Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Hope Tech

Hope Introduces New Carbon Crankset For Gravel Bikes:

Hope Technologies from Barnoldswick, UK, announced this past weekend their new crankset made from carbon fiber for gravel bikes. 

This new crankset features construction from "700 fiber" carbon with a foam core to help reduce vibrations induced by crushed rock roads and other irregularities. Featuring a 30mm spindle, the crank has the capability to have the spindle length swapped out to different lengths, the spiders are separate, and so Hope believes this should "future proof" the investment made into these cranksets by riders. 

These crank sets are available now in 165mm, 170mm, and 175mm lengths. Prices are set at  RRP £575.00 / €722.20 / $752.18 (ex tax) This includes no spider. That will be extra.

Comments: Carbon cranks that have adaptability are a nice thing and Hope is a reputable company, so I think these should be nice. However; why not price them with a spider? Seems odd. Then you have the lengths. It would seem that Hope did not get the short crank arm length memo and will not be offering these in anything shorter than 165mm. And it also seems odd not to offer a 172.5mm length, seeing as how that length is quite popular in road riding circles. 

Image courtesy of RTI Sports Group

Aeron/TPU Offers New TPU Tube With Aluminum Valve Stem:

One of the nits I have had with TPU tubes is the plastic/TPU material used for the valve stems. It is flimsy and easily damaged while trying to use a pump.  

RTI Sports Group, which also owns Ergon, says that the new Aeron/TPU brand will offer aluminum stems with removable valve cores in MTB, Road and Gravel sizes soon. 

These stems will only be found on the Superlight range of TPU tubes. These will appear in Spring for sale. A "more competitively priced" TPU stem variant will be available in May. Aeron/TPU says that these new tubes for gravel will weigh in at a paltry 30 grams! The TPU material valve stem range will weigh more.  

Comments: I hope to get a hold of a set to test out, but in the meantime, it is hard to imagine a 30 gram tube. The expense is not known yet, but I am a bit afraid to know seeing that normal TPU tubes are anywhere from $25.00 - $35.00 each. Stay tuned for more on these. 

The Salsa Cycles Tributary C GRX 820 (Image courtesy of Salsa Cycles)

Salsa Cycles Announces New Tributary Range:

Salsa Cycles announced on Tuesday of this week their new carbon fiber frame and fork Tributary eBikepacking bikes. 

The range consists of three spec levels with three different paint schemes.  The GRX 820, (pictured here) is made from a high-modulus carbon fiber and comes with the Bosch Performance Line Speed Mid-Drive electric motor. The motor has 85Nm maximum torque on tap with a 625WH internal battery. A battery extender is also available for extending the electric assist range. The other bikes in the range have suspension forks and otherwise similar electric motor and battery specs. 

The frame also has clearance for a 29" X 2.3" tire. The Tributary C has internal dropper post compatibility and is also UDH compatible. The other two models in the range are the Tributary C Rival AXS Sus, and Tributary C Force Sus, with the SRAM drive trains, obviously. 

Prices are as follows in the USA: Tributary C GRX 820 - $5,499.00. Tributary C Rival AXS Sus - $6,499.00. Finally, the Tributary C Force XO AXS Sus - $7,999.00. 

You can learn more about Salsa Cycles electrified bike range HERE. 

Image courtesy of UCI

UCI Loses Date For Gravel Worlds Championships:

In a somewhat shocking announcement on Tuesday the UCI announced that the date for the Gravel Cycling World Championships was taken off the calendar. 

In a story reported on several cycling websites it was said that the decision to take the date away from Nice, France was a mutually agreed upon decision and that several new venues were being considered. 

The original date for the championship event was to be in mid-October. No suggestions for where the championships will eventually be held was given at the time of this writing.

Comments: Well! I know where the UCI could bring this event (Iowa) and run it on "real gravel"! Ha! I'm sure that since the Nebraska version of Gravel Worlds has trade marked the name, "Gravel Worlds" in the USA, the UCI won't be too quick to visit us with this event. I also do not doubt for one second that if the UCI had its way that Unbound would happen in October and be the Gravel World Championships race. It would be a shortened version of the old DK200, probably somewhere around 120 miles, since the UCI likes their events to be around the 5 hour mark.  

This Gravel Worlds Championship Race would be televised and there would be follow cars, team cars and basically everything as it would be if the course was paved. It is what the UCI knows. A "real" gravel race? Not so much. It is not what I would do, but then again, every Pro rider would throw a fit and not come to an event as I would do it. Therein lies the point. 

Image courtesy of Singular Cycles

Singular Cycles Teases New Kookaburra Rim Brake Bike:

Did you get the Singular newsletter in your inbox yesterday? If you did, you saw the prototype for this new Singular model dubbed the Kookaburra. 

It is  a lugged steel, thin-tubed, one inch steer tube rim brake bike that reportedly will take a 700c X 55mm tire.  

There is no pricing or definitive delivery date on this model, but Sam Alison, of Singular, stated that he believes it will be in later this year. Sign up for the Singular newsletter and get updates on this model if you are interested as there probably will be a limited number of these made. 

Comments: Oh no....... This is right up my alley and would be a bike I would ride a lot. Especially if it were single speed compatible, which is usually a staple of Singular design, so I would suspect this model would conform to that pattern. 

At any rate, I was smitten by a Rivendell Atlantis at one point many years ago when I had to test ride a customers bike in for repair. The Atlantis was a unicorn bike for me and being a Riv, very expensive to boot. Needless to say I never ended up with one. However; that experience has haunted me and this Kookaburra could be the antidote to my missing out on an Atlantis. 

IF I were to bite on this I would immediately retire TWO bikes I have. This is a big "IF" though, as I have no idea what the Kookaburra will cost, and this will determine my decision. Needless to say, I am very interested.

Thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions. Have a great weekend and ride those bicycles!

The Continuing Evolution Of The Gravel Bike

Image courtesy of King Fabrications

As I study the new 2025 releases for gravel bikes, a couple of things are clear. This post will explore some of those things I am noting. The very first thing to understand is this; Most manufacturers do not understand what the target market for gravel is, nor do they understand what those riders need. 

This is bourne out in what I see being offered for 2025 and which press releases are getting all the run on cycling media sites. Essentially there are three distinct directions which are somewhat at odds with each other. The industry is trying to pull the hardest, though, in the direction of making gravel bikes into full-on, aero based racing bikes. Bicycle that have a lot more in common with Pro road racing on pavement than anything else. 

The second main direction I see is the more mountain bike styled gravel bike. Larger tires, suspension, higher bottom brackets, and longer top tubes. Thirdly, and less common, but still a distinct direction, I see the "adventure based" gravel bike as the last distinction. 

The Davinci Hatchet Vista (Image courtesy of Devinci)

Why do manufacturers and marketing departments have such a hard time with an "all-around" bike? Well, for one thing, an "every-person's bike" isn't easy to market. It also is not a very easy place to distinguish a brand with a notable difference. Although, it could easily be argued all the current "gravel bikes" pretty much look the same anyway. 

I found a company which is taking a unique approach to this conundrum. It is the Canadian company, Devinci. Instead of trying to take their gravel range into one direction, they decided to take the "divide and conquer" route. 

Their range of new gravel bikes for 2025 is called the Hatchet. Within this range they have the Hatchet Pro Rival AXS, the Hatchet Vista, and an electrified e-Hatchet Tour model. Devinci seem to be saying "gravel" is essentially going into two categories, and oddly enough, one of them is not a more mountain bike style. 

It would be easy for a brand to offer two different spec levels and two different paint schemes and say that they have two different bikes, but Devinci has really made two very different gravel bikes. Their geometries are different, and even what the frames are made from is different. I'll leave the electric Hatchet out of this comparison and focus on the other two models. 

The Hatchet Pro (Image courtesy of Devinci)

The Pro model has a lower bottom bracket and a road bike steep 72.5° head angle. The marketing copy puts a heavy emphasis on stiffness and aero. Meanwhile the Vista is a more adventure focused bike with a higher bottom bracket, slacker head tube angle more in line with current gravel bike geo, and it has many accessory mounts. The frame is also an aluminum one instead of carbon. 

It is interesting because in other brand line-ups these would be two different models. Salsa Cycles Warbird/Cutthroat/Fargo, or Specialized's Diverge vs Crux, as examples. And yes, this divergence of focus in gravel bikes is definitely not confined to Devinci, nor is it anything all that new. 

The differing focuses in gravel are driven by many factors. Some feel that gravel is not one thing or another, but a loosely defined thing. Even Devinci recognizes this on their page introducing the new Hatchet range. They state the following about gravel bikes : "Yes, that discipline often seen as some sort of cross-breed between road and XC, without any universally agreed-upon definition among companies in the industry." (As if the industry can agree on the definition of anything cycling related!)

Maybe Devinci has identified what is wrong when they point out the cross between "road and XC" (XC= mountain biking here) If this is the case, then the intentions for "gravel" were misunderstood from the beginning. Probably due to the insistence on the term "gravel" for these bicycles. Had the term "all-roads" been employed, would this have made a difference? 

Had a bicycle meant to cover "all roads", including gravel roads, been the design intention all along, would we be seeing bicycles really adept more at pavement (Devinci Hatchet Pro), or bicycles more akin to something that would tackle those roads, yet still be great on rustic two-track roads? (Devinci Hatchet Vista) Would suspension forks, aero, or MTB width tires even be a thing in "all-roads" bikes? 

As of 2025, it is a nice thought exercise to do when you have the time. Reality now is quite different. Brands are still trying to "cover all the bases" when they really shouldn't be because they are missing a big chunk of riders in the middle who are not racers, are not always just adventure riders, and want a bike to "just ride" all-roads on. Of course, why sell the public just one great, do-it-all bike when you can sell them three.

Right?

So, When Did You Discover Gravel?

It isn't as though you can go out and buy it. You have had to experienced it.

I often realize my perspective on gravel cycling is a bit different than many people's perspectives. This says a couple of things to me. 1 - I'm old! 2 - People who "discovered" gravel cycling lately have a far different view of the sport. A view that often times is a bit lacking in a historical perspective. 

I will say here that there are , most likely, a LOT of newer to gravel cyclists that just plain do not care. History regarding anything may not be their bag. So, I understand my perspective falls on deaf ears many times in many cases. This doesn't mean history doesn't exist, however; and I am going to write it down, or record it on a podcast, whenever I get the chance.

This is my motivation to do a series of podcasts with the early gravel riding people. I want this to be a story they tell, along with myself, who will continue to write this historical viewpoint up here. Perhaps some new-to-gravel riders will stumble upon this and gain some perspective on the sport. If not, well I will be able to say that at least I tried. To anyone reading this who may gain some insight, welcome! I hope you find these efforts to be worthwhile learning. 

Winter 2006, probably February by the looks of it here.

My journey with gravel cycling started along with my involvement in Trans Iowa back in late 2004. The event was the first "modern day gravel event" which Jeff Kerkove and I started  and which I was involved with continuing onward from there until Spring 2018 when I shut the event down. 

Obviously, the "boom" in gravel cycling did not start then. Arguably it started in 2017/2018, but really took off right after the pandemic, when participation numbers soared worldwide. The influx of new-to-gravel cyclists is a number unknown, but certainly numbers worldwide have doubled since 2017 when "gravel" was still mostly a North American cycling sport. 

I know this because I kept track of gravel events worldwide up to the beginning of the pandemic. There were certainly events outside of North America in the earliest days of gravel, but they were odd, and until post-pandemic times, not numerous. Now that gravel is a UCI recognized arm of competitive cycling, the worldwide exposure and interest in gravel cycling is spiking. 

So the prevailing thought about gravel cycling for many is "this is new!", when in fact, it is definitely NOT new. New to them? Yes. I agree with this, and due to this new introduction it is fair to say many think the entire genre' is a "new thing" to cycling, which some in cycling media still like to intimate to their readership. 

The same bicycle as above from this Winter of 2025.

Online forums are rife with questions from people who just bought their first gravel bike in 2025. Often these people are asking what tires they should run, what upgrades should they consider, and more chatter like this is quite commonplace. These are natural questions and have nothing to do with gravel cycling in general, but are usually questions seen concerning any "newbie" to any genre' of cycling. So, this does not surprise me when it comes to all the questions about what to do with your newfound cycling pursuit. 

What I do find amazing is this: There is little to no appreciation for where any of these ideas, designs, and applications of technology have come from in regard to gravel cycling. Again: Most people don't care, most likely, but I remember when it was not this easy. We have an embarrassing amount of choices now. Many of the newer riders don't realize how "rich" they are sometimes. 

So, along with the interviews and my thoughts in general, I also want to paint a picture of how things used to be so there is at least a place someone could go to for context. I hope to provide this resource soon in the form of several posts in the series I have been calling "Gravel History With Guitar Ted".  The series will have it's own archive which will be accessible from under the header in the pages tab.

I haven't decided to stick to the name I have for this series now, but when I settle on a name things will start in earnest. You, my dear readers, will be able to see the posts as they come out in the regular feed, and those posts will then be archived on its own page. Podcasts with early gravel riders will also be linked here and on this new page. 

Of course, I am open to suggestions for this series and you can choose to email me here at g.ted.productions@gmail.com or comment on this post from the hyperlink below the post. 

Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Two Things

Long before the days of cycling oriented "multi-tools" there were tool rolls, tool pouches, and individual wrenches. An example of this came through,my place of employment, the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective, recently. 

An individual called about dropping off an old bike and when they came by to donate this bike it turned out to be an old Puegot road bike. It was kitted out with all its original equipment. The "carrot stick" Simplex shifters were still there intact, (IYKYK), and even the funky Simplex front derailleur still worked. It had its original, slightly dried out, Ideal leather saddle, (similar to a Brooks), and the infamous MAFAC Racer brakes.

 It was quite the time piece, as it looked completely unmolested since its sale in, probably the early 1970's, I would guess. Upon closer inspection I saw a black object which looked like a small bag just stuffed in between the saddle's rails and the leather top. I carefully removed it to find that this object was a tool bag. As you may have guessed from the image here. 

It was in remarkable condition and the tools were as well. I'm not sure the combination wrench was an original part of the kit, it looks different and may have been added years ago. However; the four other stamped steel wrenches with the "MAFAC"logo do match the bag with its embossed "MAFAC" logo. Even the hang straps are all intact, which look like easy casualties to wear and time. 

You've got to question the usefulness of stamped steel wrenches. I'm sure they might get you by, and certainly they are light, but obviously they were not precision instruments! I cannot say the combination wrench is a whole lot better, and it is a standard SAE wrench anyway. Not much use on a bicycle. 

It is a cool oddity though, and I will certainly keep it all together as a bit of a conversation starter for the shop and for clinics in the future as a show piece.  

Clik Valve products - Image by A Andonopoulous

Now as I sit and contemplate the soon to be here riding season, I wonder about dedicating a bike to using those TPU tubes to see what I think of this new thing. As I was thinking about what I like about TPU tubes, I was reminded of the number one downfall to these things, in my opinion, and that is the valve stem. 

Those plastic, flexible stems are probably not very sturdy. Although I haven't broken one yet, I know that is a distinct possibility. And furthermore, I do not want to find out. 

There is something I think would help fix this. That would be going to the Clik Valve design. I think it would work in plastic, but even just a steel or brass end, as the TPU tubes have anyway, in the format of a Clik Valve, would be really good. That is because Clik Valve is really easy to engage and disengage. It would likely pose much less of an issue when it comes to the possibility of breaking or damaging a TPU tube. 

Now there is another solution coming out very soon. I'll have more on that in this week's "FN&V", but that solution will be quite pricey. We will see.

Upgrade At Guitar Ted HQ

Image courtesy of Alienware

It has been at least ten years,if not more, since Guitar Ted Productions has had an upgrade to its computer system. Well, all that is about to change this week. 

Hopefully things will transition smoothly, and I hope to have stuff scheduled ahead to cover any hiccups, but you never know.

I've had several hiccups in the last month or so that have indicated to me that it is time to retire the old unit. Mrs. Guitar Ted agreed and so this past weekend we wnet computer shopping and found a pretty good deal on a gaming computer that will handle all the abuse I can throw at it. And believe me, this blog is probably abusive to computers! 

Or maybe it is me.....

It is probably me, if I am honest. Any longtime reader of these digital pages probably has already read that I have a certain way with electronic devices that defies logic. I have had pretty good luck with this outgoing CPU though, so maybe technology is finally catching up to people like me! 

So, stay tuned if something seems amiss. I don't think anything will happen. Hopefully all goes smoothly.
 

Does The Cycling Industry Have a Data Problem?

 We've probably all heard the tale of COVID and the bicycle industry by now. Big demand leads to wiped out stores, which led to big orders, swamped factories, and late deliveries. Then the big glut of inventory hit just as consumer demand slowed way down, and we were supposed to be recovered from all of this sometime in 2024. 

Of course, it is a mixed bag, but it is obvious the cycling industry is still reeling from what happened and is not back to normal. Part of the reasoning behind this, in my opinion, is the industry hasn't known where it was at, in terms of overall health, for certain, at any given time in the past 40 - 50 years. 

This was, and still is, because most data is not shared across brands and marketing companies. Trek would rather Specialized not know anything about Trek's sales and vice versa. This goes for many brands, and is just an illustration to show the data gathered by companies who are the watchdogs for the cycling industry is, at best, vague. Making any observations on data from the industry is mixed with a healthy dose of speculation due to the current circumstances. 

Take this recent quote from a Forbes article by Jim Vinoski where Ken Lonsberg, CEO of SRAM, is quoted as saying, "I would say, as much as anything, people were hoping 2024 would be the recovery year, but they didn't really have much data or science behind it. They knew what their situation was, but they didn't know what their competitors or suppliers that they don't use. Nobody really knew how much true inventory was in the complete channel, they really just knew their portion.”

Contrast this with an industry dealing with similar issues stemming from the COVID days, the guitar industry. One of the largest producers of guitars and accessories is Fender who are led by CEO Andy Mooney who has led Nike, and did a stint with Disney. He is keenly interested in data.  In a podcast interview with Zak Kuhn, Mooney speaks to the issue and the data Fender uses to navigate the future. I was most interested in what I heard at about the 32 minute mark of the interview. (Click here for the full episode) 

Mooney stated that even before COVID that the "abandonment rate" for new guitar purchases was approximately 90%. So, that means 90% of new guitar sales end up with the purchaser putting the guitar down, or selling it used. Does any of that sound familiar?

A load of bikes donated to CVBC.

It does to me, but I've never heard a statistic like this coming from the cycling industry. I know it happens because I've seen the evidence. I see it almost every time I work at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective.  Bicycles with - if they had fifty miles of use I'd be surprised. Bike shop quality bicycles too. Not just big-box store stuff, although we see a fair share of these as well. 

So, it would be very interesting to know what the "abandonment rate" is with retail bicycles. Now that wasn't all I gleaned from the podcast. Mr. Mooney had this observation. He posited that if the guitar abandonment rate was similar post COVID to what it was leading up to the pandemic, then he felt the 30 million dollar boost in sales meant that 24 million dollars worth of guitars ended up either on the used market or were parked in closets and under beds. 

Does a bunch of used guitars flooding the market sound familiar to you who buy and sell bicycles? It sure does to me!

However; Mooney also said that a committed guitarist, a life-long player, would be worth $10,000.00 more in retail sales over the life of that player. This maths out to the 3 million players who did stick with the guitar after COVID being worth 3 Billion in retail sales for the remainder of their lives. 

Now, obviously, that is both impressive and speculative, to a degree, because Mooney was surmising that committed numbers were similar to pre-COVID data. But the point is the cycling industry doesn't look at sales in this manner. In my opinion, this way makes a LOT more sense. 

We do get some cycling experts saying that numbers of riders went up during COVID and the numbers of riders are still up. However; in my opinion, I don't think this can be verified at all. At best, it is a mere guess based off known industry numbers which are generally either incomplete due to most companies not sharing data, or are guessed at via import numbers and other extraneous data. For instance, do we really know the exact number of gravel bikes sold last year? Add in any used sales and I think the answer is that this is an impossibility due to the way the data is lacking in this industry. 

Until we can get real, hard data in the cycling industry, I don't know how anyone can diagnose or forecast this industries woes.

February Was Frostbike Time

 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!

February was always the month for several years that I went to the Frostbike event in Bloomington, Minnesota. Frostbike was the dealer-only show put on by Quality Bicycle Products, one of the, if not the, largest bicycle parts distributors in North America. Originally this event was called an "Open House" where the idea was that QBP would invite dealers to come up and see their operation, explore opportunities to do business with QBP, and basically get a bit of wine-and-dine, schmoozing to woo the dealers over to the QBP way. 

Attendees were invited to explore the facility where you could see the latest in warehousing technology. QBP offered a lunch as well during this open house. Later on vendors started appearing on the floor showing off their latest wares. This expanded in time until Frostbike became a de-facto trade show replete with more various brands distributed by QBP. Many were showing off their latest product introductions, and with the addition of the QBP brands like Salsa Cycles and Surly Bikes showing new stuff, it was a show not to be missed.  

Later on there were dealer education and mechanic seminars offered. Then QBP shifted all the Salsa and Surly product intros to Summertime with their "Saddledrive" event, which took some of the steam away from Frostbike. Finally, the seminar/education part pushed out the trade show part until Frostbike was essentially a conference and then it petered out. This ending was hastened by the management that clamped down on the partying and extra-event offerings some of their brands were doing which were more social get-togethers and really did not enhance the company's bottom line. However; they were attractions to dealers to show up to the event.

Mike Moyer of the former business in Northfield, Minnesota, Mike's Bikes, holding my old Gryphon Mk1 frame.

I probably started going to Frostbike in 2003, for sure by 2005. Somewhere in there, and it was always because I was a shop rat at the shop I used to wrench for in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Back then I was still pretty much a nobody. But then Trans Iowa, this blog, and the whole 29"er thing swept me into a different part of my life. 

Frostbike became something quite a bit different for me. I became friends with Ben Witt, who at the time was the owner of Milltown Cycles, a shop in Faribault, Minnesota. Through Ben I was invited to visit Mike's Bikes in Northfield, the shop where Ben cut his teeth in the business under the watchful eye of Mike Moyer, who just happened to have been a life-long cyclist and bicycle mechanic. 

Greek pizza and beers at Mike's circa 2010.

Mike had a lot of surprises up his sleeve. The uninformed person would have taken Mike for an ordinary shop owner with a super laid-back attitude running a shop that was an eclectic mess. And I mean that with all the love I can give behind that description. There really was no other way to describe Mike's Bikes. 

The sharp-eyed cyclist with a mountain biking background might have soon started picking out some oddities about the shop. Old vintage pieces could be spied in corners, up on racks in unassuming places, and if you were allowed to get into the back room, your mind would have been blown away. 

See, Mike was an OG of the Marin klunker group. He was right there, in the thick of it all, during the birthing of what we now know as the modern mountain bike. He knew all the principals involved and had even laced up wheels for many of them. But Mike wasn't about those tales and he never really was one to trot out stories or drop names. I loved that about Mike. He was as real as it got. 

Some promotional shot at Frostbike for the Fargo. I think that is me!

I adored and cherished every moment I spent with Ben Witt, Marty Larsen, some of the old employees of Mikes, Stuart, Mike's son, and Mike Moyer at Mike's Bikes. Those were some of my very favorite and most fun experiences in life and in cycling. I reported on Frostbike, and Mike's Bikes, every time I went there, here on this blog.  I wish that I could have brought all of you there to Mike's at least once. I don't know if any of that ever came through in my postings, but I truly felt that way and still do. We lost Mike last year in May. I have to say, this time of year will never be the same for me again, but I thank Mike Moyer for all that he did, because without him, my life would have been much less rich. 

Having a chat with Ben Witt, then of Salsa Cycles. Image courtesy of M Larson.

Then there was the whole "media" thing and my attendance at Frostbike. I never went to Frostbike as a media dude, as I always tried to use my shop mechanic credentials instead. More stealthy and subtle under that guise! 

It was hard though, and adding in my status as the director of Trans Iowa, it usually meant I would walk into Frostbike and get stuck at the Salsa Cycles booth for hours. Then there were a few times I was able to get into places I shouldn't have been with the help of some QBP folks I won't name here. 

I was able to get into the cubicle farm on several occasions, a place I wasn't supposed to be in. Ironically Frostbike used to be an "open house" gig, but that ceased to be the case after awhile! On one occasion I snuck into a super-select group of high-end dealers which QBP was having a separate party for upstairs and where the plebians were not allowed. That was fun! 

I couldn't divulge all the details then, and I still probably shouldn't, so a lot of Frostbike did not get reported here, but I told the stories I could tell. Oh, yeah, and images. I've got tons that haven't ever been seen here. 

Frostbike was a thing on the blog for a solid ten years. My last trip was in 2015, and what a way to cap things off! That was the year I walked all the way from downtown Minneapolis to the 494 Interstate loop South of town in the snow with just a hoodie on. It was something like 17 degrees and I had on tennis shoes as well. Four hours and 12.2 miles that adventure was! Anyway, you can read about THAT here. 

I got a finger poked into my chest the next day by someone dear to me that once worked at QBP who was rather upset I didn't call for a ride. But that's the sort of shenanigans I used to get into there, and well, it is probably just as well those days are gone. I never got into any real trouble, despite some numbskull antics like getting a car impounded or nearly crashing in a blizzard getting to Frostbike, but I am sure my luck was about all used up. 

To have had the opportunities I had then are amazing to me and to have met all the people I got to meet was even more amazing. It is a part of my life in the cycling world that almost doesn't seem real, but it did all actually happen. 

Thank you to all involved in those times. 

This post is dedicated to Mike Moyer (Image by Marty Larson)

Friday News And Views

Cross-State Route Announced In Texas:

Last week I received a press release stating that a new bikepacking/hiking/horseback trail across Texas was being introduced. Called "xTx", the trail consists of paved roads, "back roads", gravel, and possibly some single track. 

Starting at Orange, Texas, just Northeast of Huston, the trail meanders Westward until it reaches the Big Bend area of Texas where the trail takes a wild South then North trek and then it darts straight West to El Paso. 

The trail, a 1,500 mile route, according to xTx, was conceived of by Charlie Gandy and is an effort of Bike Texas, a non-profit organization. A "test ride" of the first 100 miles of the trail is set to happen on March 10th out of Orange, Texas. You can find out more by checking out their site HERE. 

Comments: This is interesting, especially in light of the work already done by The Spinistry to establish cycling routes on back roads and gravel that cross Texas. I know the Spinistry's routes are pretty well vetted out and verified. This new xTx route seems a bit on the rushed side, seeing as it was conceived of only just last year. 

Then there is the gratuitous zig-zag across the Big Bend area in order to include some admittedly spectacular mountains, but if you've ever been in West Texas, (I have) it is a truly unforgiving area. I would rather skip both the most Southern and Northern extremes of the route there and shoot straight over to El Paso. But that's just me. 

Image courtesy of Twin Six

Twin Six Releases New Standard Rando Color:

Twin Six's Standard Rando v2 frame and fork is really a great platform for anything from - well....randonneuring to gravel, commuting to light touring/bikepacking. The frame was redesigned in 2020 and ever since then T-6 has offered the model in various colors. I happen to have one in the original "Saffron" yellow. 

The new hue is called "Cheeky", but to my eyes it looks like a lavender color. I like it. It would be pretty rad with a bunch of ultra-violet anodized bits on there. Or pink ano..... Ah! I'd better stop. It will drive me crazy and I don't need another one of these! 

But maybe you are looking for a new whip to get out there on this year? I think the asking price of $850.00 USD for the frame and steel fork is pretty reasonable. 

New MTB Festival Announced:

Wilde Bicycles led by Jeffrey Frane has announced the inaugural Midwest Mountain Bike Fest happening June 20-22nd in Cuyuna, Minnesota. 

The event will feature an expo where riders will be able to try out various mountain bike offerings from different brands. There will be group rides, clinics, happy hours, and raffles. 

 “It’s time for a new generation of cycling events, ones not rooted in competition but in fellowship and stewardship. This is the chance to truly engage all of the riding community to come together for one magnificent weekend. It’s going to be a good old fashioned dirt party, on some of the best trails around..” - Event Director Jeff Frane

More information will be available on the event site: midwestmountainbikefest.com. 

Comments: This idea is an excellent one and ever since "Dirt Rag's" Dirt Fest there really hasn't been anything quite like this which I have been aware of East of the Rockies. Cuyuna is a destination trail system that is not that far away from Iowa and many other upper Mid-Westerners, so hopefully there will be a good turnout for what is planned to be a yearly event. 

Image courtesy of SILCA

New SILCA Ultimate Sealant Formula Released:

SILCA announced that they have a version 2 of their Ultimate Sealant out now that has been in development for two and a half years. 

The new sealant has shortened carbon fiber strands which are claimed to remain more isolated in the new natural and synthetic latex liquid. This is allowing for sealant puncture protection for up to 6mm holes, as claimed by SILCA. 

Another complaint against the original formula was that it was not injectionable through the valve stem. This has now been addressed with the new sealant's ability to be injected through the valve, as seen in the accompanying image here. 

SILCA is so confident in this new formula's performance that they are offering a $500.00 "Bad Day Bonus" to those sponsored athletes who use this sealant in Life Time's Grand Prix. Here's a quote from a recent email blast sent out by SILCA: "...we're offering a $500 Bad Day Bonus to any SILCA-sponsored GP athlete who has a puncture that doesn't seal during a Life Time Grand Prix race."

You can check out this sealant by clicking HERE. 

Slop Season To Begin Next Week:

Well, this past week is pretty much utterly forgettable. We were below zero more than we were above zero, and the bitter winds made things even worse than the ambient air temperature would lead you to believe. 

I'm happy this will all be left behind soon, but now we will have the transition  to Spring I call "Slop Season". The time for fenders and lots of post-ride cleaning! 

Temperatures are said to be going up into the upper 40's for a bit, and that will clear the way for some country riding, I hope, which will be nice after being cooped up the last two weeks or so. 

I'll probably start off on the Karate Monkey single speed with those Nice Bars on it because the tires are wider and I am not worried about the drive train bits or the finish on the bike, which is over two decades old by now. A few more scratches or a bit more wear and tear on the Campstove Green powdercoat won't make much difference anymore. 

If I manage to get out, look for a ride report later in the week next week. 

Guitar Ted Podcast Episode #67:

So, I was hoping this would have come out a week ago, but I wasn't up to recording the day which N.Y. Roll and I wanted to record on. So....

You can listen to us carry on this week, or any time after now, really, and hear what we have to say about air pressures, N.Y. Roll's fat bike race, and other nonsense. The episode can be accessed on any podcast provider's platform by searching "Guitar Ted Podcast" or you can listen on Spotify HERE. 

I am starting to line up a few guests for upcoming episodes which will feature news about a certain statewide gravel resource, gravel pioneers and their stories, and more. N.Y. Roll and I are really excited about presenting conversations with the first modern-day gravel riders and sharing history you'll never get anywhere else.
 

Until then, thanks for Reading Guitar Ted Productions! Get out and ride those bikes!

A Small Step Forward

 Since I've been researching the blog for 20th Anniversary posts, ( You'll see another which will go up this weekend), I have noticed a pattern. I usually get sick in January, February, or both months. 

Now over the past few years, since COVID really, I've been much better in terms of staying healthy in Winter. However; my luck sort of ran out this year and I had some sort of weird malaise over the past couple of weeks. 

I say "sort of" because I usually either get really sick, like bedridden sick, or I get annoyingly under the weather, but never really full-on sick, like most people do. The latter was what happened this time. I actually had to ask around to see if other people were getting sick in my locale and see what their symptoms were, so I could know if I had the "crud du jour' which was going around, or if I was imagining things. 

Turns out I wasn't imagining things. I was definitely just in an annoying state of "not well". This all coincided with the worst of Winter weather we've had all season. So, I have not been riding much at all lately. And THAT is the real problem here! 

I finally was able to crack off a 45 minute fat bike ride on Tuesday afternoon in single digit above zero temperatures. At least it was Sunny and I could cut my own trail easily enough due to the consistency of this snow we've received. It was a good ride and I was glad to have gotten out again. 

A small step forward to Spring. Soon riding season will kick into full speed ahead mode. I will be a lot happier then when it finally does happen.

Air Pressure Is King: An Illustrative Story

During one of my Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitationals many years ago, we were cruising along a gravel road during a fine, hot morning when one rider asked me a question. "Hey! What air pressure are ya runnin?" 

This was probably sometime around the early 2010's, and gravel cycling was still in its "discovery phase", when people were still not really sure what worked best yet. Tubeless tires were rare, and you only had those if you were brave enough to convert some touring tires, or maybe you were running early 29"er tubeless ready stuff on a MTB. 

So that is the context for this story. Most of the riders were still running tubes on tires that were 35mm - 40mm wide. Of course, gravel was gravel. At least THAT hasn't changed! What was changing were people's perceptions of air pressure for these roads.

On that ride I mentioned, where the question was asked, a discussion arose and several of my riding companions agreed that the tire pressures to run on gravel were a lot lower than any of us would run on a typical hard surfaced road. The rider who initially asked the question was running about 20 psi higher than anyone else in the group.

We encouraged this rider to at least try running what we were running, and so he did eventually stop to adjust his air pressure to be more in line with the group. What happened next was pretty telling, at least as far as my understanding goes of the "typical cyclists mindset".  

After this rider had ridden a few miles on this lower air pressure he rode up alongside me with a puzzled look on his face. I asked him what he thought about this. Was it not better? 

He agreed it was better, but he said, "I just cannot wrap my mind around running THAT low of an air pressure". 

So, he stopped, aired back up to what he was used to, and finished the ride. Was that the "wrong" thing to do? Well, as I often say, "You CAN do a lot of things, but whether that is BEST is another question altogether." 

This traditionalist mindset is very present in much of cycling. Some of it is fine. Even good. Some of it is, like some old ways of doing things are sometimes, a bad thing to hold on to. Then there is the factor of "feeling fast". 

There is no doubt that if a tire, or bicycle, feels fast, cyclists will put up with anything negative that comes along with those feelings, even it those feelings make the rider slower. Front suspension on mountain bikes is a classic example of where riders pushed back hard against running those "heavy, inefficient forks", but later on found out those who did adopt the then new technology were most often faster than they were over the courses both were riding. 

This also happens with lowering air pressure. It does not have the effect of making a rider "feel faster", but in fact, it makes you faster more often than not. This is why many casual cyclists insist on the highest air pressures their tires are rated for. Science has debunked this notion, but the traditionalists still hang on to the old ways in some circles. 

Anyway, I could go down that rabbit hole, but since I am writing about air pressure, I'll stick to the story line here. My old riding friend? He eventually came along to agree that lowering air pressure was a good thing for his gravel riding. Change is some times hard to "wrap your mind around", even when you know it is a better way to go. 

Air Pressure Is King: There Is No "Correct" Air Pressure

 Ironically when I started thinking about this blog series I came across a post on social media where a user was contemplating a series on bicycle air pressures for their own blog. The idea put forth was to do a more "scientific" look at air pressure for cyclists and then there was a request for readers to give the poster their favorite air pressure calculator and why. 

And there isn't anything necessarily "wrong" with the approach this person wanted to pursue, however, I have always believed that there are so many variables to finding a "perfect, simple air pressure guide" that finding an answer is nearly impossible. 

What I mean by "nearly impossible" is that it would entail possibly millions of user's data, and thousands of hours of time with the detailed data recorded, to even approach anything useful to most cyclists. Plus variables would necessarily need to be accounted for which would possibly take finding an answer into rabbit holes we don't even consider now. Nevermind the expenses involved. 

Again, I'm not saying it cannot be done, but we're talking a major funded effort with real scientific equipment and oh.....how many users do you want to include? And after all of this would we get a hard number for any rider to use? So, yeah, good luck with that idea. And maybe something like this has been attempted. I don't know, but if it has been attempted the results are not widely distributed, or I would have thought I'd have come across them by now. If you are aware of a study which fits this criteria, answer in the comments, please. 

All the above does not mean you cannot do some thinking, experimenting, and come up with what works best for you. In fact, I am of a mind that personal experimentation is exactly what you should be doing. If you are not changing up air pressure from time to time, why not start now? You might learn something useful. 

Science can help. In fact, those air pressure calculators are not a bad place to get you in a ballpark. I tried SILCA's before and it was near enough to what I use most of the time to make me impressed. I wouldn't take the recommendation you might get as gospel though.

You still need to experiment. So much can affect where your air pressure should be set at. Tire construction - puncture protected or not? Rim width. Loaded down, no load, or something in between?  Rough surface, smooth surface, snow, mud, or dry? 

You get the picture. Air pressure should be changing for your rides all the time, especially the wider and more voluminous the tires. Roadies running the old 23mm tires had little room to adjust. However; even roadies should be thinking about adjusting their air pressures now with tires going from those skinny widths to 28mm and even as high as the mid-30's millimeters wide on today's road bikes.

I like to think there is no "correct air pressure" and no "wrong air pressure" for anyone. There is "air pressure that works this time", and maybe "most times", but air pressure should be something which is not locked on a single number no matter what. 

More tomorrow....

Air Pressure Is King: Fat Bikes

The Blackborow DS on the way home from work Saturday.

 We finally got enough snow here over the last several days to make using a fat bike a smart choice. I managed to be able to hit the streets on Saturday well before the plows were out and had near perfect snow conditions. 

Sounds good, right? Well, that all depends on whether or not you hit on the "right" air pressure choice. Air pressure in fat bike tires probably makes more difference in how you ride, or even ride at all, than it does with any other type of bicycle. 

For one thing, you have a massive tire with a lot of volume. This dictates a much lower pressure than you might use in a gravel bike, and extremely different than a road bike would use. Because a fat bike tire doesn't need a very high pressure to work correctly, a little air taken out or added in can make a big swing in handling and ride feel.  

Then you have the way cold air can make your job setting air pressure a lot fussier. Cold air has the effect of lowering air pressure versus what you may have set in a heated garage or workshop. Because a little change in a fat bike tire can make a big difference in how the bike will ride and handle, as stated above, you should account for the change in air pressure cold air can cause. A good way to accomplish this is to set your fat bike air pressure after the bike has been out in ambient temperatures for at least 15 minutes. 

I set my tires up at seven psi knowing this would drop a bit after being outdoors. (I didn't have time before work to set the bike outdoors). I took the gamble, and it worked great. The streets were 100% covered in soft snow at about three to four inches. Same thing when going back home with the exception that we had received another 4" while I was at work. 

The Blackborow DS did really well. I will say the pump you choose to use makes all the difference in the world when dealing with low air pressure. I had been using seven or eight psi as it read on the dial of other pumps but this newer SILCA Terra pump has a lot more accurate low psi capability and it showed up for this ride. My feeling is that seven or eight on the other pumps is actually a bit higher than seven or eight psi on the Terra pump! 

I'll have more to say about air pressure throughout the week, so stay tuned.....

Doing The Daily

 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!

 Every day for nearly twenty years this blog has posted an article, message, or pictures pertaining mostly to bicycling. Most years I post far more than 365 posts in a year. Last year I set a "PR" in this regard with 392 posts for 2024. 

You might be wondering how I manage to do this. 

One of my biggest fears. From Facebook in 2018.

Well, first of all it is a miracle that this blogging platform still exists and is free. Without this resource the point is moot. There would be no daily blog here. So, a big "thank you" to Blogger/Google for allowing this to be a thing for over two decades. 

There were "glitches" and times when my home PC went crazy. That always is a big stressor. A couple of times I upgraded the PC and when I turned the new one on the blog was "gone"! That was a fun time! I guess I care, maybe too much, that my audience is not denied a daily fix. 

I know some people have expressed a thing called "writer's block". I wrestled with that once. Usually I never have a hard time coming up with something to write about here though. There are times still where I have no idea what is going to come out until I sit down in front of the keyboard, but something comes out, and it keeps happening so.....

A lot of ideas come to me during rides.

Many times a ride is the inspiration, or an idea for a post comes out of a ride, or just during a ride I think about a topic that ends up being a post, but not necessarily about the ride. 

Readers give me post ideas many times via comments. Social media gives me plenty of content ideas, and there are press releases as well. Although that may be drying up this year. 

The biggest thing for me is the ability to schedule posts. This frees me up to write whenever I want, publish it at a future date, and keep the que filled a few days ahead so I can have time to think about things. I didn't always do the blog in this manner though. 

In the first several years of this blog, I would wake up very early, sit down and write a post, and so on for each day. I then switched up to doing the post the evening before and publishing it when I awoke the next day. 

But with post scheduling I can be as far as three to four days ahead, inserting and rearranging post schedules as need be, and then having time to write whenever I want. Although it usually ends up being in the morning, I do write in the evenings yet also. 

The scheduling also allows me time to edit. I generally go over each post at least three times and sometimes a lot more than that. I have been known to rewrite entire sections of a post, and at times I have deleted entire posts after writing them because I deemed them unnecessary and unwise. 

And some of you may know this, but I only type with two fingers. I really do not know how to type! I make a ton of mistakes. Misspellings, hitting the wrong keys, and just really bad grammar happens all the time. This means I have to go backward a lot. The "back key" on my keyboard gets a lot of use! So, just in this paragraph I misspelled four words, I had to back up to clean up other mistakes at least ten times, and I stopped to think a bit three times. 

This takes a lot of time. So, on any given post I might spend an hour to three hours at a crack just writing it, and this does not include later editing. And I still get stuff wrong! Hey! I'm trying over here! 

I hope this gives you some insight on just how I do this blog daily, and sometimes more than daily. Thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Winter Finally Does Winter Things

The start of Winter things in mid-February?

If there is only one thing you remember about we Mid-Westerners, it should be this: We love to talk about the weather. Okay.....maybe "complain" would be a good substitute for "talk" here, but you get the picture. So, let's talk a bit about the weather, shall we?

This Winter season, which I hold always begins on the first of December, has been very "un-Winter-like". Well.....except that it has been really cold at times. If there is one nit I have about Winters like this is it is when we get the biting cold but there is no snow to make it seem like the cold belongs. It is hard to accept subzero temperatures when it looks like Fall or early Spring outside. Snow covering the ground? Yes. Then subzero temperatures make more sense. 

Yes, we have had dustings of snow since December, but these were mere teasings. Not "real" snow. Just enough to cover the ground for a few days before it either evaporated into the atmosphere or until it got back above freezing and melted. 

This late arrival of undeniable 'real snow' is pretty amazing. We now have around ten inches of the stuff since last Wednesday. However; after a brief dusting, to top it all off this weekend, it looks like this will be all we get. Barring any obscure early Spring snow storm. 

I actually got to ride the Ti Muk 2 in snow on my commute home Wednesday.

The Sun is getting higher in the sky now, and the days are getting longer quickly. Eventually March will show up and I know this snow will be gone in a hurry. So much for dreams of groomed trails and crisp rides on my fat bike in the woods. 

We made it so far into Winter that this snow seems like a slap in the face. Because it will not last long, and doing Winter things will be brief, and then slop-season will begin, and Spring will take over. 

I should not complain. We need the snow, and I am sure this brief snow covering will be very beneficial in several ways. It's just kind of annoying because we are halfway through February looking for Spring now. Oh well! I probably should ride my Blackborow DS so I can justify storing it in my basement for 300+ days out of a year! 

Spring will be here soon enough, and gravel rides will commence soon. This is where I am setting my sights now. Winter is a lost cause, despite this latest dump of snow.

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Cannondale

Cannondale Super X Gravel Bike Unveiled:

Well....that didn't take long! Cannondale released its new Super X the day after I posted about it this week. As it turned out, my guesses were correct. It's a gravel bike, primarily, but will also serve as C'dales CX bike. 

The range-topping Lab 71 version will go for 15K!! The next lower option is about half as much. Crazy!

Comments: I think it is very interesting to note that cyclo cross has taken a back seat to gravel - at least in Cannondale's range. But then again, there are very few CX bikes offered by any mainstream brand in North America anymore. This points to the current climate of what is really popular with regard to competitive events these days. 

Ritchey SuperLogic Streem Drop Bar:

Ritchey Design has just given their aero Streem bar the Carbon SuperLogic treatment and a few refinements as well. 

Much like the SuperLogic Carbon Venturemax bar I reviewed (HERE) the Streem gets a flat tops section, a slight flare to the drops (4°), and internal cable routing options.  Since it is fashionable to go narrower on bar widths now for racing, these come in widths of 36/40, 38/42, and 40/44. (Centimeters with the first numeral giving the widths at the hoods and the second at the drops.)

Price is set at $299.95 and are available now. See more on Ritchey's website HERE.  

Salsa Cycles Issues New Colors/Builds For Warbird:

Salsa Cycles has four new colors of Warbird gravel bikes with four new builds. First up we have the Warbird C-Force AXS Wide, then there is the C Rival GX AXS, (Shown here), then we have the  C 820 GRX 2X , and finally there is the C GRX 610 1X. 

See all the Warbirds HERE. 

Comments: I'm just showing one of the Warbirds here only because it is a shade of purple. That happens to be my favorite color- purple. Anyway, other than this, it is the same ol' Warbird you've known for years. Sure..... they put on the Waxwing Deluxe v2 carbon fork. Woo. 

Look, I like the Warbird, but if we're being real here, this is no longer the cutting edge "gravel racing bike" on courses that are used today in the format that most races are run with. Once upon a time, when things were quite different, this bike made more sense. I'm not saying one thing is better than the other, but today's reality doesn't point to a Warbird as being a cutting edge racing bike for gravel. 

And in the rumor mill, I am hearing some big changes might be in store for the QBP brands. Stay tuned....

Image courtesy of Classified

Classified Files Patents For Self-Charging Shifting/Brakes:

 Classified, the company which is known for their proprietary two-speed rear hub system, has filed patents for a self-charging system on a bicycle which theoretically could keep the batteries of an electronic shifting and braking (!!) bike alive infinitely. 

The system essentially turns your brake rotor  into part of a generator along with a stator based in the through axle. Essentially this would be a more powerful system similar to your old wired computer. A wheel magnet passing a coil of wire on your fork which generates an electrical charge. The principle isn't anything new, but the application is something a bit different. 

I found, via a quick Google search, another expired patent for a self-charging, regenerative braking system using batteries to assist pedaling via a DC electric motor for a vehicle or bicycle from the early 1990's. So, the novelty of the overall idea isn't anything new, and the technology that is employed has been around for decades. 

Now, the hint of electronic brakes is something, at least for bicycles, that is fairly new. I'm not sure why engineers are so fascinated by trying to get mainstream approval for that sort of technology. I'm sure when it does become a reality we'll hear about how much "better" it is. But I feel this is more about consumer's electric bikes, how they are very heavy, and taking some sort of electronic control over the braking system to make those riders "safer". Anti-lock brakes for bicycles, if you will. Probably a bit of "power assist" as a feature as well. That's my guess. But we'll see... 

That's it for this week. Get out and ride some bicycles!