 |
| The Tamland Two on a recent Fall ride. |
Of course, 2020 threw us a curve ball and I had all my events pulled out from underneath my feet, and so the Raleigh sat forlorn in the Lab, not being used at all. It sat so long that the sealant dried up in the tires and dust was covering the paint job. It made my heart hurt to see that, but I was so busy with trying to get all the review stuff done, well I just didn't have time for the Tamland.
Then I got sent four sets of tires at about the same time. I just didn't have enough open wheel sets and bikes to really do it justice. So, while I tried to figure out what to do, I was down in the Lab just staring blankly and my gaze fell upon the forlorn Tamland again. Well......why not? Why not use the Tamland again? It is a shame to let it just sit around. So on went the Vee Tire Rocketman and that was that. I was going to ride the Tamland again.
And when I did, well that same feeling of comfortable and stable handling was right there. I felt like I had been riding the bike all along. And in one sense I had been. See, the Noble Bikes GX5 is a bike with a very similar geometry and layout to the Raleigh Tamland. In fact, if you don't know, one of the engineers on the Tamland owns Noble Bikes. So, it only makes sense that the GX5 and the Tamland would be similar. Only the frame material is really different. Carbon vs steel.
The Tamland Two was really an unsung influencer on the gravel bike market. To this day there are vital things that the Tamland has that are defining features of gravel bikes in 2020 and beyond. Head angle, seat angle, bottom bracket drop, and massive tire clearances. The Tamland preceded the 650B/Road Plus thing but those 47mm tires slot right into the Tamland regardless. But there are a couple things that the Tamland missed out on when it hit the scenes in 2014.
One was the fork mounted water bottle bosses. It also didn't come with a bottom of the downtube bottle boss. Obviously the early Tamlands didn't have through axles either. But those minor issues are no big deal when it comes to the basic bones of what makes a great gravel bike. The Tamland did things the Warbird did not do back then, such as have a lowered bottom bracket and big tire clearances. And you could put through axles, a carbon fork, and add those water bottle bosses, keep everything else the same, and the Tamland Two would be still in the mainstream of gravel bike handling and geometry in 2020. But nobody remembers that the Tamland was the first bike like that. It was the trend setter.
So, I guess I've 'unretired' the Tamland. And I am glad to have it back.
Those seem like such simple updates. I'm surprised they haven't been done. Of course the market is saturated with all road bikes now, so...
ReplyDeleteInterested to hear your view on what the Tamland brought to gravel bikes that the slightly earlier Salsa Vaya missed. As you have owned and ridden both, what do you see as the main differences between them?
ReplyDelete@Exhausted_Auk - the gravel community embraced the Vaya in 2011 because there wasn't anything that was a better alternative at the time. When many of us started saying "This is a fantastic gravel bike!", we were rebuffed by some internal to Salsa. their adamant take was that the Vaya was a 'light touring bike', NOT a gravel bike.
ReplyDeleteMuch of the geometry and accessory mounting options on a Vaya certainly did work across to the gravel rider's desires, however; as a 'light touring bike', the Vaya featured a tube set that reflected that category. IE- It was heavier than it needed to be, and it had long chain stays which were a turn off for some.
The Tamland wasn't a light touring bike and its Reynolds 631 tubing reflected that. Also, other minor details differentiated the Tamland from the Vaya. I know though...... Splitting hairs, but there is my answer.