Slack Randoms: A Climbing Mountain Trike with 1045% Gear Range, Collapsing Observatories & More
We use Slack as our workplace communication tool at Pinkbike and we have a #randoms channel which we use to share an assortment of videos and stories from all corners of the cycling world and beyond... We thought a couple of the moments from the past week were too good not to share with a wider audience, so here are some of the highlights.
The Ascendu 3x3
Do you want to ride up really steep things, really, really slowly? The Ascendu could be the trike for you. The Spanish brand claims its bikes can comfortably climb up grades in excess of 50% and you can apparently even set your sights on 70% slopes on a good day.
The bike is able to achieve this thanks to a super-long, super-stable, 3-wheel set up and its gearing, which offers a 1000% range thanks to a Schlumpf Mountain Drive. The Mountain Drive is a planetary gearbox that replaces your front chainring and shrinks every gear by a factor of 2.5, doubling the expansion range of your bike. Combine that with a modern 12-speed cassette and you can end up with a very low gear to help you grind up the steepest of slopes.
![photo]()
Each front wheel has its own fork and the transverse beams allow them to work better on lumpy terrain. There's also a three-piece handlebar, with each wheel having its own control, allowing you to maintain better balance.
The bike is made in Spain from a lot of Reynolds and Columbus 4130 steel (its 1533mm wheelbase in Large makes it about 250mm longer than the largest Nicolai) and is available to pre-order now. More info, here.
![photo]()
MTB vs BMX vs Track Cyclist Sprints
In a Top Gear style race, Dutch BMX racer Justin Kimmann wanted to know which bikes were faster in a straight-out sprint - BMX, MTB or track - so he raced them together over 6 different distances to see which came out on top. The video is in Dutch but there are English subtitles. If you just want to see the races, skip to:
25 metres 3:40
50 metres 4:30
75 metres 5:40
100 metres 6:40
150 metres 8:00
200 metres 9:05
Crankpushers One-Ups Intend
If you thought the Intend Bandit was wild, Crankpusher takes it to its logical conclusion.
The First-Ever UCI E-Sports World Championships Won by Rower
![photo]()
The first-ever UCI sanctioned Zwift World Championships drew cyclists from a variety of disciplines. From XC's Jordan Sarrou to Cyclocross' Tom Pidcock and Road Cycling's Sarah Storey, but it wasn't a road cyclist than won it in the end, but a German Olympic rower - Ben Osborne. Osborne made his attack on the final slope of the race and maintained 10 watts/kg over the last 400 metres with a peak of 12 watts/kg to ride away from the peloton. Osborne took home a real-life rainbow jersey, a digital rainbow jersey to wear while Zwifting, and €8,000. The women's race was won by South African Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio.
Collapse of the Arecibo Observatory
It'll buff out.
Solving Everest's Mystery in The Ghosts Above
The Ascendu 3x3
Do you want to ride up really steep things, really, really slowly? The Ascendu could be the trike for you. The Spanish brand claims its bikes can comfortably climb up grades in excess of 50% and you can apparently even set your sights on 70% slopes on a good day.
The bike is able to achieve this thanks to a super-long, super-stable, 3-wheel set up and its gearing, which offers a 1000% range thanks to a Schlumpf Mountain Drive. The Mountain Drive is a planetary gearbox that replaces your front chainring and shrinks every gear by a factor of 2.5, doubling the expansion range of your bike. Combine that with a modern 12-speed cassette and you can end up with a very low gear to help you grind up the steepest of slopes.
Each front wheel has its own fork and the transverse beams allow them to work better on lumpy terrain. There's also a three-piece handlebar, with each wheel having its own control, allowing you to maintain better balance.
The bike is made in Spain from a lot of Reynolds and Columbus 4130 steel (its 1533mm wheelbase in Large makes it about 250mm longer than the largest Nicolai) and is available to pre-order now. More info, here.
MTB vs BMX vs Track Cyclist Sprints
In a Top Gear style race, Dutch BMX racer Justin Kimmann wanted to know which bikes were faster in a straight-out sprint - BMX, MTB or track - so he raced them together over 6 different distances to see which came out on top. The video is in Dutch but there are English subtitles. If you just want to see the races, skip to:
25 metres 3:40
50 metres 4:30
75 metres 5:40
100 metres 6:40
150 metres 8:00
200 metres 9:05
Crankpushers One-Ups Intend
If you thought the Intend Bandit was wild, Crankpusher takes it to its logical conclusion.
The First-Ever UCI E-Sports World Championships Won by Rower
The first-ever UCI sanctioned Zwift World Championships drew cyclists from a variety of disciplines. From XC's Jordan Sarrou to Cyclocross' Tom Pidcock and Road Cycling's Sarah Storey, but it wasn't a road cyclist than won it in the end, but a German Olympic rower - Ben Osborne. Osborne made his attack on the final slope of the race and maintained 10 watts/kg over the last 400 metres with a peak of 12 watts/kg to ride away from the peloton. Osborne took home a real-life rainbow jersey, a digital rainbow jersey to wear while Zwifting, and €8,000. The women's race was won by South African Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio.
Collapse of the Arecibo Observatory
It'll buff out.
Solving Everest's Mystery in The Ghosts Above
 | In “The Ghosts Above,” Sony Artisan photographer and filmmaker Renan Ozturk join an expedition to solve the Mount Everest mystery of who reached the summit first. |
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
Dropper
Modern Wheelbase
Massive gear range
Cons:
Steep head angle
Heavy for a hardtail
My wife: "But I do that already"
And definitely leave it in that closet where it belongs....
www.pinkbike.com/photo/18468990
The bike will be as long as we want, without leaning the fork too much or streching the rider too far...
Its not April 1 today?
Pedal rock crawling, F*k it, im all in.
Are you telling me that you could ride that?
Mike Levy: "It's free real estate!!"