Friday News And Views

 Welcome to an "electrifying" version of the FN&V!

Congress debating New E-Bike Battery Regs:

A news story this week concerning the dangers of lithium-ion battery fires and laws for regulation of those batteries was noted in several social media posts this week. A link to an excellent story on this comes from thecity.nyc which you can read HERE.

Apparently there has been an over 1000% increase in battery related fires in New York City since 2019. That and the rate of deaths due to these fires has prompted New York City and the State of New York to take some rather dramatic actions in the form of laws limiting e-bikes and battery refurbishing, a main source of concern in New York City.

But this is gaining nationwide notice as fires related to e-bike batteries becomes more prevalent across the nation. The fact that Congress is getting involved shows that this has become a serious issue for people outside of NYC as well.

Comments: With a flood of cheap e-bikes and electrified scooters available at cheap prices from China, many of which have known quality and safety issues, it seems that it is about time for some regulation. Combined with lawsuits regarding the safety of e-bikes and their construction and design which are ongoing, I would expect that the reins will be tightened on these more budget, entry-level items in the future. 

What the ultimately looks like is anyone's guess now. But if the Feds get the low-end electrified market regulated that will probably drive up prices and make these bicycles even more expensive, maybe even in line with mainstream brand offerings. And that will pretty much make electrified bikes the province of fewer and fewer people due to the high prices.   

Image courtesy of Cannondale

Cannondale Debuts New Moterra SL Electric MTB:

Boasting the most power, longer battery life, and all wrapped up in the lightest weight package than any other current electrified MTB, Cannondale showed off its latest effort on Tuesday of this week. 

Dubbed "Moterra SL", the bike comes in three versions with a range-topping LAB71 series Moterra SL checking in at $14,00.00. The Moterra SL 2, shown here in read, is half the price and the entry into the Moterra range. There is also a Moterra SL 1 at $8700.00. 

Comments: So.....what exactly is "lightweight" for a bike like this? Apparently 43lbs is "light". Okay then.... Let's hope that battery lasts for the entire ride because pedaling 43lbs of MTB without assist would be no fun. Again with the super-expensive pricing. I really have a hard time with electric MTB's at this price when one could buy a brand new Honda 125 MX'er for $3500.00. Anyway....

Image courtesy of Wolf Tooth

Wolf Tooth Offers Aero GRX Rings: 

Tuesday also saw the announcement from Wolf Tooth that they now have "aero" GRX chain rings. These rings come in 46T-52T sizes in oval or round styles to fit 4-bolt GRX crank sets in the 1X configuration only. 

Prices range from $81.95 for the oval rings to $84.95 for the round rings. You can see these and learn more at Wolf Tooth's page for the rings HERE. 

Comments: Aero chain rings for gravel? Going all-out roadie on us here! Anyway, I would think that these would be - at best - only very slightly "aero", if at all. I do think they look kinda cool. But other than that? Well, you can get big rings, for gravel time trialing, I suppose, but yeah.... Not my bag, but maybe it would work for you? There ya go..... 

From Jason Boucher's social media.

Tumbleweed Announces Hire Of Jason Boucher:

Tumbleweed Bicycle Company announced on Tuesday that they have hired Jason Boucher, former brand manage of Salsa Cycles, as an employee who will be tasked with internal affairs, product development, and coordinating Tumbleweed's dealer network. 

Comments: I have to divulge here that Jason is a good friend of mine, although we don't see each other often, and so I am a bit biased when it comes to this news.

I feel that Jason is custom-made for this role and my feeling is that he will thrive in this role. Tumbleweed and Jason are both about the "adventure by bike" ethos that Jason forged into his previous role at Salsa. I'm excited for Jason and where this might take him going forward. 

I also want to say that I had no idea whatsoever that this was in the cards while I was doing my Big Dipper handle bar review, so there was no influence on what I had to say in that review from this decision, since I was out of that loop.

Image courtesy of GT Bicycles

GT Bicycles Announces Changes In Brand Direction:

GT Bicycles, the brand once part of the Dorel Group, is now owned by The Pon Group and recently has announced that they have made a change in brand direction.

Now headed up by Jason Schiers, who was one of the  founders of Enve Composites, (Then know as Edge), GT Bicycles has been removed from Disck's Sporting Goods stores and will focus exclusively on the independent bicycle dealer network going forward. 

First up on their agenda for products is to get into the full suspension MTB market with a range of bicycles at the upper end of the market. Schiers mentioned in a recent "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" article on this story that he feels all FS MTB's will be electric in the near future. 

Comments: I think repositioning GT as a brand with a more upscale appeal is probably a good thing, but I don't look for this to be a huge mover in the bicycle landscape at this point. I'm sure GT's team has a good plan, but I would imagine it is modest and has smaller goals in mind in the short term. Dealers are reticent to buy any inventory at this point so getting GT bikes in front of consumers may be a difficult task until this glut of inventory clears itself out of the pipeline. 

That's a wrap for this week! Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions.

Friday News And Views

The new Grade Carbon frame set in Camo (Image courtesy of GT Bicycles)

GT Bicycles Announces New Grade Range Of Gravel Bikes:

 Tuesday saw the release of the new GT Bicycles Grade range of gravel bikes. Totally redesigned, this range will feature good tire clearances, a rather different geometry from most gravel bikes, and 30mm of rear "travel". (!!) 

The bikes are offered in aluminum and carbon with SRAM or Shimano components. Obviously missing is any mention of 11 speed GRX in the press release. Wonder why that is..... (HA!) 

The geometry is interesting. 70° head tube angles across the board with 75mm of bottom bracket drop. Nice! 

Comments: Okay....thirty millimeters of rear compliance? Sounds too good to be true, but even if it is only 20mm in reality, that would be really noticeable. The bigger question, to my way of thinking, is how does this design keep the rear wheel from torquing the frame laterally? Look at those long seat stays. Great for "vertical compliance", but not so much for "lateral stiffness". Maybe GT has figured out a "secret sauce" to keep things in alignment. Of course, I don't know right now. 

I do know two other things though. One: There are no 11 speed GRX models offered and there are 10 speed GRX models offered. Hmm..... 12 speed GRX has been spotted in the wild. Could be there are more Grade models in the pipeline that will be sporting 12 speed GRX. I bet so. 

Secondly, that blue camo is HOT! Kinda like a blue version of a Holstein cow. That would be cool to get a hold of. By the way, if that is too much awesome for you, GT offers the Grade in plainer, more vanilla colors that shouldn't offend you. Me? Give me this and some pink anodized components! Ha ha!  

New Guitar Ted Podcast:

Episode #22 is up of The Guitar Ted Podcast here at THIS LINK. In this episode N.Y. Roll and I talk about that new GT above, go over reasons why the cycling industry is pricing itself out of reach of many cyclists, and there is even some talk about corn. Plus, I have a rant at the end that you might find interesting. 

So.... 22 episodes! That's just this year. We're cooking along fairly well, but we will be taking a break later this year and we will put Season 1 of this podcast to bed. My plan is to close up the season in November, take a month off and after the holidays we will see about cranking it all back up again for Season #2.

In the meantime I have an idea or two for people to interview and we will always be on the lookout for news and subject matter related to gravel riding to yak about. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, you can pop those into the comments and I would really appreciate any feedback you might have for us. 

From Twitter

Sending Healing Vibes To Allison:

Wednesday on social media Allison Tetrick revealed that she had been struck by a truck while riding her bike. This happened a couple of weeks ago now. 

Sounds like she is being well taken care of, but it also sounds as if she's pretty busted up. Sending healing vibes! I hope Allison recovers fully and can get back on her bicycles. 

I've been struck by a truck as well, and while my injuries were mild in comparison, it runs deeper than that in terms of the mental stuff you end up dealing with after an event like this. Healing is necessary both physically and mentally. 

Allison was just inducted into the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame this past June. She's a big advocate of gravel riding. I don't know if it is due to those things, or something that connects us because we've both been hit, but I shed a few tears when I heard about this Wednesday. 

Please remind your friends and family to be vigilant and aware when they are operating a motor vehicle. And all my best to Allison. I'll be praying for her....

Special RAGBRAI Edition Shimano Sandal (Image courtesy of Shimano)

The 50th One:

Good luck you RAGBRAI'ers! You're going to need it this year! It's the 50th anniversary of the ride, and I know the vibe is hype this year. Big time hype!

There will be more people on this RAGBRAI than ever. It'll break records. It will also have more biffs, injuries, accidents, crashes, and worse. Hate to say that, but let's face it. When you put tens of thousands of cyclists on one road who are not necessarily adept at riding with tens of thousands of other riders, well you are going to have mishaps. I hope they are to a minimum, but yeah..... If I were a betting man? Right....

Anyway, no...I am not going anywhere near this ride. I've been there, done that, and this won't be anything different than previous RAGBRAI's, it'll just be "more". When you've already had "enough", "more" is not the answer. 

The weather will be its typically hot, humid self for RAGBRAI with a day where they will probably have some thunderstorms as well. Shoulda been here this week. It was perfect weather! Ha ha! But at least it will be weather that is "on-point" for the ride. 

So, again- Good Luck RAGBRAI! I'll read about it all later.... 

That's it for this week! Have a great weekend and get out and ride! Summer is almost over!

Friday News And Views

The new Grade Carbon frame set in Camo (Image courtesy of GT Bicycles)

GT Bicycles Announces New Grade Range Of Gravel Bikes:

 Tuesday saw the release of the new GT Bicycles Grade range of gravel bikes. Totally redesigned, this range will feature good tire clearances, a rather different geometry from most gravel bikes, and 30mm of rear "travel". (!!) 

The bikes are offered in aluminum and carbon with SRAM or Shimano components. Obviously missing is any mention of 11 speed GRX in the press release. Wonder why that is..... (HA!) 

The geometry is interesting. 70° head tube angles across the board with 75mm of bottom bracket drop. Nice! 

Comments: Okay....thirty millimeters of rear compliance? Sounds too good to be true, but even if it is only 20mm in reality, that would be really noticeable. The bigger question, to my way of thinking, is how does this design keep the rear wheel from torquing the frame laterally? Look at those long seat stays. Great for "vertical compliance", but not so much for "lateral stiffness". Maybe GT has figured out a "secret sauce" to keep things in alignment. Of course, I don't know right now. 

I do know two other things though. One: There are no 11 speed GRX models offered and there are 10 speed GRX models offered. Hmm..... 12 speed GRX has been spotted in the wild. Could be there are more Grade models in the pipeline that will be sporting 12 speed GRX. I bet so. 

Secondly, that blue camo is HOT! Kinda like a blue version of a Holstein cow. That would be cool to get a hold of. By the way, if that is too much awesome for you, GT offers the Grade in plainer, more vanilla colors that shouldn't offend you. Me? Give me this and some pink anodized components! Ha ha!  

New Guitar Ted Podcast:

Episode #22 is up of The Guitar Ted Podcast here at THIS LINK. In this episode N.Y. Roll and I talk about that new GT above, go over reasons why the cycling industry is pricing itself out of reach of many cyclists, and there is even some talk about corn. Plus, I have a rant at the end that you might find interesting. 

So.... 22 episodes! That's just this year. We're cooking along fairly well, but we will be taking a break later this year and we will put Season 1 of this podcast to bed. My plan is to close up the season in November, take a month off and after the holidays we will see about cranking it all back up again for Season #2.

In the meantime I have an idea or two for people to interview and we will always be on the lookout for news and subject matter related to gravel riding to yak about. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, you can pop those into the comments and I would really appreciate any feedback you might have for us. 

From Twitter

Sending Healing Vibes To Allison:

Wednesday on social media Allison Tetrick revealed that she had been struck by a truck while riding her bike. This happened a couple of weeks ago now. 

Sounds like she is being well taken care of, but it also sounds as if she's pretty busted up. Sending healing vibes! I hope Allison recovers fully and can get back on her bicycles. 

I've been struck by a truck as well, and while my injuries were mild in comparison, it runs deeper than that in terms of the mental stuff you end up dealing with after an event like this. Healing is necessary both physically and mentally. 

Allison was just inducted into the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame this past June. She's a big advocate of gravel riding. I don't know if it is due to those things, or something that connects us because we've both been hit, but I shed a few tears when I heard about this Wednesday. 

Please remind your friends and family to be vigilant and aware when they are operating a motor vehicle. And all my best to Allison. I'll be praying for her....

Special RAGBRAI Edition Shimano Sandal (Image courtesy of Shimano)

The 50th One:

Good luck you RAGBRAI'ers! You're going to need it this year! It's the 50th anniversary of the ride, and I know the vibe is hype this year. Big time hype!

There will be more people on this RAGBRAI than ever. It'll break records. It will also have more biffs, injuries, accidents, crashes, and worse. Hate to say that, but let's face it. When you put tens of thousands of cyclists on one road who are not necessarily adept at riding with tens of thousands of other riders, well you are going to have mishaps. I hope they are to a minimum, but yeah..... If I were a betting man? Right....

Anyway, no...I am not going anywhere near this ride. I've been there, done that, and this won't be anything different than previous RAGBRAI's, it'll just be "more". When you've already had "enough", "more" is not the answer. 

The weather will be its typically hot, humid self for RAGBRAI with a day where they will probably have some thunderstorms as well. Shoulda been here this week. It was perfect weather! Ha ha! But at least it will be weather that is "on-point" for the ride. 

So, again- Good Luck RAGBRAI! I'll read about it all later.... 

That's it for this week! Have a great weekend and get out and ride! Summer is almost over!

News Season: Part 1 Fat & Gravel- Get Used To It!

GT Bikes "Grade"

It's Summer and like last year, I am going to sling out all the new bike entries here that I find interesting, and there are already a bunch of interesting things hitting the digital screens out there. 

The buzzword last year was "enduro" with a sprinkling of fat bike and gravel stuff. This year, enduro takes a back seat to fat bikes, "plus sized rubber", and gravel oriented stuff. Get used to it, cause there's gonna be a lot of news in those categories this Summer!

Over the weekend the news broke about GT Bikes new "Grade" model line up of "all road" bikes. Yes....they used the term "gravel bike". You decide what that means to you, I already have a pretty solid opinion of that. Anyway, this rig doesn't have the bigger tire clearances that many die hard gravel road aficionados will desire. Up to a 35mm tire, but it does have some cool design elements with the solid, glass core wrapped in carbon fiber seat stays, (yes- solid seat stays.), which reminds me a lot of fishing rod technology, to be honest. They went in for a pretty big line up of two carbon frame and fork models with three aluminum base line models as well.   

ROS 9+- Now with plumper tires. (Image courtesy of mtbr.com)

 Niner announced a new carbon cyclo cross rig, which is okay. (I'm not all that into CX, so please excuse my non-excitement there) However; it was what wasn't "officially released" that was really interesting here. Niner's new ROS-9 Plus was spied by someone at PressCamp and the image quickly made the rounds on social media. What may be a "no-brainer" move by Niner was made even more interesting by the fact that the bike was shown with a new set of Stan's hoops dubbed "Hugo", which is a totally new design. Instead of the hollow, extruded section of the rim being underneath and bridging across the rim walls, as in traditional designs, Stan's newest hoops have the box section and rim bead seat all on the same plane, as it were, so that the outer appearance of the rim is almost as if it were a single walled rim extrusion.

It's pretty clever, and the Hugo line up will go across three wheel sizes- 622ISO, 584ISO, and 559ISO. Width internally is just shy of 50mm, so these will be spreading tires to really wider footprints. Strength should be greater than single walled rims, and weights are said to be competitive with Velocity's Dually rims, which are currently the only double walled extrusion in a similar width available now.

This shows me a couple of things: One- that 29+ is going to catch on with more manufacturers getting behind it now. Two- That "B+" is not only going to happen, but it will become a bigger deal, probably next year, and you're going to start hearing a ton about it.  Real soon, in fact.

News Season: Part 1 Fat & Gravel- Get Used To It!

GT Bikes "Grade"

It's Summer and like last year, I am going to sling out all the new bike entries here that I find interesting, and there are already a bunch of interesting things hitting the digital screens out there. 

The buzzword last year was "enduro" with a sprinkling of fat bike and gravel stuff. This year, enduro takes a back seat to fat bikes, "plus sized rubber", and gravel oriented stuff. Get used to it, cause there's gonna be a lot of news in those categories this Summer!

Over the weekend the news broke about GT Bikes new "Grade" model line up of "all road" bikes. Yes....they used the term "gravel bike". You decide what that means to you, I already have a pretty solid opinion of that. Anyway, this rig doesn't have the bigger tire clearances that many die hard gravel road aficionados will desire. Up to a 35mm tire, but it does have some cool design elements with the solid, glass core wrapped in carbon fiber seat stays, (yes- solid seat stays.), which reminds me a lot of fishing rod technology, to be honest. They went in for a pretty big line up of two carbon frame and fork models with three aluminum base line models as well.   

ROS 9+- Now with plumper tires. (Image courtesy of mtbr.com)

 Niner announced a new carbon cyclo cross rig, which is okay. (I'm not all that into CX, so please excuse my non-excitement there) However; it was what wasn't "officially released" that was really interesting here. Niner's new ROS-9 Plus was spied by someone at PressCamp and the image quickly made the rounds on social media. What may be a "no-brainer" move by Niner was made even more interesting by the fact that the bike was shown with a new set of Stan's hoops dubbed "Hugo", which is a totally new design. Instead of the hollow, extruded section of the rim being underneath and bridging across the rim walls, as in traditional designs, Stan's newest hoops have the box section and rim bead seat all on the same plane, as it were, so that the outer appearance of the rim is almost as if it were a single walled rim extrusion.

It's pretty clever, and the Hugo line up will go across three wheel sizes- 622ISO, 584ISO, and 559ISO. Width internally is just shy of 50mm, so these will be spreading tires to really wider footprints. Strength should be greater than single walled rims, and weights are said to be competitive with Velocity's Dually rims, which are currently the only double walled extrusion in a similar width available now.

This shows me a couple of things: One- that 29+ is going to catch on with more manufacturers getting behind it now. Two- That "B+" is not only going to happen, but it will become a bigger deal, probably next year, and you're going to start hearing a ton about it.  Real soon, in fact.

Friday News And Views

Details On The Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational: Here are the pertinent details for anyone wanting to come and ride Saturday on the annual GTDRI event. It is a self supported, no sag, gravel road ride of approximately 100 miles, give or take. Also, this is a chill paced, no rider left behind event. Racers take note...

Beautiful Iowan Landscape On The Route

Ride Time: 6:00am. Meet at the Park Ranger's building in Hickory Hills County Park north of Dysart, IA. Come to this point ready to ride.

Parking: Those not planning on camping can drive in to Hickory Hills park. Go past the Park Ranger's building which will be on your right. Do not turn at this point to the left. Go down a hill a bit, and take the very next left. This will take you to a clearing. You can park to your immediate right, down near the water, or go forward and park in the boat landing area just past the gazebo on your right.

Camping: Those coming to camp tonight, or staying Saturday night can make an immediate left at the Park Ranger's building on to a little boulevard. Then just follow the one way road around to the left until you see a gravel road going up the hill marked "Cabins, Shower House". (There is some construction work going on right here.) Follow this to the top where you can park your car. The top of the hill is all for tent campers and I will be in this area camping. There is a fee to camp in Hickory Hills, and I ask that you please pay accordingly.

Cue Sheets: Print your own off the link here.

2008 GTDRI Also Rode Out From Hickory Hills

Schedule Of Events: Friday night I should arrive to set up camp around 6-7pm. I plan on hitting the sack early and getting up by 5am. Then we will ride at 6am until whenever we get finished. I am thinking that we should be back not much later than 6pm, depending on how many times we decide to, or have to stop. (It has taken us longer to finish this off in years past on different courses. Last time we rolled out of Hickory Hills we got back just after 6pm )

After The Ride: Generally, the drinking and frivolity happened the night before past GTDRI's, but I'm not doing that again! This time, I plan on having some "adult beverages" afterward. We could go to LaPorte City, about 8 miles away, for some grub if we wanted to as well. At any rate, I will be camping whether anyone else does or not. So, it is up to you. Sunday in the morning I will pull up stakes and bug out, as I need to be back in town by 10AM.

For Everyone Else: Obviously, most folks reading this will not be in attendance, but I do plan on posting about it, and perhaps an audio-blog or two might pop up here Saturday. Might be worth listening to......might not!

Twin Six Collaborates With Raleigh: Raleigh U.S.A. does a lot of cool little projects using cyclo-cross bikes, (in general), for their platforms to do some graphic fun stuff. You might remember a few years ago how they did the Rainier Beer themed aluminum cross bike? Well, take a look at this...

The Twin Six Single Speed Cross Bike

I saw our Raleigh 2012 catalog the other day and this "Twin Six" frame was in there. I shot the T-6 guys an e-mail and asked if this was for real, to which the reply was, "Yep...."

The frame is done in flat black with gloss black and silver graphics. Some of the details on the graphics are pretty subtle, but very cool. Other features include Canti bosses and track ends with stainless steel inserts inside and out to protect the aluminum drop outs from being gouged up. Water bottle bosses, seat collar, head set, and hangar for the front brake is included.

I won't spill all the beans on exactly what everything looks like and what the arrangements for selling these will be. I'll let the respective marketing departments make their own "official" announcements here. Just consider this a "sneak peek", and look for more soon from your Raleigh dealer and Twin Six. 

So, this looks to be an aluminum framed, single speed cross bike with what looks like a carbon fiber fork. The frame is a dead ringer for the old Rainier Beer frame and fork I had a while back and gave to a certain 29"er freak out East to have and to hold. If so, don't expect to slam anything bigger than a 38mm tire in this one. Cool stuff....

Reviving The Old, Only With Bigger Wheels This Time: I've written about this before. Old models or companies bringing back familiar names from the past only shod with 29 inch wheels. Well, I saw something that took me waaaay back yesterday.

In the early 90's, GT Bicycles did a titanium framed XC race machine called the Xixang which was a bike you could buy. There were never many produced, but when you saw the mags every month, there would be Rishi Grewal pounding out some climb on one of these rigs. Now GT brings it back with 29"er wheels.

I must say, the Triple Triangle deal never really set my heart a flutter, but the new rig, with the cool curved and tapered titanium head tube looks boss. I sure hope to catch site of one of these sometime just to see if they trip my trigger or not now. At any rate, it is a cool thing to see retro and modern mixed up in a new bike.

Have a great weekend! I'll be outta here and going on the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational this weekend. Maybe I'll post an audio-blog from the field.......

Friday News And Views

Details On The Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational: Here are the pertinent details for anyone wanting to come and ride Saturday on the annual GTDRI event. It is a self supported, no sag, gravel road ride of approximately 100 miles, give or take. Also, this is a chill paced, no rider left behind event. Racers take note...

Beautiful Iowan Landscape On The Route

Ride Time: 6:00am. Meet at the Park Ranger's building in Hickory Hills County Park north of Dysart, IA. Come to this point ready to ride.

Parking: Those not planning on camping can drive in to Hickory Hills park. Go past the Park Ranger's building which will be on your right. Do not turn at this point to the left. Go down a hill a bit, and take the very next left. This will take you to a clearing. You can park to your immediate right, down near the water, or go forward and park in the boat landing area just past the gazebo on your right.

Camping: Those coming to camp tonight, or staying Saturday night can make an immediate left at the Park Ranger's building on to a little boulevard. Then just follow the one way road around to the left until you see a gravel road going up the hill marked "Cabins, Shower House". (There is some construction work going on right here.) Follow this to the top where you can park your car. The top of the hill is all for tent campers and I will be in this area camping. There is a fee to camp in Hickory Hills, and I ask that you please pay accordingly.

Cue Sheets: Print your own off the link here.

2008 GTDRI Also Rode Out From Hickory Hills

Schedule Of Events: Friday night I should arrive to set up camp around 6-7pm. I plan on hitting the sack early and getting up by 5am. Then we will ride at 6am until whenever we get finished. I am thinking that we should be back not much later than 6pm, depending on how many times we decide to, or have to stop. (It has taken us longer to finish this off in years past on different courses. Last time we rolled out of Hickory Hills we got back just after 6pm )

After The Ride: Generally, the drinking and frivolity happened the night before past GTDRI's, but I'm not doing that again! This time, I plan on having some "adult beverages" afterward. We could go to LaPorte City, about 8 miles away, for some grub if we wanted to as well. At any rate, I will be camping whether anyone else does or not. So, it is up to you. Sunday in the morning I will pull up stakes and bug out, as I need to be back in town by 10AM.

For Everyone Else: Obviously, most folks reading this will not be in attendance, but I do plan on posting about it, and perhaps an audio-blog or two might pop up here Saturday. Might be worth listening to......might not!

Twin Six Collaborates With Raleigh: Raleigh U.S.A. does a lot of cool little projects using cyclo-cross bikes, (in general), for their platforms to do some graphic fun stuff. You might remember a few years ago how they did the Rainier Beer themed aluminum cross bike? Well, take a look at this...

The Twin Six Single Speed Cross Bike

I saw our Raleigh 2012 catalog the other day and this "Twin Six" frame was in there. I shot the T-6 guys an e-mail and asked if this was for real, to which the reply was, "Yep...."

The frame is done in flat black with gloss black and silver graphics. Some of the details on the graphics are pretty subtle, but very cool. Other features include Canti bosses and track ends with stainless steel inserts inside and out to protect the aluminum drop outs from being gouged up. Water bottle bosses, seat collar, head set, and hangar for the front brake is included.

I won't spill all the beans on exactly what everything looks like and what the arrangements for selling these will be. I'll let the respective marketing departments make their own "official" announcements here. Just consider this a "sneak peek", and look for more soon from your Raleigh dealer and Twin Six. 

So, this looks to be an aluminum framed, single speed cross bike with what looks like a carbon fiber fork. The frame is a dead ringer for the old Rainier Beer frame and fork I had a while back and gave to a certain 29"er freak out East to have and to hold. If so, don't expect to slam anything bigger than a 38mm tire in this one. Cool stuff....

Reviving The Old, Only With Bigger Wheels This Time: I've written about this before. Old models or companies bringing back familiar names from the past only shod with 29 inch wheels. Well, I saw something that took me waaaay back yesterday.

In the early 90's, GT Bicycles did a titanium framed XC race machine called the Xixang which was a bike you could buy. There were never many produced, but when you saw the mags every month, there would be Rishi Grewal pounding out some climb on one of these rigs. Now GT brings it back with 29"er wheels.

I must say, the Triple Triangle deal never really set my heart a flutter, but the new rig, with the cool curved and tapered titanium head tube looks boss. I sure hope to catch site of one of these sometime just to see if they trip my trigger or not now. At any rate, it is a cool thing to see retro and modern mixed up in a new bike.

Have a great weekend! I'll be outta here and going on the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational this weekend. Maybe I'll post an audio-blog from the field.......