Friday News And Views

Flint Hills Gravel Ride/Run Registration Open:

Starting off this FN&V with a gravel event in Kansas called the Flint Hills Gravel Ride and Run. This event will happen on April 12th, 2025 out of Americus, Kansas. 

The event will feature a tweaked distance line-up of 20, 40, 80, and 120 miles. As event director Bobby Thompson says though, these distances are "ish", as in 20-ish, 40-ish, etc. Ha!

The event also holds the distinction of being the opening event of the Great Plains Gravel Cup series, which will be in its inaugural season next year. 

Find out more at: https://flinthillsgravelride.com/

Mammoth Tuff Now In UCI Gravel Worlds Series:

Recently a Velo.com story was published revealing that Mammoth Tuff, a gravel event in the Eastern Sierra, has agreed to become one of two events in North America slated to be in the 2025 UCI Gravel World Series. 

The event will host that race but will retain other distances and categories which will not require a license to participate in, according to the article on Velo. Also noted there was that Mammoth Tuff reached this decision to partner with the UCI, in part, due to falling participation numbers since the event's inception in 2020. 

Interestingly the fee the UCI is asking for putting their stamp of approval on an event in the Gravel World Series was revealed to be $10,000.00 which was reportedly cut in half for Mammoth Tuff. The Highlands Classic will be the other event in North America included in the series.
 

 Blog Schedule For November/December:

A friendly reminder to those loyal readers here and maybe news to those of you who are new here. The "end-of-year" blog schedule is about to begin! 

So, here is a brief round-up of what you can expect to see here soon:

• Bikes of 2024: A brief review of the bikes I used throughout 2024 with a list of any changes and future plans. Just a fun look at what I ride. 
• Rear View 2024: This is a quarterly review of all the highlights (and maybe some low ones!) from the year. Mostly focused on the blog here but I often pull in other life events as well. These are broken up into four parts and one will be seen each week in December. 
• Top Ten Posts of 2024: A list of the most viewed posts on the site for the year. I always am surprised by what gets looked at here the most, and I think you might be surprised as well!
• Top Images of 2024: I choose the best 12 images, one from each month, and post them in one post with some commentary where I deem necessary. 
• NEW! Top People of 2024: I decided after reviewing the year for these upcoming posts that I needed to fete those individuals who had a major impact on me and what happened during the year. So, these will be rolled out as single posts, some covering a single individual, some about groups. Stay tuned! I think this addition will be a good one! 
• A Look Ahead: The last post of 2024 will be dedicated to looking at what I see for myself and cycling in general for the upcoming year.  
• The Regular Stuff: There will be "FN&V's", the continuance of the celebration of 20 years of blogging, and the random current content posts. 
• NEW! The Best Podcasts of 2024: I'll do a single post concerning the most listened to podcasts of the past year with links in case you need to kill some time over the Holidays! 
  

So, as you can see, there is a LOT of content there! I'll start rolling some of this out next week because as things stand now, I have 47 posts accounted for and as of today there are 45 days left in the year! So, with anything current inserted into the mix, that will mean some days will be double post days. Make sure you scroll all the way through any upcoming posts because you might miss something if you don't! 

As always, THANK YOU for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Don't Forget To Nominate The Next GCHoF Class!.

The Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame is still looking for good write-ups for their next class of inductees to be enshrined this coming May of 2025. 

The task is relatively easy: Ask the person you want to nominate if it is okay. Go to the GCHoF Nomination page. Then write a good, well written two paragraph article on why this person deserves to be feted. Send it to the GCHoF before November 30th. That's it!

Nominees will be named after voting by the electors. Thanks for considering this! 

From a recent patent filing by Lauf.

Is Lauf Going To Change Freehub Design Radically Soon?.

Mid-week news broke on a patent filing Lauf filed for a design using a radical new idea for how hubs are mated with a cassette and how those two components work as a freehub. 

There are two ideas which are very 'outside the box' going on here. first, as seen in the first image, Lauf proposes a set of "pawls", or more like springs, really, which would be attached to the carrier for a traditional cassette. These springs are drawn in a way which makes them look like serpents, but the squiggly looking bits are actually meant to give a bit by stretching those elements which have the serpentine look out a bit, giving a bit of a softer engagement when the rider returns to pedaling after coasting. In another drawing on THIS PAGE those serpentine spring elements are drawn straight, so it appears that Lauf has not yet decided which way to go there. 

Again, from Lauf's patent filing.

But if I am reading this next image correctly, these serpentine elements are part of a unit that extends across most of the length of the hub shell. This is a radical departure from standard freehub design. 

This would mean that the entire inner hub shell would be a machined drive ring, essentially, which the serpentine elements would engage with. Furthermore; if the serpentine elements are staggered, as it appears is proposed, the engagement points could well be in the hundreds, if not thousands! 

Lauf apparently proposes to 3D print this according to a report I read HERE. Will this come to pass? If it does, I would think it would have a major impact upon the market, if it should prove to be more efficient and lighter in weight than traditionally designed free hubs. 

Sometimes crazy looking ideas end up changing the world, and then again, sometimes you see something that looks wild and it disappears. Which this will be is anyone's guess, but kudos to whomever designed this, because it is a very different take on a freehub design, at least as far as I know, it is. 

That is a wrap on this week! Look for 'end-of-year' posts to crank up starting next week here!

Friday News And Views

Gravel Grinder News: Lauf Becomes Title Sponsor of Gravel Worlds:

Last week on Friday (too late to make the cut here) Gravel Worlds announced that they had a new title sponsor in Lauf Cycles. Garmin, who had been the title sponsor of Gravel Worlds, is still backing Gravel Worlds but at a lesser level. 

Lauf Cycles has sponsored Gravel Worlds since 2016, being that event's "official bicycle" since that time, but Gravel Worlds now will have Lauf as a title sponsor for at least the next three years. 

Look for further announcements including new promotions for next year's Gravel Worlds to come. The 2025 dates are August 22nd - 24th. You can learn more about Gravel Worlds at their site HERE.

Legendary Cycling Media Journalist Goes Solo:

For years cycling media's James Huang has commanded respect and fans worldwide for his no-nonsense takes, technical news, and reviews of products. He has worked for many of the most well known cycling publications and websites over the years, most recently with the "Escape Collective". Huang left his post there in May of 2024 and now has announced that he has a Substack hosted site called "n - 1", a take on the famous saying cyclists use when looking at a new bike by saying "n + 1" is the formula for how many bikes you should own. 

Maybe Mr. Huang's writings over the years have impressed and helped you out, or maybe you've never heard of the guy, but to me he is an industry icon. James Huang is "the standard" when it comes to technical cycling journalism and he knows what he is talking about. I have respected him for years, and I actually met him once during a Trek/Fisher press camp in Monterey, California. I'm pretty sure that Mr. Huang was not impressed by me and probably doesn't recall that meeting, but it is one of the highlights of my time in cycling media. 

Give "n -1" a try and if you didn't know where Mr. Huang went now you do. I may have more to say on the state of cycling media in another post. 

Update On The Cross Point Sock Review: 

Some of you readers may recall my review of these Cross Point waterproof socks which I started looking at back in early September HERE. I promised an update "later in the Fall" and so here we are.

The thing is that since that introduction we have been bone dry and hot as far as the weather goes. While we just had a spate of colder weather, we're back into the 70's for a bit and wet weather is still a rarity here. 

Due to these conditions, I just do not feel it is fair to conclude this review just yet. I am hopeful that colder and wetter weather will present itself and I'll be able to try out this product in proper weather soon. So, if you felt that you were left hanging concerning this review, this is what is going on with it. 

Again, I hope to get this wrapped up soon. 

Image courtesy of Enve Cycles

Enve Cycles Shows New Hex Gravel Tires:

Another new gravel tread is out there called "Hex" and is offered up by Enve Cycles. Available in 40m and 44mm sizes, in tan wall only, the tires feature a nano particle enhanced compound that is claimed to reduce rolling resistance and increase grip. 

Hexagonal knobs provide three-way flex edges for grip as well as providing for an enhanced ride feel. There is puncture protection under the tread and reinforced material around the bead chafer. The Hex is tubeless ready and claimed weight for the 40mm tire is 430 grams and the 44mm tires are claimed to weigh 450 grams each. 

The Hex gravel tires are priced at $75.00 USD each. You can purchase them directly from Enve HERE.

Comments: Enve follows the "not much, if any, tread in the middle and low, laterally placed blocks on the shoulders" recipe for tread design which has been a staple design for gravel tread since the early twenty-teens. Interesting to read that Enve has their contract manufacturer using a "nano particle enhanced compound". This nano particle technology has been pretty much the sole domain of Vittoria tires for several years. Makes you wonder...

Also interesting is the somewhat conservative sizes available. 40mm is racy, but becoming less popular while anything closer to 50mm wide seems to be getting all the flowers from riders of late. Of course, Enve had to work with a factory, as they do not actually make these themselves, so it may be a case where the factory offered up these options and that was it. We may never know, but there you go.... Tires from Enve if you want them. 

RAT 1000 For 2025 Announced:

The Spinistry is an event organizer based in Texas that has created a subset of gravel events that is just as iconic as anything you've heard of. While events like Unbound, Barry-Roubaix, and Gravel Worlds have been stalwart "classic" gravel events for years, I feel many people are unaware that The Spinistry is an organization that deserves to have its events seen in the same light.

Take, for instance, the Red River Riot, an event that has been ongoing since 2010. The Spinistry can boast of other regional events that have become staples in the area as well. 

Their long distance, Tour Divide-like event is the RAT 1000, a stage event across the state of Texas from Texarkana on the Eastern border to Tucumcari, New Mexico just over the border in New Mexico. You can read all about it HERE. There are shorter options, you can 'tour' the route, or you can take on the ITT version and try to set a FKT. It looks like an amazing route and you can do this in October next year if you want to take up the challenge.

That's a wrap on this week! Thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions! Get out and ride those bicycles!

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Lauf

A "Mountain" Of FN&V!

Lauf Announces An MTB To Their Range:

Lauf, previously best known for their funky leaf sprung forks and gravel bikes has just announced a new XC/Trail mountain bike called the Elja. (Say "ell-yah") 

A single pivot design in carbon fiber, this bike can handle up to 29" X 3.0" tires with no problem. Available in four colors and two spec levels, the Elja XC has 120mm of travel and is also available in a longer travel "Trail" version featuring 130mm of rear travel. Bikes are on a pre-order now for early 2025 delivery. 

Comments: I won't get into the weeds on specs and technical aspects of this design, but I highly encourage you to read Lauf's explanations of their choices for this bike. (You can find all of it on THIS LINK) Scroll that page and read it all. There is, in my opinion, a lot of BS debunking text to chew on there. I will share on example here concerning why vibration reduction is key to gravel bike design, not the "bump eating" types of suspension that are represented in telescopic gravel fork designs. Read this and think about it: (From Lauf's page on the Elja)

"Gravel bikes are mostly subject to vibration from rough surfaces. Gravel bikes benefit from a “low-pass filter”, that wipes out high-frequency “stuff” with minimal friction and energy loss. This is done efficiently by the undamped leaf-springs of Lauf gravel suspension forks."

Of course, Lauf is going to push their product, why wouldn't they? However; this fact applies across all gravel bikes and devices used to make riding more comfortable. What are we dealing with on gravel rides? Trail obstacles or high frequency vibrations? This is something that makes sense and is not what a telescopic gravel fork does best, or at all. 

But that's just one nugget from tat page. Again, it is worth your time to read their thoughts and think it over. A lot of horse sense is shared there and I found it refreshing. It's definitely NOT you average marketing drivel.
 

The Guitar Ted Podcast Episode #58:

N.Y. Roll and I got together again and laid down another podcast episode for you to check out HERE. We kind of go all over the place in this one, but N.Y. Roll texted me after I posted it and said he thought it was one of our best episodes. 

We covered tires, event production, bikes, and more. We especially are intrigued by the use of big tires by the "fast guys" (Pro gravel riders) Reminds me of something I read on Lauf's page linked above, actually now that I think about that. 

At any rate, there is another episode for you to chew on. let me know what you think if you listen to it. By the way, did you know that you can now leave comments on our Spotify page if you listen from there? Or you can comment here or email me also. I would love to hear any comments or suggestions for the podcast you might have. 

This season is coming to a close quickly for the podcast. We will plan on recording through November when we will sign off for a month and reconvene in January of 2025. I suspect we will get in about five, maybe six more episodes for the season. Thank you for listening, if you do. 

Image courtesy of Velo Orange

Velo Orange Announces New Gibbous Cage:

The 'big cage' for big containers and bottles range is getting hotter with new additions for bikepacking and long rides. Velo Orange has the excellent Mojave Cage which I reviewed here and now adds the Gibbous Cage, a side-loader design. 

The stainless steel cage is available in both left and right configurations. It also features several mounting holes in its base to accommodate different mounting positions or to take advantage of the "Three-Pack" bolt arrangements found on some bicycles. 

The cage costs $39.00 USD and you can get one from Velo Orange's site HERE. 

Comments: This cage, and several like it, are great ideas for increasing the water carrying capacity on bikes you may like that were designed before all the "adventure warts" became a popular choice for adventure bikes. Bicycles like my On One Inbred, as an example, could really benefit from having a cage like this on it. 

Image courtesy of Dennis Grelk's Facebook page.

Mind Blown....

I've mentioned the name of Trans Iowa v7 winner Dennis Grelk here before, but what you did not know is that Dennis is a mechanical mastermind the sort which used to be seen much more of in times past. This mind-blowing 2 wheel drive, 2 wheel steering, fully suspended, belt driven recumbent is such a cool machine that I thought it deserved a bit wider attention. I'm quite certain Dennis would not approve, but look at this! It is amazing, right? And it has been trail-tested. 

In a world of marginal gains and electrified everything, this bicycle stands out of the crowd as being something truly innovative. Yeah.....just amazing! Well done, Dennis! 

I'll leave you all with that bit of inspiration. Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions! Get out and ride those bikes!

Friday News And Views

 Iowa Gravel Series Announces 2024 Slate Of Races:

Early in the week the Iowa Gravel Series, headed up by Chris McQueen, announced their slate of events for the 2024 season. Headlining the series is a new, all-female event and two new additional races with one of them serving as the finale to the series. 

The IGS is partnering with Prairie Bloom, the largest cycling club in Omaha, NE, to put on what they hope will eventually be one of the largest women's only gravel events in the nation. Called the "Prairie Superbloom", it will run on the same course that is used for Glenwood Gravel. The event will take place in September of 2024.

The series is also adding two new events in the Kalona Horseshoe and the Fairfield Harvest Rush. The Fairfield event will close out the IGS events for 2024 and so the IGS is hoping to offer a prize purse for both the over-all series and the event that day. Sponsors and details are TBD, but stay tuned to the IGS site (link above) for announcements or follow the Iowa Gravel Series on social media. 

Comments: Back in 2020 when I saw the way that Chris McQueen was doing things, I knew that he was going to bring in a very different, aggressive approach to gravel events in Iowa. The state was ripe for the taking, in a way, since the gravel racing/riding scene, well established by the late twenty-teens, had not been pursued by any promotional teams or developed by an organization despite the vast opportunities Iowa has to offer. Besides the new-ish series of events put on by Relentless Events, which are all ultra-distance in nature, the state did not have a cohesive series of "standard" distance events until the IGS started up. 

The announcements for the 2024 season are typically aggressive and forward-thinking in terms of what we have had for gravel events in Iowa in the past. Are the events that the IGS puts on "too fancy"? Some may be put off by the progressive, more promotionally driven messaging that the IGS has, but again- Iowa was a wasteland in terms of any "big-time" gravel events, if that makes any sense. Iowa had nothing like the SBT GRVL, Unbound, Big Sugar, Gravel Worlds type of thing going on, and really, I find that rather bizarre. Why not? This state has been, for all intents and purposes, passed by in the bigger gravelly world of cycling when it should not have been so. (And I realize I may have had something to do with that fact.)

Maybe the Iowa Gravel Series will change that. We'll see.....  

Raputitsa Celebrates 10th Edition Of The Event In 2024:

The Raputitsa, a mixed terrain, "gravel" event in Vermont, is setting up to celebrate 10 years of the event's running in 2024. To mark the occasion, the event directors have chosen to feature several sections of the original Raputitsa course and have decided to "up the adventure quotient" by moving the date earlier to potentially capture more "challenging weather". 

Known to have muddy, sometimes snowy sectors on the course, Raputitsa says that by moving their date forward by a week they hope to catch a bit more of that sort of thing. They are quoted in their press release as stating, "Mother Nature is going to test your mettle, and we're here for it!"

Registration and lodging for the 2024 Raputitsa opens up November 1st. 

Comments: You know, it's kind of ironic when you stop to think about this dynamic of having very challenging conditions for an event. There have been cries of "foul" where challenging, muddy conditions have occurred during certain, very high profile gravel events. Event RD's have been taken to task for "putting riders through terrible conditions" just to hold an event, or use a particular course.

Then there are those who think the event may not have been a genuine one if the course is super-dry and there is no wind. They feel "cheated" out of a "real experience". One that they trained for and expected the trials and tribulations of the event to be a part of their personal, prideful "success story" afterward. However; if things were too easy, that kind of short-circuits the possibilities for "epic story telling" after the fact. 

So, there is no winning that debate when it comes to Race directing and promoting. All you can do is cast the net as far as you can in terms of getting the information about course conditions and possibilities to as many as you can. Maybe you will get racers/riders informed. The rest is on the rider to decide. Don't like the course conditions? Well, no one is forcing you to ride in any particular conditions.You can go ahead and stop at any point. As for your event fees, well, you should know the "refund policies" ahead of your attendance. I'm going to guess most events don't have refund policies, and if they do, usually they allow a deferral to the following year's event.  

For those who didn't get all the mud, snow, wind, or whatever they were expecting? There is always next year, or another event.

Image courtesy of Lauf Cycles

Lauf Debuts Uthald Road Bike:

Lauf, the gravel bike company known for their carbon linkage fork, the Grit, has now made a road bike. Well..... Not your typical road bike. 

Lauf claims that they rode at least one test mule with a variable head tube angle across multiple terrains and with several riders and arrived at a bike with a slightly slacker head tube angle and with less offset than you might think you'd want with that head angle. 

They also added copious, (for a road bike, that is), tire clearance with a recommended maximum size of 35mm, but I've already seen where someone has fitted in a 38mm tire. 

The Uthald has a short rear-center and so the wheel base is kept somewhat in check. The bottom bracket drop isn't crazy, but it is 73mm, and that's okay. The thing here is all about the higher than expected trail figure and slack-ish head tube angle. For a road bike, that is. But then, I'm seeing this as another move back toward where things once were in the early 20th Century. 

It's also wireless only. Yep! Something I think we'll be seeing more of in the future as companies push the electronically shifted drive trains more and more. It's probably not a bike I would choose to ride here in Iowa, (I don't have any desire to ride pavement), but it is an interesting development in road bike offerings. Definitely NOT your average road bike.

Merida Silex 4000 (Image courtesy of Merida)

The World Champion's Gravel Bike:

Merida Bikes released their newest version of their Silex range of gravel bikes on Thursday. This brand is not sold in the USA, but I thought the bike, and its unique design, was noteworthy. 

As the headline states, this was the bike that was under Matej Mohorič when he won the Men's UCI Gravel World Championships recently. That becomes an important note when we look at the Silex's geometry. 

This is the other noteworthy bit, that being that Merida took cues from their mountain bike range when designing the newest Silex range. The old Silex had an already slack-ish 71° head tube angle, but this new one goes under 70° to a 69.5° head tube angle. The bottom bracket drop is a healthy 75mm, and the chain stays are not super-short, but with a maximum 45mm tire capability, 430mm is about as short as you'd want to go, I think. 

The mountain biking influence on gravel bikes is being seen more and more, and on the other end, we are seeing bikes like the Lauf (above) creep up on "gravel bike" territory. In fact, Merida has its own "Endurance Road" bike that can handle up to a 35mm tire. 

This begs some questions: "When do "road bikes" become "gravel bikes"? Also, "When do 'Gravel bikes' become MTB/XC bikes with drop bars?" Does any of that matter? Apparently it doesn't too much to a two-time Tour de France winner who just won a single day UCI gravel race. (With a lot of paved sections, I might add.) 

Tomorrow I will take a closer look at the blurring of lines in terms of gravel bikes. 

That's it for today! Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Friday News And Views

 Inventory Builds Up As Consumer Demand Cools:

You've already seen the ads on your feeds, most likely. The discounting of bicycles and cycling gear is full-on once again. This marks the final swing induced by the pandemic which will affect us all going into 2023. 

Riders will enjoy more choices and bargains on those choices as time marches on toward the holidays. Inventory levels have reached critical mass in some categories with the result being that shipping costs are being forgiven at lower ordering levels for shops and from what I heard, some folks even lost their jobs due to ordering too much stuff at a certain distributor that shall remain nameless.

The inflationary climate has doused the fires of consumer demand as well, sending retailers skittering toward big sales and discounts as we head into the New Year. Some prognosticators of the cycling industry are claiming the fall-out from this may be that retail will suffer and seeing closures is not out of the question. 

Interesting times, to be sure.

The Esker Lorax in titanium (Image courtesy of Esker)

Ti Lorax Introduced:

Last week Esker Cycles announced a couple of new titanium frame offerings- The Walden fat bike and the Lorax gravel bike. 

The Lorax was a steel offering in Esker Cycles previous incarnation, Advocate Cycles. That was back in 2015, but now the Lorax is not Reynolds 531, but titanium. 

It has several mounting options for accessories, as you would expect, tire clearance is a claimed 2" wide for a 700c wheel, and the geometry is pretty good. 75mm bottom bracket drop, 71.5° head tube angles, and a top tube that isn't sloped super crazy so it won't need a really long seat post. The adjustable "Portage" drop outs are cool in case you have to do the single speed bail-out mission. Price with a Wolf Tooth head set, seat collar, and rear through axle is set at $2300.00 USD.

Comments: Not bad, Esker, not bad at all. I always felt as though that the Lorax was a take on the Vaya from Salsa Cycles, and this titanium version does nothing to dispel that notion for me. That's a good thing, because the Vaya is a great, and very underrated, gravel bike choice. I would suspect that this bike would handle very much in the Vaya's vein, which I welcome. 

The price is more than reasonable here, and with a double butted tube set, I would bet that this bike would ride like a dream.

Riding Gravel Radio Ranch Episode #105: The Gravel Amplifier:

Monday afternoon N.Y. Roll and I met at The Stone Castle Estates and recorded the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch Podcast #105. We're calling it "The Gravel Amplifier". 

This goes along with the post I made Tuesday which also is about the same thing. But do make sure you click through to the podcast, because there I list a few more events than I did on Tuesday. (See those in the Show Notes)

So, going forward, this could become a series, but that is entirely up to you- the readers. If I get submissions and they pass the sniff test, boom! Amplification happens. If I get radio silence? Then I move on, and nothing gets amplified. I'm not doing the search and destroy for this anymore these days. Here's why......

You'll hear a bit about this if you listen to the podcast, but when I started the Gravel Grinder News calendar in 2009, there was no one else doing what I was doing. As gravel became more popular and more lucrative, players came in to capitalize on my work, and much of what I had dug up and compiled ended up becoming their "content" with no recognition or acknowledgement for where it came from. 

I get it- It's all public knowledge, but it was a cheesy, classless way to obtain a calendar which I did not appreciate. So, I am not going to publish and maintain a calendar to benefit other sites. They can dig up their own stuff. But I will take submissions for certain events, amplify them, and spread the word as best as I can on my channels. So, no calendar of events, but I will help to push those events that otherwise would not get any publicity in cycling media. 

If you are a fan of an event, or like what is happening at an event and want to see it succeed, let me know. Likewise for event promoters. I am here for ya.....

Lay-offs Affect Cyclingtips:

Late on Tuesday afternoon word started to spread via social media that several cuts were made at Outside and especially at Cyclintips, which is a news/technical review site that employs some very well known cycling media personalities. There were several social media posts claiming that Outside had released up to 12% of the staff. (Now confirmed) One person that was confirmed as a lay-off was Senior Editor, Caley Fretz who had joined Cyclingtips in late 2017. 

Lead technical writer for Cyclingtips, James Huang, who retained his position with the company, Tweeted the following on Tuesday evening, "To be clear, I’m still at CyclingTips. But given everyone who was let go, it still feels like I lost a close friend today."

Outside, who had acquired Cyclingtips, Pink Bike, and Trailforks in 2021, also made cuts to Cyclingtips and shut down the mountain bike title, Beta, completely earlier this year in May. 

Comments: As I said, back in May, I don't trust corporations that own a bunch of media titles. But, on the other hand, what should they do? It would seem that most people consume their "news" on social media, podcasts, or on YouTube these days. It would seem that "real", physical magazines are now dinosaurs. It would also appear that trying to get people to give up money to get behind a paywall is not drawing the money/numbers that some thought it might. Advertisers are looking for max-clicks, and apparently, Cyclingtips wasn't drawing big enough numbers. (For a more in-depth look at the situation see this Cycling Industry News article or this from AdWeek)

Interestingly, Pink Bike, which is said to be Outside's biggest draw digitally speaking, is a massive success. It would seem that we are in an era of consolidation/ending of titles and singular, monolithic entities will now control recreational media and, perhaps someday, even your events. (See both Outside and Life Time for examples) 

Lauf, Gravel Worlds, PCL Debut Collab On Seigla Gravel Bike:

Wednesday big news came from the gang at Gravel Worlds. They have partnered with long-time sponsor, Lauf Cycling, to bring a PCL themed Seigla to the masses. 

The Seigla is the newest incarnation of a gravel bike from Lauf  which features the unmistakable Lauf Grit fork, now in its third generation, and clearances for up to 57mm tires. 

Comments: This is a cool collaboration. I like the bike but for its high bottom bracket, which is something I cannot compromise on, but that's maybe just me. 

I love that Lauf and the folks at Gravel Worlds arrived on, what I consider to be, the classic PCL colors of army green and black. I recall that in 2011 at Trans Iowa v7, second place finisher Troy Krause had on the original PCL Army Green/Black jersey and that I just loved that combo. The PCL came out with a reissue of that design which I snagged right away. So, this scheme on the Seigla is a really great idea, to my mind. 

Want one? Check out this link. 
 

 That's all for this week! get out and ride! (Layer up, y'all!) Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Friday News And Views

 Inventory Builds Up As Consumer Demand Cools:

You've already seen the ads on your feeds, most likely. The discounting of bicycles and cycling gear is full-on once again. This marks the final swing induced by the pandemic which will affect us all going into 2023. 

Riders will enjoy more choices and bargains on those choices as time marches on toward the holidays. Inventory levels have reached critical mass in some categories with the result being that shipping costs are being forgiven at lower ordering levels for shops and from what I heard, some folks even lost their jobs due to ordering too much stuff at a certain distributor that shall remain nameless.

The inflationary climate has doused the fires of consumer demand as well, sending retailers skittering toward big sales and discounts as we head into the New Year. Some prognosticators of the cycling industry are claiming the fall-out from this may be that retail will suffer and seeing closures is not out of the question. 

Interesting times, to be sure.

The Esker Lorax in titanium (Image courtesy of Esker)

Ti Lorax Introduced:

Last week Esker Cycles announced a couple of new titanium frame offerings- The Walden fat bike and the Lorax gravel bike. 

The Lorax was a steel offering in Esker Cycles previous incarnation, Advocate Cycles. That was back in 2015, but now the Lorax is not Reynolds 531, but titanium. 

It has several mounting options for accessories, as you would expect, tire clearance is a claimed 2" wide for a 700c wheel, and the geometry is pretty good. 75mm bottom bracket drop, 71.5° head tube angles, and a top tube that isn't sloped super crazy so it won't need a really long seat post. The adjustable "Portage" drop outs are cool in case you have to do the single speed bail-out mission. Price with a Wolf Tooth head set, seat collar, and rear through axle is set at $2300.00 USD.

Comments: Not bad, Esker, not bad at all. I always felt as though that the Lorax was a take on the Vaya from Salsa Cycles, and this titanium version does nothing to dispel that notion for me. That's a good thing, because the Vaya is a great, and very underrated, gravel bike choice. I would suspect that this bike would handle very much in the Vaya's vein, which I welcome. 

The price is more than reasonable here, and with a double butted tube set, I would bet that this bike would ride like a dream.

Riding Gravel Radio Ranch Episode #105: The Gravel Amplifier:

Monday afternoon N.Y. Roll and I met at The Stone Castle Estates and recorded the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch Podcast #105. We're calling it "The Gravel Amplifier". 

This goes along with the post I made Tuesday which also is about the same thing. But do make sure you click through to the podcast, because there I list a few more events than I did on Tuesday. (See those in the Show Notes)

So, going forward, this could become a series, but that is entirely up to you- the readers. If I get submissions and they pass the sniff test, boom! Amplification happens. If I get radio silence? Then I move on, and nothing gets amplified. I'm not doing the search and destroy for this anymore these days. Here's why......

You'll hear a bit about this if you listen to the podcast, but when I started the Gravel Grinder News calendar in 2009, there was no one else doing what I was doing. As gravel became more popular and more lucrative, players came in to capitalize on my work, and much of what I had dug up and compiled ended up becoming their "content" with no recognition or acknowledgement for where it came from. 

I get it- It's all public knowledge, but it was a cheesy, classless way to obtain a calendar which I did not appreciate. So, I am not going to publish and maintain a calendar to benefit other sites. They can dig up their own stuff. But I will take submissions for certain events, amplify them, and spread the word as best as I can on my channels. So, no calendar of events, but I will help to push those events that otherwise would not get any publicity in cycling media. 

If you are a fan of an event, or like what is happening at an event and want to see it succeed, let me know. Likewise for event promoters. I am here for ya.....

Lay-offs Affect Cyclingtips:

Late on Tuesday afternoon word started to spread via social media that several cuts were made at Outside and especially at Cyclintips, which is a news/technical review site that employs some very well known cycling media personalities. There were several social media posts claiming that Outside had released up to 12% of the staff. (Now confirmed) One person that was confirmed as a lay-off was Senior Editor, Caley Fretz who had joined Cyclingtips in late 2017. 

Lead technical writer for Cyclingtips, James Huang, who retained his position with the company, Tweeted the following on Tuesday evening, "To be clear, I’m still at CyclingTips. But given everyone who was let go, it still feels like I lost a close friend today."

Outside, who had acquired Cyclingtips, Pink Bike, and Trailforks in 2021, also made cuts to Cyclingtips and shut down the mountain bike title, Beta, completely earlier this year in May. 

Comments: As I said, back in May, I don't trust corporations that own a bunch of media titles. But, on the other hand, what should they do? It would seem that most people consume their "news" on social media, podcasts, or on YouTube these days. It would seem that "real", physical magazines are now dinosaurs. It would also appear that trying to get people to give up money to get behind a paywall is not drawing the money/numbers that some thought it might. Advertisers are looking for max-clicks, and apparently, Cyclingtips wasn't drawing big enough numbers. (For a more in-depth look at the situation see this Cycling Industry News article or this from AdWeek)

Interestingly, Pink Bike, which is said to be Outside's biggest draw digitally speaking, is a massive success. It would seem that we are in an era of consolidation/ending of titles and singular, monolithic entities will now control recreational media and, perhaps someday, even your events. (See both Outside and Life Time for examples) 

Lauf, Gravel Worlds, PCL Debut Collab On Seigla Gravel Bike:

Wednesday big news came from the gang at Gravel Worlds. They have partnered with long-time sponsor, Lauf Cycling, to bring a PCL themed Seigla to the masses. 

The Seigla is the newest incarnation of a gravel bike from Lauf  which features the unmistakable Lauf Grit fork, now in its third generation, and clearances for up to 57mm tires. 

Comments: This is a cool collaboration. I like the bike but for its high bottom bracket, which is something I cannot compromise on, but that's maybe just me. 

I love that Lauf and the folks at Gravel Worlds arrived on, what I consider to be, the classic PCL colors of army green and black. I recall that in 2011 at Trans Iowa v7, second place finisher Troy Krause had on the original PCL Army Green/Black jersey and that I just loved that combo. The PCL came out with a reissue of that design which I snagged right away. So, this scheme on the Seigla is a really great idea, to my mind. 

Want one? Check out this link. 
 

 That's all for this week! get out and ride! (Layer up, y'all!) Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Lauf Seigla Breaks Conventions For Gravel Bikes

Lauf Seigla: Image courtesy of Lauf Cycling

With this week's news of Lauf Cycling's new Seigla model, I thought it would be good to take a look at the specifics regarding the changes to typical gravel bicycle conventions that this new design brings to the table. If you want to just read about the overview of the bike, see my RidingGravel.com report here. 

Okay, so what exactly is the big deal here? Well, first off you should be aware that the differences between "road" and "mountain bike" essentially have been unsaid standards and really- limiters to design over the past 30+ years. 

It has only been since around the early 90's that this really all has fell into place, and the economics of the industry have really kept these unspoken standards in effect up until this day. These are the reasons why mountain bike and road bike drive train compatibilities went to wildly different places. It is why you have to get 'gizmos' to make an Eagle cassette work with a Red crank set. Had 'road' and 'mountain' not been kept so separate, this may not have happened, but for reasons of manufacturing ease and lower costs, that is what happened and basically why we are where we are now. 

So, road bikes have a set, overall spacing for wheels and bottom bracket width so that road crank sets and wheels can align for the best possible shifting performance. This informs much of the rest of a road bike design, such as tire clearances, how big that your chain rings can be, and more. On the mountain bike side, things have shifted, (pardon the pun) to Boost and "Boost Plus", but start out with the basic widths for axles and bottom brackets, which- again- inform chain ring sizes, tire clearances, and help to make 1X shift better around big, fat MTB tires. (Note: Fat bikes are their own thing, and being niche, are not included here) 

Manufacturers and designers have, up until now, been reticent to mess with crossing the lines between "MTB" and "Road" basic dimensional boundaries. However; what Lauf has done here is to push for what is essentially the base dimension for MTB in the crank set/bottom bracket area so that they can get a 29"er tire (700c X 57mm) squeezed into their Seigla without resorting to frame weirdness like dropped chain stays, elevated chain stays, or what have you. 

By using the 73mm bottom bracket width, Lauf could go big on tire sizes. (Image courtesy of Lauf Cycling)

Of course, Lauf says this is how it always should have been for gravel bikes. Hmm.....perhaps. But what if Lauf has really only gone 1/3rd of the way to where gravel bikes really should be? Let's see where all of this could lead....

My take is that the Overlock Dimension (distance between drop outs of a frame) that road bikes use, is set for a change again. Disc brakes finally made manufacturers of road bikes move to 135mmOD rear ends, which is where MTB started out as a standard back in the late 1980's as well. But I think that what a few other companies have done should be also done in gravel bikes, (and road bikes, really), and that is to just get on with it and move everything to Boost spacing, which is 148mm through axle. While a few companies are doing this now, this is not adapted to crank sets yet, and so I think matching this up with Lauf's move to 73mm bottom brackets would be wise. 

GRX crank sets, (and some others) have already moved the chain line outboard by 2,5mm's, so we are headed in this direction anyway. Getting to a Boost width may turn off some who are worried about the "Q" factor, that distance between the pedals which determines stance of your feet. I think that should only be a racer's concern, and I think it can also be engineered out of being a concern. 

What is the third thing? Front wheel spacing. there is no reason at all to stick with 100mmOD for gravel. We should already be using 110mm through axle spacing, and honestly, if we wanted to be radical, I'd go to 142mm front. The difference in wheel stiffness is immense, and gravel bikes shouldn't be hamstrung by making room for suspension forks, so there really isn't much that I can think of that wouldn't work there, but we should at least be at 110mm. 

So, Lauf is on the right track, but let's get all of the changes and move forward.

Lauf Seigla Breaks Conventions For Gravel Bikes

Lauf Seigla: Image courtesy of Lauf Cycling

With this week's news of Lauf Cycling's new Seigla model, I thought it would be good to take a look at the specifics regarding the changes to typical gravel bicycle conventions that this new design brings to the table. If you want to just read about the overview of the bike, see my RidingGravel.com report here. 

Okay, so what exactly is the big deal here? Well, first off you should be aware that the differences between "road" and "mountain bike" essentially have been unsaid standards and really- limiters to design over the past 30+ years. 

It has only been since around the early 90's that this really all has fell into place, and the economics of the industry have really kept these unspoken standards in effect up until this day. These are the reasons why mountain bike and road bike drive train compatibilities went to wildly different places. It is why you have to get 'gizmos' to make an Eagle cassette work with a Red crank set. Had 'road' and 'mountain' not been kept so separate, this may not have happened, but for reasons of manufacturing ease and lower costs, that is what happened and basically why we are where we are now. 

So, road bikes have a set, overall spacing for wheels and bottom bracket width so that road crank sets and wheels can align for the best possible shifting performance. This informs much of the rest of a road bike design, such as tire clearances, how big that your chain rings can be, and more. On the mountain bike side, things have shifted, (pardon the pun) to Boost and "Boost Plus", but start out with the basic widths for axles and bottom brackets, which- again- inform chain ring sizes, tire clearances, and help to make 1X shift better around big, fat MTB tires. (Note: Fat bikes are their own thing, and being niche, are not included here) 

Manufacturers and designers have, up until now, been reticent to mess with crossing the lines between "MTB" and "Road" basic dimensional boundaries. However; what Lauf has done here is to push for what is essentially the base dimension for MTB in the crank set/bottom bracket area so that they can get a 29"er tire (700c X 57mm) squeezed into their Seigla without resorting to frame weirdness like dropped chain stays, elevated chain stays, or what have you. 

By using the 73mm bottom bracket width, Lauf could go big on tire sizes. (Image courtesy of Lauf Cycling)

Of course, Lauf says this is how it always should have been for gravel bikes. Hmm.....perhaps. But what if Lauf has really only gone 1/3rd of the way to where gravel bikes really should be? Let's see where all of this could lead....

My take is that the Overlock Dimension (distance between drop outs of a frame) that road bikes use, is set for a change again. Disc brakes finally made manufacturers of road bikes move to 135mmOD rear ends, which is where MTB started out as a standard back in the late 1980's as well. But I think that what a few other companies have done should be also done in gravel bikes, (and road bikes, really), and that is to just get on with it and move everything to Boost spacing, which is 148mm through axle. While a few companies are doing this now, this is not adapted to crank sets yet, and so I think matching this up with Lauf's move to 73mm bottom brackets would be wise. 

GRX crank sets, (and some others) have already moved the chain line outboard by 2,5mm's, so we are headed in this direction anyway. Getting to a Boost width may turn off some who are worried about the "Q" factor, that distance between the pedals which determines stance of your feet. I think that should only be a racer's concern, and I think it can also be engineered out of being a concern. 

What is the third thing? Front wheel spacing. there is no reason at all to stick with 100mmOD for gravel. We should already be using 110mm through axle spacing, and honestly, if we wanted to be radical, I'd go to 142mm front. The difference in wheel stiffness is immense, and gravel bikes shouldn't be hamstrung by making room for suspension forks, so there really isn't much that I can think of that wouldn't work there, but we should at least be at 110mm. 

So, Lauf is on the right track, but let's get all of the changes and move forward.

Friday News And Views

Iowa Gravel Expo- Pop Up Series: 

Over the last two years N.Y. Roll and I have put on an "Iowa Gravel Expo/Bike Party" which was a one day event. I covered recently how this was going to change and turn into a series. Well, we have details now to share. 

This time we have a sponsor and venue in Second State Brewing Company. We also have another sponsor in Andy's Bike Shop. The series will have four dates- two in January and two in February, so hopefully a lot of the area gravel grinders can attend at least one of these- or all if you are so inclined. Here are the dates, which are all Wednesday evenings starting at 6:30pm at Second State Brewing Co.

• January 8th
• Januray 22nd
• February 5th
• February 19th
• Facebook Page Link For Events 

Each session should last an hour-ish or a little longer. We are also inviting Iowa gravel event promoters to come and speak at these since one of our aims is to promote Iowa gravel events. In lieu of promoters, should we get an evening where we do not have any, or weather prevents them from attending, we will do a short presentation for selected events on our own.

Specific gravel related topics: N.Y. Roll and I will also serve up tips and recommendations on various gravel related subjects during each session. The plan is to make each session unique, so you may want to attend several of these. The main point we have is to celebrate Iowa gravel events, and as a community of riders, just get together and have a good time through a part of the year that is typically when we aren't out there doing what we really like to do.

So, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about these events, please comment here, or go to the Facebook page, (Link in red above) and leave us a comment there. Thanks! We hope to rub elbows with a lot of you this Winter.

Patent application drawings for Lauf's rear sus ideas.

Lauf Working On Rear Suspension For Gravel:

A recent "Bike Radar" article revealed that Lauf, famous for its leaf sprung, backwards looking forks, is working on an idea for rear suspension using leaf springs.

Comments: Showing three different ideas, it is clear that Lauf is still in the development stages of this idea, but it bears watching, as the gravel segment of cycling is still heating up, and is one of the only bright spots in the sport now. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see something fast-tracked to prototype stage to be shown at various gravel events in 2020.

To my way of thinking, the idea that Lauf is pursuing is much more acceptable than where Niner Bikes went by using more "traditional" telescopic suspension with the complex rear linkage system. Minimal amounts of suspension travel, in this case less than 80mm, lends itself to more simplistic designs, and when executed correctly, it can be a superior riding experience.

This Lauf idea is very intriguing. In my opinion, the direct competitors to Lauf will be those that use suspension seat post designs. While what Lauf is doing will be activated anytime a rider in on the bike and moving, where a suspension seat post is not, (only works while seated), the Lauf idea has some concerning limitations. For instance, how do you account for differing rider weights and styles? The design has to work similarly across a wide size range. That's not going to be easy to pull off. Plus, it cannot infringe upon anyone else's patents, a definite limitation.

Those are not insurmountable obstacles, but I have to wonder, why didn't Lauf apply what they are doing with the fork on the rear of the bike? Yes- it wouldn't look traditional. But that didn't stop them from making the ugliest fork in the road bike market. So.....?? Anyway, this will be interesting to follow.

Add caption

End Of Year Changes:

Next month brings a close to 2019, and obviously I have been doing a lot of thinking about that and how it relates to what I do here and professionally. I kind of do this every year- I take stock of where I've been and where I want to go with this. First of all- Thank you all- each and every one of you, for reading this stuff I put out. I could never thank you all enough.

Secondly- This blog will continue, so no worries there. 

With that out of the way, I think 2020 will be a great year to do a few things differently. It will mark a new era, as I will have closed out 15 years of blogging in May of 2020. So, I want to do a little celebration of that.

Part of that will include a change to one of the longest running series on the blog. The "Minus Ten Review", which covers the happenings here from ten years previous, will change slightly. Part of the intentions there were that I wanted to document, in a weekly fashion, what I did to develop the blog. However; that morphed into me riffing on a theme and telling stories. Many times this did not have anything at all to do with ten years ago.

Since I feel I have gone over the beginnings of the blog, covering the initial four years here, I thought that maybe it was time to just admit that I want to tell stories based upon things I've done over the past 15 years here and riff on that. So, the "Minus Ten Review" will morph into something else. Something based on the 15 year idea. I've got a pot full of themes here and some deserve some refreshing, retelling, and expounding upon. So, look for that idea to start up next January.

Other than that, the blog will pretty much remain the same. I think you'll notice some new twists though. There are plans on the horizon for multi-media connections. I may have my own, "Guitar Ted-centric" podcast dealing with the blog stuff. Maybe even video. I will definitely be doing more on the podcast/video/live stream side in connection with something new I will be involved in for 2020. That's exciting for me on several levels. I cannot wait to release this news.

There will also be some major changes professionally. Things ending. Things beginning. I cannot say anything more than this right now, but a clearer pathway into 2020 is forming now and I am pretty happy about that.

Stay tuned folks. It's going to be a bumpy ride!

Friday News And Views

Iowa Gravel Expo- Pop Up Series: 

Over the last two years N.Y. Roll and I have put on an "Iowa Gravel Expo/Bike Party" which was a one day event. I covered recently how this was going to change and turn into a series. Well, we have details now to share. 

This time we have a sponsor and venue in Second State Brewing Company. We also have another sponsor in Andy's Bike Shop. The series will have four dates- two in January and two in February, so hopefully a lot of the area gravel grinders can attend at least one of these- or all if you are so inclined. Here are the dates, which are all Wednesday evenings starting at 6:30pm at Second State Brewing Co.

• January 8th
• Januray 22nd
• February 5th
• February 19th
• Facebook Page Link For Events 

Each session should last an hour-ish or a little longer. We are also inviting Iowa gravel event promoters to come and speak at these since one of our aims is to promote Iowa gravel events. In lieu of promoters, should we get an evening where we do not have any, or weather prevents them from attending, we will do a short presentation for selected events on our own.

Specific gravel related topics: N.Y. Roll and I will also serve up tips and recommendations on various gravel related subjects during each session. The plan is to make each session unique, so you may want to attend several of these. The main point we have is to celebrate Iowa gravel events, and as a community of riders, just get together and have a good time through a part of the year that is typically when we aren't out there doing what we really like to do.

So, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about these events, please comment here, or go to the Facebook page, (Link in red above) and leave us a comment there. Thanks! We hope to rub elbows with a lot of you this Winter.

Patent application drawings for Lauf's rear sus ideas.

Lauf Working On Rear Suspension For Gravel:

A recent "Bike Radar" article revealed that Lauf, famous for its leaf sprung, backwards looking forks, is working on an idea for rear suspension using leaf springs.

Comments: Showing three different ideas, it is clear that Lauf is still in the development stages of this idea, but it bears watching, as the gravel segment of cycling is still heating up, and is one of the only bright spots in the sport now. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see something fast-tracked to prototype stage to be shown at various gravel events in 2020.

To my way of thinking, the idea that Lauf is pursuing is much more acceptable than where Niner Bikes went by using more "traditional" telescopic suspension with the complex rear linkage system. Minimal amounts of suspension travel, in this case less than 80mm, lends itself to more simplistic designs, and when executed correctly, it can be a superior riding experience.

This Lauf idea is very intriguing. In my opinion, the direct competitors to Lauf will be those that use suspension seat post designs. While what Lauf is doing will be activated anytime a rider in on the bike and moving, where a suspension seat post is not, (only works while seated), the Lauf idea has some concerning limitations. For instance, how do you account for differing rider weights and styles? The design has to work similarly across a wide size range. That's not going to be easy to pull off. Plus, it cannot infringe upon anyone else's patents, a definite limitation.

Those are not insurmountable obstacles, but I have to wonder, why didn't Lauf apply what they are doing with the fork on the rear of the bike? Yes- it wouldn't look traditional. But that didn't stop them from making the ugliest fork in the road bike market. So.....?? Anyway, this will be interesting to follow.

Add caption

End Of Year Changes:

Next month brings a close to 2019, and obviously I have been doing a lot of thinking about that and how it relates to what I do here and professionally. I kind of do this every year- I take stock of where I've been and where I want to go with this. First of all- Thank you all- each and every one of you, for reading this stuff I put out. I could never thank you all enough.

Secondly- This blog will continue, so no worries there. 

With that out of the way, I think 2020 will be a great year to do a few things differently. It will mark a new era, as I will have closed out 15 years of blogging in May of 2020. So, I want to do a little celebration of that.

Part of that will include a change to one of the longest running series on the blog. The "Minus Ten Review", which covers the happenings here from ten years previous, will change slightly. Part of the intentions there were that I wanted to document, in a weekly fashion, what I did to develop the blog. However; that morphed into me riffing on a theme and telling stories. Many times this did not have anything at all to do with ten years ago.

Since I feel I have gone over the beginnings of the blog, covering the initial four years here, I thought that maybe it was time to just admit that I want to tell stories based upon things I've done over the past 15 years here and riff on that. So, the "Minus Ten Review" will morph into something else. Something based on the 15 year idea. I've got a pot full of themes here and some deserve some refreshing, retelling, and expounding upon. So, look for that idea to start up next January.

Other than that, the blog will pretty much remain the same. I think you'll notice some new twists though. There are plans on the horizon for multi-media connections. I may have my own, "Guitar Ted-centric" podcast dealing with the blog stuff. Maybe even video. I will definitely be doing more on the podcast/video/live stream side in connection with something new I will be involved in for 2020. That's exciting for me on several levels. I cannot wait to release this news.

There will also be some major changes professionally. Things ending. Things beginning. I cannot say anything more than this right now, but a clearer pathway into 2020 is forming now and I am pretty happy about that.

Stay tuned folks. It's going to be a bumpy ride!