DURANGO, Colo. (BRAIN) — Colorado-based sports drink manufacturer Tailwind Nutrition has appointed Podium Imports to be the exclusive Canadian distributor of Tailwind's Endurance Fuel throughout Canada.

Previously, Canadian customers have had to buy from Tailwind directly or from retailers who incur steep customs and shipping costs to get the product delivered to them.

"The demand for Tailwind in the Canadian market has been clear for some time now," Tailwind Nutrition co-founder Jenny Vierling said. "Customers have been asking for it, so we're thrilled to finally make it available more broadly through retailers. We're also excited to offload the shipping and customs hassle for Canadian customers and retailers."

She said Podium Imports, a distributor of quality cycling, running, fitness and nutrition products to independent retailers across Canada, was a natural fit for Tailwind. 

"I am very excited to be adding this brand to Podium," Podium owner Brian McCoy said. "The organic roots of the company are much like ours, and there is plainly a demand in the Canadian market for Tailwind. It was actually several of our dealers that identified Tailwind as a brand they would like local access to, so the existing demand tells me a lot about the future success of Tailwind in Canada."

Tailwind's Endurance Fuel, in both caffeinated and non-caffeinated flavors, will be available throughout Canada in 30- and 50-serving bags, as well as single-serving sachets. Canadian dealers interested in ordering can contact Podium Imports at 250-493-1144 or sales@podiumimports.ca.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. (BRAIN) — Pedego Electric Bikes has opened six new stores across Canada, bringing the total number of Canadian Pedego stores to eight and the total worldwide to 132.

The new Canadian stores are located in Calgary, Kawartha Lakes, Vancouver, Prince Edward County, Hamilton and Oyama. They join previously opened Canadian stores in Qualicum Beach and Victoria, both of which opened in 2014.

"We are delighted to be increasing the availability of Pedego electric bikes with six new stores, making Pedego the fastest-growing electric bike brand in Canada," said Mike Clyde, owner of the Pedego distribution center for Canada, located in Nelson, British Columbia. "Our new store owners share a passion for Pedego electric bikes, and they love helping Canadians reconnect with the fun of bike riding."

The new Pedego stores in Canada are:

Pedego Calgary. M15 200 Barclay Parade SW, Calgary, AB; owner Cal Whiting
Pedego Kawartha Lakes. 47 William St., Bobcaygeon, ON; owner Allen Hussey
Pedego Vancouver. 2774 W. 4th Ave., Vancouver, BC; owner Ann MacLennan
Pedego Prince Edward County. 39 Stanley St., Unit C, Bloomfield, ON; co-owners Pat and Gillian Maloney
Pedego Hamilton, 4-1808 Rymal Road East, Hannon, ON; co-owners Glen and Catherine Doe
Pedego Oyama. 15660 Oyama Rd. Lake Country, BC; co-owners Murray and Sheila Fraser along with Daryl and Susan Frick

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BRAIN) — Barnett Bicycle Institute has announced new partnerships with Bafang and Light Electric Vehicle Association. The brands will be joining BBI's E-Bike Fundamentals class, which kicks off June 25. 

Bafang is an e-bike motor and component maker, and an important supplier to the e-bike industry.

LEVA is a global e-bike advocate and trade organization. LEVA educates technicians on e-bike technology, and will be offering BBI students LEVA Levels 1-4 certification.

The 2018 E-Bike Fundamentals course dates are June 25-28, and Nov. 12-15. The course will cover e-bike related topics ranging from the class system and e-bike access to hands-on technical practice of fundamental electronics that apply to all e-bike systems. The course will also cover hands-on education for major systems including Bosch, Shimano STEPS, and Bafang.

Contact BBI for more information or to enroll: manager@bbinstitute.com; 719-632-5173.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (BRAIN) — Cane Creek Cycling Components is making a limited edition of its HELM 27.5 fork in a “Cherry Bomb” color scheme.

The fork has matte black lowers with a firecracker red metallic gloss crown and graphics. It’s available in both coil- and air-sprung versions, and production will be limited to a total of 100 forks sold on a first come, first served basis.

“With the Fourth of July right around the corner, it’s time for riders to declare their independence from mass-produced suspension,” said Sam Anderson, product manager for Cane Creek. “The HELM 27.5 Cherry Bomb combines hand-built performance with a look that will light up the trail. This fork definitely makes a statement.”

The company began accepting orders for the Cherry Bomb edition on Thursday, with the first forks shipping in July. It retails for $1,100.

More information: canecreek.com/product/helm-cherry-bomb-edition.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (BRAIN) — QBP has announced the winners of its 2018 winners of the QBP Community Grant program. The six grant recipients are: Foothill Cyclery in San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Over the Edge Sports/Destination Development in Fruita, Colo.; Bicycle Garage Indy in Indianapolis; Fresh Bike Service Inc. in Roswell, Ga.; Athens Bicycle in Athens, Ohio; and Velofix in Toronto.

"The amount of passion, dedication and commitment to this industry we've already seen from these six winners is amazing! We couldn't be more excited about the work they are doing," said Kim Marek QBP Community Grant Director.

Marek said the process of selecting recipients from over 80 proposals was extremely difficult. The six winners stood out because of their demonstrated commitment to their communities and passion for increasing ridership, she said.

The selected projects vary widely in scope and audience, but all of them accomplish the goal of getting more butts on bikes. A few of the chosen projects include: building over 80 miles of singletrack in Wayne National Forest, establishing a mountain biking nonprofit for military veterans, and offering women's shop clinics, skill clinics, and trail building sessions.

The grant programs sponsors were SRAM, Burley, Stan's NoTubes, Wolf Tooth, Park Tool, Ortlieb, Küat, NiteRider, DT Swiss, Osprey, Kali Protectives, Garneau, WTB, Jagwire, Wheels Manufacturing Inc., Kryptonite, RockShox, Lizard Skins, and Five Ten. All brand donations were matched by the QBP Fund.

More information: qbp.com/community-grant-winners.

CHEROKEE, N.C. (BRAIN) — Motion Makers Bicycle Shop, which has stores in Sylva and Asheville, is opening a third location, in Cherokee, on June 16. Motion Makers is partnering with Outdoor 76, an outdoor sports store, on the location on Big Cove Road.

The stores' grand opening weekend will coincide with the Fire Mountain Inferno XC & Enduro event.

The shop sits at the gateway to Smoky Mountain National Park at the beginning of the popular Oconaluftee River trail head. The newly developed Fire Mountain Trail system is right next door, along with nearby Western Carolina University and Tsali trails. It's also near the southern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway and several legendary gravel bike routes in the national park. 

"Cherokee has slowly evolved into an outdoor gateway for the Smoky Mountains," said owner Kent Cranford. "We are excited to offer bikes and gear for the adventures that are literally steps from our front door."

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. (BRAIN) — On the heels of the Dirty Kanza, which took place last weekend, Interbike – The Podcast talks to the Emporia event’s organizers including Jim Cummins and LeLan Dains about how the sold-out event went off this year. Joining the discussion was Dan Hughes, owner of Sunflower Outdoor & Bike Shop, who’s raced in the DK since it’s beginning back in 2006 and is a 10-time finisher.

Cummins talks about how he was inspired to start the Dirty Kanza after seeing other events north of him including the Trans Iowa, which started in 2005.

“A couple of us were intrigued by that and thought somebody ought to put on a race like that in Kansas,” he said on the podcast. “2006 was our first year and we had 34 riders. We were pretty pleased with that. We didn’t think there were that many people who would want to ride 200 miles in a day on gravel. We’ve grown every year. The 2018 event that took place just last weekend we had 2,700 riders from 49 states and 16 countries who converged on Emporia, Kansas, to ride their bikes through the Flint Hills.”

At Sunflower, gravel bikes have supplanted traditional road bike sales, making up as much as 30 percent of its road business.

“The conversations I have in my shop every day are from people who want to ride and have an endurance-length experience where they’re out there testing themselves against big challenges, but they’re also concerned about distracted drivers … gravel provides them an opportunity to go and ride in some really beautiful places and what I think are the best roads to ride on and do it in a relatively car-free manner,” Hughes noted on the podcast.

Bruno Suttles, sales and marketing manager for IRC Tire USA, also joined the podcast to give a perspective from a tire brand.

“It’s pretty incredible how fast this area has taken off,” he said. “I see different races across the country like Dirty Kanza and Belgian Waffle Ride, which are totally different events. And from a tire perspective, each race requires a totally different tire. For a race like Belgian Waffle, you’re running a 28c or 32c tire. Then out in Kansas or Gravel Worlds or other races where you worry about mud you’re running a high-volume 40c or 42c tire. For us it’s great to develop a tire for every circumstance or event someone’s participating in.”

Tune in to hear more. You can download the podcast from SoundCloud, iTunes or Interbike’s website. 

MADISON, Wis. (BRAIN) — Trek Bicycle Corporation and Make Him Smile, Inc. have agreed to settle their lawsuit over Trek's use of the name Farley for one of its fat bike models. 

Make Him Smile filed suit against Trek in a Los Angeles court last September, saying that it owned rights to the late actor Chris Farley's intellectual property and that Trek had capitalized on the trademark without permission. Make Him Smile's president is Kevin Farley, Chris Farley's brother. 

BRAIN emailed Trek's spokesman and Make Him Smile's law firm Wednesday afternoon but has not received a response. Bjorling told the Wisconsin State Journal that terms of the settlement were confidential and that Trek planned to continue marketing Farley-branded bikes. 

Chris Farley died in 1997. The lawsuit had noted that Trek Bicycle Corp. CEO John Burke lives in the same Wisconsin community — the Village of Maple Bluff, adjacent to Madison — where Farley was born. The suit claimed the Farley and Burke families socialized and attended the same country club.

The suit also alleged that a 2013 recall of Farley bikes damaged and devalued the Farley name.

At the time it was filed, a Trek spokesman called the suit "groundless," and said the company was surprised by the suit because the company was in discussions with the Farley family to resolves their concerns.

"Trek has never used Chris Farley’s likeness, image or endorsement in connection to its Farley line of bikes," Trek's Eric Bjorling said at the time.

Just last week, the case was moved from Los Angeles to the Western District of Wisconsin Court. Trek's attorney notified that Wisconsin court of a settlement agreement on Wednesday. The case transfer happened so recently that Make Him Smile's attorneys had not yet been admitted to the Wisconsin court. Trek's attorney asked the Wisconsin court to grant Make Him Smile's attorneys standing to sign to settlement agreement so the case can be dismissed.

Related articles:

• Trek sued over use of Farley name— Sept. 15, 2017
• Judge agrees to transfer Farley lawsuit to Wisconsin— June 4, 2018
• Trek asks court to dismiss Farley suit— Nov. 14, 2017
• Trek recalls some Farley models— Nov. 2, 2016

STABIO, Switzerland (BRAIN) — Assos will launch a new XC clothing collection for male and female mountain bikers this summer. The company developed the new collection with help from the BMC MTB Racing Team. 

The collection includes XC Short Sleeve Jersey, made with Stripe fabric, which the comapny said offers "optimum breathability." The jersey also has 3-mesh fabric in the underarm and three rear pockets. It's available in three colors for men and three for women. MSRP is $159.

The new XC Bib Shorts are designed for mountain biking, trail riding, or gravel grinding. The outer is made of a ripstop, high abrasion-resistant and breathable dyneRope fabric. An MTB-specific insert sits slightly further forward than its road counterpart and includes 10mm of memory foam. MSRP is $229.

The women's version has a women's specific insert design and Y-shaped bib straps with a a magnetic clasp. Pricing for the men's and women's collection is the same. 

More information: assos.com/men/xc-collection.

DURANGO, Colo. (BRAIN) — Colorado-based sports drink manufacturer Tailwind Nutrition has appointed Podium Imports to be the exclusive Canadian distributor of Tailwind's Endurance Fuel throughout Canada.

Previously, Canadian customers have had to buy from Tailwind directly or from retailers who incur steep customs and shipping costs to get the product delivered to them.

"The demand for Tailwind in the Canadian market has been clear for some time now," Tailwind Nutrition co-founder Jenny Vierling said. "Customers have been asking for it, so we're thrilled to finally make it available more broadly through retailers. We're also excited to offload the shipping and customs hassle for Canadian customers and retailers."

She said Podium Imports, a distributor of quality cycling, running, fitness and nutrition products to independent retailers across Canada, was a natural fit for Tailwind. 

"I am very excited to be adding this brand to Podium," Podium owner Brian McCoy said. "The organic roots of the company are much like ours, and there is plainly a demand in the Canadian market for Tailwind. It was actually several of our dealers that identified Tailwind as a brand they would like local access to, so the existing demand tells me a lot about the future success of Tailwind in Canada."

Tailwind's Endurance Fuel, in both caffeinated and non-caffeinated flavors, will be available throughout Canada in 30- and 50-serving bags, as well as single-serving sachets. Canadian dealers interested in ordering can contact Podium Imports at 250-493-1144 or sales@podiumimports.ca.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. (BRAIN) — Pedego Electric Bikes has opened six new stores across Canada, bringing the total number of Canadian Pedego stores to eight and the total worldwide to 132.

The new Canadian stores are located in Calgary, Kawartha Lakes, Vancouver, Prince Edward County, Hamilton and Oyama. They join previously opened Canadian stores in Qualicum Beach and Victoria, both of which opened in 2014.

"We are delighted to be increasing the availability of Pedego electric bikes with six new stores, making Pedego the fastest-growing electric bike brand in Canada," said Mike Clyde, owner of the Pedego distribution center for Canada, located in Nelson, British Columbia. "Our new store owners share a passion for Pedego electric bikes, and they love helping Canadians reconnect with the fun of bike riding."

The new Pedego stores in Canada are:

Pedego Calgary. M15 200 Barclay Parade SW, Calgary, AB; owner Cal Whiting
Pedego Kawartha Lakes. 47 William St., Bobcaygeon, ON; owner Allen Hussey
Pedego Vancouver. 2774 W. 4th Ave., Vancouver, BC; owner Ann MacLennan
Pedego Prince Edward County. 39 Stanley St., Unit C, Bloomfield, ON; co-owners Pat and Gillian Maloney
Pedego Hamilton, 4-1808 Rymal Road East, Hannon, ON; co-owners Glen and Catherine Doe
Pedego Oyama. 15660 Oyama Rd. Lake Country, BC; co-owners Murray and Sheila Fraser along with Daryl and Susan Frick

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BRAIN) — Barnett Bicycle Institute has announced new partnerships with Bafang and Light Electric Vehicle Association. The brands will be joining BBI's E-Bike Fundamentals class, which kicks off June 25. 

Bafang is an e-bike motor and component maker, and an important supplier to the e-bike industry.

LEVA is a global e-bike advocate and trade organization. LEVA educates technicians on e-bike technology, and will be offering BBI students LEVA Levels 1-4 certification.

The 2018 E-Bike Fundamentals course dates are June 25-28, and Nov. 12-15. The course will cover e-bike related topics ranging from the class system and e-bike access to hands-on technical practice of fundamental electronics that apply to all e-bike systems. The course will also cover hands-on education for major systems including Bosch, Shimano STEPS, and Bafang.

Contact BBI for more information or to enroll: manager@bbinstitute.com; 719-632-5173.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (BRAIN) — Cane Creek Cycling Components is making a limited edition of its HELM 27.5 fork in a “Cherry Bomb” color scheme.

The fork has matte black lowers with a firecracker red metallic gloss crown and graphics. It’s available in both coil- and air-sprung versions, and production will be limited to a total of 100 forks sold on a first come, first served basis.

“With the Fourth of July right around the corner, it’s time for riders to declare their independence from mass-produced suspension,” said Sam Anderson, product manager for Cane Creek. “The HELM 27.5 Cherry Bomb combines hand-built performance with a look that will light up the trail. This fork definitely makes a statement.”

The company began accepting orders for the Cherry Bomb edition on Thursday, with the first forks shipping in July. It retails for $1,100.

More information: canecreek.com/product/helm-cherry-bomb-edition.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (BRAIN) — QBP has announced the winners of its 2018 QBP Community Grant program. The six grant recipients are: Foothill Cyclery in San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Over the Edge Sports/Destination Development in Fruita, Colo.; Bicycle Garage Indy in Indianapolis; Fresh Bike Service Inc. in Roswell, Ga.; Athens Bicycle in Athens, Ohio; and Velofix in Toronto.

"The amount of passion, dedication and commitment to this industry we've already seen from these six winners is amazing! We couldn't be more excited about the work they are doing," said Kim Marek, QBP community grant director.

Marek said the process of selecting recipients from over 80 proposals was extremely difficult. The six winners stood out because of their demonstrated commitment to their communities and passion for increasing ridership, she said.

The selected projects vary widely in scope and audience, but all of them accomplish the goal of getting more butts on bikes. A few of the chosen projects include: building over 80 miles of singletrack in Wayne National Forest, establishing a mountain biking nonprofit for military veterans, and offering women's shop clinics, skill clinics, and trail building sessions.

The grant program's sponsors were SRAM, Burley, Stan's NoTubes, Wolf Tooth, Park Tool, Ortlieb, Küat, NiteRider, DT Swiss, Osprey, Kali Protectives, Garneau, WTB, Jagwire, Wheels Manufacturing Inc., Kryptonite, RockShox, Lizard Skins, and Five Ten. All brand donations were matched by the QBP Fund.

More information: qbp.com/community-grant-winners.

CHEROKEE, N.C. (BRAIN) — Motion Makers Bicycle Shop, which has stores in Sylva and Asheville, is opening a third location, in Cherokee, on June 16. Motion Makers is partnering with Outdoor 76, an outdoor sports store, on the location on Big Cove Road.

The store's grand opening weekend will coincide with the Fire Mountain Inferno XC & Enduro event.

The shop sits at the gateway to Smoky Mountain National Park at the beginning of the popular Oconaluftee River trail head. The newly developed Fire Mountain Trail system is right next door, along with nearby Western Carolina University and Tsali trails. It's also near the southern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway and several legendary gravel bike routes in the national park. 

"Cherokee has slowly evolved into an outdoor gateway for the Smoky Mountains," said owner Kent Cranford. "We are excited to offer bikes and gear for the adventures that are literally steps from our front door."

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. (BRAIN) — On the heels of the Dirty Kanza, which took place last weekend, Interbike – The Podcast talks to the Emporia event’s organizers including Jim Cummins and LeLan Dains about how the sold-out event went off this year. Joining the discussion was Dan Hughes, owner of Sunflower Outdoor & Bike Shop, who’s raced in the DK since it’s beginning back in 2006 and is a 10-time finisher.

Cummins talks about how he was inspired to start the Dirty Kanza after seeing other events north of him including the Trans Iowa, which started in 2005.

“A couple of us were intrigued by that and thought somebody ought to put on a race like that in Kansas,” he said on the podcast. “2006 was our first year and we had 34 riders. We were pretty pleased with that. We didn’t think there were that many people who would want to ride 200 miles in a day on gravel. We’ve grown every year. The 2018 event that took place just last weekend we had 2,700 riders from 49 states and 16 countries who converged on Emporia, Kansas, to ride their bikes through the Flint Hills.”

At Sunflower, gravel bikes have supplanted traditional road bike sales, making up as much as 30 percent of its road business.

“The conversations I have in my shop every day are from people who want to ride and have an endurance-length experience where they’re out there testing themselves against big challenges, but they’re also concerned about distracted drivers … gravel provides them an opportunity to go and ride in some really beautiful places and what I think are the best roads to ride on and do it in a relatively car-free manner,” Hughes noted on the podcast.

Bruno Suttles, sales and marketing manager for IRC Tire USA, also joined the podcast to give a perspective from a tire brand.

“It’s pretty incredible how fast this area has taken off,” he said. “I see different races across the country like Dirty Kanza and Belgian Waffle Ride, which are totally different events. And from a tire perspective, each race requires a totally different tire. For a race like Belgian Waffle, you’re running a 28c or 32c tire. Then out in Kansas or Gravel Worlds or other races where you worry about mud you’re running a high-volume 40c or 42c tire. For us it’s great to develop a tire for every circumstance or event someone’s participating in.”

Tune in to hear more. You can download the podcast from SoundCloud, iTunes or Interbike’s website. 

LEXINGTON, S.C. (BRAIN) — Hawley-Lambert has announced six key hires from coast to coast. 

"In a rapidly changing retail landscape we need the right people working with retailers," said Dennis Holiday, western region sales manager for Hawley. "To equip retailers for success and help them navigate a changing retail world, we've hired some amazingly talented people."

The new hires:

• Jordan Czajka covers Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and Delaware. He can be reached via email: jczajka@hawleyusa.com.
• Chuck Sikora covers Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and North Western Wisconsin as an independent agent. He can be reached via email: csikora@hawleyusa.com.
• Nikki Tufte covers Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas as an independent agent. She can be reached via email: ntufte@hawleyusa.com.
• Chris Kelly covers Colorado and New Mexico. He can be reached via email: ckelly@hawleyusa.com.
• Travis McMaster covers Arizona, Southern Nevada and Southern Utah as an independent agent. He can be reach via email: tmcmaster@hawleyusa.com
• Aaron Abravaya covers parts of greater Los Angeles. He can be reached via email: aabravaya@hawleyusa.com.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BRAIN) — After a four-day trial, Matthew S. Stepp of Shepherdsville, Kentucky, was found guilty Friday of eight counts of mail fraud and three counts of trafficking in counterfeit goods for selling counterfeit high-end bike helmets on eBay.

U.S. Attorney Russell M. Coleman of the Western District of Kentucky announced the conviction. Sentencing is scheduled for September.

"What might appear on its face to be an esoteric white collar prosecution is, in fact, an all-out effort to keep kids and families safe," said Coleman "This office will continue to work with our federal law enforcement partners to protect Americans from counterfeit personal safety equipment and companies from theft of their intellectual property."

Stepp was charged with conducting a scheme to defraud consumers by marketing and selling the helmets between May and November 2014. Prosecutors said Stepp had purchased the counterfeit helmets for pennies on the dollar from Ali Express. Stepp was also charged with three counts of trafficking in counterfeit goods.

Stepp's attorneys had argued that Stepp was unaware that the helmets were fake when he bought them and Stepp had filed suit against Ali Express and its parent, Alibaba, in 2014. That suit was later withdrawn. 

During the trial, representatives from Specialized testified that in mid-October 2014 they realized that Stepp was marketing counterfeit Specialized S-Works Prevail helmets. Specialized immediately notified eBay and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, who immediately contacted Homeland Security Investigations in Louisville. A search warrant was executed at Stepp's home on Nov. 6, 2014, where 45 counterfeit helmets were seized. Additional packages containing counterfeit helmets that Stepp had placed in the mail for delivery were also seized from the Post Office.

During trial, the United States introduced evidence showing that Stepp purchased counterfeit Specialized S-Works Prevail, Giro Aeon, and Catlike Whisper bicycle helmets on Ali Express for between $50 and $70, and sold those helmets on eBay for $150 and more. The retail value of the helmets was over $200.

Samples of the helmets seized from Stepp were tested to see if they satisfied Consumer Product Safety Commission safety standards.

"The counterfeit helmets were found not to contain roll cages or the internal reinforcements that are standard in high-end authentic Specialized and Giro bicycle helmets. When placed on a head form and dropped onto a testing surface at approximately 11 miles per hour, the counterfeit helmets broke into pieces during impact testing, resulting in direct contact between the head forms and the testing surface," the U.S. Attorneys Office said in a news release.

"Testimony at trial revealed that a consumer wearing one of the counterfeit helmets and suffering a similar impact might suffer a fractured skull, brain damage, or death."

Stepp will be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Claria Horn Boom in Louisville on Sept. 10.