Friday News And Views

S-Phyre SH-RX910 (Image Courtesy of Shimano)

Shimano Offers New Range-Topping Gravel Racing Shoe:

Shimano quietly introduced a new range-topping gravel racing shoe this past week called the S-Phyre RX910. S-Phyre is typically reserved for all-out racing performance footwear in Shimano's nomenclature. 

Shimano gave the RX910 a slightly curved sole for better walk-ability.  Enhancing pedal stability was done by adding Shimano's "pontoon" plate under the cleats which features two rubber stabilizers adjacent to the cleat pocket. These stabilizers contact the SPD pedal body to give riders a better platform for pedaling. These also enhance off the bike walk-ability. 

The RX910's have a TPU upper, two drain holes in the soles to allow for faster drying of feet in case of wet weather, or water crossings, and on-the-fly adjustable BOA closures. The new SH-RX910 S-Phyre gravel shoes come in White, Black, Deep Sea Blue, and Blue. The RX910 has a suggested retail price of $480.00 USD. 

The Guitar Ted Podcast Episode #86:

A new episode just dropped this week where N.Y. Roll and I discuss the new Trek Checkpoint, new Surly Straggler, and that new, upcoming Salsa Cycles FS drop bar bike which should debut in a month. 

You can check out the Guitar Ted Podcast on most any podcast platform, or find the latest episode HERE on the Spotify page for the show.  

 I had a thought, which I expressed on this episode, which was about this new drop bar FS Salsa rig. I was wondering, "Is this going to be the Cutthroat FS?" 

If the image is true to the bike in the teaser, it is pretty plain to see this bike is no gravel bike. There is a decent amount of travel, a high bottom bracket, and beefy looking tires there. A bikepacking FS rig in carbon? To me this makes sense if it is a FS Cutthroat, but Salsa has probably decided upon some other name for this bike. 

We only have to wait one more month to find out.... 

Found On Ratio Tech's social media

Ratio Technology To Introduce T-Style Rear Mech:

There are many stories out now concerning Ratio Technology and their development of a T-Style mount rear derailleur. Ratio Technology already offers kits to convert SRAM components to have more speeds, or to be compatible with wide-range, 1X cassettes and drop bar levers.  

Digging a little further it appears as though this rear derailleur will also be compatible with regular hangars by removing the direct, co-axial mount and swapped out for a bit which will make the rear derailleur mount like traditional rear mechs. 

I also read on another post where this rear derailleur will be compatible with several drive train formats, making this perhaps the most versatile rear derailleur in existence. As long as you are pulling a cable, that is! 

There is even a hint of this thing being made in a silver color. That would be pretty radical! I'll be keeping my eye out for more about this system and I may get some Ratio bits in for testing for next season.  

From the GCHoF social media post

Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame Seeks Nominations:

The Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame soft-launched their window for nominations on October 1st. This will be open until November 30th according to a social media post put out by the GCHoF. 

The GCHoF does their nominations by a democratic process wherein anyone can send in a nomination with the following guidelines: 

"Your submission should clearly describe the nominee’s achievements and contributions, including specific examples such as events they have organized, races they have competed in, advocacy work, or initiatives that have helped grow and shape the gravel cycling community. "

Nominations must be at least 200 words long and up to 600 words in length, according to the GCHoF site. Click the link above for more details. 

Comments: It is no secret that (a) I am in the GCHoF, (b) that I have criticized their nomination process in the past, and (c) there is a glaring omission amongst the inductees. I will continue to hold my positions on these points until something changes to help me understand why certain alternatives are not explored for nominations. The way they do things now is a recipe for inclusion of folks at the exclusion of some who should be in the GCHoF from a historical and influential background. The Board knows my position, they know how I would like to see this handled, and this is all that matters. They can decide how this goes from this point on. 

But unless things change I don't see how there is any possibility for several seminal, pioneering gravel folks to ever see inclusion. It will become a "who's who" of gravel racers and promoters from the last ten years and forward. And I will leave it at this...... That is a sad state of affairs. 

Image courtesy of Canyon Bikes

Canyon Enters Wheel Market With Carbon Gravel Wheel Set:

Canyon, the direct-to-consumer brand, has just announced a new gravel wheel set. This complete wheel set will feature DT Swiss Spline 350 hubs, hookless rim design, and a 30mm deep rim profile. Boasting a 27mm internal rim width, these wheels will be good for the wider tire trend sweeping the racing fields at gravel events these days. 

The Canyon wheels, called the GR 30, will retail for around 1K here in the States but list for 899 Euros on Canyon's site HERE. Total weight for the set is claimed to be 1,600 grams by Canyon. 

Comments: You know Gravel™ is the hot ticket when a brand starts out by rolling out a new product and does so in the Gravel™ category first. This was my first impression. 

Secondly, these are not all that lightweight. There are alloy rimmed wheels which match this weight, so I'm not all that impressed by these wheels. Besides this, the entire hookless thing has me spooked and I'm not buying into the design. I just don't see why we need this and I'd rather stick with proven technology if the benefit is negligible or cancelled out by failures, which have been reported with hookless bead wheel sets. Finally, not all tires are hookless compatible, but all tires can be used with hooked design rims. I know which I'd rather be using. 

That's a wrap for this week! Get out and ride those bicycles!

Singular Cycles Peregrine Mk4: I'm Done! (For Now)

Can you spot the changes?

 September has been a difficult month for several reasons, but from a riding perspective, it was a bummer month on top of it all. Then on September 12th I received the Peregrine Mk4 frame set. This was a bright spot, and I've had fun so far with the build and with what little riding I could squeeze in during the past couple of weeks. 

The thing was, the arrival of the Peregrine Mk4 coincided with the start of our complete bathroom remodel. As in, tear down to the lathe boards and build back out remodel. 

I had to be available throughout to provide access to the house, get odds and ends during the process, and to consult when problems arose. This meant I could only get away for short neighborhood cruises, for the most part, during this time. And if all this wasn't enough, Mrs. Guitar Ted had a knee procedure to clean up some tears in ligaments and to remove some "foreign bodies" in her left knee. So, I also had to be available for her when she needed me as she recuperated. (She's doing fantastic and is back to work now, by the way.)  

Meanwhile through sharing images of the Peregrine, my friend Ari Andonopoulos decided I needed silver anodized spacers and a handle bar in silver, so I received a few bits to spiff up the bike and make it look great. (Thanks Ari!!) 

So, at this point I think I have everything dialed in for the time being. I doubt any other major changes are in store for the short term. Following are a listing of tweaks and changes made with explanations for each. 

Salsa Cycles Cowchipper Bar, 46cm: I really have gotten on with the Cowchipper over the years and it is probably one of three handle bars I would choose as my best ever flared drop bars. (Ritchey Designs Venturemax, Cowchipper, Luxy Bar) 

Width is appreciated by me, but the recent fad of running really wide flared drops is kind of lost on me. 46cm is plenty of width for this fella! 

I also took the opportunity to rotate everything down and forward from my initial set up. Much better for all hand positions now! The previous set up rendered reaching the levers a bit awkward. Now everything is great in this regard. 

Additionally, but unintended when I chose the Cowchipper, it is the only handlebar, besides maybe the Luxy Bar, which I can ride when I injure my shoulders, as I have recently with my right shoulder. Not sure how I did it, but it was after hauling scrap out of the basement at the Collective and often times I have to hold weight out in front of me while climbing old, narrow stairs. So, I would guess it was when I tweaked something. At any rate..... The Cowchipper helps me keep riding. That's the story there. 

Ti Regulator Post, WTB Solano Saddle: 

I know I mentioned this in my last update on the Peregrine, but here is a bit more detail on this and how it rides. 

First of all, to reiterate, I needed to not have to buy, install, and bleed a new rear brake cable because, I didn't want to do that. Period. No other reason for this decision other than I really despise having to fuss with hydraulic brakes. If Shimano made this group with cable actuated brakes I would be a much happier camper. They don't do this, so here we are. 

So, keeping everything the same from the standpoint of how it was lengthwise off the Standard Rando, I necessarily had to use a stubby stem to use the system as it was. Therefore, to regain my reach, I needed to go with an offset seat post and a saddle which would accommodate some serious setback as well. So, you see the Ti Regulator and WTB Solano saddle has fit my needs perfectly. 

Seated on the bike, this puts my weight a bit off the front wheel and to be honest, it has helped with the shoulder issue so far as a side benefit.  But perhaps less obvious and more importantly, this levers the little bit of seat post extension and causes a bit of flex which translates to more comfort in the rougher road ways and on what little gravel I've been able to tackle so far. 

This seated position also mimics closely what I have on my Honeman Flyer, and I do like this from a seated climbing and just general riding standpoint. Maybe it looks goofy and maybe it won't work for many of you, but I am really pretty happy with it so far. 

I will say if I have to switch rear brake hose out, I will likely put on an 80mm stem and slide the saddle back forward to check out what the bike rides like with a more 'normal' set up, but it is not like I am secretly disappointed now. The opposite is true, actually.  

Just A Word On The G-One Overland Tires:

I will also mention these tires as I am reviewing them now. I want to wait until I can get in some real, decently long gravel rides in before I give a full update. With all which has been going on here, it was difficult, as I mentioned, to complete any real testing.

Now with the remodel finished, Mrs.. Guitar Ted back in swing, and my shoulder getting better, this will hopefully be a time for those rides to start happening again.  

Anyway, the Schwalbes! These are fast, fast tires. A fellow on Facebook, John Karrasch, has been doing some more intense, science based studies on various tires and his findings on the G-One tires seem to corroborate what I am feeling. In my testing, both paved and gravel/dirt, the G-One Overland is quite impressive. I wouldn't say it feels great to ride, but again, a tire which had as stiff a sidewall as these did new probably will break in after a 100 or so miles. We'll see about that! 

Overall:

The Peregrine is a great bike for me. It really seems to do all the things I'll want, and it looks great doing it too! The one time I was able to get out in the country on this bike was before I made some of my most recent changes, but even then I could see the potential and I was happy. Now I just need to get into more long gravel rides. Once this has happened I'll be back with another Peregrine update and - of course - Country Views and Brown Season reports to go along with those rides. 

Stay tuned....

Two Things

 In today's "Two Things" post, I am going to discuss an idea for gravel bikes which came out of the Checkout discussion and another idea based on a bicycle I posted an image of recently which readers professed admiration for as well. 

My old 2006 Salsa Cycles Dos Niner. 

Dual Suspension Gravel Or Soft-tail?

One of the ideas which came up during the recent discussion about the Trek Checkout was an old MTB design which has not really been thoroughly explored for gravel. This idea is the soft-tail design. I wrote about this idea in detail back in 2022 HERE. 

I tried a soft-tail at the 2010 DK200, and there is merit to this idea. The thing is, no one has yet figured out how to best execute this soft-tail idea for gravel, especially from a vibration reduction standpoint. Unless you want to include Salsa's passive, in-frame designed Class V VRS. Which does do what we are talking about here effectively. (There are some other examples as well)

First of all, suspension for gravel, especially for racing on gravel, is pretty much a no-go. Any kind of interruption of power transfer from human to tire contact patch is a real negative for a racer. So, most anything you try to design for a suspension based vibration reduction system is going to be met with disdain from an efficiency and feel standpoint with a racer's perspective. 

Soft-tail design might actually work if the resources were poured into the damper to give it resistance to movement when power is applied and allow the damper to work below certain power thresholds to help riders be less fatigued over a longer distance. This would probably mean a sophisticated electronic sensor and valve control set up. I think it is 100% possible, but who is going to go "all F1" on this idea? It would cost a LOT of money! 

And then, like I said in the linked article, why not just use a suspension seat post? Less complexity, similar results. It wouldn't be for the Pro and semi-Pro riders, but for everyone else? 

Maybe. 

Does The Past Have Any Answers For Vibration Reduction?

One of my recent images garnered a lot of praise in the comments section. It was of my Honeman Flyer, a custom made frame by King Fabrications, with geometry taken right off a 1936 era track bike combined in a stunning bit of paint work and was the muse of those folks. 

While I could go on about the bike, the paint job, and how much I like this bicycle, I wanted to focus in on a thing I feel many companies miss out on and what was important in the past which maybe should be thought more about now. 

That 'thing'? Ride quality. Maybe you'd call it "ride feel". Which ever way you want to describe this, I think we've lost our way by focusing on gear, electronics, and racing. Maybe we are relying too much on tires and vibration-reducing stems and seat posts. I think the original intentions for the geometry the Honeman Flyer is based upon might be something to consider when it comes to 'ride quality'. 

This type of bicycle was made in the early to late 1930's, a time when extravagance was in short supply. Riders of custom-made bicycles had to pay a dear amount to get their hands on one bicycle. Maybe they threw in together with other riders in a club which afforded these members access to pure-bred racing bikes with stems and seat posts made to adjust to riders of different measurements. This was done as a way to get a racing bike for all club members and share the cost. This was fairly common in these times. 

The predominate form of bicycle racing was still on tracks, but these were few and far between and riders from areas outside of tracks had to make do with training over rough back roads, on gravel, and where possible, on pavement. This meant that for many cyclists of the day who were competitive, their bicycle had to deal with rough roads, gravel, dirt, and be comfortable, handle well, and still perform as a track bike. 

Tall order! But frame builders arrived at certain ways to accommodate this all, and in doing so, created a ride quality which was at once forgiving on rough stuff, a bike which handled well, and still rode fast, and produced good results at track racing events. One such design being produced by John "Pop" Brennan was ridden to national championships on the track by Willie Honeman. This is the design I copied and had Li King execute for me in steel tubing at his shop. 

It is a very unconventional design from our 2025 perspectives, but it rides like a dream. Could it be that a litigious society, testing protocols, designs stemming from one-use mindsets, and fashion has clouded our ability to make a simple bike which rides nicely for the masses? 

Again - Maybe so....