Gravel History With Guitar Ted: Tubeless Gravel Tires

The Orange Crush set up with Clement (now Donnelly) USH tires.

Ten years ago we didn't have much of anything meant for gravel. There was one bike, (Warbird) and a few tires that were in the "gravel category" from Clement Tires (Now Donnelly) 

And there were no tubeless tires. 

Not a one for gravel travel. But that did not stop me, and a few others, like MG, from trying. We did it using our experiences with MTB tubeless tire set-ups, many of which were done with non-tubeless tires. 

Can you even imagine the world I am describing here? What with scads of tubeless tire options for gravel in so many sizes it makes your head spin, I wonder if most new folks to gravel can even relate to our situation back then. No gravel bikes, no gravel tires, yet we still were enamored of riding gravel. If that doesn't tell you something about this segment of cycling, I cannot get through to you. 

I'm not going to pull some "We had to walk uphill to school in 8 inches of snow." thing, but the reality is that we had to be a lot more resourceful in the earlier days of this modern gravel cycling deal. That's all. Tires were scarce for gravel, and tubeless was a gamble. I tried setting up some non-tubeless, folding bead Clement USH tires back then and struggled with that mightily until I finally got them to quit leaking down almost immediately. 

It took over a week to do that, and the tires didn't last much over that. I think I got two 3GR rides out of that set up. The 3GR was my "Gravel Grinder Group Ride - three "G's" ad an "R". Anyway, that would have been less than 100 miles, and then one of the tires developed a sidewall cut.

But that short-lived experiment was revealing. I decided right then and there that riding with tubes in my tires on gravel, at least with the typical butyl tubes, was not long for me. I was decidedly on the tubeless bandwagon then. The performance difference between running tubed and tubeless was astounding. 

It would be another three years, in 2015, before we'd get any tubeless gravel tires and then only one model from one brand was all you could get. The WTB Nano 40 TCS tire was that tire and from that company. Think about that a minute. Tubeless gravel tires weren't widely available until mid-2016. That's only six years ago now. 

Crazy.....

Gravel History With Guitar Ted: Tubeless Gravel Tires

The Orange Crush set up with Clement (now Donnelly) USH tires.

Ten years ago we didn't have much of anything meant for gravel. There was one bike, (Warbird) and a few tires that were in the "gravel category" from Clement Tires (Now Donnelly) 

And there were no tubeless tires. 

Not a one for gravel travel. But that did not stop me, and a few others, like MG, from trying. We did it using our experiences with MTB tubeless tire set-ups, many of which were done with non-tubeless tires. 

Can you even imagine the world I am describing here? What with scads of tubeless tire options for gravel in so many sizes it makes your head spin, I wonder if most new folks to gravel can even relate to our situation back then. No gravel bikes, no gravel tires, yet we still were enamored of riding gravel. If that doesn't tell you something about this segment of cycling, I cannot get through to you. 

I'm not going to pull some "We had to walk uphill to school in 8 inches of snow." thing, but the reality is that we had to be a lot more resourceful in the earlier days of this modern gravel cycling deal. That's all. Tires were scarce for gravel, and tubeless was a gamble. I tried setting up some non-tubeless, folding bead Clement USH tires back then and struggled with that mightily until I finally got them to quit leaking down almost immediately. 

It took over a week to do that, and the tires didn't last much over that. I think I got two 3GR rides out of that set up. The 3GR was my "Gravel Grinder Group Ride - three "G's" ad an "R". Anyway, that would have been less than 100 miles, and then one of the tires developed a sidewall cut.

But that short-lived experiment was revealing. I decided right then and there that riding with tubes in my tires on gravel, at least with the typical butyl tubes, was not long for me. I was decidedly on the tubeless bandwagon then. The performance difference between running tubed and tubeless was astounding. 

It would be another three years, in 2015, before we'd get any tubeless gravel tires and then only one model from one brand was all you could get. The WTB Nano 40 TCS tire was that tire and from that company. Think about that a minute. Tubeless gravel tires weren't widely available until mid-2016. That's only six years ago now. 

Crazy.....

Trans Iowa Stories: A Tool For Marketing

Part of a trade show booth put together by Salsa Cycles in 2014.

 "Trans Iowa Stories" is an every Sunday post which helps tell the stories behind the event. You can check out other posts about this subject by going back to earlier Sunday posts on this blog. Thanks and enjoy!

By 2012 or so, the gravel riding scene had generated enough interest from participants that bicycling related companies started to take notice. Salsa Cycles being perhaps the first to do so by introducing a purpose built gravel bike in the Warbird. Although it could be argued that the Titanium La Cruz was really the first effort they made to get into the gravel scene.

Of course, when you make a new category of bicycle you are going to need tires to work with it. There were basically none up until Salsa Cycles convinced Donn Kellogg, then running a tire brand called Clement, to produce some. The MSO became that tire, and then with the introduction of the Raleigh Tamland series, it was on from that point. Then, when that happened, well the marketing was sure to follow, and it did big time.

As it related to Trans Iowa, that all could have happened a lot sooner than it did. Jeff Kerkove, who was a big name in solo 24hr racing at the time we started Trans Iowa, had many connections stemming from the endurance mountain bike racing community. One of those relationships was with Red Bull, who sponsored mountain biking events and several athletes in mountain biking. Red Bull agreed to sponsor the first Trans Iowa. It wasn't some token effort either.

This 40ft tent was only one facet of the Red Bull sponsorship of T.I.v1 (Image by D. Kerkove)

Red Bull made a plan to activate their sponsorship across the entire route of the point-to-point event. Remember- that's over 300 miles of Iowa! Their plan was to send out 40 foot tents to the mid-point mandated time cut point and to the finish. We kind of dissuaded them a bit on the tent deal, but they ended up doing the Algona checkpoint nonetheless. Another facet of the sponsorship was to provide event participants with Red Bull energy drink.

That plan was not well thought out, and with all Jeff and I had going on, Red Bull's efforts got lost in the haze. Not many people know this, but two young employees of Red Bull actually traipsed across Iowa handing out Red Bull product to confused Iowans along what these two young people thought was the route. They didn't quite understand we were out on gravel roads, and yet it didn't seem to matter to these two folks. I heard vague reports of them standing along the main drags of Forest City and Cresco handing people cans of Red Bull and yakking about some crazy race called "Trans Iowa" and would it be coming through here?

People must have thought they were aliens.

But the Red Bull thing could have been huge had we pursued that angle. I know they didn't understand what they had gotten themselves into, and if we knew what we had gotten ourselves into, we could have sold that to Red Bull easily. How do I know this? Well, Red Bull was a long time sponsor of the DK200, that's how I know. But it wasn't to be, and maybe that's a good thing.

Of course, the Salsa Cycles thing kind of snuck in there when they started offering prizing to Trans Iowa event participants and then started testing product at the event. By Trans Iowa v9, they had the Warbird officially released. To market the bike, they concocted a plan to get riders on Warbirds into Trans Iowa and the DK200. At that time, these were considered to be the two plumbs of the gravel cycling world's pie.  If the Warbird could be shown to be able to compliment a rider's efforts through these long endurance grinders, then it would be good enough for anybody.

Raw camera imagery from Jason Boucher from T.I.v9

So, I knew that Salsa wanted to get certain riders in for Trans Iowa v9, and a soft request was made to see if I might be amenable to ushering through a few guys in the registration, but you know where that went, I'm sure! Regardless, they pretty much ended up with the guys they wanted, mainly Tim Ek, then a sponsored Salsa Cycles athlete, and a guy by the name of Paul Errington, of the U.K.

Prizing and arrangements to have Jason Boucher, former head of Salsa Cycles but still with the parent company, QBP, along to take imagery, were set. But at the last minute, (two weeks or so out), a request was made to allow another QBP photographer access to the event. His name was Scott Haraldson. This was not what I had envisioned, but after a few tersely stated emails from me wanting specifics, it pretty much came out that Scott was there from a QBP/Salsa marketing standpoint only.

That headache was eventually navigated and to be honest, I don't think I even saw Scott at anytime out on the course. Come to find out he basically shadowed Ek and Errington only. This rubbed me a bit the wrong way, as it could have been "outside support" from the standpoint of cheer leading/outside encouragement. I don't know that this actually happened, but I wasn't about to have that situation potentially happen again in a Trans Iowa. Fortunately, Trans Iowa fell way down on the lists of marketing folks to target for their products and requests like that of QBP were not endured after T.I.v9. Only WTB really used Trans Iowa as a marketing tool after this, and they did it in a very organic, sincere way.

When WTB came a-knockin', it was by way of sponsoring the event with tires. When I say tires, I mean cases of tires. They sent Nano 40's one year, which many folks got their hands on. For T.I.v11, they sent about ten cases of Nano 40 TCS tires that, due to the situation of T.I.v11, I had to hand out in a bar in Grinnell, and the left overs were used for sponsor prizing the following year. Then there was the way WTB used Trans Iowa in marketing.

Will Ritchie, then of WTB, in T.I.v12. Image by Wally Kilburg

WTB had a gravel cycling, and more specifically, a Trans Iowa advocate, in Will Ritchie. Will, believed in what Trans Iowa was all about so much that he pretty much went full immersion and not only asked for, and got, tires made for gravel racing/riding, but attended and rode in Trans Iowa. He basically lavished Trans Iowa with sponsorship unheard of before or since.

Trans Iowa got rare pre-production tires for the winners of V-12. Trans Iowa got a piece of a shipment of tires meant for OEM's to test ahead of them being for sale. Trans Iowa got tires from the first batch of tubeless gravel tires ever made for sale and which were so much in demand that I was receiving calls from bike shops begging me to sell them tires from the prizing stash.

Will and WTB got valuable exposure, testing time, and came up with at least two designs directly coming out of their Trans Iowa experiences. Those tires being the Riddler and the Resolute. The Riddler, a variant on a theme first released as a mountain bike tire, is a perennial spec on many gravel bikes while the Resolute, a purely Trans Iowa derived design, has gone on to become my favorite tire for gravel. It is criminally underrated in my opinion.

But getting back to the marketing- WTB never really overtly called out T.I. in their marketing, nor did they overtly use Trans Iowa in their imagery. Not a big deal to me. I suspect that was mostly done out of respect stemming from Will Ritchie's deep feelings toward the event itself. Will penned a couple of heartfelt blog posts once on the WTB blog. You can see those here and here. I don't know how many folks actually read blog posts on brand websites, so those may have been mostly under the radar for many cyclists, but they are well worth reading. Will has a way with words, and they are good reads. But the point is, you can see the deep respect that Will had for Trans Iowa, and it seeped into the way WTB went about doing gravel specific tires and in their marketing.

A view of the Trans Iowa inspired panel in the Salsa Cycles' booth from Frostbike.

Salsa, on the other hand, actually put images and words about Trans Iowa into one of their catalogs and into their trade show booth appearance for a couple of seasons. I got to experience the trade show booth at Frostbike and it was impressive. I cannot say that ether Salsa's or WTB's way of marketing T.I. was right or wrong. It was good. It was good for gravel grinding in general. It didn't do anything for Trans Iowa because I was not doing the event in such a manner that capitalizing on the attention would make sense.

 So, it was flattering, for sure, and I was grateful for the momentary spotlight, but in terms of bringing more prestige, glory, and probably most importantly and obviously, monetary benefits? Nah.... not so much. I wasn't geared toward making coin off Trans Iowa, and that wasn't what it was about. So all the marketing and whatnot was a tool for the brands that participated in Trans Iowa with me. And that is okay. In the end, what they did with Trans Iowa benefited gravel riding overall, and to me, that was the most important thing. Bringing this style of cycling to more rider's attention. In that, the marketing done out of Trans Iowa was somewhat successful, I hope. 

Next: Let's get on with the show.......

Trans Iowa Stories: A Tool For Marketing

Part of a trade show booth put together by Salsa Cycles in 2014.

 "Trans Iowa Stories" is an every Sunday post which helps tell the stories behind the event. You can check out other posts about this subject by going back to earlier Sunday posts on this blog. Thanks and enjoy!

By 2012 or so, the gravel riding scene had generated enough interest from participants that bicycling related companies started to take notice. Salsa Cycles being perhaps the first to do so by introducing a purpose built gravel bike in the Warbird. Although it could be argued that the Titanium La Cruz was really the first effort they made to get into the gravel scene.

Of course, when you make a new category of bicycle you are going to need tires to work with it. There were basically none up until Salsa Cycles convinced Donn Kellogg, then running a tire brand called Clement, to produce some. The MSO became that tire, and then with the introduction of the Raleigh Tamland series, it was on from that point. Then, when that happened, well the marketing was sure to follow, and it did big time.

As it related to Trans Iowa, that all could have happened a lot sooner than it did. Jeff Kerkove, who was a big name in solo 24hr racing at the time we started Trans Iowa, had many connections stemming from the endurance mountain bike racing community. One of those relationships was with Red Bull, who sponsored mountain biking events and several athletes in mountain biking. Red Bull agreed to sponsor the first Trans Iowa. It wasn't some token effort either.

This 40ft tent was only one facet of the Red Bull sponsorship of T.I.v1 (Image by D. Kerkove)

Red Bull made a plan to activate their sponsorship across the entire route of the point-to-point event. Remember- that's over 300 miles of Iowa! Their plan was to send out 40 foot tents to the mid-point mandated time cut point and to the finish. We kind of dissuaded them a bit on the tent deal, but they ended up doing the Algona checkpoint nonetheless. Another facet of the sponsorship was to provide event participants with Red Bull energy drink.

That plan was not well thought out, and with all Jeff and I had going on, Red Bull's efforts got lost in the haze. Not many people know this, but two young employees of Red Bull actually traipsed across Iowa handing out Red Bull product to confused Iowans along what these two young people thought was the route. They didn't quite understand we were out on gravel roads, and yet it didn't seem to matter to these two folks. I heard vague reports of them standing along the main drags of Forest City and Cresco handing people cans of Red Bull and yakking about some crazy race called "Trans Iowa" and would it be coming through here?

People must have thought they were aliens.

But the Red Bull thing could have been huge had we pursued that angle. I know they didn't understand what they had gotten themselves into, and if we knew what we had gotten ourselves into, we could have sold that to Red Bull easily. How do I know this? Well, Red Bull was a long time sponsor of the DK200, that's how I know. But it wasn't to be, and maybe that's a good thing.

Of course, the Salsa Cycles thing kind of snuck in there when they started offering prizing to Trans Iowa event participants and then started testing product at the event. By Trans Iowa v9, they had the Warbird officially released. To market the bike, they concocted a plan to get riders on Warbirds into Trans Iowa and the DK200. At that time, these were considered to be the two plumbs of the gravel cycling world's pie.  If the Warbird could be shown to be able to compliment a rider's efforts through these long endurance grinders, then it would be good enough for anybody.

Raw camera imagery from Jason Boucher from T.I.v9

So, I knew that Salsa wanted to get certain riders in for Trans Iowa v9, and a soft request was made to see if I might be amenable to ushering through a few guys in the registration, but you know where that went, I'm sure! Regardless, they pretty much ended up with the guys they wanted, mainly Tim Ek, then a sponsored Salsa Cycles athlete, and a guy by the name of Paul Errington, of the U.K.

Prizing and arrangements to have Jason Boucher, former head of Salsa Cycles but still with the parent company, QBP, along to take imagery, were set. But at the last minute, (two weeks or so out), a request was made to allow another QBP photographer access to the event. His name was Scott Haraldson. This was not what I had envisioned, but after a few tersely stated emails from me wanting specifics, it pretty much came out that Scott was there from a QBP/Salsa marketing standpoint only.

That headache was eventually navigated and to be honest, I don't think I even saw Scott at anytime out on the course. Come to find out he basically shadowed Ek and Errington only. This rubbed me a bit the wrong way, as it could have been "outside support" from the standpoint of cheer leading/outside encouragement. I don't know that this actually happened, but I wasn't about to have that situation potentially happen again in a Trans Iowa. Fortunately, Trans Iowa fell way down on the lists of marketing folks to target for their products and requests like that of QBP were not endured after T.I.v9. Only WTB really used Trans Iowa as a marketing tool after this, and they did it in a very organic, sincere way.

When WTB came a-knockin', it was by way of sponsoring the event with tires. When I say tires, I mean cases of tires. They sent Nano 40's one year, which many folks got their hands on. For T.I.v11, they sent about ten cases of Nano 40 TCS tires that, due to the situation of T.I.v11, I had to hand out in a bar in Grinnell, and the left overs were used for sponsor prizing the following year. Then there was the way WTB used Trans Iowa in marketing.

Will Ritchie, then of WTB, in T.I.v12. Image by Wally Kilburg

WTB had a gravel cycling, and more specifically, a Trans Iowa advocate, in Will Ritchie. Will, believed in what Trans Iowa was all about so much that he pretty much went full immersion and not only asked for, and got, tires made for gravel racing/riding, but attended and rode in Trans Iowa. He basically lavished Trans Iowa with sponsorship unheard of before or since.

Trans Iowa got rare pre-production tires for the winners of V-12. Trans Iowa got a piece of a shipment of tires meant for OEM's to test ahead of them being for sale. Trans Iowa got tires from the first batch of tubeless gravel tires ever made for sale and which were so much in demand that I was receiving calls from bike shops begging me to sell them tires from the prizing stash.

Will and WTB got valuable exposure, testing time, and came up with at least two designs directly coming out of their Trans Iowa experiences. Those tires being the Riddler and the Resolute. The Riddler, a variant on a theme first released as a mountain bike tire, is a perennial spec on many gravel bikes while the Resolute, a purely Trans Iowa derived design, has gone on to become my favorite tire for gravel. It is criminally underrated in my opinion.

But getting back to the marketing- WTB never really overtly called out T.I. in their marketing, nor did they overtly use Trans Iowa in their imagery. Not a big deal to me. I suspect that was mostly done out of respect stemming from Will Ritchie's deep feelings toward the event itself. Will penned a couple of heartfelt blog posts once on the WTB blog. You can see those here and here. I don't know how many folks actually read blog posts on brand websites, so those may have been mostly under the radar for many cyclists, but they are well worth reading. Will has a way with words, and they are good reads. But the point is, you can see the deep respect that Will had for Trans Iowa, and it seeped into the way WTB went about doing gravel specific tires and in their marketing.

A view of the Trans Iowa inspired panel in the Salsa Cycles' booth from Frostbike.

Salsa, on the other hand, actually put images and words about Trans Iowa into one of their catalogs and into their trade show booth appearance for a couple of seasons. I got to experience the trade show booth at Frostbike and it was impressive. I cannot say that ether Salsa's or WTB's way of marketing T.I. was right or wrong. It was good. It was good for gravel grinding in general. It didn't do anything for Trans Iowa because I was not doing the event in such a manner that capitalizing on the attention would make sense.

 So, it was flattering, for sure, and I was grateful for the momentary spotlight, but in terms of bringing more prestige, glory, and probably most importantly and obviously, monetary benefits? Nah.... not so much. I wasn't geared toward making coin off Trans Iowa, and that wasn't what it was about. So all the marketing and whatnot was a tool for the brands that participated in Trans Iowa with me. And that is okay. In the end, what they did with Trans Iowa benefited gravel riding overall, and to me, that was the most important thing. Bringing this style of cycling to more rider's attention. In that, the marketing done out of Trans Iowa was somewhat successful, I hope. 

Next: Let's get on with the show.......

Friday News And Views

T.I.v14 Registration Update:

The first phase of registration for the 14th Trans Iowa was completed Wednesday. There were six spots available which were not claimed, so I am pushing those down to the Vets & Finishers classes which now will have 61 slots available to fill before I would require a lottery. Last year I didn't have to do that. Maybe I won't have to do that this year. Hard to say. But if the Vets and Finishers don't add up to more than 60, there will be open spots getting kicked down to the Rookies. I'll know more on October 18th when the Finishers and Vets window for registration closes.

So.......yeah! Did you see that Dan Hughes, (T.I.v13 winner), Greg Gleason, (T.I.v10 overall winner, T.I.v 12 co-winner), Walter Zitz, (T.I.v12 co-winner), and Eric Brunt (T.I.v8 overall winner), are on the roster? Plus Mark Johnson is signed on in the SS/Fixed category, as always, and is a threat to win the overall as well as the SS/Fixed category. Sarah Cooper is signed on, but she will not be racing for the Open Womens category, as she is going to give it a go on a tandem with veteran/finisher/super-volunteer Steve Fuller.

Interesting field so far in terms of the competitive, pointy end of the T.I. field. It will be cool to find out who amongst the finishers and Vets comes back, and ultimately who will be the new gun coming out of the Rookie class.There is always someone or two that ends up pushing the front of the race every year.

"Ultra-premium" tire levers "optimized for carbon fiber rims"? How did we do tire removal without these?

Spendy Levers:

Silca is now a US owned and operated company and when they came out of the gates with that track pump for $400- plus dollars, I figured it was just a stunt to get attention and then they would go back to being reasonable. But ohhhhh nooooo! I was very wrong about this. In fact, everything Silca has proffered since then has made me shake my head in disgust and disbelief. The latest is a pair of $18.00 tire levers.

Eight. Teen. Dollars!

The marketing blather may as well not exist after I saw the price. Look....... I've been a mechanic in a bike shop setting for nearly 20 years. Tire levers are not an issue for carbon fiber rims unless you are using metal ones or are hamfisted. I've been working on taking tires off and installing them on carbon rims for well over a decade. Any ol' lever will do the job, (again, as long as it is not metal), and my current favorite is the Pedros levers. Did you know that you can buy three sets of Pedros tire levers for the price of a pair of Silca ones? Oh......and if you can mount a tire without levers, you should. Many times you can.


Question: When will the Wallmart family buy Silca like they did Rapha? These two brands were made for each other.Those Walton boys oughta look in to that. Otherwise I don't see the point here. That sort of money for tire levers is just goofy.

But they will probably sell out by the caseload. Meh!

Ignore that "Clement" branding. It's "Donnelly" now.

 Big Gravel Tire:

So, many gravel tires that exist are in the 35mm-45mm size range and for good reason. Most "gravel/all road" bikes won't fit anything bigger than that. At least in 700c sizes. Cyclo Cross bikes? Fahgeddaboudit. 

However; now there are a few rigs sporting capacity for up to 2" wide 700c rubber. And let's not forget that many Fargos and the like are used for gravel travel and those bikes might benefit from a bigger tire which is a gravel specialist. 

So, there are not many tires that fit the bill for fast, voluminous casings, and that have a modicum of traction for the hard packed dirt sections. The MSO tread design does have what many riders like, and about a year ago, Donnelly Cycling introduced the 700 X 50mm MSO with a tubeless ready casing. Then it was still Clement, and the tires I have to test are branded as such. That said, going forward they will have Donnelly branding, but they will be the same tire. I don't have a bike with a "gravel specific" geometry that fits these so they will likely go on the Fargo Gen I bike with a tubeless set up.

I hope to get that done this weekend but I also will be testing a different sealant combination so I may not have everything in hand until next week. Hint: It will be a competitor to Stan's Race Day sealant.

Okay, more soon..... Have a great weekend!


 

Friday News And Views

T.I.v14 Registration Update:

The first phase of registration for the 14th Trans Iowa was completed Wednesday. There were six spots available which were not claimed, so I am pushing those down to the Vets & Finishers classes which now will have 61 slots available to fill before I would require a lottery. Last year I didn't have to do that. Maybe I won't have to do that this year. Hard to say. But if the Vets and Finishers don't add up to more than 60, there will be open spots getting kicked down to the Rookies. I'll know more on October 18th when the Finishers and Vets window for registration closes.

So.......yeah! Did you see that Dan Hughes, (T.I.v13 winner), Greg Gleason, (T.I.v10 overall winner, T.I.v 12 co-winner), Walter Zitz, (T.I.v12 co-winner), and Eric Brunt (T.I.v8 overall winner), are on the roster? Plus Mark Johnson is signed on in the SS/Fixed category, as always, and is a threat to win the overall as well as the SS/Fixed category. Sarah Cooper is signed on, but she will not be racing for the Open Womens category, as she is going to give it a go on a tandem with veteran/finisher/super-volunteer Steve Fuller.

Interesting field so far in terms of the competitive, pointy end of the T.I. field. It will be cool to find out who amongst the finishers and Vets comes back, and ultimately who will be the new gun coming out of the Rookie class.There is always someone or two that ends up pushing the front of the race every year.

"Ultra-premium" tire levers "optimized for carbon fiber rims"? How did we do tire removal without these?

Spendy Levers:

Silca is now a US owned and operated company and when they came out of the gates with that track pump for $400- plus dollars, I figured it was just a stunt to get attention and then they would go back to being reasonable. But ohhhhh nooooo! I was very wrong about this. In fact, everything Silca has proffered since then has made me shake my head in disgust and disbelief. The latest is a pair of $18.00 tire levers.

Eight. Teen. Dollars!

The marketing blather may as well not exist after I saw the price. Look....... I've been a mechanic in a bike shop setting for nearly 20 years. Tire levers are not an issue for carbon fiber rims unless you are using metal ones or are hamfisted. I've been working on taking tires off and installing them on carbon rims for well over a decade. Any ol' lever will do the job, (again, as long as it is not metal), and my current favorite is the Pedros levers. Did you know that you can buy three sets of Pedros tire levers for the price of a pair of Silca ones? Oh......and if you can mount a tire without levers, you should. Many times you can.


Question: When will the Wallmart family buy Silca like they did Rapha? These two brands were made for each other.Those Walton boys oughta look in to that. Otherwise I don't see the point here. That sort of money for tire levers is just goofy.

But they will probably sell out by the caseload. Meh!

Ignore that "Clement" branding. It's "Donnelly" now.

 Big Gravel Tire:

So, many gravel tires that exist are in the 35mm-45mm size range and for good reason. Most "gravel/all road" bikes won't fit anything bigger than that. At least in 700c sizes. Cyclo Cross bikes? Fahgeddaboudit. 

However; now there are a few rigs sporting capacity for up to 2" wide 700c rubber. And let's not forget that many Fargos and the like are used for gravel travel and those bikes might benefit from a bigger tire which is a gravel specialist. 

So, there are not many tires that fit the bill for fast, voluminous casings, and that have a modicum of traction for the hard packed dirt sections. The MSO tread design does have what many riders like, and about a year ago, Donnelly Cycling introduced the 700 X 50mm MSO with a tubeless ready casing. Then it was still Clement, and the tires I have to test are branded as such. That said, going forward they will have Donnelly branding, but they will be the same tire. I don't have a bike with a "gravel specific" geometry that fits these so they will likely go on the Fargo Gen I bike with a tubeless set up.

I hope to get that done this weekend but I also will be testing a different sealant combination so I may not have everything in hand until next week. Hint: It will be a competitor to Stan's Race Day sealant.

Okay, more soon..... Have a great weekend!


 

Friday News And Views

Don't say "Clement" anymore. The brand change takes effect immediately.

Donnelly Sports Launches Donnelly Cycling- Stops Licensing For Clement Brand:

One of the first gravel specific tires that came out in March of 2012 was the Clement MSO 40mm tire. Along with that model was the release of the 35mm USH, also a great tire on gravel. It set the stage for what has become a hot niche in the cycling world.

Five years down the road, nearly every tire and bicycle manufacturer is pumping out some sort of "adventure/gravel/all roads" product. A lot of that is due to the foresight and passion of Donn Kellog, the head of Donnelly Cycling. He researched the market potential, he spoke with riders that were engaged in gravel riding, and Donn made tires for gravel happen a long time before many companies did.

I've met the man and he is one of the most driven, passionate people I know in the world of cycling. I don't doubt that Donnelly Cycling will become a well known name in the circles of cyclo cross tires and gravel tire users. In fact, Donn owns the designs for such tires as the PDX and MSO, among  others, along with a wheel system which will carry over to the new Donnelly brand.

The reason for the change is due to the licensee, Pirelli Tires, who now have decided to enter the cycling market with tires and more, effectively becoming a competitor to Clement. Read more about this by clicking the link to the "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" story concerning this.

Pivot's new ten grand retail e-mtb - Now only planned to be sold in Europe.

Eurobike '17: The Hot E-MTB Market Gets Crowded:

If you read all the trade rags and pay attention to marketing you already know that e-mtb bikes- motorized off-road vehicles that just happen to have pedals- are the hottest selling product in bicycle shops across the Continent. Some claim that between 50% and 75% of all bicycles sold will be electric motor equipped vehicles that happen to have pedals within the next few years.

Interestingly, there are several things bubbling underneath the attention grabbing headlines which I find curious. For instance, there is a debate about standards for these motorized bikes in terms of helmets. In the Netherlands, they have already passed legislation for helmets to be used by these electric powered bike riders and they will have to use what amounts to moped rated helmets. Other countries are still debating this.

Component manufacturers are already offering heavy duty, down hill racing rated brakes for the electric powered mountain bikes. The high weight of these machines requires a more powerful braking system. Most e-mtb's weigh in excess of 50lbs. Add in the weight of an average rider, who may be carrying an extra battery to extend his range, and the weight gets up there pretty quickly.  I look for even more electric motor bike specific brakes, tires, and suspension systems to be introduced which will handle the mass generated by adding the battery and motor to these two wheeled  off road machines. Yes.....that will make them even heavier. But to keep weight in check, you have to go to the extremes that Pivot Bikes has and that bike still weighs in at 45lbs. It is claimed to be the lightest in its category.

I also found the following curious. In a story in "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" recently, the largest seller of electric powered bicycles in the US, Pedego, was said to be selling bikes which can be throttle or pedal assist. This runs counter to what many are saying when they claim that "e-bikes are okay because they are pedal assist only and there are laws regulating the power they can have". Well, that isn't true, not 100%. People are using throttle controlled electric motorcycles with pedals now and they are modifying them for higher outputs. I know because it is happening right here where I live. It isn't going to stop either, just because there are "laws" against it. First off, how will the laws be enforced if these vehicles are not registered and insured? Furthermore; there is evidence from the off road side pointing to a similar end game.

In the interview regarding the Pivot Shuttle with Pivot head honch, Chris Cocalis, on "Pink Bike.com", Cocalis is asked about higher powered, "closed course only" electric powered off road bikes and how Pivot will place itself in the future regarding these bikes. He is quoted as saying, "There are companies that seem to have already entered into a bit of a horsepower race and there are companies working hard on e-motocross bikes."

Boom.

Terrene Tires new Cake Eater fat bike tire

Terrene Tires Debuts A New Fat Bike Tire:

I've said before that product names are getting weirder because so many names are copyrighted and registered trade marks that almost nothing that makes sense is available to name a product these days. Case in point, the new tire from Terrene called "Cake Eater". Maybe it comes from the phrase "You can't have your cake and eat it too", but if so, that's kind of a stretch. Anyway........

I like what Terrene has done here and I think this might be a candidate for my "commute by fat bike" rig. Stud pockets and major siping with a fast rolling tread design make this look far better than the Wazia which I strongly considered last season for the same idea.

I'm not in a huge rush to get a studded fat bike tire because the only reason I'd need that is for Winter road riding. Icy streets on the way to work would be a reason and possibly country riding as well. Studded fat bike tires are either poor rolling beasts or cost an arm and a leg, or both. This tire, with the ability to set the studs on the outer edges while having the siped center knobs is looking like a design I could get on with. Pump it up for faster rolling and let the air out to engage the studs. Plus it is reasonably priced, comes in several versions, and should be available this Fall.

Okay, that's a wrap. Have an awesome Labor Day Weekend!

Friday News And Views

Don't say "Clement" anymore. The brand change takes effect immediately.

Donnelly Sports Launches Donnelly Cycling- Stops Licensing For Clement Brand:

One of the first gravel specific tires that came out in March of 2012 was the Clement MSO 40mm tire. Along with that model was the release of the 35mm USH, also a great tire on gravel. It set the stage for what has become a hot niche in the cycling world.

Five years down the road, nearly every tire and bicycle manufacturer is pumping out some sort of "adventure/gravel/all roads" product. A lot of that is due to the foresight and passion of Donn Kellog, the head of Donnelly Cycling. He researched the market potential, he spoke with riders that were engaged in gravel riding, and Donn made tires for gravel happen a long time before many companies did.

I've met the man and he is one of the most driven, passionate people I know in the world of cycling. I don't doubt that Donnelly Cycling will become a well known name in the circles of cyclo cross tires and gravel tire users. In fact, Donn owns the designs for such tires as the PDX and MSO, among  others, along with a wheel system which will carry over to the new Donnelly brand.

The reason for the change is due to the licensee, Pirelli Tires, who now have decided to enter the cycling market with tires and more, effectively becoming a competitor to Clement. Read more about this by clicking the link to the "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" story concerning this.

Pivot's new ten grand retail e-mtb - Now only planned to be sold in Europe.

Eurobike '17: The Hot E-MTB Market Gets Crowded:

If you read all the trade rags and pay attention to marketing you already know that e-mtb bikes- motorized off-road vehicles that just happen to have pedals- are the hottest selling product in bicycle shops across the Continent. Some claim that between 50% and 75% of all bicycles sold will be electric motor equipped vehicles that happen to have pedals within the next few years.

Interestingly, there are several things bubbling underneath the attention grabbing headlines which I find curious. For instance, there is a debate about standards for these motorized bikes in terms of helmets. In the Netherlands, they have already passed legislation for helmets to be used by these electric powered bike riders and they will have to use what amounts to moped rated helmets. Other countries are still debating this.

Component manufacturers are already offering heavy duty, down hill racing rated brakes for the electric powered mountain bikes. The high weight of these machines requires a more powerful braking system. Most e-mtb's weigh in excess of 50lbs. Add in the weight of an average rider, who may be carrying an extra battery to extend his range, and the weight gets up there pretty quickly.  I look for even more electric motor bike specific brakes, tires, and suspension systems to be introduced which will handle the mass generated by adding the battery and motor to these two wheeled  off road machines. Yes.....that will make them even heavier. But to keep weight in check, you have to go to the extremes that Pivot Bikes has and that bike still weighs in at 45lbs. It is claimed to be the lightest in its category.

I also found the following curious. In a story in "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" recently, the largest seller of electric powered bicycles in the US, Pedego, was said to be selling bikes which can be throttle or pedal assist. This runs counter to what many are saying when they claim that "e-bikes are okay because they are pedal assist only and there are laws regulating the power they can have". Well, that isn't true, not 100%. People are using throttle controlled electric motorcycles with pedals now and they are modifying them for higher outputs. I know because it is happening right here where I live. It isn't going to stop either, just because there are "laws" against it. First off, how will the laws be enforced if these vehicles are not registered and insured? Furthermore; there is evidence from the off road side pointing to a similar end game.

In the interview regarding the Pivot Shuttle with Pivot head honch, Chris Cocalis, on "Pink Bike.com", Cocalis is asked about higher powered, "closed course only" electric powered off road bikes and how Pivot will place itself in the future regarding these bikes. He is quoted as saying, "There are companies that seem to have already entered into a bit of a horsepower race and there are companies working hard on e-motocross bikes."

Boom.

Terrene Tires new Cake Eater fat bike tire

Terrene Tires Debuts A New Fat Bike Tire:

I've said before that product names are getting weirder because so many names are copyrighted and registered trade marks that almost nothing that makes sense is available to name a product these days. Case in point, the new tire from Terrene called "Cake Eater". Maybe it comes from the phrase "You can't have your cake and eat it too", but if so, that's kind of a stretch. Anyway........

I like what Terrene has done here and I think this might be a candidate for my "commute by fat bike" rig. Stud pockets and major siping with a fast rolling tread design make this look far better than the Wazia which I strongly considered last season for the same idea.

I'm not in a huge rush to get a studded fat bike tire because the only reason I'd need that is for Winter road riding. Icy streets on the way to work would be a reason and possibly country riding as well. Studded fat bike tires are either poor rolling beasts or cost an arm and a leg, or both. This tire, with the ability to set the studs on the outer edges while having the siped center knobs is looking like a design I could get on with. Pump it up for faster rolling and let the air out to engage the studs. Plus it is reasonably priced, comes in several versions, and should be available this Fall.

Okay, that's a wrap. Have an awesome Labor Day Weekend!

They Get Longer From Here

The wind was stiff coming up from the South

What an incredible Winter so far here in Iowa. Okay......yes, it doesn't officially start till today, but generally we're very cold and have some snow on the ground at this time of the year. We have neither now. While we have had a few days that were cold here and there, for the most part we've held steady in the upper 30's and all the way up to 50 degrees since October ended. That's just plain weird. Really weird!

Last year we had some great days leading up to Christmas too, so it's been two years running with extremely warm, (relatively speaking), late Falls/early Winters with great road conditions in the country for riding. I've been totally taking advantage of that, and Sunday was no exception.

The plan was to swap out wheels on the Black Mountain Cycles rig and use the HED Ardennes+ wheels which were set up with the tubeless Clement MSO 36mm tires. With everything pretty much dialed in, I was ready to ride just after noon and as I was about to leave my daughter advised me that it was "really windy out", and that I should be careful. I saw that the computer showed that it was 20mph out of the South, but as I have found, you can easily add 5mph to that when you get out there and are actually dealing with the wind. It seems it is always worse away from the city.

So, I did the table top flat grind on the Sergent Road bike path South till I was well out of town and could jump on Aker Road, which is my usual route South. Since I was out of sorts a few weeks back, and feeling very weak, I assumed that I had contracted some malady or another, and since then I have been building my way back up to longer rides. The wind was amplifying the difficulty, but what was there to do? I either learn to deal with that and get stronger or I don't ride outside, which isn't an option at all for me. More power to you who can ride indoors on a trainer. That isn't for me at all!

Stopped to pay my respects and remember how blessed I am.

Heading South out in the open country, I felt okay, but it was obvious that I was working hard. Still, I felt I was putting down some steady power and my breathing was steady and not labored. That's good progress so far since a few weeks back. I figured on pushing a few extra miles since I was last out this way a week ago. I don't want to over do it, but I want to go a little longer every time I can get out.

Interestingly, there are scads of cemeteries in Iowa and they can be found all over the countryside. I often see several on my rides around here. Another commonly seen thing are markers on highways where someone has lost their life. Used to be that insurance companies would put markers out to advertise their business and honor the dead, but that stopped back in the 1970's and now individuals will make their own, home made markers. Again, this is very common on paved roadways, since that's where most accidents occur. However; there is a marker on Aker Road, which is curious, since it isn't where you might expect it to be. I have seen these homemade markers on occasion in the country on rural roads, but they are rare. Anyway, I thought to stop and take a picture of the one and only one I have noticed around here on a gravel road. Maybe I've forgotten others? I should check that out........

 So, anyway, I was feeling strong against the wind and at one point I was so optimistic that I was considering a longer ride, but my practical side prevailed. Keep it just a bit longer, build up, and before I know it, the longer rides will be happening. I'd like to get to where I can go down to Traer and use that as a stop, then come back. That will be 60-ish miles or more depending upon the exact route, so not only do I have some work to do to get there, but I need longer days to do it on! With today being the shortest day of the year, I am hoping to start seeing some longer days on the bike in the near future.

Taking a break on Quarry Road.

Of course, that all depends upon when and if Winter decides to rear its frozen head again. I am quite certain that will happen at some point. Then I will shift gears to riding the fat bikes and I will be doing a totally different kind of riding then. Pushing, going slower in snow, and busting my own trail. That will be a more time based activity and miles won't matter as much. I know sometimes I work harder fat biking than I do any other type of cycling!.

Whenever it comes, Winter will certainly put a different spin on things around here, but until then, I will be riding gravel roads as much as I possibly can. The thing is, when Winter does hit, even if I can ride gravel. it is probably going to have to be on fatter tires to deal with the ice and snow. Which isn't all bad, but you never know what the air temperatures will be and add in wind chill and, well....... Staying in the woods and within the city might be the best option then. 

Any way that you slice it, things are going to be looking up. Longer rides, as long as I stay healthy, and longer days are both on the way. It's a great Christmas present, as far as I am concerned, and I am glad that I have the capacity to ride as much as I do at the age that I am. I am pretty blessed, really. So, I'll be taking each warm day as it comes, and keeping in mind that one more warm day now is one less day of "real" Winter. One day closer to Spring.

Sorry if you are a snow lover! I like it just fine, but this is more fun, and I like warmer weather for cycling.

They Get Longer From Here

The wind was stiff coming up from the South

What an incredible Winter so far here in Iowa. Okay......yes, it doesn't officially start till today, but generally we're very cold and have some snow on the ground at this time of the year. We have neither now. While we have had a few days that were cold here and there, for the most part we've held steady in the upper 30's and all the way up to 50 degrees since October ended. That's just plain weird. Really weird!

Last year we had some great days leading up to Christmas too, so it's been two years running with extremely warm, (relatively speaking), late Falls/early Winters with great road conditions in the country for riding. I've been totally taking advantage of that, and Sunday was no exception.

The plan was to swap out wheels on the Black Mountain Cycles rig and use the HED Ardennes+ wheels which were set up with the tubeless Clement MSO 36mm tires. With everything pretty much dialed in, I was ready to ride just after noon and as I was about to leave my daughter advised me that it was "really windy out", and that I should be careful. I saw that the computer showed that it was 20mph out of the South, but as I have found, you can easily add 5mph to that when you get out there and are actually dealing with the wind. It seems it is always worse away from the city.

So, I did the table top flat grind on the Sergent Road bike path South till I was well out of town and could jump on Aker Road, which is my usual route South. Since I was out of sorts a few weeks back, and feeling very weak, I assumed that I had contracted some malady or another, and since then I have been building my way back up to longer rides. The wind was amplifying the difficulty, but what was there to do? I either learn to deal with that and get stronger or I don't ride outside, which isn't an option at all for me. More power to you who can ride indoors on a trainer. That isn't for me at all!

Stopped to pay my respects and remember how blessed I am.

Heading South out in the open country, I felt okay, but it was obvious that I was working hard. Still, I felt I was putting down some steady power and my breathing was steady and not labored. That's good progress so far since a few weeks back. I figured on pushing a few extra miles since I was last out this way a week ago. I don't want to over do it, but I want to go a little longer every time I can get out.

Interestingly, there are scads of cemeteries in Iowa and they can be found all over the countryside. I often see several on my rides around here. Another commonly seen thing are markers on highways where someone has lost their life. Used to be that insurance companies would put markers out to advertise their business and honor the dead, but that stopped back in the 1970's and now individuals will make their own, home made markers. Again, this is very common on paved roadways, since that's where most accidents occur. However; there is a marker on Aker Road, which is curious, since it isn't where you might expect it to be. I have seen these homemade markers on occasion in the country on rural roads, but they are rare. Anyway, I thought to stop and take a picture of the one and only one I have noticed around here on a gravel road. Maybe I've forgotten others? I should check that out........

 So, anyway, I was feeling strong against the wind and at one point I was so optimistic that I was considering a longer ride, but my practical side prevailed. Keep it just a bit longer, build up, and before I know it, the longer rides will be happening. I'd like to get to where I can go down to Traer and use that as a stop, then come back. That will be 60-ish miles or more depending upon the exact route, so not only do I have some work to do to get there, but I need longer days to do it on! With today being the shortest day of the year, I am hoping to start seeing some longer days on the bike in the near future.

Taking a break on Quarry Road.

Of course, that all depends upon when and if Winter decides to rear its frozen head again. I am quite certain that will happen at some point. Then I will shift gears to riding the fat bikes and I will be doing a totally different kind of riding then. Pushing, going slower in snow, and busting my own trail. That will be a more time based activity and miles won't matter as much. I know sometimes I work harder fat biking than I do any other type of cycling!.

Whenever it comes, Winter will certainly put a different spin on things around here, but until then, I will be riding gravel roads as much as I possibly can. The thing is, when Winter does hit, even if I can ride gravel. it is probably going to have to be on fatter tires to deal with the ice and snow. Which isn't all bad, but you never know what the air temperatures will be and add in wind chill and, well....... Staying in the woods and within the city might be the best option then. 

Any way that you slice it, things are going to be looking up. Longer rides, as long as I stay healthy, and longer days are both on the way. It's a great Christmas present, as far as I am concerned, and I am glad that I have the capacity to ride as much as I do at the age that I am. I am pretty blessed, really. So, I'll be taking each warm day as it comes, and keeping in mind that one more warm day now is one less day of "real" Winter. One day closer to Spring.

Sorry if you are a snow lover! I like it just fine, but this is more fun, and I like warmer weather for cycling.

Ground Down

Barren lands

Sometimes I feel that when we are getting close to the Winter Solstice, and the snow hasn't taken a hold of the land just yet, that color is drained from the world. To me, when it gets like this, it seems as though the world is best viewed from a black and white perspective. Maybe the angle of the Sun in relationship to the latitude I live at makes the contrasts between dark and shadow more interesting, and more descriptive of existence now, than times when there are bright, vibrant colors. It's not that I am depressed, per se, because I am not at the present time, but black and white "speaks" to me now more than at any other time of the year. So, you are seeing more black and white images here due to that reasoning of mine.

Well, at any rate, that all has nothing to do with the title of today's post. That all has to do with how I've been feeling on rides of late. I've been tired, lacking pep, maybe a bit "ground down" in terms of fitness. It just seems as though I am working twice as hard for less than I could manage when it was warmer out. Maybe the cold has nothing to do with this, but it could be that I have a mild cold! Seems I've been sneezing a lot of late and my head is draining stuff more than usual. Maybe it is my body's way of telling me to take a break. Anyway....

The temperatures have been rather on the mild side for early December and are forecast to only get a little bit better. We had a similar situation last year where I was out during the weeks running up to Christmas only to have Winter shut everything down and clamp an icy grip on us until later on in March. I'll take it again this year, and try to squeeze out whatever rides I can get in before the hammer falls down and Winter shows up for real.

It was a fenders kind of day out there.

I'm hearing that now this year is to close out on a warmer note and maybe that will extend on into January a bit. Hmm....... We will see about that! But if so, I am prepared with a couple of rigs sitting at the ready outfitted with fenders. Those came in rather handy yesterday since the roads were soft and wet in many places. The frost comes and goes everyday now, so it is like an early Spring situation out there on the gravel roads. The frost comes at night, then the warm air and Sun work to turn it into moisture that softens the roads and makes a fine, mud-paste that splatters all over, if you do not have fenders.

I'm riding these Clement 36mm tubeless tires, and to be honest, if it stays like this much longer I'll be wanting to start to ride my 29"ers or the Fat Fargo. Those "skinny" tires cut in and the rolling resistance gets crazy. That was a mild nuisance yesterday, but what was really getting to me was my low power versus the Northwest wind I was riding into.

It all conspired to grind me down even more. But hey! At least I got to ride my bicycle!

Ground Down

Barren lands

Sometimes I feel that when we are getting close to the Winter Solstice, and the snow hasn't taken a hold of the land just yet, that color is drained from the world. To me, when it gets like this, it seems as though the world is best viewed from a black and white perspective. Maybe the angle of the Sun in relationship to the latitude I live at makes the contrasts between dark and shadow more interesting, and more descriptive of existence now, than times when there are bright, vibrant colors. It's not that I am depressed, per se, because I am not at the present time, but black and white "speaks" to me now more than at any other time of the year. So, you are seeing more black and white images here due to that reasoning of mine.

Well, at any rate, that all has nothing to do with the title of today's post. That all has to do with how I've been feeling on rides of late. I've been tired, lacking pep, maybe a bit "ground down" in terms of fitness. It just seems as though I am working twice as hard for less than I could manage when it was warmer out. Maybe the cold has nothing to do with this, but it could be that I have a mild cold! Seems I've been sneezing a lot of late and my head is draining stuff more than usual. Maybe it is my body's way of telling me to take a break. Anyway....

The temperatures have been rather on the mild side for early December and are forecast to only get a little bit better. We had a similar situation last year where I was out during the weeks running up to Christmas only to have Winter shut everything down and clamp an icy grip on us until later on in March. I'll take it again this year, and try to squeeze out whatever rides I can get in before the hammer falls down and Winter shows up for real.

It was a fenders kind of day out there.

I'm hearing that now this year is to close out on a warmer note and maybe that will extend on into January a bit. Hmm....... We will see about that! But if so, I am prepared with a couple of rigs sitting at the ready outfitted with fenders. Those came in rather handy yesterday since the roads were soft and wet in many places. The frost comes and goes everyday now, so it is like an early Spring situation out there on the gravel roads. The frost comes at night, then the warm air and Sun work to turn it into moisture that softens the roads and makes a fine, mud-paste that splatters all over, if you do not have fenders.

I'm riding these Clement 36mm tubeless tires, and to be honest, if it stays like this much longer I'll be wanting to start to ride my 29"ers or the Fat Fargo. Those "skinny" tires cut in and the rolling resistance gets crazy. That was a mild nuisance yesterday, but what was really getting to me was my low power versus the Northwest wind I was riding into.

It all conspired to grind me down even more. But hey! At least I got to ride my bicycle!

A Tale Of Two Tubeless Set Ups

Tubeless and meant to be.

Back in 2012 I had my first experiences with Clement tires and I was playing around with two models- The MSO 40mm and the USH 35mm tires. I liked the MSO straight away, but I wasn't falling in love with the narrower, harsher riding USH. So, I decided upon trying the USH out with the Velocity A-23's in a tubeless manner. That went........well, rather poorly. I struggled for weeks until I finally got the USH tires set up tubeless with some guidance from my friend MG. You can check out a brief recap of the deal by clicking here to read my August 2012 post about it.

The USH was vastly better tubeless, but the tire leaked down a lot, and I wasn't 100% confident in the fit on the rim, being very afraid to raise the pressures above 45psi for fear of blowing them off. That pressure, as it turns out, wasn't high enough to handle me on gravel roads. So, I abandoned the whole deal, and since the USH was a wholly different tire in a worse way with tubes, I never rode them again.

The silver A-23's make the BMC look more classy than ever.

Fast forward to November of this year. I received the newest tire from Clement for review on RidingGravel.com. It is a 36mm wide tire in the MSO model. Very similar width to the USH, but with a design that considered tubeless set ups from the onset.

Using the same A-23 rims- as in the exact same ones as I had in 2012- I was able to set up both tires tubeless from the beginning to the end of the process in a half an hour. Compare that to the hours and hours of work and trial and error to get those USH tires to go tubeless and it becomes evident that a specific design for tubeless makes a world of difference here.

Plus, I can run higher pressures since the tire fits better and has an actual tubeless bead that can handle the stresses of being set up tubeless. The sole barrier against you having a great ride or having the tire blow off the rim catastrophically and causing you to biff yourself spectacularly is the bead of the tire and how it fits the rim. And things could go really bad if it were only a folding bead tire like the USH I tried. A real tubeless design? That's peace of mind right there, that's what that is! Now I can have a decent pressure for me and my style of riding. That's important.

One more thing to add, and that is that these are, (hopefully they rectified this), compatible with sealant. The old, folding bead Clements were not getting along with sealants at all. Delaminated casings were the main cause for concern here, but blistering was also noted by some riders. So, say what you will about converting tires that are folding bead, non-tubeless design to tubeless. I ain't listening to that clap-trap. Not when you don't have to do that dance anymore. Now that several tubeless tires from 32mm-42mm tires exist, there is no need to convert something that was never meant to be converted.