Friday News And Views

Another look at the All City rig to be revealed full on 7/18/16

More On The All City Rig:

So, there ya go folks. Another peek at the upcoming All City rig to debut on July 18th, as far as I have seen on their Facebook page. (Image courtesy of said page belonging to said All City)

So, pretty obvious that it is a disc brake bike, right? Looks a heck of a lot like a Space Horse, with, you know..........disc brakes. Yeah.

Well, if that is all it is, that wouldn't be a very big surprise. Like I said last week in this space, almost anything saleable these days either has to have disc brakes or "plus" something or another in its name. Not that this is a bad thing, necessarily. But marketing gets on a roll and it seems that all of a sudden all you hear about is "disc brake road bike this" and "plus sized wheels" that. Interestingly, this could all be attributed to one phenomenon that occurred in the last decade.

Stated as briefly as possible, that would be 29"ers and the way the industry did their best to ignore a grassroots trend that just wouldn't go away. Then the industry wished they would've hopped on that "love train" sooner. Because, ya know.......the perception was that they lost out on making sales to some other early adopters. 

Anyway..... All City's something or another disc braked, drop barred bike will be revealed soon.

New JET-9 from Niner. Of course it is a "plus" bike, you ninny!

Speaking Of Plus Bikes......

Niner Bikes dropped their "plus" versions of the venerable JET-9 and RIP-9 models. All new, "modern" slack/long geometry with stubby stems/wide bars and lots of travel.

Some media outlets are making a big stink about these not being 29"ers. Whatever...... Click baiters all of 'em. Playing upon people's lack of understanding of tire sizing tradition to get them to read the same press release everyone else is regurgitating. Brilliant.

Anyway, I was just reading about Intense's new FS "plus" bike too. Nice looking rig, and Jeff Steber, the head honch over there, actually was expounding on something you don't hear many companies saying, and is something I was talking about here a while back. That being how it is difficult to get suspension which is intentional, designed to a certain goal, and obviously has damping to work with big, voluminous tires that have very little to no damping and can vary a great deal in how they "suspend" the bike and rider due to air pressure settings. Now that's smart thinking right there, and since Jeff was talking about that, I wonder how other companies approached that issue, or even if they did. To my way of thinking, it would be a critical component of the design for any plus FS trail bike  design.

So, yeah........more plus bike stuff! 

It's not bad, actually

With Bacon, How Could It Be Bad? 

Last year, I think it was, I was chatting with Yuri Hauswald at Gravel Worlds. He'd just won the Dirty Kanza 200 a couple of months prior and, amongst other chit-chat, he was telling me about this new flavor of GU gel called "Maple Bacon". Well, he wasn't so much telling me about it as he was raving about it. 

I like bacon, but in a gel packet? I was not convinced that this was anything other than Yuri being loyal to GU and spouting off as an ambassador of the brand. Which is cool. He should do that. I get that about marketing and it doesn't bother me one bit.

Fast forward to yesterday at the shop. A sales rep comes in that we are familiar with that reps for GU Energy. By the way, I happen to like and use their stuff. Roctane, Fizz tabs, and GU Chomps are amongst my favorite things they make. So, I was interested in what the rep had to say about GU products. He laid out some packets and they were, of course, the Maple Bacon flavor. So, I figured, what the heck! I tried one and.......

Dang it! It was really good! So, I was all wrong about that one, and Yuri was right. It is that good. Maybe you aren't into bacon because, ya know.....animals, vegetarianism, etc. Well, did you know that this and other GU gels are actually vegan and kosher? That's what the rep said. Weird. How could Maple Bacon taste so good and not have real bacon?

Never underestimate the Power of the Name "Bacon"! <==HA!

Studded. Tubeless. and yes.....in plus sizes!

 But Wait! There Is More Plus Tire Stuff To Talk About!!

Readers here may recall back in May I talked about this new tire company that isn't really new, but is "coming out" from behind the curtains to market under their own brand name, Arisun. I mentioned that they will have studded, tubeless tires. Well, I just got word yesterday what they are doing.

The line of tires Arisun is going to bring here are called "Sharktooth" and will consist of the following sizes: A 26" X 4.0" tire in wire bead, folding bead, and "TLR" (tubeless ready) with thread counts ranging from 30, 60, and 120. There will also be a 27.5+ configuration to come. But get this- they are doing a 29" X 2.8" Sharktooth in the same versions as the 26" X 4.0"ers! Did you catch that? A 2.8 inch wide, studded 29"er tire?

Sign me up! 

The tubeless version will be killer. And yes......I have a bike that will fit these. By the way, this is another thing I've heard a lot of rumblings about, and may be the next "evolution" of "plus" bikes. That being that 27.5+ and the attendant "Boost" wheel spacing that came along with that has now created a bunch of bikes that probably will fit 29" X 2.5"-2.8" tires, and the industry is going to start pumping out that size tire very soon, as we can see with this Arisun model. So, yeah.........more plus tire stuff!


Have a great weekend, y'all! 

Friday News And Views

Another look at the All City rig to be revealed full on 7/18/16

More On The All City Rig:

So, there ya go folks. Another peek at the upcoming All City rig to debut on July 18th, as far as I have seen on their Facebook page. (Image courtesy of said page belonging to said All City)

So, pretty obvious that it is a disc brake bike, right? Looks a heck of a lot like a Space Horse, with, you know..........disc brakes. Yeah.

Well, if that is all it is, that wouldn't be a very big surprise. Like I said last week in this space, almost anything saleable these days either has to have disc brakes or "plus" something or another in its name. Not that this is a bad thing, necessarily. But marketing gets on a roll and it seems that all of a sudden all you hear about is "disc brake road bike this" and "plus sized wheels" that. Interestingly, this could all be attributed to one phenomenon that occurred in the last decade.

Stated as briefly as possible, that would be 29"ers and the way the industry did their best to ignore a grassroots trend that just wouldn't go away. Then the industry wished they would've hopped on that "love train" sooner. Because, ya know.......the perception was that they lost out on making sales to some other early adopters. 

Anyway..... All City's something or another disc braked, drop barred bike will be revealed soon.

New JET-9 from Niner. Of course it is a "plus" bike, you ninny!

Speaking Of Plus Bikes......

Niner Bikes dropped their "plus" versions of the venerable JET-9 and RIP-9 models. All new, "modern" slack/long geometry with stubby stems/wide bars and lots of travel.

Some media outlets are making a big stink about these not being 29"ers. Whatever...... Click baiters all of 'em. Playing upon people's lack of understanding of tire sizing tradition to get them to read the same press release everyone else is regurgitating. Brilliant.

Anyway, I was just reading about Intense's new FS "plus" bike too. Nice looking rig, and Jeff Steber, the head honch over there, actually was expounding on something you don't hear many companies saying, and is something I was talking about here a while back. That being how it is difficult to get suspension which is intentional, designed to a certain goal, and obviously has damping to work with big, voluminous tires that have very little to no damping and can vary a great deal in how they "suspend" the bike and rider due to air pressure settings. Now that's smart thinking right there, and since Jeff was talking about that, I wonder how other companies approached that issue, or even if they did. To my way of thinking, it would be a critical component of the design for any plus FS trail bike  design.

So, yeah........more plus bike stuff! 

It's not bad, actually

With Bacon, How Could It Be Bad? 

Last year, I think it was, I was chatting with Yuri Hauswald at Gravel Worlds. He'd just won the Dirty Kanza 200 a couple of months prior and, amongst other chit-chat, he was telling me about this new flavor of GU gel called "Maple Bacon". Well, he wasn't so much telling me about it as he was raving about it. 

I like bacon, but in a gel packet? I was not convinced that this was anything other than Yuri being loyal to GU and spouting off as an ambassador of the brand. Which is cool. He should do that. I get that about marketing and it doesn't bother me one bit.

Fast forward to yesterday at the shop. A sales rep comes in that we are familiar with that reps for GU Energy. By the way, I happen to like and use their stuff. Roctane, Fizz tabs, and GU Chomps are amongst my favorite things they make. So, I was interested in what the rep had to say about GU products. He laid out some packets and they were, of course, the Maple Bacon flavor. So, I figured, what the heck! I tried one and.......

Dang it! It was really good! So, I was all wrong about that one, and Yuri was right. It is that good. Maybe you aren't into bacon because, ya know.....animals, vegetarianism, etc. Well, did you know that this and other GU gels are actually vegan and kosher? That's what the rep said. Weird. How could Maple Bacon taste so good and not have real bacon?

Never underestimate the Power of the Name "Bacon"! <==HA!

Studded. Tubeless. and yes.....in plus sizes!

 But Wait! There Is More Plus Tire Stuff To Talk About!!

Readers here may recall back in May I talked about this new tire company that isn't really new, but is "coming out" from behind the curtains to market under their own brand name, Arisun. I mentioned that they will have studded, tubeless tires. Well, I just got word yesterday what they are doing.

The line of tires Arisun is going to bring here are called "Sharktooth" and will consist of the following sizes: A 26" X 4.0" tire in wire bead, folding bead, and "TLR" (tubeless ready) with thread counts ranging from 30, 60, and 120. There will also be a 27.5+ configuration to come. But get this- they are doing a 29" X 2.8" Sharktooth in the same versions as the 26" X 4.0"ers! Did you catch that? A 2.8 inch wide, studded 29"er tire?

Sign me up! 

The tubeless version will be killer. And yes......I have a bike that will fit these. By the way, this is another thing I've heard a lot of rumblings about, and may be the next "evolution" of "plus" bikes. That being that 27.5+ and the attendant "Boost" wheel spacing that came along with that has now created a bunch of bikes that probably will fit 29" X 2.5"-2.8" tires, and the industry is going to start pumping out that size tire very soon, as we can see with this Arisun model. So, yeah.........more plus tire stuff!


Have a great weekend, y'all! 

Weekend Report

<===I'll shoot my deer with a camera, thank you!

Wow! If you didn't drop the rake, leave the dishes unwashed, or forget about washing the car and get outside, you were daft! It was a beautiful last chance to get out and enjoy shirt sleeve weather in 2009. (I'm betting)

I got out Saturday and rode at the camp- for a short bit! My chain sucked on the Big Mama and then not 50 yards down the trail it snapped in two. Not good for prospects of forward motion by two wheels. And I without a chain tool! Bad me! I should know better. I should have been riding a single speed!! Ha! So, now a full drive train replacement will be in order. It's time, and this was a sign.



<===Wait just a gol durn minute!

The fork for then Gun Kote El Mariachi came in last week. A 100mm through axle Manitou Minute 29"er fork. This will determine the wheel set now, which will be a Bontrager Rhythm wheel set I have had in reserve for months now. That means I'll most likely set it up with some Bontrager tires, or Specialized 2Bliss, which works well on the TLR rim strip too.
This Minute has the Absolute Plus damper and lock out, which could be upgraded to the MILO remote lock out if I wanted it. The fork, with an uncut steer tube weighs a paltry 4.2lbs. It'll be less than that once I cut it down a bit.



<===A bear of a tire.

The WTB, Niner Bikes distributed, Kodiak 2.5" tire showed up here too. I've gotten them mounted and ridden a bit too.

What do I think? Well, you'll have to wait for the Twenty Nine Inches reports, but I will say that it is a very different tire from the WTB Dissent that I also am testing here. Actually, they hardly share anything at all in common! Wire beads and Inner Peace sidewall protection, and that's about it from what I can tell so far. Stay tuned!


<===Some long overdue "love" for the Fargo.

I got a Chris King bottom bracket a while ago now. I finally installed it in the Fargo the other day. I think the green goes good with the stock paint, but really, the King BB is smarter than that!

I can maintain this one by injecting grease from time to time ala the King grease tool, which I have to get yet. Hopefully the Fargo will be fine for some time to come, but I need to order that tool anyway for customers at the shop that will be wanting a fresh shot of grease in theirs soon.


<===The frame isn't tiny, the wheels are big!

I saw a thread on mtbr.com that showed this prototype 29"er DH rig from Intense Cycles.

This is serious folks. Intense doesn't fool around with DH. They helped define the genre', and if they are fiddling with wagon wheels for DH, they have an inkling that it might just work.

This would be revolutionary if it proves out. DH has long been thought of as an area of mountain biking that 29 inch wheels were just ridiculous for. They would never be used in that application other than by experimenters and dreamers. The debates will rage now, but if racers start showing up on these, and more importantly- winning on them- then the last barrier to big wheels will have fallen. Will it happen?

Well, it doesn't really matter in the end, but what will happen is that many new ideas will be birthed from the experiment that will benefit long travel and any full suspension 29"er bike. Rim technologies, tire technologies, and of course- fork and damper technologies all stand to be altered by these DH experimenters. It'll be interesting to watch, at the very least.

Weekend Report

<===I'll shoot my deer with a camera, thank you!

Wow! If you didn't drop the rake, leave the dishes unwashed, or forget about washing the car and get outside, you were daft! It was a beautiful last chance to get out and enjoy shirt sleeve weather in 2009. (I'm betting)

I got out Saturday and rode at the camp- for a short bit! My chain sucked on the Big Mama and then not 50 yards down the trail it snapped in two. Not good for prospects of forward motion by two wheels. And I without a chain tool! Bad me! I should know better. I should have been riding a single speed!! Ha! So, now a full drive train replacement will be in order. It's time, and this was a sign.



<===Wait just a gol durn minute!

The fork for then Gun Kote El Mariachi came in last week. A 100mm through axle Manitou Minute 29"er fork. This will determine the wheel set now, which will be a Bontrager Rhythm wheel set I have had in reserve for months now. That means I'll most likely set it up with some Bontrager tires, or Specialized 2Bliss, which works well on the TLR rim strip too.
This Minute has the Absolute Plus damper and lock out, which could be upgraded to the MILO remote lock out if I wanted it. The fork, with an uncut steer tube weighs a paltry 4.2lbs. It'll be less than that once I cut it down a bit.



<===A bear of a tire.

The WTB, Niner Bikes distributed, Kodiak 2.5" tire showed up here too. I've gotten them mounted and ridden a bit too.

What do I think? Well, you'll have to wait for the Twenty Nine Inches reports, but I will say that it is a very different tire from the WTB Dissent that I also am testing here. Actually, they hardly share anything at all in common! Wire beads and Inner Peace sidewall protection, and that's about it from what I can tell so far. Stay tuned!


<===Some long overdue "love" for the Fargo.

I got a Chris King bottom bracket a while ago now. I finally installed it in the Fargo the other day. I think the green goes good with the stock paint, but really, the King BB is smarter than that!

I can maintain this one by injecting grease from time to time ala the King grease tool, which I have to get yet. Hopefully the Fargo will be fine for some time to come, but I need to order that tool anyway for customers at the shop that will be wanting a fresh shot of grease in theirs soon.


<===The frame isn't tiny, the wheels are big!

I saw a thread on mtbr.com that showed this prototype 29"er DH rig from Intense Cycles.

This is serious folks. Intense doesn't fool around with DH. They helped define the genre', and if they are fiddling with wagon wheels for DH, they have an inkling that it might just work.

This would be revolutionary if it proves out. DH has long been thought of as an area of mountain biking that 29 inch wheels were just ridiculous for. They would never be used in that application other than by experimenters and dreamers. The debates will rage now, but if racers start showing up on these, and more importantly- winning on them- then the last barrier to big wheels will have fallen. Will it happen?

Well, it doesn't really matter in the end, but what will happen is that many new ideas will be birthed from the experiment that will benefit long travel and any full suspension 29"er bike. Rim technologies, tire technologies, and of course- fork and damper technologies all stand to be altered by these DH experimenters. It'll be interesting to watch, at the very least.