About Cranxx

CRANXX_LOGO_200X300_PNGWhat is CRANXX Anyway?

CRANXX started in late 2010 as an idea to create an online cycling community where cycling fans could get information, participate in discussions, read great articles, get product reviews and read about my attempts to get back into competitive cycling.  So I bought the domain name and put up a very basic website and waited.  I didn’t understand how to build a community and I thought that if I built the site I would be found.  That was a few years ago now and I’ve learned some things about the internet since then.  There are millions of websites created everyday and a large number of them are about Cycling.  I couldn’t answer the questions “What is it about CRANXX that makes it special?”.  If I didn’t add some great content to my site or solve some problem for someone then nobody would ever come to my site to actively participate in growing a community.  It seemed like a huge task so I kinda gave up and let the domain sit.

In early 2012, after a few setbacks in life, I was incredibly overweight and pretty broke.  I started bike riding to help get back into shape and since I didn’t have much money I had an old bike that wasn’t very reliable and I couldn’t afford an upgrade.  So I started doing a lot of repairs and maintenance myself just to keep my bike on the road.  I rode bikes all the time when I was a kid and even raced some in high school so I knew my way around a bike and how to work on them.  (For a time I ran a small bike repair shop out of my garage so I learned a lot and was able to keep my friend’s bikes running well.)  I bought a few different used bikes on Craigslist and quickly realized that there was a market for buying used bikes and flipping them for a profit after making a few repairs, adjustments, upgrades and basic maintenance.  So that’s what I started doing as a side gig – even building a few custom $4000+ bikes from frame up.  But I couldn’t have done any of this without the right tools!

In the process of building my side “business” I did a lot of research on bike work stands, bike tools, bike gadgets, bike accessories and bike repair tips.  I literally have a bookmark folder on my browser with over 500 links to different sites – yes SITES, not pages – of bike related references that I used all the time.  During this time I had lost some weight and I wanted to get into bike racing.  I went on a few group rides and eventually I helped start an amateur cycling team.  I took on the website duties for the team and my cycling bookmarks list just continued to grow.  Now I was adding sites about training, racing, other race teams, cycling clubs and bike maintenance for racing.  The list was getting unwieldy and I was starting to get questions from my team about my recommendations for buying used gear, buying work stands, buying stationary bike trainers and bike tools.  I couldn’t send links out fast enough so, one day I just got sick of going to all the sites to find solutions and information (and remembering which ones had what information was next to impossible).  I remembered I had this domain name so I decided to start organizing everything I could find in one site, full of directories, reviews, rankings, tips, buying guides and anything else that I found useful – and hopefully you will too.  So that’s what CRANXX is… it’s a community – and this community if full of bike information!

MISSION:

At CRANXX it is our mission to provide the most comprehensive information, reviews, comparisons, tips, news and shopping links in the cycling community for bike stands, bike trainers, bike tools, bike computers, bike power meters, bike lights, bike maintenance & repair and other cycling related news.  We will provide the level of information and user experience that we would want to have.  Our goal is to become the destination for information on current bike gear & tool trends.  We will create and curate content from around the web and from our own experience.  We will present the information in a clear, non-technical manner that is accessible to everyone (as long as they can view the website) and provide a place for up-and-coming cyclists, mechanics, shops, stores, products and brands to grow.

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