Friday News And Views

Dang it! I hate when cool new frames are offered! (Bike Acquisition Syndrome kicking in!)

Advocate Cycles Announces Limited Edition Hayduke to Benefit IMBA:

There are some really great bicycles and frame sets out there these days. So when you see news of something new, it kind of goes without saying that much of the stuff I see is "just another bike". More "same-ol-same-ol", same deal, different day sort of feeling. However; there are those bicycles and frames that, for whatever reason, just jump out at me and make my knees go wobbly. The newest effort from Advocate Cycles has done just that.

So, what is it? This is a Hayduke with a special paint job honoring IMBA. In fact, 100% of the money from each Hayduke IMBA Special goes to support IMBA. (Side Note- Super cool, Topeak-Ergon Racing Team member and former mtb Pro racer, Dave Weins just became IMBA's new board chairman.)

I really was attracted to the wildest paint jobs on steel frames back in the early 90's. I recall Team Fat Chance bikes being some of those favorites in that vein, but there were others. This Hayduke just transports me back to the days when mountain biking was about fun and escaping reality. Not that it isn't that for many today, but that's pretty much all it was about back in the day. Anyway, that crazy paint job just takes me right back to the feelings I had about mountain biking in the early days of my enjoying the sport. Oh.......and I hear this isn't a bad riding bike as well. $800.00USD and the frame is yours. Tooooo tempting! Ahhhhhh!!!!

Waiting........

Gizmotron Update: 

I've been using the new Lezyne Super GPS off and on while learning the ropes behind the thing. Frankly.......I don't get the appeal. Yeah, you can do this, that, and the other thing, but it is all pretty meaningless drivel unless you have to follow a GPS track, which I'd get along just fine without.

It's probably just me. I know this because so many folks are hooked on Strava, looking at elevation gains, max speed, time over distance, power, yada, yada, yada. I guess I am really just a retro-grouch.

Okay, I suppose I should just focus on the positives. It has an accurate clock. I like that. It tracks mileage very well. It tracks your speed, which can be useful at times. (Just not under heavier tree cover, because then the speed indicator goes wonky.) You can make cool designs with the GPS bread crumb ride tracker, like geometric patterns, dog faces, or you could write someone's name, if you were industrious and so inclined. Otherwise it seems to be a big distraction from enjoying the ride for the ride that you are on. You remember riding for the joy of it, don't you? Do we really need more than that?

Well, being able to move it from bike to bike is nice. That's really the biggest reason I got it. I can swap it from one bike to another within a minute. Easy-peasy. So, I saved money in terms of not having to outfit ten bicycles with computers so I can keep track of my mileage over the course of a year. Not that I do that. I don't, but I do like to know how far a particular ride I might do is. That's all, really.

That said, I'll keep probing away and trying this new gizmotronical way of cycling. More soon......

Adventuring

Alternate (Easier) Paths:

Trail "sanitization" is an issue that plagues many a trail system and this local area has suffered from that sort of activity since I've been riding off road around here. Take George Wyth State Park, for example. Years of cutting corners, lenzing out low spots, and outright rerouting of trails has made that area less rad than it was back in the 90's. That's a fact. It's a constant battle, I am sure, even up to this day out there.

Well, over here in the Green Belt we've had so much erosion due to the unruly Black Hawk Creek's many out of banks experiences that trail changes are generally forced due to.......well, lack of Earth! The trail actually gets washed away.

There is one spot though that, if you remembered your Green Belt history, has always been a ditch you had to cross. Well, there was the five or so years that a cement culvert was there and covered with gravel. That got removed.....washed away? Something happened to it. Anyway, it is gone now again, and someone figured that to make it so it was easier, there would be a bit of a trail extension put in.

Bah! I'm not having anything to do with it. That ditch has been there since 1989, for sure, and probably long before that. The trail has always crossed over it at the point I show in the image above. So you have to do a little scrambling to get across?

Wah! 

It only adds to the adventure, in my opinion. The Green Belt is pretty much a cream puff of a trail, when it comes to technical difficulties, so why take out one of the coolest, toughest spots by making a reroute, that is across the same ditch further up, and probably will erode to depths similar to what we have had back at the original crossing spot. Heck, you already have two other spots you have to dismount and tip toe across water on stepping stones to get across, what's a bit of a ditch? Sheesh!

That's all for today. Have a great weekend and ride those bicycles!

Friday News And Views

Dang it! I hate when cool new frames are offered! (Bike Acquisition Syndrome kicking in!)

Advocate Cycles Announces Limited Edition Hayduke to Benefit IMBA:

There are some really great bicycles and frame sets out there these days. So when you see news of something new, it kind of goes without saying that much of the stuff I see is "just another bike". More "same-ol-same-ol", same deal, different day sort of feeling. However; there are those bicycles and frames that, for whatever reason, just jump out at me and make my knees go wobbly. The newest effort from Advocate Cycles has done just that.

So, what is it? This is a Hayduke with a special paint job honoring IMBA. In fact, 100% of the money from each Hayduke IMBA Special goes to support IMBA. (Side Note- Super cool, Topeak-Ergon Racing Team member and former mtb Pro racer, Dave Weins just became IMBA's new board chairman.)

I really was attracted to the wildest paint jobs on steel frames back in the early 90's. I recall Team Fat Chance bikes being some of those favorites in that vein, but there were others. This Hayduke just transports me back to the days when mountain biking was about fun and escaping reality. Not that it isn't that for many today, but that's pretty much all it was about back in the day. Anyway, that crazy paint job just takes me right back to the feelings I had about mountain biking in the early days of my enjoying the sport. Oh.......and I hear this isn't a bad riding bike as well. $800.00USD and the frame is yours. Tooooo tempting! Ahhhhhh!!!!

Waiting........

Gizmotron Update: 

I've been using the new Lezyne Super GPS off and on while learning the ropes behind the thing. Frankly.......I don't get the appeal. Yeah, you can do this, that, and the other thing, but it is all pretty meaningless drivel unless you have to follow a GPS track, which I'd get along just fine without.

It's probably just me. I know this because so many folks are hooked on Strava, looking at elevation gains, max speed, time over distance, power, yada, yada, yada. I guess I am really just a retro-grouch.

Okay, I suppose I should just focus on the positives. It has an accurate clock. I like that. It tracks mileage very well. It tracks your speed, which can be useful at times. (Just not under heavier tree cover, because then the speed indicator goes wonky.) You can make cool designs with the GPS bread crumb ride tracker, like geometric patterns, dog faces, or you could write someone's name, if you were industrious and so inclined. Otherwise it seems to be a big distraction from enjoying the ride for the ride that you are on. You remember riding for the joy of it, don't you? Do we really need more than that?

Well, being able to move it from bike to bike is nice. That's really the biggest reason I got it. I can swap it from one bike to another within a minute. Easy-peasy. So, I saved money in terms of not having to outfit ten bicycles with computers so I can keep track of my mileage over the course of a year. Not that I do that. I don't, but I do like to know how far a particular ride I might do is. That's all, really.

That said, I'll keep probing away and trying this new gizmotronical way of cycling. More soon......

Adventuring

Alternate (Easier) Paths:

Trail "sanitization" is an issue that plagues many a trail system and this local area has suffered from that sort of activity since I've been riding off road around here. Take George Wyth State Park, for example. Years of cutting corners, lenzing out low spots, and outright rerouting of trails has made that area less rad than it was back in the 90's. That's a fact. It's a constant battle, I am sure, even up to this day out there.

Well, over here in the Green Belt we've had so much erosion due to the unruly Black Hawk Creek's many out of banks experiences that trail changes are generally forced due to.......well, lack of Earth! The trail actually gets washed away.

There is one spot though that, if you remembered your Green Belt history, has always been a ditch you had to cross. Well, there was the five or so years that a cement culvert was there and covered with gravel. That got removed.....washed away? Something happened to it. Anyway, it is gone now again, and someone figured that to make it so it was easier, there would be a bit of a trail extension put in.

Bah! I'm not having anything to do with it. That ditch has been there since 1989, for sure, and probably long before that. The trail has always crossed over it at the point I show in the image above. So you have to do a little scrambling to get across?

Wah! 

It only adds to the adventure, in my opinion. The Green Belt is pretty much a cream puff of a trail, when it comes to technical difficulties, so why take out one of the coolest, toughest spots by making a reroute, that is across the same ditch further up, and probably will erode to depths similar to what we have had back at the original crossing spot. Heck, you already have two other spots you have to dismount and tip toe across water on stepping stones to get across, what's a bit of a ditch? Sheesh!

That's all for today. Have a great weekend and ride those bicycles!

Friday News And Views

pactbike Battlecat

The Evolution Of The Hardtail:

Just because I ride a lot of gravel roads these days doesn't mean I am not still watching what happens with mountain biking. One of the things I've noticed and that I cannot seem to get my mind off of is the move to longer, lower, and slacker mountain bikes with longer travel suspension forks.

The whole idea is intriguing to me. Most of these bikes are 27.5+/B+ bikes too, and I like that tire/rim combination a lot. Set up tubeless on wider rims, these wheels can give you loads of traction without the cumbersome acceleration a full on 29+ bike would have which keeps things fast, maneuverable, and over all, pretty fun. The over all diameter is slightly less than a 29"er, so you do lose certain nuances of a 29"er wheel. This is why I still think a 29"er with fat rims and fat rubber is also a good bike, just not a full on 29+ bike. 2.4"-2.5" tires is something I think is about right there. Trouble is that there are not a lot of tires in that size range. Anyway....

The point isn't about the tires, it is about the geometry. The long front/short, stubby stem set ups with sub 68° head angles. The shorter chain stays, low stand over height, and dropper posts. It is a different look and feel than where we have been with 29"er hard tail bikes, and those were so "XC-ish" for quite a while. I like this "trail-All Mountain" kind of hard tail, and so I find things like this, the pact bikes Battlecat, pictured above, and the Advocate Cycles Hayduke to be really interesting bikes. Then I wonder if you couldn't be in a similar ball park with the versatility of doing fat bike tires and wheels from time to time with a Surly Wednesday. Ah! It's all too much!

Besides, I have a nice Singular Cycles Buzzard already.......

The next project on my radar......

Standard Rolling Stock:

With the Project 1X1 bike up and rolling, it is time for another project to tackle. That has to be the wheels for my Twin Six Standard Rando. As I have mentioned before, I want to roll on some nicer, 11 speed compatible, disc brake hubs. I am aiming at obtaining some White Industries XMR hubs. I already have the WTB KOM i25 rims sitting there waiting to go.

As suggested by my cycling friend, Mr. Fuller, I am going with a "touch of color at the hub" and get the gold anodized versions to give the bike some pop off the base green powdercoat and black componentry. I'll likely go with black spokes and black nipples as well.

The WTB rims are tubeless compatible, so my plan is to wrap these wheels up with a nice set of tires, and the obvious choice will be the WTB Nano 40 TCS tires. Keeping it all in a system. I know it works and it will make the Standard Rando a great gravel road going rig.  I'll be posting about building those wheels when the hubs are procured.

Although the snow is all gone, it is still a day for the fatty.

Mud & Snow Tires:

The big snow we got last weekend is a memory washed away by warmer weather and rainy precipitation. The fat bike path I beat in last weekend was a worthy work that did what I needed it to do Monday, and maybe it was a mild benefit Tuesday, but I made it through on the 1X1, so it wasn't all that difficult. Of course, without snow, I shouldn't have to use a fat bike to get to work, right?

Wrong.....

There are a couple of places where I have some serious mud to deal with, and that is where the fat bike to work idea starts to come into its own. Yes....there are long stretches where it doesn't make sense. However; the stretches of my commute that are prone to mud would make many of my other bikes grind to a halt, at worst, or really mess them up, at best. The fat bike has flotation over these stretches and makes running through the mud, (almost), no big deal. The newly added Dave's Mud Shovel will make that even better.

Okay, that's it folks. Have a great weekend and ride off that turkey!

Friday News And Views

pactbike Battlecat

The Evolution Of The Hardtail:

Just because I ride a lot of gravel roads these days doesn't mean I am not still watching what happens with mountain biking. One of the things I've noticed and that I cannot seem to get my mind off of is the move to longer, lower, and slacker mountain bikes with longer travel suspension forks.

The whole idea is intriguing to me. Most of these bikes are 27.5+/B+ bikes too, and I like that tire/rim combination a lot. Set up tubeless on wider rims, these wheels can give you loads of traction without the cumbersome acceleration a full on 29+ bike would have which keeps things fast, maneuverable, and over all, pretty fun. The over all diameter is slightly less than a 29"er, so you do lose certain nuances of a 29"er wheel. This is why I still think a 29"er with fat rims and fat rubber is also a good bike, just not a full on 29+ bike. 2.4"-2.5" tires is something I think is about right there. Trouble is that there are not a lot of tires in that size range. Anyway....

The point isn't about the tires, it is about the geometry. The long front/short, stubby stem set ups with sub 68° head angles. The shorter chain stays, low stand over height, and dropper posts. It is a different look and feel than where we have been with 29"er hard tail bikes, and those were so "XC-ish" for quite a while. I like this "trail-All Mountain" kind of hard tail, and so I find things like this, the pact bikes Battlecat, pictured above, and the Advocate Cycles Hayduke to be really interesting bikes. Then I wonder if you couldn't be in a similar ball park with the versatility of doing fat bike tires and wheels from time to time with a Surly Wednesday. Ah! It's all too much!

Besides, I have a nice Singular Cycles Buzzard already.......

The next project on my radar......

Standard Rolling Stock:

With the Project 1X1 bike up and rolling, it is time for another project to tackle. That has to be the wheels for my Twin Six Standard Rando. As I have mentioned before, I want to roll on some nicer, 11 speed compatible, disc brake hubs. I am aiming at obtaining some White Industries XMR hubs. I already have the WTB KOM i25 rims sitting there waiting to go.

As suggested by my cycling friend, Mr. Fuller, I am going with a "touch of color at the hub" and get the gold anodized versions to give the bike some pop off the base green powdercoat and black componentry. I'll likely go with black spokes and black nipples as well.

The WTB rims are tubeless compatible, so my plan is to wrap these wheels up with a nice set of tires, and the obvious choice will be the WTB Nano 40 TCS tires. Keeping it all in a system. I know it works and it will make the Standard Rando a great gravel road going rig.  I'll be posting about building those wheels when the hubs are procured.

Although the snow is all gone, it is still a day for the fatty.

Mud & Snow Tires:

The big snow we got last weekend is a memory washed away by warmer weather and rainy precipitation. The fat bike path I beat in last weekend was a worthy work that did what I needed it to do Monday, and maybe it was a mild benefit Tuesday, but I made it through on the 1X1, so it wasn't all that difficult. Of course, without snow, I shouldn't have to use a fat bike to get to work, right?

Wrong.....

There are a couple of places where I have some serious mud to deal with, and that is where the fat bike to work idea starts to come into its own. Yes....there are long stretches where it doesn't make sense. However; the stretches of my commute that are prone to mud would make many of my other bikes grind to a halt, at worst, or really mess them up, at best. The fat bike has flotation over these stretches and makes running through the mud, (almost), no big deal. The newly added Dave's Mud Shovel will make that even better.

Okay, that's it folks. Have a great weekend and ride off that turkey!

Friday News And Views

Meet Advocate Cycles' Lorax

Advocate Cycles' Lorax:

Debuting at Interbike was this green machine from Advocate Cycles dubbed the Lorax. No, it isn't an animated bicycle for a mustachioed character. However, if you have a mustache, hey! That's cool. Anyway, I see that Dr. Suess said of his book, "The Lorax", that it "...came out of my being angry. In The Lorax I was out to attack what I think are evil things and let the chips fall where they might."

Okay, so get this bike and attack the things you think are evil. Or something...... Anyway, this rig is made from Reynolds 531 and will have a full carbon fork with a retail of $999.00. Full build Lorax bikes will also be available. Look for these bikes to be out fighting evil in the Spring.

Commentary: It looks to have a swinging rear drop out, which I find is a very cool gravel bike feature, as many who popped off their rear derailleurs at several mud infested gravel events this year might say as well. Single speed from the get-go would be cool, and this feature allows for that, of course, along with the bail-out feature for geared set ups.

Oh! And this green is sweet. Reminds me of my 20" high-rise handle bar "Sting Ray" style bike I had as a youth which was very nearly this color.

Heller Bikes Bloodhound

Now We Know, And Knowing Is Half The Battle....

Remember when I wrote about this Heller Bikes dealio the other day? Well, I said I needed more info, and maybe then it would make sense. I cannot say this article totally cleared things up for me, but I can say that it made things make a lot more sense.

So, take a look and see for yourself by clicking the article link there. My take-away: "Hey! We get that carbon fiber from China is a cheaper deal, and if you don't care about "Open Mold" design, but you maybe would like the peace of mind of having that design pass tests and have a warranty, here ya go." If I have that wrong, please have the Heller bike dude pick up the white courtesy phone and give me a call. (<===HA!)

Anywho...... It looks as though QBP is saying they want to fill that niche and give the local bike shops a playing field to get in on the action. Fair enough. It'll be interesting to see if things like rims/complete wheel sets, (a big time market in terms of direct from China buying by consumers), for fat bikes and triathlon wheels becomes available through the Heller Bikes channel.

Update on "The Sock":

I also wrote about this Wednesday, you know, "The Sock Debacle" at Interbike. Interbike said that "...this isn't how @Interbike rolls" in its apology on Twitter, then on Thursday, it's media partner, Bicycle Retailer & Industry News sent out its "Show Daily", a rag that all attendees can get and is also sent out digitally to bike shops that receive "Bicycle Retailer & Industry News". Apparently "no we don't roll that way" really means "yes, we do!, and it's okay because we're in Las Vegas" in their parlance.

The Show Daily had a little blurb on the socks,  made a tongue in cheek commentary, finishing off the first paragraph with the following: "..some industry marketers feel a little "naughty" is a lot nice. And a little "naughty" sells. Just look around Vegas."

Then the story points a finger at the itchy trigger finger of social media, saying to the effect that no one "fact checked" anything before they started throwing stones. Then the author tried to spin it all off as being a factor of having "a gaggle of temps " tossing the socks and "a bunch of other oddball junk" into the goodie sacks without the oversight of a "Tacky monitor".

Uhh.....'scuse me, but as the bags represented the show's "goodwill" towards their attendees, and as such was representative of what the show is supposed to be about. Which, by the way, Interbike has stated profusely should be inclusive of women, and maybe should be respectful of all folk's sensitivities. So, maybe they should......ya know, be aware of what they are having themselves be represented by?  This isn't the first rodeo for this stunt either.  Interbike has had socks with this sort of message on them several times before. It isn't as if this was a first time, "whoops!" thing. I cannot believe for a minute they didn't realize this was going on....again....

Either way, an oversight is an oversight, and you cannot just brush that off as not being something you are responsible for if you have third party folks doing work for you, or if you have companies providing goods, (no matter how oddball and "junky" it may be), as gifts to your attendees. That's on the show organizers all the way.

And excusing that as being part of the Vegas culture is lame, lame, lame! 

But the author was just getting cranked up on the Vegas part:  "The Twitteratti have spoken. The blog-o-sphere has rendered its verdict. A social faux pas has been committed. The guilty must be castigated or castrated, depending upon your level of social angst. But in the grand scheme of things, we're in Las Vegas- at least along the soul-draining swamp that is the Strip. So tweeters and bloggers, feast on that thought for a while."

So, seeing as how this is a blog, and what not, I get the picture that I am, as this blog's writer, not competent or intelligent enough to figure out that this "Sock Deal" is no big deal. Am I right? Did I get that right? Maybe my "angst level" is too high? Or, maybe, just maybe, this is representative of some things that have been shoved under the rug for too long. Oh, and on that note, here is another, non-blogger outlook on this, check out this Dirt Rag on-line article here.

Well, you have the quotes and the details. I bet you folks out there are smart enough to figure this out for yourselves.  

Have a great weekend and get out there and ride those bicycles.  

Friday News And Views

Meet Advocate Cycles' Lorax

Advocate Cycles' Lorax:

Debuting at Interbike was this green machine from Advocate Cycles dubbed the Lorax. No, it isn't an animated bicycle for a mustachioed character. However, if you have a mustache, hey! That's cool. Anyway, I see that Dr. Suess said of his book, "The Lorax", that it "...came out of my being angry. In The Lorax I was out to attack what I think are evil things and let the chips fall where they might."

Okay, so get this bike and attack the things you think are evil. Or something...... Anyway, this rig is made from Reynolds 531 and will have a full carbon fork with a retail of $999.00. Full build Lorax bikes will also be available. Look for these bikes to be out fighting evil in the Spring.

Commentary: It looks to have a swinging rear drop out, which I find is a very cool gravel bike feature, as many who popped off their rear derailleurs at several mud infested gravel events this year might say as well. Single speed from the get-go would be cool, and this feature allows for that, of course, along with the bail-out feature for geared set ups.

Oh! And this green is sweet. Reminds me of my 20" high-rise handle bar "Sting Ray" style bike I had as a youth which was very nearly this color.

Heller Bikes Bloodhound

Now We Know, And Knowing Is Half The Battle....

Remember when I wrote about this Heller Bikes dealio the other day? Well, I said I needed more info, and maybe then it would make sense. I cannot say this article totally cleared things up for me, but I can say that it made things make a lot more sense.

So, take a look and see for yourself by clicking the article link there. My take-away: "Hey! We get that carbon fiber from China is a cheaper deal, and if you don't care about "Open Mold" design, but you maybe would like the peace of mind of having that design pass tests and have a warranty, here ya go." If I have that wrong, please have the Heller bike dude pick up the white courtesy phone and give me a call. (<===HA!)

Anywho...... It looks as though QBP is saying they want to fill that niche and give the local bike shops a playing field to get in on the action. Fair enough. It'll be interesting to see if things like rims/complete wheel sets, (a big time market in terms of direct from China buying by consumers), for fat bikes and triathlon wheels becomes available through the Heller Bikes channel.

Update on "The Sock":

I also wrote about this Wednesday, you know, "The Sock Debacle" at Interbike. Interbike said that "...this isn't how @Interbike rolls" in its apology on Twitter, then on Thursday, it's media partner, Bicycle Retailer & Industry News sent out its "Show Daily", a rag that all attendees can get and is also sent out digitally to bike shops that receive "Bicycle Retailer & Industry News". Apparently "no we don't roll that way" really means "yes, we do!, and it's okay because we're in Las Vegas" in their parlance.

The Show Daily had a little blurb on the socks,  made a tongue in cheek commentary, finishing off the first paragraph with the following: "..some industry marketers feel a little "naughty" is a lot nice. And a little "naughty" sells. Just look around Vegas."

Then the story points a finger at the itchy trigger finger of social media, saying to the effect that no one "fact checked" anything before they started throwing stones. Then the author tried to spin it all off as being a factor of having "a gaggle of temps " tossing the socks and "a bunch of other oddball junk" into the goodie sacks without the oversight of a "Tacky monitor".

Uhh.....'scuse me, but as the bags represented the show's "goodwill" towards their attendees, and as such was representative of what the show is supposed to be about. Which, by the way, Interbike has stated profusely should be inclusive of women, and maybe should be respectful of all folk's sensitivities. So, maybe they should......ya know, be aware of what they are having themselves be represented by?  This isn't the first rodeo for this stunt either.  Interbike has had socks with this sort of message on them several times before. It isn't as if this was a first time, "whoops!" thing. I cannot believe for a minute they didn't realize this was going on....again....

Either way, an oversight is an oversight, and you cannot just brush that off as not being something you are responsible for if you have third party folks doing work for you, or if you have companies providing goods, (no matter how oddball and "junky" it may be), as gifts to your attendees. That's on the show organizers all the way.

And excusing that as being part of the Vegas culture is lame, lame, lame! 

But the author was just getting cranked up on the Vegas part:  "The Twitteratti have spoken. The blog-o-sphere has rendered its verdict. A social faux pas has been committed. The guilty must be castigated or castrated, depending upon your level of social angst. But in the grand scheme of things, we're in Las Vegas- at least along the soul-draining swamp that is the Strip. So tweeters and bloggers, feast on that thought for a while."

So, seeing as how this is a blog, and what not, I get the picture that I am, as this blog's writer, not competent or intelligent enough to figure out that this "Sock Deal" is no big deal. Am I right? Did I get that right? Maybe my "angst level" is too high? Or, maybe, just maybe, this is representative of some things that have been shoved under the rug for too long. Oh, and on that note, here is another, non-blogger outlook on this, check out this Dirt Rag on-line article here.

Well, you have the quotes and the details. I bet you folks out there are smart enough to figure this out for yourselves.  

Have a great weekend and get out there and ride those bicycles.