Last Spring I received back my old Chris King hub set. I mentioned then I wanted to build these up into wheels for the Fargo Gen I. Then.....
Crickets.
Why? Well, first off I was a bit paralyzed by prices for carbon rims. I can afford them, that isn't the problem. The problem is if I believe they are what I truly need to be spending money on for that bike.
I still believe Velocity Blunt SS rims would be just fine and do the job well. I probably will end up getting a set. But I did not back then because BRAN then came along and well, I spent a bunch of money getting ready for that.
Then Summer came along and I got distracted, as one does, by other things. Now we're going into Fall and my mind is settling into what I need to get done before Winter comes along, besides getting the house ready.
This wheel set build is on the radar. There is a slight chance I go in a different direction than indicated here, but the Blunt SS is the leader in the clubhouse as of now. Unless I can be persuaded otherwise....
Let's see..... Gravel Worlds is coming up. I haven't seen a lot about CORE4 this year (?), and then you have a few, smaller events which are fairly local which I've seen some buzz about. Does anyone know who is winning the UCI Gravel series events or the Gravel Earth events?
I don't see people yakking about those things much at all, not on social media anyway. barely any coverage on the ol' innergoogles either. So.....does anyone really care about these races?
I have seen a LOT more stuff about rides, small gravel competitions, and bike packing adventures, all non-sanctioned, by the way, than I have any of the "big-time" events.
When is the cycling industry going to catch on to this? Will they ever? And maybe it doesn't matter. I will say that our local shops, all two of them, are still not engaging with the scene and haven't for years. This is Iowa. Gravel is literally everywhere, yet these shops seemingly are blind to it. I worked at one of them for many years and all that shop cared about was a twice yearly road time trial series that drew a small smattering of locals.
But gravel cycling? Nah..... Whatever.
The thing is, gravel cycling is the meat of cycling activities, not some weirdo thing going on out in the country. Well.....some of us are weirdos, yes. But you know what I am getting at here. Gravel is the meat of what is going on and you cannot, as a business, treat it like cole slaw. If you do, it is at your own risk.
7 comments:
I have Sun Ringle Duroc 35 rims on my Soma Jawbone. Very happy with these, and they come in widths all the way from 30mm to 50mm.
@Exhausted_Auk - Good suggestion! Thank you!
I really want to buy another set of Chris King hubs, it is just I have not had a viable chance too. I seem to fall into wheel sets.
I built a set of the Duroc 50s for an 29x3 wheelset for my Surly Wednesday and am quite pleased. I’d wanted the WTB i50 scrapers but they were never in stock … and then they were gone!
I love cole slaw. Buy the shredded cabbage, salt it a bit and let drain, them add whatever kinda dressing you fancy :-)
When I purchased my 2012 Gen 2 Fargo size large second hand from a guy in Polk City , who worked at a bank and owned 11 bicycles at the time and didn't ride it much except when he went out with his children. Said bike was bought new and built by Rassmussen to his specs. When I drove to pick it up my eyes bugged out. It was sporting a Velocity Dually wheel set with 2.3 Schwalbe Big Apples squeezed on not to mention a Cane Creek long throw suspension seat post. Enuff about that! So I acquired a set of new 29" as well as later, 27.5" prelaced Velocity Blunt 35's with Shimano hubs for a pretty good price. As I'm sure you already know, great rims with an inner width of 30.5 mm or there about. What I'm getting to is I've run various tire sizes from 2.4, 2.5, to 2.8 on them and width wise with proper airing up they all seem around 2.67 or so at the side walls. Maybe this will help a little in your decision. And what is your opinion about those Clik valves? I sure like them better than the Presta at least for now.....
@baric - Those Clik valves are soooooo easy to use. I love them. Hoping that they get more integrated into current choices like TPU tubes.
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