Friday News And Views

It's been 9 years now....

Blackborow DS Nine Year Anniversary:

Those Facebook memories posts sure come in handy some days! Just this week I was reminded of my acquisition of a new fat bike. The Blackborow DS.

A lot of people were stoked about the Forest Service Green color, the very fat tires on 100mm rims, and thought the "dingle-speed" drive train was neat. That said, I don't see many images of these and when I do, they are almost always geared now. 

The dingle-speed bit was genius, I thought, after I had it awhile, and I would never gear this bike. It came from a specific idea: Beach riding in Alaska. Of course, that makes sense, but obviously, not many people would care for this set-up. So I completely understand the conversions to geared set-ups that people have done to these. 

My Blackborow DS is relatively unchanged. I did put a carbon Jones H-Bar on it, but that's about it. Otherwise it is stock, as delivered, and I still have the flat bar it came with along with the lock-on grips. There really is no reason to change much here. This bike is nearly perfect. Perfect for the specific job it is meant for, that is. And for what I want out of it, so there is that as well.

There is an image here posted from the day I received it and built it up. It started snowing around here shortly afterward and 2014 was a pretty decent Winter for fat biking. Not as good as some years, but not terrible. I do remember taking this out on Thanksgiving morning in some fresh snow and having an awesome ride.

I'll have more to say about this bike in my upcoming, end-of-year "Bikes of 2023" posts, which start in a couple of weeks or so. Stay tuned....

GCN App, GCN+ To Shutter In December:

News broke on Wednesday morning this week that the GCN App and GCN+ Network of cycling racing content was shutting down on December 19th. (Read GCN's statement HERE) 

Apparently this was a decision based upon the parent company of GCN, Warner Brothers Discovery. Coverage of Pro racing will continue on Eurosport TV and Discovery+. No plans for how GCN+ viewers in the US can see coverage have been announced yet. 

Comments: I do not watch Pro racing at all, since I am not interested in it much. I'll read about racing, but watching it, a lot of times, is less than exciting. But hey! Some people love it and this news may be a big bummer for some. According to the comments I've seen, there is a fair amount of dismay because many felt that, in the four years that GCN was covering Pro racing, that they did a really great job. Apparently Eurosport and Discovery+ are "too commercialized" and rife with content cycling fans do not want to see.

How's Your Inbox Doing?

If your inbox for email is anything like mine, your inbox is getting pummeled with sales announcements. The discounting pre-Black Friday is already pretty amazing. What will it be like a week from now? 40% off? Half off? 

I did get one email from a well-known UK based purveyor of cycling gear with offers of "up to 60% off" already. It's crazy, and I won't be surprised to see that some others match that, or come close to it.

While you may be numb to all of this, I want to remind everyone that this sort of deep discounting is unprecedented and generally in the realm of a "going out of business sale. Not a Holiday promotion level of discounting. 

So, I will be very surprised if we don't see companies announcing closures, sales/consolidations, or bankruptcies going into 2024. Especially if consumer apathy toward buying continues. I will also be super-surprised if we see anything coming close to these sorts of discounts again for a long time. 

We will see soon enough......

Image courtesy of Tumbleweed Bicycle Co.

Tumbleweed Bicycle Co. Announces New Flared Drop Bar:

On Wednesday of this past week, Tumbleweed Bicycle Co. dropped a new handle bar. Called the Big Dipper Bar, it is a wide, flared drop bar designed for their Stargazer bicycle which is a bikepacking bike. 

The bar is notable for its width at a starting point of 51cm! There are three widths available: 51cm, 54cm, and a 57cm. The other notable dimension here is the reach, which is a very minimal 50mm. (Measured from the stem clamp area) 

Flared at 20°, the bar should provide copious amounts of arm/wrist clearance when in the drops. The 385 (claimed weight) bar is available in a black anodized finish for now with a polished silver option to come. Price is set at $115.00USD.

Comments: I'd gotten wind of this handlebar's imminent appearance back in early October. It is a specific purpose bar in that it is wide enough to have a bar bag nestle between the hoods and it does require a short stem in most cases to accommodate that wider stance on the hoods. 

My widest drop bar that I've ever used is the Ragley Luxy Bar which is about 60cm where I have my hands in the drops on those wildly swept extensions. So, I guess a wider hoods placement is okay. But the Luxy Bar hoods position is 44cm, so that's quite a lot of variance between hand positions with that bar. Of course, you wouldn't have all that bar bag space with a Luxy as you would with a Big Dipper Bar. 

Tumbleweed sent me this 54cm wide Big Dipper Bar to review

I just received a 54cm version of this handlebar for review. (Standard Disclaimer) So, I'll have my thoughts about this handle bar coming up for you soon. I've never tried one of these wider flared drops like the PNW one or this new Tumbleweed offering. I understand that the shorter reach is supposed to help with the width, and as I stated, I already am somewhat used to "wide" in terms of hand position with the Luxy Bar. This handle bar is going on my Singular Gryphon Mk3 for now. Stay tuned....

That's all for this week! Have a fantastic weekend and thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!