Its that time of year again. Did you remember your mechanic friends?

Here are some ideas for last minute, useful gifts for the mechanic in your life.

Park Tool Bladed Spoke Holder

Bladed spokes have a tendency to wind up increasing the time it takes to true or adjust a wheel. This tool provides four slots to hold spokes from 0.8mm to over 2mm width.

http://www.parktool.com/product/bladed-spoke-holder-BSH-4

Screw Gripper

The Screw Gripper sits on the end of your screwdriver and holds the screw in place removing the need to squeeze your fingers in tight spaces.

http://www-uk.wera.de/

Wrenchware

Looking for a way to impress your mechanic friends? How about a tool related set of utensils. No, the pliers don’t work and we don’t know what size the wrenches are. But does it really matter?

http://wrenchwareinc.com/Wrenchware/wrenchware.php

Eat’N Tool

Funny utensils not your deal? How about a utensil that can actually be used as a tool?  …

I can’t wait for my first experience with a racer on this system. I think it might go like this:

Rider pulls up next to support card.

Rider: “My bike’s not shifting correctly”

Mechanic: “We can help. Hey, where are your shifters?”

Rider: “In my head. This bike is neural.”

Mechanic: “Sorry, we didn’t bring spare brains.”

Don’t get me wrong, this is an intriguing idea and I’d like to check it out in person. I just wonder if the UCI would quickly make up a new rule stating that athletes were not allowed to shift with their brains, that this is cheating when properly used by smarter athletes. Neural Doping?

The Toyota Prius X Parlee Concept Bike – YouTube.

As the end of the end of the year approaches, tool companies are feeling the giving spirit. Here are two opportunities to win some equipment for your garage:

30 Days of Giveaways from Kilz

Visit the Kilz Facebook page and “Like” them. this will open their main page where you can fill in their form for your chance to win.

Win a Festool Saw

Visit festoolsweepstakes.com/ for a chance to win a Festool Kapex Sliding Compound Miter Saw. Three simple fields and you are in.

Congratulations to Christopher Kreidl who just took the position as head mechanic for Team Tibco for 2012.

Have a team staff update? Hit us up using the form at the bottom of this page.

USA Cycling recently released 2012 changes to the rule book. It appears there aren’t any significant changes that relate to mechanics. Notable changes are the removal of a master category, removal of a tandem championship category and the addition of a youth class. One point of interests is the change in usable bikes for juniors 12 and under:

Young juniors must use mass start legal bikes in all races, including time trials: Beginning in 2012,youth and junior riders in the 12 and under age categories will be restricted to mass start legal bikes in all races. These legal bikes cannot have aero bars. The wheels must have no covers and must have at least 16 spokes. These rules will apply to the 13-14 age group in 2013.

More information to be found on their website via 2012 Rule Changes; 30-34 age group …

Its not often the race mechanics are in the lime-light. This month we found two print stories about race mechanics.

Velo, Oct 2011, page 94
A Day in Yellow
Caley Fretz spends some time with Mavic’s Neutral Support Program at the Tour including a day in the car with Freddy. Key points:

talks about mechanics having two roles – providing mechanical support and the publicity caravan putting Mavic name and trademark yellow in front of millions on the roadside and on television.
describes their equipment as older aluminum Cannondales with clip and strap pedals.
describes what he calls pandemonium in the car with race radios, bottle handouts, cars and motos moving around, having to guess Shimano vs Campy and carbon versus alloy
Talks about gapping wheels, though he calls it pre-setting

Paved, volume 2, number 2
Road Scholar
Bruce Hildebrand profiles BMC’s Ian Sherburne. Includes his racing background and how …

More tool reviews at BikeRumor. This time around:

Topeak’s Ratchet Rocket Lite
Chrome’s Sherman tool bag backpak

Midweek Mini-Reviews: Goods from Topeak, Chrome & Giro – Bike Rumor

Brian Dallas gives CyclingNews Editor Matt Pacocha a tour of the Rapha-Focus team’s service course and team van. Key points:

heated garage for winter work
organized, race ready Sprinter van

Inside The Rapha-Focus Service Course | Cyclingnews.com

“When 33mm might really be 34mm”

Are your riders running the correct size tires? Bikeradar has images of race officials measuring cross tires with various devices, some clean, some crude.

via Race Tech: Colorado Cross Classic And Boulder Cup – BikeRadar.

For a little fun, see how many of the mechanics you can name from this video.