State Of Tubelessness: Ten Years Down The Road- Part 2

So, yesterday I hit on the overall historical background for tubeless tires, focusing on why there is no single standard and why certain tires do not fit certain rims. before I go much further, I also wanted to point out that this issue- tires marked the same size as rims but do not fit well with each other, is not the sole domain of tubeless/tubeless ready tires. There have been certain combinations of clincher rims and tires throughout the decades that were tough, or nigh unto impossible, to mount to each other. One famous example of that is Continental Gatorskin tires and Trek matrix rims. Mechanics shudder with disdain when presented with this combination to work on.

So, moving on from there, I wanted to get more in to what I have experienced personally within the last several years in terms of tubeless tire usage. I am pretty much "tube free" when it comes to gravel bikes. I cannot remember the last time I rolled tubed tires on gravel. It's been a couple of years at least. Mountain bikes are generally tubeless for me, but a couple of my single speeds have been reverted back to tubed set ups just because they get ridden so rarely anymore. Fat bikes are all tubed here, and my utilitarian bikes are tubed for the most part, with the exception of my Surly 1X1.

Despite the casing failure, we were able to limp the bike back to Emporia!

So, I spend a fair amount of time using both types of tires. But for this post, I'll stick to my tubeless stories. One of the standout situations I have been involved with was my DK200 experience in 2016. Back when I was doing mtb tire reviews, I got a set of Maxxis Ikon tires. The really expensive ones. (Note- I actually paid out of pocket for those tires.) Anyway, they were full on XC geek tires, were really light, and were not tubeless rated. Keep in mind that the lightest set ups, still in 2018, are folding bead tires set up tubeless on Stan's rims. This is exactly what I did with the Ikons. They were mounted to Sun Ringle' Black Flag wheels, which used Stan's dimension bead seats. (In fact, many say Stan's rims are made by Sun Ringle') Anyway, I wasn't too keen on removing those tires because I wanted to wear them out. I paid a lot for them and nothing else that big rolled that well on my Fargo at the time.

So it was that at the DK200 I was on a pre-ride and the casing gave up the ghost. (See image to the left) Well, you can read all about it here, but the point was that tires were needed ASAP and I found some Teravail Sparwoods that would fit the bill, but maybe not my rims! The mechanic couldn't get the tires to fit on the Stan's dimension rims because the Sparwoods must have been made closer to a UST dimension. I ended up having to lever both tires on myself, and I knew that if I cut one on the flint the next day during my own ride, I was going to be dead in the water because there was no field servicing that set up!

Fortunately I was able to complete that ride and I actually left those Sparwoods on until last year when I replaced the tires for some Terrene test tires I had to review. At that point the Sparwoods came off, but they required a pair of tire levers and some muscle to dismount.

The Teravail Sparwood and Black Flag wheel combo was almost a no-go as far as fit went.

 Then there is the opposite end of the spectrum- tires that won't mount for various reasons. I have had trouble with tires that seem to be a good fit but will refuse to mount up, or that require "special techniques" to mount tubeless. I'm specifically NOT referring to tires that are fat bike tires, mtb tires, or non-tubeless rated rims or tires. These have been tires in the 40mm range, meant to be tubeless, and just are really stubborn about being set up.

Of these tires, there is one common thread- they all had some sort of puncture protection layer or an anti-stretch bead technology. This made the airing up/bead seating process very difficult, if not impossible. The sidewalls of the tires didn't want  to be moved by air blasts from compressors, and therefore a temporary seal was hard to get initiated, which is critical for a successful tubeless tire installation.

Another critical feature is the valve stem. Tubeless valve stems are one of the biggest reasons tubeless installations are difficult or why tubeless set ups sometimes fail. There are good stems and really bad ones. Then the valve hole is another possibility for failure. If the stem cannot effectively seal at the hole it passes through, you will have a headache on your hands. Also worth noting is that after a time tubeless valve stems get corroded by sealant, and this mainly where the core seats into the outer portion of the stem. Replacing cores often will help with this.

Sealants are another ongoing development in the tubeless marketplace. There are basically two kinds of sealant. You either use a glycol based sealant, like the trucking, ag, and industrial industries use, or a latex based sealant like most bicycle sealants have used since Stan's developed his basic latex formula back in the 90's. Glycol based sealants have also been used in bicycle tires. You may know Slime, and that is a glycol based sealant that typically doesn't dry up in tires. Latex works faster and is lighter, (usually) than glycol based sealants for the same volume, but these sealants dry out faster.

These carbon rims made by Irwin Cycling are so precisely made they make going tubeless a breeze.

I've tried just about all of them, and some that you haven't heard of. Glycol has been the worst of the two types for me, with the notable exception of Slime. Latex sealants perform best from my standpoint. Stan's, Orange Seal, GEAX, (Maybe no longer made?), Caffe Latex, and MG's home brew sealant have been my best.

So, you can see how so many standards, choices, and ways of doing things can add up to situations that could be awesome or somewhat less than satisfying. In my opinion, if you stick to a system- using true tubeless components, and/or a one brand solution, (tire/rim) the issues can be put to rest. For instance, a WTB TCS set up is pretty bomber. So is the Bontrager one. There are others.

I have also noted that many rim and tire manufacturers are really stepping up their game in regard to precision molding techniques which have really made things fit and seal so much better than before. I think the trend is toward more uniformity, but it has been a slow road.

You'd think by now we'd have it figured out!

That's it for this "State Of Tubelessness" series. Hit me with any questions in the comments. 

State Of Tubelessness: Ten Years Down The Road- Part 2

So, yesterday I hit on the overall historical background for tubeless tires, focusing on why there is no single standard and why certain tires do not fit certain rims. before I go much further, I also wanted to point out that this issue- tires marked the same size as rims but do not fit well with each other, is not the sole domain of tubeless/tubeless ready tires. There have been certain combinations of clincher rims and tires throughout the decades that were tough, or nigh unto impossible, to mount to each other. One famous example of that is Continental Gatorskin tires and Trek matrix rims. Mechanics shudder with disdain when presented with this combination to work on.

So, moving on from there, I wanted to get more in to what I have experienced personally within the last several years in terms of tubeless tire usage. I am pretty much "tube free" when it comes to gravel bikes. I cannot remember the last time I rolled tubed tires on gravel. It's been a couple of years at least. Mountain bikes are generally tubeless for me, but a couple of my single speeds have been reverted back to tubed set ups just because they get ridden so rarely anymore. Fat bikes are all tubed here, and my utilitarian bikes are tubed for the most part, with the exception of my Surly 1X1.

Despite the casing failure, we were able to limp the bike back to Emporia!

So, I spend a fair amount of time using both types of tires. But for this post, I'll stick to my tubeless stories. One of the standout situations I have been involved with was my DK200 experience in 2016. Back when I was doing mtb tire reviews, I got a set of Maxxis Ikon tires. The really expensive ones. (Note- I actually paid out of pocket for those tires.) Anyway, they were full on XC geek tires, were really light, and were not tubeless rated. Keep in mind that the lightest set ups, still in 2018, are folding bead tires set up tubeless on Stan's rims. This is exactly what I did with the Ikons. They were mounted to Sun Ringle' Black Flag wheels, which used Stan's dimension bead seats. (In fact, many say Stan's rims are made by Sun Ringle') Anyway, I wasn't too keen on removing those tires because I wanted to wear them out. I paid a lot for them and nothing else that big rolled that well on my Fargo at the time.

So it was that at the DK200 I was on a pre-ride and the casing gave up the ghost. (See image to the left) Well, you can read all about it here, but the point was that tires were needed ASAP and I found some Teravail Sparwoods that would fit the bill, but maybe not my rims! The mechanic couldn't get the tires to fit on the Stan's dimension rims because the Sparwoods must have been made closer to a UST dimension. I ended up having to lever both tires on myself, and I knew that if I cut one on the flint the next day during my own ride, I was going to be dead in the water because there was no field servicing that set up!

Fortunately I was able to complete that ride and I actually left those Sparwoods on until last year when I replaced the tires for some Terrene test tires I had to review. At that point the Sparwoods came off, but they required a pair of tire levers and some muscle to dismount.

The Teravail Sparwood and Black Flag wheel combo was almost a no-go as far as fit went.

 Then there is the opposite end of the spectrum- tires that won't mount for various reasons. I have had trouble with tires that seem to be a good fit but will refuse to mount up, or that require "special techniques" to mount tubeless. I'm specifically NOT referring to tires that are fat bike tires, mtb tires, or non-tubeless rated rims or tires. These have been tires in the 40mm range, meant to be tubeless, and just are really stubborn about being set up.

Of these tires, there is one common thread- they all had some sort of puncture protection layer or an anti-stretch bead technology. This made the airing up/bead seating process very difficult, if not impossible. The sidewalls of the tires didn't want  to be moved by air blasts from compressors, and therefore a temporary seal was hard to get initiated, which is critical for a successful tubeless tire installation.

Another critical feature is the valve stem. Tubeless valve stems are one of the biggest reasons tubeless installations are difficult or why tubeless set ups sometimes fail. There are good stems and really bad ones. Then the valve hole is another possibility for failure. If the stem cannot effectively seal at the hole it passes through, you will have a headache on your hands. Also worth noting is that after a time tubeless valve stems get corroded by sealant, and this mainly where the core seats into the outer portion of the stem. Replacing cores often will help with this.

Sealants are another ongoing development in the tubeless marketplace. There are basically two kinds of sealant. You either use a glycol based sealant, like the trucking, ag, and industrial industries use, or a latex based sealant like most bicycle sealants have used since Stan's developed his basic latex formula back in the 90's. Glycol based sealants have also been used in bicycle tires. You may know Slime, and that is a glycol based sealant that typically doesn't dry up in tires. Latex works faster and is lighter, (usually) than glycol based sealants for the same volume, but these sealants dry out faster.

These carbon rims made by Irwin Cycling are so precisely made they make going tubeless a breeze.

I've tried just about all of them, and some that you haven't heard of. Glycol has been the worst of the two types for me, with the notable exception of Slime. Latex sealants perform best from my standpoint. Stan's, Orange Seal, GEAX, (Maybe no longer made?), Caffe Latex, and MG's home brew sealant have been my best.

So, you can see how so many standards, choices, and ways of doing things can add up to situations that could be awesome or somewhat less than satisfying. In my opinion, if you stick to a system- using true tubeless components, and/or a one brand solution, (tire/rim) the issues can be put to rest. For instance, a WTB TCS set up is pretty bomber. So is the Bontrager one. There are others.

I have also noted that many rim and tire manufacturers are really stepping up their game in regard to precision molding techniques which have really made things fit and seal so much better than before. I think the trend is toward more uniformity, but it has been a slow road.

You'd think by now we'd have it figured out!

That's it for this "State Of Tubelessness" series. Hit me with any questions in the comments. 

State Of Tubelessness: Ten Years Down The Road- Part 1

Some wheels, like these Irwin Cycling wheels here, make going tubeless super easy.

The other day I noted a thread in the RidingGravel.com forum that was started by someone a bit befuddled by the terminologies and what they meant when it comes to gravel tires. What rims fit which tires? What is UST? and more.

This prompted me to read through the thread and I did stop and add some context to it. But that said, it appears that there are a lot of confused individuals out there yet in 2018 when it comes to tubeless tires for bicycles.

I have, on occasion here on this blog, written a "State Of Tubelessness" post. The first one I could dig up was from 2010, but I had been writing about my trials and tribulations with tubeless tires almost from the onset of the blog in 2005. But for all intents and purposes, my real pursuit of going tubeless started in 2007, so I figured why not detail briefly what has happened over the past ten years in terms of tubeless tires for bicycles.

Obviously somewhere this all started and the beginnings of tubeless tires in our era started in the late 90's with a guy by the name of Stan Koziak. You know his company by the name of "Stan's", but the full name of the company is "Stan's NoTubes", which should give you a clue as to what sort of tires his system are meant for. Stan's was, and still is, a system for converting non-tubeless tires to tubeless usage. That specifically means folding bead and wire bead performance tires that were never meant to be tubeless. Of course, you can run tubeless tires on Stan's rims, but not all will fit.

A set of ZTR Flow rims I still have were tried with many tires in the past.

Once tubeless ready tires came to market, Stan's didn't push the conversion thing too hard. In fact, they dabbled in their own tires for a bit, but even that went by the wayside. Stan's just kept being Stan's and they kept growing as a company, mainly because tire and rim manufacturers couldn't get together on a single standard for tubeless tires. Not that it wasn't tried, or successful, because there is a standard, but it requires a licensing fee. Not something many companies are willing to pay for.

Of course, that standard is UST, or Uniform System Tubeless, which Mavic, Hutchinson, and Michelin first developed in 1999. Later a few other companies would adopt the standard, most notably GEAX/Vittoria, but for the most part, the stringent dimensions and testing protocol of UST wasn't adopted by the industry universally. This caused UST to be pretty much pigeonholed to the XC racer set, and most average mountain bikers were not getting into UST in the early 00's. The fact that true, air-tight tubeless tires were a lot heavier than their folding bead counterparts was also a part of this.

 Meanwhile, 29"ers were becoming a thing, and the rim and tire manufacturers were standing off from adopting any single standard until things shook themselves out. This sort of played into the hands of Stan's who were the "average person's" tubeless "system" of choice. Obviously, Stan's made for a lighter weight set up, because you used a folding bead tire, which in some cases could be well over 200 grams lighter than a UST tire. The trouble with Stan's was that non-tubeless, folding bead tires were difficult to get sealed, didn't last long, and some were failing spectacularly due to the added stresses present without a tube to reinforce the bead and sidewall.

That all began to change in the late 00's as Trek/Bontrager/Fisher began to push for tubeless systems that they could use on their bikes. Since Bontrager sold tires, a system where tire, plastic "TLR" rim strip, and rim was developed which was very user friendly and worked tremendously well. But like UST before it, this was not an "open standard", so other companies were developing their own systems to compete. Specialized had "2Bliss", WTB developed "TCS", and rim manufacturers that did not make tires and tire manufacturers that did not make rims were left wondering what to do.

Rim companies, like Velocity, kind of shot for a :middle ground" in terms of design.

Many companies did not want to err so far toward the UST dimensions that other components would not fit and vice versa. Some of the systems, like WTB's TCS,were close to UST, but some were not. The companies whose tires were not right on the UST mark did so to fit Stan's rims, which were very slightly oversized. But these tires would still fit some other companies rims, which were somewhere in between the UST and the older. standard climcher/tube variances. Rims, like Velocity USA's, were made to fit a broader range of tires as well. Other companies adopted Stan's dimensions, while others erred closer to UST.

So, in 2018, you can probably see why it is that people get confused. Fit issues exist, and remember, tolerances don't need to vary much so that very small variances can mean that some components will not be compatible with others, despite the labels saying 700c, or 622ISO. This gives people fits, because if labels match up, components should as well, or so the thinking goes. However, saying 622ISO is the "fine measurement all should be at", is like thinking every square mile in the country is the same size. They are not, and neither is everyone's rims and tires. That may sound weird, but if you've ever tried mounting a Michelin tubeless tire on a Stan's rim, you know what I mean. You might get the two mounted to one another, but woe be to you if you have a catastrophic failure on a ride and you think you are getting a tube in there.

Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow....

State Of Tubelessness: Ten Years Down The Road- Part 1

Some wheels, like these Irwin Cycling wheels here, make going tubeless super easy.

The other day I noted a thread in the RidingGravel.com forum that was started by someone a bit befuddled by the terminologies and what they meant when it comes to gravel tires. What rims fit which tires? What is UST? and more.

This prompted me to read through the thread and I did stop and add some context to it. But that said, it appears that there are a lot of confused individuals out there yet in 2018 when it comes to tubeless tires for bicycles.

I have, on occasion here on this blog, written a "State Of Tubelessness" post. The first one I could dig up was from 2010, but I had been writing about my trials and tribulations with tubeless tires almost from the onset of the blog in 2005. But for all intents and purposes, my real pursuit of going tubeless started in 2007, so I figured why not detail briefly what has happened over the past ten years in terms of tubeless tires for bicycles.

Obviously somewhere this all started and the beginnings of tubeless tires in our era started in the late 90's with a guy by the name of Stan Koziak. You know his company by the name of "Stan's", but the full name of the company is "Stan's NoTubes", which should give you a clue as to what sort of tires his system are meant for. Stan's was, and still is, a system for converting non-tubeless tires to tubeless usage. That specifically means folding bead and wire bead performance tires that were never meant to be tubeless. Of course, you can run tubeless tires on Stan's rims, but not all will fit.

A set of ZTR Flow rims I still have were tried with many tires in the past.

Once tubeless ready tires came to market, Stan's didn't push the conversion thing too hard. In fact, they dabbled in their own tires for a bit, but even that went by the wayside. Stan's just kept being Stan's and they kept growing as a company, mainly because tire and rim manufacturers couldn't get together on a single standard for tubeless tires. Not that it wasn't tried, or successful, because there is a standard, but it requires a licensing fee. Not something many companies are willing to pay for.

Of course, that standard is UST, or Uniform System Tubeless, which Mavic, Hutchinson, and Michelin first developed in 1999. Later a few other companies would adopt the standard, most notably GEAX/Vittoria, but for the most part, the stringent dimensions and testing protocol of UST wasn't adopted by the industry universally. This caused UST to be pretty much pigeonholed to the XC racer set, and most average mountain bikers were not getting into UST in the early 00's. The fact that true, air-tight tubeless tires were a lot heavier than their folding bead counterparts was also a part of this.

 Meanwhile, 29"ers were becoming a thing, and the rim and tire manufacturers were standing off from adopting any single standard until things shook themselves out. This sort of played into the hands of Stan's who were the "average person's" tubeless "system" of choice. Obviously, Stan's made for a lighter weight set up, because you used a folding bead tire, which in some cases could be well over 200 grams lighter than a UST tire. The trouble with Stan's was that non-tubeless, folding bead tires were difficult to get sealed, didn't last long, and some were failing spectacularly due to the added stresses present without a tube to reinforce the bead and sidewall.

That all began to change in the late 00's as Trek/Bontrager/Fisher began to push for tubeless systems that they could use on their bikes. Since Bontrager sold tires, a system where tire, plastic "TLR" rim strip, and rim was developed which was very user friendly and worked tremendously well. But like UST before it, this was not an "open standard", so other companies were developing their own systems to compete. Specialized had "2Bliss", WTB developed "TCS", and rim manufacturers that did not make tires and tire manufacturers that did not make rims were left wondering what to do.

Rim companies, like Velocity, kind of shot for a :middle ground" in terms of design.

Many companies did not want to err so far toward the UST dimensions that other components would not fit and vice versa. Some of the systems, like WTB's TCS,were close to UST, but some were not. The companies whose tires were not right on the UST mark did so to fit Stan's rims, which were very slightly oversized. But these tires would still fit some other companies rims, which were somewhere in between the UST and the older. standard climcher/tube variances. Rims, like Velocity USA's, were made to fit a broader range of tires as well. Other companies adopted Stan's dimensions, while others erred closer to UST.

So, in 2018, you can probably see why it is that people get confused. Fit issues exist, and remember, tolerances don't need to vary much so that very small variances can mean that some components will not be compatible with others, despite the labels saying 700c, or 622ISO. This gives people fits, because if labels match up, components should as well, or so the thinking goes. However, saying 622ISO is the "fine measurement all should be at", is like thinking every square mile in the country is the same size. They are not, and neither is everyone's rims and tires. That may sound weird, but if you've ever tried mounting a Michelin tubeless tire on a Stan's rim, you know what I mean. You might get the two mounted to one another, but woe be to you if you have a catastrophic failure on a ride and you think you are getting a tube in there.

Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow....

Tires I Like

Some tires, like these Vittoria Terreno Mix tires, are just plain weird.

Saturday I posted an article on Riding Gravel which was about the top gravel tires I like that are available currently. You can check that out here.

To be completely honest, most tires are pretty decent. It would be a lot easier to talk about tires that are weird, aren't very good, or just downright bad. There are fewer of those than there are tires that are so-so, and definitely fewer of those than good, decent tires.

But I am talking about aftermarket performance tires in that regard, mind you. Not the ubiquitous "replacement tire", or the cheapo tires used on "mart bikes", or tires meant for entry level bike shop bikes. Those are mostly terrible tires. No, I'm talking about tires that purport to be performance enhancing, but for whatever reason, weren't. Tires costing more than $35.00-$40.00 dollars, typically.

Those tires, in my opinion, are tires that fell short of promises and performance was lacking. But enough about those tires. I don't like them, and that isn't what this post is about. This is about tires I like. Some were listed in that post linked above. Others are not there because they are not gravel tires.

Surly Lou's are nice. I like them a lot.

There are a lot of mountain bike tires I like, or used to like since maybe you cannot get them anymore. Tires from Michelin, the "Wildgripper" series of tires, those were great tires. The GEAX tires were all mostly pretty decent, and Bontrager made some killer tires, but many of these are no longer available.

I guess I still like the ol' Nanoraptor, or as WTB calls it now, the "Nano". It does a lot of things well. The Bontrager brand still is rolling out some great stuff. Maxxis, Specialized, and others do some fine treads.

Fat bike tires, now there is some weird stuff going on there! I'll tell ya that for flotation and traction that I look for, the Surly Bud and Lou are hard to beat. Yeah, yeah.......they aren't tubeless. Okay, that isn't a huge deal to me. While having a Bud or Lou tubeless might be better, I just don't have the time to maintain that set up by keeping the sealant up to date. My fat bikes see such limited use that having them set up tubeless would be a liability more than a benefit. My fat bikes can sit around for months at a time unused, so when I do want to use one, I don't want to have to dink around refreshing the sealant.

On the other hand, if a gravel tire model comes out and it is not rated for tubeless, it is not going to be a tire I like. I insist on running tubeless on gravel anymore. It makes a big difference in ride quality, not to mention the elimination of pinch flats.  So, there are some gravel tire models I don't like for that reason. Tires like Challenge's Gravel Grinder, which would be a stellar tread pattern if it could be used tubeless.

So, there are a lot of tires I like, and I've been fortunate to have tried many so I know.

Tires I Like

Some tires, like these Vittoria Terreno Mix tires, are just plain weird.

Saturday I posted an article on Riding Gravel which was about the top gravel tires I like that are available currently. You can check that out here.

To be completely honest, most tires are pretty decent. It would be a lot easier to talk about tires that are weird, aren't very good, or just downright bad. There are fewer of those than there are tires that are so-so, and definitely fewer of those than good, decent tires.

But I am talking about aftermarket performance tires in that regard, mind you. Not the ubiquitous "replacement tire", or the cheapo tires used on "mart bikes", or tires meant for entry level bike shop bikes. Those are mostly terrible tires. No, I'm talking about tires that purport to be performance enhancing, but for whatever reason, weren't. Tires costing more than $35.00-$40.00 dollars, typically.

Those tires, in my opinion, are tires that fell short of promises and performance was lacking. But enough about those tires. I don't like them, and that isn't what this post is about. This is about tires I like. Some were listed in that post linked above. Others are not there because they are not gravel tires.

Surly Lou's are nice. I like them a lot.

There are a lot of mountain bike tires I like, or used to like since maybe you cannot get them anymore. Tires from Michelin, the "Wildgripper" series of tires, those were great tires. The GEAX tires were all mostly pretty decent, and Bontrager made some killer tires, but many of these are no longer available.

I guess I still like the ol' Nanoraptor, or as WTB calls it now, the "Nano". It does a lot of things well. The Bontrager brand still is rolling out some great stuff. Maxxis, Specialized, and others do some fine treads.

Fat bike tires, now there is some weird stuff going on there! I'll tell ya that for flotation and traction that I look for, the Surly Bud and Lou are hard to beat. Yeah, yeah.......they aren't tubeless. Okay, that isn't a huge deal to me. While having a Bud or Lou tubeless might be better, I just don't have the time to maintain that set up by keeping the sealant up to date. My fat bikes see such limited use that having them set up tubeless would be a liability more than a benefit. My fat bikes can sit around for months at a time unused, so when I do want to use one, I don't want to have to dink around refreshing the sealant.

On the other hand, if a gravel tire model comes out and it is not rated for tubeless, it is not going to be a tire I like. I insist on running tubeless on gravel anymore. It makes a big difference in ride quality, not to mention the elimination of pinch flats.  So, there are some gravel tire models I don't like for that reason. Tires like Challenge's Gravel Grinder, which would be a stellar tread pattern if it could be used tubeless.

So, there are a lot of tires I like, and I've been fortunate to have tried many so I know.

Sawyer B+ Update #2

Last week I gave you all a glimpse of the clearances on my Sawyer mounted with the new WTB Trailblazer 27.5"er X 2.8er", which you can go back to see here.

I also had a request to try out one of the biggest, most voluminous 27.5"er tires on the same Velocity Blunt 35 rims and do a head to head comparo of sizing. The questioner felt that the Geax Goma 27.5 X 2.4" may be as big as the Trailblazer anyway, thus making this whole B+ thing kind of a moot point. So I grabbed one of these GEAX Goma 2.4" TNT models and slapped it onto the Velocity rim tubeless and the following figures that I will share are what resulted.

First though, I wanted to also add that I did a bead to bead measurement, as this is a popular way that fat bikers have used to determine a tire's volume. I also will discuss casing shape, as that plays into what I found to a profound degree. Okay, so first the bead to bead comparison:

• Geax Goma 2.4"- 160mm
• WTB Trailblazer- 173mm

So far we can see that the WTB Trailblazer should have a more voluptuous casing than the Goma 27.5"er does.

Goma on the left- Trailblazer on the right.

Now for some other pertinent measurements. I'll be making some comments on details where necessary:

• Weight: Goma 1030 gm- WTB Trailblazer (of four samples I am aware of) 890 gm to 990 gm. 
• Width of Casing At Widest Point: (NOTE- I have several measurements of the Trailblazer but am going to stick with the Blunt 35 for this comparison) After airing up to 20psi tubeless- GEAX Goma- 60.4mm Trailblazer- 65.4mm. 
• After airing up the Goma to 30 psi, the measurement was the same. I have a set of GEAX Gato 2.35's in the 29"er format with the same TNT sidewalls and they typically stretch very, very little. The Trailblazer measures 66.3mm and 67mm respectively at 20psi today. 
• Diameter: Trailblazer is 28 9/16ths after mounted tubeless for 24 hours. The Goma is 28 1/8th".
  
  

 So that sounds close, right? But that doesn't tell the whole story. The Goma has huge knobs which affect the diameter to a great degree. That isn't how big the casing is. In fact, the Goma has a rather pronounced, tallish "C" shaped casing. No surprise there, the Gato has that as well, so being built by GEAX, it makes sense that the basic foundation for the Gato and the Goma would be similar. The Trailblazer, on the other hand, has a shallower, "C" shape to its casing which is almost flat in profile. That means the casing has more volume and that is where the big difference comes in regard to this tire and anything else with a 584ISO bead diameter.

Conclusions: 

There are some really big 29"er tires out there, but the Knard is bigger. Same deal here. The Trailblazer is bigger. It's taller, wider, and has more volume than one of, (if not the) biggest available 27.5"er tires you can buy now.

Does that make it a B+ tire? That is a fair question. I will say this- the Trailblazer cannot really be compared to the Goma. Two totally different styles of construction and intentions from a design standpoint. Put it another way- Is the Knard 29 X 3.0 a Trail/AM tire? Heck, the Knard isn't even a tubeless rated tire! The Trailblazer is, and yet it does act much more like a Knard than it would the Goma, and it should be obvious that the intentions for these tires is as obvious as black and white.

So, is the GEAX tire a potential B+ tire if it were made like the Trailblazer? No. It isn't because it is not big enough! The intention for the Trailblazer was to fit 29"ers with as little change to the geometry as possible. While the Trailblazer falls a bit short in height, (which was also intentional, by the way), the Goma is more so. There aren't too many 29"er bikes that would accommodate a 28 1/8th inch diameter tire without some pedal strikes. Does the Trailblazer really work the way it was intended too? Yes! I have three bikes sitting around that I have tried these on that it works perfect with, and one other that is "okay" in that regard. The Goma on the 27.5" Blunt 35 would severely compromise all of them.

Call the Trailblazer whatever you want. It results in the biggest diameter tire for a 584ISO rim currently, it works best on something at least 35mm wide for a rim width, was designed to be used on a 45mm width rim, and has the most volume of any 584ISO tire currently available. I'd say that sounds "plus" to me.

Sawyer B+ Update #2

Last week I gave you all a glimpse of the clearances on my Sawyer mounted with the new WTB Trailblazer 27.5"er X 2.8er", which you can go back to see here.

I also had a request to try out one of the biggest, most voluminous 27.5"er tires on the same Velocity Blunt 35 rims and do a head to head comparo of sizing. The questioner felt that the Geax Goma 27.5 X 2.4" may be as big as the Trailblazer anyway, thus making this whole B+ thing kind of a moot point. So I grabbed one of these GEAX Goma 2.4" TNT models and slapped it onto the Velocity rim tubeless and the following figures that I will share are what resulted.

First though, I wanted to also add that I did a bead to bead measurement, as this is a popular way that fat bikers have used to determine a tire's volume. I also will discuss casing shape, as that plays into what I found to a profound degree. Okay, so first the bead to bead comparison:

• Geax Goma 2.4"- 160mm
• WTB Trailblazer- 173mm

So far we can see that the WTB Trailblazer should have a more voluptuous casing than the Goma 27.5"er does.

Goma on the left- Trailblazer on the right.

Now for some other pertinent measurements. I'll be making some comments on details where necessary:

• Weight: Goma 1030 gm- WTB Trailblazer (of four samples I am aware of) 890 gm to 990 gm. 
• Width of Casing At Widest Point: (NOTE- I have several measurements of the Trailblazer but am going to stick with the Blunt 35 for this comparison) After airing up to 20psi tubeless- GEAX Goma- 60.4mm Trailblazer- 65.4mm. 
• After airing up the Goma to 30 psi, the measurement was the same. I have a set of GEAX Gato 2.35's in the 29"er format with the same TNT sidewalls and they typically stretch very, very little. The Trailblazer measures 66.3mm and 67mm respectively at 20psi today. 
• Diameter: Trailblazer is 28 9/16ths after mounted tubeless for 24 hours. The Goma is 28 1/8th".
  
  

 So that sounds close, right? But that doesn't tell the whole story. The Goma has huge knobs which affect the diameter to a great degree. That isn't how big the casing is. In fact, the Goma has a rather pronounced, tallish "C" shaped casing. No surprise there, the Gato has that as well, so being built by GEAX, it makes sense that the basic foundation for the Gato and the Goma would be similar. The Trailblazer, on the other hand, has a shallower, "C" shape to its casing which is almost flat in profile. That means the casing has more volume and that is where the big difference comes in regard to this tire and anything else with a 584ISO bead diameter.

Conclusions: 

There are some really big 29"er tires out there, but the Knard is bigger. Same deal here. The Trailblazer is bigger. It's taller, wider, and has more volume than one of, (if not the) biggest available 27.5"er tires you can buy now.

Does that make it a B+ tire? That is a fair question. I will say this- the Trailblazer cannot really be compared to the Goma. Two totally different styles of construction and intentions from a design standpoint. Put it another way- Is the Knard 29 X 3.0 a Trail/AM tire? Heck, the Knard isn't even a tubeless rated tire! The Trailblazer is, and yet it does act much more like a Knard than it would the Goma, and it should be obvious that the intentions for these tires is as obvious as black and white.

So, is the GEAX tire a potential B+ tire if it were made like the Trailblazer? No. It isn't because it is not big enough! The intention for the Trailblazer was to fit 29"ers with as little change to the geometry as possible. While the Trailblazer falls a bit short in height, (which was also intentional, by the way), the Goma is more so. There aren't too many 29"er bikes that would accommodate a 28 1/8th inch diameter tire without some pedal strikes. Does the Trailblazer really work the way it was intended too? Yes! I have three bikes sitting around that I have tried these on that it works perfect with, and one other that is "okay" in that regard. The Goma on the 27.5" Blunt 35 would severely compromise all of them.

Call the Trailblazer whatever you want. It results in the biggest diameter tire for a 584ISO rim currently, it works best on something at least 35mm wide for a rim width, was designed to be used on a 45mm width rim, and has the most volume of any 584ISO tire currently available. I'd say that sounds "plus" to me.

Lab Work

Spent most of today swapping out wheels and tubeless tires. The testing must go on, and with Mrs. Guitar Ted out to a graduation open house, (tis the season), I used my home time to get 'er duuun!

Not sure about white rims, but....

So let's see now- I pulled the Rubena Kratos tires off the Sawyer and swapped them over to the Breezer. The WTB Bronson folders on the Breezer went on the old Sun-Ringle' Charger Pro wheel set I had sitting there, since the Sun-Ringle' Black Flag wheels the Milwaukee Bicycle Company 29"er had on it were mounted with Geax AKA TNT tires, and they weren't gonna come off. Instead, I refreshed the sealant in them, and then left them alone for now. Finally, the Sawyer got a Geax AKA folder out back with a Bontrager 29-4 Gen I tire up front.

Did ya catch all of that?

Then I had to ride test all three bikes to make sure that the sealant was distributed evenly and that the tires weren't going to blow off on me. Oh yeah, and I mixed my own sealant for all of these tires. (Thanks MG!)

With all the rain on Friday and overnight to Saturday, the off road trails will be a bit too mucky for good test riding. But, hopefully I get in a big gravel ride. I have a bit of a score to settle, and if I am successful, it will be something I have been waiting to "check off my list" for several years now.

Hopefully tomorrow will be out of The Lab, and into the Frying Pan.

Stay tuned.....

Lab Work

Spent most of today swapping out wheels and tubeless tires. The testing must go on, and with Mrs. Guitar Ted out to a graduation open house, (tis the season), I used my home time to get 'er duuun!

Not sure about white rims, but....

So let's see now- I pulled the Rubena Kratos tires off the Sawyer and swapped them over to the Breezer. The WTB Bronson folders on the Breezer went on the old Sun-Ringle' Charger Pro wheel set I had sitting there, since the Sun-Ringle' Black Flag wheels the Milwaukee Bicycle Company 29"er had on it were mounted with Geax AKA TNT tires, and they weren't gonna come off. Instead, I refreshed the sealant in them, and then left them alone for now. Finally, the Sawyer got a Geax AKA folder out back with a Bontrager 29-4 Gen I tire up front.

Did ya catch all of that?

Then I had to ride test all three bikes to make sure that the sealant was distributed evenly and that the tires weren't going to blow off on me. Oh yeah, and I mixed my own sealant for all of these tires. (Thanks MG!)

With all the rain on Friday and overnight to Saturday, the off road trails will be a bit too mucky for good test riding. But, hopefully I get in a big gravel ride. I have a bit of a score to settle, and if I am successful, it will be something I have been waiting to "check off my list" for several years now.

Hopefully tomorrow will be out of The Lab, and into the Frying Pan.

Stay tuned.....

Surfing With The Arachnids

Wednesday I got out to The Camp for some single track testing on the Geax Gato tires. As always in August, there is a certain little something one has to deal with if they are the first out on the trails that day.

Surfing A Different Kind Of Web

That would be the terror of the Arachnids, the spider web. These webs get laced across the trail where two trees are close enough together, (only needs to be less than ten feet in most cases), that the insect murderers can sling their webs of death across the open trails. Then, when the sun arises, they hope to have unsuspecting flying insects get caught in the sticky network of nearly invisible silk while the spiders wait patiently in the center.

A mountain bike rider doesn't really stand a chance of seeing these fine works of the Arachnids until it is too late. I have taken my past experiences as a warning though. I went quite slowly on my first circuit through the Camp's South side.

Squinting into the shadows, I could barely make out the gleam of the spider's handiwork before I tore through it. Most webs have their makers residing somewhere on them. As I said, usually in the center, right where your body makes contact with the web as you ride along. I saw several within the first 100 yards in. I would stop, pick up a stick, and looking like a mountain biking version of Harry Potter, I would wave my wooden wand and strike down the offending eight legged creature and then mount up and ride away.

A Likely Spot For Them

There were some sections where the trees were too far apart, or there were open areas, where I could ride without fear of hearing that ripping, zipper like sound of a web being stretched to the breaking point across my face. I could surf along the twisting single track with no worries, but only for a stretch. Then the trees would come together again, the webs would re-appear, and I would be waving my arms in front of me to ward off unseen traps.

I suppose I would have looked pretty spastic out there had anyone other than the couple young deer had seen me. Fortunately, no one did. I made one slow circuit, then it was wide open. I ripped through the turns, the hard pack, Geax Gato tires, and Salsa Cycles Big Mama all working in harmony. Well, now that I figured out the air pressure settings this tire likes!

I was running 20psi rear and in the mid teens up front. Those TNT sidewalls were just getting really happy at these pressures and allowing the tire to work the terrain much better than they would at higher pressures. Even in corners covered in an inch of fine sand, I was getting Velcro-like traction while ripping through the corner. Outstanding!

I'll have more to say about the Gato soon on Twenty Nine Inches.

Hopefully, I'll have no more to say about riding through anymore spider webs!

Surfing With The Arachnids

Wednesday I got out to The Camp for some single track testing on the Geax Gato tires. As always in August, there is a certain little something one has to deal with if they are the first out on the trails that day.

Surfing A Different Kind Of Web

That would be the terror of the Arachnids, the spider web. These webs get laced across the trail where two trees are close enough together, (only needs to be less than ten feet in most cases), that the insect murderers can sling their webs of death across the open trails. Then, when the sun arises, they hope to have unsuspecting flying insects get caught in the sticky network of nearly invisible silk while the spiders wait patiently in the center.

A mountain bike rider doesn't really stand a chance of seeing these fine works of the Arachnids until it is too late. I have taken my past experiences as a warning though. I went quite slowly on my first circuit through the Camp's South side.

Squinting into the shadows, I could barely make out the gleam of the spider's handiwork before I tore through it. Most webs have their makers residing somewhere on them. As I said, usually in the center, right where your body makes contact with the web as you ride along. I saw several within the first 100 yards in. I would stop, pick up a stick, and looking like a mountain biking version of Harry Potter, I would wave my wooden wand and strike down the offending eight legged creature and then mount up and ride away.

A Likely Spot For Them

There were some sections where the trees were too far apart, or there were open areas, where I could ride without fear of hearing that ripping, zipper like sound of a web being stretched to the breaking point across my face. I could surf along the twisting single track with no worries, but only for a stretch. Then the trees would come together again, the webs would re-appear, and I would be waving my arms in front of me to ward off unseen traps.

I suppose I would have looked pretty spastic out there had anyone other than the couple young deer had seen me. Fortunately, no one did. I made one slow circuit, then it was wide open. I ripped through the turns, the hard pack, Geax Gato tires, and Salsa Cycles Big Mama all working in harmony. Well, now that I figured out the air pressure settings this tire likes!

I was running 20psi rear and in the mid teens up front. Those TNT sidewalls were just getting really happy at these pressures and allowing the tire to work the terrain much better than they would at higher pressures. Even in corners covered in an inch of fine sand, I was getting Velcro-like traction while ripping through the corner. Outstanding!

I'll have more to say about the Gato soon on Twenty Nine Inches.

Hopefully, I'll have no more to say about riding through anymore spider webs!

A Few Words On The Geax Evolution 29"er Tires

As promised earlier today, here is the post I would have put up long ago, but for Blogger's hiccup last night that didn't get resolved until late this past morning.

Enough about that. I want to share with you my initial impressions on this new commuter tire from Geax called the "Evolution 29"" (Notice: The link takes you to the 26"er version because this tire isn't quite available yet.)


The tires are listed as "prototypes", so if changes occur that don't line up with the website, don't be shocked. I will say these tires I received from Geax to test are very "production" looking examples though. They have a wire bead, and don't seem overly heavy for a commuter type tire at just a bit over 800 grams each. These are listed as being 1.9" in width, but on my 24mm wide Alex TD-17 disc rims, I am getting a measurement of 49.5mm/1.95", and that with tubes in place. This is measuring the widest part of the casing, as the tread width is much narrower, obviously.

The tread itself is made up of many triangular shaped, very shallow blocks, with little open space between the tread blocks. When the tires are inflated on my rims, the casing forms a very rounded shape, and these tread blocks are very rounded in profile, not flattish in the middle as shown here. (Un-mounted tire in the image)

I also noted that the sidewalls of the casing were fairly flexible, and that the treaded area felt softer in compound than many urban/commuter/recreational tires I handle at the shop. Geax uses a "XC Casing" on the Evolution 26", which they claim is more supple for a livelier ride feel. The compound used in the 26"er is their "3D Aramid" compound, which has particles of Aramid fibers interspersed throughout the casing to help prevent punctures. Does this 29"er tire feature these same technologies? Geax hasn't gotten back to me on that yet, but I have no reasons to believe that it doesn't.

So, how do they ride? Well, pretty dang nicely! I am still experimenting with pressures, so I haven't had a chance to ferret out what I think will work best there yet, but these tires are smooooth at lower pressures! They still roll well too. How low? How about 26psi front, 30psi rear? I could detect a bit of a draggy feeling from the back, so I've bumped up pressures some, and I'll let ya'all know later.

I should add that I replaced a set of Gen I Specialized Fast Traks that have to be some of the highest rolling resistance 29"er tires I've ridden. Certainly for their class, they are the worst. So, anything feels better than those tires, but that said, the Geax Evolutions are nice. I also will add that I am not an advocate for high tire pressures. I'll get into that another time though.

Hope you enjoyed that sneak peek at these tires I am reviewing for Twenty Nine Inches. I'll have some more things to say about these after I get some time on some gravel roads with them, so stay tuned.

A Few Words On The Geax Evolution 29"er Tires

As promised earlier today, here is the post I would have put up long ago, but for Blogger's hiccup last night that didn't get resolved until late this past morning.

Enough about that. I want to share with you my initial impressions on this new commuter tire from Geax called the "Evolution 29"" (Notice: The link takes you to the 26"er version because this tire isn't quite available yet.)


The tires are listed as "prototypes", so if changes occur that don't line up with the website, don't be shocked. I will say these tires I received from Geax to test are very "production" looking examples though. They have a wire bead, and don't seem overly heavy for a commuter type tire at just a bit over 800 grams each. These are listed as being 1.9" in width, but on my 24mm wide Alex TD-17 disc rims, I am getting a measurement of 49.5mm/1.95", and that with tubes in place. This is measuring the widest part of the casing, as the tread width is much narrower, obviously.

The tread itself is made up of many triangular shaped, very shallow blocks, with little open space between the tread blocks. When the tires are inflated on my rims, the casing forms a very rounded shape, and these tread blocks are very rounded in profile, not flattish in the middle as shown here. (Un-mounted tire in the image)

I also noted that the sidewalls of the casing were fairly flexible, and that the treaded area felt softer in compound than many urban/commuter/recreational tires I handle at the shop. Geax uses a "XC Casing" on the Evolution 26", which they claim is more supple for a livelier ride feel. The compound used in the 26"er is their "3D Aramid" compound, which has particles of Aramid fibers interspersed throughout the casing to help prevent punctures. Does this 29"er tire feature these same technologies? Geax hasn't gotten back to me on that yet, but I have no reasons to believe that it doesn't.

So, how do they ride? Well, pretty dang nicely! I am still experimenting with pressures, so I haven't had a chance to ferret out what I think will work best there yet, but these tires are smooooth at lower pressures! They still roll well too. How low? How about 26psi front, 30psi rear? I could detect a bit of a draggy feeling from the back, so I've bumped up pressures some, and I'll let ya'all know later.

I should add that I replaced a set of Gen I Specialized Fast Traks that have to be some of the highest rolling resistance 29"er tires I've ridden. Certainly for their class, they are the worst. So, anything feels better than those tires, but that said, the Geax Evolutions are nice. I also will add that I am not an advocate for high tire pressures. I'll get into that another time though.

Hope you enjoyed that sneak peek at these tires I am reviewing for Twenty Nine Inches. I'll have some more things to say about these after I get some time on some gravel roads with them, so stay tuned.

Technical Difficulties Partially Solved. Back At It!!

Well....Blogger is still partially borked, (Update: Images post now), but at least I can leave you a message saying that I am here, and to look for more posts soon. Hopefully things get starightened out and we're back to normal soon.

Till then, go ride a bicycle!

<===I'll have a brief report on my  impressions  of the Geax commuter tire later today....

Technical Difficulties Partially Solved. Back At It!!

Well....Blogger is still partially borked, (Update: Images post now), but at least I can leave you a message saying that I am here, and to look for more posts soon. Hopefully things get starightened out and we're back to normal soon.

Till then, go ride a bicycle!

<===I'll have a brief report on my  impressions  of the Geax commuter tire later today....

What Tires To Run At The Dirty Kanza 200 (Or Any Gravel Event)

<===Another look at that new Geax Evolution 1.9" 29 "er tire for ya.....

The comments yesterday reminded me of the perennial question that pops up in searches here and on Gravel Grinder News stats: What Tires To Run At The Dirty Kanza 200 ?

Well, this is purely my opinion, and purely speculation on my part, so take this with a grain of salt. I've been in the Dirty Kanza 200 three times, and I've never run a tire narrower than 2.00".

Ya know, I saw something in all three of my attempts, and that was guys having flat tires. Lots of them. I noted something, and that was that most all were predominantly narrower than two inch wide tires, and most skinnier than 45mm. I spoke with guys that had anywhere from three to as many as eight flat tires in 200 miles.

What if you didn't flat at all?

Seems like you'd save more time, and maybe, if you had the right "motor", that would be enough of a margin to win. Maybe.......

But let's face facts- Most folks entering the Dirty Kanza 200, or any gravel ultra, aren't entering to win it. Maybe 1% of the riders have any chance at that. So, how does the wider/narrower tire choice affect these riders? Well, that's obvious, isn't it? I think you all would rather be riding than fixing flats. Maybe. That might be a long shot, but I'm going with it..........

Maybe you'd also like to be comfortable? Have less numb hands? Maybe you'd like it if your bike didn't bounce around so much when you hit the bigger, chunkier stuff?

Maybe you've read tests where bigger tires run at lower pressures actually have less rolling resistance than skinnier tires at higher pressures? Or perhaps you'd like to enhance that even further by running tubeless?

I know that many do not have bicycles that fit bigger than your average cyclocross tire, and I know that a "fat" tire for a 120lb person is one thing, and totally another for a 220lb person, so you have to use some common sense here. There also are not many good, performance oriented, lightweight tires in between 35mm-50mm in width either, so I get it if you don't like your options. But, there are some options if you look hard enough.

In conclusion, I would advise that you may want to reconsider what you thought was a good gravel road tire.

What Tires To Run At The Dirty Kanza 200 (Or Any Gravel Event)

<===Another look at that new Geax Evolution 1.9" 29 "er tire for ya.....

The comments yesterday reminded me of the perennial question that pops up in searches here and on Gravel Grinder News stats: What Tires To Run At The Dirty Kanza 200 ?

Well, this is purely my opinion, and purely speculation on my part, so take this with a grain of salt. I've been in the Dirty Kanza 200 three times, and I've never run a tire narrower than 2.00".

Ya know, I saw something in all three of my attempts, and that was guys having flat tires. Lots of them. I noted something, and that was that most all were predominantly narrower than two inch wide tires, and most skinnier than 45mm. I spoke with guys that had anywhere from three to as many as eight flat tires in 200 miles.

What if you didn't flat at all?

Seems like you'd save more time, and maybe, if you had the right "motor", that would be enough of a margin to win. Maybe.......

But let's face facts- Most folks entering the Dirty Kanza 200, or any gravel ultra, aren't entering to win it. Maybe 1% of the riders have any chance at that. So, how does the wider/narrower tire choice affect these riders? Well, that's obvious, isn't it? I think you all would rather be riding than fixing flats. Maybe. That might be a long shot, but I'm going with it..........

Maybe you'd also like to be comfortable? Have less numb hands? Maybe you'd like it if your bike didn't bounce around so much when you hit the bigger, chunkier stuff?

Maybe you've read tests where bigger tires run at lower pressures actually have less rolling resistance than skinnier tires at higher pressures? Or perhaps you'd like to enhance that even further by running tubeless?

I know that many do not have bicycles that fit bigger than your average cyclocross tire, and I know that a "fat" tire for a 120lb person is one thing, and totally another for a 220lb person, so you have to use some common sense here. There also are not many good, performance oriented, lightweight tires in between 35mm-50mm in width either, so I get it if you don't like your options. But, there are some options if you look hard enough.

In conclusion, I would advise that you may want to reconsider what you thought was a good gravel road tire.

Friday News And Views

"Once you held your finger on the trigger.
Now the gun is pointing at your head.
Once you reigned supreme,
Over all that you could see.
Now you walk on the other
side of the street. "

"How The Mighty Fall" by The Alarm

Well, if you haven't heard by now, supposedly the most damning evidence against Lance Armstrong will be presented on "60 Minutes" Sunday as they interview Tyler Hamilton, himself a convicted doper, and former lieutenant of Armstrong's in his early Tour victories.

Look, whatever you might think about doping, Lance Armstrong, his foundation's work, and the "effects" he had on cycling, the bigger picture here is that Americans, nay- The World, loves, loves, loves, to tear down the exalted. And we're witnessing the piecemeal dismantling of "Lance" into a mere mortal. Sunday will be just one more wrecking ball to the icon. Frankly, I'm amazed it took this long for it to happen. (Disregarding "the truth", whatever that may be.)

Still, there is another, human side to this, and it is very disappointing for a lot of folks, I am sure. Lyrics from "The Alarm " come to mind once again......(From "Sold Me Down The River " )

" I don't know why,
I don't understand,
How you sold me down the river. "

Indeed!

Geax Evolution 1.9" 29 "er Tires:


In the past, I have run stories on Twenty Nine Inches about commuting on 29 inch wheeled bikes and have gotten an overwhelming response confirming that many folks are using the big wheels to get around town on.

So, it was great interest that I heard about these new 29"er tires by Geax called the "Evolution" and that they were aimed at folks commuting on 29"ers.

Now I have a pair in hand to test on Twenty Nine Inches, and I will link my thoughts here as that unfolds. Right now, I haven't gotten any details on the availability of these, or how much they might be, but that will also be coming soon. You know what? I think these could even be great gravel road riding tires too.

Good Luck Cheq 100 Riders! Saturday is the second Chequamegon 100 event up around Cable, Wisconsin. Those are some mighty fine trails up there, and by the sounds of it, the weather is conspiring to make this one epic event. (70% chance of afternoon thundershowers, anyone?) If it does rain, it'll be chilly in them thar woods, I know that much, and riders better be prepared to be layered up, and then be prepared to peel it all off the minute the sun comes back out. In fact, these conditions sound a lot like the last time I rode up there. It was showering intermittently, then the sun would shine, and the humidity would kill ya!

Well, at any rate, the stories out of this event should be good. Good luck to Captain Bob, and Mike J, who are locals going up for this ultra-mtb ride.


Have a great weekend and I hope ya'all get some bike riding in.

Friday News And Views

"Once you held your finger on the trigger.
Now the gun is pointing at your head.
Once you reigned supreme,
Over all that you could see.
Now you walk on the other
side of the street. "

"How The Mighty Fall" by The Alarm

Well, if you haven't heard by now, supposedly the most damning evidence against Lance Armstrong will be presented on "60 Minutes" Sunday as they interview Tyler Hamilton, himself a convicted doper, and former lieutenant of Armstrong's in his early Tour victories.

Look, whatever you might think about doping, Lance Armstrong, his foundation's work, and the "effects" he had on cycling, the bigger picture here is that Americans, nay- The World, loves, loves, loves, to tear down the exalted. And we're witnessing the piecemeal dismantling of "Lance" into a mere mortal. Sunday will be just one more wrecking ball to the icon. Frankly, I'm amazed it took this long for it to happen. (Disregarding "the truth", whatever that may be.)

Still, there is another, human side to this, and it is very disappointing for a lot of folks, I am sure. Lyrics from "The Alarm " come to mind once again......(From "Sold Me Down The River " )

" I don't know why,
I don't understand,
How you sold me down the river. "

Indeed!

Geax Evolution 1.9" 29 "er Tires:


In the past, I have run stories on Twenty Nine Inches about commuting on 29 inch wheeled bikes and have gotten an overwhelming response confirming that many folks are using the big wheels to get around town on.

So, it was great interest that I heard about these new 29"er tires by Geax called the "Evolution" and that they were aimed at folks commuting on 29"ers.

Now I have a pair in hand to test on Twenty Nine Inches, and I will link my thoughts here as that unfolds. Right now, I haven't gotten any details on the availability of these, or how much they might be, but that will also be coming soon. You know what? I think these could even be great gravel road riding tires too.

Good Luck Cheq 100 Riders! Saturday is the second Chequamegon 100 event up around Cable, Wisconsin. Those are some mighty fine trails up there, and by the sounds of it, the weather is conspiring to make this one epic event. (70% chance of afternoon thundershowers, anyone?) If it does rain, it'll be chilly in them thar woods, I know that much, and riders better be prepared to be layered up, and then be prepared to peel it all off the minute the sun comes back out. In fact, these conditions sound a lot like the last time I rode up there. It was showering intermittently, then the sun would shine, and the humidity would kill ya!

Well, at any rate, the stories out of this event should be good. Good luck to Captain Bob, and Mike J, who are locals going up for this ultra-mtb ride.


Have a great weekend and I hope ya'all get some bike riding in.