Bikes Of 2024: Ti Muk 2

 It's another December here on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2024. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up.

 This bike is a special rig for me. In case you did not know, my good friend Matt Gersib basically 'crowd-funded' this for me back in 2019. I did pay a very small amount for the bike, so it was not 'totally' free, but yeah.... Thanks again to everyone that contributed to getting this for me. 

I think it is the perfect fat bike, for me at any rate. Your mileage may vary, but this bike, with its titanium main frame, aluminum fork, dynamo hub lighting system, internally geared 14 speed Rohloff hub, and carbon rims with 26 X 4" tires is as good as it gets from an all-arounder fat biking perspective. 

I added the Salsa rack on the bike when I got it. I also have had to upgrade the front light since I have had it and put a new drive train on including a bottom bracket. But other than that, it has been really easy to own and it is fun to ride. 

Recently I replaced the old rear mud flap with a highly modded Dave's Mud Shovel. I scored some old 45NRTH pogies for my Answer carbon bars and I refreshed the sealant in the Cake Eater tires. I also did a swap of the rear brake caliper to a Tektro Spyre caliper back in November. Now that brake works great! I will have to drain the fluid from the Rohloff hub soon and refresh that again. But it isn't a big deal to do the job. 

Of course, many of you will have noted that this is the bike I completed my most recent Turkey Burn ride on. I hope to have a couple more rides on this rig to talk about later here soon. Stay tuned for that!

I had thought about swapping out the Advocate Cycles aluminum fork for a lighter carbon one, and I still think about that yet. The main thing there is I cannot seem to move past the "thinking" part of that idea! So, for now, no other planned changes here on this bike!

Bikes Of 2024: Raleigh Tamland Two

 It's another late December here on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2024. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up. 

The Raleigh Tamland Two before the rear wheel failed!

Well, ten years of the Raleigh Tamland Two and it still is getting plenty of ride time, despite its age. This is the bike I helped design in 2012 with advice I gave Raleigh and was the bike I was going to retire a couple of years ago, but I just couldn't get it to happen. 

Why? 

Because it is still a relevant bike in 2024 and with a couple of minor details updated, it would be bang-on for 2025. Mainly those details are things that would generally be seen as deal killers for some, but not for performance reasons. First is the reason I almost retired the bike, and that has to do with axle standards. The Tamland I have is quick release based. Getting wheels which utilize convertible axle caps is not as common as it once was. 

I started out 2024 with some carbon wheels on this bike.

But a pair of Irwin Cycling Carbon Aeon 35's I had would support a switch to quick release hubs, so I converted that wheel set in 2023 and started out 2024 with those wheels. However; when I experienced some weird drive train issues, I first blamed the free hub on the Irwin wheels. I switched out to a set of DT Swiss hubbed Roval wheels I got from Grannygear, and that seemed to solve the issue, until it didn't. 

Then I found the real reason I was having trouble. It was a worn out crank set. So, I replaced that crank set with a completely new one, because it was cheaper than buying separate rings, and that would have been it but for a new problem. The Roval rear wheel starting unwinding its spokes. Uggh!

Sooo.... Back to the Irwins? Well, not so fast! I had taken that wheel set apart to investigate the free hub, which I had originally thought was the problem, and in the process I misplaced the axle end cap. 

Doh!

I kind of liked this look, but that went away for a bit

So, I ended up using an older wheel I had built up as a place holder until I got the DT Swiss hubbed Rovals rebuilt with new nipples. More on that in a bit...

The other thing that the Tamland has which might be seen as a deterrent in 2025 to owning this bike is the straight 1 1/8th steer tube. But that has already been addressed with the addition of the Fyxation carbon fork with those mounts for bottles, and that addresses the third issue with the original Tamlands which was the lack of bottle mounts. There are only two native to this 2014 model. 

Oh! And I added a carbon post with a white saddle this year, just to be fashionable. No other reasoning for that! 

In the future changes department I will be reinstalling the aforementioned Roval wheel. Other than that? I think with about every critical drive train bit replaced I won't have to do much else.

People Of 2024: Dave (N.Y.) Roll

 In my travels and life during the year, I have been blessed to be supported, befriended, and on occasion visited by some pretty awesome folks. Sometimes I visited them. (Hopefully they were equally blessed!) I wanted to take some extra space to recognize and celebrate these people at the end of the year. I hope you gain some insight and appreciation for what these people mean to me this year and beyond. 

A N.Y. Roll selfie from his recent New York trip

This person is an obvious one for this list and a very important person to me. My friend, Dave, has been invaluable to me over the last several years. He's been there for me and helped me out in ways not many people are aware of, but that's okay. We don't need to broadcast everything, right Dave? Ha ha!

I laugh, but it is true. I owe the opportunity to be where I am at now, in part, to Dave. He is influential in my past regarding Trans Iowa, and he continues to be a help up to this very day. 

Mr. Roll has helped organize rides which were centered around myself, he has hosted the podcast at his home for the last two years plus some, and essentially been a friend to me which is something I am eternally thankful for. Plus, Dave gives me Topo Chico to drink sometimes. How can you not like a guy that does that?

It goes without saying then that 2024 would have been not nearly as good or fun if it was a year without N.Y. Roll in it. And a shout-out to Morgan for putting up with our podcast nonsense also. 

I am definitely looking forward to a 2025 that includes my friend and together I hope that we can keep up the podcast and fun times. Plus, there might be something involving bicycles and a ride that we might do. Stay tuned on that possibility next year.

People Of 2024: Ari Andonopoulous

  In my travels and life during the year, I have been blessed to be supported, befriended, and on occasion visited by some pretty awesome folks. Sometimes I visited them. (Hopefully they were equally blessed!) I wanted to take some extra space to recognize and celebrate these people at the end of the year. I hope you gain some insight and appreciation for what these people mean to me this year and beyond. 

Ari and I. Image by Ari's daughter, Giuletta

What can I say about Ari to you that would impress you so that you would understand what he means to me? This is what I think of when I think about Ari and how I would approach this post. Ari didn't just make my 2024 better, he has been there for years making my life better. 

I've said it on these pages before, and it bears repeating - Ari is a HUGE Trans Iowa fan and supported me with words and deeds that many people have no idea about. I think about these things and to me, the most important part of Ari's and my relationship is how Ari is there to pick me up when I need it. And this comes from a place of need for Ari, not out of an abundance of cheer. Ari has given to me when he hasn't had a reason to. He could be selfish and stick to his own life, but he chooses to be a giver, and I think this is what I most respect and cherish about him. More people should be like Ari. 

It was a gesture like the one he made this past Spring that reminded me of how thoughtful and kind Ari is. He was able to attend the memorial service for our mutual friend, Wally Kilburg, who died in April. Of course, no one would blame Ari for feeling his own feels and grieving a lost friend. But he thought of me and sent me a memorial card handed out at the service because he knew what Wally meant to me and to all those who had ridden in Trans Iowa. I often look at this image of Wally on my desk from that card and think about him, of course, but it also reminds me of Ari and his faithful kindness. 

And then we were able to spend most of a day together this past August, which was a highlight of 2024 for me. This would be my last trip of the year. I was really glad I had the opportunity to go to Chicago and see Ari. It had been far too long. 

There is hope that in 2025 we will be seeing each other again. Stay tuned on that front.....

End Of Year Prognosticationg: Part 2

 In celebration of the twentieth year of this blog, I have a few tales to tell. This post is one of them. This series will occur off and on throughout this anniversary year, I hope to illuminate some behind-the-scenes stories and highlights from the blog during this time. Enjoy!

 Last week on Saturday I wrote about some of the end-of-year prognostications I had made over the past 19 years of blogging. Interestingly enough, I found that during 2008 and 2009 that I skipped making any predictions. This maybe is bad from the standpoint of seeing what I was thinking then, or it may be a good thing because I should not have been doing foolish things like predicting the future anyway. 

Oh well! 

So, let's take a look at some of the other notable things I prognosticated on during the past years of blogging, shall we? here's a good one from 2012: "I have lots of things gelling around in my mind that are fun, exciting possibilities for 2013, but ya know what? I'll likely get swept away in a totally different, fun, and exciting direction than I think I will."

Bingo! But that is a "Captain Obvious" prediction. That could be right for any year, ya know? So, while this next one, from 2019, is more of a desire than a prediction, it fits the theme: "So, I want to get away from home more in 2020. I want to ride in more interesting places and report on that here."

Yeah.....about that. 

I hardly went anywhere in 2020, but it may have been my best year of riding ever.

 Last year, with my leaving Riding Gravel, I figured reviewing product posts here might not be a big thing. Here's my take from the last post of 2023: "Review work will be posted here, but again, I don't know how that will look or if it is a sustainable thing here due to the perception of this being a "blog". So, again - we will see...." 

Well, it seems that - at least for 2024 - it was game on! I posted a lot of reviews and as of now that doesn't look to be changing, but next year is another year, right? I think I had this figured out for a while here. This statement was from the end of 2018: "Many years I have made vague comments about changes and what not that were forthcoming. Many times they did not pan out, many times they did."

Again - Bingo! Another "Captain Obvious" statement, but a wise one and true. So, no more prognostications then? No more hoping and dreaming because, well, a lot of it doesn't come to pass, right?

Wrong!

You'll see in about ten days time....

Friday News And Views

The 2025 Gravel Earth Series Calendar

Gravel Earth Series Announces Official Dates For 2025:

The Gravel Earth Series has expanded its palette of offerings to the competitive gravel rider to include several new events to the series. 

Events now span the globe from the Philippines, South America, North America, Iceland, Europe, and Africa. The USA has six dates on the 26 event calendar alone. 

Most interesting to my local readers is that - as reported here previously - CORE4 in Iowa and Gravel Worlds in Nebraska are both Gravel Earth Series events. This will mark the first time that Iowa has figured into any international series or has gotten any spotlight in a world-wide stage, such as the Gravel Earth Series brings. 

More details can be found at the Gravel Earth Series site. 

Comments: This series is ambitious and seems to be aiming to be the preeminent series for gravel racing worldwide. There is, of course, the UCI Gravel World Series, but at this point, if plans come to fruition, the UCI series will have half the events that Gravel Earth Series has in the USA and the UCI has nothing in Iowa or Nebraska at this point. At least the Gravel Earth Series seems to place a heavy emphasis on the birthplace of the modern day gravel scene, both in having events on its calendar and in allowing those events to be what they are uniquely suited to be. 

Now the outlier here is the Life Time Grand Prix, which is a mix of MTB and gravel, but within its smaller series of events, it has a very lucrative payday and the "crown jewel" of gravel, the Unbound event in Emporia, Kansas.  "Crown jewel" in that it is regarded as the most prestigious Pro level event, but that is all. Whatever charm the event had in its early days is being heavily overshadowed or eliminated in favor of a focus on the highest levels of competition, media access, and prizing.

Schwalbe G1 RX gravel tire (Image courtesy of Schwalbe)

Schwalbe Announces G1 RX Gravel Tires:

On Tuesday of last week, Schwalbe announced new G1 RX gravel tires. The tread pattern is Schwalbe's most aggressive pattern for gravel tires. 

Schwalbe also considers this tire as the gravel tire in its range with the best traction and best cornering traction. They also claim good mud clearing abilities, but I wouldn't hold my breath there when it comes to Kansan clay or Iowa's black dirt. 

The G1 RX comes in 700 x 38mm, 700 x 43mm, and 700 x 50mm. Black or tan side walls. Webpage for the black version HERE. 

Comments: I am not all that familiar with Schwalbe gravel tires. I did try a set of their lighter weight MTB treads for my Fargo one year and had a poor experience so I haven't been all that interested in Schwalbe's offerings. There are a LOT of fans of Schwalbe tires, however, so they must be doing some things right. 

I'll have to try a set again someday just to see what the hype is all about. 

Image courtesy of Good Grief Bicycles

These Are Some "Nice Bars":

I follow "Fixie Dave" Nice on several different social media platforms. He has done Trans Iowa in the past and he really does ride fixed gear off-road and everywhere else all the time. Anyway, he was showing these handle bars recently and they struck me as being very familiar looking. 

In fact, they are a dead ringer for the original Jones H-Bars. I first saw those handlebars at the very first DK200 in 2006. I always thought those were cool, but they were expensive, being made from titanium, as they were. 

I ended up buying some Titec H-Bars, which were made out of aluminum and varied a bit from Jeff Jones' design by using a riser center section instead of a plain, straight section of tubing like Jeff Jones had been doing. It was ugly, but man! It was sure awesome on my OS Bikes Blackbuck. 

One thing led to another and those bars came off, others went on, and the Titec bars went to the recyclers. But when I saw these "Nice Bars", (yes- named after Fixie Dave, it seems), I thought I should try a sample, so I have purchased them. 

These are made from steel, not titanium, but the effect will be similar, I hope, to my old Titec H-Bar experience, which is when I thought the Blackbuck was at its best. I'll have more to say when I get them, but if you are curious, here is the website page. And it looks like my handlebars will be here on the 23rd. So, that's pretty quick service from a small fabricator/business. 

Rocky Mountain Solo Carbon 90 gravel bike.

Rocky Mountain Bikes Files For Reorganization:

News broke yesterday that Rocky Mountain Bikes has asked for a "Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act" from the Canadian government, according to this report on the "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" website. 

Citing the all too familiar story of a crash in sales post-COVID and a market-wide drop in pricing, Rocky Mountain hopes to avoid interruption of its business with this move.

Comments: This was the sort of thing I thought we might have seen more of earlier in 2024, but it seems that the end of the year has pushed some companies to the brink and now we are seeing the results expressed as financial troubles. 

One has to wonder when you see the brand being "closed out" on internet sites like Jenson USA where you can buy a Rocky Mountain gravel bike for 50% off. In fact, that retailer can sometimes be used as a barometer for what companies aren't doing so well by looking at the deeper discounted brands. 

Rocky Mountain isn't the only brand with recent troubling news. I'll have another brand featured in next week's "FN&V".

That's a wrap on this week. Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions and remember: Get out there and ride those bicycles!

Bikes Of 2024: Nobel GX-5

 It's another December here on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2024. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up.

 The Noble GX-5 is another oddball bike in my stable. It is fairly rare, but it has a connection to another bike I own, the Raleigh Tamland Two. Ironically, the design for the Noble was informed by the design for the Tamland Two because one of the engineers on the Tamland designed the Noble GX-5 as well. 

This bike was ahead of the game in a couple of ways. It has semi-internal cabling. It also has a 1X specific design. While Nobel listed the GX-5 as having clearances for only 40mm tires in its marketing, it will easily swallow a 700 X 47mm tire and 45's are no big deal. It also wasn't heavily influenced by the "adventure wart" trend which was a big deal when this bicycle was developed in 2018. 

The bike now sports a State Bicycle Co. Monster Fork v2.

Now I have changed just about everything on this bicycle but the head set. Every other component attached to this frame is pretty much new, or is brand new. Now going forward I also see more stability with the stuff bolted to this bike. Changes will be more intentional, I think.

I had thought about swapping back to the original fork, but I have finally decided to give this State Bicycle Co. fork some more time in the new year. I guess I could see going 12 speed on this bike at some point also. It would be the perfect bike to do that with. But I am in no hurry to go there.

I am looking forward to riding the Noble again. I have a great time riding this bike, and why wouldn't I? The geometry is almost dead-on what I would specify had this been a custom rig.

Bikes Of 2024: Black Mountain Cycles MCD

It's another December here on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2024. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up. 

The Black Mountain Cycles MCD has been a staple of my bike stable for years going back to 2018 when I got it. That happened to be the year it came out and this pink color was a very limited run. Now Mike Varley no longer offers this model, instead morphing what this bike does into what is called the "Mod Zero". 

So, the ol' MCD is kind of a rare bird, and in pink, even rarer. Not that this matters to me, it just is. I only knew that when Mike had a run of Monstercross frames made in pink probably ten years or more ago that I was kicking myself for not getting one when I had the chance. So, when Mike reached out to me to say that the initial run of MCD's would have a pink option, I was all-in. 

This bike gets used for testing a lot, so it has had various wheel sets, saddles, seat posts, and handlebars. I actually almost never can tell you what the bike is running at any given moment unless I go down to the Lab and look at it!

It's a great bike. I've no doubt that the Mod Zero does everything the MCD does and more, but I am fine with this bike as it is. It is very comfortable and it easily handles 700 X 47mm tires on wide-ish rims. 

As far as changes go, I think things are going to normalize there for various reasons. Right now? I probably would only change some more of the drive train to GRX. 

The quirk concerning this bike that I often find amusing has to do with its color. I seem to cause a stir in the country when I show up out there on this bright pink rig. I have actually witnessed cars slow-rolling a mile away when they spot me on the MCD. Other bikes? Usually the rural folk take little notice of me. 

I haven't had any negative feedback on my riding a pink bike yet. But I probably will at some point. I'm good with that.....

Rear View 2024: Third Quarter

Hello! it's time again to review the year on Guitar Ted Productions. The "Rear View" has been a staple of the blog since almost the very beginning. This year there will be four Rear View posts looking back on the year in quarters. I'll also have a post looking ahead at 2024. Enjoy the look back and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Mid-Summer saw the continuance of reviewing duties and more Country Views posts. There was even one more significant trip to do as well. Let's dig in... 

Again, the reviewing opportunities continued to flow in and I sprinkled in a couple long-term reviews as well. Here's the list for the third quarter of things that were reviewed here:

• Redshift Sports ShockStop Short Stem
• WTB 700 X 50mm Resolute
• WTB 700 x 45mm Vulpine
• WTB 700 X 45mm Vulpine S
• SILCA Terra Floor Pump
• Delium Tires review
• Guitar Ted Lube-Off review wrapped up for 2024
  
• Long-Term Review of Atomik/Berd Wheel Set
• Long-Term Review of the Lazer Kineticore Strada Helmet

There were newsy items as well which included my getting published in the Japanese publication, "Bicycle Club". There was news out of SRAM concerning the new Red AXS XPLR 13 speed group. The SBT GRVL mess was covered which ended up resulting in a big change for that event in 2025. I wrote an article about gravel culture, past, present, and future. Finally, my ten year annoiversary of getting hit by a truck on the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational was recounted. 

Not all reviews are positive: Delium Tires was one such review.

By far the highlight for me for this quarter was my trip to Chicago. Illinois to see my old friend Ari Andonopoulous. We had not seen each other in a bit over seven years. 

I was happy that things worked out so I could spend some quality time alone with Ari. We went out to a local bar for burgers, then we went back to his place and hung out in his garage full of cycling repair tools, bikes, and accessories. 

Later on Mrs. Guitar Ted and Ari's wife, Jamie joined us and we had thin crust pizza from a local pizza joint. It was a fabulous evening and one that I treasure to this day. Thanks to Ari for being such a great host. 

Riding time was about the same as in Spring and I got plenty of good ones in. There were some struggles with time, but overall it was a s good as it was going to get what with my new schedule and responsibilities. 

With that it is time to review the last quarter of the year and that will close the Rear View for 2024. The last post in this series will go up next week. Then it will be on to a look at what's in store for 2025 and what I think will happen here on the blog.