Tired of Batteries Yet? Live on Easy Street and Get the Blackburn Flea 2.0

The Blackburn Flea 2.0 Headlight/Taillight USB Combo is a simple solution to night ride safety (Late Ride anyone?) and you never have to buy batteries for it.  The headlight and taillight are bright, easy to charge, pocket friendly, and let's face it, everybody wins when safety begins!

These lights are exceptionally bright; the LED's send light reflecting off signs far into the night, and certainly draw attention.  The Flea 2.0 offers traditional low or bright beams, or a bedazzling blinking light option.  You could be the one who scores a date because of the the impassioned light blinking from the Blackburn Taillight.

I love the fact that the Flea tells you when it's tired.  The on/off button turns red when it's time to charge it up, and that's the great part; it charges off a USB port.  Boom!  Done.  Or, check this out . . . the solar charger, it's the future, right now!

Indeed, the combo is very easy to put on, and take off when locking up at the bike rack.  Both the Blackburn Flea Headlight and Taillight can rest easy in your pocket when not in use, as they are very small.  In fact, when it's time to ride again, the headlight can be strapped on the handle bars, or they have a helmet mounting kit.  The rear light easily straps onto the seat post; it even has a clip to position it on your belt, or backpack, or messenger bag, or child seat.

The Blackburn Flea 2.0 is your buddy . . . let's make a friend!

L.A.T.E. Ride VIP Pass Facebook Cover Contest

It is time for another round of The L.A.T.E. Ride VIP pass contest.
For the second edition to our contest, you will need to design a Facebook cover over for our Village Cycle Center Facebook page.
Your cover design needs to incorporate Village Cycle Center, The L.A.T.E. Ride, and Chicago. Submitted covers will be voted on by our staff on Wednesday May 23rd at noon.Winner gets VIP passes to the L.A.T.E. Ride and their cover on our page for a month.

Rules and regulations:

Submitted Facebook Cover images must be 851x314 in .gif or .jpg format. No animated gif files.
Cover must incorporate Village Cycle Center, The L.A.T.E. Ride, and Chicago.
No profanity or nudity.
To submit a cover image, post it to our Facebook page by 5.23.12 at noon.
Covers will be voted on by our staff. Each staff member will rate submitted covers on a scale of 1-10, the cover with the most points wins. In event of a tie, we will have the two covers voted on via our Facebook page.
Village Cycle Center has the final say so in every decision. Submitting a cover to the contest gives us the rights to use the image in any marketing, advertising, or promotions.
Previous L.A.T.E. Ride VIP pass winners are not eligible to win.

Gary Fisher Mendota Review

I just took delivery of my new 2011 Mendota, so happy!  This is a fast commuter and the carbon fiber forks / seat post, provide a plush ride.  The SLX rear derailleur delivers tight shifting and makes quick work of getting my daughter (in a Topeak Child Seat) to preschool.  The ride inspires confidence in off weather; you can really throw it around in traffic and the disk brakes scrub off the speed in a hurry.

Evan, at Village Cycle got me into the Mendota and was a wealth of knowledge; it's a bike that offers an athletic ride and doubles as the "child seat bike".  Well done, and thank you!

Get one before their gone!

2011 Gary Fisher Collection Mendota available at Village Cycle Center

Continental Gatorskin and Continental Gatorskin Hardshell

Check out this post and more on the new home of our blog here:
http://blog.villagecycle.com/2012/04/continental-gatorskin-and-continental-gatorskin-hardshell/


Continental Gatorskin tires have been one of our best selling tires for a couple years now. The combination of flat protection, good ride, and Continentals great quality have helped the Gatorskin gain popularity and use around Chicago. A durable carbon black mixture, a well regarded puncture protection system and DuraSkin-anti-cut fabric turn the GatorSkin, formerly known as Ultra GatorSkin, into a real long distance runner.

The Ultra GatorSkin has set the bar for a perfectly-balanced blend of ride quality and long-term durability without breaking the bank … but still the roads of North America demand a model even tougher. The all NEW GatorHardshell delivers!!!

Sharing the bead-to-bead protection of DuraSkin, the Hardshell casing wraps further into the sidewall and an extra-wide PolyX Breaker covers the entire tread strip from shoulder-to-shoulder. Added material in the tread strip not only improves mileage, but lends yet another degree of puncture resistance.

Both Gatorskin and Gatorskin Hardshell come in a wire bead and Kevlar beaded folding version.

Continental Gatorskin and GatorHardshell.

Unique chance to see the layer of the tires before they are forever together.

With the GatorHardshell on the left, you can see the thicker rubber and wider Poly-X breaker.

Close up of the GatorHardshell.

Close up of the Gatorskin.

Many layers of protection and performance.

Our blog has moved! Check out this post and more on our new blog!
http://blog.villagecycle.com/2012/04/continental-gatorskin-and-continental-gatorskin-hardshell/

Up In the Warehouse at Village Cycle Center

When you visit our store, what you see as a customer is only about 1/4 of what makes Village Cycle Center Chicago's largest bike shop. We have about 300 bikes displayed on our sales floor, but stock about 10,000 more in the rest of our building. Along with over 200 helmets, 1000's of pairs of shoes, 2000 plus locks, and so much more. Part of what makes us unique is our ability to stock loads of gear on site to make sure we have something for everyone. Below is a tiny little bit of what you don't see from the sales floor. Aisles and aisles of bikes, stacks of shoes, and racks of accessories, all ready for you.

Lets start off with shoes. We stock Sidi, Bontrager, and Chrome foot wear. We believe in order to sell you the right size shoe, we have to have it in stock, so we stock all the sizes of each model we carry to ensure the right shoes get on the right ( and left) feet.

Wall of Sidi shoes.

Bontager foot wear. Just a tiny bit of what we carry from them.

Sidi closeouts, and Chrome kicks.

We also sell quite a bit of new saddles. While we have cases and cases of the Bontrager saddles, we also carry Fizi:k, ISM, Brooks, and Selle.

Fiz:k saddles waiting to make someones butt happy.

Don't forget to lock your wheels as well as your bike when you leave it unattended. The number one reason people buy new wheels from us is theft. We stock loads of new wheels for replacement as well as upgrades.

Couple racks full of replacement wheels. We have another room full of Easton & Bontrager wheels too.

Locks are a very important part of cycling around Chicago. We stock 1000's of locks by Trek, Kryptonite, and Abus.

Just a couple Trek Streetwise by Kryptonite.

"I gotta flat." Heard at the back counter several thousand times a year. Over 5000 tubes a year pass through these doors. We save old tubes to donate to local artists, manufactures of bike tube gear, and for use in sports rehabilitation in youth programs. If you have a need for old tubes, email info@villagecycle.com.

Incoming pile of tubes.

On our sales floor we have about 100 helmets, upstairs we have over 1000 in back stock.

Bikes. The heart of our business. And to make sure we have a bike for everyone, even on those busy, busy, summer Saturdays, we stock LOTS of bikes. Here are a some pics of bikes in stock, there are 3 floors of them, so you only get to see a couple of them.

Road bikes in boxes and out.

Aisle of bikes.

Bikes leading into our tire room. Yes, we have a room full of tires.

Bikes! You can see rooms of more bikes in the distance.

More bikes!

Even more bikes.

Road bikes built & ready to get sized, then go riding.

You want speed? We got TT bikes ready for you.

This concludes our little trip up into the Village Cycle Center warehouse. Look for more adventures upstairs and behind the scenes to come.

Trek Fest 2012 April 9th - April 23rd

This year Village Cycle Center is going the extra mile and then some. Not only does our Trek Fest 2012 Sale go longer then the other dealers, but we also are offering the $50 discount on any 2012 adult bike purchase, not just a couple bikes, but on the 1000's of 2012 models we have in stock.

Our Trek Fest 2012 sale will be running from April 9th to April 23rd to give you the time you need to get the bike you want.


Not in the market for a bike you say?

We also have 100's of great parts and accessories on sale as well.


Don't have time to get to our store?

No problem, we are offering free shipping on all online orders placed during our Trek Fest 2012 Sale.

2012 L.A.T.E. Ride & VIP Pass Contest

 

Friends of the Parks’ L.A.T.E. Ride:

Saturday night/Sunday morning July 1, 2012

Join up to 9,000 bicyclists on Saturday night/Sunday morning July 1, 2012 for Friends of the Parks’ L.A.T.E. Ride. Enjoy a 25-mile ride through Chicago's neighborhoods and along the lakefront. Cycle past skyscrapers, hear shout of "Opaah!" in Greek Town, cruise through the North Side, wave to onlookers, and watch the sun rise over Lake Michigan. Plus, you’ll enjoy music before the ride, sponsor booths to explore, refreshments before the ride and at the rest stop, and great food and beverages after your trek through the city.

Every election, politicians utter the old phrase "Chicago is a city of neighborhoods." This year, you’ll experience many exciting and distinctive neighborhoods during Friends of the Parks’ L.A.T.E. Ride!

Your adventure will begin, as always, at Buckingham Fountain, built in 1927 to provide a monumental focal point in Grant Park while protecting breathtaking lakefront views. Route highlights will include the South Loop, Chinatown, Greek Town, Chicago’s historic "Emerald Necklace" and much more. A large park on the north side will host the rest stop- plenty of open green space for food and fun! You’ll finish your trek along the glorious lakefront trail, which offers stunning skyline views.

At 25 miles - all flat except for bridges - the route is doable for cyclists of all levels.



Village Cycle Center has been a proud sponsor of the L.A.T.E. Ride for almost as many rides there has been. This year, we are giving away a couple sets of V.I.P. passes to our social media family.


Contest #1 - April 2012 - Contest is over

 Here are the details:

Post a picture of your bike to the Village Cycle Center Facebook page.
Get the most "likes" on your picture before the end of the contest and win.
Contest ends on Wednesday April 18th at noon.
Village Cycle Center has the final decision on the winners and that is that.

Hints for winning.
Get all your friends to like your post.
Share the picture and ask everyone to like it.

VIP passes to the LATE Ride include:


* entry into "VIP" wave that starts the ride
* VIP-only special refreshment tent at the rest stop
* free All-You-Can-Eat Pancake Breakfast (normally $7.00)!


Best of all, if you win them, they are free!

Contest #2 - May 2012 - Contest is over

It is time for another round of The L.A.T.E. Ride VIP pass contest.
For the second edition to our contest, you will need to design a Facebook cover over for our Village Cycle Center Facebook page.
Your cover design needs to incorporate Village Cycle Center, The L.A.T.E. Ride, and Chicago. Submitted covers will be voted on by our staff on Wednesday May 23rd at noon.Winner gets VIP passes to the L.A.T.E. Ride and their cover on our page for a month.

Rules and regulations:

Submitted Facebook Cover images must be 851x314 in .gif or .jpg format. No animated gif files.
Cover must incorporate Village Cycle Center, The L.A.T.E. Ride, and Chicago.
No profanity or nudity.
To submit a cover image, post it to our Facebook page by 5.23.12 at noon.
Covers will be voted on by our staff. Each staff member will rate submitted covers on a scale of 1-10, the cover with the most points wins. In event of a tie, we will have the two covers voted on via our Facebook page.
Village Cycle Center has the final say so in every decision. Submitting a cover to the contest gives us the rights to use the image in any marketing, advertising, or promotions.
Previous L.A.T.E. Ride VIP pass winners are not eligible to win.

Winning Contest Entry - Submitted by Aimee




Contest #3 - June 2012 - Going on now!

Post a picture of holding a sign that says "I love the L.A.T.E. Ride" to the Village Cycle Center Facebook page.
Tag The LATE Ride on your sign.
Get the most "likes" on your picture before the end of the contest and win.
Contest ends on Wednesday June 20th at noon.
Village Cycle Center has the final decision on the winners and that is that.

Here is an example

Stay tuned to Facebook and Twitter for your chances to win.
If you do not win, or you just want to save some $ on your registration, use this code VCC9A3 when you register and save $5!

Don't forget to get your bike tuned up before you ride it this summer! Here is a coupon good for $20 off your tune up!

Village Cycle Center, back in the day, about 1995.

Bird people!

Village Cycle Center in 2009 pumping up the tires and lubing the chains.

L.A.T.E. Ride mugs.

The 2011 Village Cycle Center LATE Ride crew. At least a few of them.

Fancy helmet!

The 2010 crew of Village Cycle Center

Sunrise on the lake.

L.A.T.E. Ride VIPs!

A whole bunch of L.A.T.E. Riders.