Friday News And Views

A few tidbits on T.I.v12. First up, we have some news on registration for Veterans and Finishers coming on-line tomorrow right here on this blog, so stay tuned for that. Interested past Trans Iowa participants will get the low-down on what needs to be done and when to get into the big dance on April 24th, 2016.

Rookie registration is in process right now. Cards are being received now until the close of the day on October 24th. Then on October 31st there will be a lottery drawing to determine who gets in as a Rookie to ride Trans Iowa v12. So far we've received about ten cards. You can see the list of folks who are in the lottery by clicking here.

Thirdly, there has already been a couple ideas to change, or maybe a better word would be "tweak", the proposed T.I.v12 course. Until we're done messing around with that, I won't have exact mileages. The checkpoints are pretty much locked in, but there is some messing around in the back half of the course we're doing, so stay tuned.

Surly My Other Brother Darryl rims

Fat Bike Upgrades:

Okay, so when Fall comes I start to poke around for upgrades for my fat bikes. I do this about every year and some things I actually get around to, but a lot of them I don't. Oh well..... Chalk this bit up to dreaming, or wishful thinking then. Here goes....

I've been checking out about every Chinese carbon fat bike rim there is out there that is available and I have to say that saving about 50-80 grams and spending about twice or more per rim than these new Surly MOBD rims cost seems, well..........stupid. Yeah, yeah......aluminum versus carbon, and cut outs require tape, yadda,yadda,yadda..... Okay, fine. How about I spend 50 bucks more per rim and get HED's new aluminum rims that don't require rim tape and do not have cut outs? That's still waaaay cheaper than these cut-rate carbon rims from the Far East, and who knows if I'd have any recourse if something went pear-shaped on those carbon rims.

The point is, all this carbon fat bike rim stuff doesn't look real attractive when you compare benefits and dollars to get it. At least not for how I want to roll. My plan is to go tubeless, have a reasonably light wheel, and not break the bank in doing so. Plus if I get this going I will have a new tubeless wheel set for the titanium fat bike, move that old wheel set on the Ti bike currently back on to the Snow Dog, and then that bike gets back up and running.

Then I'd need tires and some other minor bits, but that's a big piece of the puzzle I need figured out to get moving forward on the fat bike front. That and 1X set ups, (mostly for tire clearance), which is another whole ball of wax. Like I said......wish list stuff! 

Getting bits together to get wheels on this.

 Speaking Of Wheels....

The Standard Rando needs wheels. I have one part of the puzzle solved. It is the rims, and I am going to go with WTB i25 KOM rims for this bike. I had the chance to build up one of these recently and I was impressed, plus the TCS system for tubeless is really a good one. I have a set of Nano 40TCS tires that will go right on this and therefore the KOM made perfect sense on this wheel build. The Nano 40's will have super support from the inner rim dimension of this particular KOM version and I suspect a superior ride quality since I'll be able to go lower on pressures with that wide, supportive rim. I've already used the similar Team i25 rims and they worked great with the Nano 40 TCS ttires. The KOM's will just be lighter. It'll be interesting to check it out, plus, I should end up with a reasonably light weight wheel set.

I just need some decent 11 speed hubs now that support disc brakes. I've been toying with Chris king R-45's or White Industries new hubs. Both of those choices come in anodized colors, which might be cool to fool around with, although the Standard Rando probably would look best with boring old black hubs. Anyway, I am going to have to save my pennies for hubs if I go either route there!

Okay, that's a wrap for this week. Stay tuned for the Trans Iowa v12 registration announcement tomorrow and have a great weekend!

Friday News And Views

A few tidbits on T.I.v12. First up, we have some news on registration for Veterans and Finishers coming on-line tomorrow right here on this blog, so stay tuned for that. Interested past Trans Iowa participants will get the low-down on what needs to be done and when to get into the big dance on April 24th, 2016.

Rookie registration is in process right now. Cards are being received now until the close of the day on October 24th. Then on October 31st there will be a lottery drawing to determine who gets in as a Rookie to ride Trans Iowa v12. So far we've received about ten cards. You can see the list of folks who are in the lottery by clicking here.

Thirdly, there has already been a couple ideas to change, or maybe a better word would be "tweak", the proposed T.I.v12 course. Until we're done messing around with that, I won't have exact mileages. The checkpoints are pretty much locked in, but there is some messing around in the back half of the course we're doing, so stay tuned.

Surly My Other Brother Darryl rims

Fat Bike Upgrades:

Okay, so when Fall comes I start to poke around for upgrades for my fat bikes. I do this about every year and some things I actually get around to, but a lot of them I don't. Oh well..... Chalk this bit up to dreaming, or wishful thinking then. Here goes....

I've been checking out about every Chinese carbon fat bike rim there is out there that is available and I have to say that saving about 50-80 grams and spending about twice or more per rim than these new Surly MOBD rims cost seems, well..........stupid. Yeah, yeah......aluminum versus carbon, and cut outs require tape, yadda,yadda,yadda..... Okay, fine. How about I spend 50 bucks more per rim and get HED's new aluminum rims that don't require rim tape and do not have cut outs? That's still waaaay cheaper than these cut-rate carbon rims from the Far East, and who knows if I'd have any recourse if something went pear-shaped on those carbon rims.

The point is, all this carbon fat bike rim stuff doesn't look real attractive when you compare benefits and dollars to get it. At least not for how I want to roll. My plan is to go tubeless, have a reasonably light wheel, and not break the bank in doing so. Plus if I get this going I will have a new tubeless wheel set for the titanium fat bike, move that old wheel set on the Ti bike currently back on to the Snow Dog, and then that bike gets back up and running.

Then I'd need tires and some other minor bits, but that's a big piece of the puzzle I need figured out to get moving forward on the fat bike front. That and 1X set ups, (mostly for tire clearance), which is another whole ball of wax. Like I said......wish list stuff! 

Getting bits together to get wheels on this.

 Speaking Of Wheels....

The Standard Rando needs wheels. I have one part of the puzzle solved. It is the rims, and I am going to go with WTB i25 KOM rims for this bike. I had the chance to build up one of these recently and I was impressed, plus the TCS system for tubeless is really a good one. I have a set of Nano 40TCS tires that will go right on this and therefore the KOM made perfect sense on this wheel build. The Nano 40's will have super support from the inner rim dimension of this particular KOM version and I suspect a superior ride quality since I'll be able to go lower on pressures with that wide, supportive rim. I've already used the similar Team i25 rims and they worked great with the Nano 40 TCS ttires. The KOM's will just be lighter. It'll be interesting to check it out, plus, I should end up with a reasonably light weight wheel set.

I just need some decent 11 speed hubs now that support disc brakes. I've been toying with Chris king R-45's or White Industries new hubs. Both of those choices come in anodized colors, which might be cool to fool around with, although the Standard Rando probably would look best with boring old black hubs. Anyway, I am going to have to save my pennies for hubs if I go either route there!

Okay, that's a wrap for this week. Stay tuned for the Trans Iowa v12 registration announcement tomorrow and have a great weekend!

Saturated Fat, Fat Tubeless And More

When brands like Ellsworth start making fat bikes, you know the market is saturated.

With Interbike firmly in the rear view mirror, we can safely assume that most all of the fat bike related news has been sprung for 2016. I've been looking at all the introductions and following is my own analysis of the recent weeks of news.

First of all, with the fat bike market flattening off last year after several years of stratospheric growth, it was quite a surprise to see more brands introduce fat bikes. Brands like Raleigh and Ellsworth, companies you might not think about at all when it comes to fat bikes, entered the fray. Out of all of these new introductions, I recognized that most were either on the high end of the pricing scale, or they were on the lower end. "Mid-level" priced bikes were also introduced, but not like we have seen in previous years. Interestingly, most current brands in the segment seem to have softened their retail prices, some by a little, others by a lot. Even components, which are fat bike specific, are coming down slightly in price.

This all points to a market, in my view, which is getting pretty saturated. This might sound a bit harsh, but with bicycle sales flat to shrinking, and retail outlets becoming fewer by the year, it seems to me that this would point to many of these brands cutting back on fat bike production in the future. Then you have to ask the question, do fat bikes ever become the "ordinary man's mountain bike"? Because if they don't, then I cannot see how they will sustain the offerings currently available into the future.

Heller Bikes Bloodhound

Then their is Heller Bikes. I mentioned them before a couple of times, but this new brand has a compelling story, as it turns out. The brand is trying to lure the internet buyer who shops "direct from China" with its lower pricing enabled by Heller Bikes use of "catalog frames and forks", also known as "Open Mold" frame and forks. These are designs that Asian manufacturers make to entice potential buyers from the biggest brands all the way down to the bargain shopping consumer with an internet connection.

This has been a growing segment of the bicycle economy for the last five to six years. The only issues people have with these lower priced options are parts compatibility issues, warranty issues, some failures, and return issues which are complicated by distance to the Asian sources and language and culture differences. Heller Bikes seeks to give the consumer a tested product with a warranty, and seamless customer service based in the USA, while still offering attractive pricing, albeit not as low as direct from China. Still, that warranty, parts compatibility, and service have to be worth something. It looks like the Heller Bikes Bloodhound fat bike frame and fork in carbon fiber will run about $1250.00. More than direct from China, but about a grand less than many carbon frames and forks run.

This could turn out to be a revolutionary tactic. A "middle man", as it were, doing the behind the scenes testing of product and streamlining of the interfacing process with consumers for direct from China products. Sort of like what On One/Planet Bike Planet X does in the UK now.

My Other Brother Darryl rims by Surly are tubeless ready!

I've given Surly the raspberries in the past for charging high prices for ordinary, non-tubeless technology in rims and tires. Well, I came across this podcast recently, and within the banter, there is an interview with Surly's Thor, a product engineer, and he lets on about much of what we can expect from Surly soon.

First off, the new OBD rims, (seen at the left here), are tubeless compatible. The design was fussed over to give riders the optimum profile for mounting the tire yet being able to seat the beads of a tubeless ready fat tire, presumably with a hand held pump! This is fantastic news, and what must be in the future for all of Surly's rims. But these tubeless ready fat bike tires they speak of? Is this coming from Surly?

According to the information in the podcast, they are already out there! At least all the 4.8 Big Fat Knards are sporting Surly's new tubeless bead design. Apparently, this will be a running change with all their fat bike tires, and I would assume the "plus" sized fare will also become tubeless ready in the future. But that's not all.....

Surly is reportedly going to offer a tubeless kit, with a new design, nylon reinforced rim strip, valve stems, and sealant. So, a complete system from Surly is in the works, and we can finally have the kind of tires, rims, and tubeless bits that I felt Surly should have had all along. This is a big, big deal, especially if it works as well as Surly's Thor seemed to describe in the podcast. Kudos to Surly! I'll gladly be paying for these parts when they are out .

That's my take on thing fat now. Again, it's just my opinion, and you need to think things through for yourself. However; I don't see or hear anything at this point to make me feel differently about these subjects. Got another opinion? Hit me up in the comments.

Saturated Fat, Fat Tubeless And More

When brands like Ellsworth start making fat bikes, you know the market is saturated.

With Interbike firmly in the rear view mirror, we can safely assume that most all of the fat bike related news has been sprung for 2016. I've been looking at all the introductions and following is my own analysis of the recent weeks of news.

First of all, with the fat bike market flattening off last year after several years of stratospheric growth, it was quite a surprise to see more brands introduce fat bikes. Brands like Raleigh and Ellsworth, companies you might not think about at all when it comes to fat bikes, entered the fray. Out of all of these new introductions, I recognized that most were either on the high end of the pricing scale, or they were on the lower end. "Mid-level" priced bikes were also introduced, but not like we have seen in previous years. Interestingly, most current brands in the segment seem to have softened their retail prices, some by a little, others by a lot. Even components, which are fat bike specific, are coming down slightly in price.

This all points to a market, in my view, which is getting pretty saturated. This might sound a bit harsh, but with bicycle sales flat to shrinking, and retail outlets becoming fewer by the year, it seems to me that this would point to many of these brands cutting back on fat bike production in the future. Then you have to ask the question, do fat bikes ever become the "ordinary man's mountain bike"? Because if they don't, then I cannot see how they will sustain the offerings currently available into the future.

Heller Bikes Bloodhound

Then their is Heller Bikes. I mentioned them before a couple of times, but this new brand has a compelling story, as it turns out. The brand is trying to lure the internet buyer who shops "direct from China" with its lower pricing enabled by Heller Bikes use of "catalog frames and forks", also known as "Open Mold" frame and forks. These are designs that Asian manufacturers make to entice potential buyers from the biggest brands all the way down to the bargain shopping consumer with an internet connection.

This has been a growing segment of the bicycle economy for the last five to six years. The only issues people have with these lower priced options are parts compatibility issues, warranty issues, some failures, and return issues which are complicated by distance to the Asian sources and language and culture differences. Heller Bikes seeks to give the consumer a tested product with a warranty, and seamless customer service based in the USA, while still offering attractive pricing, albeit not as low as direct from China. Still, that warranty, parts compatibility, and service have to be worth something. It looks like the Heller Bikes Bloodhound fat bike frame and fork in carbon fiber will run about $1250.00. More than direct from China, but about a grand less than many carbon frames and forks run.

This could turn out to be a revolutionary tactic. A "middle man", as it were, doing the behind the scenes testing of product and streamlining of the interfacing process with consumers for direct from China products. Sort of like what On One/Planet Bike Planet X does in the UK now.

My Other Brother Darryl rims by Surly are tubeless ready!

I've given Surly the raspberries in the past for charging high prices for ordinary, non-tubeless technology in rims and tires. Well, I came across this podcast recently, and within the banter, there is an interview with Surly's Thor, a product engineer, and he lets on about much of what we can expect from Surly soon.

First off, the new OBD rims, (seen at the left here), are tubeless compatible. The design was fussed over to give riders the optimum profile for mounting the tire yet being able to seat the beads of a tubeless ready fat tire, presumably with a hand held pump! This is fantastic news, and what must be in the future for all of Surly's rims. But these tubeless ready fat bike tires they speak of? Is this coming from Surly?

According to the information in the podcast, they are already out there! At least all the 4.8 Big Fat Knards are sporting Surly's new tubeless bead design. Apparently, this will be a running change with all their fat bike tires, and I would assume the "plus" sized fare will also become tubeless ready in the future. But that's not all.....

Surly is reportedly going to offer a tubeless kit, with a new design, nylon reinforced rim strip, valve stems, and sealant. So, a complete system from Surly is in the works, and we can finally have the kind of tires, rims, and tubeless bits that I felt Surly should have had all along. This is a big, big deal, especially if it works as well as Surly's Thor seemed to describe in the podcast. Kudos to Surly! I'll gladly be paying for these parts when they are out .

That's my take on thing fat now. Again, it's just my opinion, and you need to think things through for yourself. However; I don't see or hear anything at this point to make me feel differently about these subjects. Got another opinion? Hit me up in the comments.

Friday News And Views

Trek's Gnarwall studded fat bike tires should be available this Winter

Fat Bike Tires:

Yesterday I learned that the new Gnarwall studded fat bike tire will be available this Winter and the retail should be about $245.00 each. Ouch! I was hoping that these might be a bit better priced, since the other tires out there for fat bikes with studs aren't cheap either. However; one can hope that you will actually be able to get these tires, unlike the competition's offerings.

 Trek will also have the 4.7" "Barbegazi" tires available aftermarket, which are nice looking treads. I'd be interested in these because of their tubeless compatibility, despite their not being as big as maybe the Lou tires are. Finally, I also saw that the 27.5 X 3.8" "Hodad" treads will be available aftermarket too, but obviously that may not be a hot seller right away! 27.5" diameter fat bike tires seem like an odd deal, and without anyone else moving toward that size, (as yet, anyway), I have to wonder how long that will last as a tire size for fat bikes.

On the 29+ front, Trek seems to be cautiously watching where the trends are going. It seems that the vibe I'm getting is that Trek is taking a wait and see approach before doing anything more with that format. Obviously, the trend industry-wide isn't backing Trek up on the 29+ front, so it should be interesting to see where 29+ goes in a couple of years from now. Right now all I hear is positives about the Stache 29+ bikes and that seems to be about the only 29+ rig out now that anyone is buzzing about, besides the touring/bikepacking Surly ECR and upcoming Salsa Deadwood bike.

Surly's new "Wednesday" (Really! That's its name) fat bike.

New Surly Fat Bike:

Surly Bikes unleashed a rather strangely named fat bike Wednesday at Eurobike dubbed the.....Wednesday. Yes, it is real. The bike is named after a day of the week.

Apparently the weekend days were trade marked already!

Anyway, what we have here is a continuation of Surly's updating throughout the line which started with the resurrection of the Instigator and then the ICT, Karate Monkey, and now the newest bike, the Wednesday which features many of the small details that Surly has been using of late. This one has geometry that reflects the Krampus and Instigator bikes with a slacker front and shorter rear/center. The 26 X 3.8" tires/wheels are the realm of this number and obviously, that makes it a primo candidate for a 27.5+ conversion. The front fork is "Bluto spaced" at 150mmOD, so the Bluto fork is an easy swap here.

I find this bike to be a great addition to Surly's line up, albeit about two years too late, and it brings up the question: "Where does this leave the venerable Pugsley?" Also, how is it that the Ice Cream Truck doesn't make the Moonlander obsolete? Anyway, I feel that at some point push is coming to shove and the offset fat bikes Surly has now will be a thing of the past.

MOBD fat bike rims from Surly- Coming Soon!!

Surly Announces New Fat Bike Rims: 

One of my biggest complaints against Surly fat bike rims was that they were not tubeless ready. Well, that is all about to change here very soon. Just announced at Eurobike, we can expect the "My Other Brother Darryl" rims to be coming out sometime in the near future.

These will be offered as stock on Wednesday bikes, but those will be pinned rim versions and you won't be able to purchase those separately. The aftermarket MOBD rims will be welded seam rims. There is also a difference in cut outs which reflects how the rims can be laced. The hexagonal hole MOBD rims can be offset laced to Pugsleys and Moonlanders. The ones with triangular shaped cut outs are meant for symmetrical fat bikes like Wednedays, ICT's, Mukluks, etc. Finally, you can get them polished or in black anodized finishes. Weights are claimed to be in the sub 700 gram area, but we'll see about that. If so, that is very competitive with the carbon fiber rims out of China. Obviously those carbon rims do not require rim strips, but the Surly ones will. I think a bit of color in the rim strips showing through is cool, so I'm okay with that.

I don't know much else about these now, but the polished ones would be cool on the Snow Dog.That and a good set of tubeless tires and a 1X set up..... That may become a new project bike.

And Finally.....

 I was reminded yesterday of the short time we have on this Earth when I learned of the death of one of my Uncles. Don't waste anymore time and say those things you should say to the ones you love, spend time doing the things that bring you joy, and try to do something nice for someone everyday. You never know when your time is done here.....

Have a great weekend!

Friday News And Views

Trek's Gnarwall studded fat bike tires should be available this Winter

Fat Bike Tires:

Yesterday I learned that the new Gnarwall studded fat bike tire will be available this Winter and the retail should be about $245.00 each. Ouch! I was hoping that these might be a bit better priced, since the other tires out there for fat bikes with studs aren't cheap either. However; one can hope that you will actually be able to get these tires, unlike the competition's offerings.

 Trek will also have the 4.7" "Barbegazi" tires available aftermarket, which are nice looking treads. I'd be interested in these because of their tubeless compatibility, despite their not being as big as maybe the Lou tires are. Finally, I also saw that the 27.5 X 3.8" "Hodad" treads will be available aftermarket too, but obviously that may not be a hot seller right away! 27.5" diameter fat bike tires seem like an odd deal, and without anyone else moving toward that size, (as yet, anyway), I have to wonder how long that will last as a tire size for fat bikes.

On the 29+ front, Trek seems to be cautiously watching where the trends are going. It seems that the vibe I'm getting is that Trek is taking a wait and see approach before doing anything more with that format. Obviously, the trend industry-wide isn't backing Trek up on the 29+ front, so it should be interesting to see where 29+ goes in a couple of years from now. Right now all I hear is positives about the Stache 29+ bikes and that seems to be about the only 29+ rig out now that anyone is buzzing about, besides the touring/bikepacking Surly ECR and upcoming Salsa Deadwood bike.

Surly's new "Wednesday" (Really! That's its name) fat bike.

New Surly Fat Bike:

Surly Bikes unleashed a rather strangely named fat bike Wednesday at Eurobike dubbed the.....Wednesday. Yes, it is real. The bike is named after a day of the week.

Apparently the weekend days were trade marked already!

Anyway, what we have here is a continuation of Surly's updating throughout the line which started with the resurrection of the Instigator and then the ICT, Karate Monkey, and now the newest bike, the Wednesday which features many of the small details that Surly has been using of late. This one has geometry that reflects the Krampus and Instigator bikes with a slacker front and shorter rear/center. The 26 X 3.8" tires/wheels are the realm of this number and obviously, that makes it a primo candidate for a 27.5+ conversion. The front fork is "Bluto spaced" at 150mmOD, so the Bluto fork is an easy swap here.

I find this bike to be a great addition to Surly's line up, albeit about two years too late, and it brings up the question: "Where does this leave the venerable Pugsley?" Also, how is it that the Ice Cream Truck doesn't make the Moonlander obsolete? Anyway, I feel that at some point push is coming to shove and the offset fat bikes Surly has now will be a thing of the past.

MOBD fat bike rims from Surly- Coming Soon!!

Surly Announces New Fat Bike Rims: 

One of my biggest complaints against Surly fat bike rims was that they were not tubeless ready. Well, that is all about to change here very soon. Just announced at Eurobike, we can expect the "My Other Brother Darryl" rims to be coming out sometime in the near future.

These will be offered as stock on Wednesday bikes, but those will be pinned rim versions and you won't be able to purchase those separately. The aftermarket MOBD rims will be welded seam rims. There is also a difference in cut outs which reflects how the rims can be laced. The hexagonal hole MOBD rims can be offset laced to Pugsleys and Moonlanders. The ones with triangular shaped cut outs are meant for symmetrical fat bikes like Wednedays, ICT's, Mukluks, etc. Finally, you can get them polished or in black anodized finishes. Weights are claimed to be in the sub 700 gram area, but we'll see about that. If so, that is very competitive with the carbon fiber rims out of China. Obviously those carbon rims do not require rim strips, but the Surly ones will. I think a bit of color in the rim strips showing through is cool, so I'm okay with that.

I don't know much else about these now, but the polished ones would be cool on the Snow Dog.That and a good set of tubeless tires and a 1X set up..... That may become a new project bike.

And Finally.....

 I was reminded yesterday of the short time we have on this Earth when I learned of the death of one of my Uncles. Don't waste anymore time and say those things you should say to the ones you love, spend time doing the things that bring you joy, and try to do something nice for someone everyday. You never know when your time is done here.....

Have a great weekend!