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| Bike Bag Dude strikes again! (Note: Debut of new table on G-Ted Productions) |
Recently I received a couple more Top Tube Garage Bags from Bike Bag Dude in Australia. These are my third and fourth Top Tube Garage Bags from the BBD, and I have noted that these have seen some slight improvements over the original one I have had here for years.
The inside features a couple of 'side pockets' now which you could use for thin objects like credit cards, money, gels, or small wrenches and the like which would tend to get lost in the swirling mass of 'stuff' you might be putting into one of these. I also noted a nice port for wires to a GPS, battery for a light, or what have you at the lower front of these newer bags. The zipper looks improved and the structure of the bag itself seems improved, although that's hard to say when comparing my original bag, which is years old and abused, to brand new ones.
What hasn't changed is the ginormous size which I happen to love. I have one of the older ones stuffed with a Silca mini-pump, multi-tool, tubeless tire repair kit, a tube, nutrition, and I still have room for my Olympus Tough TG-5 camera. In fact, you can set one of these up with almost everything you'd put in a normal top tube bag and a seat bag, eliminating the seat bag. Cool! Plus, you needn't worry about busting one of these, as they are made tougher than rhino hide and let me tell you- I have tested the seams, zippers, and overall construction severely. There have been times I have thought, "Well, this zipper probably will blow up here.....", only to find it takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'.
One of these is going on the Gravel Bus, the other will see duty on several other bikes. Stay tuned for another full review of the Top Tube Garage Bag soon.....
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| Typical fresh gravel in Iowa. |
As you all know, (unless you're completely disconnected), many cycling companies are falling all over themselves to do something in the 'gravel' category. This has resulted in some.......ah.... weird marketing, shall we say?
And much of what is produced seems to be 'not-gravel'. Take Cannondale's latest Topstone Carbon and Neo Topstone electrified bikes. The pitch sheet showed folks using them at what looked like a pump track at a mountain bike park.
Or take any number of 'gravel' marketing campaigns where the riders are on dirt roads. Rarely- if ever - do you see actual gravel being used in the promotions of bicycles and gear deemed worth using on 'gravel', whatever that stuff is. Clearly most of these marketing departments don't know what gravel is, or cannot be arsed to find actual gravel roads to use in their marketing. I guess it is boring, or they just think it is MTB on skinnier wheels and tires with drop bars.
Don't like gravel? Fine, call it crushed rock. But if you aren't really going to use real gravel to market for crushed rock/ gravel, don't call it that. Because what I'm seeing isn't gravel at all. Not much of the time it isn't. Take a look at my image here. Now that's gravel. Hey! That gives me an idea!
Come to the Mid-West, you marketing mavens. We've got thousands of miles of this stuff all throughout the mid-sections of the country. It isn't that difficult, and, ya know......you've been flying MTB marketing campaigns to Chile and other such far-flung locations world-wide. Our destination is easy to reach, and cheaper. Tell that to your bean counters when you make your next proposal to market a gravel doohickey or widget. Or........
Quit calling what you do 'gravel'. It isn't gravel, much of the time. And we all know it out here.
Parts acquisition mode enabled: I have been searching for the stuff I think I want to put on the new rig, and brakes were up on the list for consideration. The TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes are going to be the call here.
Why mechanical disc brakes?
Answer: Generally speaking, brakes are a lot easier to maintain and take care of if they are mechanical. Hydraulic disc brakes are good, and I have those, of course, but in terms of how this bike is going to get used, I foresee mechanical disc brakes as being the easiest to maintain type for myself. My first go-round with Sprye mechanical disc brakes started in 2014 and I have had a set in consistent usage since then. I have experienced zero issues with that model, and of course, there are no issues in terms of bleeding the system, or having to worry about brake blocks when the wheels are out. Cables are a dime a dozen, and a good housing will bring up the operating performance of Spyre brakes to an acceptable level for gravel travel. Most any hydraulic caliper is about 5 times too powerful for gravel use. Once you can lock up a wheel. any more power than that is wasted. Spyres can lock up wheels on gravel easily.
Secondly, this opens up choices for levers. I happen to like Tektro RL 520 levers quite a bit. I am pretty sure I have a hackneyed set of them somewhere that should do for this build. I just have to find them! Cables and housings are no issue either. So, with that out of the way.......
I have pretty much decided that the Gravel Bus will be a single speed. I have a crank, eccentric bottom bracket, a Surly spacer kit, and cog lined up already. All I need is a brand new chain and I am good to go on the drive train bits. By the way, the drive ring will be a 40T, so I probably am going with a 20T or 22T rear cog depending upon the wheel/tire combo. Really......I should do a 19T cog. You know- the even-odd thing I like. I'll see what I have floating around in my special "Single Speed Drawer" in my tool box.
I'm 90% sure I am swapping over the Redshift ShockStop post and stem to the Gravel Bus, and then all I need are wheels and tires, with a handle bar thrown in for good measure. I have a Ritchey VentureMax bar laying around that would be good. Hmm..... The saddle will be a WTB one already attached to that seat post, by the way. Wheels I have. I will swap around wheels on this bike quite a bit, but I think I will be starting out with 700c wheels and some 40-ish mm tires I have around.
Stay tuned for further updates....
And there will be another "Saturday News And Views" tomorrow. This one will be pretty heavy on the 'views' part! Stay tuned for that. Otherwise, have an awesome weekend. Thanks for reading!
13 comments:
Those gravel marketers can come to southwest Missouri to see gravel. too. Also, our county has some gravel roads on which they've used river rock for a surface. That type of rock can be slippery due to it's smooth surface. Enjoyed reading Friday, News and Views today. I'm looking forward to when you release the Yellow School Bus into the Wild. Have a great weekend. Rain is forecast here for the next few days. Maybe it will cool things off a bit and settle the dust, too.
@graveldoc - Thank you! Yes, the Mid-West is totally blessed with gravel. That's why the gravel riding/racing thing started here in the "Modern era of Gravel", as I call it.
But I know gravel roads exist in the Northeast, South, and elsewhere. Like I say- it isn't THAT hard to find a crushed rock road in the USA. Which is why I find much of the marketing for the category laughable in light of that fact.
Raining here as I write this morning. Have a great weekend!
Your picture of gravel in hand reminded me of a promo video for the Gravel Metric
Watch “The Gravel Metric — More Gravel” on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/23530509?ref=em-share
Ease of maintenance & lever choice turned me off of hydraulic brakes on my gravel bike too, especially single speed. One muddy race with 6 hours of rubbing brakes was plenty for me.
Also more than happy with the power & modulation I'm getting out of spyre calipers & compressionless housing compared to hydraulic (not that gravel needs a lot of either most of the time).
Agree regarding the hydraulic/mechanical debate. No doubt hydros are more powerful, but the maintenance is too complicated. I have several different bikes with different hydraulic systems. When I found out that two separate 6800 groupsets required DIFFERENT bleed hardware, that was it for me. Since then, I've stuck with my maxim:
road & gravel - 2x crankset, mechanical brakes
cx & mountain - 1x crankset, hydro brakes
I agree that lots of the marketing and some actual people, are taking their #GrvI! -bikes* on stuff that is out of the realm of gravel road riding.
At the same time, there are plenty of places to ride that might not technically be gravel, but still are the same type of experience, and suit the same type of bike.
I have a friend in the Netherlands, they have fantastic ‘gravel’ riding around Lochem. None of it is actual gravel: some is sand roads, some is crushed seashell paths, some is stone pavers. But, the same bike that is ideal for me here in Minnesota, and you in Iowa, is still great for that riding. So maybe it shouldn’t technically be called gravel riding, true, but the same as we stuck with “mountainbiking”, it is what it is.
I personally favor the term “all road”, becasue it seems to me to encompass the key aspects: it’s a road, not off-road, but it is all surfers of road, not just smooth pavement.
However, I understand that some people don’t like that term either.
*my attempt at satirical commentary on trendy vowel-less spelling and hash tagging
It's also seasonal. In spring our gravel roads here in northern MN are really “packed clay” roads, since the snowplows have scraped off most of the gravel. Very smooth riding if they are dry!
Put that BBD garage top tube bag on the lellow shcool bus and call it a lunch box. Speaking of crushed rock. I live about 1/8 mile from a limestone quarry with mountains of crushed limestone setting around. I see county bump trucks going in there from time to time. Ironically, the quarry sets along a dirt and rock road that rarely sees a road grader, let alone a load of gravel dumped on it. There are a lot of such roads pretty close to my home. Some have steep rollers which make riding on them a bit tricky with loose gravel or rocks.
Just saying...sand is "crushed rock"...Gravel, dirt roads, etc it's all the same. I think you may be taking the term a little too literally. I've advocated for it, you've advocated for it...just call them "any road" bikes. That basically means to me...pavement, concrete, dirt, "grave;", sand, cobblestone, brick, etc.
Also, why do people keep insisting hydraulic brakes are "too complicated". Do you bleed your car's brake annually (or quarterly) people? Once setup correctly hydraulic brakes shouldn't need to be bled for a couple years....even I you go through multiple pads in that time.
No gravel here- only dirt roads, clay roads, limestone roads, sand roads, pine-straw roads, power-line roads, Jeep roads, forest service roads, and sometimes railroads.
@ Slim, @oneoffrhodes - This quote; "I personally favor the term “all road”, because it seems to me to encompass the key aspects: it’s a road, not off-road, but it is all surfaces of road, not just smooth pavement." (spelling edited by GT)
Bingo!
Either do your marketing on gravel, or call it something else. (Which is what I've been saying in other ways here for what? A DECADE? )
The term 'gravel', is unfortunate and limiting. Like calling fat bikes 'snow bikes'.
Make sense?
On disc brakes: Well, having been a car mechanic and a bicycle mechanic, yes- you are supposed to bleed your brakes regularly. Not many people do. Read suggested maintenance schedules and why, especially on DOT based systems, you should be doing regular brake bleeds. But this is not why I would prefer mechanical disc over hydraulics. (Read what I wrote again for why)
The bag look nice and all, but the really important question is ..... Did you like the Vegemite?
Being an Australian myself, the secret is to not put it on like Jam or honey. A nice thick slice of toast, with butter and one of the satchels of Vegemite will do the trick. The vitamin B in it is good for you, so you can have two slices for breakfast.
@The Aussie Vegemite King - Yes! Actually, BBD sent me a WHOLE JAR of the stuff years ago, and made me promise to send images of my two - then much younger - kids reaction to it. That was pretty hilarious, and the predictable grimaces were something they have still not forgotten about.
When the kids saw my new little packets of the Vegemite they recoiled in horror! Ha! They don't know what's good for 'em!
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