Friday News And Views

Paul Components Boxcar 35mm long stem

Larger And Larger:

Nothing really "new" here, but maybe you weren't aware that stems are gradually moving toward a 35mm clamp diameter standard. As with previously enlarged clamp diameter moves, this is motivated by down hill and mountain biking.

Road cycling pretty much jumped right on when 31.8mm handle bar clamp diameter stems were introduced, because sprinters claimed it made the bikes handle more precisely in those frenzied, end-of-stage melee's. However; this hasn't yet happened to any real extent with this 35mm diameter clamp standard.

That doesn't mean that this standard won't supplant 31.8mm for mountain biking. Longer travel mountain bikes and wider handle bars have driven this standard forward and more and more companies are starting to offer stems in this standard. Paul Components being one of latest to do so. (Whoops- Thanks to a smarter reader than I this is actually a 35mm long stem  Thanks for the catch. But 35mm clamp diameter stems do exist.) It seems ironic that in 20 years we've gone from the old 25.4mm clamp standard stem and 135mm long stems to 35mm clamp stems with 50mm lengths! It makes one wonder if there won't be a "correction" in geometry and components in the future. Maybe a little longer stems, less wide handle bars. Not to mention front center lengths coming back down a bit along with less slack head angles.

Maybe someday we'll look back in a bin and say, "Hey! Remember when we all used to run these stubby stems? Wow, that was odd, wasn't it?"

It makes people grumpy, that technology.

 Get Your Air Pressure Via One Of 79 Channels:

Whenever something hits the consumer marketplace that has been infused with some newfangled technology when previously it has been just a mundane object, we all seem to lose our minds. I'm a self-avowed "retro-grouch", but I have been getting around my proclivities over the last decade for not being very open minded about "gizmos", although, I am often not very taken with some of them. Like GPS computers, for instance. I just really have a hard time getting enthused about what they do. Meh! Don't mind me.

I still use a GPS based computer, but mostly just as I would an analog computer. The rest of what it can do doesn't capture my imagination. But I don't get all bent out of shape about this existing as a potentially powerful tool in the hands of others. If it trips yer trigger, fine. But many folks do get bent, and yes....I used to too. Take Di2 for instance. I wasn't a fan early on, then I rode the stuff.

Whoa!

Mind blown and all. Anyway...... Silca released this mini-pump with technology which talks to your smartphone via "Bluetooth" radio transmission and transfers pressure data to your phone via an app. It essentially makes your phone part of a highly accurate pressure gauge. I wrote a review on the one Silca sent over here. There have been some interesting responses to the review that remind me of how I used to be about stuff like this. I get it.....

And while it may not be for you, investing any amount of angst about its very existence seems like a waste of energy. There will be adopters and as long as the product does what they say it will do, then hey.....what the heck. The world doesn't need "just another mini-pump", but one that adds a cool feature? Maybe that is worthwhile. Expensive? Darn tootin' it is, but maybe this will catch on and competition could drive the prices down. Or it won't fly and it will go away. Who knows......

Ice jam on the Black Hawk Creek.

Brown Season Returns:

 With the recent warmer weather and our light snow cover, we have seen it all melt away and now are in the clutches of "Brown Season" once again.

I find it kind of irritating when we have single digit temperatures, wind chills way below zero, and it looks like Fall outside. This is "fake Winter"! Heck, the only things around here that are white and frozen are the occasional water puddles in the single track and the ice jams on the creeks. Snow? Pfffft!

It's like being stuck in some kind of seasonal version of Purgatory. Neither Fall nor Winter, and too windy and cold to get out on the gravel without being bundled up to the point that all you can comfortably ride is a fat bike. May as well stay in the woods and plunk around. That's exactly what I've been doing of late too.

The good news is that we are supposed to get some sort of weather over the weekend through Monday which has a promise of snow. The bad news is that it is the typical lower moisture snow which is being predicted. That usually blows around until there is a thin covering on the trails then it evaporates at the first sign of bright Sunshine due to ts low moisture content. In otherwords, not snow that adds up to fun Winter sporting activities.

But, we have a maximum of six more weeks of Winter and then it will be over. Spring will be in the air and we can move on to a new season to complain about! Ha!

Everyone have a great weekend and don't get too crazy Sunday over that "super game"!