Minus Ten Review- 10

This is what snow in Winter looks like. Same week ten years ago.

Ten years ago on the blog here I was riding 29"ers in the snow and it was working fine and it was fun! Packed down snow in 30°F temperatures with Sun shining brightly. Had I had a fat bike it would have been totally awesome.

Fun fact: No one was riding bikes out of doors in 2007. I had the outside to myself back then. It is great to see that, at least in this one way, fat bikes have changed attitudes about Winter cycling.

The other thing here I note is that I am running a triple crank set. No one does that in 2017. Well, in the general sense, and that's not because triple crank sets are "bad". Misunderstood? Maybe. Not applicable to "modern geometry"? Probably. Not offered due to one component giant's stranglehold on patents which lock the workable tech away from being used by anyone else? Totally.

That tire set, the GEAX Saguaro, actually had a pretty stellar tread pattern for snow. It would be interesting to see something similar in a current fat bike sized tire. Trouble is that 4 inches of tread blocks across a fat tire would weigh a lot! So, this will likely never happen.

This would be one of the last rides I would do on the Haro Mary. It was about that time I realized it was just too small, and I had other bikes coming and going in the rotation which worked a lot better. I'll say it again- I should have gotten the size Large! Dang it! Live and learn.......

Still one of Salsa Cycles best ever paint schemes in my opinion.

Then there was the Thule T2 I bought to haul the fairly new to me Salsa Cycles Dos Niner down to El Paso with. This would be my first rodeo riding down there. I was super stoked to try those 29"er wheels out on a real mountain.

The Thule T2 is probably the forerunner of all the racks you see now similar to it. There are a lot of them that are better now, but this design has aged well. I am on my second one now. This one in the image rusted out living on the back of our vehicles.

The Dos, well, I'll get around to talking about that more in a future "Minus Ten Review" post. For now I will say that it was a favorite in the stable in 2007 up to this point. Back then Salsa was using Scandium enhanced aluminum alloy. It was supposed to be lighter, and it was pretty light, but there were some other issues with it that cropped up down the trail.

Anyway, the image of the Dos on the back of our then vehicle signaled the beginning of Spring Break. That is still happening ten years down the road, and if you are one that is going somewhere, or is somewhere now for the week, have a good one!

Minus Ten Review- 10

This is what snow in Winter looks like. Same week ten years ago.

Ten years ago on the blog here I was riding 29"ers in the snow and it was working fine and it was fun! Packed down snow in 30°F temperatures with Sun shining brightly. Had I had a fat bike it would have been totally awesome.

Fun fact: No one was riding bikes out of doors in 2007. I had the outside to myself back then. It is great to see that, at least in this one way, fat bikes have changed attitudes about Winter cycling.

The other thing here I note is that I am running a triple crank set. No one does that in 2017. Well, in the general sense, and that's not because triple crank sets are "bad". Misunderstood? Maybe. Not applicable to "modern geometry"? Probably. Not offered due to one component giant's stranglehold on patents which lock the workable tech away from being used by anyone else? Totally.

That tire set, the GEAX Saguaro, actually had a pretty stellar tread pattern for snow. It would be interesting to see something similar in a current fat bike sized tire. Trouble is that 4 inches of tread blocks across a fat tire would weigh a lot! So, this will likely never happen.

This would be one of the last rides I would do on the Haro Mary. It was about that time I realized it was just too small, and I had other bikes coming and going in the rotation which worked a lot better. I'll say it again- I should have gotten the size Large! Dang it! Live and learn.......

Still one of Salsa Cycles best ever paint schemes in my opinion.

Then there was the Thule T2 I bought to haul the fairly new to me Salsa Cycles Dos Niner down to El Paso with. This would be my first rodeo riding down there. I was super stoked to try those 29"er wheels out on a real mountain.

The Thule T2 is probably the forerunner of all the racks you see now similar to it. There are a lot of them that are better now, but this design has aged well. I am on my second one now. This one in the image rusted out living on the back of our vehicles.

The Dos, well, I'll get around to talking about that more in a future "Minus Ten Review" post. For now I will say that it was a favorite in the stable in 2007 up to this point. Back then Salsa was using Scandium enhanced aluminum alloy. It was supposed to be lighter, and it was pretty light, but there were some other issues with it that cropped up down the trail.

Anyway, the image of the Dos on the back of our then vehicle signaled the beginning of Spring Break. That is still happening ten years down the road, and if you are one that is going somewhere, or is somewhere now for the week, have a good one!

A 29"er Hauler

I have been using a Thule T2 rack on our vehicles for several years now. The fold-up rear hitch mount rack could hold two 29"ers, albeit just barely. Especially if they had big tires. Well, I finally had to replace my rack due to severe rust, (don't leave yer rack on all winter long, ya dufus!), and I went for the T2 rack again. Guess what? It's been updated!

Rack folded up

Rack folded down!

Looks pretty much the same, eh? Well, there are a few details that set this one apart from the older T2. This time Thule recognized that 29"ers are a force to be reckoned with, and allowed for more travel on the ratcheting arm that secures your front wheel. No more grazing the front tire, or pushing down on it to gain clearance.

The next thing they did was to install integrated locking cables to secure the frame on the ends of the ratcheting wheel  holder. You simply pull out the cable from the end of the tube, and it retracts when you unlock it from your bike. (Note: The original place for lock cylinders on the base of the ratcheting wheel holder is still there, but lock cylinders for those are not supplied.) So, you can lock each bike to the rack, and a separate key and lock cylinder now comes with the T2 to lock the hitch pin to the hitch as well. Nice!

Getting Close There!

What's Not So Nice? Well, as with the previous T2 I had, the wheel tray might get into the rear bumper cover of certain vehicles in the folded up position. This is an issue with our 2003 Highlander. I had to trim a significant portion of the tray off to clear the bumper on the old rack. This shows how close it is on my "Truck With No Name". I couldn't put my index finger in between the bumper and the tray without pinching a bit. The other thing I noted was that my fat bike won't fit on this rack either.

Looks like I may have a project making some Snow Dog compatible wheel trays for the T2!

Over all though, the T2 does work great. It folds up out of the way when not in use, and you can drop it down to get access to the back of vehicles with hatch backs, or to lower the end gate on a truck. (My truck's end gate clears like a champ.) You don't have to remove wheels from bikes, so through axles are no issue, and nothing touches your frame, unless you use the locking cables.

The rack doesn't sway around, is stable, and is reasonably weather resistant. (Don't be stupid like me and leave it on all winter though!) You can even get a two bike extension for the T2, increasing capacity to 4 bikes. The T2 holds bikes from 20"ers to 29"ers, and is adjustable for wheel base.

Expect to pay something well north of 4 hundred bucks for one of these. I say it is well worth the dollars if you take seriously long trips with bikes, or just appreciate a nice, secure, easy to use rack.

A 29"er Hauler

I have been using a Thule T2 rack on our vehicles for several years now. The fold-up rear hitch mount rack could hold two 29"ers, albeit just barely. Especially if they had big tires. Well, I finally had to replace my rack due to severe rust, (don't leave yer rack on all winter long, ya dufus!), and I went for the T2 rack again. Guess what? It's been updated!

Rack folded up

Rack folded down!

Looks pretty much the same, eh? Well, there are a few details that set this one apart from the older T2. This time Thule recognized that 29"ers are a force to be reckoned with, and allowed for more travel on the ratcheting arm that secures your front wheel. No more grazing the front tire, or pushing down on it to gain clearance.

The next thing they did was to install integrated locking cables to secure the frame on the ends of the ratcheting wheel  holder. You simply pull out the cable from the end of the tube, and it retracts when you unlock it from your bike. (Note: The original place for lock cylinders on the base of the ratcheting wheel holder is still there, but lock cylinders for those are not supplied.) So, you can lock each bike to the rack, and a separate key and lock cylinder now comes with the T2 to lock the hitch pin to the hitch as well. Nice!

Getting Close There!

What's Not So Nice? Well, as with the previous T2 I had, the wheel tray might get into the rear bumper cover of certain vehicles in the folded up position. This is an issue with our 2003 Highlander. I had to trim a significant portion of the tray off to clear the bumper on the old rack. This shows how close it is on my "Truck With No Name". I couldn't put my index finger in between the bumper and the tray without pinching a bit. The other thing I noted was that my fat bike won't fit on this rack either.

Looks like I may have a project making some Snow Dog compatible wheel trays for the T2!

Over all though, the T2 does work great. It folds up out of the way when not in use, and you can drop it down to get access to the back of vehicles with hatch backs, or to lower the end gate on a truck. (My truck's end gate clears like a champ.) You don't have to remove wheels from bikes, so through axles are no issue, and nothing touches your frame, unless you use the locking cables.

The rack doesn't sway around, is stable, and is reasonably weather resistant. (Don't be stupid like me and leave it on all winter though!) You can even get a two bike extension for the T2, increasing capacity to 4 bikes. The T2 holds bikes from 20"ers to 29"ers, and is adjustable for wheel base.

Expect to pay something well north of 4 hundred bucks for one of these. I say it is well worth the dollars if you take seriously long trips with bikes, or just appreciate a nice, secure, easy to use rack.