Friday News And Views

New WTB Course and Byway aero gravel tires

WTB Course And Byway Review Coming Soon:

The announcement on Wednesday concerning the first ever aero designed gravel tires from WTB leads me into the news that I have a couple sets of these tires to test now. 

I requested the Byway and the Course models because they should both fit bikes I have. At least the appropriate bikes for reviewing such tires. The Macro is a 54mm wide tire, and while I have bikes which will accept such a wide gravel tire, (Fargo, Singular Gryphon), I deemed these bikes not really in the target market for use case. That would probably work if I had a bike capable of handling a tire this wide and was more of a modern take on a gravel bike, such as the one I suggested last weekend here. 

Unfortunately, I do not have 'that bike', so I did not request 'that tire'. 

I should have both tires set up now and the review will commence with a post going up Monday. Look for that to come, if you are curious as to what these tires are all about. 

Thanks to WTB for sending these over for test/review.  

Wheel Building To Commence:

Thanks to my good friend, Ari, I have hand-cut and threaded spokes to get my current wheel build project underway this weekend, (hopefully). I've had the old wheels apart for a while now, but I had to find new spokes and nipples for the switch to Chris King Hubs. 

Searching my stash showed me I had no appropriate spokes. I searched online and wow.... It is hard to find spokes online without paying an arm and a leg. So, I reached out to my friend Ari. He's a mechanic at a shop in the Chicago area. He hand cut and threaded this bundle of spokes and supplied me with nipples to build up the wheels I will eventually put on the Fargo Gen I. 

This project is not a front burner issue for me right now. I have a lot of riding I need to be doing. So, the building of this wheel set may not happen right away. That or I'll get excited about it and build them up this weekend! 

Stay tuned!  

Register For The Last Rodeo!

If you missed the announcement by Iowa Wind and Rock earlier this week, you can catch that HERE. But essentially the event is going to be put on one more time, and then that will be it. 

Well, since that announcement I have had a few communications with the race directors and they wanted me to let you all know that registration for the event will open on November 1st. Registering is free. How this will be accomplished will be disseminated by Iowa Wind and Rock on their website. 

Check there for details on this last chance at the most unique gravel event in the world. 
 

25 Year Anniversary of 9 - 11:

Twenty five years ago you had never heard of me and I was wrenching on cars in an independent car repair shop in Cedar Falls, Iowa. On the morning of September 11th, 2001, our receptionist came in the shop where I was doing an oil change on a car and said something about a plane hitting one of the Twin Towers. 

The rest of that day was awful. 

No need to recap the repercussions of that day, but I did want to mark this anniversary of an important US history event and say that my prayers today will include those who were most affected by this tragedy and are still grieving. 

Also I want to give my thanks to all the first responders who serve us today. Thank you for what you do. 

Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions. Have a great weekend and get out and ride those bicycles.