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Hours:
Monday-Friday: 11am–7pm
Saturday: 10am–5pm
Sunday: Closed

Ph: 773.654-3419

3259 W Lawrence Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
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2020 Santa Cruz Jackal

October 26, 2020

We just had the chance to build up another Santa Cruz Jackal dirt jumper and deliver the bike to it’s new owner. These builds are always fun for the shop since the Jackal is only offered in a frame from Santa Cruz for $799. This means we get to work with the customer to spec out every part on the bike. Normally, we take a “sky is the limit” approach to this and work with the customer to help them build their dream bike from the vast array of BMX and dirtjump parts our suppliers carry. But, as everyone knows, 2020 has been unlike any other year, and like most bike shops we struggled to find enough parts to assemble a complete, custom bike.  Despite that, we were able to come up with a really awesome build, and really only had to compromise on one part. Our customer comes from a BMX background, and wanted us to get a nice set of BMX cranks for the bike. We were unable to do that in a timely-enough manner for him to pick up the bike and get some fall riding in, so we installed a set of Sram NX Eagle Dub cranks on the bike. These are a really solid, budget conscious option which will definitely keep him riding through next year when the bike parts shortage will hopefully ease up and we can upgrade him to his preferred setup.

With a dirtjump bike we always like to start the build with the fork. The Rock Shox Pike DJ is our go-to for a bike like this, and luckily we were able to backorder one with silver lowers and get it delivered to the shop in time to complete the build. The silver and black color scheme on the Pike DJ matched the rest of the bike perfectly, and you can’t beat this fork for durability and performance. Since there is a shortage of high quality 26″ mountain bike wheels at the moment, we decided to custom build a set of wheels. Hand-built wheels will be stronger for this application anyway, so this really wasn’t a compromise. We started the build with a pair of Sram 6 bolt through-axle hubs and laced them to a pair of Sun Ringle MTX33 eyleted rims  using Sapim Strong spokes. This is an extremely robust setup, and should be able to handle just about anything the rider is able to dish out. We finished off the wheels with Maxxis Ikon 26×2.2″ tires. The Ikon is a fast rolling tire which will work well on smooth dirt jumps, park riding, and also have enough knobs to work well in light trail riding.

For the handlebars and stem we went with a 35mm clamp diameter for some extra strength and stiffness. We paired a Spoon 35x 800 bar to the Spank Split 35 stem, with a touch of red. We capped off the bars with a pair of Spank Spoon grips. The Seatpost we used is a Race Face Turbine in 30.9mm diameter. A Cromag Overture saddle and Crank Brothers Stamp pedals round out the contact points.

A Sram Level TLM rear brake system mated to a 160mm rotor will take care of slowing the bike down, should the need arise. We used a Wolf Tooth 20-tooth cog and black KMC bmx chain to finish off the drivetrain. One thing we were really impressed with on the newer Jackal frames is the dropouts. They use a 142x12mm through axle and are very well thought out when it comes to securing and adjusting the rear wheel and chain tension. We would have no worries hucking the biggest jumps with this setup.

We hope our customer enjoys riding the new Jackal as much as we enjoyed building it. Shoot us an email  at the bottom of the page if you would like to start planning your own Jackal build!

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/TAILWINDCYCLES

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Thanks to everyone who came out for Lisa's (@yo_uterus ) Shookie ride today! Keep an eye out for another one in June. 
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#bikergram #bikeride #groupride #bikes #wemakeyourrideeasy
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We've been down in Calumet Park supporting the Half Acre Cycling Skyway beginner Criterium series this week. We are extremely happy to be given the opportunity to help out with this series. The importance of Half Acre Cycling's commitment to inclusivity and effort to bring new bike racers into the Chicago racing scene is huge! 

This year is a special one for @boxwrenchben , as 2023 marks the ten-year anniversary of his journey into being a race mechanic. Ben went to the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to obtain a professional mechanic's license in the fall of 2012, and worked Neutral Support professionally for the first time for NRS and Events in the Spring of 2013. He has worked as a neutral support race mechanic or pro team mechanic at races every year since 2013.

The Skyway Crit Series is great for new racers because the course is beginner friendly and the focus is on the lower categories, rather than some of the bigger race series in the area. One part of crit racing that is often overlooked by new racers is how the race pit, technical assistance, and free laps during the race all work. The foundation of providing neutral support at a race is being able to provide technical assistance to the racers while at the same time adhering to the rules of the race, and also helping racers re-enter the race safely after taking a free lap. One of the requirements of obtaining a USA Cycling mechanics license is to take and pass the USA Cycling Officials license test. This ensures that the mechanic can work with the race officials to make sure everyone can race safely and fairly.   

A lot of bike racers (new and experienced) don't actually have a great understanding of how neutral support, the race pit, and free laps work at a race. We'll go over some of the fundamentals here, and don't be afraid to ask the mechanic(s) in the pit (whenever they aren't busy) or any race official (same) if you have any questions. You can also go to the USA Cycling website and download a pdf of the official 2023 rulebook. Criterium racing rules are covered in chapter 3. 

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Here it is! We finished up the facade improvement project on the shop. We had the talented @cantarella.ink come by and hand paint our signs and lower window murals.
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#newsign #newsignday #facade #improvement #mural #streetart #handpainted #wemakeyourrideeasy
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We had another great employee bike maintenance day at @halfacrebeer yesterday! @alscorch and @boxwrenchben were able to service almost 30 employees bikes. Setting up our portable workshop amongst all the Bourbon barrels they use to barrel-age some of their beers was a perfect setting. We even got to sample some delicious beers after we finished up in the evening. 
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#beer #mobilebikeshop #bikemechanic #bikemaintenance #halfacre #wemakeyourrideeasy
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Tailwind Cycles is a full-service bike shop located in Albany Park, Chicago offering in-shop and mobile bike repair, tune-ups, and bike fitting.


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