Open Now: Ben's Bikes in Rita Ranch (Tucson, AZ)

Ben Chandler has opened up a new bike shop in South East Tucson (near Rita Ranch & Fantasy Island).

The shop is called "Ben's Bikes" has a service area and carries mountain bikes, road bikes, bmx bikes, kids bikes, cruisers, and skateboards.  Along with the supporting components, accessories, and gear.

The store has a really cool shop dog and a very friendly vibe.  Check out Ben's shop and support our local businesses and bike scene.




location: 7431 S. Houghton, Tucson, AZ.
website: www.bensbikestucson.com (currently under construction)
email: ben@bensbikestucson.com
phone: (520) 574-2453
hours: M-F: 10-6pm / Sat: 9-6pm / Sun: 11-4pm

Here are some of the brands we noticed while walking around Ben's shop... Giant, Redline, Park Tools, Stans No Tubes, Honey Stinger, Sock Guy, Geax, Maxxis, Kenda, We The People, S&M, Fit, Intense BMX, Royal, 661/One Industries, & Five Ten

improve your mountain bike technique...

I opted to torture myself and read/watch "all things mountain bike" during my recovery.  I stumbled across a series of 15 mountain bike technique videos.  They were created to help promote tourism in the Austrian State of Tirol.  The area is magnificent.  Unfortunately, I've never rode a mountain bike there but we did spend a day in the capital city of Innsbruck learning how to snowboard.

The videos are short, relevant, seem fairly accurate (besides maybe the cockpit setup recommendations), and dubbed over in English. Enjoy.






Tirol Tourism Mountain Bike Technique Videos
01. Bike Equipment
02. Basic Riding Position
03. Braking Techniques
04. Riding Uphill
05. Fast Cornering
06. Obstacles
07. Jumps (pre-loading)
08. Step Downs
09. Steeps
10. Switchbacks
11. Jumps
12. Drop offs
13. Switchbacks with a Rear Wheel Hop
14. Wheelie Drops
15. Bunny Hops

Test Your Awareness: Do The Test

Save $ - Go Tubeless w/ Gorilla Tape

My friend Andy mentioned the "ghetto tubeless" concept of using a $3 roll of 1" Gorilla Tape and a old tube valve stem instead of an expensive tubeless conversion kit.

The MTBR discussion on Ghetto Tubeless covers the details and links to a few youtube videos.

Official Gorilla Tape website... http://gorillaglue.com/tapes.

got permit?

Did you know that many of our favorite trails are on Arizona State Trust Land? A State Land Recreation Use Permit is only $20 (family) or $15 (individual). Get the permit here... AZ State Trust Permit

we are the robot pirates...