Black Mountain Cycles MCD With 650B Wheels Reviewed

The "Bubblegum Princess" with 650B's mounted

Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to be testing and reviewing some 650B X 47mm WTB Sendero tires for RidingGravel.com. Well, those went on the BgP Black Mountain Cycles rig and they have been ridden.

I thought it might be nice to put out there how these wheels feel on the new Monster Cross disc frame and fork, since the MCD bikes are so new and all. First, I better give a quick summary of what I used for wheels and tires here.

Both my 700c and 650B wheel sets for the MCD are Irwin Cycles Aon 35 GX wheels. (650B review linked) They are similar in every way but for the diameter. Same hubs, etc.... So, the only difference is tires. I used WTB Riddler 45's on the 700c set and the 650B have the Sendero tires, as previously mentioned. The Senderos are knobby, but on gravel it is hard to tell unless the roadway is packed in and devoid of chunk. Most of my ride was on chunky, fresh gravel, so I feel that the tires are of little concern in that regard.

Now, as for the ride feel of the MCD- It is smooth, but- I felt when I started out riding this thing that, the fork especially, wasn't as compliant as the fork on my cantilever Monster Cross bicycle. And I was not surprised by that, because the disc fork is beefier, and it is a completely different design. The disc fork rides well enough, but again- not cantilever brake bike smooth. I bring this point out because of what happened when I switched over to the 650B wheels and tires.

Another view. I think they look as "right" on this bike as 700c wheels and tires do.

As I said, the roads were mostly covered in fresh, and freshly graded, gravel. It was deep, loose, and rough. What struck me right away about the ride feel was that the fork was going nuts working over the surface. I don't recall that the fork ever worked like this with 700c wheels and tires. Why would this be?

Obviously the gravel had a lot to do with it, but I'd ridden loose, deep gravel with the other wheels as well. My guess is that it comes down to the different angle of attack and that 650B wheels do not roll up and over the top of deep, loose gravel as well as the 700c wheels and tires do. That said, the fork made short work of this and besides a bit of lateral movement every once in a while, it wasn't an issue. The bike just rode really nicely with these wheels.

While the fork's movement was a surprise, the rest of how the bike reacted with 650B wheels was not a surprise. I lost a bit of the "flywheel effect" of the 700c wheels. The trade off is that 700c wheels and tires take a bit more effort to spin up. The 650B wheels acceleration feel was snappier. That's a given on any 650B wheeled bike I've tried. No surprises there with regard to what the wheel size differences do to the ride feel.

Tire clearances are really good with 47mm tires. You could probably put a 50mm tire in there, maybe a 2.0"'er would slip in, but with every millimeter you go wider you lose mud clearances. The 650B wheels are slightly less in diameter than 700c wheels, so the bottom bracket is a touch lower. This never was an issue on my gravel ride, but I will have to report back once I get into some rutted out Level B dirt roads.

Otherwise, I think the 650B wheels and tires look great in the bike, like they belong. So, I will be swapping back and forth every so often. I really cannot say what wheel size is best. There are trade offs with either size which you have to be willing to live with. If I come to a conclusion there, I will chime back in. That said, if you get a MCD, I'd recommend either wheel size, and both if you can swing it.

NOTE- The Black Mountain Cycles MCD was bought and paid for by Guitar Ted. He was not asked, nor bribed for this review and that's that.

Black Mountain Cycles MCD With 650B Wheels Reviewed

The "Bubblegum Princess" with 650B's mounted

Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to be testing and reviewing some 650B X 47mm WTB Sendero tires for RidingGravel.com. Well, those went on the BgP Black Mountain Cycles rig and they have been ridden.

I thought it might be nice to put out there how these wheels feel on the new Monster Cross disc frame and fork, since the MCD bikes are so new and all. First, I better give a quick summary of what I used for wheels and tires here.

Both my 700c and 650B wheel sets for the MCD are Irwin Cycles Aon 35 GX wheels. (650B review linked) They are similar in every way but for the diameter. Same hubs, etc.... So, the only difference is tires. I used WTB Riddler 45's on the 700c set and the 650B have the Sendero tires, as previously mentioned. The Senderos are knobby, but on gravel it is hard to tell unless the roadway is packed in and devoid of chunk. Most of my ride was on chunky, fresh gravel, so I feel that the tires are of little concern in that regard.

Now, as for the ride feel of the MCD- It is smooth, but- I felt when I started out riding this thing that, the fork especially, wasn't as compliant as the fork on my cantilever Monster Cross bicycle. And I was not surprised by that, because the disc fork is beefier, and it is a completely different design. The disc fork rides well enough, but again- not cantilever brake bike smooth. I bring this point out because of what happened when I switched over to the 650B wheels and tires.

Another view. I think they look as "right" on this bike as 700c wheels and tires do.

As I said, the roads were mostly covered in fresh, and freshly graded, gravel. It was deep, loose, and rough. What struck me right away about the ride feel was that the fork was going nuts working over the surface. I don't recall that the fork ever worked like this with 700c wheels and tires. Why would this be?

Obviously the gravel had a lot to do with it, but I'd ridden loose, deep gravel with the other wheels as well. My guess is that it comes down to the different angle of attack and that 650B wheels do not roll up and over the top of deep, loose gravel as well as the 700c wheels and tires do. That said, the fork made short work of this and besides a bit of lateral movement every once in a while, it wasn't an issue. The bike just rode really nicely with these wheels.

While the fork's movement was a surprise, the rest of how the bike reacted with 650B wheels was not a surprise. I lost a bit of the "flywheel effect" of the 700c wheels. The trade off is that 700c wheels and tires take a bit more effort to spin up. The 650B wheels acceleration feel was snappier. That's a given on any 650B wheeled bike I've tried. No surprises there with regard to what the wheel size differences do to the ride feel.

Tire clearances are really good with 47mm tires. You could probably put a 50mm tire in there, maybe a 2.0"'er would slip in, but with every millimeter you go wider you lose mud clearances. The 650B wheels are slightly less in diameter than 700c wheels, so the bottom bracket is a touch lower. This never was an issue on my gravel ride, but I will have to report back once I get into some rutted out Level B dirt roads.

Otherwise, I think the 650B wheels and tires look great in the bike, like they belong. So, I will be swapping back and forth every so often. I really cannot say what wheel size is best. There are trade offs with either size which you have to be willing to live with. If I come to a conclusion there, I will chime back in. That said, if you get a MCD, I'd recommend either wheel size, and both if you can swing it.

NOTE- The Black Mountain Cycles MCD was bought and paid for by Guitar Ted. He was not asked, nor bribed for this review and that's that.

Going Backward

Escaping the city was made a tad bit more difficult due to flooding.

Saturday the weather straightened out and it was one of those perfect Fall days. Glorious. Low humidity and the clear air with a touch of that cool crispness which will only increase over time as we get nearer to the end of the year.

I decided to get out and try to put in a decent length ride. Now, for me anyway, that is something over 40 miles. I deem anything less as a "short ride" and I am often less than satisfied with rides of that length. I need to work on that......

Anyway, I got out the "Bubblegum Princess" and prepped for a journey out into the country. I had been thinking that I was getting a bit bored with the same routes all the time. I needed to do something different. I didn't leave time to research a route and make cues, so I was in a bit of a bind. Rides I know from memory are the same ones I was trying to avoid this time! What to do? I figured I could ride the planned Geezer Ride route which never happened, but I wasn't thrilled about that direction. Then it came upon me what I should do.

Back when I rode mountain bikes almost exclusively, we used to do this thing where we would ride our typical loop backward. Then it became a "new route" because everything was backward and reversed from "normal". Climbs were descents, lefts were rights, and descents were climbs. Plus, you saw the route completely differently. You noticed things you had passed by a million times and hadn't seen before.

I decided to employ this scheme and ride the old 3GR route clockwise instead of anti-clockwise, which was the way I had always ridden that route. I couldn't believe I hadn't tried it the other way before. Now that said, there were parts I had ridden both ways, but much of it I hadn't, so I was excited to try this out.

The fields are turning gold and brown, and the sky was marked with wispy clouds.

I headed out of town North with the goal of using Burton Avenue to get to Bennington Road which was a way we would sometimes come back into Waterloo. Great idea, but getting there wasn't made easy by the major flooding of the Cedar River, which cut off several lower lying streets to my use. I eventually worked my way through some strange to me neighborhoods and linked up with Burton. Heading North, I then realized I was bucking a head wind.

It won't be long before the harvesters will be busy in those fields out there.

The ride out on Burton to the gravel confirmed that the wind was going to be a factor. I couldn't tell just then exactly what direction it was coming from, but my thoughts were that I should have an easier time of it on the way back in. That was great, as I typically would have chosen to ride out into the wind first anyway. Then also, I wasn't trying to push super hard, or hard at all, since I didn't want to undo the good rest to the legs which I had gotten. Shift early-shift often, and keep things chill.

Barns For Jason

I turned onto Bennington Road, going West, and then I knew it was going to be rougher than I thought. The wind was coming out of the Northeast. More East though, as I was flying with little effort going West. Bummer! Maybe coming South would be a crosswind. I just settled in for a long ride of grinding it out. Two miles of easy West and then it was North up Streeter Road.

Now Streeter is hilly, and coming North I had to grind a long, long grade we generally coast down. Fresh gravel made the grind tougher. Steady as she goes! Make a rhythm and stick to it. The climb wasn't too bad, and I ended up on the false flat going across the county line. The dark smudge on the horizon ahead was the Denver Hills, and the road seemed to drop off to nothingness as I approached.

Looking back at the closed bridge on Ivory Road. I took this shot over my shoulder!

The sign said "Road Closed Ahead", but somehow we gravel riders interpret that to read "Adventure Ahead!" Ha! Well, I knew that Ivory Road has a closed off bridge, but the approach has been half bulldozed away, not sure why, and my friend Tony had reported that the road was washed away in a couple of sections due to the recent heavy rains. I was on the lookout for this as I descended into the creek valley.

Nasty section of washed away gravel road. You wouldn't want to hit that at any speed! 

The washed away section was nasty. Pretty deep drop off and into big, loose, baby head limestone. No good way to navigate through that, but fortunately there is a bit of margin to the West side which is ride-able. After that it was up, up, and up. The climbing section was beginning! This part leads you to a left turn, up a big grinding climb which bends to the right, then a right turn on Hilton and the big rollers going by the Boy Scout Camp.

Where gravel is born! The gravel quarry is located in the Denver Hills east of the Boy Scout Camp

Those rollers are steep! Then you come out to a bit less steep rollers but it doesn't stop with the up/down until you finally reach the hard right hander and then the turn where Hilton goes back North, only the route goes East and straight ahead. It's at that very point where there is a staple of the 3GR route I haven't written about here.

That would be the small dog tied to a post outside of a dog house. He's been there for years. He barks and goes berserk every single time I've ever ridden by there. Poor thing! He's barked so much his voice is hoarse. I've a mind to cut the critter loose and set him free, but my friends with "dog knowledge" say that's as bad as tying him up forever, so, I don't know about that idea. Anyway, it's amusing and heartbreaking all at the same time.

So, then it was straight East and into the teeth of that wind. It was okay, just a bit slower going and I had to take it easy up the longer grades which feature into Ivanhoe Road. But right before I made it there, I stopped to take a rest and to take in the beauty of the area with all those leggy, yellow flowers waving in the breeze. This would have been right at the corner of Ivanhoe and Ivory. Just before the passing under the trestle bridge which used to carry a rail road, but now carries the bike path from Waverly to Readlyn.

Ivanhoe Road looking Southeast where it goes underneath the trestle bridge.

The passing of Highway 63 was met with another long grade to get up against the wind. I was looking forward to going two more miles to Navajo Road and getting out of the blast. I was fairly sure that heading South would be easier than going East on this day! However; remember when I said that going backward on a route can sometimes show you things that you missed going the other, "usual" way? Well, when I got to Midway Road, where we used to come off going North and turned right, against the way I was coming, I looked North and saw something I never noticed in maybe a hundred times of going up here. Cemetery headstones in a field! Was there a rural church just north of the intersection? Why hadn't I ever noticed this before? Well, I had to turn North, even though I hadn't meant to go that way at all.

Once the sight of a German church? Most likely, yes.

I saw the cemetery gates and I knew I had to "bag" that photo. I have been doing this for the last few years. Everytime I come across one of these rural cemeteries with a gate, I get my bike in the middle of it and snap off an image. This one was unique for the big, empty space before the cemetery proper.

I hypothesize that this empty space was where a church once was. Many rural churches had the cemeteries in the rear of the church, or off to one side or another. In the back is most common with Lutheran churches in this area though. This being an obviously German cemetery, it most likely was Lutheran. Some online sleuthing turned up that there was a church in this location. The church was founded in 1861 and moved to Denver, Iowa in 1902. According to a plat map of the township dated 1894, St. Paul's's also had a school on premises as well as the church building proper. That would account for such a large, empty space here today.

I love history! (And being able to look stuff up in the innergoogles). But, back to the story of the ride....

A patriotic themed barn quilt as seen on Sage Road.

Once I left the cemetery I headed North and caught the bike path going East again. I couldn't just go a mile North, as that is Highway 3, so I would have ended going a minimum of two miles North and at least five miles round trip to get back on route. But I wasn't in to seeking out many more miles, so I bailed off on the bike path. That led me to Navajo Road and back on track, headed Southward.

Headed home......

The Southward direction I was headed in was easier, thankfully. I was cruising along at a pretty decent clip, but my legs were feeling tired after pushing up hills, grades, and against the wind for most of that. I decided to just head straight down Sage Road to Airline Highway, make a right to Moline Road, then left the rest of the way into Waterloo. Before I got far though, I had a dog encounter. Two dogs came out from a farm yard, one a grizzly looking old yellow lab and the other looked to be a mix of a Boxer and American Terrier. Both were the same size. The Lab was barking with a weird, higher pitched, slightly fuzzy sounding voice and the other dog was just looking as if it would rather play than fight. My worry was with the yellow one.

As I stopped the Lab got behind me, which is generally what a dog does when it is afraid and sometimes they will snip at you from behind becuase of their instinct. This one just sniffed and barked though. The other dog actually approached me from the front and looked as if it wanted to be petted. It licked my shin and my hand but as the other dog was barking it seemed unsure what to do. Finally the owners came out and the situation was diffused, but the yellow dog wasn't ready to let things go.

I eventually got away with apologies from the farmers and a nice wave goodbye. Then I made my way back to Waterloo with no further incidents. Once back in town though, I had to re-route due to a train parked across 4th street. That tacked on a couple miles so I ended up with 44 plus miles on the day. It was a good ride, and my legs were glad it was over.

That's a great start to my getting ready for the ICGravel event coming up on October 27th. Hopefully I can get in a lot more rides like this.

Going Backward

Escaping the city was made a tad bit more difficult due to flooding.

Saturday the weather straightened out and it was one of those perfect Fall days. Glorious. Low humidity and the clear air with a touch of that cool crispness which will only increase over time as we get nearer to the end of the year.

I decided to get out and try to put in a decent length ride. Now, for me anyway, that is something over 40 miles. I deem anything less as a "short ride" and I am often less than satisfied with rides of that length. I need to work on that......

Anyway, I got out the "Bubblegum Princess" and prepped for a journey out into the country. I had been thinking that I was getting a bit bored with the same routes all the time. I needed to do something different. I didn't leave time to research a route and make cues, so I was in a bit of a bind. Rides I know from memory are the same ones I was trying to avoid this time! What to do? I figured I could ride the planned Geezer Ride route which never happened, but I wasn't thrilled about that direction. Then it came upon me what I should do.

Back when I rode mountain bikes almost exclusively, we used to do this thing where we would ride our typical loop backward. Then it became a "new route" because everything was backward and reversed from "normal". Climbs were descents, lefts were rights, and descents were climbs. Plus, you saw the route completely differently. You noticed things you had passed by a million times and hadn't seen before.

I decided to employ this scheme and ride the old 3GR route clockwise instead of anti-clockwise, which was the way I had always ridden that route. I couldn't believe I hadn't tried it the other way before. Now that said, there were parts I had ridden both ways, but much of it I hadn't, so I was excited to try this out.

The fields are turning gold and brown, and the sky was marked with wispy clouds.

I headed out of town North with the goal of using Burton Avenue to get to Bennington Road which was a way we would sometimes come back into Waterloo. Great idea, but getting there wasn't made easy by the major flooding of the Cedar River, which cut off several lower lying streets to my use. I eventually worked my way through some strange to me neighborhoods and linked up with Burton. Heading North, I then realized I was bucking a head wind.

It won't be long before the harvesters will be busy in those fields out there.

The ride out on Burton to the gravel confirmed that the wind was going to be a factor. I couldn't tell just then exactly what direction it was coming from, but my thoughts were that I should have an easier time of it on the way back in. That was great, as I typically would have chosen to ride out into the wind first anyway. Then also, I wasn't trying to push super hard, or hard at all, since I didn't want to undo the good rest to the legs which I had gotten. Shift early-shift often, and keep things chill.

Barns For Jason

I turned onto Bennington Road, going West, and then I knew it was going to be rougher than I thought. The wind was coming out of the Northeast. More East though, as I was flying with little effort going West. Bummer! Maybe coming South would be a crosswind. I just settled in for a long ride of grinding it out. Two miles of easy West and then it was North up Streeter Road.

Now Streeter is hilly, and coming North I had to grind a long, long grade we generally coast down. Fresh gravel made the grind tougher. Steady as she goes! Make a rhythm and stick to it. The climb wasn't too bad, and I ended up on the false flat going across the county line. The dark smudge on the horizon ahead was the Denver Hills, and the road seemed to drop off to nothingness as I approached.

Looking back at the closed bridge on Ivory Road. I took this shot over my shoulder!

The sign said "Road Closed Ahead", but somehow we gravel riders interpret that to read "Adventure Ahead!" Ha! Well, I knew that Ivory Road has a closed off bridge, but the approach has been half bulldozed away, not sure why, and my friend Tony had reported that the road was washed away in a couple of sections due to the recent heavy rains. I was on the lookout for this as I descended into the creek valley.

Nasty section of washed away gravel road. You wouldn't want to hit that at any speed! 

The washed away section was nasty. Pretty deep drop off and into big, loose, baby head limestone. No good way to navigate through that, but fortunately there is a bit of margin to the West side which is ride-able. After that it was up, up, and up. The climbing section was beginning! This part leads you to a left turn, up a big grinding climb which bends to the right, then a right turn on Hilton and the big rollers going by the Boy Scout Camp.

Where gravel is born! The gravel quarry is located in the Denver Hills east of the Boy Scout Camp

Those rollers are steep! Then you come out to a bit less steep rollers but it doesn't stop with the up/down until you finally reach the hard right hander and then the turn where Hilton goes back North, only the route goes East and straight ahead. It's at that very point where there is a staple of the 3GR route I haven't written about here.

That would be the small dog tied to a post outside of a dog house. He's been there for years. He barks and goes berserk every single time I've ever ridden by there. Poor thing! He's barked so much his voice is hoarse. I've a mind to cut the critter loose and set him free, but my friends with "dog knowledge" say that's as bad as tying him up forever, so, I don't know about that idea. Anyway, it's amusing and heartbreaking all at the same time.

So, then it was straight East and into the teeth of that wind. It was okay, just a bit slower going and I had to take it easy up the longer grades which feature into Ivanhoe Road. But right before I made it there, I stopped to take a rest and to take in the beauty of the area with all those leggy, yellow flowers waving in the breeze. This would have been right at the corner of Ivanhoe and Ivory. Just before the passing under the trestle bridge which used to carry a rail road, but now carries the bike path from Waverly to Readlyn.

Ivanhoe Road looking Southeast where it goes underneath the trestle bridge.

The passing of Highway 63 was met with another long grade to get up against the wind. I was looking forward to going two more miles to Navajo Road and getting out of the blast. I was fairly sure that heading South would be easier than going East on this day! However; remember when I said that going backward on a route can sometimes show you things that you missed going the other, "usual" way? Well, when I got to Midway Road, where we used to come off going North and turned right, against the way I was coming, I looked North and saw something I never noticed in maybe a hundred times of going up here. Cemetery headstones in a field! Was there a rural church just north of the intersection? Why hadn't I ever noticed this before? Well, I had to turn North, even though I hadn't meant to go that way at all.

Once the sight of a German church? Most likely, yes.

I saw the cemetery gates and I knew I had to "bag" that photo. I have been doing this for the last few years. Everytime I come across one of these rural cemeteries with a gate, I get my bike in the middle of it and snap off an image. This one was unique for the big, empty space before the cemetery proper.

I hypothesize that this empty space was where a church once was. Many rural churches had the cemeteries in the rear of the church, or off to one side or another. In the back is most common with Lutheran churches in this area though. This being an obviously German cemetery, it most likely was Lutheran. Some online sleuthing turned up that there was a church in this location. The church was founded in 1861 and moved to Denver, Iowa in 1902. According to a plat map of the township dated 1894, St. Paul's's also had a school on premises as well as the church building proper. That would account for such a large, empty space here today.

I love history! (And being able to look stuff up in the innergoogles). But, back to the story of the ride....

A patriotic themed barn quilt as seen on Sage Road.

Once I left the cemetery I headed North and caught the bike path going East again. I couldn't just go a mile North, as that is Highway 3, so I would have ended going a minimum of two miles North and at least five miles round trip to get back on route. But I wasn't in to seeking out many more miles, so I bailed off on the bike path. That led me to Navajo Road and back on track, headed Southward.

Headed home......

The Southward direction I was headed in was easier, thankfully. I was cruising along at a pretty decent clip, but my legs were feeling tired after pushing up hills, grades, and against the wind for most of that. I decided to just head straight down Sage Road to Airline Highway, make a right to Moline Road, then left the rest of the way into Waterloo. Before I got far though, I had a dog encounter. Two dogs came out from a farm yard, one a grizzly looking old yellow lab and the other looked to be a mix of a Boxer and American Terrier. Both were the same size. The Lab was barking with a weird, higher pitched, slightly fuzzy sounding voice and the other dog was just looking as if it would rather play than fight. My worry was with the yellow one.

As I stopped the Lab got behind me, which is generally what a dog does when it is afraid and sometimes they will snip at you from behind becuase of their instinct. This one just sniffed and barked though. The other dog actually approached me from the front and looked as if it wanted to be petted. It licked my shin and my hand but as the other dog was barking it seemed unsure what to do. Finally the owners came out and the situation was diffused, but the yellow dog wasn't ready to let things go.

I eventually got away with apologies from the farmers and a nice wave goodbye. Then I made my way back to Waterloo with no further incidents. Once back in town though, I had to re-route due to a train parked across 4th street. That tacked on a couple miles so I ended up with 44 plus miles on the day. It was a good ride, and my legs were glad it was over.

That's a great start to my getting ready for the ICGravel event coming up on October 27th. Hopefully I can get in a lot more rides like this.

Caged

Lezyne side loader cage in (VERY) Purple

The BgP was used in two events and during those events I realized that there was one small detail of my build that was annoying. That being that the second bottle on the down tube, the one closest to the seat tube, was a bearcat to get out while you are riding the bike. I could get it out, but it was a struggle and mostly due to the fact that you have to pull the bottle in line with the downtube. This ends up making you run into the bottle cage mounted directly in front of this bottle you are trying to get at. Frustrating and not good.

I figured that a different type of bottle cage might work. I had heard that Lezyne might make some cages that would work and so Todd, my co-worker, and I did some internet sleuthing and came across this side loader cage from Lezyne. Bonus......it is offered in a purple color! 

Order placed, I patiently awaited its delivery to the shop where I work. When it came in, I was curious as to just what shade of purple I was getting. Of course, I had no expectations that it would match the Velocity Bottle Traps I already had. That would be asking too much, but I was hoping it wouldn't be too far off or weird in hue. Much to my delight, it turned out to be almost a dead ringer for the Wolf Tooth head set I used.

One other thing I noted was that this cage allowed for a slight amount of adjustment to the mounting position as the holes are slotted. Then I noted that this cage is made from some pretty beefy looking plastic. Pliable, but tough. Also- you might note that you can get this in a left or right side load version. I got the right side version. I Instagrammed my purchase and received a lot of encouraging words on how these cages worked for others. So, I'm pretty hopeful that it will do the trick.

Coming out sideways now!

I mounted it up and it really looks great. Definitely a more intense shade of purple than the Velocity cages are. So......I have to make a decision here. Maybe I leave it, run two diferent shades of purple, or maybe I get all the cages switched over to this Lezyne cage hue.

Some of that will depend upon how I like the Lezyne cage. I haven't ridden with it yet due to certain technical upgrades happening here which took me away from riding this weekend. (See yesterday's post for why that was.)

Otherwise I think this will solve my only nit with how this bike came together. Once that is tidied up I will decide about color and maybe make the switch. Another experiment I need to engage in will be swapping over to 650B wheels and tires to see what I think of that on the Black Mountain BgP. I've got to get a couple more TRP center lock rotors before I get to that though.

In the meantime the mountain bikes have been getting refreshed for the upcoming Fall season and next on the maintenance schedule are the fat bikes which need cleaning and going over before Winter arrives. So, there will be no shortage of work to do in between riding, getting the house ready for Winter, and doing whatever needs done for the website work.

Caged

Lezyne side loader cage in (VERY) Purple

The BgP was used in two events and during those events I realized that there was one small detail of my build that was annoying. That being that the second bottle on the down tube, the one closest to the seat tube, was a bearcat to get out while you are riding the bike. I could get it out, but it was a struggle and mostly due to the fact that you have to pull the bottle in line with the downtube. This ends up making you run into the bottle cage mounted directly in front of this bottle you are trying to get at. Frustrating and not good.

I figured that a different type of bottle cage might work. I had heard that Lezyne might make some cages that would work and so Todd, my co-worker, and I did some internet sleuthing and came across this side loader cage from Lezyne. Bonus......it is offered in a purple color! 

Order placed, I patiently awaited its delivery to the shop where I work. When it came in, I was curious as to just what shade of purple I was getting. Of course, I had no expectations that it would match the Velocity Bottle Traps I already had. That would be asking too much, but I was hoping it wouldn't be too far off or weird in hue. Much to my delight, it turned out to be almost a dead ringer for the Wolf Tooth head set I used.

One other thing I noted was that this cage allowed for a slight amount of adjustment to the mounting position as the holes are slotted. Then I noted that this cage is made from some pretty beefy looking plastic. Pliable, but tough. Also- you might note that you can get this in a left or right side load version. I got the right side version. I Instagrammed my purchase and received a lot of encouraging words on how these cages worked for others. So, I'm pretty hopeful that it will do the trick.

Coming out sideways now!

I mounted it up and it really looks great. Definitely a more intense shade of purple than the Velocity cages are. So......I have to make a decision here. Maybe I leave it, run two diferent shades of purple, or maybe I get all the cages switched over to this Lezyne cage hue.

Some of that will depend upon how I like the Lezyne cage. I haven't ridden with it yet due to certain technical upgrades happening here which took me away from riding this weekend. (See yesterday's post for why that was.)

Otherwise I think this will solve my only nit with how this bike came together. Once that is tidied up I will decide about color and maybe make the switch. Another experiment I need to engage in will be swapping over to 650B wheels and tires to see what I think of that on the Black Mountain BgP. I've got to get a couple more TRP center lock rotors before I get to that though.

In the meantime the mountain bikes have been getting refreshed for the upcoming Fall season and next on the maintenance schedule are the fat bikes which need cleaning and going over before Winter arrives. So, there will be no shortage of work to do in between riding, getting the house ready for Winter, and doing whatever needs done for the website work.

Friday News And Views

The Path Less Pedaled Interviews Guitar Ted:

There is another podcast out right now that features myself yakking about the gravel scene and a bit about Trans Iowa. It was an interview conducted by Russ from "The Path Less Pedaled" and if you'd like to hear the almost one hour gab session, click here.

A couple of notes here- First off, this was recorded before Trans Iowa v14. So......I couldn't let on that T.I.v14 was the last, or the cat would have been outta the bag too early. But you may wonder about that because the podcast didn't get released until earlier this week. Well.......

I was supposed to have been video interviewed, but the connection wasn't working for video, so we just recorded the audio track and Russ said he'd make it work out. He wanted an image from me of myself, but Trans Iowa was up next, and then the DK200, and then...... I forgot all about that. I didn't know when Russ planned on releasing the audio, so I kept the news about T.I. mum during the recording.

 So, Russ grabbed some video shot during the beginning of the DKXL event at the Dirty Kanza 200 weekend. (I wrote about that moment here on the blog) and pasted that in front of the interview as a lead in. That's something I didn't know he was going to do, so I was a bit surprised by that, and the point of views he used I never had seen before. At any rate, I had no idea even if this podcast would ever get released, much less when, so the deal was a big surprise this week when I came across the mention on Twitter. Check it out if you'd like.......

The new Cannondale Topstone gravel bike

Cannondale Debuts New Gravel Rig:

Maybe you saw my post on this bike for RidingGravel.com. But in case you haven't, Cannondale is now making a 700c based gravel rig. The Slate, the front suspended, 650B rig, continues in the line up as well, but this new rig ticks a lot of "standard" boxes when it comes to current gravel rigs. 42mm tire clearances, (probably a slightly bigger tire will work as well), dropper post compatibility, three bottle bosses with the down tube one being a triple, "Three Pack" type set of braze ons, rack and fender mounts, and through axles front and rear. All carbon fork on all three models. All the basics here. By the way, it has been said it will accept a 650B x 47mm tire as well. They just won't be offered in 650B.

While all that is well and fine, and the bike is aimed at the entry to mid-level buyer, what I was very impressed by was the geometry. Cannondale pushed a few models into their gravel category that were really cyclo-cross bikes and the geometry showed it. Now the Topstone will have, what in my opinion is, an aggressively slack head angle mated with an aggressively low bottom bracket. 71° and 75mm respectively. I like those numbers a lot, and in fact, that was my preferred set of numbers for the Tamland, but in 2012 I thought that telling Raleigh to do that was too radical. 

The Topstone will come in three model specs and the top is shown here in SRAM Apex 1. The other two are Shimano 105 and Sora, both with double ring chainsets. I dig that blue color, but I do not dig that drive train! The 105 is a glossy, conservative grey and the Sora is forest green, or close to that with a starting price of 1G. The others go up from there. $1650.00 and 2G actually. The bikes are available now.....

Topstone Sora

Topstone 105

The Bubblegum Princess Update:

I didn't really give a review of the pink MCD Black Mountain Cycles rig after Gravel Worlds, but I will say a few words now since I have a space to here.

First off, I am not changing a thing. I may as well saw off the steer tube now where I have the stem set and call it finished since I have zero complaints about the way I fit the bike. All the careful measuring I took off my other bikes paid off with a perfect fit the first time. Trust me, I am pretty surprised I nailed it!

The big tires are the way to go for me. The Riddlers are good. I think Resolutes would be even better. I need to try them on here sometime. But other than that, the bike is perfect. Thanks to Ben Witt and Whiskey Parts for the incredible No. 9 24 Drop Bar and the super-smooth No. 7 Seatpost. The ride of this bike is totally calm and smooth mainly due to these two components. Also, my bum left shoulder has never been happier! Well, since it's been a "bum shoulder", that is.  So, I am tickled pink, (sorry!), about these parts on this bike.

During the Gravel Worlds event I had really awesome stability due to the geometry of the bike and the tire/rim combination. The looser sand and pea gravel down there never threw me for a loop and I could even dart across the center line of the road at high down hill speeds without fear of washing out or fishtailing. The wasboard, which was all over the course, was sucked up big time by the bar, post, and my Redshift Shock Stop stem. The whole package really made it so my body wasn't beat up at all over the course of the 24hrs of Cumming or Gravel Worlds.

Finally, a word about the fork. It is really smooth. I was afraid that since the disc brake change was coming that the new fork wasn't going to feel like the old cantilever brake Monster Cross fork does. But I have no worries about that after having done two different kinds of gravel in two different states. That fork works very well, and you can see it working. Just like you can with the cantilever based fork.

In my humble opinion, both Monster Cross variants are home runs for gravel or all-road riding. Mike Varley has done it again, and now I have another bike I'll never be letting go of. I look forward to a lot of adventures on my new Bubblegum Princess and continued adventures on the Orange Crush.

That's all for this week. Have a great weekend and get out and ride!

Friday News And Views

The Path Less Pedaled Interviews Guitar Ted:

There is another podcast out right now that features myself yakking about the gravel scene and a bit about Trans Iowa. It was an interview conducted by Russ from "The Path Less Pedaled" and if you'd like to hear the almost one hour gab session, click here.

A couple of notes here- First off, this was recorded before Trans Iowa v14. So......I couldn't let on that T.I.v14 was the last, or the cat would have been outta the bag too early. But you may wonder about that because the podcast didn't get released until earlier this week. Well.......

I was supposed to have been video interviewed, but the connection wasn't working for video, so we just recorded the audio track and Russ said he'd make it work out. He wanted an image from me of myself, but Trans Iowa was up next, and then the DK200, and then...... I forgot all about that. I didn't know when Russ planned on releasing the audio, so I kept the news about T.I. mum during the recording.

 So, Russ grabbed some video shot during the beginning of the DKXL event at the Dirty Kanza 200 weekend. (I wrote about that moment here on the blog) and pasted that in front of the interview as a lead in. That's something I didn't know he was going to do, so I was a bit surprised by that, and the point of views he used I never had seen before. At any rate, I had no idea even if this podcast would ever get released, much less when, so the deal was a big surprise this week when I came across the mention on Twitter. Check it out if you'd like.......

The new Cannondale Topstone gravel bike

Cannondale Debuts New Gravel Rig:

Maybe you saw my post on this bike for RidingGravel.com. But in case you haven't, Cannondale is now making a 700c based gravel rig. The Slate, the front suspended, 650B rig, continues in the line up as well, but this new rig ticks a lot of "standard" boxes when it comes to current gravel rigs. 42mm tire clearances, (probably a slightly bigger tire will work as well), dropper post compatibility, three bottle bosses with the down tube one being a triple, "Three Pack" type set of braze ons, rack and fender mounts, and through axles front and rear. All carbon fork on all three models. All the basics here. By the way, it has been said it will accept a 650B x 47mm tire as well. They just won't be offered in 650B.

While all that is well and fine, and the bike is aimed at the entry to mid-level buyer, what I was very impressed by was the geometry. Cannondale pushed a few models into their gravel category that were really cyclo-cross bikes and the geometry showed it. Now the Topstone will have, what in my opinion is, an aggressively slack head angle mated with an aggressively low bottom bracket. 71° and 75mm respectively. I like those numbers a lot, and in fact, that was my preferred set of numbers for the Tamland, but in 2012 I thought that telling Raleigh to do that was too radical. 

The Topstone will come in three model specs and the top is shown here in SRAM Apex 1. The other two are Shimano 105 and Sora, both with double ring chainsets. I dig that blue color, but I do not dig that drive train! The 105 is a glossy, conservative grey and the Sora is forest green, or close to that with a starting price of 1G. The others go up from there. $1650.00 and 2G actually. The bikes are available now.....

Topstone Sora

Topstone 105

The Bubblegum Princess Update:

I didn't really give a review of the pink MCD Black Mountain Cycles rig after Gravel Worlds, but I will say a few words now since I have a space to here.

First off, I am not changing a thing. I may as well saw off the steer tube now where I have the stem set and call it finished since I have zero complaints about the way I fit the bike. All the careful measuring I took off my other bikes paid off with a perfect fit the first time. Trust me, I am pretty surprised I nailed it!

The big tires are the way to go for me. The Riddlers are good. I think Resolutes would be even better. I need to try them on here sometime. But other than that, the bike is perfect. Thanks to Ben Witt and Whiskey Parts for the incredible No. 9 24 Drop Bar and the super-smooth No. 7 Seatpost. The ride of this bike is totally calm and smooth mainly due to these two components. Also, my bum left shoulder has never been happier! Well, since it's been a "bum shoulder", that is.  So, I am tickled pink, (sorry!), about these parts on this bike.

During the Gravel Worlds event I had really awesome stability due to the geometry of the bike and the tire/rim combination. The looser sand and pea gravel down there never threw me for a loop and I could even dart across the center line of the road at high down hill speeds without fear of washing out or fishtailing. The wasboard, which was all over the course, was sucked up big time by the bar, post, and my Redshift Shock Stop stem. The whole package really made it so my body wasn't beat up at all over the course of the 24hrs of Cumming or Gravel Worlds.

Finally, a word about the fork. It is really smooth. I was afraid that since the disc brake change was coming that the new fork wasn't going to feel like the old cantilever brake Monster Cross fork does. But I have no worries about that after having done two different kinds of gravel in two different states. That fork works very well, and you can see it working. Just like you can with the cantilever based fork.

In my humble opinion, both Monster Cross variants are home runs for gravel or all-road riding. Mike Varley has done it again, and now I have another bike I'll never be letting go of. I look forward to a lot of adventures on my new Bubblegum Princess and continued adventures on the Orange Crush.

That's all for this week. Have a great weekend and get out and ride!

Friday News And Views

Gravel Worlds '18:

Tomorrow is Gravel Worlds and I will be lined up again for my fifth time at this event. (Sixth if you count the Good Life Gravel Adventure, which is what the event was named prior to GW's)

This year's course promises to be completely different and we're (my friend, Tony, and I ) looking forward to some different roads this time around. I am taking the BgP MCD Black Mountain Cycles rig, the same I used for the 24hrs of Cumming, and I feel pretty confident that rig will do me right. Myself on the other hand......

So, stay tuned for my typical multi-post debrief starting this coming Monday.

Morse Cage- a collaboration between King Cages and Wolf Tooth

From The "Why Didin't They Do This Before?" Files:

Wolf Tooth Components announced this week that they have done a collaboration with King Cages to bring us riders a water bottle cage that has several choices for mounting positions.

This is achieved by utilizing an alternating pattern of holes and slots. Wolf Tooth noticed that this resembled the "dot slash dot" pattern of Morse code, so they dubbed the cage the "Morse Cage".

It is available in titanium (shown here) or stainless steel. It's one of those simple ideas that makes you think, "Why aren't all water bottle cages like this?" It just makes so much sense to me. Added to that is that these are manufactured by King Cages, which in my humble opinion are the best water bottle cages anywhere, and this seems to me to be a no-brainer.

I think about those bikes that you'd like to carry a 24oz water bottle on the seat tube but your Tangle Bag doesn't allow it to clear, or maybe it's the top tube that prevents you from doing that. If you could mount that cage a bit lower..... Or maybe if you could scoot that cage down underneath the down tube toward the bottom bracket a hair more, it wouldn't interfere with the front tire. You can probably think of other scenarios where a cage like this might be a problem solver.

It's The End Of The Season And You Know It:

With apologies to REM

So, in my mind, Gravel Worlds marks the end of Summer. Yeah......I know. No one will probably agree with me on this, but right after Gravel Worlds the day light time takes a huge hit, which is really noticeable. The weather begins to cool down, if only a tic, and trees start to show signs of turning. The weeds die down, and bugs seem to be less of an issue. The woods open up, and it usually stays pretty dry during this time. That means it is prime season for mountain biking here.

Fall has always been the best time for off road here in Iowa since I've been off-roading, which.......well it's been a while, okay? I'm no spring chicken here!  But the point is, despite climate changes and all, Fall remains the best time to get your off road on with big, knobby tires. It's a well kept secret too. Many serious off road folks are done with the mtb season here by the end of August, and then, of course, it becomes cyclo cross season, so the mtb trails are generally bereft of folk. Too bad. They are missing the best riding of the year, most years.

It may be different where you live, and I get that, but around these parts, Fall is looked forward to. We were just talking at the shop about how we are ready to grab our wool stuff and breathe in some crsip, Fall air while buzzing some single track. This change of seasons thing is pretty awesome, if you ask me.

Well, that's all for this week. Have some fun on two wheels wherever you are!

Friday News And Views

Gravel Worlds '18:

Tomorrow is Gravel Worlds and I will be lined up again for my fifth time at this event. (Sixth if you count the Good Life Gravel Adventure, which is what the event was named prior to GW's)

This year's course promises to be completely different and we're (my friend, Tony, and I ) looking forward to some different roads this time around. I am taking the BgP MCD Black Mountain Cycles rig, the same I used for the 24hrs of Cumming, and I feel pretty confident that rig will do me right. Myself on the other hand......

So, stay tuned for my typical multi-post debrief starting this coming Monday.

Morse Cage- a collaboration between King Cages and Wolf Tooth

From The "Why Didin't They Do This Before?" Files:

Wolf Tooth Components announced this week that they have done a collaboration with King Cages to bring us riders a water bottle cage that has several choices for mounting positions.

This is achieved by utilizing an alternating pattern of holes and slots. Wolf Tooth noticed that this resembled the "dot slash dot" pattern of Morse code, so they dubbed the cage the "Morse Cage".

It is available in titanium (shown here) or stainless steel. It's one of those simple ideas that makes you think, "Why aren't all water bottle cages like this?" It just makes so much sense to me. Added to that is that these are manufactured by King Cages, which in my humble opinion are the best water bottle cages anywhere, and this seems to me to be a no-brainer.

I think about those bikes that you'd like to carry a 24oz water bottle on the seat tube but your Tangle Bag doesn't allow it to clear, or maybe it's the top tube that prevents you from doing that. If you could mount that cage a bit lower..... Or maybe if you could scoot that cage down underneath the down tube toward the bottom bracket a hair more, it wouldn't interfere with the front tire. You can probably think of other scenarios where a cage like this might be a problem solver.

It's The End Of The Season And You Know It:

With apologies to REM

So, in my mind, Gravel Worlds marks the end of Summer. Yeah......I know. No one will probably agree with me on this, but right after Gravel Worlds the day light time takes a huge hit, which is really noticeable. The weather begins to cool down, if only a tic, and trees start to show signs of turning. The weeds die down, and bugs seem to be less of an issue. The woods open up, and it usually stays pretty dry during this time. That means it is prime season for mountain biking here.

Fall has always been the best time for off road here in Iowa since I've been off-roading, which.......well it's been a while, okay? I'm no spring chicken here!  But the point is, despite climate changes and all, Fall remains the best time to get your off road on with big, knobby tires. It's a well kept secret too. Many serious off road folks are done with the mtb season here by the end of August, and then, of course, it becomes cyclo cross season, so the mtb trails are generally bereft of folk. Too bad. They are missing the best riding of the year, most years.

It may be different where you live, and I get that, but around these parts, Fall is looked forward to. We were just talking at the shop about how we are ready to grab our wool stuff and breathe in some crsip, Fall air while buzzing some single track. This change of seasons thing is pretty awesome, if you ask me.

Well, that's all for this week. Have some fun on two wheels wherever you are!

New Tweaks And Sore Legs

Oh.....and in case you didn't know, my daughter named this "Captain America"

Well, I've been busy doing stuff since the 24hr of Cumming reports rolled out last week. For one thing, I put another saddle on the Raleigh Tamland Two. This has been sort of like a round table of saddles with regard to this bike. I never have had the same one on for very long.

I was pretty sure the Brooks Cambium was the saddle here, but then WTB sends over a couple perches for me to test and........well, I have to try those saddles on something! 

The good news is that I like WTB saddles a lot and generally speaking, if the saddle from WTB is wide enough, I will like it. That's been the issue though, many saddles they make are not wider. That's why I always used SST's until they quit making them and Pure V's and now "Pure" saddles, because they are the wider saddle model from WTB. Well, now there is a Silverado and a SL8 in wider widths so I am able to try and see if one of those will be my new go-to saddle.

My buddy MG has been a long time Silverado user and has had nothing but high praise for that model in the skinny-butt version. I hope that I find that to be the case with the wide load version. Oh yeah..... Keen eyes will also note that I swapped seat posts. This is the Salsa regulator titanium post. My third one in the fleet.

The Silca Tattico Bluetooth pump saved the day!

Saturday I got out for my first gravel ride in a week after my 24hrs of Cumming beat down. I had ridden back and forth to work all week, but my legs were protesting heavily and I was really fatigued. I tried getting longer nights of sleep, but I haven't been bouncing back as I'd like to.

So, Saturday was dubbed an "easy ride", just to get out and spin. I tried keeping it chill, and I did fine. That is up until Petrie Road's Level B section.

I got in there and saw that the rains we had gotten in the beginning of the week had made for some bad mud ruts and standing water. I got up on top, where that puddle is pretty much permanent, and I stopped to watch some young frogs leap across the road through the murky, discolored waters. It made me think later about AG chemicals and mutations, and..... yeah.... Poor frogs!

Anyway, I went to reach for my bike, and just as I am lifting it up, I hear a "psssssssshhhhhht!" Dang it! A puncture?!! Yes, a freaking puncture right then. So random! I futzed with it till it sealed up and then I had to pump it back up again. This rig I was riding had my Silca Tattico Bluetooth pump attached, so I got out my phone and opened up the app. I started pumping and the app showed I had lost air from 40psi down to 17.5! Whoa! That was close to not sealing up. Anyway, I pumped it up to 39psi and prayed it would hold out till I got back to my starting point.

Not a lick of wind. Dog days of Summer!

I took it extra chill on the way home but the tire seemed to be holding up. After a  bit I forgot all about it and was hammering home on Aker Road like any other day out here. Then I got to the pavement, crossed Shaulis, and hit the ramp up to the bike path. Bang! I bottomed out against the rim!

Well, that tire must have had a slow leak yet. No wonder, since the sealant blew out like crazy to start with and I probably haven't got much left there to get by on. The hole wasn't even super visible after I got back to the truck, but it acted like a big puncture. What the cause was is still a mystery. I will report on it if I ever figure it out.

The discouraging thing was that afterward my legs felt like they did after the GTDRI and the 24hrs of Cumming- roached! I am pretty concerned about Gravel Worlds and my ability to get 150 miles done there. It's going to be tough no matter what, but if I cannot recover fully by then I will be a hurtin' unit fer sure!

Meanwhile I have to turn around my BgP Black Mountain Cycles MCD rig before Thursday, as that is the rig I plan on suffering on for Gravel Worlds. That or my Gen I Fargo. So, stay tuned to see which bike makes the cut!