Friday News And Views

Back scratcher out of desperation...

It rained here on Tuesday. The rain was steady, fine, and soaking. It started after I went to work, and of course- I didn't bring any rain pants. 

I had ridden my OS Bikes Blackbuck with my new set of Geax Saguaro white wall tires on it. Tubeless- of course! They are the first wire beaded tires I have set up that way, but they were a snap to get tubeless.

But I digress- I was in desperation mode with 15 minutes on the clock before I had to leave work to come up with a solution for rear wheel spray protection. I found two seat post mounted racks that had been discarded at the shop, but both were missing critical hardware to mount them. With time running out, I moved on to look through the discarded fender pile.

I found a plastic front fender that with a rack strap might do something. I quickly moved to fitting it to the bike. I fortunately have the auxiliary seat post mounts for a water bottle cage on this bike's seat post, and that made for a perfect place to mount the fender from. A few minutes later and I was done.

It worked great. My backside stayed dry, my saddle stayed dry, and the fender was secure over curb hops, bumps, and what not. Wish I could have kept my shins as dry!

Okay- so now for a bit on the tires. They are new. Wire bead, as stated. 2.0 width. Heavy, but Saguaros wear like iron and with the tubeless set up, I saved the weight of a tube. I''m okay with them. They ride super-smooth tubeless. Crazy smooth. I do not know if they are available yet. More to come.....

On One tires? Yes. They are good too.

Smorgasbord: 

Yep- On One tires!  I purchased these from the U.K., and they have been quite impressive so far. A true 2.25"er, these set up marvelously tubeless, and have held air better than almost any tubeless set up I have done so far.

But the thing I like is their all around goodness for this area. Someone asked me recently about all around tires for the Mid-West and specifically this area. Well.....add these to the list!

Maxxis makes these, so the quality is there. On the Stan's Flow rims they can be run sub-20psi and that floats my boat around here. I might bump that up for rockier terrain. I have run them upwards of 30psi and they seem less supple, but still work great. Anyway, I know the guy that designed these, (Shiggy), and he knows a thing or two about mountain bike tires. I think that shows through on this design. Well done!

Just wanted to point these tires out, as I think they are deserving of closer inspection, and they are way under the radar for sure!

Making Plans To Go: Update- 

I had said after Interbike I would get out on a S24O to test the whole bikepacking set up. But there is more to life than cycling, and it is raising it's pointy little head here in a few ways.

Mrs. Guitar Ted has been under the weather to the point that I have been doing double duty as a parent and house keeper lately. That's put a lot of stuff on the back-burner of late and one of those things is the S24O and anything related to it.

Until she recovers fully, (and that doesn't look to be soon), I have to stick close to home and do what needs to be done. That said, as soon as I can get out, this will happen. Everything is in order, so it won't be delayed any longer but for this illness.

Related to this, I am returning the Titanium Muk to fat wheels. Winter, (hopefully), won't be far off, and I want to be ready for that when and if it decides to snow. In the mean time, I think the Fargo Gen II will be getting the On One tires from this fat bike wheel set. The bikepacking set up could go onto either bike then.

On The Radio:

I was a guest a while back on Mountain Bike Radio and the host, Ben Welnak, asked if I might pop on from time to time to discuss stuff. I said, "sure". It's easy- I just call in and talk. I'm a talker, really. If ya get to know me, you know that.  Well, anyway- Ben went and named the time slot "The Guitar Ted Show". So if ya'all want to hear what I have to say about fat bikes and land access/advocacy issues, and a tiny bit about all this Lance/Doping scandal stuff, click the link there and check it out. I think the show runs about 45 minutes or so. (It was supposed to be a half an hour, but I talk a lot, like I said, so.....)

3GR: Okay- this will be a "game time decision", but for right now, the weather looks to be holding off until the afternoon now. If that's the case, I'll be riding at 8:30am from Gateway Park. If it looks iffy, (as in there are a lot of green blobs headed our way on radar), I may cancel at the last second. You know you are responsible for you. I will trust you will make the correct call on this one!

And that's a wrap! Stay safe. Stay dry. And have a great weekend ya'all!