Keepers Tour Update: Contact Point Supplier: fi’zi:k
It’s crazy to me how fast two months from peaking goes by. At Christmas time I remember thinking how distant the Keepers Tour 2012 felt and that I’d have plenty of time to train. Now that time is measured in weeks instead of months and my feelings tend more toward doubt about my form. Cycling in Northeastern Minnesota in January, February, and March entails a mix of trainer time and wondering how well skate skiing will translate to riding a bike fast and far. I hope those frites are fried in clenbuterol.
Of course there are myriad other ways the other Keepers and I have been preparing for the Keepers Tour. Aside from the mundane tasks of making plane reservations and figuring out train schedules from Amsterdam to Lille, there are the fun tasks of acquiring new gear for our #1 Steeds which we’ve chronicled on these pages. We’ve had numerous shouting matches that have ended with at least one of us storming out of the boardroom over t-shirt designs, Gianni’s VMH has been frantically sewing musettes (they live on Maui so how frantic could it be?), Brett has been scouring travelogues of Amsterdam’s red light district in between training and racing with Rigid in the Austral summer, and I shudder every time I think of what Frank’s to-do list is like. I’ve seen it – it’s three pages long. All this, when executed perfectly, is surely going to amount to the most rad week of drunken debauchery Flanders has ever known and that’s really saying something. There’s no way they’ll let us back there which is why we’ve also begun planning the next Keepers Tour in Italy for the Giro.
With these preparations we are excited to announce fi’zi:k as the official contact point supplier of the Keepers Tour. We’ve extolled the quality, style, and passion fizik has for cycling since we started this site. In fact, I’d say most of us in the community ride, at a minimum, their bar tape. As it happens, the good folks at fizik aren’t offended enough by what we do and are followers of the site; a partnership was the next obvious step for two groups of people so unyieldingly devoted to Cycling.
What this partnership represents to us is affirmation of our community from the broader cycling world – a community that has grown with us and continues to contribute to our identity and which challenge us to be better. fizik values what we do and have agreed to support us in doing more of it, in style, with rad gear. This partnership doesn’t mean tiles or ads cluttering up the clean look of the site any more than fizik clutters up the clean lines of their saddles and shoes with unnecessary accouterments. It does mean that you’ll see more Keepers riding with more fizik gear and consequently a few articles related to fizik products, some tweets, friendfacing, and a few embedded links (per usual). Keepers Tour attendees will also find a few fizik goodies tucked inside their Velominati Mussette. And, if you haven’t already noticed, pay attention the next time you type “f-i-z-i-k” into a post, our boy-genius programmer did something nifty there as well. We’ll also emphasize that it is our strict policy that no Reverence article will ever be written by request of a vendor and, while we may elect to continue to Revere the fizik line of products, designation of a product as Reverence-worthy is solely at the discretion of the author.
For our part, we approached fizik because we believe in their products. Reverence for the best gear available is the domain of the Velominatus and we know that while you may disagree with our specific choices, you feel the same way in principle. That’s why you’re here. fizik is one of us; have a look at their site, check out the feedzone newsletter, even subscribe to them on twitface if you’re so inclined. They do a lot of insightful and behind the scenes posting about some of our favorite teams and riders – stuff you won’t get from the usual suspects.
What it boils down to is that fizik is Rule compliant. That’s something we can all get behind.
Nice! Will be more appropriate when my bar gets wrapped with the new fizik tape.
BTW, you had me at drunken debauchery. I’m engaged in that specific training right now.
Awesome. Now that you’ve got their ear can you ask them to produce finishing tape by the roll. I can see that technical incompetence allied with a touch of OCD (very mild compared to @frank’s) is going to result in me re-wrapping my bars on a regular basis for aesthetic reasons rather than tape wear. Plus it’s look cooler than an electrical electrical tape covering to elastoplasts when I slice the end of one of my fingers off.
Can’t wait to hear about the Italian trip !!!gesticulating wildely with my hands
I put lizardskin tape on my bars a few weeks ago, but had the shop rewrap them with fi’zi:k tape this last week when I took it in for some work. Only one ride in and I can tell I’ll like the feel far better than the lizardskin.
Very cool.
I wish I was going just for the fizik goodies!
Giro tour ??? Presumably 2013..? BTW cool as fuck to partner up with Fizik. Great move.
OK, so what happens when you type “f-i-z-i-k” into your post? So are we going to have some kind of discount code that we can use to get discounts? I need info man, ’cause the LOOK bar tape on my 586 sucks.
Also this reminds me that I need to regrip ASAP.
Oi..cyclopops…loook. Fizik fizik fizik
You want discount on $20 bar tape when you have a $6000 bike…
@paolo
+1
@Chris
Seriously – it should be for sale separately. I very often wind up buying a new set of tape only because its time to replace the finishing tape because the actual bar wrap lasts so long!
@RedRanger
Fixed your post.
@paolo
Indeedlidoo. That’s the plan. Think big and we’ll go bigger.
@frank
Thank you sir. It looked strange when I hit that submit button but couldn’t pin point it.
Big fan of fizik here… Bar tape? Check! Saddle? Check! Shoes? Ummm, no. Sorry, I think they need a little work on styling before they supplant my Orange Sunshine Carnacs.
@frank
Wow…that’s really got my attention Frank..tricky though coz my vmh would want in on that too.
@frank
Hmmm…. I’d heard from reliable sources that it would be Worlds 2013, not Giro. Inquiring minds want to know…
@frank
I have a sneaking suspicion that whatever happens in Belgium and Amsterdam is going to get you kicked out of and banned from the EU as a whole. Should start planning to go to the Tour of Utah instead.
Hey I wonder if you cant get them to do tape with “obey the rules” or some such where the fizik logo is on the fizik logo bar tape..just a random thought.
I think Velominati guidelines are needed in the cleaning and general guidelines for use of white bar tape. Have had white bar tape on a winter bike for two months, have cleaned it every ride and it’s still got grubby. I’m sure I’m in breech of one of the rules.
I’ve been sold on the tape and saddle for a while now. Great stuff. I would get he shoes in a heart beat if I could. Twit face, check!
@sgt
Having seen them in person, the Carnacs are pretty magnif, and go great with the V-kit.
@scaler911
What happens in Flanders stays in Flanders?
Will this mean things like Velominati Special Edition saddles or bar tape? How about “Rule #V” on the heel of the shoes? (which aren’t to my taste but I know plenty here love them)
@Nate
Well sure, until their antics are headline news on BBC and CNN.
@paolo
Ah you beat me to it.
Giro trip!! Now we’re talking!!
We’ll done on the fizik thing too! I’ve got an Arione and am Antares; both are great for me. I’ll try the tape when my supply of Cinelli cork runs out.
@Cyclops
And how long have you had that LOOK? You’re sure a lazy cat 4, rewrap that shit stat!
I’ve been planning on retaping my bars since reading the Ride Like A Leader article a couple of weeks ago. I was torn about going with the fizik tape, though, because I know I will have to live up to the performance improvement it demands of me.
Perhaps it is the other way around, though. I bought a pair of white ladies a month ago, and I have noticed an improvement in my riding. Is it psychological or do the ladies actually provide a real performance boost? I may never know. Perhaps the addition of fizik bar tape to my #1 will further boost my riding abilities.
@sgt
The Fizik white Ladies are finally available stateside. In the meantime I’ll kindly wait for you to revise your “styling” comment.
Will there be a brewery partner?
@sgt
Why not both? Think big, and we’ll go bigger…
@Shepster
Get the microtex white tape for starters – I never look at it and it stays white. Here’s my rain bike after one of the wettest, grubbiest, rainiest 200km I’ve ever ridden in my life.
Aside from that, its easy just to take a pan of water with some dawn or some such dish detergent, and and clean brush and just brush the bars lightly. That seems to safely clean cork, synthetic, and every other kind of tape I’ve ever used.
But if you right white bars on a rain bike, I can’t recommend the microtex highly enough (not the softtouch stuff though). It stays absolutely pristine. After an entire season, its flawless. I’ll change it for next seaon, but only because I’ll replace the cables, not because its worn or dirty.
@Kyle
For Keepers Tour, there is. Malteni Beer. (Not a joke. Its real.)
For @all who are suggesting Fizik V-branded products, none are in the works, but you’re all geniuses. Keep the ideas coming!
@paolo
Velominatus Budgetatus – how do you think a guy that grosses less than $30k a year can ride a $6k bike?
@scaler911
We’re having a flag and a streamer made. I’m praying to Merckx we don’t get it stuck in Boonen’s cluster.
@frank
Get the guy who makes the decals to produce V-bar finishing tape. He must have some connections.
@scaler911
Surely Australian Broadcasting Corp or Sporza will scoop BBC and CNN on any such antics?
@Flying Crowbar
Does it matter? You have tapped into the fundmental principle of this site and The Rules. If you know you Look Fantastic, you will ride like it.
@frank
I think I saw those on George Valentin…
@frank
Have you told us the story behind that stem? Pure genius.
@Flying Crowbar
That’s exactly what I’m hoping for!
@frank
A 3T special run of shiny bars/stems.
thats icing on the cake for me man! Fizik Cyrano post for my Belgian girl, which rides like shitfire fast, first ride out this weekend. Now i just gotta don her out with primo goodies now that its all sized and dialed in!!
@frank
aka: self-fulfilling prophecy
also, see Rule No. V and apply as necessary for speed
@sgt
That’s interesting because I think this guy is wearing yours.
@Souleur
Fantastic. Also fixed your post.
Cogal in Belgium sounds very cool. I am sure there will be an extensive recap here that I am looking forward to! That and the pictorial recap of the drunken red light district adventures….F-i-z-i-k.
@frank
Funny, I was thinking that last night…….and look uphill before you step out for a photo!
@frank
I think you might be on to something with the self-fulfilling proVecy (nice!) theory. There have been a few days where I’m riding like crap and look down at the ladies and think, “I better ride like I’m worthy of these things.”