Coming To Some Conclusions

It was another beautiful Saturday and I got out for a decent ride.

Saturday I swapped over the 650B Velocity Aileron wheel set shod with the WTB Horizon 47 650B tires to the Twin Six Standard Rando frame. I have wanted to do this ever since I got the wheels and tires for a few reasons.

One was that I thought they would look cool on that bike. Something about tan sidewalls. Secondly, I thought maybe that these tires could be wide but in the end actually leave me more frame clearance than 700c X 40+mm tires do on this bike. Success? I'd say pretty much on all counts here.

The tight spot on this bike, ironically, was never the chain stays. It was always the spot just below the monostay in back and right under the fork crown. Twin Six made some concessions to make fenders and 32mm tires have that perfect look, so this is why it is that way. Unfortunately, one has to put up with small stones getting lodged underneath these two places and rolling around on the tire. Eventually the stone comes zipping out of there, but what worries me is that a bigger stone might actually jam the wheel, even momentarily, and cause me grief. So, the Horizon 47mm tires give me that needed girth without the tight spots underneath the fork crown and monostay. And they do look cool on the bike. See for yourself.......

I think these wheels and tires look better on the T-6 than they did on the Raleigh.

Conclusion: Yes, I do like the way this is working out here. But, is the bottom bracket too low? Well.......I've never had so many stones bounce of the fronts of my shoes, if that is any indication. I don't see why it won't work though. The Horizon 47 and these Velocity Ailerons are about as good as it gets for this bike though. Any wider of a rim and I don't think I would feel comfortable running them in this frame. There is barely enough clearance at the chain stays now. The good news is that the Ailerons and the Horizon 47's seem to work really well together. I'd have no reason to switch them out anyway.

The other thing I am ready to say I like a lot is the Brooks Cambium C-17 saddle. It was a gamble when I got it, but so far I see no reason to believe it won't stay on this bike for the long haul. Comfort is very good over rougher gravel, and it doesn't create any pain after three hours of riding. Obviously, the weather proof covering is a benefit, but one may not realize that sweat isn't affecting it either, which it does with leather. Anyway, this one seems to be a winner.

It was still a good ride for flowers, but they are fading quickly now. In a few weeks there will be very few out there.

Chunky goodness!! I got yer chunky goodness right here!!

The last thing I have come to a final conclusion on is that a summer weight merino wool jersey is the bomb. Yep! Put a base layer on underneath it and you have a super comfy climate around your midsection that never clings, feels suffocating, nor feels all wet and saturated with sweat, even on a hot, sweaty day. I definitely was sweating this past weekend too. Just look at my hand in that image above and you can see that I was. Yet, I didn't ever have that clammy, "garbage bag on my skin" feeling you can get with synthetic jerseys. So, I will be looking at getting a couple more of those types of jerseys or riding "T"'s eventually.

Old bridge on Killdeer in Bremer County

Freshly cut hay drying in the Sun

So, that was a pretty productive ride, as far as sorting things out. The weather was really great, and typically hot. The roads? Well..... I ran into several miles of deep, fresh gravel, and in some spots on Ivanhoe Road the road was oiled and laid with some aggregate that I suppose cuts down on dust. Well, that made the road so smooth it was better than pavement. I had everything in between too. Quite the variable conditions out there!

Thanks for reading.....