accepting submissions for its new Youth Touring and Leadership Scholarship. Two successful candidates will be selected to participate in one of Adventure Cycling’s 2014 educational courses. The scholarship covers airfare, bike and gear rentals, and the course fee.

The goal of the scholarship is to provide students, ages 18-25, with access to bicycle travel through participation in either an Adventure Cycling Leadership Training Course or Introduction to Road Touring course. Upon completion of the course, scholarship recipients will perform outreach activities for their communities and peers to promote the activity of bicycle touring.

The scholarship program was developed at the request of Adventure Cycling members as a way to sponsor young people on tour and share the experience of bike travel. An anonymous family made a large match donation to the scholarship to encourage members to raise money for the fund. “The only reason we were able to create this scholarship is because our members and donors want to ensure that the next generation learns to love bicycle touring,” said Executive Director Jim Sayer. “We hope that the program will continue next year and grow.”

Application information is available at www.adventurecycling.org/youthleadership.

Donations to the Youth Touring and Leadership Scholarship Fund can be made at www.adventurecycling.org/scholarship.

Adventure Cycling Association inspires and empowers people to travel by bicycle. It is the premier bicycle-travel organization in North America with more than 46,700 members. Adventure Cycling produces cycling routes and maps for North America, organizes more than 80 tours annually, and publishes the best bicycle-travel information anywhere, including Adventure Cyclist magazine. With 41,420 meticulously mapped miles in the Adventure Cycling Route Network, Adventure Cycling gives cyclists the tools and confidence to create their own bike-travel adventures.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Define your life. As a young champion!

Meet Grayden Schneider ... this 9-year-old recently won the Rookie of the Year contest in a beginner's class at Ray's MTB Indoor Park in Cleveland! His father Jim reports that Grayden is progressing quickly in his riding skills, and having a blast doing it. They'll be travelling for further competition next month, first to The Wheel Mill in Pittsburgh on March 8, then to The Kitchen BMX Skatepark in Indianapolis on March 22.

The whole Schneider family practices "Define your life. Ride a bike.(tm)" In addition to them being frequent customers for service and accessories at the Century Cycles store in Medina, Grayden's mother Sherrie has worked on the committee at Claggett Middle School in Medina for the Bike To School Challenge.

Congratulations and Good Luck to Grayden and the Schneider family!

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

66 Seconds With Velocity: The Birth of a Bicycle Rim

Some of our favoriate bicycle rims come from a company know as Velocity USA. They make a wide variety of rims and custom-built wheelsets for road, mountain, racing, touring, or any style of riding you need. Best of all, their rims are made right here in the US of A at their factory in Jacksonville, Florida!

Here's a quick look at Velocity's rim-making process:

Click here if the video above is not appearing for you.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Tell your Congressional Representative to Support Bike Equity!

Last year, the League of American Bicyclists and Sierra Club released a report - "The New Majority: Pedaling Toward Equity" - that highlighted the prevailing disparities in safe biking and walking in low-income and communities of color nationwide.

Now, a bi-partisan bill in Congress, introduced by Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ), would take steps to advance equity for bicyclists and pedestrians, and boost funding for bike/ped projects low-income communities.

Take action now - tell your member of Congress to support H.R. 3978!

The New Opportunities for Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure Financing Act of 2014 (NOBPIFA) will allow communities to take advantage of low-cost financing for projects that make streets and sidewalks safer for all users through a new federal credit assistance program that would direct millions specifically for low-income communities.

This innovative bill:

  • Creates a low-interest long-term loan program for communities to build biking and walking networks. 
  • 25% of the funding must be spent in low income communities
  • The funding, $11 million, is a set aside from the $1 billion dollar TIFIA loan program funded in MAP-21.
  • Offers a new tool for Mayors and local governments to finance needed transportation infrastructure.
  • And doesn't add any new costs to the transportation bill, or to the federal budget.

If you believe bicycling should be safe for everyone, tell your Representative to support H.R. 3978 today!

Click the link below to log in and send your message:
https://www.votervoice.net/link/target/bikeleague/4Jf2EEtyb.aspx

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Order your maps of the Ohio to Erie Trail!

The Ohio to Erie Trail is a mostly off-road bicycle/hike route from the Ohio River in Cincinnati to Lake Erie in Cleveland. Now, you can obtain these brand new printed maps of the entire route!

The route is divided into four sections. Each section contains detailed maps of the off-road trails and on-road routes. Each map panel is oriented with the North direction at the top of the map, and major features are repeated on each panel to make it easy to keep your place. The maps are designed to fold up and store in a typical map case, so they are easy to follow while on your bike.

You can order your own copy of the Ohio to Erie Trail maps through IGotABike.com. The maps are free; you just pay $2.75 per set for shipping and handling. Click here to order. For more details about the maps, see their Tips For Reading The Ohio to Erie Trail Printed Map Panels.

We've got a couple copies of each map in each Century Cycles store if you'd like to stop by and check them out!

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Four from Giant Bicycles named among "50 Influential Women" in the bicycling industry

Bicycle Retailer and Industry News magazine has published a special section on the "50 Influential Women Driving the Business" and four individuals from the Giant and Liv/giant brands are featured. Listed in the section are:

Bonnie Tu, CFO of Giant Bicycles and founder of the Liv/giant brand

Elysa Walk, General Manager of Giant USA (also recently featured in her TEDxWomen talk)

Abby Santurbane, Liv/giant Global Category Manager

Mercedes Ross, founder of Merchandising Werx and a consultant to both Giant and Liv/giant.

The editors of the magazine describe how they chose the select group: "As we embarked on this project, we set out to find women at the forefront and behind the scenes who are influencing how the industry markets and sells bicycles and who are growing cycling's reach."  Bicycle Retailer and Industry News is the leading business publication for the cycling industry.

Also featured in the section is Giant Account Executive Sophie Eaton in a sidebar story about the strides women have made in the bike industry over time.  Sophie has witnessed many changes in the bicycle business during her 30-year career in sales.  She says, "It's much more positive than it was 15 to 20 years ago. It's more friendly and there are more women than ever working in our industry. There are still invisible walls, but we're breaking them down."

You can read more about the featured women in a digital copy of the entire "50 Influential Women" section by clicking here.