Friday News And Views

 Beginners On Gravel Series Page:

This past Wednesday I completed the B.O.G. Series of posts which had started out in late February and ran every Wednesday after until this week when it ended. As promised, I posted all the articles on their own page. You can always access the link under the header of the blog where all my page links are located. In fact, if you have not checked out those pages, please do. 

I was taking a bit of a risk with publishing such a series on a blog visited by plenty of seasoned cyclists, experienced in all manner of situations, and who hold varying opinions on 'what is the right way to do that'. Because the B.O.G. was aimed at novice cyclists and at those with little experience at riding rural roads I felt that I may get a little push-back on how I was handling certain topics. That expectation was met, by the way, but overall, I feel that the series was well accepted. 

I have heard a bit of feedback on the series and what I have heard is encouraging. If it truly helps out a cyclist, breaks down a barrier for someone, and seems to enhance a cyclist's experience, then I have done my job. 

MRP introduces the gravel/bikepacking oriented Baxter Fork.

MRP Debuts Another "Gravel Suspension Fork":

This past week saw the introduction of another gravel suspension fork, the MRP Baxter, which I alluded to earlier this week in my "We've Been Here Before" post about such devices. 

Again we have 40mm of travel, like the Fox AX, but the Baxter does have a unique feature in that there are built in mounts for fork mounted water bottle cages. 12mm or 15mm through axles are offered and the fork comes in black or white, when it hits availability, that is, and that is said to be later in the Summer. 

One report I saw also mentioned that a Baxter with longer travel and a Boost front spaced option was also going to be coming soon, but as that fork will have a long axle to crown measurement, it will be unsuitable for almost every gravel bike out there currently. The gravel version of the Baxter is already sitting at 424 mm, which is almost an inch longer than most forks on gravel bikes currently. About 3/4's of an inch to an inch doesn't sound like much, but that is HUGE in terms of how a bike handles. (And yes- I've tested different length forks on one bike before) 

The Baxter goes for about $800.00, so it also is not cheap by any means. Again, I don't see the point in putting sub-standard suspension travel with its extra weight, complexity, initial cost, long-term maintenance cost, and inevitable short shelf life on a gravel bike. But maybe I am an old, hackneyed Luddite and I should not be listened to. You make the call. 

In the meantime, this sort of product does not make a lot of sense to my mind. I would opt for an 80mm-100mm suspension fork on a hardtail style MTB with my preferred drive train any day over what I would  term as a 'band-aid suspension fork for a bike that wasn't designed for that'. Unless, you know, gravel bikes effectively become drop bar MTB's and start looking like, you know, a Fargo?

A screen shot from Reuters News' story on Shimano.

Parts Shortages Make "The News":

It isn't often that mainstream news outlets like Reuters makes mention of the cycling industry, but that happened on Wednesday on Reuters' social media feed.

It isn't news that part of the bottleneck in getting new bicycles and repair parts is that Shimano is not ramping up to build more manufacturing capacity to meet the spike in demand caused during the pandemic. Shimano, who have cleared more capital in the last 12 months than they did over the last ten years combined, (according to the Reuters report), feels that making investments into new factories, or expanding current factories to allow for greater production may not be a wise move. According to the report, Shimano stated that any new expansion in manufacturing capacity would take at least two years to realize, and by that time the 'boom' may have busted. 

So, if the report is to be believed, your wait for parts may be quite a long one. What is more, we're hearing in the industry channels that 'lead times'- the time it takes from when an order is placed to its fulfillment- is now extending into 2023 in some cases. Keeping in mind that we are nearing 2022 at a rapid pace, that sounds more and more credible as we slip into Summer. 

I suspect that we will see a mixed bag of availability, varying parts quality on bikes, varying levels of fit and finish, and more common complaints on bicycles in 2022 and 2023 until all this water gets under the bridge. I also suspect that whatever gains were made by cycling companies in 2020 and 2021 will get tempered by not-so-great sales in '22 and '23 as consumers get frustrated and find other things to do. Finally, any economic upheavals in the next three years will also have a detrimental effect upon cycling as a whole. I gotta say- I side with Shimano on their thoughts on the future, but ironically, their reluctance and inability to keep pace with demand currently is probably a big reason why things will not continue 'booming'. That's what happens when you control an estimated 2/3rds of the business in components for cycling.

That's a wrap on this week. Have a great weekend!