Friday News And Views

Moots "Farwell" 27.5+ bike

Moots Far-what?!! OH!.....

I had to take a second look there. I was running through my Twitter feed looking for some interesting bits, and I saw this bike called a "Farwell" and was thinking immediately that it was a take off on "Fargo". While there may be some similarity in the name, the bikes are completely different. Moots is doing their take on what I feel is the "hard tail du jour". It used to be that hard tails were 26"ers and no one had any doubts about what they were for. Pure XC racing machines, that's what they were, for the most part. Then hard tails became "extinct" there for a few years when XC full suspension was king in the early 00's. But the 29"er comes along, and "saves" the hardtail from extinction, and by the late 00's they were the bike to reckon with on XC racing circuits. Now that may still be the case, but most people don't even think about XC racing any more. It's all about "enduro", or trail riding for the kicks it gives folks.

It seems rather odd now when you look back ten years ago and think about what folks said. Things like, "Well, you may see 29"ers in XC racing, but there is no way to make that wheel size into a long travel trail bike without major compromises." Yeah.....well, take a look at enduro bikes that have 29"er wheels and see how events are being won on those rigs. Yep. "No way" that would ever happen! Ha! Then in an ironic twist, folks dispatch with their old 29"er hardtails in favor of B+ wheels. What a topsy-turvy world.

At any rate, the Moots Ti offering is probably a pretty cool rig. Pretty representative of what a "trail" rider's hardtail is these days. 

A sneak peek at All City's upcoming new rig. Image courtesy of All City's social media.

New All City Bike Teased:

I also found this one on social media yesterday. A new teaser shot of an upcoming All City rig to be announced in July. I had heard a rumor via a co-worker at the shop, who is an All City fan, that maybe a new disc version of the Space Horse was coming out. Hmm.... Let's consider what we can see here.....

Two things are pretty obvious. One is that this is indeed a disc brake bike, or maybe All City went all "outside the box" and spec'ed drum brakes. Nah...... that's just too weird! So, I think we can rest assured that this bike has disc brakes, which is corroborated by that cable running downward behind the fork leg there.

Secondly, it is a geared, drop bar bike with pretty voluminous tires set up on it. That would also point towards a disc version of a Space Horse. That doesn't mean that is what this is, but it would be a logical guess in a world that has gone completely bonkers for disc brake bikes. Whatever it is, we're sure to have a few things wrong about it and we'll all know for sure in about three weeks when Saddle Drive happens. That's when all the new announcements for QBP branded bikes comes out.

I'll keep digging for whatever I can find out there on Salsa Cycles, Surly, and whatever else looks interesting. Stay tuned for sneaky-peeks all throughout the month as they become available.

Geezer Ride Summer '15

 Geezer Ride Fall '16:

Okay folks, I have given a little more thought to what I want to do for another version of the Geezer Ride. Don't ya know what I am talking about? Well, giddy on over to the Geezer Ride front page to see what these are all about. If'n ya already know what I mean, read on...

I moved the Geezer Ride back to Fall since it should be more enjoyable. Who knows with this crazy weather, but the August ride was fun, but it was hot!! So, September 17th is the tentative date for now.

Secondly, I am 90% sure I am going to run this out of Waterloo again. It's easier on me, the terrain is easier on you folks, and I want to have fun. Now, this isn't written in stone just yet, but another reason I am wanting to stick closer to home is that I have a few folks interested that are "gravel newbies" in the area, and I don't want to have to have them travel too far to come to a Geezer Ride. If you have any questions, shoot me a comment here, and I'll answer that. Is e-mail better? Hit me up at g.ted.productions@gmail.com. Otherwise keep an eye on the Ride Page HERE, and I will post details up as they become clearer.

Have a great 4th of July Weekend!!