Friday News And Views

Maybe......maybe not!

Hold On There Just A Minute!

A week ago I reported on the pending sale of ASE's assets to Head Sport. the sale was looked at with approval by most in the industry who felt that it would save the legacy brands, many jobs, and might even help inject a bit of optimism in a flagging industry.

Unfortunately the entire deal is in jeopardy of falling apart as reported Wednesday by "Bicycle Retailer And Industry News". Head thought the terms of the sale included around 9 million in cash assets that ASE has, according to the story. That's a bit bonkers to think that, and of course, everything was put on hold at once. Head wants a "re-do" of the auction, because they obviously feel they are paying too much now. The bankruptcy judge, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Kahn, characterized the developments as "a gosh-awful mess", when he was asked to comment for the story.

The losing bidder on the original auction was a manufacturer for ASE called Ideal. They actually bid higher than Head, but the judge and ASE felt that Head was a better suitor. Now it appears as though that the sale has a good chance of going to Ideal. If this happens, it may not go well for many parts of the ASE empire. It is assumed by many that Ideal would want nothing to do with the retail side of ASE and all those jobs would be lost. Time will tell, but this cannot be seen as a positive for the industry any longer.

Enve Composites introduced a new line of hubs. (Image Courtesy of Enve)

 The Hub Of It All:

Wheels are not much good for cycling without hubs. Enve Composites, who started out doing carbon rim manufacturing, knows this. Yesterday they debuted a new range of road hubs. they are for rim brake and disc brake applications with different models for each.

I found one of the new features of these hubs to be rather intriguing. It is called Perfect Preload™. Basically it is somewhat similar sounding to what you see on some FSA bottom brackets and crank sets. A wave washer of a preset strength is set against the sealed bearing and a snap ring, presumably set into a groove in the axle. this applies a preset amount of pressure laterally against the bearing and snap ring to take up side play in the system. As bearings wear, the wave washer spring adjusts for that wear. This is how I interpreted the information, as I haven't seen any diagrams of this set up. 

It seems like a clever way to adjust and hold adjustment of a sealed bearing hub with little to no maintenance. It seems to have worked on cranks/bottom brackets, so it will be interesting to see how it goes for Enve. 

The other notable thing was that they went for a paired spoke hub flange to save weight. This will make for a challenging set of hubs to calculate spoke length for, but I am sure it can be done with not a whole lot of extra work.  

Lezyne Torque Drive Tool (Image Courtesy of Lezyne)

 Torqued Off (or On, as the case may be):

Tools for working on bicycles have always been of interest to me. I have seen a bunch of pre-set torque tools out there but this one looks pretty slick. It's from Lezyne and is called, you're not going to believe this, Torque Drive. I know.....amazing, right? 


Anyway, it comes with hardened steel bits which are housed in the included soft case. Apparently the wrench works on the torque rod principal, from the appearance of its use on a video I watched. That's cool because you'll never need a battery. A gradated set of markings exists on the base with an indicator hash mark on the bit holding side. Simply twist on the fastener until the hash mark lines up with the desired torque setting. (Range is 2Nm to 10Nm) 

This is a pretty cool tool for travel or home use. Torque rod type torque wrenches typically stay calibrated for a long time if they are not abused and are handled with care. That said, I don't know that you could calibrate this wrench, so.....handle it with care! The other nit I have with it is that for tight quarters the wrench is pretty useless. So, for stem face plates obscured by accessories or for bolts that are in tighter places, you'll have to look elsewhere for your torquing needs. That said, this should work in most cases. Lezyne sells these for about 50 bucks. Not a bad insurance policy against failure to torque properly. 

 Traveling Over The Frozen Tundra To Blow Some Hot Air:

Today I am traveling to Des Moines, barring any calamity, to speak at the Iowa Bicycle Summit. They want to hear about gravel travel and how Iowa communities can get on board with the burgeoning gravel scene. 

This will only take up a small amount of time while I am there, so I am probably going to visit somewhere/someone else whilst I am down there. Stay tuned for a report on my adventures.......

That's it for today. I hope that you all are staying safe, warm, (if need be) , and having a good time with bicycles. 

Friday News And Views

Maybe......maybe not!

Hold On There Just A Minute!

A week ago I reported on the pending sale of ASE's assets to Head Sport. the sale was looked at with approval by most in the industry who felt that it would save the legacy brands, many jobs, and might even help inject a bit of optimism in a flagging industry.

Unfortunately the entire deal is in jeopardy of falling apart as reported Wednesday by "Bicycle Retailer And Industry News". Head thought the terms of the sale included around 9 million in cash assets that ASE has, according to the story. That's a bit bonkers to think that, and of course, everything was put on hold at once. Head wants a "re-do" of the auction, because they obviously feel they are paying too much now. The bankruptcy judge, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Kahn, characterized the developments as "a gosh-awful mess", when he was asked to comment for the story.

The losing bidder on the original auction was a manufacturer for ASE called Ideal. They actually bid higher than Head, but the judge and ASE felt that Head was a better suitor. Now it appears as though that the sale has a good chance of going to Ideal. If this happens, it may not go well for many parts of the ASE empire. It is assumed by many that Ideal would want nothing to do with the retail side of ASE and all those jobs would be lost. Time will tell, but this cannot be seen as a positive for the industry any longer.

Enve Composites introduced a new line of hubs. (Image Courtesy of Enve)

 The Hub Of It All:

Wheels are not much good for cycling without hubs. Enve Composites, who started out doing carbon rim manufacturing, knows this. Yesterday they debuted a new range of road hubs. they are for rim brake and disc brake applications with different models for each.

I found one of the new features of these hubs to be rather intriguing. It is called Perfect Preload™. Basically it is somewhat similar sounding to what you see on some FSA bottom brackets and crank sets. A wave washer of a preset strength is set against the sealed bearing and a snap ring, presumably set into a groove in the axle. this applies a preset amount of pressure laterally against the bearing and snap ring to take up side play in the system. As bearings wear, the wave washer spring adjusts for that wear. This is how I interpreted the information, as I haven't seen any diagrams of this set up. 

It seems like a clever way to adjust and hold adjustment of a sealed bearing hub with little to no maintenance. It seems to have worked on cranks/bottom brackets, so it will be interesting to see how it goes for Enve. 

The other notable thing was that they went for a paired spoke hub flange to save weight. This will make for a challenging set of hubs to calculate spoke length for, but I am sure it can be done with not a whole lot of extra work.  

Lezyne Torque Drive Tool (Image Courtesy of Lezyne)

 Torqued Off (or On, as the case may be):

Tools for working on bicycles have always been of interest to me. I have seen a bunch of pre-set torque tools out there but this one looks pretty slick. It's from Lezyne and is called, you're not going to believe this, Torque Drive. I know.....amazing, right? 


Anyway, it comes with hardened steel bits which are housed in the included soft case. Apparently the wrench works on the torque rod principal, from the appearance of its use on a video I watched. That's cool because you'll never need a battery. A gradated set of markings exists on the base with an indicator hash mark on the bit holding side. Simply twist on the fastener until the hash mark lines up with the desired torque setting. (Range is 2Nm to 10Nm) 

This is a pretty cool tool for travel or home use. Torque rod type torque wrenches typically stay calibrated for a long time if they are not abused and are handled with care. That said, I don't know that you could calibrate this wrench, so.....handle it with care! The other nit I have with it is that for tight quarters the wrench is pretty useless. So, for stem face plates obscured by accessories or for bolts that are in tighter places, you'll have to look elsewhere for your torquing needs. That said, this should work in most cases. Lezyne sells these for about 50 bucks. Not a bad insurance policy against failure to torque properly. 

 Traveling Over The Frozen Tundra To Blow Some Hot Air:

Today I am traveling to Des Moines, barring any calamity, to speak at the Iowa Bicycle Summit. They want to hear about gravel travel and how Iowa communities can get on board with the burgeoning gravel scene. 

This will only take up a small amount of time while I am there, so I am probably going to visit somewhere/someone else whilst I am down there. Stay tuned for a report on my adventures.......

That's it for today. I hope that you all are staying safe, warm, (if need be) , and having a good time with bicycles. 

Friday News And Views

The scene as recorded by Australia's "9News" cameras.

"E-Bike" Fire Causes Concerns:

Recently a Pinarello road bike, retrofitted with an electric motor, had its battery catch fire and cause a minor brush fire in Australia. You can read Carlton Reid's story here.

Pinarello was quick to point out that this bicycle was retrofitted with an aftermarket electric motor kit not approved by Pinarello. But this isn't an odd case. There are a lot of retrofit kits out there, and the potential for something along these lines to happen again, with possible devastating effects, is rather high.

The story from Australia brings up a couple of interesting points to ponder. I've noted several modded bicycles and scooters in the Mid-Western city I live in. I would assume that nationwide, that it is true that there are other examples of such vehicles running streets and trails. We have no idea if the installations were dodgy, if the products are safe, or if we might see more battery explosions causing fires. The fellow in Australia escaped with minor burns, but the next person may not be as lucky.

The brush fire also brings up another interesting point to ponder. That of what might happen, say if this scene were to play itself out in a western state, with major consequences. Wildfires start easily and have had devastating effects which are well known to us all. Even if an electric motor on a two wheeled vehicle is installed properly, it only takes a spark.

Former Pro roadie, Ted King gets a hug after winning the Dirty Kanza 200

More On Why Grassroots Gravel Isn't Dying: 

Okay, tacking on to what I posted yesterday, and which I mentioned there I would be talking about here, is the following. A bit of redundancy, I know, but I do not think everyone is getting the point here. ......

Another article speaking about the Pro roadie invasion of "gravel" events, (which is really just another story about the Dirty Kanza 200), hit the web this week written by Joe Lindsey for "Outside Magazine".

It's an interesting take, but again- it really is only referring to one event. There is a reason for this.

The Dirty Kanza 200, for all intents and purposes, is "the" gravel event. Outside of folks who know and love gravel, this event is really the only event anyone knows much about. Even the media focuses on this singular event as being the example of "gravel" as it refers to cycling. That's a bit skewed. No.........it is a LOT skewed. But it is what it is. The DK200 has positioned itself over the years to be "THE" gravel event in the eyes of the cycling world, and it has largely achieved this goal. It's no wonder then that publishers like "Outside" almost always reference the event in their coverage of the gravel scene. Sure, there are token references to other gravel events, but they are not the focus here.

Really, if you think about it, the story headline should be "No, Pros Won't Ruin The Dirty Kanza". There ya go, "Outside", fixed that for ya..... The point being is that the gravel scene is far more than just that event. Obvious, yes- but it is not portrayed this way in coverage to average cyclists and casual onlookers. This is really why grassroots racing won't be affected by the Pros. Because there are more gravel events than just the Dirty Kanza. A LOT more!

Canyon Strive with 29" wheels

 It's Remarkable Where 29"ers Have Gone:

When I started blogging in 2005 (GASP! It's been that long ago!) I was really passionate about the then new 29 inch wheeled mountain bikes. I still am, but, ya know.......they are pretty much just mountain bikes now, right? I mean, you have some 27.5" stuff, but most mountain bikes are 29"ers anymore. Nuthin' new there!

But back then we never thought long travel or DH bikes would ever be 29 inch wheeled bikes. Why would they be? That was ludicrous. No way.....

But it has all happened. Long travel, big wheels, full suspension, all in one bike? Crazy. The latest news came from Canyon Bikes who debuted the enduro-centric Strive 29"er yesterday. The team issue one has a 170mm travel front fork and 150mm travel rear suspension. What the what?!!! That's crazy talk right there.

But I am pleased to see that it seems just like "the normal thing to do" now. No one is really all that surprised by this. It is the trend now. Long travel 29"ers, a dream ten years ago, are reality everywhere in 2019. Crow is being eaten. Hope it tastes good.......

Head sells bicycles and related gear, but is best known for tennis and ski gear.

Head Sport Buys Up Bankrupt Bike Company:

Recently the bicycle industry was rocked by the news that ASE, parent company to brands Fuji Bikes, Breezer Bikes, Kestrel, and more such as retailers Performance Bike and Nashbar, was going bankrupt. Now news is spreading via "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" that Head Sport has offered to buy the ailing companies.

You may remember Head if you were of age in the 70's. They were part of AMF, remember that? The same AMF company that owned Harley-Davidson back then. Anyway, Head makes tennis rackets and ski gear, which has been their bread and butter since the 50's when the company was founded by Howard Head.

Head sells bicycles under the "Head" brand name in Europe, for the most part, and carry a full line of bicycles and HPB (Hybrid Powered Bicycles) units as well. In terms of the particular brands we know that were part of ASE, it is a good thing and it seems likely these marques will live on to see another day. What becomes of the retail side of the business seems to be up in the air at this point. My feeling is that if Head decides to keep a few outlets open, they won't be anything like the old Performance/Nashbar. But we will see.

That's all for this week! We have snow coming in, so I hope to get a fat bike ride in. Get out and ride!

Friday News And Views

The scene as recorded by Australia's "9News" cameras.

"E-Bike" Fire Causes Concerns:

Recently a Pinarello road bike, retrofitted with an electric motor, had its battery catch fire and cause a minor brush fire in Australia. You can read Carlton Reid's story here.

Pinarello was quick to point out that this bicycle was retrofitted with an aftermarket electric motor kit not approved by Pinarello. But this isn't an odd case. There are a lot of retrofit kits out there, and the potential for something along these lines to happen again, with possible devastating effects, is rather high.

The story from Australia brings up a couple of interesting points to ponder. I've noted several modded bicycles and scooters in the Mid-Western city I live in. I would assume that nationwide, that it is true that there are other examples of such vehicles running streets and trails. We have no idea if the installations were dodgy, if the products are safe, or if we might see more battery explosions causing fires. The fellow in Australia escaped with minor burns, but the next person may not be as lucky.

The brush fire also brings up another interesting point to ponder. That of what might happen, say if this scene were to play itself out in a western state, with major consequences. Wildfires start easily and have had devastating effects which are well known to us all. Even if an electric motor on a two wheeled vehicle is installed properly, it only takes a spark.

Former Pro roadie, Ted King gets a hug after winning the Dirty Kanza 200

More On Why Grassroots Gravel Isn't Dying: 

Okay, tacking on to what I posted yesterday, and which I mentioned there I would be talking about here, is the following. A bit of redundancy, I know, but I do not think everyone is getting the point here. ......

Another article speaking about the Pro roadie invasion of "gravel" events, (which is really just another story about the Dirty Kanza 200), hit the web this week written by Joe Lindsey for "Outside Magazine".

It's an interesting take, but again- it really is only referring to one event. There is a reason for this.

The Dirty Kanza 200, for all intents and purposes, is "the" gravel event. Outside of folks who know and love gravel, this event is really the only event anyone knows much about. Even the media focuses on this singular event as being the example of "gravel" as it refers to cycling. That's a bit skewed. No.........it is a LOT skewed. But it is what it is. The DK200 has positioned itself over the years to be "THE" gravel event in the eyes of the cycling world, and it has largely achieved this goal. It's no wonder then that publishers like "Outside" almost always reference the event in their coverage of the gravel scene. Sure, there are token references to other gravel events, but they are not the focus here.

Really, if you think about it, the story headline should be "No, Pros Won't Ruin The Dirty Kanza". There ya go, "Outside", fixed that for ya..... The point being is that the gravel scene is far more than just that event. Obvious, yes- but it is not portrayed this way in coverage to average cyclists and casual onlookers. This is really why grassroots racing won't be affected by the Pros. Because there are more gravel events than just the Dirty Kanza. A LOT more!

Canyon Strive with 29" wheels

 It's Remarkable Where 29"ers Have Gone:

When I started blogging in 2005 (GASP! It's been that long ago!) I was really passionate about the then new 29 inch wheeled mountain bikes. I still am, but, ya know.......they are pretty much just mountain bikes now, right? I mean, you have some 27.5" stuff, but most mountain bikes are 29"ers anymore. Nuthin' new there!

But back then we never thought long travel or DH bikes would ever be 29 inch wheeled bikes. Why would they be? That was ludicrous. No way.....

But it has all happened. Long travel, big wheels, full suspension, all in one bike? Crazy. The latest news came from Canyon Bikes who debuted the enduro-centric Strive 29"er yesterday. The team issue one has a 170mm travel front fork and 150mm travel rear suspension. What the what?!!! That's crazy talk right there.

But I am pleased to see that it seems just like "the normal thing to do" now. No one is really all that surprised by this. It is the trend now. Long travel 29"ers, a dream ten years ago, are reality everywhere in 2019. Crow is being eaten. Hope it tastes good.......

Head sells bicycles and related gear, but is best known for tennis and ski gear.

Head Sport Buys Up Bankrupt Bike Company:

Recently the bicycle industry was rocked by the news that ASE, parent company to brands Fuji Bikes, Breezer Bikes, Kestrel, and more such as retailers Performance Bike and Nashbar, was going bankrupt. Now news is spreading via "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" that Head Sport has offered to buy the ailing companies.

You may remember Head if you were of age in the 70's. They were part of AMF, remember that? The same AMF company that owned Harley-Davidson back then. Anyway, Head makes tennis rackets and ski gear, which has been their bread and butter since the 50's when the company was founded by Howard Head.

Head sells bicycles under the "Head" brand name in Europe, for the most part, and carry a full line of bicycles and HPB (Hybrid Powered Bicycles) units as well. In terms of the particular brands we know that were part of ASE, it is a good thing and it seems likely these marques will live on to see another day. What becomes of the retail side of the business seems to be up in the air at this point. My feeling is that if Head decides to keep a few outlets open, they won't be anything like the old Performance/Nashbar. But we will see.

That's all for this week! We have snow coming in, so I hope to get a fat bike ride in. Get out and ride!