Passion Trail Bikes, Belmont, CA - specialists in quality bike service and custom-built mountain bikes

Demo Days Bike Reservation List is UP!!

Patty — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:34:00 +0000

WOOT! We have published the Demo Days Bike List and it is available for you to look over HERE. Call or email us with your reservation request, including the following info:

Rider’s Name
Rider’s Cell Phone Number
Bike Model
Bike Size
Reservation Date and Time
Pedal Preference (yours, or our platforms, or our SPDs)

Also, a quick note from Mark of MBOSC, the group ride that was scheduled for tomorrow at Soquel Demo as part of the film festival has been canceled due to soggy trail conditions. The Jump Jam is still on. See their www.mbosc.org website for details.

We are hiring! Full Time Mountain Bike Customer Service and Merchandise Specialist

Patty — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:10:00 +0000

We are thriving! This important new position in our sales department offers an exceptional opportunity to help our business grow, if you are a motivated, self-directed, problem-solving person.

We need someone with a combination of bike knowledge, customer service, sales, visual design and merchandising, buying and inventory management, and leadership skills.

Details after the break

Bike knowledge: This position requires that you know a lot about mountain bikes. Some mechanical aptitude is required; you should have the ability to make fitting adjustments, minor tune-ups, assembly, etc. You should be adept in discussing both big-picture topics such as different riding styles and ride characteristics of different bikes, as well as the finer points of various mountain bike suspension types, pros and cons of various parts, accessories, equipment, and clothing etc.

Customer service, sales skills: You should be able to intelligently talk with avid mountain bike enthusiasts to determine their specific background, goals, needs, wants, budget. Your job will be helping people select and buy the right bike, the right gear. You will need to be able to manage the sales floor and work as a team leader with other sales and service department staff to satisfy customer service and sales needs.

Visual design, merchandising aptitude: This position also requires that you have excellent visual merchandising skills. You will be required to identify opportunities to improve our merchandising and execute amazing visual displays. You will create and manage improvements and maintenance to our sales floor plan, point-of-purchase fixtures, and signage.

Buying & inventory management: You would be helping us select new product to bring into the store, manage our current product inventory, and move stale inventory out by implementing markdowns and closeouts. Involves receiving, shipping, database management and report generation, and warrantee management duties. Some back office work will be a regular part of your day.

Leadership experience: Our sales staff are good people but we have blind spots and priorities that pull us away from areas where we could be improving. We are looking for someone who is experienced in leading project teams and in being a motivating influence on others. Sales management experience is a plus.

Other: We have a lot of other needs. What skills do you have?

Compensation based on qualifications and experience; benefits include health insurance, paid vacation, and other perks. Start date is ASAP.

To apply for this position, please send your resume as an attachment to info@passiontrailbikes.com; include a cover letter summarizing your qualifications and reason for applying. Please, no phone calls or in-person inquiries.

Bike of the Month Santa Cruz Tallboy

Charles — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:53:00 +0000

Passion recently had the pleasure of building up a Santa Cruz Tallboy 29r for one of our customers. Alan invested a lot time making sure he was getting the best possible bike for his intended riding, and what follows is his story:

Last year when I first started riding I was given an old rigid mountainbike. It didn’t take me but a little more than a month to figure out that this bike while it gave me the bug for commuting, just wasn’t going to cut it. It was very old and worn out. I wasn’t quite ready to put down a bunch of money on a high end bike yet though, and I’m glad I didn’t at that time, because I had no idea of what I really wanted or needed. I did however pick up a 20 year old Stumpy that would get me through the next year to make sure I was going to stick with this new hobby (if it can really be called that).

I remember in the Spring I was really starting to think about a new bike, something with full suspension, and disc brakes. At the time, I hadn’t even considered a carbon mountain bike. Looking around at the local shops I was admiring the newer Stumpy’s, and Giant’s, I had even been considering an online order of a cheap bike. Then came along Passion’s 2009 spring demo day. I don’t even remember what other bikes I rode except for the 08 Specialized Stumpy 29er. One ride was all it took to realize that my new bike was most definately going to be a 29er. Things that scared me to death on my old stumpy were easy as cake on this 29er (mind you, I was still a fairly new rider).

At this time I hadn’t even been considering a bike from SC, but all summer long, I observed and studied up more on bikes. I observed other riders on their bikes with differen suspension setups and such. Then I began to read about the differences between SC’s VPP and other setups. I went back and forth about what bike I really wanted to get at the end of the year. I really wanted a 29er, but I even considered the Mojo since everyone who owned them seem to really like them. My attention imediately turned to Santa Cruz as i began to hear rumors about a 29er coming from them. I know these guys are pretty arogant about their bikes, but they have pretty good reason to be. I pretty quickly became glued to the 104Bronson blog, looking everyday for updates. As more details began to emerge about the Tallboy there was no doubt what bike I was going to get at the end of the year. VPP is definately a good way to go, no doubt, but I really had no idea at this time, how great it really was. I think the carbon bug got more of me than it really should have at the time, but being carbon was a definate plus. The next dillema I went through was that the Stumpy 29er FSR was essentially a 5 inch bike but the Tallboy was really only a 4 inch. I pondered over this quite a bit. In the end I decided 4 inches was plenty, and putting the 120mm forks on the front kinda makes up for it. All that being said, the 29er FSR is a great bike but I think the Tallboy is going to kick it’s butt.

The Aftermath

I’ve had the Tallboy for a little over a month now. The first few weeks have showed me that I still have a lot of technique to develop, but at least now I have a bike now to develop it on. I was thinking during the first week that the old Stumpy hard tail might have been a better climber, but I don’t think that any more. The Tallboy is really happy spinning in the saddle or getting out of the saddle and mashing up climbs. For the first time ever, I have actually passed several people on the climb out of Demo, and that made me very happy. There have been many times when I expected to spin out on a steep technical, but instead left with a big grin after discovering how well the rear tracks with the ground. Today out at Fort Ord on a super steep sandy section I actually made it further up than a friend of mine who is far better at steep climbs than I am. I was very happy to see that happen.

Pointing the bike downhill is everything I ever dreamed of in a bike. Over these past 5 rides I have been pushing the down hill harder and harder and this guy just holds the line. From sharp switch backs where you might think you don’t have enough space to turn but instead you just point the front wheel and go, to high speed rocky terrain where the bike just floats where you need it to (the old bike used to choose the line, now I choose).

With the rain over the last week, I decided to go ahead and put the old bike back together and do some trainer miles in the garage. The first day, I had a really hard time because the geometry has you so far over the front that it seems downright uncomfortable now. I’m wondering how I ever even took this thing down technical stuff at all. I’m wanting to switch back to the old bike to keep from putting commuting miles on the new bike, but I just don’t know if I can stand sitting on the old thing for an hour at a time anymore.

I am very happy with the purchase of my new bike, and I couldn’t imaging purchasing it from another shop besides Passion.

Holiday Hours

Patty — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:28:00 +0000

Monday December 21: Closed
Tuesday December 22: 10:00am to 7:00pm
Wedndesday December 23: 10:00am to 7:00pm, followed by Holiday Lights Ride
Thursday December 24 (Christmas Eve): 10:00am to 2:00pm
Friday December 25 (Christmas Day): Closed
Saturday December 26: 9:00am to 6:00pm
Sunday December 27: 12:00pm to 5:00pm

Monday December 28: Closed
Tuesday December 29: 10:00am to 7:00pm
Wedndesday December 30: 10:00am to 7:00pm
Thursday December 31 (New Years Eve): Closed for Inventory
Friday January 1 (New Years Day): Closed
Saturday January 2: 9:00am to 6:00pm
Sunday January 3: 12:00pm to 5:00pm

Happy new year!

Yeti ASR-C con Dos Equis

Charles — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:52:00 +0000

This comes from one of our favorite customers and frequent flyer, Tom Rice:

I just upgraded my illustrious Yeti with the new SRAM XX components: brakes, shifters, derailleurs, crankset, chain and cassette. So, on Thanksgiving day(the Yeti and I have much to be thankful for), we went for a short, inaugural test ride at Belmont’s Waterdog park. Here are my impressions of SRAM’s efforts.

First. I expected to be very pleased with this setup. Even so, I was surprised how much better SRAM’s Dos Equis is. I think the component set looks glorious and the whole esthetic is simply lean. Plus, as they say in the world of engineering and modern architecture, form should follow function. SRAM seems to have made every effort to maximize function. Then they took the form to the next level. Even the logo is subtly integrated into the shape of the parts. Many of the new cool features are obvious like the single handle bar clamp for shifter and the brake but some of the lesser known improvements are just as sweet. For example, the routing of the tail end of the rear shifter cable is inside the parallelogram of the derailleur so the cable end no longer gets wacked around by close encounters with local foliage – nice.

First ride:

This was a mellow and social ride with a few downhill sections where I neglected to use the brakes much and a couple of climbs where my gearing had me pulling away – this bike is sooo fast, I just can’t help it.

Shifting: XX is smooth and fast, really fast, with the most noticeable improvements up front. The front shifts like a cassette – quick and super positive. This was anticipated but I wasn’t really prepared for the front derailleur to be as quick shifting down as it is shifting up. I’m hoping this will be a real advantage racing next season! … optimal gearing at the optimal time without reservation.

BTW, hard pedaling upshifts at the cassette sound different on XX. Maybe it’s because of the unbelievable CNC work required to carve 8 cogs of the 10 speed cassette out a single piece of steel. No matter what the reason, I will say this: it does have a nice ring to it. (hehe)

Net, net: the shifting at the rear derailleur is just as fast as XO and the front is much faster. All is very positive. Chain alignment is straight up (only two front rings) so none of that chain jumping around when ratcheting for technical trail features.

Brakes: I opted for a compromise – that is, I chose the 140mm rear brake rotor. This means less modulation but lighter weight. So, with the stock metal brake pads, the rear brake is a little grabby. This will be easily solved by running a resin brake pad. Otherwise, the brakes are great. Lever travel is minimal with a nice firm feel once the pads are in contact with the rotor. Plenty of power and good modulation. This works well with my one finger braking skills (or lack thereof).

Gearing: I selected the biggest gearing offered (that is, the biggest available so far. I will say that I’m waiting for the 45-30 chainrings to become available). I did not miss my small chain ring at all. With 42-28 chainrings and a 11-32 10 speed cassette, I had all the gears I needed for the ‘dog. Maybe in places where pedaling speeds reach 42+mph, bigger gears would be nice… but really, in the dirt, how often does that happen? (Okay, the answer to that question is two places: One is the Sea Otter Classic and the other I won’t mention because of a Ranger enforced 15mph speed limit which I’m sure I’ve never exceeded. Sure. Whatever.)

Anyway, here’s what I think. XX is really very nice. It looks great, is lighter in weight and out performs every other groupo available. This is an XC setup so it is light weight. Very light weight… actually the weight is so carefully considered that SRAM even worries about the weight of the tools you might carry on a ride. SRAM worked it out so that the only tool you need to carry is an T-25 Torx “L” key. With this simple tool, you can do everything from a lever position adjustment to a cable tension adjustment to a snugging up of a chainring bolt. One tool fits every useful fastener on the entire component groupo. SRAM has tried to think of everything!

But the best part is I can now say the new name of my Yeti at the same time as I order one of my preferred beverages: Dos Equis por favor!!

Fall Ladies Night

Charles — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:15:00 +0000

The Specialized Women’s Specific Demo Rides and Body Geometry Presentation on Wednesday night was a successful and fun event that brought together women from around the area.

We took some Specialized demo bikes out for rides, with one group doing dirt up at Waterdog, putting some Safires and Eras through a few singletrack tests, and another group hitting the road with feather light Rubys. Our trail riders reported enjoying the stiffness of the full suspension carbon frames, with the brain technology keeping the bike feeling quick and nimble on the climbs, yet active on the downhills. The Ruby riders liked the vibration damping qualities of the zerts inserts in the fork, seat stays and seat post, not to mention the overall speedy feeling of these awesome bikes that take the same concept of the men’s Roubaix and size the frame and spec the components to suit womens’ proportions better.

After the rides we gathered for a little food and levity, with tasty potluck dishes, and some laughter inducing drinks. The evening presentation covered some of the science and technology behind the Body Geometry products that Specialized has designed to deal with many of the issues associated with contact points on the bike: chamois and saddle, lever reach adjusters, ulnar nerve gel buttons in gloves, shoe sizing and sole designs, and more.

We’re looking forward to having Amy Shreve back again in the spring for our March Demo Days. She’s a font of information and works with a company that is rightfully proud of their success in making products that work for women. Thank you Specialized for sending her our way!

New DVDs in stock!

Pancho — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:42:00 +0000

We got a box full of DVDs earlier in the week containing some good footage to get you through the winter season.

The first of the two new DVD releases we have is Redbull Rampage Evolution which showcases 27 of the world’s best big mountain riders take on Virgin, Utah’s most challenging terrain. Huge cliffs, big sender gaps and gut wrenching crashes should keep you entertained during the off season.

RED BULL RAMPAGE THE EVOLUTION 2008 DVD Trailer from UniTy Bikes on Vimeo.

Second is the highly anticipated film from Chain Link Productions, Barred For Life. This video features riders like Cam McCaul, Andreu Lacondeguy, Andrew Taylor, Greg Watts and Jordie Lunn pushing the limits on what is humanly possible on a mountain bike.

Barred For Life Teaser 2 from Bjorn Aunet on Vimeo.

Along with these two new videos, we were also able to restock some of the old favorites like Days of Dirt and Tipping Point.

Demo Bikes For Sale

Pancho — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:37:00 +0000

It’s the end of the season and the 2010 bikes are rolling in from most of the manufacturers. In turn we are selling off a few of our demo bikes to make room for a few new ones we have coming in.

The first couple of bikes up for sale are two 2009 Specialized Enduro Expert SLs in XL and M. They feature adjustable Fox Talas forks that allows the rider to pick their level of travel between 140, 120 or 100mm, complete with compression/rebound adjust and lockout. The fork is accompanied by a Fox Triad rear shock that was custom-tuned for the Stumpjumper to enable on-the-fly three-position damping with open, lockout and ProPedal settings, plus adjustable rebound. Other highlights include custom Avid Elixir brakes, XTR rear derailleur, and DT swiss X420SL rims. The full specs can be found here. Price is $2100. Original MSRP was $4600

We also have a large 2008 Specialized S-Works Stumpjumper FSR. The frame features FACT 10m carbon main triangle, Az1 construction, M5 alloy chainstays with Brain mount, FACT 10m carbon seatstays with carbon drive side dropout, DMD Direct Mount F.Der, full cartridge bearing pivots, and 120mm of travel. The Future Shock S120 fork contains the rail Tune inertia valve, adjustable Brain Fade and rebound, and piggyback one sided air spring and damper. Full specs can be found here. Price is $3700. Original MSRP was $6700

Next is our small, black anodized, Santa Cruz Blur XC bike. It includes a Rock Shox Reba SL fork paired with a Fox Float R, Shimano LX cranks, XT rear derailleur with an SLX front derailleur. WTB Rocket V seat on a Race Face post with a Cane Creek headset and Avid Juicy 5 brakes. This bike is quick, snappy and trail ready. Price is $1800. Original MSRP was $3000

Last but not least is our 2009 medium Giant Reign XO. Its key components include a Fox 36 Float RC2 fork with 160mm of travel, a Fox DHX 4.0 air rear shock, SRAM X.9 shifters/X.0 rear derailleur with Avid Elixer CR disc brakes, Crank Brothers Joplin adjustable seatpost, WTB LaserDisc Trail rim/WTB LaserDisc Lite 20mm hub wheelset. Full specs can be found here. This bike has an ideal all mountain setup and is perfect for riding Downieville along with all your local trails. Price is $2900. Original MSRP was $4650

The pictures above are not of the exact bikes for sale and are posted for reference. Please contact Pancho at (650) 690-9798 or pancho@passiontrailbikes.com with any questions.

October Demo Followup

Charles — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:03:00 +0000

Whew! We just had a fantastic weekend running our third Fall demo event at the shop. We had major league participation from Giant, Specialized, and Santa Cruz for the first time, and were also able to round out this fleet with bikes from Maverick and Ibis, allowing us to send out over 200 separate test rides over the two days. I want to thank everyone that participated, from those that came to tempt themselves by looking at new hardware, to the benevolent bunch that volunteered to help us keep things running smoothly, to those that just left a little extra in the til or the tip jar before the end of the day. We have been getting a lot of positive strokes and good feedback since Sunday, and it would not have been as good without everyone’s help.

I still want to hear what bikes you liked, what you liked about them, what you didn’t see or get to try, and what surprised you. Add a comment to this thread, or shoot something out to info@PassionTrailBikes.com. Santa Cruz left some bikes here for a couple extra days, so I was able to get a long ride in on a Blur LT Carbon yesterday. Look for a more thorough ride report on that one from me soon.

We ran special pricing on all bikes this past weekend, special orders and stock bikes included, and sold a few bikes and frames in the process. If you are regretting not taking advantage of that and getting one for yourself, let me, Berry, or Pancho know and we will do what we can for you.

I am updating Passion’s Flickr page tonight, and a few images from the weekend are already posted here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51326343@N00/sets/72157622385579697/

Passion Demo Days Oct 3 & 4

Patty — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:19:00 +0000

We are having our Fall Demo Days on October 3 & 4, with plenty of bikes to test ride at Waterdog Park. FREE!

Check out the list of bikes and make a reservation here: http://spreadsheets.google.com

Some of the bikes that are available include the Santa Cruz Tall Boy 29er, and their long travel V-10 and Driver 8, the Specialized Demo 8, and the new fabulous Stumpjumpers and Enduros, the Ibis Mojos, and Giant is bringing a HUGE truck full of bikes including the Glory and Faith, plus many Trances and Reigns. And MORE. Please see the list here!

ALSO WE WILL HAVE ROAD BIKES! Giant is bringing their TCR, Avail, and Defy Advanced road bikes, and Specialized is bringing their Tarmac, Amira, and Roubaix, including a couple models with the new electronic Dura Ace shifting sytem.

A sea of test bikes from Specialized occupied half our driveway at the Spring Demo Days