Monday Randomonium

 NOTE: Okay folks, if you haven't been around long enough here to know what a "Randomonium" post is, then here is the deal. I ramble, rant, and randomly moan about all things cycling in one, incohesive, bizarre post. "Randomonium", okay?

Additionally, Sunday was my son's 19th birthday, so I stuck around the house to hang out and mark that momentous occasion. Therefore I was not out and about on the bike. 

Current status of the "rack" at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective.

Shop Update;

Not long ago I posted on the trip we made to Des Moines to pick up approximately 60 bicycles from the Des Moines Street Collective. (Thanks again, Bobby!)

Well, that has helped us to fill out the rack, plus some, down at the Collective now. That's been a good thing,as we continue to sell bikes, and we were getting pretty low on viable candidates for refurbishing. 

Now that the inventory issues have been addressed I will be shifting my focus to the community service aspects of the Collective and getting our Build-a-Bike and Earn-a-Bike programs back online. It's been a slower than I'd have liked process, but it is going to happen. 

Again, this gig is soooo different than retail, service oriented bicycle shop jobs. I have to educate some folks on that from time to time, as I get asked to do service work, which is not what we do. It kind of confuses some folks and the way the place had been run by the previous Head Mechanic sometimes manifests itself in folks who are now having to re calibrate how the Collective operates. Challenges are part of the new gig, but I have found this job to be immensely satisfying so far.

A New Group Raises New Issues:

 So, I alluded to this earlier, but here's the deal: Shimano gifted me a new GRX group to celebrate my induction into the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. There- now that's been said. I really don't like keeping things I have out of the limelight if it affects my cycling oriented writing here, and this new parts group definitely has me in a bit of a conundrum when it comes to "What To Do". 

You see, this is the new silver edition stuff, and well....I just cannot stick this on any ol' bike. Not to mention, it won't work on a couple of bikes I have. Here are the details of what I have here:

• Noble Bikes GX5: This is a 1X only bike, and the group is 2X. So, that option is a no-go.
• Raleigh Tamland Two: The group would be fine except for that the bike has IS standard mounts for disc brake calipers, and the group is flat mount. Adapters, you say? Well, the rear rotor max size on the Tamland is 140mm. Cool! The GRX rear rotor I was gifted is 140mm! Boo! There are no IS to Flat mount 140mm adapters- at least that I can find. 
• The Twin Six is a single speed, yellow, and did I mention it is a single speed? No-go.
• The Black Mountain Cycles MCD is pink. Hmm..... Black looks waaaay better on this bike, and I don't really want to mess with this set up as I really have it dialed in. But I could go silver here, it's just that I'd rather not. Black looks better. Oh! I already said that, didn't I.....ha ha!

I really would have liked this on the dark navy blue of the Noble GX5,  and I could, I suppose, if I ditched the 2X, front derailleur, and set up the crank as a 1X. ..... Anyway, so, I started looking at new frame sets. gah! Prices are pretty steep now. I found this, which would be spectacular in the Diffusion Black, but 2+K..... Yeah....

This option seems more doable. (Note- Link was bad before. Fixed now) I could buy three of those for the price of the other. Both choices are in a geometry I find right up my alley. Anyway, there is my conundrum. (sigh) Definitely First World Problems. I'm not sweating this, just so you know.... 

Rewind To The Riddler:

This whole reviewing gig has me on one sort of tire, then another, on a pretty consistent basis. I never have a tire on long enough to actually wear it out. So, sometimes I think about tires I once kind of liked, or cannot even remember how they rode, and wonder how they might work. 

I've gone back to checking out the Resolute from WTB several times, so that's been one tire I fall back to, but what about some others? One I recently dug out again from the 'tire pile' and remounted is the WTB Riddler 700 X 45mm tires. 

These are tires I have tried out a few times. I used them for a GTDRI once, and they were the tires I first used on my Black Mountain Cycles MCD bike. But the first bike was a test bike and went back and the MCD ended up becoming a test mule and there has been several sets of tires tested on that bike since. 

The bike I don't tend to swap wheels out all the time on, (and tires with that), is the Raleigh Tamland. So, I mounted the Riddler 45's to that bike. I noticed how much those tires have that nice, flattened crown to them. They tend to have been very comfortable tires on gravel for me in the past. The knock on them, at least in my view, is that they feel draggy on harder, paved surfaces. But I may have a foggy memory on them. That's a big reason why I wanted to try them out here again.

Stay tuned, I'll be back on with my thoughts on the Riddler soon.....