Raisin Hope Foundation Teams Up With DNA Distributing & Velocite Bikes

DNA Distributing, U.S. distributor of Velocite Bikes, has teamed up with Saul Raisin and the Raisin Hope Foundation to help raise awareness and support for survivors of Traumatic Brain Injury.

From May 1st through May 31st, DNA Distributing is extending a 10% off discount on any full price purchase made, simply by entering the promotional code "RaisinHope" during checkout.  In addition to the savings extended to each customer, DNA will also contribute 5% of each sale to the Raisin Hope Foundation.  We hope to not only help promote the sport of cycling but also increase awareness for those with TBI.

It has been our pleasure to get to know Saul on a personal level and being able to not only support him but also play a role in supporting his foundation and helping to increase awareness is very important to us.

- On April 4, 2006, at the age of 23, Saul crashed in a professional bicycle race. The subsequent effects led him to endure a coma, substantial bodily damage, and a traumatic brain injury. His outlook, as you might imagine, was bleak. Medical professionals didn't know if he would survive, and if he did, what kind of life he would lead. Miraculously, he awoke from his coma only to enter a world full of doubt and uncertainty. Now fully recovered, he has created the Raisin Hope Foundation to help transform hope into knowledge. The Raisin Hope Foundation's goal is threefold:

1.  Raise funding to support brain injury research

2.  Connect individuals and families whose lives have been affected by a brain injury with support and information regarding medical, physical, and emotional recovery

3.  Promote public awareness and understanding of people with disability as a result of brain injury.

On behalf of DNA Distributing and The Raisin Hope Foundation we sincerely thank you for your time and appreciate your willingness to help in our efforts to increase awareness of those affected by Traumatic Brain Injury.

Velocite Helios Aero – leading the way in aero frame design

After several years of development, Velocite has recently introduced a ground breaking new aero road frame, the Velocite Helios Aero. The frame is a result of collaboration with world championship winning aero bike designer, Lewis Mathiske. The Velocite Helios Aero utilises Lewis' exceptional aerodynamics knowledge obtained over the years working with top riders, and specialist low speed wind tunnels in Australia.

Helios Aero is unique in that it is currently the only aero road frame that satisfies two main objectives for a high performance aero road frame:

• true aero profiles within the maximum allowable limits as set by the UCI
• unsurpassed lateral stiffness matching, or exceeding the stiffness of non-aero high performance road frames, at no significant weight premium

Until now, gaining true aerodynamic benefits and at the same time achieving superior frame stiffness was difficult, with designers having to make a choice between the two.

Velocite accomplished this challenging task by utilising the best available carbon fibre composite materials and manufacturing methods in the manufacture of the Helios Aero. The advanced carbon fibre layup features extensive use of ultra high modulus carbon fibre while the high compression moulding technology ensures that both the interior and exterior of the frame are completely smooth, free of wrinkles and manufacturing debris.

Special design features such as the full carbon BB30 shell and an asymmetric head tube with carbon fibre races and a 1.5” bottom bearing ensure that the Velocite Helios Aero can climb and descend as well as the highest performance non-aero road frames.

The high compression moulding technology and the resulting smoothness of the interior of the frame enabled Velocite to implement internal cable routing entirely without internal guide tubes, allowing perfect shifting performance. This also makes the Helios Aero frame compatible with the Shimano Di2 and other emerging shift-by-wire systems.

Velocite Helios Aero uses a full carbon monocoque aero fork with a narrow profile, wide stance and carbon dropouts. The tapered 1.5” carbon steerer ensures the best stability and confidence when descending, or sprinting.

To ensure perfect fit and offer maximum versatility of use, the aero seatpost features 48mm of fore-aft adjustability allowing extreme set-forward saddle position for use as a time trial, triathlon or iron man competition bike. Saddle position of almost above the bottom bracket as well as up to 40mm of setback can be achieved using the same seatpost.

The Velocite Helios Aero bike is best suited for riders seeking the ultimate multi-stage race bike, a versatile triathlon and Ironman bike, or a technical course time trial bike.

Size medium frame weighs 1250g and will start shipping in May 2011. Other sizes will become available from June.

Velocite Magnus takes on the Tour of Battenkill

A couple of weeks ago one of our sponsored team members, Rich, had the opportunity to partake in the epic race that is the Tour of Battenkill.  Rich put the Velocite Magnus, along with several other items from the Velocite arsenal, to the test.  Here's his take on how the race unfolded and the performance of his Magnus.  Check out Rich on that epic day!

Tour of Battenkill/Magnus Review:

I've had my Magnus for about 4 months and I've ridden quite a few races on
it already, but I figured do a write-up after I rode the 102k, 50+ Category at
the The Tour of Battenkill. The Tour of Battenkill is a race in upstate NY,
starting in the town of Cambridge. It boasts ten sections of dirt road, a
covered bridge and a whole crap load of hills. It's a well organized race with a
huge participation, there are 5 men's cat 4 races alone, each with 125 riders!
The 50+ race had a field limit of 150, filled, with a waiting list!

I started the race on my Velocite Magnus frame, Licos handlebars, EtherealBottle Cages, and TLCS31 Carbon Seatpost. I do have a pair of Noir 38/50 Tubulars, but I decided to save them for another day and instead opted for a very worn (expendable) set of Zipp 303s with Gator skin tubular tires mounted
on them. I got to the start line with about 3 minute to spare after checking out
the run-in to the finish.

Starting at the back, I had about 10k (5k of which was dirt), to get to the
front before the first climb. The Magnus is very well suited for this task, it's
very stable, it goes where you point it. It took a bit of work, but by about 3k
before the climb I was comfortably in the top 20 riders. We hit the first climb,
it's paved and at its steepest maybe 18%, not crazy long though. I worked my way
up over the top without any problems. looking around it looks like the field
size is quite a bit smaller now, maybe 50 or less.

At the bottom of the decent we hit the second section of dirt, this time it's
a steep climb. Here's where my race starts to unravel, we start heading up the
climb, I'm feeling confident. The dirt is really packed down, the bike is
great. I'm thinking "man, am I glad I checked out that finish!". I no sooner
finished thinking that thought and some of the guys in front of me start to
sputter. Now I realize that the road is only smooth in the car tire tracks! Now
the top 15 guys are just rolling away. I finally find a hole to ride through and
get clear of the group I'm in, the 15 guys now have a pretty good gap. I'm
now in panic mode, the 15 guys are getting close to the top of the climb, I
don't want to be chasing on the descent, so I go flat out trying to reach them
before they hit the top. I tagged onto the back just as we crest the top. We go
flying down a short descent and we're climbing again, I still haven't recovered
from the previous effort, so I'm just trying to hang on at this point. This
climb is long and stepped, with the top in sight I finally pop. I'm wrecked,
crawling up the the rest of the climb, about 5 guys go by me like I'm standing
still, I have nothing. As I hit the top another group of about 5 catch me, this
time I manage to hang on. We're now descending fast, still on dirt, single file
and weaving though potholes, this is fun. We're slowly picking up the riders who
passed me and we can see the lead group ahead.

It takes awhile, but eventually, we reconnected with the front group making
it about 25 total. It was a pretty cool feeling though, somewhere behind us were
the remnants of the rest of the field. At 45k we hit another good size climb. I
cleared that without any incident. Up ahead was a new section they added this
year, added I believe because of construction. I had heard that the dirt
section of this new bit was pretty rough, that turned out to be very true. Lots
of loose stuff and really up and down too. I lost contact in that section with 3
other guys. We worked and traded pulls for the remainder of the race, a couple
of times we even get pretty close to getting back. The the last half of the race
was really hilly and with about 15k to go we saw them for the last time.
With 10k to go, 6 or 8, 50+ guys caught us, along with 6 or 8 guys in tow from
part of cat 4 race we had past earlier. I stayed with the guys from my race
until the finish and was able to beat all but 1 rider to the line, finishing
23rd (I had hoped for a top 10, but in the end I'm happy finishing where I did).

In closing I'd like to say, I am really happy with my Magnus and the way it
performed at in this very difficult and technical road race. I've read in
some of the forums that people feel it's a criterium bike, and it is great in
criteriums, but I think what makes it a good crit bike is the same thing that
makes it ideally suited for a hard road race like Battenkill. It's just a very
solid, predictable bike, I can honestly say I'm more confident on this bike.
Whether I'm flying down a dirt descent, riddled with potholes and gravel or
diving through the final turn in a criterium.

As far as Battenkill goes, the $75.00 entry fee is, I think, the most I've ever
paid for a single day masters race. But in the end, it was well worth it. The
course was epic and the race was very well organised.

Velocite Bikes Sponsored Team Green Line Velo

Green Line Velo driven by Zipcar recently received their new team kits.  Official team photos coming soon, but until then, a sneak peak at what they'll be wearing this season.

A little more about GLV: Green Line Velo is a Boston-based bicycle racing team, dedicated to developing young college and post collegiate talent, while fostering a high level of camaraderie. They seek to provide a team experience similar to that found in the collegiate cycling arena, to remind everyone that we are here for the love of the bike, for the spirt of competition, but most importantly, for the pursuit of fun and enjoyment for all! They believe that the bicycle provides a channel for their members to enact social good. Through competition they seek to promote that social good through their activities both on and off the bike.

We look forward to following GLV throughout the season and wish them continued success.

Velocite Carbon Frames Stiffness Data

Since the launch of Velocite, it has been our position to provide very stiff frames. Unfortunately, every bike company claims that they make stiff frames, thus our own claims about stiffness are not easily evaluated. Especially since we are not large enough yet to have our frames assessed by a third party, for example Tour Magazine.We will of course approach them later this year and will hopefully gain the invaluable third party data and validation of our own efforts.

We collect stiffness data for our frames, stiffness being the most important parameter we consider, followed by weight and then finally cost. This is not what usually happens. Cost is normally, and prudently for large companies, the first and foremost consideration when developing a new frame model. Sharing stiffness data and comparing it to another data set obtained in a different test setting, by different test administrators is actually bad science and something that should be avoided.  However I feel reasonably confident that our own test data is closely correlated to the data obtained by the EFBe method that is also used by the Tour Magazine (Head tube test, Bottom bracket test). Our test methodology is very similar due to our factory also producing frames for several German bike brands.

In essence, the frames are clamped by the dropouts and at the head tube while force is applied to the head tube for the head tube stiffness test, or to the bottom bracket for the bottom bracket stiffness test. Both tests actually measure the frame’s ability to resist torsion since torsion is the main force acting on the bike frame –  you can read more about this when our new website’s technology pages are online.

So without further ado, here are the Velocite stiffness numbers. Keep in mind that these are average numbers, and our performance targets. Individual frame stiffness may vary by up to +/- 5%.

Frame	BB N/mm	Head Tube N/deg.
Geos	120	80
Magnus	150	131
Helios Aero	150	96
Flux (MTB)	145	105

For comparison, here is a link to a blog that lists the data from one of the recent Tour tests: http://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2010/01/bicycle-frame-stiffness-numbers.html

UPDATE: Here is the stiffness data normalized for weight and in absolute terms, as supplied in the updated release from Specialized here: http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/specialized-mclaren-venge-aero-road-bike-launched-29642

                                             HT N/deg/kg      Claimed weight (kg)       HT N/deg.
Specialized Venge                          80                        0.95                          76
Specialized Venge McLaren           89.7                     0.95                          85
Felt AR1                                          56.4                     1.1                            62
Specialized Tarmac SL3*             124.3                     0.88                         109

*Tour Magazin test showed that a 0.9kg sample had HT stiffness of 116 N/deg., and BB stiffness of 65N/mm.

Please also keep in mind that our, EFBe and Tour data is not expressed in terms of stiffness to weight ratio, with units normally expressed as N/mm/kg, but in absolute stiffness numbers. Quoting stiffness to weight ratio is in my view misleading since the rider does not experience the ratio, they experience the absolute number. Stiffness to weight ratio is only useful when evaluating the raw material properties, for example when choosing the type of carbon fiber prepreg to use (although the more useful measure is FaW – fiber area weight)

Thus, assuming adequate correlation between our data and Tour’s data we can see that Magnus and Helios Aero have no peers, while Geos can stand proudly among the top of the range frames from our competitors.
This has been corroborated by our live testing and rider experience, so it is nice to be able to share this data with a good degree of confidence. Of course, as soon as we get third party test data we will make that available too.

The Velocite Magnus heads to San Antonio, TX and here's what the Lone Star State has to say.

After about 1500 miles I can honestly say the Magnus is for real.  As stated by many other riders, this machine was built to get you to the finish line as fast as possible. 

Velocite Magnus set-up:

Shimano Ultegra 6700

FSA K-Force Light crank set

3T cockpit and seat post

Velocity aerohead wheels 28F 32R

The ride:

Instantly I knew this bike was going to be the most rigid race machine I have ever ridden.  Before the Magnus I was riding an S-Works SL2 Tarmac.  The difference was night and day.  Immediately I noticed the super stiff bottom bracket, I inserted a BB sleeve as I did not have a BB30 crank set and still the stiffness was awesome.  Every ounce of effort went straight into the bike; whatever I would give, the Magnus would match.  As a bigger rider (185lbs) it is important to have a bike that can handle the forces applied by a heavier rider. 

Climbing:

First off, I am not a “climber” I just train on hills.  I took the Magnus out to Vanderpool, TX for some serious hill training (5000 ft).  This is where the stiffness really impressed me.  It would eagerly surge with every down stroke as if it were saying “is that all you got? Give.  Me.  More.”  I’d say jump, it would say how high?

Descending:

The over sized head tube and rigid frame gave me confidence in the switch backs on the descent.  The bike rides on rails.  It’s as simple as that.

Overall:           

This isn’t your grandma’s bike.  This bike is there to do a job.  I have read that the bike gets to be a bit uncomfortable after about four hours due to its rigid nature.  I disagree, I felt completely fine after two back to back days of four hour rides.  If you are looking for a comfort bike this bike is not for you.  If you want a machine that will meet your every demand then I say… Ride Velocite, Feel Invincible!    

Aaron is a member of the Bike World Racing team.  They are currently ranked, 7th overall in the amateur mens road State Cup Competition catagory and 1st in the mens amateur Central Texas Cup competition (two riders in the top 10).

Velocite Magnus Sponsored Team Review - Fast & Angry

I've been riding my Magnus now for well over a month.  Our team got the frameset as the official steed this year and I have to say I was pretty excited about trying it out.  I had heard a lot of good things about it online, and just from doing my research. 

Staight out of the box I noticed the beefy tubing and "mean" look of the frame.  It just looks fast, and angry.  I built mine up in quick form and took it out on the innagural ride.  I'll back up a second and say that I'm not a light racer.  I weigh in around 220 lbs and like to put some wattage into my pedals.  Now for the skinny (pun intended) on this bike:  I immediately noticed the power transfer of the Magnus.  I've ridden lots of bikes.  Some are stiff with a harsh ride.  Some have been soft in the rear end for a bigger guy like me.  But none have had the immediate response I've felt on the Magnus.  I feel like every single % of my effort into the pedals is going directly to the rear wheel.  I've truly never felt anything like it on a bike.  The lateral stiffness is also very impressive.  No flex in the back end either.  However, the ride has been much more enjoyable than other "stiff" bikes I've owned in the past.  Cornering is responsive, and comfortable.  I've really enjoyed racing on this machine, and look forward to many more pursuits on the Magnus.

Follow Andy and the other members of his team here.