Category Archives: Bicycle Sales

No Shortage of Memorial Day Sales

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For those of us who aren’t heading out of town for the holiday weekend, or even for those who are and have their mobile devices handy to stay connected, there are plenty of Memorial Day Weekend Cycling Sales going on.

I had originally planned to write a blog post about my trip to Johnson Health Tech last week (which I will followup on next week). Then I started checking up on the prices for the outdoor and fitness bikes on this site (which I check on manually and regularly) and I discovered some really good sales going on and wanted to pass that information on to you, in this blog post, while there is still some time left to take advantage of the sales. Tour of Elk Grove Cyclist

I had known about the REI sale since I am a “card carrying” member of REI and had been receiving emails on it. When I finally looked into the details I discovered that they are offering 30% off on many items, including cycling clothing and 15% off on most of their bikes. They also have a deal where REI members can also get 20% off any other item that is not on already sale. The details can get a little confusing but basically you can get a big discounts on the things that you get from REI right now and when REI has their sales that is usually the best time to get stuff there.

Then I discovered that Performance Bike also has a Memorial Day Sale going on and giving up to 50% off on many of their bikes and up to 70% off on cycling gear.

I’ve included a little more info on the Outdoor Bike Sales on our May – Cycling Deals and Discounts page.

As for the sales on Fitness Bikes, Horizon is giving customers a Free Fitness Mat and Free 1-Year extended Warranty, Lifecore Fitness is offering $75 off of all their exercise bikes and NordicTrack and Livestrong are also dropping their prices and/or offering add-ons when you get fitness bikes from their websites.

I’ve included a little more info on the Fitness Bike Sales on our May – Fitness Bikes Deals and Discounts page.

That’s really it for my update today except that I wanted to mention that I like to include at least 1 photo with my blog posts so I selected the photo above, from the Tour of Elk Grove race, since I thought it just captured the feel of getting out there (with new gear) and riding.

OK, the Memorial Day Weekend is here and, like they used to say on SNL, I am outta here!

Good Riding Weather before the Holidays and Holiday Sales

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I can’t believe it but I am still adding more bike miles to my bike computer for the 2012 riding season. We have been lucky recently and have had some excellent riding weather here in the Chicagoland area.

It has been into the 50s and 60s the last few days and it’s been really nice for riding if you can get out in the warmer part of the day. Of course, there is a lot less daylight riding time at this time of the year and I have noticed that the temperature seems to drop pretty quickly when it starts getting close to sunset. I don’t usually get a lot of riding in during the week of Thanksgiving but I’ll take it if I can get it.

The other thing that I wanted to mention, which I’m sure you are all painfully aware of (with the xmas commercials revving up for the holiday season) is that we are starting to see some of the big sales happening online and I know that later this week it is going to go absolutely crazy.

I have been watching this closely and I’ll be posting cycling product updates on the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on our Specials pages.

For example, we’ll have Bike and Bike Accessories sales and promotions on our Bike Sales, Promotions, Special Deals and Discounts page and  Fitness Bike sales and promotions on our Exercise Bike Special Deals and Discounts page.

Also I put together a page for page for bike rider and cyclist gift ideas last year and I just made some minor updates to it for this year. I didn’t have to make a lot of major changes because most of the cycling products that made good gifts for cyclists before still make for good gifts now! Anyway, see our Bike Rider Gift Ideas and Gifts for Cyclists page for bike rider gift ideas if this is something that you are interested in.

Day at the Races, 2013 Bikes, Hybrid and Misc.

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It’s been a while since my last post here and there have been a lot of little things that I wanted to mention or write about that were not really enough for a full blog post by themselves so I decided to include them in this multi-topic blog post.

Bike and Horse RaceI’ll start off with my Day at the Races. My wife and I went to Arlington Park race track this weekend for something fun to do and, in my case, to get some photos too. This is not really a bike related topic but when I was there I noticed a lot of similarities in the racing scene between the horse race and the bike races that I was at this summer (the Tour of Elk Grove specifically).

OK, well the horse race scene is much more about gambling and there are plenty of other differences too but for some reason there seemed to be a lot of similarities too. They are both colorful events that draw large crowds (and are good photo ops 🙂 ). Both events share the anticipation of the race itself, a similar speed/pace, and the excitement of the race and competition are similar.

Well, this is a stretch but I had some Photoshop fun merging one of my photos from the horse race this weekend with one of my TOEG photos (the photo shown here). I also just looked up the average speed for horse races and it is very close to the speed of professional bike races at times so the photo may not be as obscure as it appears at first (well, maybe if the cyclist had a paved track).

2013 Bikes Available Online

In other actual cycling news, I wanted to mention that I have discovered that there are now some 2013 bikes for sale online. Specifically, there are some 2013 versions of the popular Cannondale bikes for sale at REI like the Cannondale Quick, CAAD10 and CR1 for starters.

Hybrid Elliptical and Recumbent Bike

As we start falling into a little more of the indoor fitness season, I have been looking into the latest fitness products out there and found an interesting new product from Proform. It is a hybrid elliptical trainer and recumbent exercise bike. This is not going to be for everyone but since hybrids do typically meet the needs of some people that are looking for a combination of two (or more) products in one, this may be perfect for some of you. You can see my review on this fitness product at the Proform Hybrid Trainer Review on this site.

Helpful Information about your Social Security Statements

And finally I want to mention one more topic that is not even bike related but I have found this information to be very valuable and since this blog has a large number of readers and subscribers I wanted to post it here (as well as on some of my other sites). If you are here only for the Bike Info and/or if this does not apply to you then please feel free to skip this one.

This is not real new but many of you may have noticed that the government does not send out the hardcopy Social Security Statements that show your entire working history, earnings and potential retirement benefits from Social Security anymore.

What you may not know is that you can now get the exact same Social Security Statement online at: www.ssa.gov/mystatement. You will need to setup a login  account which will require your SSN (of course) and additional personal tax information that only you should have. It looks like the security is pretty good and I am glad about that. You may need to look some stuff up in order to setup the login account.

Anyway, once you set this up, you will have access to all the SS Statement info that you used to get in the mail.

REI Labor Day Sale and Clearance

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REI Labor Day Sale ~ REI Card

My own REI card ~ outdoors by a tree, of course...

If you are a card carrying REI member (like I am) and if you get the REI notifications via email (like I do) then you probably already know about the upcoming REI Labor Day Sale and the End of Season Clearance that they have going on right now. If you are not a member or if you just missed or ignored the email, here is your notification and/or reminder.

Although the Labor Day Sale does not officially start until tomorrow (it runs from 8/24-9/3). I believe that they have already started the End of Season Clearance because they have dropped the prices on many of their bikes (and other cycling accessories) significantly.

I have to go out to the REI site all the time to check the prices that I have posted for their bikes on this website and I can tell you that when I did my latest price checks I found that many of the quality bikes that REI carries are marked down from $100 to $300.

REI is one of the companies that actually drop their prices significantly when they have sales (a few times a year) and that is usually the best time to shop there.  So when you are ready for a new bike or need some new cycling gear (or any of the outdoor stuff that they carry) this is the time to do your REI shopping.

As for the Bikes that I found on sale ($100 to $300 drop in prices) there were Cannondale, Scott, GT, Raleigh and the REI brand Novara (which are actually pretty nice bikes). I know that these bikes were on sale but these are just the brands that I have reviewed on this website. There may be other popular bike brands on sale also.

I have included the sale information, links to the bikes that I know have significant price decreases and links to the other cycling products on sale on our August Deals and Discounts page here.

On top of the current deals that REI has going on, if you are an REI member (which is a good deal) then you also get an annual dividend (usually 10% of your REI purchases throughout the year) in March. What can I say? I’m a big REI fan (and now is a good time to be one).

le Tour de France 2012 continues… TDF updates and perspective

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le Tour de France is well underway now and they just completed Stage 3 today. I have really been getting into watching le Tour (I usually record it and watch it when I get  a chance) although I have not yet seen Stage 3, which will air later tonight. I would definitely recommend watching this event to anyone that is into cycling (even if you are not into racing).

le Tour de France logo

le Tour de France is on now!

Personally, I am just amazed at the condition of the riders in le Tour de France and how they can average around 25 mph for over 100 miles and do that for 3 weeks straight! And don’t forget racing up the mountains! Even if you do not get caught up in the race itself, there is still some beautiful scenery and the fanatical spectators can be an interesting show also.

The TDF is being broadcast on the NBS Sports channel and has been aired throughout the day until today. They are now playing some of the Olympics events throughout the day also although they still have the TDF on in the morning and early evening so there are still plenty of times to catch a stage or two.

I have only ridden over 100 miles in a day one time myself. That took most of the day and I was too tired to ride the next day so I just can’t imagine doing a ride like that in around 3 hours and then doing it again almost everyday for 3 weeks. I also stopped for breaks and to have snacks and a meal at my turnaround point. Last night I noticed that the TDF riders grab a “feed bag” from people on the sidelines as they continue riding.

Since I put so much time and effort into this cycling website, I am also very in-tune to the cycling related stories and commercials. Aside from the car and beer commercials I noticed that Cannondale, Trek and Proform had a pretty major presence.

The Cannondale commercial, that I’ve seen, advertises the Cannondale Supersix Evo as “The worlds best bike”. Well, I do like Cannondale and I think they make excellent bikes but this really should be qualified since the “best bike” for anyone is going to be the bike that fits your own particular riding style the best. I am sure that the Supersix Evo is one of the best road/racing bikes (in the world) but it would not be much use to a mountain biker.

Anyway, the Supersix bikes are Cannondale’s top of the line bikes in their Elite Road Bike category. Which is just above the Cannondale CAAD10 bikes, which I have reviewed and rated (highly) on this site.  Another nice thing about Cannondale Bikes, aside from their high quality, is that you can actually order them online. They are still only sold through authorized Cannondale dealers but you can find a good selection online, order online and then pick your bike up at a local store (see the link above for more on this).

Trek also makes some very high quality bikes (along with mid-range models) although I don’t know of anyplace (at least not any national merchant) where you can order Trek bikes online.

And finally, I noticed that they are now referring to the Proform TDF Gen2 model (exercise bike) as the “2012” Proform TDF Indoor Cycle and they have a new commercial this year. Actually I think that I liked last year’s commercial better.

OK, back the the actual TDF, I just read that Peter Sagan of Slovakia won the “crash-marred” third stage of the Tour de France although Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland is still the overall leader (who will continue to wear the yellow jersey).  I don’t normally like to look ahead at the TDF news until after I have watched the day’s race but I had to look-up a few things today and saw that story.

The “crash-marred” third stage does not sound good. I saw a few crashes on the first few stages this year but it did not look like there were any serious injuries. Of course, any crash is serious for these riders who have obviously trained hard for years to get to the TDF. I just hope that there are no serious or permanent injuries.

The TDF can be exciting to watch but it can also be very dangerous. I still remember the crash from last year when the TV car clipped a rider (Juan Antonio Flecha) and knocked him down into the pavement and consequently knocked another rider (Johnny Hoogerland) down and threw him into a barbed wire fence. That looked nasty. It also looked like the car did it on purpose to me. 😐

Well I hope that you will get a chance to catch at least some of this year’s Tour de France. I’m sure there will be a lot more exciting stuff and interesting scenes and information for all cyclists.

 

Tour of California, Proform TDF and REI Sale

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I just have a couple of updates that I thought were important to post today. First, Today is the final stage of the Tour of California bike race ~ from Beverly Hills to LA which is on NBC at noon (at least here in the Chicago area). It’s not le Tour de France, of course, but this is a major bike race with plenty of professional riders (some that have been or will be in the TDF) and it is a lot of fun to watch.

I also noticed that they ran a Proform TDF Spin Bike commercial a few times throughout the broadcast of yesterdays race and that Proform is offering Free Shipping (which is a good deal but not something that they did not have before) and I believe that they may have been offering Free Rush Shipping also (which would be nice but I was not able to confirm that just yet). I will check this out today and update this post if I can confirm this.

The other important news is that this is the time of year when the REI Anniversary Sale is going on. If you familiar with REI then you know that their sales are actually legit and are really good on a lot of their products. This particular sale also applies to many of the Bikes on Sale at REI and you can get up to 15% off on some of their bikes (and they actually carry a lot of great bikes online).

See our May Deals and Discounts page for more of the details and the details on the Performance Bike Sale that is going on now too.

This is the time of year that a lot of stores are doing their Memorial Day and Beginning of Summer Sales so if you’re looking for Bikes or Cycling Products (or actually any outdoor gear) then this is a good time to get what you need.

 

 

Salsa Fargo Hybrid Bike Review

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I just completed my review of the Salsa Fargo and this is really quite an interesting ~ and fairly unusual ~ bike. Generally, this bike is usually classified as a hardtail mountain bike but I had a hard time deciding exactly how to classify it on this website since, IMO, it is technically a Hybrid bike by definition.

After all, how many mountain bikes do you see with drop down handlebars? This bike is really designed for multipurpose use. The 29 inch wheels qualify this bike as a 29er as opposed to the 700c wheels that you see on most traditional hybrids. The Fargo is not only a hardtail, there is also no front suspension (once again, a little more hybrid like).

Salsa Fargo 2 Hardtail/Hybrid

Salsa Fargo 2 Hardtail/Hybrid

So, due to this bikes unique design, I have listed the Fargo Salsa on this website under both the Hardtail MTB category and the Hybrid Category. You can see the actual bike review at Salsa Fargo Bike Review.

Salsa calls this bike a drop-bar, off-road adventure bike for off-road touring and bikepacking and I have seen a number of customer reviews where people also use this bike for commuting and utility rides.

Actually, the term bikepacking was new to me but it fits perfectly and the meaning is obvious right away.

In addition to the technical review (the link above) I have read numerous customer reviews on this bike which were overwhelmingly positive ~ which doesn’t surprise me based on the other Salsa bikes that I have reviewed.

 

Salsa Spearfish XC MTB Review

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As I mentioned in my last post, I am still on the DL with a leg injury which has disrupted my bike trail blog articles here but fortunately, I am still able to get some bike reviews done (technical reviews that is).

Salsa Spearfish 3 FS XC MTB

2012 Salsa Spearfish 3 FS XC MTB

One of the bike review that I just completed is on the Full Suspension, Endurance XC Salsa Spearfish. The high-end full suspension MTBs can get very expensive but this one actually sells at a very reasonable price online (even the 2012 model).

If you have read some of my other blog entries you will know that I am not really a mountain biker ~ although I have ridden MTBs,  MTB trails and also spent countless hours on dirt bikes (the motorized MTBs) when I was younger ~ but I have always been a little envious of MTB riders that live out west or where there is access to real mountains (unlike Illinois and most of Wisconsin).

I also think that the new full suspension mountain bikes are really cool even though they can get expensive, which is one argument for getting a hardtail MTB for cross country rides.

Anyway, you can see my full review at 2012 Salsa Spearfish Review. I have also looked up and read numerous customer reviews on this bike on some of the popular bike review sites and I have found most Salsa bikes to be rated very highly by their owners.

One little piece of info that I thought was interesting was that the Salsa Spearfish bike is named after the town of Spearfish, South Dakota ~which I just looked up and I see that it is in the Black Hills area of South Dakota. I have been there (although not on a MTB) and it is a really scenic area. I can see how the hundreds of miles of single track trails out there would be a real lot of fun!

About-Bicycles Page and Blog Posts on Facebook

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About-Bicycles.com is Goin Social!

Yep, I finally launched the About-Bicycles.com business page on Facebook so for the many of you that have subscribed to this blog you now have another way to get our updates and read these blog posts.

The About-Bicycles Facebook Page.

The About-Bicycles Facebook Page.

Here’s a link to the new About-Bicycles Facebook page. This page is new so we really don’t have much content out there just yet, but there will be soon.

Also, if I did the setup correctly, these blog posts should automatically be posted to the About-Bicycles Facebook page so if you choose to Follow About-Bicycles on Facebook, you can get our blog posts right there in Facebook instead of visiting us here on our website ~ of course, you are always welcome to come out here as often as you like too :-).

I have also setup this blog to be tweeted via our Twitter account About_Bicycles.

So come on out to the  About-Bicycles Facebook page and “Like” us and Follow Us! Let’s get social!

2012 Bicycles ~ Reviews and For Sale Online

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I have noticed recently that quite a few of the major bike brands have their 2012 bikes out and for sale online. This is great news for anyone getting the jump on spring and looking for a new bike right now. Not only do you have the latest and greatest 2012 bikes coming out, there are still previous year models in stock and marked down quite a bit from last year.

Cannondale Quick Hybrid

There is a large selection of 2012 Cannondale and GT bikes available at REI, for example, and Performance Bike has a good selection of 2011 bikes marked down along with some of the 2012 models.

Our Online Bikes Store page is a quick and easy way to find which online merchants are selling what brands and easy links to browse which models are currently available.

If you are looking for some high-end mountain bikes I see that Hucknroll.com has some 2012 Rocky Mountain, Santa Cruz, and Salsa, Bikes for sale as well as pretty good selection of Yeti bikes.

Normally this would be the time of year when a lot of people are looking into indoor cycling and indoor training but for those of us in the Chicagoland area and in the mid-west we are getting some unexpected 50+ degree days here at the end of January! I was just out and rode a very comfortable 11 miles today. 🙂

For links to the latest 2012 models for sale online or reviews on this years’ models, see our Online Bikes Store page, our Bikes Online page or our Best Buy Bikes page for our best buy bikes and recommendations.

I can’t believe that this warm weather will last, but still… it won’t be long now! 🙂