If you’re wondering who you’re going to run into when you drop by our store look no further than to your right. Click on About Cyclesmith to get an idea of who we are, why on earth we’re working in a bike shop (hello, we love bikes!), and what each of us is good at.

For instance, take John (he’s in the middle) :

John is a most excellent commuter. He knows single speeds, fixies, and weird bikes inside and out. He knows normal bikes too, but that’s not what makes him special. Call on him for all of your needs for he is a man of phil wood, chris king, surly, and velocity. Any man with that kind of taste cannot be wrong!

No matter if you’re a cyclist or not, if you look around Salt Lake City lately you will see many more bikes than you used to. They are becoming a very popular mode of transportation as residents discover the well defined bike lanes and bicycle-friendly roads of Salt Lake City, not to mention the added benefit of losing a few extra pounds. (and I’m not talking about making your bike lighter…) It is likely that a good number of the bicycles that you see are fixed gear bikes, commonly called track bikes. People choose these types of bikes for a number of reasons: less maintenance, no dérailleurs to break or go out of tune (and thus no griding gears), extra leg strength from riding only one gear… the list goes on. Most importantly, they’re a lot of fun to ride and people have compared it to almost “walking” on your bike because when you pedal forward, you go forward. Pedal backward, and you go backward. Pedal slow, you go slow. Pedal fast… you get the idea.

Ahhh, the Raleigh One-Way, mmmmm (yes we sell it, need I say more?!)

Now, if you’re looking for more fun on your commute than you normally have eating that “footlong” and coffee from Maverick in your car while stuck in traffic (probably on Foothill Drive), then commuting on a fixed gear bicycle is for you. Believe it or not, you’ll actually have fun getting from point A to point B! (not to worry all you “geared-bicycle commuters,” there will be a post in the near future for you too)

As mentioned previously, Salsa’s new line-up also includes a pre-built fixie that would make a great commuter bicycle that is somewhat “on-the-cheap.” If you’re truly looking for a fixie to commute with, pay special attention to the rear drop-out area to look for eyelets that will allow you to mount fenders. (see photo at left, eyelets are the little round loops on top) Because having a nice “pin-stripe” up the back on a rainy day may be considered cool while you’re actually ON the bike, when you’re off the bike it doesn’t do so much for attracting the opposite … well, for attracting much of anything or anybody really, except flies. So get those fenders on for a rainy (or snowy) day and ride worry free.

Written by the big, bold, and beautiful Brad Duncan

Salsa released some pictures of their new complete bikes for 2008.  Enjoy!

The Casseroll. Singlespeed, fixie, triple, road bike, it can be everything. I’m buying one of these set up as a fixie as soon as I can get my dirty little hands on one.

La Cruz cyclocross bike. Disks+steel=hotness

One of our favorite bikes from 2007, the El Mariachi is back. 1X9 gears= simple. Steel frame= a beautiful ride.

Bling, ’nuff said

More to come!

Cyclesmith is now a Chrome dealer. It is a good fit, we like fixies and single speeds and we like being able to ride our bikes everywhere. Chrome bags let us do that and come in sizes from small to freaking gigantic big (I’ve seen a messenger but a FRAME SET into one). They also have some cool pants, shoes, etc. Check them out:

Chrome Website

If you see something you like drop us an email or drop by the shop!