Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Drought.gov

 Drought To Start The Year:

As of December 20th or so, Waterloo Iowa was experiencing its driest December on record. That obviously changed when we got significant rains over Christmas. However; we aren't getting any snow (yet) and if we don't see rain by Spring, well..... 

Obviously that's going to make for a bad set-up for farmers, wildlife, and probably everyone living around here. From a gravel rider's standpoint, it may mean more of conditions like last year, and frankly, the year before that as well. Loose, deep gravel, lots of dust, and none of that classic "three-track" that we all love to ride on here. 

And then again by March we may be dealing with flooding. But not likely as this "El Niño" we are in now is said to be a pretty strong one and that usually means warmer than normal and sometimes not very much precipitation. With the base levels of water in the area at very critically low levels, it is going to take quite a wet spell to catch us up. 

Meanwhile I will try to enjoy what I am handed. A milder January may be just what I need to get a jump-start on mileage for 2024. We'll see.....

The new Velo Orange eccentric BB (Image courtesy of Velo Orange

A New Way To Create A Single Speed Device:

Got a traditionally threaded, 68mm/73mm bottom bracket shell on your bicycle? Want to make that bike a single speed? One of your options is from Velo Orange. For about a hundy, you can convert your bike to a single speed with this eccentric bottom bracket which supports any 2-piece, 24mm spindle cranks. 

The bottom bracket comes with a tensioniing tool as well, which is pretty cool. Unfortunately, at the time of this posting, the part is out of stock, but if you subscribe to Velo Orange's newsletter, you'll get notice when it comes back into stock. You can see more on this part HERE. 

Comments: Some folks give eccentrics a bad rap, but I've used a Wheels Manufacturing part similar to this and it works great. Use grease when installing, torque the part to spec, and it shouldn't make a peep. I don't need another single speed, but if I wanted to turn a vertical drop-out bike into a single speed and it had a traditionally threaded bottom bracket? Yeah, I would give this part a go. 

Also, having a drop out like that with an eccentric is, in my opinion, the very best way to have a single speed. Especially with a disc brake set-up. There are zero issues with resetting brakes, lining up the wheel in the frame, or moving swinging bits and locking them back down again. You just pop a QR and boom! Done and done. My OS Bikes Blackbuck MTB is like this and it is a joy to work on.

Alt Derailleur From Rivendell?

If you are a follower of Rivendell, or Grant Petersen, then you may have seen this prototype rear derailleur that Rivendell is working on. Called the OM-1, it is a "rapid-rise" design, meaning that the spring pulls the derailleur into the lowest gear, not the smallest cog/highest gear. Not like 99.9% of derailleurs you've ever seen. 

You can read the minimal amount of info out on this HERE, (Scroll down the page)

Comments: I've worked on a LOT of the old "Rapid Rise" rear derailleurs Shimano produced in the early 2000's. The high-end XT, LX, and such were rare. They didn't last long in the marketplace. But the Nexave, Altus, and CX-30 types were made a little longer, and in much higher production numbers. It was these derailleurs that I saw most often. 

I'll get this out of the way up front: I really don't like Rapid Rise. It was super-finicky to tune and you are working against gravity and friction, a pretty heady combo, when trying to dial in one of those Shimano variants. Additionally, the Nexave and definitely the CX-30 variants were inevitably corroded and and their parallelogram's pivots would have high friction. Sometimes so bad you'd have to replace the derailleur. 

Now, Grant and his team are probably well aware of all of that, but there is a LOT of "uphill battle" here, and I mean that in the best sort of way. I get that people are excited for a very versatile derailleur, but there are literally thousands of great 7,8,and 9 speed derailleurs floating around out there waiting for you. That and Shimano CUES, which is also 8,9,10, and 11 speed compatible all in one derailleur. (Don't "at me" with your pull ratio excuse. Use friction shifters!) 

So, with all of that, I wish Rivendell well in their tilting at windmills. I have a hard time seeing the point in this exercise, but maybe this trips your trigger? Good on ya.

Shimano Re-ups Rebound Virtual Gravel Challenge:

Last year, Shimano announced a virtual gravel event called "Rebound" which asked riders from all over the world to join in and ride gravel on June 3rd, 2023. The ask was simple and rides would be compiled on Strava. Here was the basic premise:

"In the spirit of Unbound, we encourage you to pick one of the following distances: 25 miles (40 km), 50 miles (80 km), 100 miles (160 km) or 200 miles (320 km). "

Well, Shimano wants to see if this can become even larger than last year and they are promoting the idea again for 2024. (See the site HERE) This year the ride is happening on June 1st.

Comments: You can read what I said about the idea last year HERE.  This year I feel the same, and I would join in on this but for the fact that I'll probably be in Emporia, or just back from there, that day. Otherwise, I'd love to participate in this. (Again, read my comments from last year as to why that is)

I guess my only other thought on this is a question: "Does this event happen without what we went through with the pandemic?" Virtual events were nearly unheard of previously to that, and certainly the whole idea of the "getting together of the gravel family" aspect did not lean toward a virtual event format. 

But I think Rebound exists because we had to do virtual events in 2020 and 2021 to some extent. We are more open to that concept, and it feeds the American mindset of independence and self-sufficiency which, I cannot say exists in the rest of the world, but for sure it does here. That is neither an indictment or supportive of self-support, independent riding, or virtual events, its just my observation. I just cannot help but think that without 2020-2021, rebound doesn't happen. 

Season 2 Has Started!

The Guitar Ted Podcast (GTP) has kicked off its second season already with a new episode sponsored by CORE4.

This time N.Y. Roll and I speak to the group etiquette and tactics which seem to be somewhat of a missing link in gravel circles and on some road group rides. 

I think we are pretty clear in saying we are not "The Experts". but we wanted to kick off a conversation regarding group ride technique so that information gets disseminated that may help someone avoid serious injury or death. We feel riding skills are important, and that some folks don't know, or haven't practiced those time-honored skills that make group riding safer and less stressful. 

You can find the podcast at THIS LINK or wherever you get your podcast feed from. Thanks to CORE4 for the sponsorship! 

That's a wrap for the first FN&V of 2024! Have a great weekend and thanks for reading G-Ted Productions!

Two Things

My custom Pofahl Signature bike

 Friday it was rainy for most of the day so I decided to work on the old Pofahl Signature custom bike I have. If you've been around here awhile, you know this bike. But if you are fairly new here, I'll hazard a brief introduction.

In 2007 I showed Ben Witt, then owner of Milltown Cycles in Faribault, Minnesota, a sketch I had made in the early 2000's of an idea I had for a frame for a 29" wheeled bike. Ben got excited about this, tweaked out the idea based upon my love of my 2003 Karate Monkey, and came up with this design based off my sketch. 

Ben then sent the BikeCad drawings to Mike Pofahl who brazed up the ChroMoly tubing into what you see here. This was always a dedicated single speed idea, so there are no cable stops for gearing. The bike was intended to be a flat bar bike and Ben Witt designed a killer looking handle bar and sent it off to Black Sheep in Colorado to have the design made for this bike in titanium. Well, that never happened because Black Sheep basically "ghosted" Ben and despite multiple attempts to contact them, Ben finally had to give up on the idea. 

Not too surprisingly, about a few months after Ben gave up on getting his design made by Black Sheep, the custom builder there made a handle bar eerily similar to Ben's renderings. But.....whatever. That's the story no one knew about this bike, and since it's been, what? Sixteen years ago? I figure the statute of limitations has expired on keeping back that story. So, I don't mind telling it here now. 

The bike as it appeared a year ago.

No matter, and back to today... I had been running the Pofahl with drop bars for years now and over the last few years it has been set up with a short, 50mm stem. I also had an ancient Bontrager Inform saddle on it. Well, I retired those two items for a bit longer stem and a different Bontrager saddle. That older Inform design used to accommodate me okay, but now I'm older and things have changed. 

The stem seemed to me to be a bit too short. I could have lived with the 50mm stem, but I thought something that might stretch me out a bit would be better. I found the perfect candidate while going through the stem stash. It was a Redshift Sports ShockStop stem with their "out front" GPS mount. 

While digging through the saddle stash, I found a saddle that seemed very similarly shaped to the newer Ergon Allroad saddle. I compared them and they are so close in shape and length to be nearly identical. Only the way the top was formed by the cover and padding was really any different, and in that it was a cushier saddle than the Ergon one is. 

And wouldn't you know? It's a WSD Bontrager saddle. A woman's saddle. Cool with me. And what about the changes? Well, they are good. I plan to do a country ride on the bike soon to verify this. 

Oh yeah....I swapped out top tube bags. So there's that as well! 

The "Guitar Ted Podcast" is back with one of the more popular topics concerning gravel riding - Dogs. 

We talk about that in context of our (N.Y. Roll and my) experiences and other things, of course. But the dog thing is probably the big draw here. 

One thing I didn't mention, and I hope to when we talk about dogs again on the show, is that there is a bit of "privilege" as a bigger male when dealing with dogs versus when you are diminutive or female, or both. Dogs can and will size you up, so my experiences with dogs might be tempered by that a bit. 

Take for instance the image I chose for the podcast episode tile. That was from a solo ride I did in 2017 in Kansas. The image was taken at the point which I had talked to these two dogs long enough that they were giving up being concerned anymore. I think maybe up to ten minutes was spent here.These dogs finally realized that (a) I wasn't a threat, and (b) I was a pretty large human that wasn't afraid and was not going to be easy to take down. Despite the fact of one being a huge Great Pyrenees and the other a slightly smaller breed of unknown to me origins. 

The other thing I forgot to mention is that if you are in a group, it's best to stick together when dealing with dogs. They know when they are outnumbered and will look for a straggler to pester. Yes, the old saw about outrunning your riding partner and leaving them to deal with the dog is partially true. 

Anyway, if you haven't already listened to this episode, it is about an hour long. Click here or go to your favorite podcast provider and look up "The Guitar Ted Podcast". Thanks to CORE4 for sponsoring this episode.

Two Things

My custom Pofahl Signature bike

 Friday it was rainy for most of the day so I decided to work on the old Pofahl Signature custom bike I have. If you've been around here awhile, you know this bike. But if you are fairly new here, I'll hazard a brief introduction.

In 2007 I showed Ben Witt, then owner of Milltown Cycles in Faribault, Minnesota, a sketch I had made in the early 2000's of an idea I had for a frame for a 29" wheeled bike. Ben got excited about this, tweaked out the idea based upon my love of my 2003 Karate Monkey, and came up with this design based off my sketch. 

Ben then sent the BikeCad drawings to Mike Pofahl who brazed up the ChroMoly tubing into what you see here. This was always a dedicated single speed idea, so there are no cable stops for gearing. The bike was intended to be a flat bar bike and Ben Witt designed a killer looking handle bar and sent it off to Black Sheep in Colorado to have the design made for this bike in titanium. Well, that never happened because Black Sheep basically "ghosted" Ben and despite multiple attempts to contact them, Ben finally had to give up on the idea. 

Not too surprisingly, about a few months after Ben gave up on getting his design made by Black Sheep, the custom builder there made a handle bar eerily similar to Ben's renderings. But.....whatever. That's the story no one knew about this bike, and since it's been, what? Sixteen years ago? I figure the statute of limitations has expired on keeping back that story. So, I don't mind telling it here now. 

The bike as it appeared a year ago.

No matter, and back to today... I had been running the Pofahl with drop bars for years now and over the last few years it has been set up with a short, 50mm stem. I also had an ancient Bontrager Inform saddle on it. Well, I retired those two items for a bit longer stem and a different Bontrager saddle. That older Inform design used to accommodate me okay, but now I'm older and things have changed. 

The stem seemed to me to be a bit too short. I could have lived with the 50mm stem, but I thought something that might stretch me out a bit would be better. I found the perfect candidate while going through the stem stash. It was a Redshift Sports ShockStop stem with their "out front" GPS mount. 

While digging through the saddle stash, I found a saddle that seemed very similarly shaped to the newer Ergon Allroad saddle. I compared them and they are so close in shape and length to be nearly identical. Only the way the top was formed by the cover and padding was really any different, and in that it was a cushier saddle than the Ergon one is. 

And wouldn't you know? It's a WSD Bontrager saddle. A woman's saddle. Cool with me. And what about the changes? Well, they are good. I plan to do a country ride on the bike soon to verify this. 

Oh yeah....I swapped out top tube bags. So there's that as well! 

The "Guitar Ted Podcast" is back with one of the more popular topics concerning gravel riding - Dogs. 

We talk about that in context of our (N.Y. Roll and my) experiences and other things, of course. But the dog thing is probably the big draw here. 

One thing I didn't mention, and I hope to when we talk about dogs again on the show, is that there is a bit of "privilege" as a bigger male when dealing with dogs versus when you are diminutive or female, or both. Dogs can and will size you up, so my experiences with dogs might be tempered by that a bit. 

Take for instance the image I chose for the podcast episode tile. That was from a solo ride I did in 2017 in Kansas. The image was taken at the point which I had talked to these two dogs long enough that they were giving up being concerned anymore. I think maybe up to ten minutes was spent here.These dogs finally realized that (a) I wasn't a threat, and (b) I was a pretty large human that wasn't afraid and was not going to be easy to take down. Despite the fact of one being a huge Great Pyrenees and the other a slightly smaller breed of unknown to me origins. 

The other thing I forgot to mention is that if you are in a group, it's best to stick together when dealing with dogs. They know when they are outnumbered and will look for a straggler to pester. Yes, the old saw about outrunning your riding partner and leaving them to deal with the dog is partially true. 

Anyway, if you haven't already listened to this episode, it is about an hour long. Click here or go to your favorite podcast provider and look up "The Guitar Ted Podcast". Thanks to CORE4 for sponsoring this episode.