Following The Numbers...

 The other day I was cruising my stats looking to see what was being read most ehre on "Guitar Ted Productions". The end of the year stats start to take shape around the first part of the second half of the year and I was just curious. I noted an very interesting trend.

First of all, the numbers are crazy. I know.....I say this every year and I would forgive you if you think this is becoming cliche' here, but the post counter doesn't lie. I'm seeing numbers on posts I rarely have ever seen at the end of a year, not to mention seven months in. So, first thing I want to say is "Thank You". It is because of people like you who read this blog who make the numbers what they are.

So, what are you folks reading? It is interesting to note that the biggest numbers all have something to do with inflation. TPU tubes and Clik Valves, to be specific. These posts are dwarfing anything I've ever posted and some of these posts have not been up foe seven months, some only a few months. Yet the numbers right now look like end of year numbers. I cannot fully explain this other than to point to one possibility. 

How we inflate tires on our bicycles and what we use to retain this air is radically changing before our very eyes. Between TPU tubes and the innovative Clik Valve, it is my opinion that people are intrigued by the benefits to the point which excitement over these two components is, dare I say - at fever pitch.

There has always been somewhat of a backlash over tubeless. The tubeless tire set up, the maintenance, the tubeless goo - All of this seems to have an undercurrent of dissatisfaction out there. Tubes just work, but they are prone to failures and they are heavy. In comes the TPU tube promising more robust puncture protection at a fantastic light weight. I don't know for certain, but I think tubeless solutions can be put into some newer TPU tubes now. If not, I am sure that is coming.

Then there is inflation. I know some folks will roll their eyes concerning Clik Valves, but they are soooooooo easy to use it makes Presta valves and Schrader valves look silly. Especially for casual cyclists, I see no reason for anything else but Clik Valves. I would gladly switch over to them, personally, and if the groundswell around Clik Valves continues to grow, I probably will switch.

I'm not going to recount here every advantage Clik Valves have over the other two major valve standards in the US, but I know people are really curious about them judging from my stats. If some of those folks decide to make the switch, and their friends see Clik Valves, and this momentum gets going, we are in for quite the sea change. I'm all for it. 

So, at any rate, I know there is a ton of interest in both of these products and it just feels like this points to big changes on the horizon for tubes and how we fill them.  Apparently Schwalbe is combining Clik Valve with TPU tubes, so when this becomes more commonplace I'm probably going to start switching over more bikes to both standards. What do you think? 

Are Clik Valves, TPU tubes, or both in your future?