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| Image courtesy of Hope Tech |
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
7 comments:
Just get in love with that Singular…. Green light to a lot of points I look on this kind of bikes.
Salsa is leaning hard into E-bikes. Must be what is selling for them, so I get it. I kinda wish they would make them look a touch more modern. It looks pretty similar to the "2nd generation" of E-Bikes that didn't just look like a battery was bolted on, but have massive awkward tubes like my Giant Talon E that I like a lot but don't love the way it looks.
@Tyler Loewens - Batteries and the technology to make them as powerful as they are, but smaller/lighter, is going to be difficult to pull off and keep the bikes reasonably priced.
Until the day we can see all of those things happen, I feel electrified bikes are going to look clunky. At least to those of us who have seen traditional bicycles for most of our lives. Who knows? The coming generations may end up seeing electrified bikes as being "normal" and the look will not be an issue for them.
I think electric motor vehicle design overall is stuck trying to mimic traditional vehicles in styling. That need not be the case, but an optimized electric design probably would be too shocking for the average citizen to take in. Especially with regard to cars and trucks.
I saw that Singular yesterday too… Man, it has your name written all over it. The bikes he references as inspirations (the Osprey and rim brake Kite) were amazing riding framesets and the tire clearance is mui bueno!
@MG - We will see how things go. Plenty of time to get things together to pull that off if Sam gets them made. Thanks Brother!
@Guitar Ted - how could one expect a rim brake fork like the one on that Singular to handle on gravel roads? Any different than a modern disc brake fork? Does steel differ much from carbon in terms of handling washboards and other fun and exciting country road conditions? Cheers!
@JoaquinMurrieta785 - Hello! Thank you for the comment. You can expect a couple of things from a rim brake vs disc brake fork in steel on a gravel bike.
First of all, disc brake forks, by their very nature, need to be beefed up in order to handle a different loading of the fork legs versus a rim brake fork. So, you will most often find disc brake forks to be quite stiff. This translates into a rougher ride that has the characteristic of transmitting more vibrations to the rider's hands than with a rim brake fork.
Rim brake forks can have an oscillation when heavy braking forces are applied that some folks refer to as "brake shudder". This is when the fork blades move backward, toward the rider, release forward, then backward again and again. Not all steel forks will do this, but it is somewhat common with a bicycle equipped with high clamping force brakes.
Rim brake forks do tend to ride smoother, however, and with the Singular, this bike is going to come with a 1 inch steer tube, which is going to have flex and feel smoother as well.
Carbon fiber forks are definitely stiffer, they transmit more vibrations to the rider, and many think these attributes make carbon forks feel "faster". Steel forks that absorb, or that transmit less vibrations feel "dead" and riders mistakenly feel this means they are "slower".
Of course, steel is going to be heavier than carbon, so any rider prioritizing low eight over everything else will always choose carbon fiber forks.
I hope this helps you!
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