Sugar Bottom Bikes

Saturday is the big day, Iowa’s largest gravel event .bike is taking place. You won’t find us at the shop today as we will be out there riding and volunteering at this great event.
If you need anything the shop will be back to regular hours on Sunday. Just please be patient with us if we are moving a little slow!

Stuff you need for .bike Pt. 4. Snacks Edition. For a legendary effort like the one you will need to put forth to complete core4, you will need a steady supply of quality snacks and an efficient way to carry them that allows for easy access. The yummier your snacks are and the easier to grab they are, the more you will eat and that’s super important!
We highly recommend a top tube mounted bag such as this Energy Caddy XL. For a longer ride like core4 we recommend starting with more solid food like bars or actual real food from your kitchen. From there you can move to gummy type snacks and you should save snacks such as gels for just the final couple hours of your ride. We like to load the top tube bag starting with the food we will eat last… so put those gels at the bottom, followed by the gummy chews, and then put that real food at the top so it’s the first thing you grab!
It’s also not a bad idea to have a drink mix such as sport drink mix in your bottle to intake even more calories and electrolytes. And last of all don’t forget about that emergency pickle juice to help ward off those pesky cramps!

🚨 Flash Sale! 🚨 For this weeks flash sale we are blowing out the Blackburn Core 2 and Core 3 Floor Pumps! Chances are you could use a new one, or a spare! This week only these pumps are 60% Off! The $80 Core 3 pump is going for $30 or grab the Core 2 pump down from $60 to just $25!!

.bike is only a week away and there’s most likely still some stuff you need! For this edition of “Stuff You Need for .bike” let’s talk about hydration.
We’ve all got water bottles and we’ve all got water bottle cages but did you know not all are created equal? We’re a big fan of BIG Bottles like these 30oz Polar Bottles paired with the tightest fitting cage in the industry, the Gorilla Cage. Don’t suffer a bottle-ejection, the roots at Sugar Bottom are no match for the Gorilla Cage!
Speaking of Singletrack, you’re gonna want a hydration pack so you can easily hydrate through the twisty turny trails without fumbling around with a bottle. We have a full line of hydration packs to choose from so you can drink while you shred! 💧 👌 👊.

It’s time for another round of “Stuff You NEED for .bike”. Above all else, you need the right tires for YOU, set at the correct tire pressure for YOU, and you need all the stuff to KEEP those tires at the right pressure for YOU! 😉. We think almost everyone will benefit from at least a 40mm tire, and few people will need anything wider than a 45mm tire. We think a semi slick tire with side k***s will do the trick, but if you are very unfamiliar with Singletrack then something with a little more grip is probably a good idea.
Most important, remember that your friend’s tire pressure is not necessarily the correct tire pressure for you. We recommend using the tire pressure calculator (link in below) to find the perfect pressure for you. Make sure to use a digital gauge when dialing in pressure, your floor pump is most likely not accurate enough.
Last but not least, keep those tires inflated by carrying a tubeless tire plug kit, at least one 25oz CO2, and a High Volume mini pump as a back up in case you use up all that CO2.
We are confident in saying we have the best selection of tires in the area, and it’s not too late to get that perfect tire mounted up! Come see us for more expert advice.
https://silca.cc/pages/sppc-form

🚨 Flash Sale!🚨 We’re ready to kick off a new thing we’re doing y’all, weekly Flash Sales! Announced every Monday, you will have one week to take advantage of huge savings! This week’s featured flash sale is the Cannondale Adventure Neo All Road E-Bike. This week only, all in stock Adventure Neo All Road models are on sale at an insane 50% OFF! With some models available as low as $1675 MSRP, that means you could be riding away on a Cannondale E-bike for less than $850!

Come out this Tuesday to Night at the Oval in Cedar Rapids! 🚲 💨

This Tuesday Night at the Oval is presented by Sugar Bottom Bikes.
www.crandicracing.com/fartlek/round-and-round-a-night-at-the-oval
Bike Iowa City Crandic Racing Club Crandic Racing Hawkeye Downs Speedway and Expo Center

We’re starting a new series that will cover all the “things you need for core4,” and we’re gonna kick it off with the ultimate go big thing you need for core4, a new bike!!! As some of you know, just dropped a banger of a new version of the famous Stigmata gravel bike, and we’ve got the top of the line model in stock! This new Stigmata has everything you could ask for to get you through the rowdiest and roughest gravel events. 1X AXS Shifting and Dropper Post, Rudy Suspension Fork, 45mm tires with room for plenty bigger, and in frame storage to hold all that stuff you hope you never have to use 🤞. The geo has gotten a nice revamp with suspension correction, slacker geo, and longer reach paired with a shorter stem to completely eliminate toe lap.

Iowa’s Largest Gravel Event core4 gravel is less than 3 weeks away and the excitement is starting to BUILD!!!! Sugar Bottom Bikes is so stoked to be heavily involved in the planning and ex*****on of this event again for 2023. From designing the routes and organizing training rides, to our collaboration with this years water bottles and hosting the Sugar Bottom Aid Station, we are just so lucky to be a part of all of it. It’s not too late to join and it’s not to late to get your bike dialed in with the perfect equipment for the big day! Get signed up and give us a shout for equipment and training advice! We can’t wait to see y’all at the starting line on Saturday August 19th!

core4 - No Surface Untouched Core4 will be holding their annual bike race August 19th, 2023 in Iowa City, IA. Get registered - https://www.bikereg.com/core4gravel

We’ve been the busiest we’ve ever been with RAGBRAI comin’ through town but it hasn’t stopped us from turning out some sick custom builds, including probably our most epic custom to date! This SuperSix EVO Lab71 decked out with full Dura Ace is an absolute rocket 🚀 ready to be unleashed on the Iowa countryside! Check out the slides for reverse order from finished product to a pile of parts. Stay tuned for some more customs that are soon to hit the roads as well!

We are so stoked to be collaborating again with Iowa’s Largest and Raddest Gravel Event .bike! Check out this years bottles! If you want one of these (for free might we add) you need to get registered for core4 by 🚨 NOON TODAY (Thursday)!!!!!! 🚨 We really don’t wanna see any sad faces and crocodile tears on packet pickup day so if you want one (as well as all the other free merch items). Get signed up! Tell ur friend to get signed up! Sign up your kids (kids ride for free!!!). Sign up your mom!!!! Just get signed up y’all!!
www.core4.bike

The weather has been amazing this year and with no signs of that changing anytime soon, why not join these lucky folks and make it a Happy New Bike Day!? We’ve got a wide selection of casual and fun bikes for everyone, stop in and check us out!

In case you haven’t heard, Iowa City has a new Youth Mountain Bike Club and we are so stoked to be both a main sponsor and helping coach these awesome kids! After 6 weeks of practice this past weekend was our first race double header with races at Sugarbottom and Mount Trashmore. There were close to 100 kids and our team absolutely crushed it with big wins both days and podiums in every category! Huge smiles were everywhere! It is safe to say coaching and watching the next generation race is one of the most rewarding things we’ve ever experienced. The club’s next race is this weekend in Decorah, stay tuned!

SBB MEOWmorial Day Weekend Hours:
Sat 10-5 🐈‍⬛ Sun 11-5 🚴 Mon Closed ☀️
Tuesday we’ll be right back at it! 🔧
Stop in this weekend and catch our Saturday morning group ride, talk bikes, play with Smokey the worlds most famous shop cat, and/or have a beverage… we’d love to see you!

Shop manager recently had a killer ride down at the third running of .bike in Bentonville, AR. RO3 is a gravel event featuring a 100 mile route option with gravel, tarmac, and singletrack (over 20 miles of super fun trails with millions of tire eating rocks 😅.)
After two previous attempts at the race botched by flats and mechanicals Nate finally got his setup and strategy fully dialed in and with some great weather and good luck netted an amazing 5th Place among national champions, international Instagram influencers, and local bad@sses at this years event.
Checkout Nate’s bike setup, gear, and nutrition strategy and ask us questions in the comments!
Supersix EVO SE
SRAM Force AXS Mullet 46/10-52
Discus LTD 40/45 Wheels
Cinturato RC 45mm
Seatpack = tube #1, chain link, chain l**e, 2 x CO2 & inflator, multitool.
Cornerbag = tube #2, sealant, spare AXS battery, Stan’s dart tool, patch kit.
Hydration vest storage = Lezyne mini pump, phone, pressure cage
Jersey pocket quick access = 38oz CO2 & inflator, dynaplug tool + extra bacon strips
Not shown hidden in bike= Lezyne tubeless repair tool & tire lever
Nutrition = 2 Zefal 33oz bottles w/ Gatorade (keepin’ it old school!) 50oz Camelbak Chase Vest with water. (See image for food consumed) Not shown: 1/2 can of coke and mystery bottle hand up from random onlookers.

Group Rides! We’ve got two of em’ this week so you’ve got two chances to join in on the fun. Both rides are mixed surface “drop” rides, start and end , and require a gravel or mountain bike. Join us Wednesday for our weekly Ride to Red’s Gravel Ride, and Saturday for our longer but more chill Morning Mixed Surface Ride. All the info you need for these rides can be found at our Strava Club Page (link below) including route file and description, meeting time and place, expected pace, rules of the ride, etc. Please carefully read the ride description before you decide to commit! We hope to see y’all there! 👊

https://strava.app.link/GBCvlFzI2zb

Check out our customer bike of the week, Jeff’s brand new 2023 Orbea Oiz M10. We started talking with Jeff about this one in 2022 and it’s finally here, just in time for prime mountain bike shredding season! We’ve got a handful of the new Oiz in the shop in different sizes and builds for y’all to try as well!

We had a blast this weekend participating in the event in the beautiful driftless region of Northeast Iowa. The views are amazing and the climbs are like nothing you’ve seen in our part of the state. We had three team riders make it in the top 10 of the 100 mile distance as well as two employees that achieved the coveted sub-8 hour century and earned themselves a brand on the branding board! If you weren’t there we highly recommend checking it out next year! There is also a 30 mile and 60 mile distance for those of you that have a little more sense! 🤣

What are you waiting for? It could be New Bike Day for you too! Thank You and Congratulations to this weeks Happy New Bike Owners! We’ve got a great selection and some great deals right now so it’s a great time to stop in and find a New Bike of your own!

Group ride season is in full effect and we’ve got another one happening this Saturday morning at 9am! We’ll be heading out for a ~36 mile gravel mixed surface route at a steady but not too slow and not too fast pace. Hit the link in our bio to check our Strava Club for more info. (Did you know our Strava Club has almost 1,000 members!! 🤯)

Spring is here and you know what that means! It’s time to bring back posts! Shout out to another round of proud and happy customers with new bikes out the door. These folks are geared up and ready to go for another great year of riding on a spankin’ new bike!

It’s finally starting to feel like Spring 🌸 Y’all! What better way to celebrate than with a bike ride and some ice cream!? Make sure to stop by and check out the newly renovated pedestrian friendly Dubuque St./ Cherry St. interchange in front of the shop! Now is also a great time to stop in and check out crazy good deals going on right now during our Cannondale sales event!

Big Sale Starts Today! It’s not often bikes like these go on sale this early in the season, and it’s even more rare for discounts this huge (30% OFF certain models!). Sale runs until April 16th, but don’t wait because we will sell out of many of these models. Check the link in our bio for a full list of sale models, or check our website’s sale page for a more compact list. Spring is here!

Sugar Bottom Bikes Providing North Liberty and the surrounding Corridor area with bicycle sales and service since 2007.

Crate things on the horizon for SRAM! What’s in the boooox?! Silly sentences aside, any guesses on what new SRAM product is dropping this Tuesday? All silly, lighthearted, or potentially accurate guesses welcome.

Smokey’s guess is a new wireless AXS heating pad. Her current wired version really limits potential napping areas.

Sadie’s guess is an update to SRAM’s long forgotten treat.0 delivery system. Her hopes are for a wireless treat-on-the-go solution.

Thanks to all of the 2023 The Lake Macbride Fat Tire Classic riders and sponsors, particularly Sugar Bottom Bikes generous donation, we raised over $14,250 this year!
We have already starting putting those 💰 back into the community with donations to:
Devo Youth Cycling Club
Sponsoring a Solon Camp Hertko Hollow camper
Lakeview Elementary & Solon Intermediate School PTO - Solon, IA Spartan Dash
Solon Post Prom

Thank you!

It’s New Employee Bike Day! Our newest team members Charlie and Alex recently finished up their new bike dream builds just in time to hit the trails and gravel! After months of research, geeking out, planning, working, and saving, both of these guys just finished these crazy awesome builds. Look for Charlie and his new Santa Cruz Tallboy at all the local trails and watch out for Alex speeding along on his Cannondale SupersixEvo SE at the local gravel events this year!

🚨 Big News! 🚨 For the month of March y’all have a very rare opportunity to scoop up any and all and for an incredible 15-20% off depending on the model. We have a handful in stock and the sale even counts towards special orders! This could be your chance to grab a previously out of reach Santa Cruz Shred Sled! Don’t wait on this one as this is a nationwide sale and many models will likely sell out or get lead times pushed out past the sale date.

We are still still smiling from the amazing experience we had hosting the First Annual North Liberty Bike Swap. It was so good to see so many smiling faces from folks we haven’t seen for a while and I think everyone that was there would agree it was a HUGE success! We couldn’t have pulled it off without our partners and help from all our vendors who spread the word for us and made for a huge turnout. We’re already planning for next year… expect the around the same time and place, but with more than double the amount of space to work with!
📸

Bike Swap is LIVE! Get out here!

Trails are groomed go get it! Important thing to remember here is during the weekend warmup to stay off them once the temps get above ~30.

Woodpecker Singletrack has been groomed (fatbike and snowshoe only please!) and should set nice and firm with tonight’s cold temperatures. if we stay off during the weekend warmup, we might salvage extended ride time - let’s try!

We also set a pair of Classic XC tracks on Clear Creek path from the east end of Ashton to the west end of Woodpecker Singletrack so if that’s your jam, enjoy!

Here it is ya’ll! Now y’all can stop blowing up our phone asking us about the routes! 😂

Check those inboxes y’all, the ROUTES have officially dropped! Study up, take notes, Live it!

Race Route:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41968524

Fun Ride Route:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41969045

The fat biking has been oh so good lately y’all! We’re planning on getting out there this weekend for a fun get together with the City of Coralville to enjoy the trails with y’all! Come see us at the Tom Harkin Trailhead Saturday Feb. 4th from 9am-11am for hot cocoa, snacks, a firepit, and free fat bike demos! And just a friendly reminder that most of our remaining fat bikes are ON SALE at 20-30% OFF! Check the sales page our website for a list of em!

🍁 🍁 🍁 Get stoked!

Join us Saturday February 4th the Annual Yeti Pedal! We will have fat bikes from OTSO, Corvus, and KHS to try and buy! All of our remaining fat bikes are currently on sale for 20% off or more.