Friday News And Views

 Gravel World Series Calendar Set

Back in February the UCI's calendar for the inaugural Gravel Worlds Series was leaked and dates were talked about, with the Jingle GX Gravel event listed as the final event in the series, Well, apparently that was not correct. Now the calendar has been officially released by the UCI and it would appear that the Jingle GX date is actually in August. August 6th, to be precise.

Here are the dates for the UCI Gravel World Series

Comments: This pushes what used to be "Jingle Cross", an early December date CX event, into August then? Anyway, even if the cross race is later, calling the gravel event "jingle anything" just seems, well......silly. Can't we disassociate a World Cup level gravel event from that? Guess not. I just don't think the marketing of the whole "jingle/Christmas/Grinch" thing means anything here. 

Interesting that the UCI dates in the USA coincide with each other but the rest of the calendar is kind of a logistical nightmare. We'll see how many athletes manage to actually make all the series. The second, Iowa date is two weeks before the Pirate Cycling League's Gravel Worlds, which is also interesting to note here. 

All this hoopla and the UCI says that the rules will be lax for a couple of years until they can "evaluate things" regarding what constitutes legal bicycles to use and whatnot. What?!! As if it already hasn't been "figured out". Wow... Pretty lame statement, UCI people. Read the room here. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to actually - you know- make rules today. It isn't as if the UCI is going to go all in on being "inclusive" with all the other socially conscientious efforts of the day seen in other bigger gravel events.  Whatever..... My confidence that this will be anything but another UCI circus show is pretty slim to nothing here. 

American Classic Tires Upgraded:

American Classic announced Wednesday that they have upgraded all their gravel tires with new "Stage 5S Armor" puncture protection, new changes to the Kimberlite model to make it roll faster, and that the Kimberlite will also come in a 35mm width now. All the rest of the gravel tire range will be available in 700 X 40mm, 700 X 50mm, and 650B X 47mm. Prices have also increased slightly across the board, but are still far less than most mainstream company's gravel tires. 

In addition, American Classic now offers a brown sidewall in the gravel range alongside the tan and blackwall versions already on offer. American Classic also claims weights have been slightly reduced across the range. 

Comments: I reviewed a few American Classic gravel tires here last year.  These new updates would give me reason to have a slightly better view of these tires if the claims are true. I like the Kimberlite, actually, and it reminds me a lot of the Donnelly Strada USH. So, let's compare....

The Donnelly has 240TPI casings, (okay- they add layers to get that number, most likely, but still...) and their tires list as being slightly lighter. The cost is listed as being $85.00, which compares to $45.00 each at American Classic's new price. 

So, are the Donnelly tires worth it? Well, I have the Strada USH tires and they do have a puncture protection layer, maybe not to the extent that American Classic does, but it is there. Despite the belt under the tread, the Donnelly is one of my favorite tires from the standpoint of "ride feel". The American Classic tires did not have that same feel, but.... Now they are supposedly upgraded. 

I'll have to see about getting some 700 X 40 Kimberlites in and then I'll find out....  

Last Time For The Gents To Roll:

Tomorrow I am to be a participant in what has been billed as the last Renegade Gents event. It will be a bittersweet experience, I am sure, but in the end, I hope that our team has fun and completes the route.

I've told the story before, but since this is the last Gents Race, I will hazard one more retelling- I was invited to be on a team at the inaugural "Renegade Gentleman's Race" back in 2011. I was invited to be on the five man team by Steve Fuller, who I knew through Trans Iowa. But I had no idea who the three other team members were, and being that they all were from the Des Moines area at that time, I was the odd man out. 

So I went in with the attitude of just being as compliant to the team's will and doing so as quietly as I could. Seeing as how this was basically a blind date with three guys I had to adapt to on the fly. It was a bit daunting and I was certainly anxious about it, but after about the halfway mark of that first Gents event, I was feeling much better about things. 

In the end I gained three new friends. Over the years that I have done the Gents Race I have made a lot of memories. So, now it all comes to an end with this weekend's event. I'm really glad I was a part of the run of Gents Race events. I am happy to have made a lot of new acquaintances and friends out of the deal. Now for one more time at it.......

Hopefully I'll have a report up this coming Monday.

Reynolds G700 wheel. Image courtesy of Sun/Rigle'/Reynolds.

Wheels And More Wheels:

Sea Otter is about to happen so the taps on the news faucets are opening up again. We really haven't seen the likes of this for the last couple of years due to "you know what". 

Sun Ringle', Reynolds, and Industry Nine all released news about new wheels for crushed rock roads within a couple of days of each other. 

Sun Ringle', who are best known for value driven aluminum wheels, have a new hoop set out dubbed the Duroc 30. It's a 26mm inner rim width wheel and comes with the newly designed Ringle' hubs. Through axle, Center Lock, blah, blah, blah... You've heard it all before. Pretty decent wheels. Then you have the Reynolds "Black Label" G700's in carbon. Offset spoke bed, low spoke count, 25mm inner rim width, light, new hubs. 

Both models come in 650B as well.

I didn't get pricing, but I would assume that will be available soon from the Sun Ringle/Reynolds sites. (Both companies under the Hayes banner these days) 

Then you have the new Industry Nine wheels called the 1/1 Ultralite Carbon. Yes....carbon rims, and the wheel set weighs in at a claimed 1440 grams and comes with a lifetime warranty. All that for 1600 bucks. 

The carbon wheel market for MTB and gravel has really heated up over the past couple of years. It used to be that carbon wheels meant an instant 2K addition to the bike price tag. Not anymore. While I know of some carbon wheel sets hovering around 1K, most are now around that 1500 dollar range with pretty low weight and durability. 

That's a wrap for this week. Get out and ride if you can!

Friday News And Views

 Gravel World Series Calendar Set

Back in February the UCI's calendar for the inaugural Gravel Worlds Series was leaked and dates were talked about, with the Jingle GX Gravel event listed as the final event in the series, Well, apparently that was not correct. Now the calendar has been officially released by the UCI and it would appear that the Jingle GX date is actually in August. August 6th, to be precise.

Here are the dates for the UCI Gravel World Series

Comments: This pushes what used to be "Jingle Cross", an early December date CX event, into August then? Anyway, even if the cross race is later, calling the gravel event "jingle anything" just seems, well......silly. Can't we disassociate a World Cup level gravel event from that? Guess not. I just don't think the marketing of the whole "jingle/Christmas/Grinch" thing means anything here. 

Interesting that the UCI dates in the USA coincide with each other but the rest of the calendar is kind of a logistical nightmare. We'll see how many athletes manage to actually make all the series. The second, Iowa date is two weeks before the Pirate Cycling League's Gravel Worlds, which is also interesting to note here. 

All this hoopla and the UCI says that the rules will be lax for a couple of years until they can "evaluate things" regarding what constitutes legal bicycles to use and whatnot. What?!! As if it already hasn't been "figured out". Wow... Pretty lame statement, UCI people. Read the room here. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to actually - you know- make rules today. It isn't as if the UCI is going to go all in on being "inclusive" with all the other socially conscientious efforts of the day seen in other bigger gravel events.  Whatever..... My confidence that this will be anything but another UCI circus show is pretty slim to nothing here. 

American Classic Tires Upgraded:

American Classic announced Wednesday that they have upgraded all their gravel tires with new "Stage 5S Armor" puncture protection, new changes to the Kimberlite model to make it roll faster, and that the Kimberlite will also come in a 35mm width now. All the rest of the gravel tire range will be available in 700 X 40mm, 700 X 50mm, and 650B X 47mm. Prices have also increased slightly across the board, but are still far less than most mainstream company's gravel tires. 

In addition, American Classic now offers a brown sidewall in the gravel range alongside the tan and blackwall versions already on offer. American Classic also claims weights have been slightly reduced across the range. 

Comments: I reviewed a few American Classic gravel tires here last year.  These new updates would give me reason to have a slightly better view of these tires if the claims are true. I like the Kimberlite, actually, and it reminds me a lot of the Donnelly Strada USH. So, let's compare....

The Donnelly has 240TPI casings, (okay- they add layers to get that number, most likely, but still...) and their tires list as being slightly lighter. The cost is listed as being $85.00, which compares to $45.00 each at American Classic's new price. 

So, are the Donnelly tires worth it? Well, I have the Strada USH tires and they do have a puncture protection layer, maybe not to the extent that American Classic does, but it is there. Despite the belt under the tread, the Donnelly is one of my favorite tires from the standpoint of "ride feel". The American Classic tires did not have that same feel, but.... Now they are supposedly upgraded. 

I'll have to see about getting some 700 X 40 Kimberlites in and then I'll find out....  

Last Time For The Gents To Roll:

Tomorrow I am to be a participant in what has been billed as the last Renegade Gents event. It will be a bittersweet experience, I am sure, but in the end, I hope that our team has fun and completes the route.

I've told the story before, but since this is the last Gents Race, I will hazard one more retelling- I was invited to be on a team at the inaugural "Renegade Gentleman's Race" back in 2011. I was invited to be on the five man team by Steve Fuller, who I knew through Trans Iowa. But I had no idea who the three other team members were, and being that they all were from the Des Moines area at that time, I was the odd man out. 

So I went in with the attitude of just being as compliant to the team's will and doing so as quietly as I could. Seeing as how this was basically a blind date with three guys I had to adapt to on the fly. It was a bit daunting and I was certainly anxious about it, but after about the halfway mark of that first Gents event, I was feeling much better about things. 

In the end I gained three new friends. Over the years that I have done the Gents Race I have made a lot of memories. So, now it all comes to an end with this weekend's event. I'm really glad I was a part of the run of Gents Race events. I am happy to have made a lot of new acquaintances and friends out of the deal. Now for one more time at it.......

Hopefully I'll have a report up this coming Monday.

Reynolds G700 wheel. Image courtesy of Sun/Rigle'/Reynolds.

Wheels And More Wheels:

Sea Otter is about to happen so the taps on the news faucets are opening up again. We really haven't seen the likes of this for the last couple of years due to "you know what". 

Sun Ringle', Reynolds, and Industry Nine all released news about new wheels for crushed rock roads within a couple of days of each other. 

Sun Ringle', who are best known for value driven aluminum wheels, have a new hoop set out dubbed the Duroc 30. It's a 26mm inner rim width wheel and comes with the newly designed Ringle' hubs. Through axle, Center Lock, blah, blah, blah... You've heard it all before. Pretty decent wheels. Then you have the Reynolds "Black Label" G700's in carbon. Offset spoke bed, low spoke count, 25mm inner rim width, light, new hubs. 

Both models come in 650B as well.

I didn't get pricing, but I would assume that will be available soon from the Sun Ringle/Reynolds sites. (Both companies under the Hayes banner these days) 

Then you have the new Industry Nine wheels called the 1/1 Ultralite Carbon. Yes....carbon rims, and the wheel set weighs in at a claimed 1440 grams and comes with a lifetime warranty. All that for 1600 bucks. 

The carbon wheel market for MTB and gravel has really heated up over the past couple of years. It used to be that carbon wheels meant an instant 2K addition to the bike price tag. Not anymore. While I know of some carbon wheel sets hovering around 1K, most are now around that 1500 dollar range with pretty low weight and durability. 

That's a wrap for this week. Get out and ride if you can!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Tire Day For Gen I

New tires AND different wheels.

The ol' Gen I Fargo has been modified for the umpteenth millionth time. This time it is the wheels and tires that got swapped out.

I had been running some Sun Ringle' Black Flag wheels which have rims that are based on the Stan's tubeless bead socket standard. That doesn't play well with many tubeless ready tires since Stan's bead socket thing is really meant to convert non-tubeless tires to tubeless. This means that the tighter tolerances of many tubeless tires are not an ideal fit to a Stan's rim.

Now, before y'all fire up your keyboards to tell me how your such-and-such tires have been awesome on Stan's rims for years with zero problems, you need to understand that I am not saying you cannot put tubeless ready tires on Stan's rims. You can. I have. It is just that many tires are not an ideal fit. As in, you may break tire levers getting them on or off. That isn't a good thing if the fit is that tight.

Ideally, you should be able to mount and dismount tires with no tools. If you have to sweat bullets and use a massive DH rated steel tire lever to mount your tires, or if you have to use some "slippery-slide" type concoction to mount your tubeless tires, something is not right. Why? Because you won't be field servicing that set up if the need arises, and you should be able to do that easily. 

So, the long way around to say that my Teravail Sparwood/Sun Ringle' set up was stupid tight and was a big problem waiting to happen. So, I ran that set up for as long as I felt I had gotten some good out of the money I spent on them and then I was going to ditch those things off. Actually, I had figured that this wouldn't have happened just yet. The thing is, the Sparwoods, while great in Kansas Flint Hills, really aren't very good in Iowa. In fact, they are what I would term as "not very good" riding tires. But that's another story for another day.

Terrene Tires' Honali 700 X 50mm

So, I have these new Terrene Honali tires in for testing at RidingGravel.com. They have tubeless ready casings and I wanted to use a tubeless ready designed rim. I happened to have a wheel set I built up for an old TNI test with WTB Frequency rims. 

These rims are tubeless designed and have a 23mm inner rim width which is perfect for a 50mm wide tire. They mounted up with the Honali tires with a simple.almost dead, 15 year old Blackburn floor pump. I mounted them by hand. I could remove them with the aid of one plastic tire lever if I needed to do the job quickly. In other words- This set up is completely field serviceable with your hands or simple bicycle tools with little effort. 

Now, it is completely possible that I won't like the Honali tires any better than I do the Teravails, but I can say that the Honali feels twice as supple already and that the profile of the Honali on the rim is already better than that of the previous tire set. So far.......so good. 

The wheels have American Classic hubs, which aren't the best in terms of engagement of the hub, but they have been reliable and for gravel travel the slack engagement shouldn't be an issue. Plus, these hubs are loads quieter than the Sun Ringle' ones were. Those things were really loud! That got on my nerves a few times on longer rides. 

So, at any rate, I am set with new wheels and tires. I'll give this a go and then report back soon......  

New Tire Day For Gen I

New tires AND different wheels.

The ol' Gen I Fargo has been modified for the umpteenth millionth time. This time it is the wheels and tires that got swapped out.

I had been running some Sun Ringle' Black Flag wheels which have rims that are based on the Stan's tubeless bead socket standard. That doesn't play well with many tubeless ready tires since Stan's bead socket thing is really meant to convert non-tubeless tires to tubeless. This means that the tighter tolerances of many tubeless tires are not an ideal fit to a Stan's rim.

Now, before y'all fire up your keyboards to tell me how your such-and-such tires have been awesome on Stan's rims for years with zero problems, you need to understand that I am not saying you cannot put tubeless ready tires on Stan's rims. You can. I have. It is just that many tires are not an ideal fit. As in, you may break tire levers getting them on or off. That isn't a good thing if the fit is that tight.

Ideally, you should be able to mount and dismount tires with no tools. If you have to sweat bullets and use a massive DH rated steel tire lever to mount your tires, or if you have to use some "slippery-slide" type concoction to mount your tubeless tires, something is not right. Why? Because you won't be field servicing that set up if the need arises, and you should be able to do that easily. 

So, the long way around to say that my Teravail Sparwood/Sun Ringle' set up was stupid tight and was a big problem waiting to happen. So, I ran that set up for as long as I felt I had gotten some good out of the money I spent on them and then I was going to ditch those things off. Actually, I had figured that this wouldn't have happened just yet. The thing is, the Sparwoods, while great in Kansas Flint Hills, really aren't very good in Iowa. In fact, they are what I would term as "not very good" riding tires. But that's another story for another day.

Terrene Tires' Honali 700 X 50mm

So, I have these new Terrene Honali tires in for testing at RidingGravel.com. They have tubeless ready casings and I wanted to use a tubeless ready designed rim. I happened to have a wheel set I built up for an old TNI test with WTB Frequency rims. 

These rims are tubeless designed and have a 23mm inner rim width which is perfect for a 50mm wide tire. They mounted up with the Honali tires with a simple.almost dead, 15 year old Blackburn floor pump. I mounted them by hand. I could remove them with the aid of one plastic tire lever if I needed to do the job quickly. In other words- This set up is completely field serviceable with your hands or simple bicycle tools with little effort. 

Now, it is completely possible that I won't like the Honali tires any better than I do the Teravails, but I can say that the Honali feels twice as supple already and that the profile of the Honali on the rim is already better than that of the previous tire set. So far.......so good. 

The wheels have American Classic hubs, which aren't the best in terms of engagement of the hub, but they have been reliable and for gravel travel the slack engagement shouldn't be an issue. Plus, these hubs are loads quieter than the Sun Ringle' ones were. Those things were really loud! That got on my nerves a few times on longer rides. 

So, at any rate, I am set with new wheels and tires. I'll give this a go and then report back soon......  

Two Wheel Sets Out, One Set In!

Wednesday I moved two wheel sets from the Lab out to happy owners. It was part of the plan to reduce the mountain of stuff piling up down there. Hopefully I can continue to thin things down there in a wise manner.

Then I got a notice that a box had shown up at work. I went down to pick it up and it turned out to be another wheel set for testing on Twenty Nine Inches.  Okay, cool!

They are the new 2010 Sun/Ringle' Charger Pro 29 wheels. These wheels are pretty pimpy. Look for a full breakdown on them coming soon on TNI.

Other exciting news from Wednesday was my invite to a Shimano technical seminar on 2011 MTB product up in Minneapolis. I guess I'll be seeing stuff and not being able to talk about it. How do I know this? Well, I had to sign a two page legal-ese document that says I can't talk about it, that's how I know! More on that...........someday!

Then to top it all off, I had an excellent meeting with Oakley super-rep and all around cool cycling cat, Rob V. We brainstormed up some awesome details on the Oakley "O-Down At The Barn" and for Rob's M- C.O.G.G  Ride that will take place on Saturday of Trans Iowa, April 24th. I'll spill the beans on all of this in my usual Saturday T.I.V6 post, so stay tuned. I am super stoked for the T.I.V6 weekend. Wait till you read the details! I think ya'all will be stoked too.

Two Wheel Sets Out, One Set In!

Wednesday I moved two wheel sets from the Lab out to happy owners. It was part of the plan to reduce the mountain of stuff piling up down there. Hopefully I can continue to thin things down there in a wise manner.

Then I got a notice that a box had shown up at work. I went down to pick it up and it turned out to be another wheel set for testing on Twenty Nine Inches.  Okay, cool!

They are the new 2010 Sun/Ringle' Charger Pro 29 wheels. These wheels are pretty pimpy. Look for a full breakdown on them coming soon on TNI.

Other exciting news from Wednesday was my invite to a Shimano technical seminar on 2011 MTB product up in Minneapolis. I guess I'll be seeing stuff and not being able to talk about it. How do I know this? Well, I had to sign a two page legal-ese document that says I can't talk about it, that's how I know! More on that...........someday!

Then to top it all off, I had an excellent meeting with Oakley super-rep and all around cool cycling cat, Rob V. We brainstormed up some awesome details on the Oakley "O-Down At The Barn" and for Rob's M- C.O.G.G  Ride that will take place on Saturday of Trans Iowa, April 24th. I'll spill the beans on all of this in my usual Saturday T.I.V6 post, so stay tuned. I am super stoked for the T.I.V6 weekend. Wait till you read the details! I think ya'all will be stoked too.