They Come In Threes: An Update

About a week or so ago now I wrote about three problems I had that came up all about the same time. Now all three problems have been addressed with at least temporary solutions. I thought I would share this update with you all to bring you up to speed here at Guitar Ted Headquarters.

First up is the State Bicycle Co. Monster Fork v2. If you read the latest review update on this you already know that I was able to determine that a flipped brake mount solved the issue. So, that's been ridden and a review update/final word will be forthcoming. 

Just a quick note in case you missed it: I am still having an issue with the I-9 hub coming out of this fork, but a HED wheel goes in and out like a champ. I'll test more wheels I have here to see if anything else hangs up like the I-9 hub does.

The Shogun's bell is back on. I managed to get it on the stem and keep the bell working. It took a bit of a shim to keep the edge of the brass bell off the lock nut for the head set. A short piece of rubber strip did the trick and I was able to get the bell's edge to clear by a few millimeters or so. 

Speaking of shims - I had to shim the brake lever as well. Turns out that is how Velo Orange wants you to do things. There were aluminum shims of two different thicknesses in the box. Thankfully I had not thrown away the box!

 Now the Tamland Two got a different fix than I was thinking it would. The DT Swiss hub/Roval rim rear wheel had been coming apart. So, I had intended on going back to the Irwin Cycles Carbon Aon 35 wheels but somewhere along the line I had misplaced one of the quick release end caps. So, after trying to contact Irwin and getting no reply, I decided to try another avenue. 

I had a wheel set I had built quite some time ago now that I had never used. Actually, it was a different wheel set before I rebuilt it. Here's the long story...

I had gotten payment for an advertisement on my old 29"er site, I think it was, in the form of a wheelset for a tubular tire set up. The thought being that there might be a tubular gravel tire coming out. The tire never materialized, so instead of having a brand new wheel set I'd never use, I blew it apart and rebuilt the wheels using a set of Bontrager RXL Scandium aluminum rims. While the rims were lightweight, and tubeless ready, they were rim brake rims. But at least now I had a wheel set I could use for......something. 

Well, that something is the Tamland. I only have the rear set up now, but at least the bike is rideable. 

More soon.....Oh! And have a safe Halloween, if you observe that tonight.

Why "The Tire" Matters Today: 25 Years Of 29"ers

Now known as the "Nano" (Image courtesy of WTB)

Yesterday I covered three major players in 29"er development and acceptance that, in my opinion, helped 29"ers be successful and not just a passing fad. It is my belief that those three players, amongst a few others, were responsible for the early momentum behind big wheels for MTB. 

It all started with the 29" Nanoraptor, without which none of what followed it may have happened. So why should we give the Nano a nod in 2024 and beyond? Why should any cyclist care? 

Well, today I am going to play a game of "What if?" regarding the Nanoraptor, 29"ers in general, and the influence of big wheels on cycling. What if the Nanoraptor never happened? 

Well, for one thing there is a pretty good chance that you would still be riding a 26 inch wheeled mountain bike. Not only that, but front derailleurs would probably still be alive and well, since those smaller diameter wheels lower gearing range enough that getting a wide range of gears out of smaller wheels would pretty much exclude any 1X type drive trains. 

Fork Offset: The ability to tune your ride today is a given with the ability to choose different offsets for your suspension forks. This was not an option until 29"ers came along and Gary Fisher Bikes debuted their "G2" geometry which included a longer offset fork. Getting Fox to make this was a huge hurdle, and afterward other companies had to follow suit. Now you have choices, thanks to 29"ers.

Image courtesy of Pivot Cycles

Wider Spaced Wheels: 

While wide overlock dimension wheels probably came along due to tandems and down hill bikes, it may have not caught on for all MTB's if we were still stuck on 26"ers yet. 

29 inch wheels, with their longer spokes, needed a wider base (hub flnge spacing) to really get the wheels to work well off-road. I recall a set of wheels I was to review that were so laterally unstable that I made it about 100 yards down a trail and turned back to head for the shed. Wider spaced flanges helped 29"er wheels immensely and may not have happened had it not been for their existence. 

650B/27.5 Mountain Bike Wheels:

The "mid-sized" 27.5" wheels we still see being utilized on some mountain bikes may not have ever happened without the existence of 29"ers. It wasn't until after 29"ers were gaining a lot of market share that Kirk Pacenti literally stitched together a set of tires to stretch across a 650B rim and the first 2"+ wide 650B tires were seen for MTB. 

Had it not been for the 29"er this alternative to 29"ers may have been seen as just not enough of a difference from 26"ers to matter. In fact, 650B originally was a 26" diameter wheel size! It took the larger volume mountain bike sized 650B tires to get that 27.5" overall diameter. Of course, a bigger, more voluminous 26" tire would do about the same thing. So, in my "what if world", 650B MTB doesn't happen without 29"ers. 

Drop Bar MTB/Adventure Bikes:

Part of the early 29"er scene was about adopting niche, or one could say "weird" traits seen in MTB from years past. Certainly single speeding was one of those things widely adopted by 29"er freaks in the early days. This was so pervasive that brands often made their first 29"er offering a single speed. 

Another widely adopted niche component by 29"er fans was the flared drop bar. Many were drawn to these bars as a way to make a statement and stand out from the crowd of "same thing/different day" 26" wheeled bikes. 

This became something of a movement and became an influence on Salsa Cycles to introduce a drop bar 29"er "adventure" bike. In 2008, the Fargo, a bike well ahead of its time, debuted in the Fall of that year. This bike and its fans would forecast the emergence of the now commonplace drop bar 29"er adventure/bikepacking rigs. Had 29"ers not happened, would this segment of bicycles exist today? I am thinking that they would have been far less attractive, if they existed at all, as 26"ers.  

Gravel grinding on a drop barred Karate Monkey in 2006

Gravel Bikes:

This might seem like a bit of a stretch. But here I go anyway! My feeling is that had the 29"er not come into existence when it did that gravel bikes, as a category, would have been based upon road bikes a lot more than they were. However; elements of MTB have always been a part of gravel riding. This hasn't been more true than with today's fashion for bigger gravel tires bordering on 29"er sized rubber. 

Originally many gravel riders were using cyclo - cross bikes, drop bar 29"ers, or just any mountain bike they could find, for the lack of any true gravel designs. While a cyclo - cross style was eventually adopted, some features influenced by 29'ers were there right away in the flared drop bars and disc brakes. 

Had 29"ers never been in existence it also calls into question whether or not any tires for gravel bikes would have been done. Manufacturers were into playing it safe, up until the 29"er came along. The big wheels took a bit to catch on, but when they did, it was the hottest trend of the late 2000's in off-road and many brands were caught on the outside looking in. This fueled a sort of consciousness amongst brands and marketers to not miss "The Next Big Thing". When gravel bikes did hit the floors of dealers in 2012, brands started to get geared up to hop on that trend immediately. One of the big hold ups was the lack of "real" gravel tires. This spurred WTB, (Yes - them again!) to come out with the Nano 40, a tire probably chosen to reflect that this gravel trend was much like that of the 29"er. 

While other brands, notably Clement/Donnelly, had a gravel tire, it was WTB that stepped up the production levels and offered a true tubeless tire for gravel first. Their experiences with the Nanoraptor 29 were certainly an influence here. So, while gravel bikes and that whole scene may have happened without 29"ers, it probably would have looked a lot different than it has looked. 

That's a wrap on this series. I hope that you enjoyed that look back at the 25 years since 29"ers were first hitting the single track. Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions.

Three Major Players: 25 Years Of 29"ers

Yesterday I wrote about "The Tire" and wheel diameter as it relates to 29"ers and off-road bicycling.  Today I wanted to highlight three major players in the early 29"er movement that, I believe, without whom the 29"er was doomed to the dust heap. 

The Karate Monkey by Surly as shown at the 2002 Interbike show. (Image courtesy of Surly Bikes)

The Karate Monkey:

In my opinion the Surly Karate Monkey was probably the most influential 29"er ever made. One, because it was the first, widely available, affordable 29"er option that was well thought out. This design was so well done that it inspired a slew of other 29"er models in its wake, not to mention a bunch of custom builders as well who were brazing and welding up new 29"er frames as fast as they could. 

However; the affordability provided by the Karate Monkey maybe was the biggest influence here. One could buy a frame and fork, then pull together the rest of the build from inexpensive parts, parts bin finds, or in whatever way one desired. This provided the 29"er curious an avenue to try bigger wheels before they were forced into plunking down big money for a rare bike shop model or custom build. 

Because Surly built their reputation on versatility, single speed capability, and value to the customer, there perhaps was no better company suited to "evangelizing" the 29"er. You could go a hundred different directions with your build, which was probably another part of why this bike caught on as quickly as it did and was responsible for many converts to big wheels in the early 2000's. 

Niner Bikes was solely focused on 29"ers in 2005. (Image courtesy of Niner Bikes)

The Big Revolution - Niner Bikes:

In late 2004 an advertising banner appeared on the 29"er forum at mtbr.com ballyhooing a new company no one had ever heard of before called Niner Bikes. All it said was "The Big Revolution". No bike was shown. The previous banner for the forum was from a small custom builder called WaltWorks, a builder that had been an early champion of big wheels off road. 

This stirred up a lot of interest and speculation. Was this new imposter really behind 29'ers, or was someone just trying to make a buck on a new trend? Such was the sentiment of many 29"er fans back in the day, earning all of the 29"er crowd the derogatory "29"er zealots" tag from the rest of the MTB community. 

But Chris Sugai and Steve Domahidy were dead serious about this venture. They bankrolled their future success on the big wheels and never looked back. This eventually had a major impact on the 29"er community. By the way, I interviewed both Chris and Steve from Niner Bikes at the time in this "Ted-terview" from 2006.

Niner pushed the boundaries of what 29"ers were capable of from being just a niche, single speed bike to full-on 29"er down hill type rigs. Niner was so confident that 29"ers would eventually be the first choice for wheel size amongst off-roaders that Chris Sugai made the bold statement that 26"ers would be extinct in the near future. 

The bold, forward-thinking direction that Chris and Steve had for 29"ers was a major influence on the cycling industry and showed riders that no off-road discipline was off limits for 29 inch wheels. "Big Revolution" indeed! And what of Chris Sugai's bold prediction? 

You tell me where all the 26"ers are in 2024. 

A titanium Gary Fisher prototype circa 2000. (Image courtesy of Trek Bicycles)

 From The Godfather of Mountain Biking - Gary Fisher Bikes:

Of course, no discussion of this type can be had without the mention of the importance of Gary Fisher and his namesake company. Gary Fisher is also one of those important figures in mountain biking and his influence came to bear behind the scenes in the late 1990's which was critical in the push to get a true 2" wide 29"er tire. Fisher, himself a racer at the time, was interested in how such a larger diameter tire could be utilized to gain an advantage in racing, specifically XC MTB racing. 

Even after "The Tire" was made, Fisher's effervescent personality and endless energy came to bear on Trek, the parent company, and he was convincing enough that by 2002 Gary Fisher Bicycles had a 29"er MTB in their line up. Keeping the foot in the gas, Fisher convinced team racers to try a 29"er, and by the mid 2000's he saw results as Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski became the first successful 29"er XC racer. More results followed and other brands, teams, and athletes began to take notice. By the time the 2000's came to a close, XC MTB racing was starting to see many more 29"ers on the start lines. This all thanks to Gary Fisher's inestimable influence on big wheels. 

On the retail side the road was bumpy, but Trek stuck behind the 29"er and with the coup Trek pulled by getting Rock Shox to give Fisher Bikes the exclusive on the Reba 29"er fork for a year, sales skyrocketed. Soon 29"ers were outselling 26 inch MTB's at Fisher Bikes, and again, brands were taking note. By the close of the decade you could more easily count those companies who were not offering a 29"er than you could count those who were offering 29"ers. 

Perhaps even less known than all of the above was Fisher's influence on women and 29"er acceptance. By offering 29 inch wheeled MTB's to the woman's team, Fisher encouraged the switch to women riding on 29"ers in races all throughout the world. This very thought, that shorter people could ride 29"ers effectively, was a major criticism of big wheels in the 2000's and this eventually was blown away as well by the late twenty-teens. 

Sadly, Trek folded the Fisher brand into its Trek brand in 2010 by saying "The Gary Fisher Collection" will give Trek retailers acces to a unique product line up of 29"ers". In reality the Fisher brand name disappeared and the legacy of Gary Fisher was hidden from view afterward. Whether Trek honestly believed its own marketing hype, or if it was a veiled attempt at killing off the Fisher brand, I don't know. But in my opinion, it is a travesty on Trek's part that they have erased the Fisher brand from the consciousness of the mountain biking public. 

In Closing: All three of these brands built their legacy in 29"ers off the introduction of the 29" WTB Nanoraptor 25 years ago. Had that tire not happened, and it nearly did not, the landscape of MTB would look radically different today. 

Next: Why "The Tire" Matters Today

What Is It? 25 Years Of 29"ers

1999 scan of a document sent to dealers about the 29" Nanoraptor

This past March an anniversary occurred which I missed and was reminded of during a ride last week. The thought popped up in my head that the 29"er was 25 years old now! 

Funny how weird, random thoughts come into ones head while riding a bicycle. 

This has prompted me to take a time out on other things I'd be posting about here to mark this occasion. But before I get into anything historical or noteworthy about the start of 29"er bicycles, I need to address something about the current day and age.

You may have noticed that this anniversary has not been marked by anyone in cycling media I have noticed or heard about this year. You yourself may be thinking, "Big deal!", and perhaps no one really cares. But if you, like me, do care, then read on. 

The thing is that now 29"ers are not notable because of their wheel size. They are notable because these bikes are mountain bikes with electric motors, or they have dual suspension designs with high pivots, or for some other reason that has nothing to do with the bike having 29 inch diameter wheels. But this was not always the case. This is why noting the existence of 29"er wheels is important. 

I'm not going to get into the entire story of 29"ers here. I've already written that story, back in 2010. You can read the story of "The Beginnings Of The Modern 29"er: A History"at that link, or from the link under the header whenever you feel like checking that out. 

Gary Fisher's Steve Potts built 29"er with a modded Manitou fork in 1999

Since 2010, when I wrote up that history of 29"ers, things have come a long, long way. We had a dalliance with 27.5"/650B wheels, and while those are sometimes still used, that wheel size has not come to dominate the market as some of its fans had hoped it would in the early twenty-teens. No, it is the 29"er that is "the wheel" now, but this would not have been true had it not been for "The Tire". 

Diameter matters. Even back in the late 1800's diameter mattered. The diameter of the wheel was paramount in determining speed. How far one can travel with one revolution of the wheel of a penny farthing determined speed and effort necessary to propel oneself along on a bicycle. This basis for determining performance still exists today. 

Today diameter matters for other reasons, but as it relates to the 29"er, it matters because that dimension is the line of demarcation. If a wheel and tire do not measure up to 29" in diameter, it is not a 29"er. Some will argue that a Nanoraptor was not a 29" tire, but those who were closest to this, perhaps, would argue differently. Wes Williams, Gary Fisher, Mark Slate, and Don Cook probably would have a word to say about that. 

The first 29"er. A Willits made by Wes Williams. March 1999

Some would argue that the more mountain bike-ish 700c bikes like the Diamond Back Overdrive were the first 29'ers. They were equipped with 700c X 45mm Panaracer Smoke tires. Anyone who rides a gravel bike today with 700c X 45mm tires knows that those are not 29"ers! Of course, they do not measure to 29 inches in diameter on any rim. 

This all matters because of what one can and cannot do on true off-road terrain with tires that have marginal volume and width. The lack of high-volume 700c based tires for handling rougher terrain was the biggest motivating factor in getting the Nanoraptor made. Up to that point only a finite number of odd Continental Goliath 28" tires were even close to being what the mountain riders of 700c based bicycles wanted and those were not all that great. Once the supply of those rare tires ran out, then what? 

The Nanoraptor was made to fill the gap and to help those who were the biggest enthusiastic supporters of that tire and wheel size  to show others why this idea was superior to the then standard 26" wheel size. That previous statement alone was enough to incite near warfare online in forums across the internet. But eventually all resistance was swept away. 

Next: Three major players that moved the needle for 29" bikes early on.

Two Things

Matt Gersib at Trans Iowa v6, Checkpoint 1 (Image by Kevin Wilson)

A Tip of the Cap to One of the Good Guys:

Recently Gravel Worlds announced that Matt Gersib was no longer with the event, Matt actually posting this on his social media several hours before that happened. I don't know the reasons why this happened, and honestly, it is none of my business. However; I did want to point out that there was an expression of gratitude noted on social media for Matt's service in the world of gravel events, specifically for the PCL and Gravel Worlds. 

Matt's departure from the event sparked comments that were reflective of the other originators of Gravel Worlds, which is remarkable that it took MG leaving to bring that sort of sentiment to the forefront. You can debate what that all may mean, but I did not want to engage in any of that. 

For me, Matt Gersib is an embodiment of the prototype gravel person. Engaging, welcoming, and competitive on the road, and an incredible asset off the road and behind the scenes for gravel as a whole. Many people have no idea that Matt, or "MG" as I and many others know him by, was an important figure in the early days of gravel events and product development. His contributions are wide ranging. Matt even wrote reviews for websites and contributed to the writings of others, in the process shaping gravel product for the future, and influencing untold numbers of riders to take to the dusty roads where he himself loved to ride. 

Matt at the 2018 GTDRI

Many probably don't know that Matt actually was a sponsored mountain bike rider in the 1990's and early 2000's and helped develop MTB product also. So, it should be no surprise that he would have been doing the same thing in gravel when he took to riding it. 

Matt has been a huge asset to all who ride gravel, and I say this not because he was a huge asset to me, but because I know Matt hasn't really ever been feted for his accomplishments and contributions to the gravel scene. He deserves to be noted, and he deserves his flowers. 

And maybe this is coming a little late, and I probably should have written this long ago. But here it is for all to read. Yes, I call Matt my "brother", and we have a bond that I do not share with anyone else, but even so, I should have written this some time ago. Having something finite like the end of a relationship with Gravel Worlds to motivate me to write this is, perhaps, inexcusable. And to be sure, Matt isn't finished with cycling yet. I think there is more to come, but the time to recognize Matt Gersib for what he has done for gravel is long overdue. 

Congratulations on all you have accomplished, Matt! Keep on riding and doing your thing!

New Episode of the Guitar Ted Podcast:

Friday the news was shared in the "FN&V" that Life Time was offering prize money (for Pros only) at Unbound and Leadville, along with the Big Sugar event. Then Gravel Worlds announced that they were going to offer the single largest payday in gravel racing. 

I had a few things to say about that in the latest podcast. But I also went on social media to see what other folks were saying. 

 I found that younger, less experienced gravel riders were okay with it all, or didn't care. The older, the more seasoned the rider, the less they liked it. 

And this is really easy to understand. One cannot miss what one has not experienced. Most gravel riders don't know what they don't know. So, while a few may wonder how in the world "big time gravel" would have any appeal, others may wonder what the heck "the spirit of gravel" mumbo-jumbo is about and what is wrong with the way things are. 

And within the discourse there are no connections made between these groups of people that would help everyone understand. And to be sure - there are no lines, no borders between these groups. Only a shading from one train of thought to the other. It is messy, and that is why there is some level of questioning about it all. 

Yes, people are asking questions. The answers? That part may never come to light. It would take a lot of effort to get everyone on the same page, and in the end, does any of this really matter? 

I mean, yes- To some it does matter. A lot. But this ship is huge and a couple of tug boats aren't going to make much of a corrective course change. This whole thing is headed in a direction and it is not going to change significantly from reaching the ultimate end game. 

Whatever that is.......

Golden Memories

  In celebration of the twentieth year of this blog, I have a few tales to tell. This post is one of them. This series will occur off and on throughout this anniversary year, I hope to illuminate some behind-the-scenes stories and highlights from the blog during this time. Enjoy!

One of my favorite times of the year to ride has always been Fall. This started when I was mountain biking in the 1990's, probably due to the fact that during Summer a few things were happening that prevented good times on the trails, at least for myself. 

One of those things was that from about June through until the first frost, weeds would grow so high along all the trail network that one could not ride without a major hassle from Nature. Stinging nettles, branches, thorny plants, and just plain ol' weeds would always be blocking your path through the woodlands here. And back then, no one mowed trails. 

Secondly, probably a situation exacerbated by the weeds, we had mega-mosquito issues. One stop and you would become a pin cushion! Many times this was also accompanied by high-water/mud so it was a double whammy. 

But mostly it was because I worked at a bike shop and we were so busy I was too tuckered out at the end of an 8 - 10 hour shift to do much of anything else. When Fall came around the hours decreased and we would not be very busy at all. I had plenty of time and energy to go trail riding. So, it would make sense that when the weeds were brown, the bugs were mostly dead, and I had the time and energy that this would become my favorite time of year to ride bicycles.

Riding a Salsa Cycles Big Mama at Cedar Bend Park October 2009

At the height of my reviewing product for 29"ers, I often used a park North of Waverly, Iowa as a test track. It had a small network of single track trails that were originally put in as hiking/equestrian trails. There were a few spots where there were steps and wooden bridges, but I could make a reasonable loop through the park and not repeat any trails with about an hour or so of ride time. 

Old time blog readers might recall seeing a lot of images from this park from about 2008 - 2012 or so. The best times riding MTB's often were from this venue, at least locally. One of my chief memories of riding comes from this park in 2009 when the leaves throughout Cedar Bend were this fabulous hue of gold. 

Looking at old 29"ers now, it seems they were all run into brick walls! Look at that head angle!

The bikes from that time period all look so weird, and so wrong to me now. First generation 29"er geometry mistakenly sought to feel like 1990's 26"er bikes, just with bigger wheels. It would take another decade for this to get worked out of 29"ers as companies, and sponsored riders, started to push for the evolution toward slack and low geometry. Then the slacker head tube angles started to become more commonplace. 

Looking back now I wish 29"ers like the Big Mama had done a radical thing and had been produced with a slacker head tube angle. I mostly loved the way this bike climbed and rode on single track, but it was a handful on steep descents. In fact, this was the bike I went over the bars on in Texas, smacking my left knee cap into a rock, and having a really sketchy experience afterward in the desert all alone. 

I also LOVED this paint scheme. It is kind of a burnt orange with brownish graphics. VERY subtle but VERY cool. I still have the frame in the Lab downstairs. The last bit of kit to remind me of this fabulous day in Cedar Bend Park in October of 2009.

Friday News And Views

From Ingrid Components Instagram account

Ingrid Components Shows Brake/Shift Lever Combo:

At the Bespoke show, which is Europe's biggest handmade bicycle show, Ingrid Components showed this angular, brutalist looking brake/shift lever combination. Seen hooked up to a brake caliper and Ingrid's own rear derailleur, the only clue given by Ingrid in the post was that the brake was produced " with a little help from our friends @rideformula". 

Brake/shift levers for drop bars are a difficult thing to produce without some clever workarounds due to Shimano, Campagnolo, and SRAM patents. It very well could be that Ingrid is using the flat bar shifter internals that they already make. Yes - this is a mechanical lever.

Comments: The comment section under the post had a few references to the Cybertruck and Minecraft aesthetic. Yeah, I get that as well. But you have to hand it to Ingrid for being true to their design language. It is also fairly obvious that the design language is more important than ergonomics. No word on availability, price, or other details yet.

Image courtesy of Life Time Events

Unbound To Offer Prize Money For First Time In 2025:

In an announcement that came out a little over a week ago, it was revealed that Life Time Events will offer a new prize structure for their Grand Prix events in 2025. 

Besides offering equal prize money to the top ten men and women at the end of the series, the following events will also offer prize money for the first time: Unbound Gravel, Leadville 100, and Big Sugar Gravel.

Comments: First of all, I will admit that most riders really do not care what these people get paid. (Are they "employees" of this series?) So, it is kind of weird that anyone thinks this is "news". What difference to anyone, outside of the actual competitors, does this make? I guess it is lost on me. Maybe more money somehow equals "better/more competition"? So, you are saying you can "buy yourself a meaningful race by waving cash around"?  Gotcha.... Again, I don't care. I don't think most people care either. 

But all this aside, my main reaction is that by offering prize money at Unbound the organizers have finally wiped away the last remaining tent pole of meaning which the original founder's had put in place for the event. Not looking for a monetary "prize" meant that riders were finding other "rewards" for choosing to take on the challenge of 200 miles of Flint Hills gravel. Not anymore. At least not for the elite athletes. And really, if you read what the pundits write about Unbound, well you might think that all there are there riding are elite athletes. At least those folks who are not getting the red carpet elite athlete treatment are not getting paid for placing. So there is still meaning there, perhaps. 

Image courtesy of Chris King Precision Components

Chris King Seat Post Collars:

Seat post collars are an important part of a bicycle. It also is a part you would have thought Chris King Presicion Components would have made by now. That wasn't the case until just recently.

Now you can have more Chris King on your bicycle, or maybe look at this as your first Chris King part, seeing as it is reasonably inexpensive relative to all the rest of Chris King's catalog at $48.00 each.

They come in 10 anodized colors and four sizes to fit most frames. The Chris King Seat Post Collar is made in the uSA and comes with a Lifetime Warranty. See their webpage for more here. 

Comments: I never really thought about this not being a Chris King thing before until now. It makes all the sense in the world that Chris King should offer this, and why they hadn't before now seems almost silly. At least the maximum torque rating is a realistic 6nm instead of what Thomson seat post collars are rated at. (Yes, I have some beef with that component) 

The New Mason Macro: The Missing Link?

Mason Cycles just introduced a new hard tail MTB model they call the Macro. And calling it a mountain bike is probably not what Mason would like here, but it does take a MTB drive train, so....

Mason says it is the most configurable adventure hard tail bicycle you can get. So, you could go with their own design carbon fork or a suspension fork. You can load it up with the many accessory mounts for touring, go with a bagged bikepacking set up, or use it as a fast XC hard tail. 

The frame is aluminum and the Mason fork is carbon, if you want that, or it can be ordered with a suspension fork. There are complete options as well. A basic frame/fork package runs approximately $1,625.00 USD at the time of this writing. (Mason is based in the UK)

Comments: There are not too many high-end hard tail bikes designed for all-around, versatile usage these days. The Macro is such a bike. I think it could work for gravel to all-day mountain riding and everything in between. It strikes me as kind of the modernized equivalent of the once ubiquitous 90's steel hard tail MTB's which were super-versatile and capable bicycles. 

This is kind of a "missing link" bike. A bicycle that isn't a long travel, down hill oriented hard tail, but it also is not a bike that would shy away from a rowdy MTB trail. (with a suspension fork, most likely) Now what I'd like to see is more of this sort of thing at a more entry level price point with decent components made to work everywhere. Maybe even a bike with a (gasp!) multiple ring crank set and front derailleur.

Outrider Components - Tire Pressure Sensor Tech For Bicycles:

Your newer vehicles all have tire pressure sensors which alert you to low air pressures in vehicle tires, or sudden losses of air pressure, in case of a flat tire. Now this type of technology is available from Outrider Components for your bicycle. Or it soon will be. 

The company has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their device which promises to alert your Garmin device in case of a puncture, or it can be used to monitor air pressure. 

The device is designed to run for up to two years on replaceable coin style watch batteries. The device attaches to your existing valve stem and sits inside the rim well of the wheel.

Comments: I suppose we all should have guessed this was coming. It does make sense, and while I am not a fan of more lithium type batteries, this system would probably be a big hit if it works in the real world and if it could be used across many different wireless computer brands.

That's a wrap on the last full week of October! Get out and ride those bicycles!

State Bicycle Co. Monster Fork v2 - Update

Note: State Bicycle Co sent over their Monster Fork v2 for test and review at Guitar Ted Productions at no cost. Guitar Ted is not being bribed, nor paid,for this review and all opinions are his own. 

The State Bicycle Co. Monster Fork v2 has been ridden, had its offset changed, been measured, and had a bit of a rough spell there for a bit. In this post I will explain all of that. The introductions and first impressions of this fork can be found by clicking HERE. 

The Ride Quality:

So, first up we have the ride performance of this fork. Some of my regular blog readers already have read about a bit of my first gravel ride on this fork HERE, but for those coming from elsewhere on the innergoogles, I will give a brief recap. 

On the way out of town I misread a curb, thinking it was at street level when in reality it was several inches high. I ran straight into it at somewhere between 5mph and 10mph. When I hit the curb, I felt the tire bottom out on the rim and heard a big "crack" sound. Thinking I damaged the rim, I tried to find where the rim may have failed but I could find nothing. I checked again after several miles and then noted the brake was rubbing the rotor. Odd, but - The Monster Fork has those aluminum inserts to switch the offset, right? So what if one or both made a position change when I hit that curb and moved the axle just enough to cause brake rub? A bit of brake massaging caused the rub to go away, so I am pretty sure the loud cracking noise was just the aluminum chip/plates moving slightly in their pockets due to my gaff on the curb read. 

The ride quality is what I would call "normal". What I mean to say is that the new Monster Fork rode pretty much like my old Noble fork which came with the bike. Makes sense since all the geometry is pretty similar in the Monster Fork's shorter offset setting. 

No weird steering issues either. In fact, the fork felt great on the gravel considering the stability and steering inputs were again, very similar to what I expect out of this bike. 

This is all very good and with the Monster Fork v2, I have options to carry luggage or extra bottles, something I could not do with the original fork. 

The Challenges:
 

After the successful test rides it was time to take out the offset chips and flip them for the change in offset. The first check came when the front wheel would not come out easily. I ended up tapping the tire with a dead blow hammer to get the wheel out. Hmm.... A tolerance issue with Industry 9 hubs, perchance, or....? I would have to investigate this further, but I was eager to do some measuring, so I moved on to flipping the chips and then the next check showed up.

Flipping the chips is only one part of changing the offset on this fork. You must also flip the brake mount 180° as well. I did not catch this detail. It isn't an obvious step in the process. There is no guidance on State's website, and I did not receive any paperwork when the fork was shipped to me. Perhaps customers get an instructional sheet? 

After a bit of downtime and communication with my contact for State, this was cleared up for me. I had also mentioned the tolerance issue with the Industry 9 hub, and the response was "We haven't heard about any issues like this before". I ended up trying a HED Eroica wheel and it went in and back out just fine. The Industry 9 hub also was going in easier after the flip of everything, but still wasn't perfect. I think this can be attributed to a slightly imperfect fit between the chip and the carbon fork pocket it is supposed to fit into. There also may be a slight tolerance issue with some other hub brands, but I think this may be an isolated issue. At any rate, it is something to note. 

Crunching The Numbers:

Remembering what I wrote to you in the first impressions post, you might recall that the overall wheel diameter, fork offset/rake, and the head tube angle can be put into a formula to give you fork trail. That measure helps to determine how stable, or unstable, a bike might be. 

The marketing from State gets this wrong, but what is true is that more offset equals less fork trail. This, in practice, makes a bicycle less stable. So, in the case of this Monster Fork v2, we have a choice for a shorter offset and one for a longer offset. The choices are 49mm and 55.5mm. The fork came in the 49mm offset setting. 

Following are the numbers I measured with a tape measure and an angle gauge on my iPhone. These numbers were plugged into an online fork trail calculator. The head angle, wheel diameter, and fork offset affect other geometry numbers as well, which are also accounted for in the following results. Note: The wheel diameter remains constant throughout. Changing wheel diameter (different tire) would add another variable. The head angle, you will note, is slacker in the longer offset setting. That is because the axle to crown, (length of the fork, basically) is longer in the longer offset setting.

 49mm Offset/Rake: Head tube angle: 71°, Wheel Diameter 712mm - Fork Trail = 58.42mm Other numbers: Seat tube angle: 72°, Bottom Bracket Height: 11 3/8ths"/289mm

55.5mm Offset/Rake: Head tube angle: 69.5°, Wheel Diameter 712mm - Fork Trail = 73.66mm. Other Numbers: Seat Tube Angle 71.5°, Bottom Bracket Height: 11 7/16ths"/291mm. Saddle Angle tipped up by 1°

What Does It Mean? The difference in fork trail is 15.24mm. (.6 inch) That's nearly indistinguishable in real terms. Where you would see a definitive difference in handling traits is by increasing or decreasing the wheel diameter. Of course, you can do this by using 650B wheels or 700c wheels, but you also can do this with the Monster Fork v2 by using smaller or larger volume tires. That's really the feature worth focusing on with the Monster Fork V2. Moving to the longer offset would allow me to use a true 29" wheel/tire combination, albeit on the smaller side of the scale for 29"ers. Only then would you increase the trail figure by enough that it would be noticeable. 

Updated: Note that the slacker head angle due to a longer axle to crown affects the trail figure here the most. Again, larger diameter tires will do a similar thing. Basically, the larger the differential between rear wheel diameter and front wheel diameter, with the front always larger, will increase trail figures as the wheel gets larger up front. On my bike I cannot install a larger rear tire than a 45mm, so in my case, if I wanted more snappy handling, I would keep the tire sizes the same in the longer offset setting.

Note the changes to head tube, seat tube, and saddle angles. These things, along with bottom bracket height, might actually be more noticeable to a rider. Especially regarding fit. Keep this in mind if you switch offsets on this fork, or if you change forks that have different axle to crown heights, which can have similar affects on geometry. 

In the end, maybe none of the above matters! Look around and you can easily find people riding bicycles with incorrectly installed forks from department stores. These backward forks result in negative trail and people still ride them with "no big deal" involved. How can this be? Well, Humans are very adaptable creatures, that's why. These minute changes resulting from swapping a flip chip on the Monster Fork v2 are likely going to be easily adapted to by most anyone and probably wouldn't be noticed by most riders. So the tire clearance is really the big deal here. 

So Far... That's enough for this update! Next I plan on riding the Monster Fork v2 in the longer offset setting, putting a load on the fork using the accessory mounting bolts along each fork leg, and I will also be trying out a fatter front tire to see what that looks like. 

Up to this point I can say that my only real concern is how those chips set into the fork and how that has affected getting my I-9 wheel in and out of this fork. As it stands right now the I-9 wheel does install much easier than before, so that's good to see, but if this fork is representative of what to expect from this product there might be some hubs that are not really good matches for the Monster Fork v2 and some that are and nobody really knows for certain right now.

Otherwise the ride quality is right on par with most carbon gravel forks. The handling in the short offset setting was spot-on and I don't anticipate that the longer offset setting will be an issue, or maybe even noticeable. Stay tuned for the final word on this fork soon.

Gravel Grinder News: New Wahoo GPS Soon?

Is this the new Wahoo GPS? (Image from Reddit)

Wahoo Rumored To Release New GPS Cycling Device Soon:

On Monday news was spreading that any day now you will see a new flagship GPS device from Wahoo. Rumored to be named "ACE", this device would be bigger than the current Elemnt ROAM with a claimed 3.8" touch screen. Yes. A touchscreen is part of this rumor. Of course, as you can see, if the ACE looks like this it will also feature the familiar buttons that Wahoo users know well.

The "big" (sorry for the pun) news here is an increased battery life, rumored to be 30 hours or so, and a wind sensor. 

The wind sensor could be used to help with power meters and rider output into headwinds and with tailwinds. Better power output in windy situations may increase performance outcomes. 

The usual suite of functions should be here as well as an aluminum mount, which I would wager is probably going to be more svelte and lighter than what would be necessary in a plastic based material for a mount to hold this large, and I am assuming heavy, device. 

Stay tuned for the official announcement to come any day now, according to posters on Reddit.

Tifosi Moab Eyewear: Final Review

Note: Tifosi Optics sent the Moab model eyewear to Guitar Ted Productions at no charge for test/review. I am not being paid nor bribed for this review and all opinions expressed are my own. 

The Tifosi Moab eyewear has been put through its paces here and now it is time to give my final verdict on the these shield style glasses for cycling. My introduction and first take can be found HERE. 

Okay, now on with the review! This October has been weird from a weather perspective. We have not received much rain at all, and we have had copious amounts on Sunshine accompanied by hot, dry, and windy days. While that doesn't bode well for a lot of other things, it was great for reviewing Sun glasses. I was able to use these enough to get a good feel for how they work out on the gravel and on some pavement riding as well. 

First off, I wanted to share my experiences with swapping lenses. Thankfully Tifosi ships the glasses with a paper showing the procedure for how the Moab glasses are to be handled when you swap lenses. It went just as the instructions showed it to me. I was very glad to have had that resource because I doubt I would have gotten it right had there been no guidance and I may have possibly damaged the lenses, frames, or both.

The AC Red lenses are my favorites.

I switched out to Tifosi's AC Red lens and found that to be very similar to my previous experiences with the Rail glasses I reviewed last year.This lens tint lets a bit more light in, which my old eyes prefer, but it also seems to bring out the contrasts in the road surface in a clearer way. 

The mirrored lens, in my opinion, doesn't seem to have the clarity of the AC Red lens. I find that the mirrored lens makes things a bit duller and a bit less defined, but this could boil down to my eyes and your eyes may see that differently. Literally and figuratively. 

In terms of comfort, the Moab frames are unobtrusive and easy to forget about while you are riding. The nose piece helps the glasses to stay put on your face and I did not feel compelled to poke at the glasses to keep them in place often as I have with other eyewear. This is especially useful when the gravel is chunky or the road is rough and the bumps and vibrations are making your head shake a bit. 

Final Word: I like the Moab's looks on me and Tifosi's AC Red lens is a winner for riding on gravel where discerning the "good line" is hard to do if you cannot make out contrasts in the road surface. The mirrored lens might work best for someone riding mostly paved roads and for those with more light sensitive eyes than I have. The bonus clear lens will work great on rides at night or during cloudy weather, so you have the versatility you need to make these glasses work in all conditions, At Tifosi's asking price ($79.95) the value is definitely there.

It is hard to find any negatives with Tifosi's Moab eyewear, and this might be just me, but the mirrored lens seems a bit less optically clear to me. But other than this, probably personal, issue, I can highly recommend Tifosi's products to anyone. The Moab's style is hot in cycling now, so this is a great choice for those looking for such eyewear styling for cycling needs. 

They Come In Threes

At least one thing went right...

Ever hear of that old saying that "bad things come in threes"? Well, I have to wonder after this past week if the saying is true. I had a pretty unlucky string of road blocks which has stacked things up in the old Lab at Guitar Ted Headquarters. 

The first check came while dealing with the State Bicycle Co. Monster Fork review. I had ridden it enough in one offset setting that it was time to go to the other choice. Well, the first thing I ran into was that the wheel did not want to come out of the fork without a bit of dead blow hammer influence. Not good. Then I figured out that the offset change was not accounted for by the designers of the fork with a corresponding change in brake position. No go.

So, that is in limbo now until I hear back from my contact at State Bicycle Co. to see what they want me to do from this point. Is it just my fork (doubtful) or is it a flaw in the basic design (I'm betting on this one)? We will see......hopefully. At this point I don't know why it is the way it is, I just know it is. UPDATE 10/22/24: After contacting my person at the marketing company they relayed from State that the brake mount must be flipped to make it work and that seems to have solved that issue. Look for my update on this review on Thursday, October 24th.

Next up I decided to try the Irwin Cycles Aeon 35 carbon wheels in the Raleigh again, since I figured out that it was the worn drive train which was the problem, not the wheels. Also, I had to swap wheels due to those Roval wheels having spoke issues. Should have been a "no big deal" swap, since I had those Irwin wheels in the bike at one time. However, since I thought it was the free hub body going bad at first, I removed the Irwin wheels. Then I had taken that rear wheel apart to inspect it. In the process I must have mislaid the drive side quick release end cap and now I cannot find it. 

Email sent to Irwin on Friday. Until I hear back from them, that will be in limbo as well..... 

A screw loose here....

Then on Saturday I was riding my new-to-me fixed gear bike and the screw holding on the brass bell to the handle bar fell out. Next thing you know I was making a fancy catch of the bell before it was jettisoned to the pavement. 

This wasn't that big of a deal, but after the first two things it was something that pushed me to the end of my rope. I just took everything to the Lab, parked the bike, set the bell in the handlebar bag, and grabbed my Honeman Flyer for a mind-cleansing ride around the neighborhood. 

Hey! I just put some new fuchsia bar tape on the HF. Looks great and feels good. At least something went right with bicycles recently! 

Oh yeah, and Thursday was spent fixing my front porch steps until I ran six screws short of being able to finish and I had no time to go get more. That got finished up on Friday. So frustration was a bit of a theme of late here. I am hopeful this changes soon. 

Stay tuned for updates.

Made The Switch

  In celebration of the twentieth year of this blog, I have a few tales to tell. This post is one of them. This series will occur off and on throughout this anniversary year, I hope to illuminate some behind-the-scenes stories and highlights from the blog during this time. Enjoy!

At the end of 2014 I announced that I had made a switch. I was no longer involved with day-to-day operations of the "Twentynine Inches" website. This marked a finish line I had set for myself several years prior to that day when I announced this at the end of 2014. 

The switch was made and I focused on the gravel things after that point. Was  there any future in gravel cycling? Was this a move I made because I had some premonition that gravel cycling was about to become the biggest thing since mountain biking back in the late 80's/early 90's? 

No.

I had no idea where gravel was going in terms of what it has become these days. Frankly, I didn't really care at that point. We had "made it", as far as I was concerned already. We had real tires, we had bicycles designed to ride on gravel, and that, really, was all I was expecting this to be. A small niche cycling segment like fat bikes, maybe bigger, but not by much. 

The last page posted for Twentynine Inches in 2017

I think many people have forgotten my involvement with 29"ers. Honestly, if you are under 30 years old, you may not have ever known I was involved with 29"ers at all. Some say I was an influence in that scene. I say "maybe". I mean, I guess back in 2005/2006 I was one of the earliest bloggers on that subject, and it got me started in the cycling industry as a reviewer and writer. 

Before that I was pretty much nobody. A mechanic in a shop, like thousands of other human beings. 

But writing about 29"ers here made a dent, and enough of one that companies were ghosting my blog for trends and chit-chat on big wheels. Web folk were starting to poke around my blog and a couple asked me to start writing for them, including "Twentynine Inches". Then things took off from there.

I was published in "Dirt Rag" for an article or two, one on 29"ers, one on gravel riding/racing around about 2011

So again, if I didn't totally understand where gravel cycling was headed, and didn't have big-time media credentials to lean on, why would I have quit on the 29"er thing? Well, there were a LOT of reasons for that decision. But for the focus of this post, it was because, much like gravel bikes are the commonplace drop bar bike for everyday road riders now, 29"ers had become the de facto mountain bike. A MTB was a 29"er by default. Big deal! So, there was no real passion or reason to push into writing news and reviews on 29"er stuff for "Twentynine Inches" when all the cycling companies wanted to have the heavy-hitters in media do the reviewing and get the invites to press camps, and all of that sort of thing. This weighed heavily on those who remained at the site until after about two years beyond my departure, "Twentynine Inches" ceased operations here in the USA. 

As for myself, I just wanted to write about gravel cycling mostly, and the blog here really showed that focus. The site, "Gravel Grinder News" came out of this blog in late 2008, and by 2014 I was already doing reviews and write-ups on gravel stuff anyway. And in one sense, I kind of went from the frying pan into the fire as I merged "Gravel Grinder News" with "Riding Gravel" and started pretty much running that site. So, in a sense I just made a swap from one trend that had run its course to another that was gaining momentum daily. 

And now I am not doing anything with "Riding Gravel" either, so is the gravel thing no big deal anymore? Why did I leave the gravel site? That's for another time....

More soon.

Fractured Media

Once an independent news source, now owned by Outside

I mentioned yesterday in the weekly "FN&V" that James Huang was going to start his own site hosted on Substack, a kind of "blogging", media/author's site where free to access and pay-walled content is offered. This got me to thinking about the fractured state of media in cycling. I suppose one could also point to any media and news sources as being a mess in a similar way, but I am only going to think about and share my thoughts on cycling media here. 

Traditional print media started to die off in the 2000's and with cycling magazines folding up their tents and going away, or being hosted only online, this form of media consumption for cycling is rare these days. Certainly your weekly or monthly news and tech is not in the print media field anymore. So, what happened?

Even online sites that used to pretty much mirror what print did, only in a digital space, have dried up. What our media looks like is completely alien to what it once was. All I have to do is to look to my two twenty-something year olds that live with me to see how far removed from the 20th Century we are now in terms of how media is consumed. 

I'll get to that in a minute, but it does bear looking at what there is out there now when it comes to "media" for cycling news and tech. One - The sites that dominate MTB and some other niche categories of cycling have been entrenched for a decade or more. Two - Outside Inc probably has had an overly important influence in cycling media, holding some major titles, websites, and even event registration under its umbrella. Their buyouts have caused a seismic shift in journalism, and who works where, more than anything I've noticed in the past 25 years. Three - Social media, and especially YouTube, have undermined credible cycling media to the point that it is hard to tell what is excellent, good, and trash. Now "anyone" can write about cycling and cycling tech, and there are a million places to find these expressions focused on cycling. That didn't used to be the case when your sources were limited and everyone got their news from a limited number of places.

Some media on the visual front gets so popular it becomes targeted by other companies and the fallout can make for frustrated cycling enthusiasts. Outdoor has already ticked off many readers, but the whole GCN+ debacle maybe has been the most offensive to cyclists and the most well known instance of what can happen when a company that was doing good things gets bought out by a bigger corporation that doesn't have cycling's best interests in mind. 

GCN+ was famously acquired by Warner Bros. Discovery which promptly axed GCN+ and took the live cycling content to other WBD companies like Eurosport, Discovery+ and Max. Eventually GCN was bought back by a couple of its originators, one of which happens to be a principal in a big cycling brand marketing company, by the way. So, a very complex web of cycling influence exists there with many layers. It's a bit maddening. 

Back to what my two kids watch these days. I note that most of what they watch for content is spread across smaller content creators on YouTube, gaming platforms, and Netflix with additional content from niche media like Crunchyroll, an anime' streaming platform. Also, neither one of my twenty-somethings use Twitter/X, Facebook, or Instagram at all. Like, never. So, where do you start if you are trying to reach a younger audience? Things are so "all-over the place" and fractured, that newer cyclists aren't consuming media in one place. They are all over on the internet, and this makes targeting, or even reaching those folks, a crap shoot at best for marketers and brands. 

And meanwhile traditional cycling media writers are gathering behind paywalls and hoping to continue to eke out a living doing what they had done for years, which, much like print media, is a dying art form. Sure, there will be some vestiges of that sort of media for years to come, but things are changing - have changed, really, and unless a way is found to attract fans for cycling from underneath all the rocks where they are hiding now, things will look to be pretty bleak. 

As the old saw goes, "The only constant is Change". Cycling hasn't kept up with the myriad changes in how young consumers consume information,and it has gotten a lot harder to catch their attention as a result. Time will tell if cycling can reverse course, but the way I see it now, cycling is way off the back.

Friday News And Views

Gravel Grinder News: Lauf Becomes Title Sponsor of Gravel Worlds:

Last week on Friday (too late to make the cut here) Gravel Worlds announced that they had a new title sponsor in Lauf Cycles. Garmin, who had been the title sponsor of Gravel Worlds, is still backing Gravel Worlds but at a lesser level. 

Lauf Cycles has sponsored Gravel Worlds since 2016, being that event's "official bicycle" since that time, but Gravel Worlds now will have Lauf as a title sponsor for at least the next three years. 

Look for further announcements including new promotions for next year's Gravel Worlds to come. The 2025 dates are August 22nd - 24th. You can learn more about Gravel Worlds at their site HERE.

Legendary Cycling Media Journalist Goes Solo:

For years cycling media's James Huang has commanded respect and fans worldwide for his no-nonsense takes, technical news, and reviews of products. He has worked for many of the most well known cycling publications and websites over the years, most recently with the "Escape Collective". Huang left his post there in May of 2024 and now has announced that he has a Substack hosted site called "n - 1", a take on the famous saying cyclists use when looking at a new bike by saying "n + 1" is the formula for how many bikes you should own. 

Maybe Mr. Huang's writings over the years have impressed and helped you out, or maybe you've never heard of the guy, but to me he is an industry icon. James Huang is "the standard" when it comes to technical cycling journalism and he knows what he is talking about. I have respected him for years, and I actually met him once during a Trek/Fisher press camp in Monterey, California. I'm pretty sure that Mr. Huang was not impressed by me and probably doesn't recall that meeting, but it is one of the highlights of my time in cycling media. 

Give "n -1" a try and if you didn't know where Mr. Huang went now you do. I may have more to say on the state of cycling media in another post. 

Update On The Cross Point Sock Review: 

Some of you readers may recall my review of these Cross Point waterproof socks which I started looking at back in early September HERE. I promised an update "later in the Fall" and so here we are.

The thing is that since that introduction we have been bone dry and hot as far as the weather goes. While we just had a spate of colder weather, we're back into the 70's for a bit and wet weather is still a rarity here. 

Due to these conditions, I just do not feel it is fair to conclude this review just yet. I am hopeful that colder and wetter weather will present itself and I'll be able to try out this product in proper weather soon. So, if you felt that you were left hanging concerning this review, this is what is going on with it. 

Again, I hope to get this wrapped up soon. 

Image courtesy of Enve Cycles

Enve Cycles Shows New Hex Gravel Tires:

Another new gravel tread is out there called "Hex" and is offered up by Enve Cycles. Available in 40m and 44mm sizes, in tan wall only, the tires feature a nano particle enhanced compound that is claimed to reduce rolling resistance and increase grip. 

Hexagonal knobs provide three-way flex edges for grip as well as providing for an enhanced ride feel. There is puncture protection under the tread and reinforced material around the bead chafer. The Hex is tubeless ready and claimed weight for the 40mm tire is 430 grams and the 44mm tires are claimed to weigh 450 grams each. 

The Hex gravel tires are priced at $75.00 USD each. You can purchase them directly from Enve HERE.

Comments: Enve follows the "not much, if any, tread in the middle and low, laterally placed blocks on the shoulders" recipe for tread design which has been a staple design for gravel tread since the early twenty-teens. Interesting to read that Enve has their contract manufacturer using a "nano particle enhanced compound". This nano particle technology has been pretty much the sole domain of Vittoria tires for several years. Makes you wonder...

Also interesting is the somewhat conservative sizes available. 40mm is racy, but becoming less popular while anything closer to 50mm wide seems to be getting all the flowers from riders of late. Of course, Enve had to work with a factory, as they do not actually make these themselves, so it may be a case where the factory offered up these options and that was it. We may never know, but there you go.... Tires from Enve if you want them. 

RAT 1000 For 2025 Announced:

The Spinistry is an event organizer based in Texas that has created a subset of gravel events that is just as iconic as anything you've heard of. While events like Unbound, Barry-Roubaix, and Gravel Worlds have been stalwart "classic" gravel events for years, I feel many people are unaware that The Spinistry is an organization that deserves to have its events seen in the same light.

Take, for instance, the Red River Riot, an event that has been ongoing since 2010. The Spinistry can boast of other regional events that have become staples in the area as well. 

Their long distance, Tour Divide-like event is the RAT 1000, a stage event across the state of Texas from Texarkana on the Eastern border to Tucumcari, New Mexico just over the border in New Mexico. You can read all about it HERE. There are shorter options, you can 'tour' the route, or you can take on the ITT version and try to set a FKT. It looks like an amazing route and you can do this in October next year if you want to take up the challenge.

That's a wrap on this week! Thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions! Get out and ride those bicycles!