Paris-Nice

Especially Paris-Nice was impressive. Gustav Erik Larsson wins the prologue (after wind tunnel tests with our TriBase T/T helmet), Lieuwe Westra won the Queen stage in which Frederik Veuchelen conquered the mountain jersey. Thomas de Gendt showed his stage victories last year weren’t a coincidence by winning the 7th stage. Besides, Westra became 2nd in the last time trail.

Tirrenno-Adriatico

Johnny Hoogerland and Wout Poels showed themselves in Tirreno Adriatico. The two leaders of the Vacansoleil-DCM squad finished top-ten in the mountain stages. Moreover in all stages, besides the time trails, a Vacansoleil-DCM rider finished top ten and the team won the day team classification two times. With the 8th place in the general classification Poels was the best young rider and won the white jersey.

Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde

In Belgium Lieuwe Westra finished 2nd in the time trail of the Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde for the fourth year in a row. And for the second time in a row that wasn’t enough for the overall victory. But Westra in getting closer. Last year he lost with 6 seconds, now it where just 4 seconds. So in 2014 Lieuwe will probably win this races!

Let’s hope April will be as successful for the BBB sponsored teams as March. For now just enjoy some more great pictures of our riders in the March-races:

At the XC “Test event” in the Cascades MTB Park (RSA) a week before the first World Cup race of the year, the BMC MTB Racing Team delivered an outstanding performance. German Champion Moritz Milatz became 4th in the race of 6 very technically challenging laps. Patrick Gallati was close on his tail who managed an outstanding 5th place finish.  The performance by Reto Indergand (17th), Stephen Ettinger (19th) and Julien Taramarcaz (32nd) also made the BMC MTB Team hopeful before the World Cup kicks off in Pietermaritzburg.

While the elite riders are in South Africa for the sunny conditions, in the first round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Pietermaritzburg they literally had a race against time to finish before the rain hit. Just as Nino Schurter (Scott-Swisspower) successfully defended his title against home favourite Burry Stander (Specialized), the rain began to fall, and was torrential by the time the awards ceremony took place. In the six-lap race, Moritz Milatz again was the best BMC MTB Racing team rider. The German finished almost 4 minutes behind Schurter. Stephen Ettinger (46^th), Julien taramarcaz (50^th) and Patrick Gallati (59^th) also
collected their first World Sup points for this season.

From 25 March till 1 April Alexandre Moos and Moritz Miltaz will defend the honor of the BMC MTB Racing Team in the 9^th Absa Cape Epic. On www.facebook.com/BBBcycling we will keep you posted about their results.

A part of the good winter preparation included a visit to the Magny Cours wind tunnel in France, exclusively arranged for the time trails specialists of Vacansoleil-DCM. The wind tunnel of the former Prost Grand Prix Racing team helped the riders to find their optimum time trail position. Besides checking the position on the bike, they also optimized their BBB Cycling TriBase time Trail helmet. Go ahead and enjoy a day with the Vacansoleil-DCM riders in the wind tunnel by clicking on the video link or images.

BBB_Cycling_Vacansoleil-DCM_Wind_tunnel_test

Our wallpaper are available in different sizes, to give your screen the perfect All About Cycling appearance!

ThermoLayer

The BBB Thermolayer (BUW-11/12/15/16) is also highly appreciated. The editors of Cycling Weekly (UK) were very pleased with this base layer for colder days. The editors especially liked the ability to keep yourself dry and warm, confirming this by labeling the ThermoLayer as “Highly Recommended”.

DiscStop

The German Bike Magazine test last April confirmed what we were convinced about: our DiscStop disc brake pads are ‘Sehr Gut’ (very good)! But it is always nice to have that confirmed by more magazines. So the test result of the German magazine Mountainbike was not a complete surprise, but again an endorsement. In the test the DiscStop is the only one who gets the mark “Outstanding”, against other brands such as Shimano, Koolstop, SwissStop and Trickstuff. The DiscStops are praised for their braking power, modulation and very little wear. In the next newsletter you can read All About DiscStop brake pads.

FHM500

BBB does not only appear in cycling magazines. We received the Dutch FHM 500, with the 500 most beautiful Dutch women.
And although Savine Boersema is ‘only’ on the 500th place, we think that’s quite an achievement having 8,4 million women in Holland! And we think she has the potential to be in the top 100 if she wears a complete BBB Team outfit.

For 2012 BBB will also be present in the head of the field. We are proud to announce the following teams to ride with our products in 2012:
UCI WORLDTOUR TEAM VACANSOLEIL-DCM:
Helmets,Sport glasses, Pumps, Bags, Tools, Light sets and Fenders
PRO-CONTINENTAL TEAM COFIDIS COMPETITION:
Helmets, Pumps, Bags, Tools, Fenders, Trainers, Brake shoes and David Moncoutie individually for sport glasses.
CYCLO-CROSS TEAM TELENET-FIDEA:
Sport glasses, Cycling computers, Pumps, Bags, Fenders and Brake shoes
BMC MOUNTAINBIKE RACING TEAM:
Helmets, Sport glasses, Gloves, Bags, Pumps, Tools, Bottle cages, Locks and Grips

For 2012 we know that Vacansoleil-DCM will participate with a WorldTour licence, great news as that will guarantee their presence at the big races. Besides, Cofidis will make sure that all throughout the season, from Paris-Nice to the Vuelta, BBB will be present and in the head of the field.
In the first season of the BMC mountainbike team has proven with two national titles in Germany, both marathon and cross-country, the strength of the team for the future.

Read all about the our 2012 sponsored teams on the sponsorships pages.

That’s how these mountainbiker try to keep their condition at a high level in wintertime. Mostly they ride national cyclocross races, but Julien Taramarcaz is also spotted in World Cup races. And the 24-years old Taramarcaz, is getting better with the week. After a 36 place in the WC of Koksijde, he became 24th in the WC of Namur.
In national races the Swiss already gained two victories. In Sion, Switzerland, Taramarcaz rode all race long alone on the front and won the 6th Grand Prix Sion-Valais. In this race his teammate Yves Corminboeuf could help Julien when he made a few mistake, by slowing down the pace of the chasing group. Corminboeuf finished  6th.
The second victory for Taramarcaz was a week later on a new circuit in the town of Rennaz. On what seems to be a very fast course, but with very technical part, Taramarcaz was competing with another mountainbiker, Ralph Näf, for the victory. In the end the BMC-rider took advantage of two little mistakes of Näf. Due to a fall in the first round, teammate Yves Corminboeuf finished just 11th.

The 21-years old Corminboeuf  also already won 2 cyclocross races. In November the cancer survivor won on the fast and technical course around the University of Lausanne Dorigny, part of the “Romand” league. In the last race for this league, in Chavannes-sur-Moudon, Corminboeuf was the best as well. In the snow on a very technical track, he was 30 seconds better than the second.

German XC and marathon champion Moritz Milatz won, with partner Jan Förster, the 18th Bike & Run in Reute. This event is almost a tradition for Milatz. It was his third win. Jan Förster did the run part while Milatz did the bike section on his CX bike. Förster replaced world-class triathletes Böcherer Andi, who is friends with Milatz since high school, at the last moment. But Förster is a well-known long- and middle-distance runner.

In the upcoming months the BMC Mountainbike Racing Team riders will keep on showing their BBB helmets, glasses and gloves in the field, trying to be at their best for the qualification races for the 2012 Olympics!

Falcon

The World Champion Falcon is of course based on the basic Falcon, which Stybar wears on the his road, and then special painted by our airbrush artist.
The design and development of the standard Falcon helmet has been approached by us as a project to create the ultimate helmet for the pros. We started out with an in-mold shell construction, added a SpiderWeb over the head structure, completed with internal carbon and aluminum reinforcements for optimal protection. Then we designed 23 air vents for a maximal flow of air through the helmet. Wrapping things up with our new FlexClose adjustment system for the best fit available and washable anti-bacterial pads.
The standard Falcon is available in red, blue, white, silver and as an official Team Edition of Team Cofidis and Team Vacansoleil.

Impact

The Stybar version of the Falcon is not available in shops, but the Impact Team World Champion is. A World Champion sport glasses is almost necessary in our range because sine BBB started sponsoring professional cycling in 2004, our
sport lasses have provided a clear view of the finish line for nine world champions. Tom Boonen, Paulo Bettini (twice), Michael Rogers, Roel Paulissen (also twice), Jean Biermans and Zdenek Stybar (twice) have battled their way into the Rainbow Jersey while wearing BBB eyewear.
That’s way a Succesor WC, Winner WC, Impact WC and Impulse WC were or are in our collection. Not only the World Champion should be able to feel like a Champion!

To fully understand the values mentioned in the table, we explain the concepts used in the table:
Candela is the unit of luminous intensity. Candela indicates the amount of light emitted in a certain direction of the beam. The in the table noted Candela value is measured at the centre of the beam.
Lumen, the value for the total luminous flux, is the total amount of light (in all directions) emitted by that a lamp.
Lux is the amount of light (lumens) on a certain area. Therefore Lux is the most telling unity. For example, if you have a light source of 1000 lumens, spread over 1 m², this square meter is illuminated with 1000 lux. When the same 1000 lumens are spread over 10 m², the same source illuminates a square meter with only 100 lux. However, when comparing Lux values for different light sets, it’s important to know the distance from the light source. The larger the distance to the source, the lower the Lux value will be. BBB measures the Lux value at 1 and 10 meters. The Lux value at 1 meter is equal to the value for Luminous intensity (Candela).

The light spot diameter indicates how wide the beam of the lamp is at 1 meter distance.

The burn time of the different lamps gives an indication of how many hours the lamp will burn. For battery lamps the burn time obviously depends on the quality of the battery. All BBB battery lamps come with GP Alkaline batteries, except the BLS-40, BLS-63 and BLS-63 Only the BLS-62 comes with Duracell alkaline batteries. Burn time for BBB lights with battery pack is measured with fully charged batteries.

Mount a light set and get more riding done!

* The lifetime is tested with GP Alkaline batteries, except BLS-40, BLS-63 and BLS-64. Batteries delivered with the products are Gold Power Heavy Duty. The lifetime is also effected by temperature.
The values may differ from the packaging, due to new testing methods and different batteries.

BBB Cycling Tested Online

On Road.cc the HighFocus LED (BLS-62) lights is reviewed. The same test also includes the HighPower (BLS-63) and Ultrabeam (BLS-26) headlights and gives you a great opportunity to compare different lights.
The BBB DigiBoard (BCP-51/BCP-52) is shown on the BikeBiz site, and more DigiBoard can be found on RoadCyclingUK.
Our new Varallo (BHE-67) got great feedback on BikeMagic.com and more Varallo on More Dirt.

BBB Cycling Tested in Print

We like it when we get products tested in magazines, especially when our products are really appreciated.
For example the BBB WaterFlex (BWS-03) received in a shoecovers test in German BIKE magazine the “Sehr gut” (very good) label.
In the Benelux magazine Grinta the Select Sport Glasses (BSG-43) got the quote “Must have.”
Other great exposure BBB has received in the latest issue of Bicycling Australia Magazine; Australia’s highest circulation cycling
publication. Not only a great page in BA’s annual Fashion Feature highlights, but also two BBB sport glasses feature in BA’s ‘Six of the Best’ review. The ‘Impact’ and ‘Impulse PH’ are both judged as superb glasses that easily stand up against the most expensive alternatives in the market.

Ex road racer Alexander Moos uses his road experience to get to the top of mountainbiking. The team also includes German XC Champion Moritz Milatz, vice-World Champion XC U23 Patrick Gallati, ex-road racer Julien Taramarcaz and marathon specialist Balz Weber.
The cooperation between BBB and BMC marks BBB’s re-entry as a team sponsor into professional mountainbiking. A great opportunity to further develop and test our mountainbike range of products.

The first season the team was directly successful. The tandem Alexander Moos-Balz Weber performed well in the Cape Epic. The duo finished two times as fourth in a stage end ended up as eight in the general classification. Alexander Moos also won the Marathon in Albstadt and won a stage in the Trans Zollernalb.

Beside Moos and Weber, Moritz Milatz was showing the BBB helmet and sport glasses in the front. Although the German champion XC, had some physical problems, he managed the defend his national title XC and gain the national title marathon. In the Bundesliga Milatz fished second, just 5 points behind Manuel Fumic. Milatz won the races for this league in Saalhausen and the final race in Bad Salzdetfurth.

In 2012 BBB will continue to be official supplier of BMC Mountainbike Racing Team of sport glasses, helmets, gloves, bags, pumps, tools, bottle cages, locks and grips.

It starts with…

A new product starts with an idea, or, even before that, with a customer question. The idea grows into a concept and that concept into a design. Then the real work begins. In the design phase countless tweaks, adjustments, and changes are required to reach the point where the design is ready to move forward. In the next phase of product development the design is prototyped and then tested extensively. A second round of prototype products is then sent to WTOS, a cycling team attached to the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands, which is sponsored by BBB. The design students at the TUD are not only receiving a technical education but are also cyclists and can provide invaluable feedback during the development cycle.

Tested by the Worlds best Pro’s

If a prototype is not ready for production, it simply doesn’t get introduced and is further improved until ready for real world usage. This leads to products that survive when being put through the grind by our product testers or mounted on the bikes of pros in the international racing circuit. The final results are good and no nonsense. They simply perform like they’re meant to do.
Traits that are as much part of the general Dutch state of mind as they are of the DNA of BBB.

The Frenchmen who already won 3 stages and three times the mountain jersey in the Vuelta, before the 2011 edition, was also the best in stage 11. The mountain finish on Estación de Montaña Manzaneda inspired him not only to win the stage, but also to gain points in the mountain classification. He collected not enough for the lead, therefore he had to wait till stage 13, where (again) he was in the attack. The veteran Frenchman definately shored up the polka dot jersey on the road to Vitoria on the Saturday, when his closest challenger Matteo Montaguti failed to pick up any points on the final climbs of the race.  “I admit that I’m very proud of this achievement,” Moncoutié told L’Équipe. “It wasn’t easy this year either. Perhaps even more complicated than the three previous years. I managed it differently, and I was careful right to the end in trying not to use up too much energy in every stage.”

Although he also has two Tour de France stage wins in his palmares, unusually for a French rider, Moncoutié’s appears more at ease south of the Pyrenees.“The Vuelta suits me perfectly,” Moncoutié said. “I’ve won a stage here every time. I’ve finished exhausted, but tactically it was perfect.”
Moncoutié recently confirmed that he will continue in the professional peloton for one more season, and while he is unlikely to return to the Tour de France, it seems likely that he will line up at the Vuelta in 2012 in a bid to equal José Luis Laguia’s record haul of five mountains titles at the race. “It’s a challenge that motivates me,” he said.

Attacker Team

The BBB Attacker team edition was tested in Cycling Active. While the priciest on the test, the Attackers was the only glasses supplied with photochromic lenses. These lenses were especially appreciate and are amongst the best they have encountered for speed of adaptability.
The close-fitting frame and good coverage across a variety of faces shapes, makes the Attacker recommended by the editors above some better-known brands. With a was a overall 9, the Attacker was one of the best glasses in the test.

Griffon

The London Cyclist tested our BBB Griffon after they saw our sponsored Pro riders in the Tour de France wearing a BBB Helmet. Their comment: “The Griffon is the midpriced all-rounder in the BBB collection. It has an in-moulded shell construction with 16 large vents to stop your head overheating, easy-to-adjust straps, washable anti-bacterial pads and reflective stickers at the rear. Helmet fit is hugely subjective: our smaller-headed tester found the fit fairly generous, but once adjusted it didn’t ride down.” And the pros and cons: “Look like a pro, but better sizing options.”

MicroBoard

On the Road.cc website the BBB MicorBoard gets the verdict of 4 out of 5 stars with the comment: “Simply put; it does what it says on the tin. It’s only basic, but it does the basics well, without any fanfare or any hassle. If you don’t think you’ve earned your world champ stripes BBB offers other models with the same features and more subtle colours.”
You can read the compleet comment on road.cc

After the HighPower light, LegStop Bib tight, HeavyDuty shoecovers, DiscStop brake pads, CurvePack saddlebag and AirBoost floorpump, this is already the seventh product which won a product test this year.
The MicroFold won the competition against Birzman, Lezyne, Blackburn, Bontrager, Specialized, Crankbrothers, Park Tool, CylcePro and Topeak. The comment: “An unpretentious little tool that did our bolt tightening bidding, without little argument. “

The AirBoost won the competition against M-part, Topeak, One23, SKS, Axford and Zefal pumps. The pump was especially appreciated because of the stiffness, solidity and easy pumping abilities.

On the site of Road.cc the OvalIntegrate was tested (http://road.cc/content/review/39361-bbb-oval-intregrate-mini-pump). The introduction: “There’s no two ways about it: I’ve never seen a pump like BBB’s OvalIntegrate minipump before. With its slender concave shape, the design is simply unique, and undeniably intriguing.“ says it all.
The first review (in Dutch) about the HighFocus light can be found on http://www.sintchristophorus.nl/test-bbb-highfocus-batterijlamp/