What to watch on Friday: ‘Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock’ on Apple TV Plus

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Nancy Drew (CW at 9) Nancy looks for a missing person targeted by Temperance, who also places a hex on the children of the youth center; the Frozen Hearts mystery is nearly solved, but a reversal puts the Drew Crew in danger.

Shifting gears: CNY bike shop rolls with pandemic challenges

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The COVID-19 pandemic has made many businesses change, adapt and evolve over the last two years. Like many across the Empire State, a Central New York bike shop is making the most of the difficult situation.

Resource Cycling’s sales haven’t exactly been great, expectedly so, through the holidays and winter months.

“Historically, the holiday season has never done anything big for bike shops,” said owner Jeremy Clay.

“Unfortunately, in the bike industry, we’ve seen a decrease in Christmas bikes being bought, typically for kids, because they’re not doing as much outdoor stuff these days,” shop mechanic Kevin Perry said. “When there’s snow on the ground, they don’t think about riding a bicycle is really what ends up happening. So this is when we tend to get more of the serious riders in with their bikes and their equipment.”

That’s where the Fayetteville shop excels — service.

Where shops across New York and the nation have been devastated by supply chain shortages, Clay saw the writing on the wall, and an opportunity.

“I saw everything happening, but I just was watching the actual numbers on the actual inventory online dwindle in front of my eyes, never seen that before,” he said, remembering an early day in 2020 when he used his decades of experience in the business to make his next move for the shop. “Instead of ordering a bunch of bikes that we can’t get right now, let’s take our money and put it all towards all the small parts that we need.”

It’s a credit to their survival skills and business over the last two years, not to mention a real point of pride.

“To be able to not have to turn away tons and tons of customers and be able to repair everything for everybody really meant a lot to the guys here in the shop and how we do things,” Clay said.

Of course, the logistics are not the only hurdle they’ve faced in recent history. Having a dear friend tell the truth to Clay helped change the business.

“I didn’t come into your shop because I was too scared to, because I thought it was for athletes and people who are cyclists and professionals and things like that,” he remembered the friend saying.

Now, Resource Cycling is shaking stigmas of smaller shops being strictly for those who need special bikes, shoes and colored jerseys. And his staff has been on board, 100%.

“We want to be the resource for all the cycling needs,” said Perry.

And while you’d think some of the more specialized gear is what would keep some shops relevant, “you don’t make a lot of money off one athlete buying an $8,000 bike,” Clay said. “So, it seems like it’s more beneficial to really gear everything towards the athlete. It’s almost better to gear everything towards the families instead, and there’s not much that’s better than watching a kid get their first bike walk out of here with a big smile on their face.”

There are a few more services available at local shops.

“If somebody rolls in in a wheelchair, we have tires and tubes and all the different parts that we need to fix things like that for them to keep those wheelchairs rolling. You know, anything that’s kind of bike-oriented,” said Clay.

“If you look at your insurance, we work on it for way cheaper when it comes to changing those tires out and things like that,” added Perry. “We also get it done, like on the spot. I couldn’t imagine being a person who needs to rely on something like that and not be able to get around. How frustrating that’s got to be. So our goal is to take care of people in that situation.”

When will ‘Shark Tank’ Season 13 Episode 12 air? Here are products that will be featured

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Season 13 of ‘Shark Tank’ has indeed featured a range of impressive products. And while not everyone has walked away with a deal, a few entrepreneurs have certainly struck gold. With Episode 12 around the corner, here’s a peek at what this week has to offer.

The episode’s synopsis reads, “First into the Tank is a young entrepreneur from Baltimore, Maryland, who presents her easy-to-use organic skincare product line born from a personal need. A fashion designer from Los Angeles, California, introduces her all female company that makes confidence-boosting swimwear; while entrepreneurs from Longmont, Colorado, pitch their convenient tool that helps to combat an annoying problem. An entrepreneur from Orem, Utah, introduces his lifestyle jewelry brand made from a unique recycled material on all-new episode on “Shark Tank,” FRIDAY, JAN. 21 (8:00-9:01 p.m. EST), on ABC.”

‘Shark Tank’: Quevos nabs $200,000 deal but why did Lori Greiner opt to be a customer instead of investing in it?

Quevos on ‘Shark Tank’: What is the cost, who are the founders and where can you buy the healthy egg white chips?

Who are the Sharks?

Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner and Daymond John will be serving as the Sharks for Episode 12.

What are the new ‘Shark Tank’ products?

Here’s a sneak peek at all the products that will be featured on the episode:

HiccAway: HiccAway is a tried and tested method to get rid of Hiccups without using an assortment of home remedies. Instead, HiccAway uses a specially designed straw through which you sip water to stop hiccups.

TA3: TA3 claims to be a ‘mega sculpting swimsuit’, which flattens, sculpts and lifts to help you achieve a flattering figure.

Tristen Ikaika: Tristen Ikaika is a brand that repurposes cutlery to create fashion jewelry.

Tania Speaks Organic Skincare: Tania Speaks Organic Skincare focuses on creating clean skincare using naturally sourced ingredients.

What is the ‘Shark Tank’ update?

Bunch Bikes

Aaron Powell of Bunch Bike was featured on Season 12, Episode 19. He walked away with an offer from Barbara Corcoran, who invested $100,000 with a $150,000 line of credit in exchange for 15% equity. Since then, Bunch Bikes has been doing exceptionally well and even got another shark to invest off-air – Robert Herjavec! As Powell explained it – “Robert approached Barbara months after I filmed and offered to split the deal with her 50/50. The first time in Shark Tank history a deal was done with a Shark not on the panel. This was a big surprise that I was more than happy to accept!”

When will ‘Shark Tank’ Season 13 Episode 12 air?

‘Shark Tank’ Season 13 Episode 12 airs on ABC on January 21, 2022, at 8 pm ET. Catch the latest episode featuring products like HiccAway, TA3, Tristen Ikaika and Tania Speaks.

Missed an episode? Been wanting to catch up? Episodes can also be viewed the next day on demand and on Hulu. Not just that, you can also watch old seasons and episodes on Amazon Prime Video and iTunes.

If you have an entertainment scoop or a story for us, please reach out to us on (323) 421-7515

Pinkbike Poll: How Reliable Are Modern Mountain Bikes?

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We all know it happens sometimes, but how often do bikes fail these days and why?

More money, more problems? It often seems that way.

For a few thousand dollars you can buy something very similar to what the world’s best are racing, but if you want your bike to last many years with minimal maintenance, shouldn’t we have something more durable?

complete without a weigh-in and bikes above a certain threshold will get a hard time in the comments. At the end of the day, brands are making the bikes people want to buy.

What do you think?

Our buying decisions say no. Here’s a concrete example: RaceFace offer a steel chainring which costs just $20 and lasts longer than their $79.99 aluminum chainring. But with a weight penalty of 89g, the steel version is much less popular than aluminum. Similarly, many long-travel enduro bikes still come with lightweight (e.g. EXO casing) tires, presumably because manufacturers and retailers know they’ll sell more bikes if they weigh less. I know a review isn’tcomplete without a weigh-in and bikes above a certain threshold will get a hard time in the comments. At the end of the day, brands are making the bikes people want to buy.What do you think? At one quarter the price, with superior durability and an imperceptible weight penalty, steel chainrings should be on most bikes, right? Apparently not.

How satisfied are you with the reliability of your bike? Very satisfied. I give it abuse and it comes back for more.

Moderately satisfied. If I look after it, it looks after me.

Not very satisfied. It breaks more often than it should.

Very dissatisfied. I look after it properly but the reliability just isn’t good enough. Responses: 10103 Faves: 0 Comments: 2

Recently a petition was launched to “end the manufacture and sale of built-to-fail budget bicycles”. The idea was to clamp down on those bottom-end bikes that aren’t serviceable, durable, or even safe.Needless to say, the comments on the article about it got pretty heated. On the one hand, there’s a lot to be said for cracking down on planned obsolescence where it exists or discouraging bikes that are so unreliable and hard to repair that they offer unwitting buyers poor value for money despite the low sticker price. On the other hand, people vote with their wallets and there is clearly a market for bikes that cost less than $200. Some commenters were concerned that imposing minimum standards would raise prices to the point where some couldn’t afford a bike at all.This is all very interesting but, despite what some commenters seemed to think, the petition really wasn’t about the kind of bikes most Pinkbike readers ride. Not to sound snobbish, but most people who answered the Pinkbike Community Survey said they spent between $2,000 and $6,000 on their current primary mountain bike, whereas the petition was about sub-$200 bikes with non-replaceable chainrings, poor welds and plastic derailleurs.Nevertheless, reliability could be a lot better at every price point. Even on high-end bikes, derailleurs break, bearings wear out ( and aren’t exactly easy to replace ), rims dent, tires puncture, shocks fail, forks creak and so on.In fact if anything, reliability seems to get worse at higher price points beyond mid-level bikes. Bontrager’s maxim famously states, “cheap, light, strong: pick two”, but it seems that with high-end mountain bikes you only get to pick one.It’s easy to point the finger at the bike brands, and I think there is something to be said for that and a lot more they could be doing. But like with those budget bikes, customers vote with their wallets, and for the keen rider, lightness sells. Most of us want high-performance bikes which are as close as possible to those being raced at the top level. It’s almost like using a Formula One car as a daily driver. Put that way, it’s perhaps not too surprising things don’t always last too well.I’ve argued before that realistic weight savings create a tiny benefit , but they’re probably still worth pursuing if you’re a pro racer where every second counts and your bike is meticulously checked over after every race and any damaged parts are replaced. For the rest of us, shouldn’t our priorities be a little different?

Think you can’t handle a bicycle tour? Consider using an e-bike.

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I’m pretty fit, so I’ll admit that part of me looked down my nose at this option. But it turns out that e-bikes are a fun way to go. Their popularity as a bike category exploded last year, with sales growing 240 percent in the 12 months ending July 2021 and revenue reaching $741 million as of October, according to the NPD Group. It’s no wonder, then, that bike-touring companies are adding them to their fleets. The big and long-established outfitter Backroads, for instance, is predicting that, in 2022, more than 30 percent of its clients will opt for e-bikes. You can find e-bike tours in places as varied as Berlin, the Netherlands, Hawaii and Napa, Calif.