Two Things

 In today's "Two Things" post, I am going to discuss an idea for gravel bikes which came out of the Checkout discussion and another idea based on a bicycle I posted an image of recently which readers professed admiration for as well. 

My old 2006 Salsa Cycles Dos Niner. 

Dual Suspension Gravel Or Soft-tail?

One of the ideas which came up during the recent discussion about the Trek Checkout was an old MTB design which has not really been thoroughly explored for gravel. This idea is the soft-tail design. I wrote about this idea in detail back in 2022 HERE. 

I tried a soft-tail at the 2010 DK200, and there is merit to this idea. The thing is, no one has yet figured out how to best execute this soft-tail idea for gravel, especially from a vibration reduction standpoint. Unless you want to include Salsa's passive, in-frame designed Class V VRS. Which does do what we are talking about here effectively. (There are some other examples as well)

First of all, suspension for gravel, especially for racing on gravel, is pretty much a no-go. Any kind of interruption of power transfer from human to tire contact patch is a real negative for a racer. So, most anything you try to design for a suspension based vibration reduction system is going to be met with disdain from an efficiency and feel standpoint with a racer's perspective. 

Soft-tail design might actually work if the resources were poured into the damper to give it resistance to movement when power is applied and allow the damper to work below certain power thresholds to help riders be less fatigued over a longer distance. This would probably mean a sophisticated electronic sensor and valve control set up. I think it is 100% possible, but who is going to go "all F1" on this idea? It would cost a LOT of money! 

And then, like I said in the linked article, why not just use a suspension seat post? Less complexity, similar results. It wouldn't be for the Pro and semi-Pro riders, but for everyone else? 

Maybe. 

Does The Past Have Any Answers For Vibration Reduction?

One of my recent images garnered a lot of praise in the comments section. It was of my Honeman Flyer, a custom made frame by King Fabrications, with geometry taken right off a 1936 era track bike combined in a stunning bit of paint work and was the muse of those folks. 

While I could go on about the bike, the paint job, and how much I like this bicycle, I wanted to focus in on a thing I feel many companies miss out on and what was important in the past which maybe should be thought more about now. 

That 'thing'? Ride quality. Maybe you'd call it "ride feel". Which ever way you want to describe this, I think we've lost our way by focusing on gear, electronics, and racing. Maybe we are relying too much on tires and vibration-reducing stems and seat posts. I think the original intentions for the geometry the Honeman Flyer is based upon might be something to consider when it comes to 'ride quality'. 

This type of bicycle was made in the early to late 1930's, a time when extravagance was in short supply. Riders of custom-made bicycles had to pay a dear amount to get their hands on one bicycle. Maybe they threw in together with other riders in a club which afforded these members access to pure-bred racing bikes with stems and seat posts made to adjust to riders of different measurements. This was done as a way to get a racing bike for all club members and share the cost. This was fairly common in these times. 

The predominate form of bicycle racing was still on tracks, but these were few and far between and riders from areas outside of tracks had to make do with training over rough back roads, on gravel, and where possible, on pavement. This meant that for many cyclists of the day who were competitive, their bicycle had to deal with rough roads, gravel, dirt, and be comfortable, handle well, and still perform as a track bike. 

Tall order! But frame builders arrived at certain ways to accommodate this all, and in doing so, created a ride quality which was at once forgiving on rough stuff, a bike which handled well, and still rode fast, and produced good results at track racing events. One such design being produced by John "Pop" Brennan was ridden to national championships on the track by Willie Honeman. This is the design I copied and had Li King execute for me in steel tubing at his shop. 

It is a very unconventional design from our 2025 perspectives, but it rides like a dream. Could it be that a litigious society, testing protocols, designs stemming from one-use mindsets, and fashion has clouded our ability to make a simple bike which rides nicely for the masses? 

Again - Maybe so....

Soft-Tail Design And Gravel: A Match Made In Heaven?

From Ritchey's Twitter feed last Wednesday.

I came across a Tweet from Ritchey-Official last Wednesday. Apparently some Italian folks got a hold of an old Ritchey soft-tail MTB and turned it into a gravel bike. 

The soft-tail design, where chain stays are relied upon for some flex and a small, very short travel damper is placed between the seat stays and the seat tube, is nothing new. The idea has been banging around on mountain bikes since the 1980's, and earlier design patents show that the idea was at least around in the late 19th Century. However; you do not see many of these bikesout and about.

Perhaps that is because the modern soft-tail was always aimed at being a solution for XC mountain biking. The trouble was that typically the travel/damping was not very effective and the design introduced other problems like flex, stress breakage to the chain stays, and difficulties making the design work for smaller sized riders. 

That said, Moots has been making their "YBB" soft tail design for years, and Ritchey and Salsa Cycles made some well known versions of this design over the years as well. That said, it just hasn't really ever been a great mountain bike solution for most riders. This kept sales low, and in some cases, the bikes went away due to design faults and low sales numbers.

My Salsa Cycles Dos Niner at the 2010 DK200

I've tried a soft tail design before in "real" mountain biking situations and for gravel riding. In my experience, the idea seemed to be far more at home on gravel versus the mountains. That said, the soft-tail generally is not designed to mitigate vibrations as much as it is designed to "take the edge off" trail obstacles when the rear tire hits them. 

There is a big difference there. I feel as though the soft-tail design has merit for gravel travel, it is just that no one has really hit the nail on the head with regard to using the idea to mitigate vibrations and not be a "suspension" platform. 

Sure, Moots, as mentioned, does a Routt YBB gravel bike, and BMC has their URS 1. Trek integrated their ISO Speed rear damping design into their Checkpoint bikes. So, there are examples of the idea out there for gravel. It's just that there aren't many choices that don't cost an arm and a leg, so many riders would never benefit from this idea.

And as well, one could counter with the idea of a suspension seat post, which could go into any frame, and is transferable, bike-to-bike. Obviously, such devices cost a lot less as well and have similar, if not the same results in ride feel for the rider. 

One could argue that a suspension seat post turns any bike into a soft-tail.

And if the idea is to protect the rider from vibrations, a suspension seat post is perhaps the better solution here. It doesn't matter if the rider stands up or not, because we only are concerned about vibration reductions at the saddle if the rider is seated. We are not looking for better wheel traction. Plus the design doesn't require expensive frames, and it doesn't over-stress chain stays, which are often the weak point in soft-tail design.

So, is a soft-tail design not a good idea? I wouldn't dismiss this design idea out of hand. If done elegantly and with rider vibration reduction in mind, it makes sense for gravel riding. I don't think "travel" at the rear wheel is what gravel riders necessarily need here, so over-stressing chain stays needn't happen either. 

But yes- Obviously a suspension seat post, or even a rigid post designed to mitigate vibrations, is a much more elegant, less expensive, and non-proprietary way to go. Either way, I think riders could benefit from the designs. 

Maybe I should build up that Dos Niner again and test out my theories.....

Soft-Tail Design And Gravel: A Match Made In Heaven?

From Ritchey's Twitter feed last Wednesday.

I came across a Tweet from Ritchey-Official last Wednesday. Apparently some Italian folks got a hold of an old Ritchey soft-tail MTB and turned it into a gravel bike. 

The soft-tail design, where chain stays are relied upon for some flex and a small, very short travel damper is placed between the seat stays and the seat tube, is nothing new. The idea has been banging around on mountain bikes since the 1980's, and earlier design patents show that the idea was at least around in the late 19th Century. However; you do not see many of these bikesout and about.

Perhaps that is because the modern soft-tail was always aimed at being a solution for XC mountain biking. The trouble was that typically the travel/damping was not very effective and the design introduced other problems like flex, stress breakage to the chain stays, and difficulties making the design work for smaller sized riders. 

That said, Moots has been making their "YBB" soft tail design for years, and Ritchey and Salsa Cycles made some well known versions of this design over the years as well. That said, it just hasn't really ever been a great mountain bike solution for most riders. This kept sales low, and in some cases, the bikes went away due to design faults and low sales numbers.

My Salsa Cycles Dos Niner at the 2010 DK200

I've tried a soft tail design before in "real" mountain biking situations and for gravel riding. In my experience, the idea seemed to be far more at home on gravel versus the mountains. That said, the soft-tail generally is not designed to mitigate vibrations as much as it is designed to "take the edge off" trail obstacles when the rear tire hits them. 

There is a big difference there. I feel as though the soft-tail design has merit for gravel travel, it is just that no one has really hit the nail on the head with regard to using the idea to mitigate vibrations and not be a "suspension" platform. 

Sure, Moots, as mentioned, does a Routt YBB gravel bike, and BMC has their URS 1. Trek integrated their ISO Speed rear damping design into their Checkpoint bikes. So, there are examples of the idea out there for gravel. It's just that there aren't many choices that don't cost an arm and a leg, so many riders would never benefit from this idea.

And as well, one could counter with the idea of a suspension seat post, which could go into any frame, and is transferable, bike-to-bike. Obviously, such devices cost a lot less as well and have similar, if not the same results in ride feel for the rider. 

One could argue that a suspension seat post turns any bike into a soft-tail.

And if the idea is to protect the rider from vibrations, a suspension seat post is perhaps the better solution here. It doesn't matter if the rider stands up or not, because we only are concerned about vibration reductions at the saddle if the rider is seated. We are not looking for better wheel traction. Plus the design doesn't require expensive frames, and it doesn't over-stress chain stays, which are often the weak point in soft-tail design.

So, is a soft-tail design not a good idea? I wouldn't dismiss this design idea out of hand. If done elegantly and with rider vibration reduction in mind, it makes sense for gravel riding. I don't think "travel" at the rear wheel is what gravel riders necessarily need here, so over-stressing chain stays needn't happen either. 

But yes- Obviously a suspension seat post, or even a rigid post designed to mitigate vibrations, is a much more elegant, less expensive, and non-proprietary way to go. Either way, I think riders could benefit from the designs. 

Maybe I should build up that Dos Niner again and test out my theories.....

Friday News And Views

Big Numbers For Series On Trans Iowa:

First of all- Thank You readers! The suggestion to write the stories of Trans Iowa, the more "untold", behind-the-scenes the better, has been a fun thing for me to do. But more importantly, the series has been gaining traction and of late, has become some of the most looked at posts on this blog.

Look- I've blathered on about that event for the better part of 15 years, so I get it if you are one of those that just doesn't care about this stuff. However; it would appear from the stats I get from Google that many of you are actually looking at these posts, and I hope, enjoying them. I just wanted to point this out because it is encouraging to me and helps to push me to write better content.

So, I thought I might share a little bit about the behind-the-scenes on the series. First of all, I write these posts on the "Trans Iowa Stories" series weeks in advance. For example, I am already working on posts for the series that will show up in October. This gives me the chance to revisit each draft and revise, make corrections, or add any newly discovered memories before they "go live" on the site, at which point I don't plan on changing anything.

This also gives me chances to sift through the 15 years of posts that have bits of the story buried in there. I also have been looking at hard physical evidence- roster sheets, drafts of courses, and more that I have squirreled away in folders and three ring binders here. So, it's been fun, and I am enjoying the process, and I hope that it all results in good reads for you.

Thanks again!

Trek Supercaliber w/IsoStrut. Image pinched from Trek's site

 Could It Work On A Gravel Bike?

Design Mission Statement: Make a rear suspension design that is compact, lightweight, pedal efficient, and is "just enough to knock the edges off". This has been an idea that has been tackled by several designers and is an idea that is as old as the Safety Bicycle itself. Many have tried, some have succeeded, but not many have been reasonably priced, effective, and low enough maintenance to prove to be a long term solution.

Of course, we are talking about the "short travel", soft-tail idea. Moots YBB is probably the longest production version of this idea in existence. However, it is crude, not easily tune-able, and is maintenance intensive in dirty environments. Salsa Cycles had the Dos Niner, a fantastic design fraught with breakage due to the flexing Scandium infused aluminum alloy frame bits the design relied upon. Passive versions of this idea exist. Example- Like the aforementioned Salsa Cycles, who now make the Class V VRS system for the Warbird and Cutthroat. However, that passive suspension idea, while fairly bulletproof, is not at all tune-able. This brings us to Trek's latest announcement of the new Supercaliber MTB racing bike.

The Trek design is very much like the Salsa Dos Niner, which also used a strut and relied on flexing stays for its suspension travel. However; Trek's design moves the damper to become part of the top tube, and they employed carbon fiber as a flexing frame material instead of Scandium Aluminum. The Supercaliber has 60mm of rear travel, by the way.

Passive designs, like those being used on gravel bikes these days, all rely on the rider to be seated to work, but a soft-tail design does not, and it makes one wonder- Could something like this be a good thing on a gravel/all-road bike? (I was just thinking- "gravel/all road bike >>>G-ARB?) Anyway....

It's an intriguing thought, and you can bet Trek's in house R&D team have already been toying with just such an idea.

These are NOT looking like motorcycles. Nope! Not in the least....

Eurobike To Be Re-Named "E-eurobike"

Reports coming in from Eurobike are that the "electrification" of bicycles is reaching all-time highs. Euro-folk, apparently, are mad for anything with two wheels and a motor. Now the move is to make these rigs "more connected" and more powerful than ever.

Take this Trifecta RDR bike, shown to the left here. It's 74lbs of futuristic electrified power. It has the options of either 250w, 500w, or 950w power (!!!) and is said to be capable of covering 200K before needing a re-charge. The motor spits out a torque rating of 120Nm. (That's a LOT, by the way. 88.51Ft/lbs of torque on tap, or about 2HP @120rpm)

That's just one example of many. But here's the thing many are not thinking about now. What about all those lithium/ion batteries? What happens when they die? Where do those go? How many chains and chain rings will all this unnaturally created torque eat up? How many more wheels? Freehubs?

The PBMA (Professional Bicycle Mechanics Association) has a forum and you can read about how these HPC's are eating up components at an alarming rate, how these vehicles have to be hooked up to computers and analyzed, like your cars, and how riders, unskilled in shifting and braking techniques, are wreaking havoc on components built for purely human powered bicycles adapted to HPC use to keep weights down.

Eurobike is touting the windfall of profits these vehicles are bringing companies and dealers, but is anyone seeing how we are making bicycling more complex, less inclusive, less environmentally good, and less like.....bicycling? You will retort, "Yeah, but one less car!", or something akin to how your brother's cousin is now enjoying "bicycling" again due to the electrification of cycling. But I say, do we really know that all these HPC's are doing good things like that? My answer to that is- no-we do not. These are platitudes that make us feel better about this move towards complex two wheeled, motorized vehicles. These are things that "sound good" but we have no real metrics we can point to and say these "good things" are actually happening at any real, hugely impactful numbers. All we do know is that a metric ton of these things, full of wires, capacitors, resistors, magnets, and batteries, are being produced and where will they all end up?

Well, if Eurobike is any indication, people will get jaded by the idea of riding outside at all and take up indoor training on virtual bicycle courses, never to be seen in public again on a two wheeled vehicle. That's the other huge trend at the show this year. Indoor cycling.

Okay, that's z'nuff for this week. Have a great weekend and keep on riding!

Friday News And Views

Big Numbers For Series On Trans Iowa:

First of all- Thank You readers! The suggestion to write the stories of Trans Iowa, the more "untold", behind-the-scenes the better, has been a fun thing for me to do. But more importantly, the series has been gaining traction and of late, has become some of the most looked at posts on this blog.

Look- I've blathered on about that event for the better part of 15 years, so I get it if you are one of those that just doesn't care about this stuff. However; it would appear from the stats I get from Google that many of you are actually looking at these posts, and I hope, enjoying them. I just wanted to point this out because it is encouraging to me and helps to push me to write better content.

So, I thought I might share a little bit about the behind-the-scenes on the series. First of all, I write these posts on the "Trans Iowa Stories" series weeks in advance. For example, I am already working on posts for the series that will show up in October. This gives me the chance to revisit each draft and revise, make corrections, or add any newly discovered memories before they "go live" on the site, at which point I don't plan on changing anything.

This also gives me chances to sift through the 15 years of posts that have bits of the story buried in there. I also have been looking at hard physical evidence- roster sheets, drafts of courses, and more that I have squirreled away in folders and three ring binders here. So, it's been fun, and I am enjoying the process, and I hope that it all results in good reads for you.

Thanks again!

Trek Supercaliber w/IsoStrut. Image pinched from Trek's site

 Could It Work On A Gravel Bike?

Design Mission Statement: Make a rear suspension design that is compact, lightweight, pedal efficient, and is "just enough to knock the edges off". This has been an idea that has been tackled by several designers and is an idea that is as old as the Safety Bicycle itself. Many have tried, some have succeeded, but not many have been reasonably priced, effective, and low enough maintenance to prove to be a long term solution.

Of course, we are talking about the "short travel", soft-tail idea. Moots YBB is probably the longest production version of this idea in existence. However, it is crude, not easily tune-able, and is maintenance intensive in dirty environments. Salsa Cycles had the Dos Niner, a fantastic design fraught with breakage due to the flexing Scandium infused aluminum alloy frame bits the design relied upon. Passive versions of this idea exist. Example- Like the aforementioned Salsa Cycles, who now make the Class V VRS system for the Warbird and Cutthroat. However, that passive suspension idea, while fairly bulletproof, is not at all tune-able. This brings us to Trek's latest announcement of the new Supercaliber MTB racing bike.

The Trek design is very much like the Salsa Dos Niner, which also used a strut and relied on flexing stays for its suspension travel. However; Trek's design moves the damper to become part of the top tube, and they employed carbon fiber as a flexing frame material instead of Scandium Aluminum. The Supercaliber has 60mm of rear travel, by the way.

Passive designs, like those being used on gravel bikes these days, all rely on the rider to be seated to work, but a soft-tail design does not, and it makes one wonder- Could something like this be a good thing on a gravel/all-road bike? (I was just thinking- "gravel/all road bike >>>G-ARB?) Anyway....

It's an intriguing thought, and you can bet Trek's in house R&D team have already been toying with just such an idea.

These are NOT looking like motorcycles. Nope! Not in the least....

Eurobike To Be Re-Named "E-eurobike"

Reports coming in from Eurobike are that the "electrification" of bicycles is reaching all-time highs. Euro-folk, apparently, are mad for anything with two wheels and a motor. Now the move is to make these rigs "more connected" and more powerful than ever.

Take this Trifecta RDR bike, shown to the left here. It's 74lbs of futuristic electrified power. It has the options of either 250w, 500w, or 950w power (!!!) and is said to be capable of covering 200K before needing a re-charge. The motor spits out a torque rating of 120Nm. (That's a LOT, by the way. 88.51Ft/lbs of torque on tap, or about 2HP @120rpm)

That's just one example of many. But here's the thing many are not thinking about now. What about all those lithium/ion batteries? What happens when they die? Where do those go? How many chains and chain rings will all this unnaturally created torque eat up? How many more wheels? Freehubs?

The PBMA (Professional Bicycle Mechanics Association) has a forum and you can read about how these HPC's are eating up components at an alarming rate, how these vehicles have to be hooked up to computers and analyzed, like your cars, and how riders, unskilled in shifting and braking techniques, are wreaking havoc on components built for purely human powered bicycles adapted to HPC use to keep weights down.

Eurobike is touting the windfall of profits these vehicles are bringing companies and dealers, but is anyone seeing how we are making bicycling more complex, less inclusive, less environmentally good, and less like.....bicycling? You will retort, "Yeah, but one less car!", or something akin to how your brother's cousin is now enjoying "bicycling" again due to the electrification of cycling. But I say, do we really know that all these HPC's are doing good things like that? My answer to that is- no-we do not. These are platitudes that make us feel better about this move towards complex two wheeled, motorized vehicles. These are things that "sound good" but we have no real metrics we can point to and say these "good things" are actually happening at any real, hugely impactful numbers. All we do know is that a metric ton of these things, full of wires, capacitors, resistors, magnets, and batteries, are being produced and where will they all end up?

Well, if Eurobike is any indication, people will get jaded by the idea of riding outside at all and take up indoor training on virtual bicycle courses, never to be seen in public again on a two wheeled vehicle. That's the other huge trend at the show this year. Indoor cycling.

Okay, that's z'nuff for this week. Have a great weekend and keep on riding!

Friday News And Views

Pseudo Fenders:

You may have seen all these thin, plastic "fenders" that you zip-tie on fork crowns or snap into place on your seat rails. Ass Savers, a company known for such equipment, has now got something that attaches to your down tube that acts like a mud flap for your front tire. So basically you have a mud flap, but no fender. I know it sounds weird, but I am trying one out here.

Ass Savers calls it the Speed Mullet. They claim that it keeps your feet dry. Well.......it doesn't. I know. But it does do a bang up job of keeping your face clean from spray from the front tire and it does, sort of, keep your drive train cleaner.

I mounted mine on my Twin Six Standard Rando with 42mm tires mounted in the 700c format. Let me tell you- there is absolutely zero room for traditional fenders with 42mm tires. So, clip on fenders are the only thing that will work with that bike with those tires on it. As far as having something to deflect spray from water and mud, this Speed Mullet is better than nothing, which would be my only other choice with this set up on this bike.

So, I see this as a very niche product. I mean, if you can fit fenders, then why wouldn't you? This little gizmo hardly does anything, but like I said, if this is your only other option, then it is better than nothing.

Full suspension gravel bike? Niner Bikes from Sea Weasel. Image by Grannygear

Niner Bikes Shows FS Gravel Rig:

Well, you know what I've said over and over again- "Any bike can be a gravel bike." Niner Bikes set out to prove a point with this design effort shown at Sea Otter. (Image thanks to my friend Grannygear, who is at the event) As far as I know, this is just a prototype now. I wouldn't at all be surprised if it comes out though.

Before you diss this and make some pithy comment, I thought something I heard just the other day on a GCN video made a lot of sense. They said that much of what they were seeing as "gravel tech" was actually recycled XC mtb tech from years ago. This bike would seem to be proof of such things. Certainly, it would seem that the short travel FS/hard tail XC 29"er/650B bikes are blurring the lines between them and gravel merely by adding a drop bar.

Oddly enough, I actually used a drop bar version of a Salsa Dos Niner soft tail bike in Dirty Kanza years ago. The thought of using a XC 29"er bike for gravel was definitely not unheard of back in the day. In fact, many times it was not unusual to see dual sus 26"ers in gravel events ten years ago or more. This makes me curious about resurrecting that Dos or my Fisher HiFi as an exercise in FS gravel travel. Maybe I will try it for fun. Stay tuned.......

My commute to work on April 18th, 2018. Are you kidding me!

Trans Iowa v14- The Count Down Begins!

It's pretty crazy to think that in one week I'll be on my way to Grinnell to put on yet another Trans Iowa event. I'll be busy packing things away for the trip and the event. Papers, numbers, supplies, cues, prizing, personal stuff, and more will all be getting arranged for the send off on the 27th at the Pre-Race Meat-Up and the event on the 28th-29th.

Roster numbers are about what I'd expect. We're down to 103 as of now, and I suspect a few last minute drops and that we will see something in the high 90's for starters. Well......if the weather seems good.  Last year the forecast looked dim and a bunch of folks bailed at the last minute. Which leads me to......

The weather. Yes- you just never know. Especially this year. It snowed the 18th, and with a week to go, it is forecast to be much warmer, but now thunderstorms are creeping into the forecast. Rain, and especially lightning, could really make things interesting. Winds will be a factor for sure, but what they will be and from what direction is anyone's guess at this point.

You can keep up with all of this via Trans Iowa Radio, (the number will be posted soon for the riders), and on my Periscope which you can access from Twitter @guitarted1961. I may even do a Facebook Live post. Who knows! It's going to be a big weekend so I expect that I will be quite busy with all the hoopla. Stay tuned......

Have a great weekend and ride yer bikes!

Friday News And Views

Pseudo Fenders:

You may have seen all these thin, plastic "fenders" that you zip-tie on fork crowns or snap into place on your seat rails. Ass Savers, a company known for such equipment, has now got something that attaches to your down tube that acts like a mud flap for your front tire. So basically you have a mud flap, but no fender. I know it sounds weird, but I am trying one out here.

Ass Savers calls it the Speed Mullet. They claim that it keeps your feet dry. Well.......it doesn't. I know. But it does do a bang up job of keeping your face clean from spray from the front tire and it does, sort of, keep your drive train cleaner.

I mounted mine on my Twin Six Standard Rando with 42mm tires mounted in the 700c format. Let me tell you- there is absolutely zero room for traditional fenders with 42mm tires. So, clip on fenders are the only thing that will work with that bike with those tires on it. As far as having something to deflect spray from water and mud, this Speed Mullet is better than nothing, which would be my only other choice with this set up on this bike.

So, I see this as a very niche product. I mean, if you can fit fenders, then why wouldn't you? This little gizmo hardly does anything, but like I said, if this is your only other option, then it is better than nothing.

Full suspension gravel bike? Niner Bikes from Sea Weasel. Image by Grannygear

Niner Bikes Shows FS Gravel Rig:

Well, you know what I've said over and over again- "Any bike can be a gravel bike." Niner Bikes set out to prove a point with this design effort shown at Sea Otter. (Image thanks to my friend Grannygear, who is at the event) As far as I know, this is just a prototype now. I wouldn't at all be surprised if it comes out though.

Before you diss this and make some pithy comment, I thought something I heard just the other day on a GCN video made a lot of sense. They said that much of what they were seeing as "gravel tech" was actually recycled XC mtb tech from years ago. This bike would seem to be proof of such things. Certainly, it would seem that the short travel FS/hard tail XC 29"er/650B bikes are blurring the lines between them and gravel merely by adding a drop bar.

Oddly enough, I actually used a drop bar version of a Salsa Dos Niner soft tail bike in Dirty Kanza years ago. The thought of using a XC 29"er bike for gravel was definitely not unheard of back in the day. In fact, many times it was not unusual to see dual sus 26"ers in gravel events ten years ago or more. This makes me curious about resurrecting that Dos or my Fisher HiFi as an exercise in FS gravel travel. Maybe I will try it for fun. Stay tuned.......

My commute to work on April 18th, 2018. Are you kidding me!

Trans Iowa v14- The Count Down Begins!

It's pretty crazy to think that in one week I'll be on my way to Grinnell to put on yet another Trans Iowa event. I'll be busy packing things away for the trip and the event. Papers, numbers, supplies, cues, prizing, personal stuff, and more will all be getting arranged for the send off on the 27th at the Pre-Race Meat-Up and the event on the 28th-29th.

Roster numbers are about what I'd expect. We're down to 103 as of now, and I suspect a few last minute drops and that we will see something in the high 90's for starters. Well......if the weather seems good.  Last year the forecast looked dim and a bunch of folks bailed at the last minute. Which leads me to......

The weather. Yes- you just never know. Especially this year. It snowed the 18th, and with a week to go, it is forecast to be much warmer, but now thunderstorms are creeping into the forecast. Rain, and especially lightning, could really make things interesting. Winds will be a factor for sure, but what they will be and from what direction is anyone's guess at this point.

You can keep up with all of this via Trans Iowa Radio, (the number will be posted soon for the riders), and on my Periscope which you can access from Twitter @guitarted1961. I may even do a Facebook Live post. Who knows! It's going to be a big weekend so I expect that I will be quite busy with all the hoopla. Stay tuned......

Have a great weekend and ride yer bikes!

Minus Ten Review - 6

I'm still not really sure what this was all about.

Ten years ago on the blog I was talking about how I wasn't having any fun setting up tubeless tires. Remember- this was 2008 and 29"er tubeless tire tech, and heck.....just getting anything actually meant for tubeless tires, was not a usual thing. So I was trying this and that, sometimes using all tubeless tech and sometimes mixing it up. But whatever I was doing, it was a struggle. A real struggle!

I almost gave up on tubeless tires back then, but somehow I kept trying, and trying, and trying..... Then it started working. I'm pretty much thinking that was because tubeless tires and rims for 29"ers started becoming really good. I'm sure it wasn't anything I actually did!

Then there is this image here. I still don't know what the heck that was all about. You know, after working at the same shop for 15 plus years nothing seems surprising anymore, but weird? yeah. Weird stuff happens all the time yet. I guess that's probably true for any place where the workers come and go with the years. So many different personalities have been there that the changes keep the weird level high. You never have time for anyone's oddities to get mundane. The average length anyone is there is probably less than five years. Then there is the "long timers" like myself. I'm skewing the curve!

The Dos Niner as a snow machine.

I also had a great ride on this old Dos Niner in the snow. Of course, it would be another 3 years before I'd actually have a fat bike, and I generally would default to whatever 29"er had the widest tires that I had at that time for snow riding.

This bike was a surprise 'gift" of sorts from Salsa/Jason Boucher. It just showed up at the shop one day with a note on it that said that I should just enjoy the bike and that I didn't have to review it. Blown away? Totally. Thanks again, by the way. I'm still bowled over that this happened to me.

I had never ridden a Dos Niner before this bike and I still think a soft tail bike is a viable design. Yeah.......you could do a suspension seat post, but that doesn't work when you are not sitting on the saddle. This bike had a rear end that did work over everything. No matter if you were on the saddle or not.

The Reba, the first widely available 29"er fork, with its 38mm offset, was kind of a clunker. It was the best thing that ever happened to 29"ers in 2007, but it was a stinker because it was flexy and it needed a lot of maintenance to keep it in tip-top shape. Later Rebas were really almost maintenance free in comparison. Anyway, this bike was really pretty good despite several short comings.

Minus Ten Review - 6

I'm still not really sure what this was all about.

Ten years ago on the blog I was talking about how I wasn't having any fun setting up tubeless tires. Remember- this was 2008 and 29"er tubeless tire tech, and heck.....just getting anything actually meant for tubeless tires, was not a usual thing. So I was trying this and that, sometimes using all tubeless tech and sometimes mixing it up. But whatever I was doing, it was a struggle. A real struggle!

I almost gave up on tubeless tires back then, but somehow I kept trying, and trying, and trying..... Then it started working. I'm pretty much thinking that was because tubeless tires and rims for 29"ers started becoming really good. I'm sure it wasn't anything I actually did!

Then there is this image here. I still don't know what the heck that was all about. You know, after working at the same shop for 15 plus years nothing seems surprising anymore, but weird? yeah. Weird stuff happens all the time yet. I guess that's probably true for any place where the workers come and go with the years. So many different personalities have been there that the changes keep the weird level high. You never have time for anyone's oddities to get mundane. The average length anyone is there is probably less than five years. Then there is the "long timers" like myself. I'm skewing the curve!

The Dos Niner as a snow machine.

I also had a great ride on this old Dos Niner in the snow. Of course, it would be another 3 years before I'd actually have a fat bike, and I generally would default to whatever 29"er had the widest tires that I had at that time for snow riding.

This bike was a surprise 'gift" of sorts from Salsa/Jason Boucher. It just showed up at the shop one day with a note on it that said that I should just enjoy the bike and that I didn't have to review it. Blown away? Totally. Thanks again, by the way. I'm still bowled over that this happened to me.

I had never ridden a Dos Niner before this bike and I still think a soft tail bike is a viable design. Yeah.......you could do a suspension seat post, but that doesn't work when you are not sitting on the saddle. This bike had a rear end that did work over everything. No matter if you were on the saddle or not.

The Reba, the first widely available 29"er fork, with its 38mm offset, was kind of a clunker. It was the best thing that ever happened to 29"ers in 2007, but it was a stinker because it was flexy and it needed a lot of maintenance to keep it in tip-top shape. Later Rebas were really almost maintenance free in comparison. Anyway, this bike was really pretty good despite several short comings.

Minus Ten Review- 12

If it wasn't a rock, it had a spike sticking out of it that could rip yer flesh open.

Ten years ago on the blog here I was relating my experiences riding in the Franklin Mountain State Park in El Paso, Texas for the first time. It was, understandably, an eye opening experience for me.

By this time in my life I had ridden a mountain bike in Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and all over Iowa. But I had never seen rock, rock, and more rock like I saw in El Paso. It was unbelievable. I was overwhelmed by the experience of riding in the desert.

The bike I used was the Dos Niner, and despite the fact that it maybe had 3/4's of an inch of rear travel, I was super glad it had some travel! I remember slamming into a wash so hard I thought the bike should have broken in two pieces. Amazingly, the Dos held up and so did I. I also found out I was way out of shape, but I think I cleaned more than I should have just on pure adrenaline and the excitement of riding in a new place.

I certainly came away with a new appreciation for El Paso and mountain biking in general. It made some things I used to think were tough into child's play. In fact, it kind of spoiled me that way. There aren't too many places I have ridden since then that even come close to how hard it is to ride those trails.

Going steeply up on loose, huge sized gravelly rock, snaking your way through a minefield of thorns. Typical El Paso trail.

While all that was exciting and fun, I had to turn my attention forward to Sea Otter and beyond that, to Trans Iowa v3. Jeff was mostly out of the picture, but at this time ten years ago I still didn't know for certain how little or how much he was going to be involved. Then there were some bizarre requests to photograph the event from oddball folks I never had heard about, all of which I eventually turned down. There also was another, strange, unbelievable request from a guy from Portland, Oregon which I had to field as well.

See, this was a huge transition for me, and I was going through it ten years ago, and I was not at all comfortable with this. Originally I was just Jeff's helper, a "gopher", the route maker, and I facilitated Jeff's desires in how to run things. But here I was with Jeff absent most of the time and me having to field all the requests and questions that Jeff would have normally handled himself. Now I was becoming the "director" of Trans Iowa, only I wasn't really seeing it that way. You could say that I was in denial.

Anyway, this guy from Portland was an author and he kept e-mailing me and calling me with all these questions. He was getting an "advance" from a publishing company to write a book about underground, under the radar sporting events. He had heard about Trans Iowa from Ira Ryan, who was starting out as a custom frame builder in Portland at that time. Ira won the first Trans Iowa.

So, this whole thing was surreal, and I didn't believe it, really. I didn't believe Jeff wouldn't be a part of Trans Iowa.  I didn't believe this guy who said he was an author was for real. But the guy says he is coming, so I wrote about this ten years ago and had the following to say about what it all could mean for Trans Iowa:

"In the end, Jeff and I run the thing and put it on. It's up to us whether or not it is what it is.......for now. I suppose if it gets away from us for whatever reason, we can always shut it down. Are we part of a revolution? Ahh.....well, maybe. I think history, or maybe this upcoming book, will be the judge of that. All I know is, we want to ride our bikes for crazy long distances self supported, and we think you do to. As long as we have that basic understanding, then we have things like Trans Iowa. If that's a "revolution", then so be it."

Minus Ten Review- 12

If it wasn't a rock, it had a spike sticking out of it that could rip yer flesh open.

Ten years ago on the blog here I was relating my experiences riding in the Franklin Mountain State Park in El Paso, Texas for the first time. It was, understandably, an eye opening experience for me.

By this time in my life I had ridden a mountain bike in Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and all over Iowa. But I had never seen rock, rock, and more rock like I saw in El Paso. It was unbelievable. I was overwhelmed by the experience of riding in the desert.

The bike I used was the Dos Niner, and despite the fact that it maybe had 3/4's of an inch of rear travel, I was super glad it had some travel! I remember slamming into a wash so hard I thought the bike should have broken in two pieces. Amazingly, the Dos held up and so did I. I also found out I was way out of shape, but I think I cleaned more than I should have just on pure adrenaline and the excitement of riding in a new place.

I certainly came away with a new appreciation for El Paso and mountain biking in general. It made some things I used to think were tough into child's play. In fact, it kind of spoiled me that way. There aren't too many places I have ridden since then that even come close to how hard it is to ride those trails.

Going steeply up on loose, huge sized gravelly rock, snaking your way through a minefield of thorns. Typical El Paso trail.

While all that was exciting and fun, I had to turn my attention forward to Sea Otter and beyond that, to Trans Iowa v3. Jeff was mostly out of the picture, but at this time ten years ago I still didn't know for certain how little or how much he was going to be involved. Then there were some bizarre requests to photograph the event from oddball folks I never had heard about, all of which I eventually turned down. There also was another, strange, unbelievable request from a guy from Portland, Oregon which I had to field as well.

See, this was a huge transition for me, and I was going through it ten years ago, and I was not at all comfortable with this. Originally I was just Jeff's helper, a "gopher", the route maker, and I facilitated Jeff's desires in how to run things. But here I was with Jeff absent most of the time and me having to field all the requests and questions that Jeff would have normally handled himself. Now I was becoming the "director" of Trans Iowa, only I wasn't really seeing it that way. You could say that I was in denial.

Anyway, this guy from Portland was an author and he kept e-mailing me and calling me with all these questions. He was getting an "advance" from a publishing company to write a book about underground, under the radar sporting events. He had heard about Trans Iowa from Ira Ryan, who was starting out as a custom frame builder in Portland at that time. Ira won the first Trans Iowa.

So, this whole thing was surreal, and I didn't believe it, really. I didn't believe Jeff wouldn't be a part of Trans Iowa.  I didn't believe this guy who said he was an author was for real. But the guy says he is coming, so I wrote about this ten years ago and had the following to say about what it all could mean for Trans Iowa:

"In the end, Jeff and I run the thing and put it on. It's up to us whether or not it is what it is.......for now. I suppose if it gets away from us for whatever reason, we can always shut it down. Are we part of a revolution? Ahh.....well, maybe. I think history, or maybe this upcoming book, will be the judge of that. All I know is, we want to ride our bikes for crazy long distances self supported, and we think you do to. As long as we have that basic understanding, then we have things like Trans Iowa. If that's a "revolution", then so be it."

Minus Ten Review- 11

Since there were no pics ten years ago this week, you get to see my old Dos Niner again!

Ten years ago this week I was on Spring Break vacation with my family in El Paso Texas. I didn't have the access or skills to post on the road at that time, so I didn't post but twice that week and there were no images.

Can you imagine me missing three days in a row with no posts these days? Ha! That would be a weird thing such that if it were to happen some of you would likely start wondering what was wrong with me.

Well, at any rate, this was the week I first rode in El Paso Texas on the Franklin Mountain State Park's trails. It was quite the eye opener, for one thing. I had never ridden trails that were 100% rocks. Zero dirt- all rocks. They varied in size and consistency from gravel to boulders and everything in between. They were loose, shifty, and clinked in a weird way, except for when you were on bedrock. Obviously that wasn't loose. In the cracks, crevices, and in the finer rock grew all manner of prickly Chihuahuan desert flora. I even got spiked by some plant adjacent to the trail which went right through my Sidi mountain bike shoes.

I loved the desert riding even though it was super tough. I miss it too. I hope to get back there and ride again soon.

Minus Ten Review- 11

Since there were no pics ten years ago this week, you get to see my old Dos Niner again!

Ten years ago this week I was on Spring Break vacation with my family in El Paso Texas. I didn't have the access or skills to post on the road at that time, so I didn't post but twice that week and there were no images.

Can you imagine me missing three days in a row with no posts these days? Ha! That would be a weird thing such that if it were to happen some of you would likely start wondering what was wrong with me.

Well, at any rate, this was the week I first rode in El Paso Texas on the Franklin Mountain State Park's trails. It was quite the eye opener, for one thing. I had never ridden trails that were 100% rocks. Zero dirt- all rocks. They varied in size and consistency from gravel to boulders and everything in between. They were loose, shifty, and clinked in a weird way, except for when you were on bedrock. Obviously that wasn't loose. In the cracks, crevices, and in the finer rock grew all manner of prickly Chihuahuan desert flora. I even got spiked by some plant adjacent to the trail which went right through my Sidi mountain bike shoes.

I loved the desert riding even though it was super tough. I miss it too. I hope to get back there and ride again soon.

Minus Ten Review- 10

This is what snow in Winter looks like. Same week ten years ago.

Ten years ago on the blog here I was riding 29"ers in the snow and it was working fine and it was fun! Packed down snow in 30°F temperatures with Sun shining brightly. Had I had a fat bike it would have been totally awesome.

Fun fact: No one was riding bikes out of doors in 2007. I had the outside to myself back then. It is great to see that, at least in this one way, fat bikes have changed attitudes about Winter cycling.

The other thing here I note is that I am running a triple crank set. No one does that in 2017. Well, in the general sense, and that's not because triple crank sets are "bad". Misunderstood? Maybe. Not applicable to "modern geometry"? Probably. Not offered due to one component giant's stranglehold on patents which lock the workable tech away from being used by anyone else? Totally.

That tire set, the GEAX Saguaro, actually had a pretty stellar tread pattern for snow. It would be interesting to see something similar in a current fat bike sized tire. Trouble is that 4 inches of tread blocks across a fat tire would weigh a lot! So, this will likely never happen.

This would be one of the last rides I would do on the Haro Mary. It was about that time I realized it was just too small, and I had other bikes coming and going in the rotation which worked a lot better. I'll say it again- I should have gotten the size Large! Dang it! Live and learn.......

Still one of Salsa Cycles best ever paint schemes in my opinion.

Then there was the Thule T2 I bought to haul the fairly new to me Salsa Cycles Dos Niner down to El Paso with. This would be my first rodeo riding down there. I was super stoked to try those 29"er wheels out on a real mountain.

The Thule T2 is probably the forerunner of all the racks you see now similar to it. There are a lot of them that are better now, but this design has aged well. I am on my second one now. This one in the image rusted out living on the back of our vehicles.

The Dos, well, I'll get around to talking about that more in a future "Minus Ten Review" post. For now I will say that it was a favorite in the stable in 2007 up to this point. Back then Salsa was using Scandium enhanced aluminum alloy. It was supposed to be lighter, and it was pretty light, but there were some other issues with it that cropped up down the trail.

Anyway, the image of the Dos on the back of our then vehicle signaled the beginning of Spring Break. That is still happening ten years down the road, and if you are one that is going somewhere, or is somewhere now for the week, have a good one!

Minus Ten Review- 10

This is what snow in Winter looks like. Same week ten years ago.

Ten years ago on the blog here I was riding 29"ers in the snow and it was working fine and it was fun! Packed down snow in 30°F temperatures with Sun shining brightly. Had I had a fat bike it would have been totally awesome.

Fun fact: No one was riding bikes out of doors in 2007. I had the outside to myself back then. It is great to see that, at least in this one way, fat bikes have changed attitudes about Winter cycling.

The other thing here I note is that I am running a triple crank set. No one does that in 2017. Well, in the general sense, and that's not because triple crank sets are "bad". Misunderstood? Maybe. Not applicable to "modern geometry"? Probably. Not offered due to one component giant's stranglehold on patents which lock the workable tech away from being used by anyone else? Totally.

That tire set, the GEAX Saguaro, actually had a pretty stellar tread pattern for snow. It would be interesting to see something similar in a current fat bike sized tire. Trouble is that 4 inches of tread blocks across a fat tire would weigh a lot! So, this will likely never happen.

This would be one of the last rides I would do on the Haro Mary. It was about that time I realized it was just too small, and I had other bikes coming and going in the rotation which worked a lot better. I'll say it again- I should have gotten the size Large! Dang it! Live and learn.......

Still one of Salsa Cycles best ever paint schemes in my opinion.

Then there was the Thule T2 I bought to haul the fairly new to me Salsa Cycles Dos Niner down to El Paso with. This would be my first rodeo riding down there. I was super stoked to try those 29"er wheels out on a real mountain.

The Thule T2 is probably the forerunner of all the racks you see now similar to it. There are a lot of them that are better now, but this design has aged well. I am on my second one now. This one in the image rusted out living on the back of our vehicles.

The Dos, well, I'll get around to talking about that more in a future "Minus Ten Review" post. For now I will say that it was a favorite in the stable in 2007 up to this point. Back then Salsa was using Scandium enhanced aluminum alloy. It was supposed to be lighter, and it was pretty light, but there were some other issues with it that cropped up down the trail.

Anyway, the image of the Dos on the back of our then vehicle signaled the beginning of Spring Break. That is still happening ten years down the road, and if you are one that is going somewhere, or is somewhere now for the week, have a good one!

Minus Ten Review- 1

Oh yeah..... Another year of looking back. This time it will be all about what I was up to here in 2007. So, just a few words about the year in general before I kick things off. 2007 was a pivotal year for me and the blog. In '06, things went from local only to national in scale. 2007 brought even more scope and really was the year that kicked me off in the general direction I have been in ever since then. It also was the year that I was kind of "kicked out of the nest", as it were, since Jeff Kerkove left for Ergon, Buchannondale was gone by this time a decade ago, and I had no foils, no riding partners, and certainly, no real encouragement here locally. Most of the folks I would be riding with in '06 and '07 would move on to support the other local shop here and since I worked for the competitor, I was kind of left outside of the loop.

I rode the XXIX+G on a gravel group ride with Jeff Kerkove for the last time ever in January of '07.

That persisted to be the case for a lot of the past decade, which I never really went out of my way to try to change, because it was/is what it is. Besides, I was dedicated to raising my family and I was very busy at times when others had time to do group rides, etc. In fact, it still is that way for me. I'm not complaining, I am just relating that at this time in '07, things changed in that way. One of the things I had going on, which none of the local cyclists here had, was an event of such magnitude that it consumed a lot of my off time. That being Trans Iowa, of course. Then there was the second Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational, and a plan to do a "festival" type 29"er based event in Decorah, Iowa. So, it wasn't like I didn't have other things going on and was sitting around waiting for an invitation to ride somewhere.

Trans Iowa was in a pivotal year, although I had no idea going in just how big of a deal T.I.v3 would be. All I knew was that the responsibility for the course recon and planning of the event was now all mine to bear. Jeff was off doing things to solidify his intentions to move to Colorado and work for Ergon, who were courting him throughout the Winter of '06.'07. So, this meant that for the first time I was in charge of the meeting venue, the details regarding lodging, the City relations, and prizing/sponsorship. All things Jeff had expertly done for Trans Iowa the first two years in.

The first year I used this bridge over the Volga River in a route was for T.I.v3

In fact, ten years ago Trans Iowa recon was what the blog was all about for the most part. I headed out on my own to see a major portion of the route which came out and back to Decorah for the first time ever.

I was pretty pleased with the route to the North, but bringing it around closer to the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area was a bit of an issue since the terrain was not as demanding as it was up there around Decorah. The route had a couple of iron gabled bridges on it which I was pretty happy to have found. I always throw those in if I see them and they make sense for the course. Sometimes they haven't made sense to use, but I've been lucky to find many of these throughout the years that did work out. Like barns, these bridges are slowly decaying. They are being shut down or replaced with modern, boring cement bridges at a rapid pace. I figure we should use them while we can.

Of course, there was the last gravel group ride I was on with Jeff. He had been doing these for a while in '05 and '06, and this was one of the only ones I had been available for to go along on. I rode the new to me Raleigh XXIX+G with a few modifications. It was........not the greatest bike. I think I touched on this before, but the geometry for forks and the geometry for frames were not yet refined for 29"ers, so that was a bit of a nit I had with that old bike, and I never really was able to resolve it. I tried all sorts of oddball set ups on it with the hope that something would click. But as with the Salsa Dos Niner I had, nothing really settled with me, although there were various tries at getting those bikes "right".

Minus Ten Review- 1

Oh yeah..... Another year of looking back. This time it will be all about what I was up to here in 2007. So, just a few words about the year in general before I kick things off. 2007 was a pivotal year for me and the blog. In '06, things went from local only to national in scale. 2007 brought even more scope and really was the year that kicked me off in the general direction I have been in ever since then. It also was the year that I was kind of "kicked out of the nest", as it were, since Jeff Kerkove left for Ergon, Buchannondale was gone by this time a decade ago, and I had no foils, no riding partners, and certainly, no real encouragement here locally. Most of the folks I would be riding with in '06 and '07 would move on to support the other local shop here and since I worked for the competitor, I was kind of left outside of the loop.

I rode the XXIX+G on a gravel group ride with Jeff Kerkove for the last time ever in January of '07.

That persisted to be the case for a lot of the past decade, which I never really went out of my way to try to change, because it was/is what it is. Besides, I was dedicated to raising my family and I was very busy at times when others had time to do group rides, etc. In fact, it still is that way for me. I'm not complaining, I am just relating that at this time in '07, things changed in that way. One of the things I had going on, which none of the local cyclists here had, was an event of such magnitude that it consumed a lot of my off time. That being Trans Iowa, of course. Then there was the second Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational, and a plan to do a "festival" type 29"er based event in Decorah, Iowa. So, it wasn't like I didn't have other things going on and was sitting around waiting for an invitation to ride somewhere.

Trans Iowa was in a pivotal year, although I had no idea going in just how big of a deal T.I.v3 would be. All I knew was that the responsibility for the course recon and planning of the event was now all mine to bear. Jeff was off doing things to solidify his intentions to move to Colorado and work for Ergon, who were courting him throughout the Winter of '06.'07. So, this meant that for the first time I was in charge of the meeting venue, the details regarding lodging, the City relations, and prizing/sponsorship. All things Jeff had expertly done for Trans Iowa the first two years in.

The first year I used this bridge over the Volga River in a route was for T.I.v3

In fact, ten years ago Trans Iowa recon was what the blog was all about for the most part. I headed out on my own to see a major portion of the route which came out and back to Decorah for the first time ever.

I was pretty pleased with the route to the North, but bringing it around closer to the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area was a bit of an issue since the terrain was not as demanding as it was up there around Decorah. The route had a couple of iron gabled bridges on it which I was pretty happy to have found. I always throw those in if I see them and they make sense for the course. Sometimes they haven't made sense to use, but I've been lucky to find many of these throughout the years that did work out. Like barns, these bridges are slowly decaying. They are being shut down or replaced with modern, boring cement bridges at a rapid pace. I figure we should use them while we can.

Of course, there was the last gravel group ride I was on with Jeff. He had been doing these for a while in '05 and '06, and this was one of the only ones I had been available for to go along on. I rode the new to me Raleigh XXIX+G with a few modifications. It was........not the greatest bike. I think I touched on this before, but the geometry for forks and the geometry for frames were not yet refined for 29"ers, so that was a bit of a nit I had with that old bike, and I never really was able to resolve it. I tried all sorts of oddball set ups on it with the hope that something would click. But as with the Salsa Dos Niner I had, nothing really settled with me, although there were various tries at getting those bikes "right".