Sproingle

So this rig should be hitting the roads this week.

The weather is breaking for the better, at least for a few days. It looks more and more as if ice will become less a concern and gravel travel will be on the menu again. I've been busy getting some stuff together for this time to come. One of those things was revealed last week. Here is another thing- the latest from Cirrus Cycles, the Kinekt post.

Formerly known as the "Body Float" post, this is the latest incarnation of the design, which has been refined quite a bit from the version I have. The biggest thing is that they have reduced the set back a lot, which should make this post work better in terms of fit for a lot of people.

I think this version will end up being the preferred one for mee, but I'll reserve judgment on that for now. I also have the Terreno Dry tires from Vittoria on the "Orange Crush" which I need to conclude the review for. Then when I get that done I have to swap those tires out and get cracking on the waaaay overdue Kenda Flintridge Pro review. I'm sure a slew of other tires will be making cameo appearances on my bikes throughout the year as well. It will be interesting to see how gravel tires progress- or don't.

Then I have been checking over the bits and peices on the Raleigh and BMC to make sure I am good for some, what is sure to be, sloppy roads. I fitted fenders back on the Tamland, and I cleaned and relubed the chain on the ol' BMC. That bike is going to need a bottom bracket soon too, but I'm going to wait it out till better weather comes. I figure I may as well soak this old one in grit now and put the new one in when things clear up out there and the roads are dry again.

Of course, it's supposed to snow again Thursday. 

BAH!

Sproingle

So this rig should be hitting the roads this week.

The weather is breaking for the better, at least for a few days. It looks more and more as if ice will become less a concern and gravel travel will be on the menu again. I've been busy getting some stuff together for this time to come. One of those things was revealed last week. Here is another thing- the latest from Cirrus Cycles, the Kinekt post.

Formerly known as the "Body Float" post, this is the latest incarnation of the design, which has been refined quite a bit from the version I have. The biggest thing is that they have reduced the set back a lot, which should make this post work better in terms of fit for a lot of people.

I think this version will end up being the preferred one for mee, but I'll reserve judgment on that for now. I also have the Terreno Dry tires from Vittoria on the "Orange Crush" which I need to conclude the review for. Then when I get that done I have to swap those tires out and get cracking on the waaaay overdue Kenda Flintridge Pro review. I'm sure a slew of other tires will be making cameo appearances on my bikes throughout the year as well. It will be interesting to see how gravel tires progress- or don't.

Then I have been checking over the bits and peices on the Raleigh and BMC to make sure I am good for some, what is sure to be, sloppy roads. I fitted fenders back on the Tamland, and I cleaned and relubed the chain on the ol' BMC. That bike is going to need a bottom bracket soon too, but I'm going to wait it out till better weather comes. I figure I may as well soak this old one in grit now and put the new one in when things clear up out there and the roads are dry again.

Of course, it's supposed to snow again Thursday. 

BAH!

Looking Ahead

Checking out the Gryphon and clearing the head

So, it is time to move on and start looking at some other stuff coming up on the horizon. Yesterday I mentioned the next Geezer Ride, which is free, by the way. I think I forgot to mention that part. Anyway, in regard to that, I needed to pick out a bicycle for the ride, so I was thinking about going single speed again, like I did for the last one. Only this time, maybe without having a flat tire!

So, I grabbed the Singular Gryphon and put a little extra sealant in the tires, spruced it up a bit, and rode it into work and back yesterday to see how it was. I took the long way home, and I noticed that the computer on there seemed, well........off. Maybe I am that slow though. Hmm..... Seemed like I was outrunning a couple of geared cyclists I came across though, so I don't know. Maybe we're all slow! I'll have to do a roll out and recalibrate, just for good measure.

But beyond that, I forgot how odd 180mm cranks feel. My Pofahl single speed has that length on it as well, which was the bike I rode in the last Geezer Ride. I forget how long the stroke feels at first. It is a sensation that you get used to pretty quickly, at least I do, but after being off that long of a crank arm for so long, it felt really odd yesterday morning. By my afternoon ride though, I couldn't really feel that longer stroke. I did notice my cadence went down a bit though. Gotta work on spinning that bigger circle a bit better.

And this ol' girl is going back to Odin's Revenge

Odin's Revenge is also coming up next month, so I thought a bit about which rig I would take over there. I've had the Gen I Fargo at that event before and I have done okay with it. The 'mud-fest" year was the last time I rode it there and at the time, I had a test post from Cirrus Cycles on it. It was a Body Float post, and it worked really well at Odin's. So, I took off the Body Float which was on the Ti Muk all Winter and I popped it over to the Gen I Fargo. I went for a quick ride, and it felt perfect, just like it did back two years ago.

I think that test/review post was a carbon fiber shafted one, but this one I bought is a titanium shafted one, which will also have a bit of give with as much extension as it has. I think this and the Luxy Bar, with better gearing than the bike had last time out there, will be a great choice for Odin's rough, long course. I probably won't run the frame bag out there. No need to carry anything but water and food at that event, typically. Water is super important, and the old Fargo can pack on lots of water. Six bottles and that's not including any I might put in a Chaff Bag or a jersey pocket. No need for a top tube bag mounted water bladder/hose arrangement, although that might prove easier to use and which may make me drink more often.

The Body Float post is really nice.

The Body Float post should help to keep me fresh and do that odd little thing it does to keep that rear wheel digging when the climbs are bumpy or if the ground gets greasy from moisture. I hope to do some long ride testing with this set up before the event, so I'll have time to dial things in.

I decided against the Fat Fargo because Odin's is a long, hot, tough event, and those wheels are heavier than these XC oriented ones which have done well out at Odin's before. I think the Fat Fargo wheels did me well in the loose, powdery dust out there, but slogging up climbs was harder than it needed to be. The Gen I Fargo wheels should prove to be much better for the hills out there. Deep dust, well that should work out okay, and with a promised different course, who knows what we will get out there.

Oh......and I am working on a special build. This new rig isn't even for me! I am acquiring the bits and pieces for this rig now, and I should have something to show here in a bit if the parts show up as promised. So, stay tuned to see what that might be.

Looking Ahead

Checking out the Gryphon and clearing the head

So, it is time to move on and start looking at some other stuff coming up on the horizon. Yesterday I mentioned the next Geezer Ride, which is free, by the way. I think I forgot to mention that part. Anyway, in regard to that, I needed to pick out a bicycle for the ride, so I was thinking about going single speed again, like I did for the last one. Only this time, maybe without having a flat tire!

So, I grabbed the Singular Gryphon and put a little extra sealant in the tires, spruced it up a bit, and rode it into work and back yesterday to see how it was. I took the long way home, and I noticed that the computer on there seemed, well........off. Maybe I am that slow though. Hmm..... Seemed like I was outrunning a couple of geared cyclists I came across though, so I don't know. Maybe we're all slow! I'll have to do a roll out and recalibrate, just for good measure.

But beyond that, I forgot how odd 180mm cranks feel. My Pofahl single speed has that length on it as well, which was the bike I rode in the last Geezer Ride. I forget how long the stroke feels at first. It is a sensation that you get used to pretty quickly, at least I do, but after being off that long of a crank arm for so long, it felt really odd yesterday morning. By my afternoon ride though, I couldn't really feel that longer stroke. I did notice my cadence went down a bit though. Gotta work on spinning that bigger circle a bit better.

And this ol' girl is going back to Odin's Revenge

Odin's Revenge is also coming up next month, so I thought a bit about which rig I would take over there. I've had the Gen I Fargo at that event before and I have done okay with it. The 'mud-fest" year was the last time I rode it there and at the time, I had a test post from Cirrus Cycles on it. It was a Body Float post, and it worked really well at Odin's. So, I took off the Body Float which was on the Ti Muk all Winter and I popped it over to the Gen I Fargo. I went for a quick ride, and it felt perfect, just like it did back two years ago.

I think that test/review post was a carbon fiber shafted one, but this one I bought is a titanium shafted one, which will also have a bit of give with as much extension as it has. I think this and the Luxy Bar, with better gearing than the bike had last time out there, will be a great choice for Odin's rough, long course. I probably won't run the frame bag out there. No need to carry anything but water and food at that event, typically. Water is super important, and the old Fargo can pack on lots of water. Six bottles and that's not including any I might put in a Chaff Bag or a jersey pocket. No need for a top tube bag mounted water bladder/hose arrangement, although that might prove easier to use and which may make me drink more often.

The Body Float post is really nice.

The Body Float post should help to keep me fresh and do that odd little thing it does to keep that rear wheel digging when the climbs are bumpy or if the ground gets greasy from moisture. I hope to do some long ride testing with this set up before the event, so I'll have time to dial things in.

I decided against the Fat Fargo because Odin's is a long, hot, tough event, and those wheels are heavier than these XC oriented ones which have done well out at Odin's before. I think the Fat Fargo wheels did me well in the loose, powdery dust out there, but slogging up climbs was harder than it needed to be. The Gen I Fargo wheels should prove to be much better for the hills out there. Deep dust, well that should work out okay, and with a promised different course, who knows what we will get out there.

Oh......and I am working on a special build. This new rig isn't even for me! I am acquiring the bits and pieces for this rig now, and I should have something to show here in a bit if the parts show up as promised. So, stay tuned to see what that might be.

Cirrus Cycles Body Float: Reviewed On Snow

The Cirrus Cycles Body Float seat post: Under the protective shroud!

The Winter is starting to show signs of change here, and I fear that fat bike conditions are going to deteriorate to the extent that I will be switching over to some gravel travel again soon. Since that seems to be the likely case, I thought I would download my current thoughts on this unusual Body Float seat post for now. You can go back to my original introduction of this post on my fat bike HERE, or see a bit of an update I did back in December HERE.

I've done a lot of miles on this post this Winter in varying conditions and in temperatures ranging from sub-zero to the 50 degree mark. I've been in deep, unconsolidated snow, packed in snow, ice, mud, pavement, and dirt. Terrain has ranged from very muddy to frozen ground and frozen, post-holed snow, which resembles riding on uneven, rough concrete more than anything else. In the following paragraphs I will relate my fat biking experiences, but I also intend on continuing these comments after I have had the post back on a Fargo and perhaps a gravel rig as well.

So, for now here's the views I have on this device. I have had really good experiences so far with the post and its workings. There have been zero issues with the mechanism, the way it functions on a day to day basis, and it does what it is advertised to do. The bottom line here is that, while the post is a fair chunk of change to purchase, it lives up to its billing. The darn thing works and it makes me want to ride the Ti Mukluk it is installed on more and more.

It is hard to portray in a picture, but the trail here was hard, frozen, uneven, and pock-marked snow. Like cement, basically.

The defining ride in the last month or so was the past weekend where conditions had turned our trails into cement with an undulating, pock marked surface. Well......okay, not really cement, but frozen so hard it was like cement. You get the picture here, I'm sure. It was rough, and not at all like snow usually is to ride on. There was no forgiveness in the trail surface whatsoever.

I went out a bit easy at first to feel out how much grip there was. It was a tiny bit slick, but not too bad. After I passed a couple of guys on the way out to my turn about point, I hit the gas and went about as fast as I would dare to any other time on a dry trail on a 29"er. So, pretty darn fast. So fast that the trail was jack-hammering my rigid front end so hard that I had numb hands and I thought I might get tossed off the bike by the rough surfaces. In fact, I went off-line a couple of times, it was so rough. A front suspension fork would have been the ticket here, but alas- I don't have one for the Ti Mukluk.

Conversely, the rear end, while it was by no means less bouncy than the front end, was damped in a beautiful way by the Body Float post. In fact, I felt it bottom out a couple of times on hard hits, but the bottoming out wasn't harsh at all. During the rest of the ride it was getting worked really hard. There was no time during my two and a half hour ride that the Body Float was getting any reprieve from the constantly undulating, rough trail surface. I suspect it was cycling through almost all of its travel during most of that time.

Post ride pose. The Body Float post has proven its worth on a fat bike.

Verdict.....So Far: Worth every penny. Basically that's the bottom line. On a fat bike, where slower travel and undulating, uneven trail surfaces are common, especially on soft snow, or hard, crusty, frozen snow, the Body Float will not only absorb those compressive hits, but it allows you to stay on the pedals, spinning, and maintaining momentum.  This is crucial in many situations on a fat bike, and if that was all it did, I would be happy. However; the Body Float also smooths out the small to medium trail chatter that can end up making you go numb, or fatigue your body prematurely.

There is also some minor traction benefits and in some situations where you are seated and climbing, the Body Float, allowing you to have uninterrupted pedaling, also keeps your body from bouncing off the post/saddle on trail irregularities and causing your tire to lose traction. Obviously, if you are out of the saddle, the Body Float has zero benefits, but for a fat bike, where being seated is often the case the majority of your ride in soft conditions, this post pays big dividends.

As stated above, there are absolutely zero mechanical concerns, and the post worked at sub-zero temperatures exactly the same way as it did at 50°F. The post shows no signs of loose pivots or hardware failure. The saddle clamp and position of the saddle during the review period has been stable and unmoved since installation. The post fits into the Ti Muk's seat tube perfectly and hasn't slipped. I should mention that this is the Titanium shafted Body Float post. I am going to continue to utilize the post in other bikes soon and I am confident it will have a long service life.

Stay tuned for another update later into 2016......

Note: This post was purchased with my own damn money and I am not being paid nor bribed for this post.

Cirrus Cycles Body Float: Reviewed On Snow

The Cirrus Cycles Body Float seat post: Under the protective shroud!

The Winter is starting to show signs of change here, and I fear that fat bike conditions are going to deteriorate to the extent that I will be switching over to some gravel travel again soon. Since that seems to be the likely case, I thought I would download my current thoughts on this unusual Body Float seat post for now. You can go back to my original introduction of this post on my fat bike HERE, or see a bit of an update I did back in December HERE.

I've done a lot of miles on this post this Winter in varying conditions and in temperatures ranging from sub-zero to the 50 degree mark. I've been in deep, unconsolidated snow, packed in snow, ice, mud, pavement, and dirt. Terrain has ranged from very muddy to frozen ground and frozen, post-holed snow, which resembles riding on uneven, rough concrete more than anything else. In the following paragraphs I will relate my fat biking experiences, but I also intend on continuing these comments after I have had the post back on a Fargo and perhaps a gravel rig as well.

So, for now here's the views I have on this device. I have had really good experiences so far with the post and its workings. There have been zero issues with the mechanism, the way it functions on a day to day basis, and it does what it is advertised to do. The bottom line here is that, while the post is a fair chunk of change to purchase, it lives up to its billing. The darn thing works and it makes me want to ride the Ti Mukluk it is installed on more and more.

It is hard to portray in a picture, but the trail here was hard, frozen, uneven, and pock-marked snow. Like cement, basically.

The defining ride in the last month or so was the past weekend where conditions had turned our trails into cement with an undulating, pock marked surface. Well......okay, not really cement, but frozen so hard it was like cement. You get the picture here, I'm sure. It was rough, and not at all like snow usually is to ride on. There was no forgiveness in the trail surface whatsoever.

I went out a bit easy at first to feel out how much grip there was. It was a tiny bit slick, but not too bad. After I passed a couple of guys on the way out to my turn about point, I hit the gas and went about as fast as I would dare to any other time on a dry trail on a 29"er. So, pretty darn fast. So fast that the trail was jack-hammering my rigid front end so hard that I had numb hands and I thought I might get tossed off the bike by the rough surfaces. In fact, I went off-line a couple of times, it was so rough. A front suspension fork would have been the ticket here, but alas- I don't have one for the Ti Mukluk.

Conversely, the rear end, while it was by no means less bouncy than the front end, was damped in a beautiful way by the Body Float post. In fact, I felt it bottom out a couple of times on hard hits, but the bottoming out wasn't harsh at all. During the rest of the ride it was getting worked really hard. There was no time during my two and a half hour ride that the Body Float was getting any reprieve from the constantly undulating, rough trail surface. I suspect it was cycling through almost all of its travel during most of that time.

Post ride pose. The Body Float post has proven its worth on a fat bike.

Verdict.....So Far: Worth every penny. Basically that's the bottom line. On a fat bike, where slower travel and undulating, uneven trail surfaces are common, especially on soft snow, or hard, crusty, frozen snow, the Body Float will not only absorb those compressive hits, but it allows you to stay on the pedals, spinning, and maintaining momentum.  This is crucial in many situations on a fat bike, and if that was all it did, I would be happy. However; the Body Float also smooths out the small to medium trail chatter that can end up making you go numb, or fatigue your body prematurely.

There is also some minor traction benefits and in some situations where you are seated and climbing, the Body Float, allowing you to have uninterrupted pedaling, also keeps your body from bouncing off the post/saddle on trail irregularities and causing your tire to lose traction. Obviously, if you are out of the saddle, the Body Float has zero benefits, but for a fat bike, where being seated is often the case the majority of your ride in soft conditions, this post pays big dividends.

As stated above, there are absolutely zero mechanical concerns, and the post worked at sub-zero temperatures exactly the same way as it did at 50°F. The post shows no signs of loose pivots or hardware failure. The saddle clamp and position of the saddle during the review period has been stable and unmoved since installation. The post fits into the Ti Muk's seat tube perfectly and hasn't slipped. I should mention that this is the Titanium shafted Body Float post. I am going to continue to utilize the post in other bikes soon and I am confident it will have a long service life.

Stay tuned for another update later into 2016......

Note: This post was purchased with my own damn money and I am not being paid nor bribed for this post.

Friday News And Views

The lack of an industry wide tubeless standard is creating friction.

Just about a year ago now I posted up about the "State Of Tubelessness" in terms of gravel road going tires and rims. My take at that time, when a true tubeless system for gravel wasn't available, was that we were covering the same ground as 29"ers had about seven years prior. Riders were left to nebulous directions and self-experimentation which often led to disastrous results. Since that time, we've had progress. There are serious, systemic tubeless tire solutions covering both rim and tire which work perfectly. Then, as with tires for mountain biking, you have rim manufacturers that only do rims and tire manufacturers that only do tires making parts to be set up tubeless together. Sometimes the results are good, and sometimes they are so-so. In rare cases some tires and tubes simply do not work well together at all.

Yesterday I mentioned Taichung Bike Week, and in the industry magazine, Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, there was an extensive article concerning tubeless tires and road and gravel applications.  In the article featuring TBW, tire manufacturers bemoaned the lack of standard rim and tire interface dimensions, tire width appropriate to rim width issues, and the proliferation of hookless bead carbon rims. This causes no small amount of "friction" when it comes to discussing wheels and how tires interface with them. Narrower rims and wider tires don't work as easily as an appropriately wide rim with the same tire. However; that same rim may not work well with a 28mm wide road tubeless tire at all. Then you have diameters of rims, tires, and even how the beads are constructed and from what materials, which lead to various issues. Carbon reinforced beads in particular are troublesome. However; they are deemed necessary when higher road pressures are contemplated.

Finally, there is the field serviceability factor. Say that your sealant fails, or that a tire gets cut beyond the sealants capability to seal it up. Then how the rim and tire fit can be a big issue. Too tight, which is great for lower pressures and security when it comes to tire roll over/burping, and then you may have a big problem even breaking the bead over the rim edge just to get a tube in. Conversely, a looser fit may cause burping and require higher pressures to maintain the tire's integrity in hard cornering. It's a tough nut to crack with the interfaces being all over the place dimensionally.

That's why it is still the best bet to seek out a true tubeless system that covers tire and rim. Like WTB's TCS system. Then you can have it all without being compromised in some way that may bite you in the butt down the road. Hopefully WTB and others will use the systemic approach to expand our choices by using tires and rims designed for each other.

The Ti Mukluk with the Cirrus Cycles Body Float post

 If Fat Bikes Could Float:

I got to ride the Ti Muk the other day after the big rain, and was reacquainted with the titanium shafted Body Float post by Cirrus Cycles again. It is a coil sprung suspension post that I had tried out on my Fargo last year at Odin's Revenge. I liked it so much that I ended up buying one and for now it lives on the Ti Muk.

The thing is pretty eye opening. For one thing, it obviously pretty much isolates you from all small chatter and small compressive bumps are almost erased. However, it also does something in regard to how you feel and absorb front end impacts and small compressive bumps that is hard to put into words. I'll just say it makes things "more better" and I like it. Now mind you- this is all at speeds I would term as "trundling" and anything faster is a different ball game. That's for off road- mtb type stuff. On gravel it just really takes out that frequency that buzzes your behind and pot holes and dips are dispensed with as mere annoyances as opposed to surprise shocks. It is not a rear suspension replacement. Maybe "soft tail like"? Okay, I could say that and live with it.

I will say that you just cannot really understand what it does for your riding until you have ridden it for a while and then ride a standard seat post. Suddenly the little bits of unweighting the bike and the times you level out the pedals and coast a micro-second to absorb a small dip which were unlearned while using the Body Float have to be relearned. Because of that, you suddenly become conscious of how much chatter you aren't trying to avoid with the Body Float that you have to when riding rigid posts. Then you have the "aha!" moment and the worth of the post becomes quite evident. My opinion is that during longer events, all that unweighting and leveling of the pedals a small fraction of a second wear you down. The Body Float takes that out of the equation, but you just don't realize how valuable that is until you try a Body Float and then get on a standard post.

By the way, the areas I usually ride the fat bike are all flooded now. Unfortunately the Body Float seat post doesn't help out with that. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out the rest of the Winter, but it might end up becoming a massive broken up ice field out there and fat biking will have to take place somewhere else this Winter.

Stud. The tire, not you, silly!

Gnarwalls Landed:

Studded fat bike tires are something of a rarity, yet high in demand, or so it would seem. Whenever we have been asked about them at the shop where I work, and we go to order some, no one has them in stock.  So we started just ordering in a pair to have around whenever we could get our hands on a pair. We heard about the Gnarwall last August and put an order in for a pair whenever they might come up as being available. Well, recently they popped up on the warehouse inventory at Trek, so we grabbed this single pair, one of which I have pictured here. We checked yesterday, and poof! Zero availability. Amazing!

45NRTH is like this as well. Anyway, we have a pair and I am sure they won't last long, especially with the conditions we're likely to have this Winter locally after the flood waters freeze up.

I know a lot of folks were dismayed at how the Gnarwall has fewer studs than what 45NRTH uses on the Dillinger, but when you take a look at the Gnarwall you see how the designer focused the stud pattern where the tire contact patch is, and not where it isn't. Makes sense. Anyway, also consider the tubeless ready nature of the Gnarwall and suddenly it starts to look pretty darn attractive as an ice/icy snow conditions tire.

Yes.......it is expensive. Just about the same as a Dillinger studded tire. That's kind of a bummer, but the Gnarwall was designed as an ice/icy snow tire and being that they don't produce thousands of these, the price isn't really out of line. Since there probably aren't very many of these tires made year to year, that also contributes to the difficulty in getting them. Did I mention that they are spendy? Yeah?....... Okay then. If you gotta ride on ice or on icy snow, nothing beats a tire that was designed to be studded like this one was.

Have a great weekend! Thanks, as always, for stopping by!

 

Friday News And Views

The lack of an industry wide tubeless standard is creating friction.

Just about a year ago now I posted up about the "State Of Tubelessness" in terms of gravel road going tires and rims. My take at that time, when a true tubeless system for gravel wasn't available, was that we were covering the same ground as 29"ers had about seven years prior. Riders were left to nebulous directions and self-experimentation which often led to disastrous results. Since that time, we've had progress. There are serious, systemic tubeless tire solutions covering both rim and tire which work perfectly. Then, as with tires for mountain biking, you have rim manufacturers that only do rims and tire manufacturers that only do tires making parts to be set up tubeless together. Sometimes the results are good, and sometimes they are so-so. In rare cases some tires and tubes simply do not work well together at all.

Yesterday I mentioned Taichung Bike Week, and in the industry magazine, Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, there was an extensive article concerning tubeless tires and road and gravel applications.  In the article featuring TBW, tire manufacturers bemoaned the lack of standard rim and tire interface dimensions, tire width appropriate to rim width issues, and the proliferation of hookless bead carbon rims. This causes no small amount of "friction" when it comes to discussing wheels and how tires interface with them. Narrower rims and wider tires don't work as easily as an appropriately wide rim with the same tire. However; that same rim may not work well with a 28mm wide road tubeless tire at all. Then you have diameters of rims, tires, and even how the beads are constructed and from what materials, which lead to various issues. Carbon reinforced beads in particular are troublesome. However; they are deemed necessary when higher road pressures are contemplated.

Finally, there is the field serviceability factor. Say that your sealant fails, or that a tire gets cut beyond the sealants capability to seal it up. Then how the rim and tire fit can be a big issue. Too tight, which is great for lower pressures and security when it comes to tire roll over/burping, and then you may have a big problem even breaking the bead over the rim edge just to get a tube in. Conversely, a looser fit may cause burping and require higher pressures to maintain the tire's integrity in hard cornering. It's a tough nut to crack with the interfaces being all over the place dimensionally.

That's why it is still the best bet to seek out a true tubeless system that covers tire and rim. Like WTB's TCS system. Then you can have it all without being compromised in some way that may bite you in the butt down the road. Hopefully WTB and others will use the systemic approach to expand our choices by using tires and rims designed for each other.

The Ti Mukluk with the Cirrus Cycles Body Float post

 If Fat Bikes Could Float:

I got to ride the Ti Muk the other day after the big rain, and was reacquainted with the titanium shafted Body Float post by Cirrus Cycles again. It is a coil sprung suspension post that I had tried out on my Fargo last year at Odin's Revenge. I liked it so much that I ended up buying one and for now it lives on the Ti Muk.

The thing is pretty eye opening. For one thing, it obviously pretty much isolates you from all small chatter and small compressive bumps are almost erased. However, it also does something in regard to how you feel and absorb front end impacts and small compressive bumps that is hard to put into words. I'll just say it makes things "more better" and I like it. Now mind you- this is all at speeds I would term as "trundling" and anything faster is a different ball game. That's for off road- mtb type stuff. On gravel it just really takes out that frequency that buzzes your behind and pot holes and dips are dispensed with as mere annoyances as opposed to surprise shocks. It is not a rear suspension replacement. Maybe "soft tail like"? Okay, I could say that and live with it.

I will say that you just cannot really understand what it does for your riding until you have ridden it for a while and then ride a standard seat post. Suddenly the little bits of unweighting the bike and the times you level out the pedals and coast a micro-second to absorb a small dip which were unlearned while using the Body Float have to be relearned. Because of that, you suddenly become conscious of how much chatter you aren't trying to avoid with the Body Float that you have to when riding rigid posts. Then you have the "aha!" moment and the worth of the post becomes quite evident. My opinion is that during longer events, all that unweighting and leveling of the pedals a small fraction of a second wear you down. The Body Float takes that out of the equation, but you just don't realize how valuable that is until you try a Body Float and then get on a standard post.

By the way, the areas I usually ride the fat bike are all flooded now. Unfortunately the Body Float seat post doesn't help out with that. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out the rest of the Winter, but it might end up becoming a massive broken up ice field out there and fat biking will have to take place somewhere else this Winter.

Stud. The tire, not you, silly!

Gnarwalls Landed:

Studded fat bike tires are something of a rarity, yet high in demand, or so it would seem. Whenever we have been asked about them at the shop where I work, and we go to order some, no one has them in stock.  So we started just ordering in a pair to have around whenever we could get our hands on a pair. We heard about the Gnarwall last August and put an order in for a pair whenever they might come up as being available. Well, recently they popped up on the warehouse inventory at Trek, so we grabbed this single pair, one of which I have pictured here. We checked yesterday, and poof! Zero availability. Amazing!

45NRTH is like this as well. Anyway, we have a pair and I am sure they won't last long, especially with the conditions we're likely to have this Winter locally after the flood waters freeze up.

I know a lot of folks were dismayed at how the Gnarwall has fewer studs than what 45NRTH uses on the Dillinger, but when you take a look at the Gnarwall you see how the designer focused the stud pattern where the tire contact patch is, and not where it isn't. Makes sense. Anyway, also consider the tubeless ready nature of the Gnarwall and suddenly it starts to look pretty darn attractive as an ice/icy snow conditions tire.

Yes.......it is expensive. Just about the same as a Dillinger studded tire. That's kind of a bummer, but the Gnarwall was designed as an ice/icy snow tire and being that they don't produce thousands of these, the price isn't really out of line. Since there probably aren't very many of these tires made year to year, that also contributes to the difficulty in getting them. Did I mention that they are spendy? Yeah?....... Okay then. If you gotta ride on ice or on icy snow, nothing beats a tire that was designed to be studded like this one was.

Have a great weekend! Thanks, as always, for stopping by!

 

Chilly Grinding

Photo-bombed by Joel's shadow!

Friday afternoon I did the regular "Dirt Home From Work" route on my titanium Mukluk. It wasn't anything spectacular except for the new BodyFloat seat post, which is amazing, and while it isn't the antidote for a full suspension bike, I think I have narrowed down where it can fit in with riding for me, at least. More on that some other day. This post will focus on my Saturday ride.

I had a request from my coworker, Joel, to go out on a gravel road ride. This was highly unusual, as Joel is a dyed-in-the-wool roadie and typically doesn't wander far off the tarmac. I met up with him on Saturday Morning at the shop, but not before an excruciatingly painful trip from the house.

Remember that ride I mentioned Friday on my Ti Muk? Well, I also had been riding that bike on previous days back and forth to work, and really pushing it. My legs were hurting on Friday evening, and that in combination with my coming down with a cold made the ride over on Saturday a "survival mode" ride. I barely could top out at 10mph since I had nothing in the tank, or so it seemed. Of course, it didn't help either that it was only 24°F when I left! I wasn't used to the cold, yet, and I was also bundled up against the chill, which is always a bit constricting as well. I suppose all of those things in combination were conspiring against me and I felt like I had no business doing a ride that day, but a promise is a promise, so I showed up and waited for Joel to arrive.

Something must have happened in the ensuing half hour, since I felt okay when we left. In fact, Joel was hoofing it down the city streets on our way out and I was surprised I had enough snap in the legs to keep up!

The fields are mostly bare now. It was still a beautiful day for a ride, despite the chill and wind. 

Apparently, the warm up ride which consisted of that painful trek to the shop and our subsequent roll out to the gravel woke up the legs enough that I was able to push into the Westerly wind with some force. I chose the route, and due to my feelings of doubt, I chose the flattest route possible to start out. The wind wasn't going to make it easy though, and I may as well have chosen a route with rollers, since punching a hole into the breeze was just as tough for me on that morning.

Joel seemed to be just fine with the pace and so I felt okay with the route and our speeds. I took us up the back way to Janesville where we stopped so Joel could refuel, and then we headed East and South back to our start. Along the way we spied a Turkey Vulture, a Red Tailed Hawk, some llamas, and lots of "leaf shadows" under maple trees. When we get a sudden freeze, it generally bites the leaves right off the maples, and if there is little to no wind, those leaves drop straight down off the trees and form colorful "leaf shadows" under the tree limbs.

Then, as we rolled closer to town, we spied a behemoth on a raod construction site we just had to go check out......

Joel checking out the big machine.

There are eight counter weights on the backend here each weighing in excess of 11.000lbs according to their tags.

Interestingly, the boom sections were all held together with huge pins with hasps over them. 

The thing was a huge crane which was brought in to help build an overpass for the county highway to go over the four lane U.S. highway 218/27 instead of the at grade crossing which has proven to be quite dangerous. Actually, there are two huge cranes there, but this one was closest to our gravel route. It seems to be rather new, and was so wide, it took up two entire lanes of the roadway, which is all broken up and probably has been removed in preparation for the bridge build.

It is a rather simplistic machine in that the component parts are held together with bolts and pins, for the most part, only they are on a gigantic scale. Weight is something that we noted, since several individual parts of the crane were tagged with brass plates indicating their individual weight. For instance, each of the eight counter weights on the back end had a tag indicating each weight was in excess of 11,000lbs and the base which the weights were placed on had a tag which indicated it weighed in excess of 33,000lbs! Heavy machine indeed!

After we were through marveling at this mechanical wonder, we made the rest of the loop and returned back to the shop where I picked up the Trans Iowa post cards and then went on home. With almost 37 miles in, I think it was a rousing success of a ride after thinking upon how it started out. I almost bailed out I felt so bad! I am glad I stuck it out and it was fun to get to ride with Joel out on the gravel roads.

Chilly Grinding

Photo-bombed by Joel's shadow!

Friday afternoon I did the regular "Dirt Home From Work" route on my titanium Mukluk. It wasn't anything spectacular except for the new BodyFloat seat post, which is amazing, and while it isn't the antidote for a full suspension bike, I think I have narrowed down where it can fit in with riding for me, at least. More on that some other day. This post will focus on my Saturday ride.

I had a request from my coworker, Joel, to go out on a gravel road ride. This was highly unusual, as Joel is a dyed-in-the-wool roadie and typically doesn't wander far off the tarmac. I met up with him on Saturday Morning at the shop, but not before an excruciatingly painful trip from the house.

Remember that ride I mentioned Friday on my Ti Muk? Well, I also had been riding that bike on previous days back and forth to work, and really pushing it. My legs were hurting on Friday evening, and that in combination with my coming down with a cold made the ride over on Saturday a "survival mode" ride. I barely could top out at 10mph since I had nothing in the tank, or so it seemed. Of course, it didn't help either that it was only 24°F when I left! I wasn't used to the cold, yet, and I was also bundled up against the chill, which is always a bit constricting as well. I suppose all of those things in combination were conspiring against me and I felt like I had no business doing a ride that day, but a promise is a promise, so I showed up and waited for Joel to arrive.

Something must have happened in the ensuing half hour, since I felt okay when we left. In fact, Joel was hoofing it down the city streets on our way out and I was surprised I had enough snap in the legs to keep up!

The fields are mostly bare now. It was still a beautiful day for a ride, despite the chill and wind. 

Apparently, the warm up ride which consisted of that painful trek to the shop and our subsequent roll out to the gravel woke up the legs enough that I was able to push into the Westerly wind with some force. I chose the route, and due to my feelings of doubt, I chose the flattest route possible to start out. The wind wasn't going to make it easy though, and I may as well have chosen a route with rollers, since punching a hole into the breeze was just as tough for me on that morning.

Joel seemed to be just fine with the pace and so I felt okay with the route and our speeds. I took us up the back way to Janesville where we stopped so Joel could refuel, and then we headed East and South back to our start. Along the way we spied a Turkey Vulture, a Red Tailed Hawk, some llamas, and lots of "leaf shadows" under maple trees. When we get a sudden freeze, it generally bites the leaves right off the maples, and if there is little to no wind, those leaves drop straight down off the trees and form colorful "leaf shadows" under the tree limbs.

Then, as we rolled closer to town, we spied a behemoth on a raod construction site we just had to go check out......

Joel checking out the big machine.

There are eight counter weights on the backend here each weighing in excess of 11.000lbs according to their tags.

Interestingly, the boom sections were all held together with huge pins with hasps over them. 

The thing was a huge crane which was brought in to help build an overpass for the county highway to go over the four lane U.S. highway 218/27 instead of the at grade crossing which has proven to be quite dangerous. Actually, there are two huge cranes there, but this one was closest to our gravel route. It seems to be rather new, and was so wide, it took up two entire lanes of the roadway, which is all broken up and probably has been removed in preparation for the bridge build.

It is a rather simplistic machine in that the component parts are held together with bolts and pins, for the most part, only they are on a gigantic scale. Weight is something that we noted, since several individual parts of the crane were tagged with brass plates indicating their individual weight. For instance, each of the eight counter weights on the back end had a tag indicating each weight was in excess of 11,000lbs and the base which the weights were placed on had a tag which indicated it weighed in excess of 33,000lbs! Heavy machine indeed!

After we were through marveling at this mechanical wonder, we made the rest of the loop and returned back to the shop where I picked up the Trans Iowa post cards and then went on home. With almost 37 miles in, I think it was a rousing success of a ride after thinking upon how it started out. I almost bailed out I felt so bad! I am glad I stuck it out and it was fun to get to ride with Joel out on the gravel roads.

Empty Surprise

The harvest continues. Now they are gleaning the corn from the firlds.

I have this new Grava Bikes rig I am testing/reviewing for RidingGravel.com right now. You can check out the intro, if you want to, here. So, anyway, it needs to get ridden, obviously, and yesterday was an opportune time to get some riding in, since I had the day off from work at the shop. I stuck around the house until very late in the morning, or "fore noon", as my older relatives used to say, due to it being quite chilly yet. At least the winds had died down to reasonable levels. The two previous days were ridiculous in that the winds were blowing up to 40mph at times.

I finally clipped in a little before high noon, and set out to do the 3GR route, initially. On the way out, I was feeling okay, but as soon as I hit Moline Road, I felt like I was dragging an anchor. It could have been me. I did eat an early lunch before I left. Typically I fire off better on an empty stomach. So there was that. However; there was also a pretty steady Northwesterly breeze, and it could have something to do with that. Then the bike was alien to me as well. I had to find out "how it liked to dance", so to speak, and I wasn't quite settled in as far as fit goes and as far as the bike's quirks too. Likely it was a bit of all of those things, but I wasn't having the best time out of the gate. A stop to adjust the saddle height made a big difference, and then I was feeling a bit more sprightly. The meal began to digest better, which also helped things along. The bike's quirks? Still not quite there yet. All I'll say now is, "Holy saddle to bar drop, Bat Man!". This is definitely a "racy" set up!

Fall colors are a bit "dusky" this year. Not really popping like in some years. 

 Well, I'll get back to this bike some other day and tell ya'all about that, but for now, I'll just concentrate on the ride story. See, I had it all planned out for the 3GR route. I put on two old Profile plastic bottle cages, and slammed in two big bottles under the medium sized Tangle Bag, which barely fit, and slipped a couple gel packets in there, just in case. I started out with a pair of gloves, but I got too warm and ditched those in the Tangle Bag. This time of year it is hard to judge what you need as the temperatures vary wildly within the span of even an hour in some cases. One minute you are fine with a windbreaker, for instance, then the next it is sweltering. Good thing I attached the Tangle Bag!

The dry wind also reminded me that I had attached the two cages and put two bottles on there. I grabbed one and it felt strangely light. Oh oh! I forgot to fill them! Bah! Oh well......so much for cracking out 40 miles. I wasn't in the mood for cramps and a major bonk. So, I cut the route short and headed for the shed. It was the right decision, as I need to bond with this bike a bit yet. The tires are even something I haven't been on till now- Specialized Trigger Pro tires- and they are a different beast, which I need to dial in with air pressure yet. So, I got in about half of what I was expecting, and then I had a bunch of water!

I topped off, hopped on the Titanium Mukluk, and made the round trip to the shop to grab the day's mail for Trans Iowa. One card! That was a surprise. If I see a trickle till the end of the week next week, it may be that almost everyone that sent a card in will get in. Fine by me. I wasn't expecting to see just one card though. Who knows, that may change in a hurry soon.

Empty Surprise

The harvest continues. Now they are gleaning the corn from the firlds.

I have this new Grava Bikes rig I am testing/reviewing for RidingGravel.com right now. You can check out the intro, if you want to, here. So, anyway, it needs to get ridden, obviously, and yesterday was an opportune time to get some riding in, since I had the day off from work at the shop. I stuck around the house until very late in the morning, or "fore noon", as my older relatives used to say, due to it being quite chilly yet. At least the winds had died down to reasonable levels. The two previous days were ridiculous in that the winds were blowing up to 40mph at times.

I finally clipped in a little before high noon, and set out to do the 3GR route, initially. On the way out, I was feeling okay, but as soon as I hit Moline Road, I felt like I was dragging an anchor. It could have been me. I did eat an early lunch before I left. Typically I fire off better on an empty stomach. So there was that. However; there was also a pretty steady Northwesterly breeze, and it could have something to do with that. Then the bike was alien to me as well. I had to find out "how it liked to dance", so to speak, and I wasn't quite settled in as far as fit goes and as far as the bike's quirks too. Likely it was a bit of all of those things, but I wasn't having the best time out of the gate. A stop to adjust the saddle height made a big difference, and then I was feeling a bit more sprightly. The meal began to digest better, which also helped things along. The bike's quirks? Still not quite there yet. All I'll say now is, "Holy saddle to bar drop, Bat Man!". This is definitely a "racy" set up!

Fall colors are a bit "dusky" this year. Not really popping like in some years. 

 Well, I'll get back to this bike some other day and tell ya'all about that, but for now, I'll just concentrate on the ride story. See, I had it all planned out for the 3GR route. I put on two old Profile plastic bottle cages, and slammed in two big bottles under the medium sized Tangle Bag, which barely fit, and slipped a couple gel packets in there, just in case. I started out with a pair of gloves, but I got too warm and ditched those in the Tangle Bag. This time of year it is hard to judge what you need as the temperatures vary wildly within the span of even an hour in some cases. One minute you are fine with a windbreaker, for instance, then the next it is sweltering. Good thing I attached the Tangle Bag!

The dry wind also reminded me that I had attached the two cages and put two bottles on there. I grabbed one and it felt strangely light. Oh oh! I forgot to fill them! Bah! Oh well......so much for cracking out 40 miles. I wasn't in the mood for cramps and a major bonk. So, I cut the route short and headed for the shed. It was the right decision, as I need to bond with this bike a bit yet. The tires are even something I haven't been on till now- Specialized Trigger Pro tires- and they are a different beast, which I need to dial in with air pressure yet. So, I got in about half of what I was expecting, and then I had a bunch of water!

I topped off, hopped on the Titanium Mukluk, and made the round trip to the shop to grab the day's mail for Trans Iowa. One card! That was a surprise. If I see a trickle till the end of the week next week, it may be that almost everyone that sent a card in will get in. Fine by me. I wasn't expecting to see just one card though. Who knows, that may change in a hurry soon.

A Different Kind Of Boing!

What's up with that seat post?

A little over a year ago I was able to try out a component that I was a bit leery of, but my buddy MG was pretty adamant that it was "the real deal". So, trusting him, he sent it to me to try out, and I was pretty dang impressed. (You can see the post I did concerning the component here) It is a suspension seat post. Yeah.....I know, usually you think of some lame telescopic, heavy boat anchor of a seat post that has bad swivel and breaks easily. Or maybe you think of those elastomer sprung parallelogram posts that have pivots that squeak and get loosened up within a short period of time. Well.....that's kind of where I was a year ago. Not so much these days.

You see, Cirrus Cycles Body Float seat post is a different beast. It isn't a telescopic seat post, so it doesn't have the twisty-turny issues that those types of suspension posts can have. It isn't a parallelogram arranged in the way that others have done, so your body doesn't move fore and aft as the post moves through its travel. You go up and down, and if you set the preload properly, you won't even notice it after a awhile. You'll just be fresher and less fatigued by road chatter, especially that which you find on gravel roads.

It is not sprung by an elastomer, but rather by coil steel springs which are not affected by weather and will not degrade in harsh environments. It comes in three shaft material choices, and unlike many suspension seatposts before it, it is fine tuneable for anyone up to 300 lbs. Oh......I won't hide it, and you've probably already guessed it, this thing is expensive. 

By swapping coil springs and using the preload, you can fine tune this post for almost anyone.

The question that comes immediately afterword is easy. Is the benefit you gain worth the price of admission? Now I had a good "test ride" on this model last year at Odin's Revenge. It was rough, brutal, and I could not find fault with the post. The preload screw on that one did back out a bit, but that has been addressed in this latest version of the post, and that did not adversely affect my experience with the post last year. In fact, I didn't even notice it until after I was done for the day.

I had made a decision last year that I wanted one of these for myself, and I sent back the first one I tried, as it was a review model. So, I finally made good on that and my new Body Float post arrived in the mail yesterday. As I mentioned above, the shaft of the post can be had in aluminum, carbon fiber, or titanium. I opted for the titanium shaft, which, as you can imagine, is the most expensive option. It isn't the lightest option, but the carbon one is barely lighter. The MSRP on the post I have is $415.00. Aluminum shafted posts run $275.00. Like I say- not cheap. 

So, again- Is it worth it? Well, I think if the durability and longevity is there, the answer is yes. I don't know how long I'll be able to go, but we will see how long it lasts. The thing is really well made, the fit and finish is top notch, and this thing has been field tested and evolved in design to a fine state. What it does for the ride is, well.....hard to explain in words. However; it does as advertised and, I believe it has something else. It definitely changes how the bike handles for the better.

I'll be messing with this post on my fat bike and later, on my gravel rigs. Along the way, I'll occasionally make a few observations here. Stay tuned.......

Note: This post was purchased with my own damn money and I am not being paid nor bribed for this post.

A Different Kind Of Boing!

What's up with that seat post?

A little over a year ago I was able to try out a component that I was a bit leery of, but my buddy MG was pretty adamant that it was "the real deal". So, trusting him, he sent it to me to try out, and I was pretty dang impressed. (You can see the post I did concerning the component here) It is a suspension seat post. Yeah.....I know, usually you think of some lame telescopic, heavy boat anchor of a seat post that has bad swivel and breaks easily. Or maybe you think of those elastomer sprung parallelogram posts that have pivots that squeak and get loosened up within a short period of time. Well.....that's kind of where I was a year ago. Not so much these days.

You see, Cirrus Cycles Body Float seat post is a different beast. It isn't a telescopic seat post, so it doesn't have the twisty-turny issues that those types of suspension posts can have. It isn't a parallelogram arranged in the way that others have done, so your body doesn't move fore and aft as the post moves through its travel. You go up and down, and if you set the preload properly, you won't even notice it after a awhile. You'll just be fresher and less fatigued by road chatter, especially that which you find on gravel roads.

It is not sprung by an elastomer, but rather by coil steel springs which are not affected by weather and will not degrade in harsh environments. It comes in three shaft material choices, and unlike many suspension seatposts before it, it is fine tuneable for anyone up to 300 lbs. Oh......I won't hide it, and you've probably already guessed it, this thing is expensive. 

By swapping coil springs and using the preload, you can fine tune this post for almost anyone.

The question that comes immediately afterword is easy. Is the benefit you gain worth the price of admission? Now I had a good "test ride" on this model last year at Odin's Revenge. It was rough, brutal, and I could not find fault with the post. The preload screw on that one did back out a bit, but that has been addressed in this latest version of the post, and that did not adversely affect my experience with the post last year. In fact, I didn't even notice it until after I was done for the day.

I had made a decision last year that I wanted one of these for myself, and I sent back the first one I tried, as it was a review model. So, I finally made good on that and my new Body Float post arrived in the mail yesterday. As I mentioned above, the shaft of the post can be had in aluminum, carbon fiber, or titanium. I opted for the titanium shaft, which, as you can imagine, is the most expensive option. It isn't the lightest option, but the carbon one is barely lighter. The MSRP on the post I have is $415.00. Aluminum shafted posts run $275.00. Like I say- not cheap. 

So, again- Is it worth it? Well, I think if the durability and longevity is there, the answer is yes. I don't know how long I'll be able to go, but we will see how long it lasts. The thing is really well made, the fit and finish is top notch, and this thing has been field tested and evolved in design to a fine state. What it does for the ride is, well.....hard to explain in words. However; it does as advertised and, I believe it has something else. It definitely changes how the bike handles for the better.

I'll be messing with this post on my fat bike and later, on my gravel rigs. Along the way, I'll occasionally make a few observations here. Stay tuned.......

Note: This post was purchased with my own damn money and I am not being paid nor bribed for this post.