A collection of stories, news and information that we thought you might find interesting and relevant. Why do North American’s waste so much time in cars when bikes are more…
Places to Ride: The Catalan Pyrenees
Crisp mountain wind cools as we ascend through the switchback. Lost in thought, as I pedal, gazing to the peak ahead, I feel each movement, hear each sound and smell…
Has gearing been the greatest technical shift in the last 20 years?
By Michael Barry In the last 20 years, the most significant technological shifts in professional cycling have not been related to aero wheels or bike weight but the gear ratios…
Summer Books 2020: Cycling – Wall Street Journal
By Michael Barry for the Wall Street Journal. As a young boy who dreamed of riding the Tour de France, I devoured any cycling-related book or magazine I could find.…
Shifting Gears: A brief history of derailleurs
Multiple gears, whether they are the internal hub variety or the derailleur, are the most complex mechanisms on bicycles. An internal hub gear can be interesting enough, but to fully…
Time for reflection and the reengineering of Professional Cycling?
As the professional cycling peloton rolls indoors on its home trainers due to the Covid19 lockdown, the continuation of the 2020 racing season looks increasingly unlikely. Sean Kelly, the retired…
Stagiaire.
An excerpt from the book Mountains: Epic Cycling Climbs by Michael Blann. This chapter was written by Michael Barry, about his experience on the Cormet de Roselend, in the French Alps. They chatted as…
BMX: Escape, Freedom, Relief…
Three dots in the distance, bounced, swayed, and jumped as I pedaled along the bike path, heading home from work. The park, which follows a ravine and a river that…
DesignTO Exhibition Jan. 17 – 26: F40 / M50
The ‘F40/M50’ project is the result of a collaboration between Mariposa Bicycles, as we celebrate 50 years of building frames using traditional lugged steel construction, and Fig40, an award winning…
F40 / M50 Design Process
The F40/M50 stool is brazed and painted in the Mariposa workshop using bicycle lugs, tubing and paint. The crown/baseplates at the top of the stool were made in Toronto in…
The Off Season
By Michael Barry for Soigneur Journal Floating in the belly of the peloton, my thoughts drifted to the off season, as they often did during late autumn races. A team…
On the bike, slogging through mud, suffering from the effort, and smiling.
A look back at cyclocross over the years with a selection of photos from the World Championships at Crystal Palace, in 1973. By Michael Barry. Photos by Clare Barry, Mike…