Friday News And Views

 Job Anniversary: 

This past week I observed my third anniversary of starting work at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. In case you are unfamiliar with this organization, they are a non-profit organization which benefits the community by recycling used bicycles either back into service or by being responsibly recycled via a local recycling/scrap company. 

We benefit local veterans who need transportation by providing free bicycles and accessories, as well as providing bicycles for other individuals in need. We support various area children's bicycling programs such as bicycle rodeos, Summer programs, and childrens benefit organizations. We also provide safety checks and educational opportunities as well as supporting local events via our Bike Valet program. 

There is more to it than that, but as you might be able to see by now, this is no "bike shop" gig. I get to turn wrenches, do mechanical repairs, and solve problems like I always have done for years, but added into the mix is a genuinely rewarding experience in helping others and making a difference in the community. Things I did not really get out of being a bike shop rat. 

So, I remember this week with gratitude and I don't take this opportunity lightly. It has been an amazing three years, and I cannot believe it has been three years already. But it has and I hope to add more years to that total going forward. If you have a bicycle cooperative/collective/non-profit in your community, I urge you to support that organization in some way this year. Either by volunteering or by donation. These organizations really impact the environment and the people who need bicycles for transportation and recreation.

A Light & Motion bike light on a handlebar (Image courtesy of Grannygear)

Light & Motion Ceases Business Activities:

On January 14th news hit the web concerning the bicycle, scuba, video, and photography lighting company, Light & Motion, who published an announcement that they were ceasing operations immediately. 

A story from "Bikemag" with some comments from the CEO of Light & Motion can be seen by clicking HERE. 

Comments: While many brands have ceased operations after the exit from COVID, this is one of the more well-known brands to close its doors. While Rocky Mountain and GT Bikes have "paused operations", which might leave the door open for some sort of "unpausing", I would assume, this announcement has a bit more of an air of finality to it. 

Citing "political winds" as one of the reasons for the closure, Light & Motion ends with an over 35 year run of manufacturing its products in the USA. It is no secret that the LED lighting segment for cycling is a super-competitive market and that many companies offer excellent lights for very competitive price points. So, by sticking to its guns with regard to doing things stateside, and by having product that was priced at a more premium level, it is not hard to understand how that and the downturn in sales for cycling overall has perhaps forced this action by Light & Motion. 

Snow Dog Update:

Since I rolled out the old Snow Dog again to test those BIKETUBES TPU fat bike tubes, I had to do some updating. I was using an old Archer electronic shifting box deal which could shift incompatible parts, and well, that was no longer an option here. Archer is done as a company and I didn't want to try using the app anymore to set up the thing since it isn't being supported as far as I could tell. 

So I fished out a roll of 4mm derailleur housing in silver and an old SRAM 9 speed shifter. I already had a SRAM rear derailleur mounted, so I figured that would work.

Except this was a SRAM shifter compatible with Shimano. Doh! Okay..... Back to the bins. I fished around and found an 11 speed Ultegra long cage derailleur. Probably the one that came on my Tamland Two? Maybe.... Well, that went on there and with a few adjustments, bingo! I had a working rear derailleur and shifter. 

You may be thinking, "Wait! That's an 11 speed rear derailleur running with a 9 speed chain and shifter? Isn't that forbidden?" And I say, "Don't try this at home, folks!" It's another instance of a mechanic doing what "they say" cannot be done. That's all. I would never tell anyone else this would work. Why? Because, well.....for you it probably wouldn't, and then it would be my fault for saying it does work. That's why. So, I'm saying "this doesn't work", but I'm going with it anyway. 

Remember, it is all fun and games until it breaks. Then if that describes you, and you end up with a failure, or worse, it is because you tried this. It will be your fault. I said it does not work. So there. 

And I will have an update on the tubes soon. 

Image from the Jan. 15th social media post.

Robidoux Roubaix Is Back:

Last August the race director of the Robidoux Roubaix, a gravel race in Western Nebraska, announced that the event was on "indefinite pause" status. 

Specifying a lack of concern by riders for safety and other safety related concerns for race directors of gravel events, the event was taken off the calendar. Now in an Instagram post dated January 15th, the event posted the following quote pulled from a longer statement. 

"It turns out that a little four month break, escaping an unfulfilling 9 to 5, and starting to ride bikes again was enough of a mental boost to remember why I’ve always loved hosting Robidoux!"

Comments: The statement directed readers to register now and that more details would be released about the new routes and more soon.

No mention of the concern about rider safety and conduct at gravel races. This, on one hand, seems odd, but it all may get addressed in future communications, so as of this time, I cannot really comment on this point other than to say the question is there to be answered. What about the previous safety concerns? 

I like that this event came back, however, if just for selfish reasons. I think the area would be a spectacular place to ride, and so I've always had a soft spot in my heart for doing the event. Not that it will ever happen. Especially now with a carless Guitar Ted! 

That's it for this time. Have a great weekend and ride those bicycles!

Clik Valves, Cores, and Pump Head: Review

Note: Guitar Ted received a suite of products from Clik Valve for test and review at no charge. Guitar Ted is not being bribed nor paid for this review. All opinions are Guitar Ted's. 

Image courtesy of Clik Valve

Last year during my Eurobike coverage I reported on a new valve standard being offered which would be retrofittable and easier to use than either the Schrader valve or Presta valve standards. 

I have now received several items from Clik Valve to test out to see if the claims are true. Is this really better than what we al know and which is tradition? This review will aim to discover this and more through usage over a longer period of time. 

My plan is to convert a pump I have to Clik Valve. Then I have in mind to convert a wheel to Clik Valve cores which I am already using a lot this Winter. That would be my Titanium Mukluk. Then, after things warm up a bit, I plan on using the Click Valve tubeless valve stems and seeing how those do. 

This will take several months to get to the bottom of things, so for now this post will serve as an introduction and technical data post on the Clik Valve system. I will also give you my initial impressions as well. 

Clockwise from far left: Clik Valve pump head converter. Click Valve cores with rubber caps, Clik Valve tubeless stem with metal cap, Clik Valve pump head.

 What It Is: Clik Valve is a new way to introduce air to tubeless tires and wheels. With the replacement cores, you could also convert standard butyl rubber Presta tubes to Clik Valve, although you would have to remember to keep the cores if the tube fails. There are also a couple of ways to convert legacy pumps to Clik Valve also which I will get into in a bit. 

You can think of this as a mini-Schrader Valve

Clik Valve is a sort of amalgamation of a Presta Valve, Schrader Valve, and a click-disconnect which makes engagement of the valve and pump head really easy. It doesn't use a collet type connector, like many air tools, instead, it simply pushes on, and when you hear a click, it is ready to use. When you are finished, you simply pull the pump head off. 

You can see in my image here a close-up of the Clik Valve head. This is from a Clik Valve tubeless stem, by the way. The black portion is anodized aluminum. The silver portion is a plated brass core with a spring inside which holds the Clik Valve in a closed position. 

The Clik Valve pump head has a metal center pin that engages the  center sprung portion of the valve core, pushing it inward, opening the valve up so air can be introduced. 

Sounds much like a Schrader Valve, but it is probably more correct to say that it is a sprung version of a Presta Valve core. At any rate, this is how Clik Valve works. The valve cores are retrofittable to current Presta valve standard tubeless valves and tubes. The pump heads are retrofittable to most currently used Presta valve pumps. So, if you wanted to convert your "fleet" of bikes and pumps, you could do that. 

So, this all begs the question: Why convert to Clik Valve? Well, for one thing, it is easier to use. That's apparent once you get the product in hand. No holding the pump head on, as with Schrader, and no unscrewing a valve core, as with Presta. No locking pump lever to flip either. Now Clik Valve will also say that this valve of theirs has higher air-flow, which is great for setting up tubeless tires. I'll be testing that later. 

You can also try Click Valve with a Presta pump. I tried this, and it works, but it isn't ideal, perhaps. You could easily switch up a current pump to utilize a Clik Valve pump head adapter or complete head. If you have a spare floor pump or mini-pump with a hose you want to check this out with, that might be ideal for you. 

Prices: there are a few kits available to get you going. First is the Premium Tubeless Valve Kit which is pictured in the first image in this post. That gets you a Clik Valve pump head, a pair of valve stems, and spare bits and bobbins for $52.00 USD. 

You will be able to get just the valves in a kit in five lengths. These will sell as pairs and will have the metal caps and extra rubber seats for rim interface from $28.00 USD and up. 

There are Clik Valve cores for Presta valves. A pair goes for $12.00 USD. There are converters for Schrader Valve to Clik Valve also. A pair of these goes for $12.95 USD. (Note - I did not receive these for testing) The Premium Clik Valve Pump Head Adapter is  $12.95 USD and the Clik 2-in-1 Right Angled Pump Head & Removeable Pump Adapter is $20.00 USD. You can check all of their products out HERE. 

Converting this SILCA floor pump was easy.

Impressions: Clik Valve is an intriguing solution for inflation needs. I definitely can see the appeal for some folks in the simplicity of operation of the system. I can see how this system might have been a better alternative to Presta valves, and it still is but...

Valve standards are pretty entrenched. What Clik Valve needs is OEM cooperation to really take a hold of this and adopt it. That's if all the claims hold up for this product. I think it is still to early to tell. 

For instance, how many inflation cycles does it take until the "click" is not so clicky? Does this system gum up with sealant like Presta valves do, or is it better in that regard? Will we end up changing out valve cores as often as we have to with Presta valves, and if so, what does that cost the user? 

These are the things that might be an issue that would make the ease of use feature not so much of a big deal to riders. Of course, a lot of these questions are not answerable now, nor will they be, until a decent amount of time has passed in usage.  

So, this is why I stated at the onset of this review that it will take some time to sort through these questions and to get some sort of clearer picture in regard to whether this Clik Valve system is worth switching over to. I really like the idea of just popping on a pump head and then popping it off just as quickly. No fussy locking levers, no unscrewing and screwing back on, and hopefully just a seamless experience. That is my expectation. Now let's see if that holds up over time. 

Stay tuned....

Gravel History With Guitar Ted: "Answering The Call..."

 Gravel Grinder History With Guitar Ted is a series of posts covering the early days of gravel grinding, racing, and tech which helped build and make gravel riding the hottest form of cycling in the 2020's. Many of these articles were first published on my "Gravel Grinder News" blog which started in late 2008. 

In today's post you will read a race report by Matt "MG" Gersib who wrote "Answering The Call..." for Gravel Grinder News in 2013. This is a race report for the event then called the Dirty Kanza 200. (Now Unbound Gravel) In it you will learn much about how gravel events once were run. Pay specific attention to details like navigation, the names of people Matt thought were at the top of the heap in gravel racing, and to what some of the fears of gravel racers were concerning growth. 

I've lightly edited this post (removing dead links mostly, spiffing up the images) and I have added a few notes to clarify things for today's readers, but otherwise this is how this post appeared on June 11th, 2013. Enjoy!

Answering the Call…

by Matt Gersib

 Images by Cornbread, Kyle Thompson, Dave Mable, and MG

 Gravel grinding is getting pretty big in the Midwest, as evidenced by the nearly 1,000 combined entrants in the 2013 Dirty Kanza 200, “Half-Pint” 100-miler, and 20- or 50-mile “DK-Lite” fun rides. Held at the doorstep of the Kansas Flint Hills in the college town of Emporia, Kansas, the Dirty Kanza was first run in 2006. Since then, the event has grown from just a few dozen participants that first year to become one of, if not the, largest gravel grinder in North America.

Since 2010, the Dirty Kanza 200 has started and finished in-front of the historic Granada Theater in downtown Emporia. Photo: Cornbread (Cory Godfrey)

In many ways, the 2013 Dirty Kanza 200 was a test – a test to see how much was too much. I can’t count how many times I was asked “is it going to be too much to have 750 people on-course at the same time?” prior to the event. Some folks had serious doubts as to how it’d be possible to avoid pile-ups, traffic jams and other calamities caused by too many riders on the same gravel roads.

I wasn’t one of the doubters, however, and whenever asked, I told them that I thought 200 miles was a lot of space, and that there would be plenty of room for everyone to ride. I even suggested there would be times when we’d feel really alone out there, even with all the people we knew were on-course with us. 

Riders assemble prior to the 6:00a.m. start. Photo: Cornbread (Corey Godfrey)

Fast forward to race day and while the start line was an awesome spectacle, it was really the only time (on the bike) that I felt like it was any different than the Dirty Kanza 200s that had come before. Perhaps the overall level of the field was a bit higher overall due to the increased numbers, but the quality riders only enhanced the quality of the event. I mean, who doesn’t want to go to a race and meet Tour Divide champion, Jay Petervary, the “Queen of Pain”, Rebecca Rusch, and a number of other cycling legends?

I knew that bettering, or even matching my personal best DK200 placing (fifth overall in 2008) would be extremely tough as I surveyed the riders on the start line. And with my recent failure at Trans Iowa fresh in the back of my mind, I wasn’t willing to risk going too hard in the front 100-miles of the race in a vain attempt to stay near the front.

Racers roll-out onto the course just after the start of the 2013 Dirty Kanza 200. Photo: Kyle Thompson

 At one point during the first leg, I even thought I might have been going too easy, but I stopped thinking that after stopping to help Specialized rider, Garth Prosser (eventual 7th place overall finisher) with a flat rear tire. Garth offered to pull me into checkpoint one in return for stopping to help, but was clearly riding much stronger than I. It was a struggle simply to hold his wheel, so I let him go.

His strength gave me a glimpse into my own mortality if I chose to play with fire, so it was a good exercise, but it reminded me that I needed to pay attention to my game plan. I backed off and resumed a comfortable, but reasonably fast pace.

Checkpoint one came at about mile 50, and my wife Laura was amazing at taking care of everything I needed, often before I knew I needed it.

“You aren’t drinking enough,” she said to me as she topped my bottles off.

“It’s OK sweetheart,” I replied. “It’s not hot and I’ll be drinking a lot more on this leg, so you won’t be telling me that when I see you in 50-miles.”

We both laughed as I finished the smoothie I was drinking. It was just a couple more minutes and I was back out on the course, on the second 50-mile segment. As I rode away from the checkpoint, I thought to myself, “this is where the fun starts!”

I was thinking sarcastically, of course, as I knew that there would be a lot of head wind in the next 100-miles. Unfortunately for all of us on this day, the head wind was significant. Combine that with the fact that I was once again experiencing pain in my right knee (similar to what I experienced at Trans Iowa), and it made for some times of fairly slow going.

And then I missed a turn and rode a total of six miles off-course…

I realized the error in my ways when I saw corner markers set into a corner, only they were 180-degrees opposite from their standard orientation… “What is this?” I thought to myself. (Editor's Note: The DK200 used "flags" to mark corners in the early years of the event. If you saw a flag (just a surveyor's pole with a Hi-Viz ribbon flying from it like a streamer), on your right, you then looked down the intersection each way to see where another flag like it was. If it was seen on the right side of the road in any direction from the intersection, it indicated which way to turn. In this instance Matt noted the flags were on the left side of the road, indicating he had come up on another portion of the course from the wrong direction.)

It was an earlier section of the course (ahead of checkpoint 1) that, after missing the corner I was supposed to take, I’d ridden up to. As I perused my course map in an attempt to locate myself, two riders approached from the opposite direction and asked if I needed help. I politely declined and wished them good luck on their ride.

Surveying the map, I deduced that while I wasn’t exactly sure of my location (the location wasn’t marked on the map I was reading – for segment two), turning around was my best option and hope for getting back on-course as quickly as possible. As it turns out, I rode for three miles before I came upon the turn I’d missed, which was right before a water crossing in the road (located after the corner). I’d gotten so focused on the water crossing that I didn’t even see the turn markers (or the road itself, for that matter). I was super focused-in on figuring out if the water could be ridden, and if so, which line I needed to take.

Since the water crossing was about 50 yards long (my guess, no ruler in-hand), it required considerable concentration. Oh, and yes, I was riding alone. So much for the theory that it’d be “too crowded” out on the road! HA!

The head wind turned oppressive around mile 75, and I went into energy conservation mode. That said, the gnarly Flint Hills terrain combined with the wind to take it out of me from mile 75 to 100. I came into the second checkpoint eager to tear into the Valentino’s pizza we’d brought from Lincoln in the cooler. It actually made me go faster coming into the checkpoint, but coming into the Salsa tent to receive my new map and check-in, the ladies excitedly exclaimed as I rode up:

 “Number 59… There he is. Are you Matthew?”

“Ummm. I think so,” I think I uttered.

“Laura’s car broke down on the highway…”

(Thinking to myself “Holy Shiiiii”)

“…but she did send this Monster and water for you, and we have some food we’d be happy to give you.”

“Ummmmmmm…..”

Cue the appearance of Joe Reed, the checkpoint coordinator and my host for the weekend. “Matt, why don’t you sit down here and we’ll just take care of you,” he said. “No problem.”

Joe and I sat down and chatted while one of the checkpoint angels, Ingrid, offered up some of the summer sausage and Colby Jack cheese she had in her cooler. Meat and cheese during a bike race? I’m from Nebraska – bring it on! Thank you Ingrid – you single handedly saved my 2013 Dirty Kanza. For while that might not have been the pizza I was expecting, it was exactly what I needed.

Thank you to everyone at checkpoint two – Amanda, Amanda, Jen, Ingrid, Joe and everyone else involved with the stop. Without your generous support, I wouldn’t have been able to continue, but after leaving the checkpoint, I had no choice but to finish. You all were key to my finish. Thank you doesn’t seem like enough.

Still smiling in the first 100 miles of the event. Photo: Eric Benjamin

As I left checkpoint two with a belly fully of meat and cheese and questions swirling in my head about the status of my wife, our dog and our car, I pedaled out onto the course. We had 13 miles of a crossing tailwind before turning into a constant headwind for the remaining 37 miles of the leg into checkpoint three at Cottonwood Falls. Though the crossing tailwind was pushing me along, I was careful to meter my effort, as I knew what we were about to face.

About four miles into the leg, three riders pulled up on me – Salsa’s Tim Ek, and the Cycle Works/Moose’s Tooth duo of Scott Bigelow and James Blake. All were looking strong and for a minute I upped my tempo to ride with them. It was at about this time that the Salsa-sponsored film crew pulled up in a Jeep and, almost as if on cue, Eki raised the pace about five miles per hour. All of the sudden we were doing 23 mph…

Homie wasn’t playin’ that, so I dialed it back to a more reasonable pace for my legs and watched Eki quickly gain a hill on me as he picked off rider-after-rider for the camera. Meanwhile, I tore into a package of Honey Stinger drops with the abandon of a raging hyena. That cherry cola flavor is to die for and I hadn’t gotten many carbs during my stop at checkpoint two, so I had a bit of a hankerin’.

 So, here’s where the DK200 gets a little bleak, as the turn northward into the wind was a doozy. As we rode among the nodding donkeys in the oil fields of the Flint Hills, the sparse terrain provided little respite from the sustained 20+ mph northwest winds. The same winds we’d flown on in the earlier stages of the event were the same ones that now forced my speed below ten miles per hour regularly.

Each ten miles of the leg seemed magnified by the wind-fueled slowness. It didn’t help that my knee was giving me consistent shooting pains, which concerned me, but I decided were something I just had to live with. “Grin and bear it,” I thought to myself as I pedaled through the veil of pain.

Image: Cornbread (Corey Godfrey)

MG at Checkpoint #3

I rode into the third checkpoint with a gentleman from Washington – near Olympia. Since my parents and sister’s family live in Oly, we quickly struck up some good conversation that at some point turned to the calamity with our car. He quickly offered to let me sag out of his support car, driven by his wife. But as we rode into the checkpoint and received our new maps, who was the first person I saw? It was my beautiful wife, Laura. She’d gotten the Subaru towed to Emporia, rented a car and was back out to support me. What an awesome wife and an incredible person!

  I was so overjoyed to see Laura that I immediately and completely forgot my earlier plans, and immediately left for the rental car (and our cooler with the pizza) with Laura. Ironically, after the stop, I saw the same rider back out on-course and he said “I never saw you after we got our maps,” so I apologetically told him about finding Laura at the checkpoint and how overcome I was with joy in seeing her. About then, my knee started locking up and I had to stop to stretch it for a bit.

As I rejoined the race, two riders approached – singlespeed rider, PA single speeder, Mark Elsasser and Kansas cycling icon, Keith Walberg. It was great to ride with these two guys, if for too short a time, as after ten or so more miles I again had to stop and stretch my tightening IT band. In retrospect, when I stopped, I should have tried raising my saddle 3-4 millimeters, as that may have helped the situation, but I didn’t have the presence of mind at that point in the event to think of it. Hindsight is 20-20 however, so I’ll save that one for future reference.

The final 20 miles of the race were largely with the wind, as we rode familiar roads through the small town of Americus and into Emporia. The sun set as I rolled through Americus, dashing my hopes of scoring one of the limited edition prints that were being given to those who finished before sunset, but I decided it didn’t matter and pushed to the finish with a steeled resolve to catch as many racers in-front of me as possible before the line.

Thumbs-up at the finish. Photo: Eric Benjamin

I ended up finishing 86th overall (32nd veteran), with a course time of 15 hours and 25 minutes. It wasn’t my fastest Dirty Kanza 200, but given the challenges we had during the race, I was happy with the result and feel like it’s due to the work of a lot of folks, some of whom I’ll never be able to thank. But I’ll try, and the first person I’d like to thank is my incredible wife, Laura. I don’t know who had it harder on race day, but she came through it and was the rock I needed when I needed her. Thank You! And to everyone involved with the Dirty Kanza 200 – Jim, Kristi, Tim, and everyone at the checkpoints – Thank You all! And thanks to our host for the weekend, Joe Reed – an awesome person and good friend. And finally, thanks to Marty Larson and Sam Alison at Singular Cycles, and Rob Versteegh at Oakley for their support in 2013!

See you down the road!

What a great race report! Thanks again, Matt. This was an excellent look at what events were like a mere decade and a little more ago. There were a lot of things yet to be figured out then. Most riders were on cyclo - cross, mountain bikes, or some cobbled together rig. Most were not running tubeless yet. There were no GPS computers to use for turn prompts or massive roadside hand-ups for the fast guys. 

But you can also see the beginnings of what the Dirty Kanza event brought to gravel. The fancy finish line chute, proper timing, and promoting the event th4rough the invitation to elite athletes (Jay Petervary, Rebecca Rusch). The popularity of this event skyrocketed after 2013.

I hope you enjoyed this fascinating look back at gravel racing. 

Two Things

1959 Schwinn Corvette 3 speed

 Cruiser Update:

Last week I posted about the Schwinn Corvette 3 speed and how I had freed up the frozen rear hub. I thought I would give you all an update on this bike. I've taken things as far as I can given the mission of the Collective. Now it will have to move on to someone else that will either give it a home as a object to admire or as a restoration project. 

My goal was to make the bike operative, inspect it, and clean it up. I have no idea how long the bike had set, but given that it will be 66 years old this year, I'm betting it sat for the better part of half a century. 

I think I am on to something here because this bike has all of its original parts right down to the grips, pedals, tires, and all else. There is only one thing missing here and that is the headlight. The mount is still there, but the piece broke when my assistant at the Collective was doing the initial clean-up on this project. 

What amazes me about things like this Corvette 3 speed is the detail on the bike. There are things I found on this bicycle that made me stop and wonder. Like that "AS" stamped stem wedge bolt. Or the piece of steel, about 3mm thick, tack welded behind the chain guard where it attaches to the rear of the frame. A thing done to help reinforce that area so it would not fail. Did any buyer of a Schwinn cruiser ever know about this detail? I doubt it, but Schwinn did this to make the chain guard more durable. 

Other details like the bearing races, which are machined and not stamped out like they would be now, and the sharp, crisp edges on bolts, are things you just never see on bicycles today. Of course, ALL the fasteners were SAE standard and not Metric. Not that one is better, but it just points to the USA manufacture of this piece. Which leads me to one more thing about bicycles for kids from this era....

They are TANKS! These things were made to last and last. Wearable parts are serviceable and replaceable, well.....back then they were! It is not easy to find parts now, but you get the picture. 

Bonus picture of this Schwinn Typhoon from 1963 which was donated with the Corvette.

 
We received a Schwinn Typhoon, which according to my research, (which could be wrong), is from 1963. These two Schwinns came in together, and both were salvageable. The Typhoon, if anything, is even in better shape than the Corvette. It simply is mind boggling to me that any boy's bike from this era would ever survive use. I am left to assume that both bicycles were little used, seeing that both have original tires, and other wearable parts like the grips and pedals. Cool feature on the Typhoon= It has a "red stripe" two speed kick-back hub. It works as well. Pretty neat. 

These are available from the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective if you are interested. My thought is that we'd raffle them off as a fundraiser during our next membership drive, but that is not written in stone. Hit me up if you are interested.

More Industry Musings:

Last Sunday's post stirred up some of you out there. I could tell by the numbers that post drew out of the gate. This isn't a subject which is relegated to me, or even a few social media savants. This seems to be perplexing and has had an effect upon many folks from disparate parts of cycling. 

Once we exited the pandemic, many were predicting that sometime during 2024 things would right themselves, inventory levels would be "normal" again, and that we'd be out of the woods in terms of the post-COVID sales slump. 

Well.....that hasn't happened. So, we are seeing many folks scratching their heads wondering what is going on here. I've seen athletes posting about lost sponsorships, I've seen sales discounting continuing, and rumors worse than anything I've heard before are beginning to swirl. 

N.Y. Roll asked me to listen to a podcast, (I won't name it here because I don't want to throw anyone "under the bus"), and I gave him my reaction as to what I think is going on here. Like I said Sunday, part of this is the old way of thinking which includes just pumping out more product every year that the industry assumes will find a home. Well, that doesn't seem to be working anymore. Anyway, here are my thoughts in bullet point form:

1. The all-human powered bicycling folks are aging out of cycling
2. Many youth are not interested in cycling, (USA) and if they are, they are most interested in assisted cycling or e-scooters. They are least interested in 100% human powered cycling.
3. There are NO SAFE PLACES TO RIDE (in most cases)
4. COVID skewed the market. Those that would have purchased bicycles from 2020 - 2025 did so in two year's time from 2020 - 2021. They have their bicycles and are out of the market. 
5. Overreaction to demand spike caused over-production leading to massive inventory levels at historic levels which are still being worked through. 
6. Current pricing, even at discounted levels, is not attracting buyers as hoped

Meanwhile employees, rents, bills, and  all else needs to be payed out but revenues are lacking in many cases. Even the robust European e-bike market pre-COVID has taken it on the chin. So, it is a perplexing issue and unless more people can be enticed into cycling I just do not see how this gets better. 

Maybe I'm all wrong....

BIKETUBES 26 X 4.0"-4.5" TPU Tubes: Review

The BIKETUBES TPU fat bike tube.

Note: Guitar Ted purchased three BIKETUBES 26" X 4.0"-4.5" TPU tubes for test/review. BIKETUBES has no knowledge of this review previous to this post and all opinions are Guitar Ted's

The TPU innertube has caused quite a stir since it came aroiund several years ago. Limited sizes, stories of fragility, and the price kept a lot of folks away. However; more sizes, stronger designs, and lower prices have conspired to create something of a buzz around TPU tubes. 

I recently discovered that TPU tubes are now available in fat bike tire sizes with both 26" and 27.5" diameters being covered. There are no really wide sizes yet, but many riders could benefit from the 4.0 - 4.5" width that is being offered at this time. 

I ordered three of these tubes. Two to go in my 2011 Salsa Cycles Mukluk and one as a spare for my Ti Mukluk. This use as a spare or bail-out tube is one of the benefits of TPU tubes. TPU tubes have less mass and take up a lot less space in your kit. I'll get to a comparison between butyl rubber fat bike tubes and these in a bit, but I will give you a spoiler - There is a massive difference! 

These tubes are available on BIKETUBES website and cost me about 68 bucks for three with free shipping. 

What It Is: TPU stands for "Thermoplastic Polyurethane". The material is made into tube shaped "hoses", cut to length, bonded at the ends, and fitted with a valve stem. TPU can be colored, it can be clear, and it is 100% recyclable. TPU tubes can be patched in case of a puncture, (and these tubes come with two patches each) but as of now, no sealant is recommended to be used in a TPU tube. The good news is that TPU tubes are better at resisting punctures than butyl rubber tubes. 

TPU tubes also feature the benefit of very low rolling resistance when used inside a bicycle tire. Research done by a competing TPU tube brand has shown that TPU tubes are almost as low, in terms of rolling resistance, as tubeless, and slightly better than a latex tube would be. This is a very big deal when it comes to fat bikes due to the increased surface area that the TPU tube contacts when inside a tire.

It doesn't take much convincing when it comes to pack size as to which tube I want.

Rolling resistance differences aside, what will really strike you at first is just how crazy light these fat bike TPU tubes are in comparison to a normal fat bike tube. Each TPU tube I purchased weighed in at around 143 -148 grams each with the TPU band and plastic Presta Valve cap. The total weight of butyl rubber tubes I removed was 965gms/2.13lbs. The total weight of the TPU tubes installed in the wheels of my Mukluk is 287 grams/.63lbs. The missing one and a half pounds makes a HUGE difference in rolling weight, not to mention the lowered rolling resistance. 

Installation: TPU tubes are not that much different than butyl tubes when it comes to installation with the exception that TPU can be a little fussy when it comes to giving the tube some shape to get it installed. It is also recommended by many TPU tube brands to lightly talc the insides of the tire. I already had this done so I was good to go. 

TPU is a little less friendly to abuses than butyl rubber during the installation process, so take care to not pinch the tube between the tire and rim, and by no means should you ever use a tool to install the tire. (That goes for butyl rubber tubes also) Proper installation technique will make this very possible. Being a bit gentle with TPU goes a long way toward success. 

My 2011 Mukluk. You cannot see the TPU tubes but they are in there.

My Mukluk still runs the old Larry 3.8 and Big Fat Larry, which is more like a 4.5"- 4.6" tire. The TPU tubes are rated for this range of sizes, and I had no issues getting the tires mounted. I used a SILCA Terra pump which is designed to measure more accurately at low pressures. I went with 8psi front and rear for the initial set up. 

The only negative I see is that the valve stem, which in this case is also made of plastic and could be easy to bend. Care needs to be taken when applying a pump head so as not to damage this stem material, whatever it is. 

The Ride: I took the Mukluk out on some local gravel, dirt, grassy fields, and alleys. The lack of weight was immediately noted, obviously, but what I did not see coming was how these more flexible tubes allow the fat tires to work better. Tubes made of butyl rubber give these tires a stiffer ride by far. I thought I had some fancy, high-TPI fat bike tires on the bike, not these old, stiff Larrys! 

I'm sure the lower rolling resistance is awesome and the weight is better, but I'm telling you that it is the tires and the way they feel 100% different, in a good way, than before is what I am most excited about. The ride was dead smooth and even riding over a small, two to three inch diameter branch was like riding over nothing but smooth pavement. I wouldn't even have known I rode over that but for seeing it coming and hearing it snap when I rode over it. (Note: I've pulled the Redshift ShockStop post since the image was taken and still feel the same about the tires.)

Too bad we don't have any snow to try this out on. I'm very curious to see if this newfound flexibility and smoothness would increase flotation and traction. But maybe later, eh? We've missed out on all the big storms so far this Winter. 

I'll be riding these in the coming weeks and be back with an update. So far, I am very impressed despite the possible fragile valve stems and the steep price.

Is This Some Kind Of Game?

Trek Checkmate SLR - Image courtesy of Trek Bikes

 NOTE: Large doses of "my opinion" will be handed out in gloppy dollops today. You've been forewarned.....

 A few days ago I took a look at what we had to "invent" to use for riding gravel roads. Now, just twenty years later, things have sure changed!

 Looking around at what bicycles there are for gravel road riding lately is pretty bizarre. It seems as though chaos is the rule of the day when it comes to what you can get. You can spend a whole heck of a lot of money, or you can spend a lot less for a similar bicycle. 

New, off the peg bikes, like this top-of-the-range Trek Checkmate SLR, go for well North of 10K. But you can get brand new, deeply discounted gravel bikes from places like Jenson USA for well South of that same 10K and get similar, or the same gear bolted to it. That's thousands of dollars difference. This seems not just significant, but really odd. 

I won't even get into the used marketplace, which is rife with choices in lightly used, very high-end gravel bikes. I see these on Facebook Marketplace on the daily.  I would imagine other sources have even more choices.

It is no wonder then when I see comment sections filled with angry and dismissive comments pointed at the bicycle industry. What is this stuff really worth? Take that Checkmate frame and fork, for example. Trek offers it up at a dollar less than $4,000.00. You can get a very similar frame from the Chinese company, ICAN, for a dollar less than $900.00. Now, come on! Does anyone really believe that Trek's frame and fork are $3,100.00 better? 

Titanium Fargo - Image courtesy of Salsa Cycles

You could buy the ICAN frame and get a titanium Fargo for the price of one Trek Checkmate frame and fork. That just seems really weird. 

This pricing just does not make sense, so I get why many people feel the cycling industry is a "rip-off". Try playing "The Price Is Right" with any cycling related items and you'd be hard pressed to nail the prices with any degree of consistency based on the perceived "value". How can you judge this pricing when it just doesn't add up?

Then you throw in all the major discounting that has been happening, which I have not accounted for in my examples here, and it gets even weirder. I'm all for people getting paid, but when there is no consistency, and no real innovations to point at, it becomes hard to put your trust into anything, especially when it cost thousands of dollars. 

Does it surprise you then when you see sales are flat? Does it surprise you to see companies having difficult financial times? Does it surprise you to hear rumors of companies taking out huge loans to pay employees and keep things afloat? I am not surprised at all. Especially when it becomes so hard to perceive "value" when contrasted with price. 

I also think that there are just far too many bicycles being produced and expected to sell every year. Every marketing trick in the book to get us to feel we need to jump on to the next shiny thing has been tried and now all the tricks have played out. Even adding gears, adding motors, and taking away cables - or hiding them - is not enough to change many people's minds anymore. There simply is just 'too much stuff' out there. We simply do not need it. 

I think it is high time the game changed.

When We Used To Get Snow

 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!

We missed that big snow storm last weekend and since then it has just been really cold. No snow to speak of, certainly not enough to do Winter sports, and too cold to just be outside riding in the country. It is kind of a "worst case scenario" type of thing. Give me 20 more degrees and I don't care. I could ride a lot in cooler weather. But having to bundle up to go out for an hour in sub-zero temperatures? With NO SNOW? It's really hard to handle mentally.

Black Hawk Creek, The Green Belt, 2009.

It wasn't always this way. We used to get "regular" Winters with months of snow that would be great for all sorts of activities. The Winter of 2000-2001 was spectacular. I recall snow shoeing in four to five feet of snow in Hickory Hills park then. 

We would normally get chased off the mountain biking trails after Thanksgiving by a snow storm. It then might have taken a few weeks to build up a base of snow deep enough to cross country ski on, but generally then it would last until March. 

I used to write about XC skiing here fairly often back then. I was never really very good at it, but I found it to be a great way to burn off some steam when Winter was driving me nuts and keeping me off the bicycle. 

There were no fat bikes, no groomers, nothing....

These also were the days before turnkey fat bikes were available. Sure, if you were an ultra-cycling nerd and knew of Winter cycling in Alaska, maybe you knew about fat bikes, but they were an anomaly, extremely expensive, and very difficult to get parts for. (That fat bike specific stuff, that is.) 

I usually had to break my own trail back then too.

A Soul Cycles Dillinger I used as a 'pseudo-fat bike' with 29" X 2.4" tires.

I recall thinking how great it would be to have a bike with those 3.8" Endomorph tires and a frame to fit them. Then Surly showed their fat bike, the Pugsley, and I was smitten. Then, as we all probably know here, Salsa Cycles came out with their Mukluk model and I was on my way. 

With a little help from a bunch of friends, of course. My birthday in 2011 was marked by a birthday present funded by several folks of that Mukluk fat bike. And that unleashed a completely new era in my cycling. 

Ironically the Winter of 2010 -2011 was one of the last good, long, snowy Winters we've had. Since then we've had a month, or even just a week or two, of 'fat bikeable' weather. It's been very strange indeed. And XC Skiing? Ha! I haven't had those boards out for well over ten years. 

Winter sure ain't what it used to be around these parts.