Friday News And Views

Early FOX gravel sus fork effort

Will Your Next Gravel Bike Really Be A Drop Bar MTB?

Recently a "Bike Rumor" article showing an in-development DT Swiss gravel fork surfaced. Coupled with this are the various social media reports from Pro level gravel riders that they are running 29"er XC racing tires on their "gravel bikes". Wheels are starting to pop up with inner rim widths of 30mm or wider for "gravel". Most "gravel" related social media posts showing any of this look freakishly similar to what I recall seeing for MTB racing at one time. Lots of dirt single and double track, steep descents, and lots of rocks. Which reminds me, tire inserts are another trend for "gravel". 

I won't belabor the whole "gravel suspension fork" thing here as I already have tackled that subject in detail HERE. But what I do want to point out is that perhaps we are seeing this development and push for a mash-up of gravel and MTB because of two things. 

One: Gravel cycling is still the fastest growing market in cycling in terms of bikes and events. That is fact. At least here in the USA it is. Second: Mountain biking, on the other hand, is struggling to be relevant in terms of events and in terms of sales of new mountain bikes things are dismal. Current inventories of MTB bikes are still at too-high levels, and the demand is flat for them. Price -slashing on MTB bikes currently in stock is amazing at the moment. 

Combined that puts pressure on marketing and research departments to come up with solutions. Maybe if these "gravel bikers" would see drop bar bikes being used as MTB bikes they might gravitate to getting back into MTB. And to be sure, that will work for a lot of people. I've already seen and heard about people leaving gravel bikes for MTB. 

But for the vast majority of "gravel"/all-road riders this trend is not beneficial. These fatter tired, suspended bikes will work less well on paved and harder surfaced roads. They will be heavier, in most cases, than previous non-suspended, "skinnier" tired gravel bikes are. In other words, the cycling industry is once again hell-bent on turning a category into what Pros want and "maybe" need versus what is good for most folks. 

Perhaps making more utilitarian MTB hard tails would be more prudent. I know I am selling every decent spec, 1990's hard tail MTB I can get my hands on at the Collective where I work. Simple, easy to maintain, and versatile bikes which are reasonably lightweight and not full of techno-wow electronic bits. But yeah....that's not very exciting, I guess.  

USAC Gravel Nationals:

Did you even know this happened? Well, it did. Once again it was not very well attended by elite level athletes. Much like last year's Gravel Nats weren't well attended, only 49 Elite males and 17 Elite females took the start. Notable: The largest fields in the age group cats were the 50 years old to 70 years old males. Go figure.....

You can see the results HERE.

That sounds not so good for a National gravel race that awards a Stars and Stripes jersey, right? But let's compare. What did Gravel Worlds get for Elite/Pro fields? Looking at their officially posted results, it appears that only a field of 37 male riders and a field of 15 women toed the line. Now contrast this with Unbound Gravel, whose officially posted results show a men's field of 135 starters and a women's field of 56 starters.

It is abundantly clear which event is producing the best competitive results. But look at those numbers a minute and consider this: All the media hype and much of what you see now as being "good for gravel" is based around this minuscule amount of riders. Ask yourself this: Does that seem like the right thing to do? The "fair thing" to do? 

In other words, most cycling media and many brands aren't catering to what the most people need or want. Of course, you could say the same about most facets of our society now..... 

Image courtesy of Planet Bike

Planet Bike Beamer 400:

Planet Bike is a company that puts out some solid kit for utilitarian purposes. I have had fantastic luck with several of their fender models over the years. Planet Bike also offers some nice, inexpensive lighting options for your bike, front and rear. 

Their newest bike front light is the Beamer 400, which, as the name implies, has a maximum power output of 400 Lumens at 3.5hr run time (claimed). 

Featuring TIR lens technology for better reflective properties and a clamp which adjusts to handle bars from 25.4 mm to 31.8 mm, this $35.00 retail light might be just the thing for your townie or commuter rig. The one feature I am impressed by is the ability of the light to adapt to mount on to any Garmin type computer mount using the adapter provided with the light. Planet Bike also has a new heavy-duty chain link lock which retails for $40.00 which you can check out HERE. 

Image courtesy of Wolf Tooth

Another App:

Wolf Tooth announced on Tuesday that they now have a smart phone app that will help you figure out where to start with air pressure on any bicycle. Users download the Wolf Tooth app, enter in their type of bike, wheel size, tire width, rider weight, and then get a customized starting point for air pressure experimentation. 

Comments: N.Y. Roll told me he has the app on his phone and gave it a try. He stated that it led him to a recommendation about 3 psi higher than he was already using. Not bad....

Here's the thing, "There are no single, RIGHT tire pressures, but there are a LOT OF WRONG PRESSURES." Much of the mystery of what your particular tire pressure should be is wrapped up in some things which are in constant flux. Things like air temperature, terrain conditions, and rider/load overall weight. If your stance on air pressure is not taking those things into consideration then you are probably not using the "right" tire pressure in any particular instance. 

There is no "set it and forget it" if you really care about this when it comes to bicycle tires. You can do things in this manner, but if you do, please - don't ever advise anyone on tire pressure in any online forum. While it may seem like a pain in the behind, getting pressures set correctly involves a lot of thought, observation, trial and error, and experiential considerations. But again - you do you. 

Image courtesy of Growtac

Velo Orange To Offer Growtac Levers:

Back in March of 2023, I wrote in another "FN&V" that Growtac of Japan would be offering a combination brake/shifter lever that would work on almost any drive train from 2 speed to 13 speeds. It is a mechanical shifting lever with mechanical brake compatibility. Note: Growtac makes a high-end mechanical disc brake caliper already. 

Comments: The levers look set to be released soon by Velo Orange. Reports are that by the end of November these will be on their site. As of now there is no official word from Velo Orange. Prices are not set or even hinted at as of this writing. 

It also remains to be seen if Velo Orange will offer the full range of options for the levers or if they just sell it as a friction shifter. I'm sure that the word will come down soon. 

If these do appear as an option it will be a step up from my old Gevenalle set ups and I would be extremely interested in getting a set in to try out. So, stay tuned to see what happens on this front.
 

Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions! Now get out there and ride those bicycles!