Rene Herse TPU Tubes: Review Part 1

Note: The Rene Herse TPU tubes were purchased for use by Guitar Ted. Rene Herse is not aware of this review, nor do they sponsor this blog or Guitar Ted in any way. All opinions are Guitar Ted's.

The TPU tube buzz is getting louder and for good reason. Or reasons? Yes, reasons. Of course, the main selling point is their light weight, which rivals tubeless set ups and in many cases, is actually lighter than tubeless. 

However: there is more to it than just being light. TPU also lowers rolling resistance versus traditional butyl rubber tubes. Nearly analogous to the levels tubeless tires provide, and that is a really important point. 

Speaking of tubeless, TPU won't require maintenance of sealant, it won't build up on your tire's carcass, and you will not have to deal with clogged valve stems and messy sealant.

Finally, TPU has the ability to hold air over time better than both butyl rubber tubes and tubeless set ups. So, there is a lot to like with TPU. 

Negatives Of TPU Tubes: Now, of course, there are drawbacks. One of those is the fact that many TPU tube offerings have plastic/TPU valve stems which are flimsy, cannot be affixed to a rim with a nut, and can be bent and damaged easily when trying to put a pump head on for inflation. 

This is why I was keenly interested in these Rene Herse TPU tube offerings as they feature an aluminum valve stem with a removable valve core. Now I don't have to worry so much about inflating the tubes when necessary or if a rock might ping up and take out a valve stem. 

TPU tubes are still tubes, of course, and as such, one could pinch flat them. So, there is this to consider. Also, TPU is not rated for use with current sealants, and while this may change at some point, this may put you off from considering TPU as an option for your tires. 

The last negative for TPU is their expense. I spent $72.00 on two tubes. That seems pretty over the top, but if these last long enough they will pay for themselves in sealant refreshes that I won't have to do. Let's see if that works out, shall we.....

The Rene Herse TPU tube has an aluminum valve stem

What It Is...

The Rene Herse TPU tubes are available in 700c sizes for gravel tires and two valve stem lengths of 50mm or 70mm in black anodized or silver anodized. There are three size ranges to choose from, all in 700c. 20mm - 32mm, 30mm - 48mm, (on test), and 45mm - 60mm. 

Prices range from $29.00 each to $33.00 each. The Rene Herse TPU tubes are made in Germany (Schwalbe? I would guess so.) NOTE: C02 inflation delivery systems are NOT recommended due to their ability to split open TPU tubes by way of their sudden volume introduction and cold temperature while delivering the gas. 

Handling Tips: Careful handling of a TPU tube is also wise. They are somewhat fragile if handled roughly and will split open if inflated too abruptly, so no air compressors either! It is best to use a hand/floor pump and take it easy which allows the TPU material to stretch evenly and consistently to conform to the inner casing of the tire and inner rim cavity. I would recommend inspecting tires and rims for any sharp or potentially damaging irregularities which could also damage the TPU material. Finally, I always use a dash of talcum powder to help the TPU tube not get hung up on the tire or rim while inflating and to reduce rolling resistance. 

First Impressions: Okay, so these clear TPU tubes are a bit of a trip to look at. Ironically these remind me a lot of something similar which was around in the late 1990's. Were those TPU tubes? I don't remember, but they were thicker and they did not stretch, really. At any rate, these clear TPU tubes reminded me of those older tubes which were not butyl rubber. 

Notice how you can see bits of talc right through the tube!

How about those aluminum valves, eh? Well, they are not threaded, which I hope is not an issue. They look nice and won't bend when I put a pump head on them, so there is that. It appears to my eyes that the aluminum stem is held on mechanically to the TPU tube, but I cannot verify if this is a kind of "O" ring-pinched TPU against the stem thing or what. It doesn't look like it is glued or "welded" together there. 

Each tube weighed in at a crazy light 48 grams. That's just insane given that a 700c X 40mm butyl tube weighs three times that or more. I decided to mount some SOMA Cazadero tires which are listed as being 700 X 50mm. However; they really are not quite that wide.

Mounting The Tubes: Rene Herse gives detailed and specific steps for mounting these tubes up which I would highly recommend be followed. Additionally, the fact that TPU doesn't stretch at the same rate as butyl will become quite apparent when mounting these tubes. In fact, they fit into a rim's inner well like a tube that is slightly too small in diameter. Stretching them over a rim should be done gently, but it is really no problem once you have done one tube. Subsequent installations will be rewarded by the learned experience of the first install. 

I always put a little talc powder in the tire as well, although it is not something which is mentioned by Rene Herse. My feeling is that the talc will help with lowering rolling resistance and help the tube stretch into the casing of the tire without hanging up. 

The Black Mountain Cycles MCD with 700 X 50mm SOMA Cazaderos using the Rene Herse   TPU tubes.

 Once aired up to about 50 psi to set the tires correctly on the HED Eroica wheels with their 25mm inner rim width I measured the Cazaderos at 47.8mm wide. So, right within the upper width range limit for these tubes.  

Since I have gotten these TPU tubes from Rene Herse I have had two friends tell me they have been running them and that they really like them so far. I plan on running these all season for a long-term look at how they will hold up and how they will ride.

Besides the quirks with TPU, it was really no problem to install the tubes. Next up will be a few rides to ascertain how these TPU tubes feel compared to what I am used to. Look for an update in a few weeks.

Where We Came From: The Lincoln Scene Reaction

 Thursady of last week saw N.Y. Roll and I recorded a "Guitar Ted Podcast" episode with Lincoln, Nebraskans Matt Wills and Matt Gersib. This is one of our "Where We Came from" series of podcasts we are hoping to do more of here in 2025. If you haven't heard this episode you can check it out HERE. 

This post will be a commentary on what we learned from Mat G and Matt W on the show. 

My biggest takeaway from the show was how people were central to the movement from mountain biking, road biking, and finally toward a more gravel centered community, although both road and MTB thrive to this day in the Lincoln area. 

However; it was interesting to note how both MG and MW talked about the disillusionment and rebellion to what was happening in Pro road, Pro MTB and even local events featuring both types of riding. Rules, regulations, and cheating by way of doping were all brought up as reasons the two gents were not all that enamored of being part of those events and riding styles. The stripped down, fun, and socially oriented rides were what appealed to them more. 

But competitiveness was a motivator, obviously, so the organized challenges/races like Trans Iowa and the Dirty Kanza 200 were outlets for this, along with a way to feed into the adventurous nature of their riding. Supplemented by MTB events locally, and the growing choices in gravel riding, the two gents found an outlet for this competitive side. 

The DK200 from the mid-2000's (Image courtesy of Corey Godfrey)

Secondly, my theory all along was that gravel cycling was mostly an outgrowth of 24Hr MTB, ultra-distance MTB, and with a dash of road/cyclo cross on the side. MW and MG came out of a mountain biking scene which found itself looking for more trails which led to gravel roads. 

While gravel roads were seemingly used only for training in the beginning, once someone suggested that a race could happen only using gravel, the seeds were planted. This tracks with my experiences and observations as well.

However; Matt Wills brought out a super important bit concerning where society was at the time in the mid-2000's and how the blog culture of the time played a huge role in how gravel cycling took root. In this I could not agree more. This has been my assertion all along. Blogs and how we were exploring the internet at that particular point in time was definitely a very important part of gravel cycling's success story. 

Emily Broderson (Plate #8) leading a group at Trans Iowa v1 in 2005

 Blogs like Jeff Kerkoves were very popular, and when Jeff announced Trans Iowa in November of 2004, it was his blog that made the connections across the nation which spurred on participation and innovation in cycling on gravel roads. The Lincoln scene took notice as well, sending Skip "Endurosnob" Cronin and Emily Broderson to the first modern day gravel event (Trans Iowa, April 2005). They and others took their experiences and evangelized others. In the podcast you will hear how Matt Wills and eventually Matt Gersib were influenced by this. Blogs were essential to the spread of the gravel word. 

Finally, it all circles back to the people. MW and MG shared great stories of very influential and important Lincolnites who were essential to the growth of gravel there and outwardly to all points in the years to come. Even up to the present day, you can find examples of people in Lincoln, Nebraska or the surrounding area who are bringing gravel riding to the attention of new folks to the scene.

I hope you will give the podcast a listen if you have not heard it already. The stories told there are ones you will not get anywhere else and these are the stories of gravel cycling's rise to prominence. It is a story which truly defines where we came from. 

This is the link to hear the show on Spotify.

Multiplication

 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!

 When I started Guitar Ted Productions in May of 2005 I had no other intentions for doing other blogs, websites, or podcasts. However; I did not take long to get myself into all three of those things. This post will be a sort of brief history of the blogs, websites, and podcasts I've been a part of throughout the years. 

You could say that Guitar Ted Productions was the second blog site I was associated with since Trans Iowa's site predated this blog by almost six months. However; I was not the one making any changes to that blog until 2007 when Trans Iowa co-founder Jeff Kerkove left for Ergon. But technically I was a part of that, so.... 

By 2006 I had an idea for a gravel ride and Jeff Kerkove felt I should "make it official" so he went ahead and set up the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational blog site without my knowledge and then handed it to me on a silver platter. Boom! Now I was involved in three blogs. 

A snippet of an article I wrote for "The Biking Hub"

By March of 2006 I was also a regular contributor to "The Biking Hub", an aggregator site for mountain biking articles from the web and a site started only a month and a half earlier which was trying to expand into original content. 

The editor, "Cory", (sorry! I have lost the last name to the fogs of time.), was instrumental in my early development as a writer. He took my submissions and patiently worked with me to hone my craft and become a clearer, more "professional" writer in terms of sentence structure, tone, and grammar. 

I owe a lot to Cory and the chance to become a better writer. This and the chance to start writing reviews. It was Cory's idea to do three-part reviews over time to give readers something different than the typical one-hit and done reviews which were the norm then, and still are today. I'd never seen anything done the way Cory was suggesting and I was excited to be given this template for reviews which I have stuck to ever since 2006. 

I cannot say for certain, but ever since I started doing reviews like this it seems to me other sites picked up on the style and whenever I see things like "mid-term review" or "out of the box", I cannot help but think Cory's ideas were the genesis of that style. 

So, "The Biking Hub" was my first site to write for. That lasted until 2007 when I made a switch.....

The last page posted by Twenty Nine Inches. By this point I had left the site.

 From some scattered submissions starting in late 2005 and running through 2006, my name appeared on articles on the "Twenty Nine Inches" website. Then in 2007 I went all-in on being a regular contributor. From that point on until the end of 2014 I was immersed in the big wheel world. 

My articles there came along at the height of my "influencer/reviewer/writer" status in the MTB world which gave me privileges which included flying to Monterrey to see Keith Bontrager, Gary Fisher, and Travis Brown, ride with them, and eat a home cooked meal at Keith Bontrager's home in Santa Cruz. I got to go to Deer Valley, Utah and ride. I was at Sea Otter three times. Plus several Interbikes as well. Those were crazy days and all due to the blog here. 

In 2008 I took what was a sidebar for gravel events on this blog to another blog, opened up a gravel focused chapter called "Gravel Grinder News", and started my transitioning into more of a gravel related blog here as well. Side bar: A little known fact is that the Trans Iowa history site, which was started at about the same time, was converted to Gravel Grinder News. Then I switched the Trans Iowa History site to its own Word  Press based blog. 

  Gravel Grinder News was an event calendar, then a review site toward the end of its "blog status". In 2013 Gravel Grinder News became an actual dot-com in its own right. That went on for 2013 and through 2014 before I was convinced to roll Gravel Grinder News into......

"Riding Gravel" was a site focused on gravel started by Ben Welnak, then of Colorado, back in around 2013 or so. He convinced me to join forces with him under his banner. So Gravel Grinder News went away and I became partners with Ben in Riding Gravel. 

This partnership lasted until the end of 2023 when I stepped away from doing anything for the site. This marked the first time since 2006 where I had not been contributing to a site, or writing for a site on a regular basis. 

Before I became a part-owner in Riding Gravel, I appeared on a podcast via Ben Welnak's "Mountain Bike Radio" network on a show called the "Guitar Ted Show". I would often call in and gab with Ben about Trans Iowa or early MTB/29"er history stuff. However; I was probably best known online in terms of audio when I did my "Trans Iowa Radio" broadcasts live from Trans Iowa every Spring. 

Those started with me using a few different audio-blogging services which have all - sadly- gone away so there are no archives of those reports. However; you can get a feel for what I used to do from the Emmy award winning documentary on Trans Iowa v7 called "300 miles of Gravel", by Jeff Frings. Jeff used a lot of my audio-blog posts from that 2011 event in his film and it is a great reference for any early gravel riding aficionado. You can Google it and find it online yet, I believe. 

Ben then decided to run a call-in podcast for each Trans Iowa for several years starting in 2013 for Trans Iowa v9. You can check that out HERE. 

This transitioned into the "Riding Gravel Radio Ranch" podcast which started in 2014 and ended in 2023 with a little over 100 episodes. That evolved into the "Guitar Ted Podcast" which is in season 3 now with 68 episodes as of this posting. 

I also have been a guest on several other podcasts going back to the 2010's including "The Path Less Pedaled", "The Shiftless Podcast", and also on "The Spokesmen Podcast". 

Besides the film and podcasts, I also have written feature articles for "Dirt Rag", "Bicycle Times", "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News", and was a contributor to an article in the Japanese publication "Bicycle Club". 

I also have been featured in several newspaper articles and other magazine articles. Most notably, Trans Iowa v3 was featured in a chapter of the book written by Zach Dundas called "The Renegade Sportsman" which came out in 2010. Zach shadowed me throughout the event and he captured my sleep-deprived, Red Bull fueled banter quite well, if I do say so myself. If you get a chance to read that chapter in the book, it is well worth your time to seek out. 

Finally, I also had blogs for my old employer's shop for a few years and the short-lived C.O.G. 100 also, which had its own blog site. There were the two websites I had for a bit. "The Cyclistsite" being the most notable where I and Grannygear wrote reviews on stuff not 29"er related. Then there was "650B.com" which I owned but never posted on. Ironically it is the only site I ever made money on. I sold it to someone in Alaska and I haven't seen anything of it since. Am I leaving anything out? I probably have forgotten something....

All these things because I started a blog in 2005. What was I thinking?

Where do I go from here after accomplishing all of those things? Well, ironically someone was trying to offer me a chance to write for a gravel related site as recently as a couple of weeks ago. The thing is, content writers do not get paid what they are worth, and this looked to be another pie-in-the-sky offer with no real foundational backing behind it which would lead me to believe I would not get remunerated for my talents. So, as for the future?

This blog and my podcast are enough. Time to quit multiplying my efforts all over the place! But I am eternally grateful for what I have experienced and have accomplished over these twenty years and due to this blog, really. Without Jeff Kerkove's encouragement to start writing? 

You probably would never had heard of Guitar Ted. Thanks for reading!

The Best Headers

 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!

 Last week I mentioned I would be posting the best headers from the era of the blog when I was swapping images I took on rides in and out of the template. Well, this post will be a "photo-dump" of those headers. I may make a comment on a few of them, but this is mostly about the headers I thought were really good images. 

I hope you enjoy this look back at some of the headers which defined the look and feel of this blog for the last ten-plus years. 

This was a shot looking down the Sergeant Road bike path 2018

This was always one of my favorite shots. I still think about this image a lot today. Circa 2018

Several headers were the result of being on recon for a gravel event. This is one of those from the C.O.G. 100 2020

Of course, what would this post be without a barn shot! This is one of the Lichty farms on Ansborough Avenue, Black Hawk County.

A rare self portrait. This was from 2022. The t-shirt design is my daughters.

Back when I was getting out before dawn. Looking East down Washburn Road, Black Hawk County

The Summer of 2020 provided lots of great header images.

This one is from Spring 2016

Sometimes events provided header images. This is from the 2015 Gravel Worlds near Lincoln, Nebraska

From Fall of 2017

That's ten I could find. Oddly enough, many of the headers I used are just files in the seasonal folders I keep my images in and not marked "header" like I do these days. So, I may have missed one or two gems, but these are the ones I found that hit me in the right way for this post. I hope that you enjoyed taking another look at these old headers. 

Friday News And Views

 Rene Herse TPU Tubes On Test:

I went ahead and took shiggy's suggestion in the comments last week and ordered a set of Rene Herse TPU tubes for testing here. These will be going into a set of wheels with tires which will remain constant throughout this riding season to see how TPU tubes hold up. 

The Rene Herse TPU tubes, besides being clear, have the distinction of having aluminum valve stems with removable cores. So no flimsy plastic/TPU stems here! Hooray! 

However: I am going to ding Rene Herse's shipping department. They threw these two boxes into a bubble interior paper envelope and shipped them USPS. This flimsy envelope allowed the boxes with the tubes inside to get crushed. The boxes looked a bit beaten up coming out of the envelope. I actually adjusted this one seen here for the image to make it look not so sad. 

Hopefully the tubes are none the worse for wear! I'll be finding out soon enough. I'll have a full opening review on these soon. I expect these will work out well. I've been having pretty good experiences so far with TPU tubes and I am considering swapping over a few more bikes to these tubes. They are radically light, ride like tubeless, but do not need topping up with sealant after six months and these hold air even better than a tubeless tire typically does. 

So, I expect "great things" with these tubes. Stay tuned... 

Image courtesy of J. Zuniga

Running Back The R.A.G.?

N.Y. Roll and I are thinking about running back this t-shirt design I call "R.A.G." It was inspired during the last recon for the last gravel event I ever did.  We saw a lone Bald Eagle in a field alongside the road during the Spring time when everything was brown and dead. 

I was inspired and spouted out something about "Real American Gravel" which ended up on this t-shirt design because N.Y. Roll wanted to have the event we were putting on be for, and inspired by, veterans of the military. 

I had a few left overs of this shirt and since the event in question never happened and that was four years ago, I decided to donate the remainder to the Collective and sell them there. One of our board members, Joe Zuniga, a veteran himself, picked one up and gave it to his friend in Texas who wears it proudly. (The image is of Joe's friend) 

This inspired N.Y. Roll to ask me if we should run this back again, and to be honest, I've been thinking about this as well. So, what do you think? Let us know in the comments. 

Image courtesy of SRAM

Gravel Bike Tech Infiltrates Classics Bike Set Up:

The Spring Classics are beginning now over in Europe and all the cobble-specific tricks are being trotted out for those Pro riders to gain whatever advantage they can with them.

One of the more recent developments comes from the world of gravel bikes. Recent online purveyors of Pro race bike set up articles are ballyhooing the usage by some teams of 1X "mullet" set ups which have pie-plate sized rear cogs for the lower gearing necessary toi climb some of those steep Belgian hills.  

That is neat. However, the cobbled classics are their own beast and if we are honest, these races have always demanded unique and sometimes unusual solutions to provide the riders with their best possible outcomes. Drive train solutions for these races have always been a bit different due to their mostly flat profiles, with a few notable exceptions. 

I'm not going to get too excited about Pros using gravel gearing. It is not a big deal, really. But it is ironic, in a way, because roadies used to make snide remarks about gravel riding and racing back in the day, and here they are using stuff which grew out of the discipline. Nice. 

Welcome To Iowa Weather:

Wednesday we had a blizzard, Today it snowed, and this coming Monday it might be a record warm day here in Waterloo, Iowa. 

That's Spring in this area for you! It makes it rough to plan for rides and sometimes it can be downright disgusting.  Furthermore; it can really play havoc with the gravel roads. 

Fortunately - or maybe unfortunately - we are pretty dry and need the moisture, so the roads won't be too awful with frost heaves and big muddy patches, at least I don't think so. But yeah....roller coaster weather is always a treat. 

Things should smooth out soon enough, but when you are itching to get out, setbacks like we had this week are no fun. On the flip side, Iowa's cycling season should kick into high gear next week. Bike shops beware!

Where We Came From: The Lincoln Scene -

I had the honor and privilege of having two genuine gravel cycling pioneers as guests on the "Guitar Ted Podcast" Thursday. N.Y. Roll listened as Matt Gersib and Matt Wills unfolded the tale of their cycling journeys. Their stories intertwine since the two are friends and have been for decades. 

Their stories are informative and will show how several facets of cycling, technology, and the times had to come into focus at the right time to foster a community of gravel cyclists. Cyclists who influenced gravel cycling in a significant way to the point - in my opinion - that gravel cycling would have not been what it has become without this scene. 

If you care about gravel cycling, and if you want to know a bit of the story regarding how it all got started, I cannot recommend this episode enough. Check it out HERE or wherever you get your podcast feed from.
 

That's a wrap for this week! It's a slow news week, but with Mid-South next weekend, you can expect more newsy stuff. Get out and ride those bikes!

Honeman Flyer: One Year Review

Image courtesy of King Fabrications

A year ago now I was frantically trying to find all the parts I would need to build up the King Fabrications frame and fork I had received at the beginning of March. I had a short window of time to get it done before I had to leave for Mid-South. Everything had to be right in that time so I would be safe and confident to ride this bike in Oklahoma's Red Dirt hills for 50+ miles.

Fortunately for me, it mostly worked out well. I know many of you dear readers know all about this project, but in case you haven't been here long, this bicycle design was a huge risk and had the potential for being a very expensive mistake. 

The genesis of the design idea was based upon an advertisement I came across on social media for a 1930's track bike ridden by National Champion Willie Honeman. Why this design? Because this time period was a unique one in American bicycle history. Riders often could not afford a training bike and a racing bike, so the race bike was the training bike as well. 

This meant that the bike, often ridden on unpaved roads due to the scarcity of pavement in the 1930's, had to handle gravel and dirt well. Now you may see why I was keenly interested in how something from this era would ride in modernized form. Even Steve Garro, of Coconino Bicycles, a noted frame builder who originally posted the ad I saw, said the geometry for this track bike design was "almost modern day gravel geometry". 

So, with some nudging from story-teller/photographer/instigator Erik Mathy, I took the plunge and spent over a couple thousand bucks on a hunch. Now many of you know how it turned out for me. Short story: It is one of my favorite bikes I've ever owned. 

The current state of the King Fabrications "Honeman Flyer".

As I stated, this is a direct copy of the 1930's National Championship winning track bike geometry, extrapolated to a size 58cm to fit me. Willie Honeman was slightly shorter than I! But the main angles which determined handling are all intact. 

I love the way this bike handles and I love to ride it. It is safe to say that the gamble paid off in spades. However, there are a couple of things I would change, given the second chance to, and one recurring, weird issue I had with this bike over an odd component. 

The first iteration. (Image by Erik Mathy)

Oddly enough, it was the seat post which caused me some real head scratching early on. I kept thinking the seat collar was not working when in fact, the seat post I originally chose for the Honeman Flyer was slightly undersized. Instead of being 27.2mm it was more like 27 and some change millimeters! 

This discrepancy caused a constantly slipping seat post until I figured it out after Mid-South. Then I got a Redshift ShockStop Pro seat post to review and I used the chance to run the post in this bike. After this experiment I ended up swapping over to a Salsa Regulator Titanium post and I have not looked back since then. 

Now for the two things which bother me about the bike. One, and the main thing I am regretting, is that I did not spec clearance for up to a 47mm wide tire. The Honeman Flyer will accept a 40-42mm tire with clearance to spare for mud and whatnot, but it would have been nice to have had the clearance for a bigger tire. I know I stated originally that I already have a big tire single speed gravel bike, but ..... you know.... Bigger tires rule. 

My other nit is that I did not spec a third bottle cage in the inner triangle and one underneath. Budgetary reasons came into play there, because more braze-ons mean more expense. I was pretty tight on this project and the fact that it may have been a bust was a factor in this decision as well. 

This bike has a painted to match Salsa Cycles Waxwing carbon fork on it. There is an issue with the through axle being ever so slightly oversized to the point where I had to hit the through axle with a dead blow hammer to get it in and I had to really work to get the axle out. Other through axles worked fine. So, I know it is the Waxwing through axle which is slightly out of spec. It has gotten better over time and now is only a slight annoyance. I have noted the anodized finish is worn away in a few places though. I probably should just get a new front through axle and use that Waxwing one as a pencil holder or something. Anyway....

The bike just is smoother, inspiring to ride, and with the 76mm of bottom bracket drop, it rides lower and more stable on looser gravel. It has an uncanny ability to allow me to do really hard seated climbing efforts, which, honestly, it doesn't make any sense at all why this would be the case.  There were those  early issues with slipping seat posts. Yes, but......

Summer 2024

Now I am very much okay with where I am at with this bike. The main changes since it was first put together are the aforementioned titanium seat post, a Redshift ShockStop Stem has been added, and I've been through a few saddles and three sets of bar tape since it was new. I was running Teravail Rutlands and now this bike sports Ritchey Speedmax 700 x 40mm tires which measure out at 45+mm on my Blunt SS rims! 

So, I think things have settled down on the changes and this year I want to put in some longer rides on the Honeman Flyer to see how things go. So, hopefully this will happen in 2025.

Drop Bars, 1990's MTB's, & "Gravel Bikes"

Singular Cycles Gryphon Mk3

I cruise Facebook Marketplace every day to monitor used bicycle prices so I can be more effective in pricing used bicycles for the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. 

Since I am there often, I see a lot of trends and one of these is the trend to put a 1X drive train on a 1990's MTB, slap a drop bar on it, and call it a "gravel bike". Tack on about $200.00 minimum more than it is worth, and try to sell it as a viable bicycle for gravel/MTB. 

This is something I thought would go away, but since it persists, I feel as though a few things need to be pointed out about why a bicycle like what I am seeing put up for sale on Facebook Marketplace isnot a gravel bike. It isn't even a good MTB because most of these drop bars are set up with no regard to ergonomics.

It is an issue because "gravel" sells, so I get that, but if there ever was a case of "buyer beware", this is certainly one that fits the bill.

I've written a lot about proper drop bar fitment to flat bar designed MTB's and you can find that under the "Archived Drop Bar Articles" tab under the blog header here.  The article that speaks most directly to the issues of 1990's MTB's and drop bars can be read HERE. 

It is pretty obvious to my eyes that many, if not all, of the 1990's MTB's I see being offered as "gravel bikes" are set up with total disregard for where the drop bar ends up in space, and shows no knowledge of where one should ride a drop bar equipped MTB when it comes to hand placement on the bars.  

Tall stack height, proper lever placement = GOOD

Then we can look at geometry. Those old 1990's MTB's were based on a geometry which many people have no idea about, so this leads to a lot of mistakes when it comes to assuming that one could actually make a 1990's MTB into anything nearly as nice as a properly designed gravel bike. 

At the risk of reading like some sort of gatekeeper here, there is a big difference in a bicycle designed from scratch to do a particular task versus one that has been, at best, haphazardly adapted to be something it was never meant to be. 

1990's MTB geometry was set up so that a rider would have a lot of weight over the front wheel, a flatter back than not, and lots of exposed seat post. This "forward biased" seated position was done for racing, not for the average person to enjoy casually. In other words, the cycling industry was foisting a bike not well suited to the average person, as it is wont to do, and has done off and on for decades. Slapping a drop bar on one of these relics makes matters worse, and especially if one does so with no regard to adapting the drop bar to address the issues with that old "NORBA geometry". 

Actual 26"er drop bar conversion shown with issues.

Not that a 1990's hard tail MTB cannot be enjoyed. They can make wonderful bicycles, but you need to know what you are dealing with, and how certain choices in equipment need specialized adaptations to work their best. 

If one understands what they are working with, makes wise choices, and decides to use a 1990's bike for gravel, this can and sometimes does work out well enough. But beware of the shiny, nostalgic "retro-modded" 1990's drop bar "gravel bike" offerings. Most are not done very well, in my opinion. 

Most of these conversions do not take the drop bar adding more cockpit length into consideration. Most do not get the drops up high enough either. This tends to stretch out riders too far, and the drop extensions become, essentially, useless. 

And let's not ignore the many 700c gravel bikes which are set up weirdly. Just because a bike has 700c wheels and was intentionally designed as a gravel bike does not give immunity from poor set up. 

So, that's what I am seeing and now you can be aware of why such conversions often fall short of being viable for most people as not only a "gravel bike", but as a mountain bike as well.

Where We Came From: The History Of Modern Gravel Cycling

 As promised in the post entitled "So, When Did You Discover Gravel?" last week, I have settled on a name for the series once known as "Gravel History With Guitar Ted". The name stems from what I called our latest podcast. The latest episode dropped on Thursday evening last week and is entitled "Where We Came From". 

This name is a good one, in my opinion, because I feel many riders today have no idea where this all stems from when it comes to gravel cycling. One thing I want to make perfectly clear before I go any further. 

This isn't about who did what first. 

I'm not going to even entertain this idea nor debate it. I find pursuits of this nature to be fruitless and divisive. The way gravel cycling evolved came from a focal point which - yes - a very few were involved in. Ideas were gleaned from past cycling events and ideals. Certain elements were deleted from consideration for these early gravel events. Certain events from decades past were taken as guide posts and inspirations. Those pre-modern day gravel events were never going to become gravel as we know it today. However; those bits are important ingredients that helped make gravel great and helped form the ideas that did get modern-day gravel started. 

Beyond events and culture there were the days when there were no gravel cycling specific bicycles, tires, or other accessories and gear. Yet people came to the events on bicycles and used ideas to help them conquer those rural crushed rock roads. Many of these ideas spurred designers, brands, and marketers to come up with gravel-purposed bicycles, tires, and gear which helped propel gravel cycling to new heights. We will be covering this as well. 

The series will entail conversations with pioneering gravel cyclists and others who were around when these events happened. There will also be supporting articles which will cover the gear and accessories used in early gravel events. So, some of this will be on "The Guitar Ted Podcast" while some will be written up on this blog. 

As always, feel free to make suggestions and comments for ideas you'd like to see covered in this series.

Brown Season: Flying High

Escape Route: Cedar River bike paths.

March came in sort of quiet, I guess. Clear, cold, and without much of any traces of Winter left. The air temperatures have recovered from mid-February's Arctic blast and now 40's seem heavenly. Spring cannot be far off now. 

I had a chance to get away on Sunday, so I grabbed that and ran with it. I did not get out until 2:30pm, but this was when the day was warmest, so I did not mind. The temperature ended up being about 44°F, and the wind was out of the South at around 15mph according to the weather folk. I decided to go Northeast of town because I hadn't been out that way in quite a while. 

You had to look pretty hard to find any evidence of Winter out here.

This glacial erratic seems to have been cut down a bit to my eyes.

I rode out on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to get to Newell Road and gravel heading East. There is a big glacial erratic South of the road which is not noticeable so much when crops are growing all around it. Now, with everything dead and down, it sticks out like a big wart in the middle of stubble out there. The Sun shone on a curiously flat Western facing part of the stone. Perhaps this stone was carved up a bit for building materials. This was not uncommon in the early days of the European settlement of this area. 

A few eagles soar over the barren plains.

There is another eagle high in the sky in this image as well.

Back in about 2017 or so I was out riding these very same roads at about the same time of the year. On Newell Road, just East past the intersection with North Raymond Road, there is a tall stand of trees on the South side of the road. It was here back then where I saw a couple of eagles. Well, on Sunday I saw eagles in the same place. Only there were over a half a dozen of them cavorting on the currents of the wind. 

I decided to go with the Honeman Flyer for this ride.

Bin it!

I decided to make a counterclockwise loop and so I went up to Big Rock Road and this would then take me back West over the North side of Waterloo. Then I'd only have to go two miles into a headwind to get back to town. 

This is the most snow I could find left out there.

I got in a good few hours of riding and came back into town from the North. It was very good to get back into the country again. Hopefully things will go so I can ride out in the country on a more regular basis soon. This will depend on the weather we get, but I am very hopeful this will occur. 

A Digital Infection Affects Cycling's Future

Younger generations find more enjoyment from screen related activities.

Most likely you have noticed something which you feel is true, but maybe you are not sure. It seems younger generations just do not spend a lot of time outdoors, and when you do see youngsters outside, more often than not there is a glowing screen reflecting off their faces. 

Am I dreaming, or is this a real thing?

Well, the National Football League, a multi-million dollar business, has been doing research into trends and fan interest to help them navigate the future. They have found, according to their own research, that younger people are not as interested in watching sports on TV or even live. Their interests are being more and more consumed by "screen time". 

I ran across this because I am a Green Bay Packers fan and I read about this on a site called "Cheeshead TV" here. I'm not certain the cycling industry has the money or is unified enough to accomplish a study like this one I referenced coming from the NFL, but you can safely assume that if the NFL is concerned about "screen time", we as cyclists should be as well. 

Let's be honest, it is hard to sell this over a digital game, unless "you get it".

I suppose it might be a little hard to understand for older folks like myself, but I happen to be a parent of two "Gen Z" people, and let me tell ya, they spend a LOT of time looking at screens! Television used to be The Devil when I was young. I recall a lot of hue and cry regarding how my generation was doomed to fail because we spent so much time in front of televisions. I recall there being concerns over how our generation was going to ruin our eyesight, be heavily influenced to be violent, and be uneducated because we sat in front of television screens. 

Obviously, that all was partially false, or mostly so. I mean, I think I turned out alright. Maybe not.... However; one thing is certain, I did not "fail" because I was born into a generation raised on television. So, perhaps all this hand-wringing over digitally infected minds is overwrought and unnecessary. But also, there seems to be an addictive factor to screen usage. 

According to studies recently published, (detailed in this article from Nicholas Children's Hospital) children are experiencing dopamine release effects similar to those of nicotine or cocaine users while they use digital screens and consume online social media content. That's alarming, and if this is true, it is pretty telling when it comes to the lack of youngster's interests in outdoor activities like sports and cycling in particular. 

We see the effects of this digital infection when we run across distracted drivers.  Even we cyclists are affected when we are consumed by our cycling GPS screens and all the information that gets shoved into our craniums while we are supposed to be enjoying being immersed in nature. It's everywhere, this digital madness! 

So, I hesitate to lay this all on our youth, because if we are honest, we all are being seduced by those glowing screens of doom and those electronic devices we all crave. But one thing is certain, we have a problem, and if we could peel our faces away from the screens to look in a mirror, we might find who to blame.