This is WAY outside the normal purview of this blog, being full of both carbon fibers and triathlon content, but since I recently lamented my own inability to notice bicycles being made in Iowa, I figure I'd better put my money where my blog is.
Thus, I bring you a local TV news story on Dimond Bicycles, prompted by our recent local triathlon. Why did I sit up and notice this story? Well, for one thing, it was a news story about bicycles and was NOT about RAGBRAI. But more importantly, it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that The Cycle World Headquarters is situated at the core of the known bicycle universe. See, the owner of Dimond featured in the video (hi, TJ!) used to live right next door to our sprawling blog campus... until he moved and sold the place to his Chief of Engineering, also featured in the video (hi, David!)
Is it a coincidence that not one but TWO guys responsible for cutting-edge carbon fiber triathlon bikes just happened to live right next door to the bicycle brain trust here at The Cycle? Well, sure. But it's still kind of neat. Obviously, these bikes aren't my thing, being a steel-riding Luddite freak, but I still find it cool that they're being designed and manufactured right here in little ol' Des Moines, IA. And I'd be lying if I said that the black-on-black Darth Vader/stealth fighter aesthetic didn't trigger just a tiny bit of bike lust deep within my otherwise old-school heart.
So, if you're the sort who (inexplicably) likes to combine (shudder) swimming and (bleah) running with your cycling, or maybe you just like to draw numbers on your arm in magic marker, click on over to Dimond Bikes and take a look at what my neighbors are brewing (and gluing) up.
2 comments:
I realize there's a hole where the seat tube should be, but shouldn't they have measurement which approximates the length of what should be the seat tube? And 78° seat "tube" angle? Yow!
Yeah, 78 is *way* steep for my tastes, but the Dimond guys are triathlon specialists, and I think super-steep angles are par for the course among the three-sport set.
Whatever they're doing must work, since TJ has a pretty impressive resume. Though having lived next door to him and seen how much he trains, I'm inclined to think it's not about the bike. :-)
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