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| Image courtesy of Xfusion |
Xfusion G.E.T. 30 Gravel Bike Suspension Fork:
A new choice in front suspension for a gravel bike is now offered by Xfusion, a company known maybe more for its value oriented MTB suspension fork offerings. The new fork, dubbed the G.E.T. 30, (Grand Epic Trail) is based on a 30mm diameter stanchion platform and is available in the aforementioned 30mm of travel but can be converted to have 40mm or 50mm of travel.
The fork also features external rebound adjustment and a lock-out function. There is a "Qflip" lever, designed for drop bars, which can lock out the fork or be used as a dropper post lever which is available separately.
The damper unit is based on an air spring design for lightweight. It also is adjustable. The damper is Xfusion's Finecut RL2 sealed cartridge design damper which offeres improved oil flow for better small bump sensitivity, according to Xfusion.
Offsets are available in 45mm or 51mm. The fork with an uncut steer tube weighs a claimed 2.9lbs. Designed for 700c wheels and gravel tires in Matte Black or Gloss Sand.. The G.E.T. 30 starts at $659.00 USD.
Comments: You all probably know I am not a fan of telescopic, short-travel forks for gravel riding. That aside, this seems like a good alternative to Fox and SRAM/Rock Shox if someone is convinced this is a good idea. (Having a gravel suspension fork.)
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| Image courtesy of Stoll Bikes |
In the new world in which we live now where 32"er bikes roll on this planet, we now can say one of these monster wheeled bikes has won something.
The Cape Epic, a multi-stage MTB XC event saw rider Felix Stehli won Stage three with his partner rider. Stehli was riding a production Stoll Bikes 32"er FS bike.
In other 32"er news, Trans Iowa veteran (v8) rider John Karrasch has an article up on "The Escape Collective" in which he shows his recent testing on the Maxxis Aspen 32"er versus the same model in 29".
John does a lot of rolling resistance testing on MTB and gravel tires,. He also has a bike fitting business so check out his work
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| English Cycles prototype 32'er. Image courtesy of English Cycles |
When I interviewed Sam Alison for the Guitar Ted Podcast recently he mentioned bike packing as being one of the ways 32"ers would likely be used.
Seems Rob English would agree. His proto is for his testing purposes. In a blog post on the English Cycles site, Rob said he tried to maintain the fit and proportions of his 29"er as much as possible. He goes into great detail about certain aspects of building around this wheel size which is interesting.
Check out this bike in further detail on the English Cycles' site HERE.
Heard From Mid-South: Teravail has two 32" tires coming out. They will be based on the Cannonball and Camrock models.
Rumors: Salsa Cycles Fargo 32"er? Seems to be a rampant rumor and was heard on the Shiftless podcast a week ago. Also: Mavic is rumored to be looking into 32"ers. Stay tuned....
Finally another small builder, BTCHN Bikes, has an Alpina 32"er hardtail available now which looks interesting. Available in Med, L, XL sizes only. Check out the details on their sire HERE.
The USA Trail Coast to Coast News:
The Spinistry folks are letting their TUBA Trail supporters know that the recon of the route, mostly gravel and dirt, across the USA has been completed.
We interviewed Kevin Lee of the Spinistry who is the main developer of this trail on our Guitar Ted Podcast earlier this year. (Listen to the episode HERE) Kevin was still in the final stages of the trail's development then, but you get a great idea from the talk we had as to what this trail will be like.
The trail changed names from TUBA Trail, (Transcontinental Unpaved Bicycle Adventure) to the USA Trail Coast To Coast . The name change reflects this trails status as being the first coast to coast, mainly unpaved trail for bicycle travel/touring. Kevin Lee is quoted in a recent email to TUBA Trail founders which I was able to see as follows: "While there is plenty of room for unpaved riding, we need a name that eliminates confusion and immediately tells the world what we’ve built."
The next stage in this trail's development is a Fall 2026 "dress rehearsal" riding of the route to work out any bugs and then the trail will be formerly opened, barring any issues, afterward.
For more details see the TUBA Trail Founders page HERE.
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| Image courtesy of SRAM |
Now Hammerhead Karoo users can share ride routes between devices. SRAM announced the update to the Karoo yesterday in a press release.
SRAM claims routes and profiles can now be shared "immediately" between Karoo devices. Last minute adds at start lines are now totally possible with Karoo.
You can learn more about this update and Karoo devices at Hammerhead's site HERE.
Comments: I tried a Hammerhead Karoo 2 several years ago now and was really disappointed in it. Hopefully SRAM's purchase of Hammerhead has upped the experience quality for users. If you have a Hammerhead, how has it been for you? Let me know in the comments.
The annual Iowa Wind and Rock event had to be cancelled due to health concerns for the event director. (Fortunately we are expecting a full recovery)
Instead of the actual event, IWAR is putting out the #NotIWAR challenge. where riders are asked to do a long ride on the weekend of April 17th - 19th. From their Facebook post:
"Although we had to cancel this year's event, there's no reason for your training and fitness to go unused. We'd like to see you, and some friends, challenge yourself with a long ride sometime during the weekend of April 17 - 19. Ideally 100 miles or more, but if the conditions are right, a shorter distance will do. Gravel, bikepacking, singletrack, or mixed surface - it's all good. Just get out and push your limits for a few, or many, hours.
While we're not able to get our community together this year, we think it would be great to have everyone share photos and be able to read stories about their rides! Email works, or better post to IG or FB and use the hashtag #NotIWAR. No promises, but we might try and send something for each one that's submitted as well as gather the submissions and post them on the website as a bit of race history."
So, if you are reading this and think it is a great excuse for a bicycle ride, please consider supporting this idea. Ride a long ride, submit some images and words with the #NotIWAR hashtag, and show some support for this longstanding ultra-gravel ride, and more so for the RD who is recovering from medical procedures which prevented this year's event from happening.
That's a wrap on this week. Happy Spring! get out and ride those bicycles!
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