Friday News And Views

Early FOX gravel sus fork effort

Will Your Next Gravel Bike Really Be A Drop Bar MTB?

Recently a "Bike Rumor" article showing an in-development DT Swiss gravel fork surfaced. Coupled with this are the various social media reports from Pro level gravel riders that they are running 29"er XC racing tires on their "gravel bikes". Wheels are starting to pop up with inner rim widths of 30mm or wider for "gravel". Most "gravel" related social media posts showing any of this look freakishly similar to what I recall seeing for MTB racing at one time. Lots of dirt single and double track, steep descents, and lots of rocks. Which reminds me, tire inserts are another trend for "gravel". 

I won't belabor the whole "gravel suspension fork" thing here as I already have tackled that subject in detail HERE. But what I do want to point out is that perhaps we are seeing this development and push for a mash-up of gravel and MTB because of two things. 

One: Gravel cycling is still the fastest growing market in cycling in terms of bikes and events. That is fact. At least here in the USA it is. Second: Mountain biking, on the other hand, is struggling to be relevant in terms of events and in terms of sales of new mountain bikes things are dismal. Current inventories of MTB bikes are still at too-high levels, and the demand is flat for them. Price -slashing on MTB bikes currently in stock is amazing at the moment. 

Combined that puts pressure on marketing and research departments to come up with solutions. Maybe if these "gravel bikers" would see drop bar bikes being used as MTB bikes they might gravitate to getting back into MTB. And to be sure, that will work for a lot of people. I've already seen and heard about people leaving gravel bikes for MTB. 

But for the vast majority of "gravel"/all-road riders this trend is not beneficial. These fatter tired, suspended bikes will work less well on paved and harder surfaced roads. They will be heavier, in most cases, than previous non-suspended, "skinnier" tired gravel bikes are. In other words, the cycling industry is once again hell-bent on turning a category into what Pros want and "maybe" need versus what is good for most folks. 

Perhaps making more utilitarian MTB hard tails would be more prudent. I know I am selling every decent spec, 1990's hard tail MTB I can get my hands on at the Collective where I work. Simple, easy to maintain, and versatile bikes which are reasonably lightweight and not full of techno-wow electronic bits. But yeah....that's not very exciting, I guess.  

USAC Gravel Nationals:

Did you even know this happened? Well, it did. Once again it was not very well attended by elite level athletes. Much like last year's Gravel Nats weren't well attended, only 49 Elite males and 17 Elite females took the start. Notable: The largest fields in the age group cats were the 50 years old to 70 years old males. Go figure.....

You can see the results HERE.

That sounds not so good for a National gravel race that awards a Stars and Stripes jersey, right? But let's compare. What did Gravel Worlds get for Elite/Pro fields? Looking at their officially posted results, it appears that only a field of 37 male riders and a field of 15 women toed the line. Now contrast this with Unbound Gravel, whose officially posted results show a men's field of 135 starters and a women's field of 56 starters.

It is abundantly clear which event is producing the best competitive results. But look at those numbers a minute and consider this: All the media hype and much of what you see now as being "good for gravel" is based around this minuscule amount of riders. Ask yourself this: Does that seem like the right thing to do? The "fair thing" to do? 

In other words, most cycling media and many brands aren't catering to what the most people need or want. Of course, you could say the same about most facets of our society now..... 

Image courtesy of Planet Bike

Planet Bike Beamer 400:

Planet Bike is a company that puts out some solid kit for utilitarian purposes. I have had fantastic luck with several of their fender models over the years. Planet Bike also offers some nice, inexpensive lighting options for your bike, front and rear. 

Their newest bike front light is the Beamer 400, which, as the name implies, has a maximum power output of 400 Lumens at 3.5hr run time (claimed). 

Featuring TIR lens technology for better reflective properties and a clamp which adjusts to handle bars from 25.4 mm to 31.8 mm, this $35.00 retail light might be just the thing for your townie or commuter rig. The one feature I am impressed by is the ability of the light to adapt to mount on to any Garmin type computer mount using the adapter provided with the light. Planet Bike also has a new heavy-duty chain link lock which retails for $40.00 which you can check out HERE. 

Image courtesy of Wolf Tooth

Another App:

Wolf Tooth announced on Tuesday that they now have a smart phone app that will help you figure out where to start with air pressure on any bicycle. Users download the Wolf Tooth app, enter in their type of bike, wheel size, tire width, rider weight, and then get a customized starting point for air pressure experimentation. 

Comments: N.Y. Roll told me he has the app on his phone and gave it a try. He stated that it led him to a recommendation about 3 psi higher than he was already using. Not bad....

Here's the thing, "There are no single, RIGHT tire pressures, but there are a LOT OF WRONG PRESSURES." Much of the mystery of what your particular tire pressure should be is wrapped up in some things which are in constant flux. Things like air temperature, terrain conditions, and rider/load overall weight. If your stance on air pressure is not taking those things into consideration then you are probably not using the "right" tire pressure in any particular instance. 

There is no "set it and forget it" if you really care about this when it comes to bicycle tires. You can do things in this manner, but if you do, please - don't ever advise anyone on tire pressure in any online forum. While it may seem like a pain in the behind, getting pressures set correctly involves a lot of thought, observation, trial and error, and experiential considerations. But again - you do you. 

Image courtesy of Growtac

Velo Orange To Offer Growtac Levers:

Back in March of 2023, I wrote in another "FN&V" that Growtac of Japan would be offering a combination brake/shifter lever that would work on almost any drive train from 2 speed to 13 speeds. It is a mechanical shifting lever with mechanical brake compatibility. Note: Growtac makes a high-end mechanical disc brake caliper already. 

Comments: The levers look set to be released soon by Velo Orange. Reports are that by the end of November these will be on their site. As of now there is no official word from Velo Orange. Prices are not set or even hinted at as of this writing. 

It also remains to be seen if Velo Orange will offer the full range of options for the levers or if they just sell it as a friction shifter. I'm sure that the word will come down soon. 

If these do appear as an option it will be a step up from my old Gevenalle set ups and I would be extremely interested in getting a set in to try out. So, stay tuned to see what happens on this front.
 

Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions! Now get out there and ride those bicycles!

Friday News And Views

 USAC Gravel Nationals Moves To Minnesota:

On Wednesday it was announced on USA Cycling's site that the USAC Gravel Nationals will be held in LaCrescent, Minnesota for 2025 and 2026. 

Quoted from the announcement:

“"We are excited to bring our Gravel National Championships to La Crescent/La Crosse for 2025-2026. The region’s diverse landscape offers multiple options for developing unique courses with challenging climbs, creating a new and different experience for riders out on the course. Combining our event with their renowned annual Apple Festival offers another unique experience that our riders and their families can enjoy off the course,” said Kyle Knott, USA Cycling’s Director of National Events."

Comments: Recently it was revealed that the Robidoux Rendezvous would be on "indefinite pause" and it is not understood at this time whether the USAC Gravel Nationals move was in response to this pause or if the pause was a reaction to USAC pulling out.  Reading the tea leaves I would guess it was the former. 

The Driftless Region of Southwestern Minnesota should provide some steep climbs and harrowing descents for those chasing a Stars and Stripes jersey. It will be interesting to see how USAC develops this event. 

The venue is straight across the Mississippi River from LaCrosse, Wisconsin, so there should be plenty of infrastructure and resources for putting the event on at a level USAC will expect. Heck, it is close enough to me that I might have to go and do some live reporting on it. We will see. 

Image courtesy of Canyon Bikes

Canyon Bikes Shows New Stingr CFR Helmet:

Canyon Bikes has a new helmet with an unusual retention system. The helmet, called the Stingr CFR, boasts watt-saving aerodynamics and great cooling as well for the wearer.

The retention system, which eschews the typical Nylon straps and buckles, is called the HighBar System. It uses two arms which articulate off the main chassis of the retention system near where the rider's ears would be. These arms are micro-adjustable with a dial at the chin area. 

Canyon claims this way of retention saves watts, is cooler, and causes less wind-generated noise by the rider's ears. The helmet also utilizes MIPS technology to help protect the rider in the event of a crash.

The helmet weighs 0.6lbs and costs $299.99 USD. 

Comments: A bold move, yet one wonders why helmet manufacturers have held on to the tried and true Nylon strap system all these years. Perhaps it "just works"? Maybe, but I credit Canyon's team for trying something different. 

My concern initially from looking at this would be how this retention system would work with small faces, wider faces, and other human anomalies that may not be compatible with a rigid arm take on helmet retention. I also would have to wonder how much noise really would be reduced by these arms versus straps. I'm thinking Iowa wind doesn't care. I could be wrong...

Podcast News & More:

The recent visit I made to see Ari Andonopoulous resulted in a podcast that I have gotten some good feedback from. Ari and I talked about gravel history, mostly as it pertained to how we did things back then. We also touched upon Trans Iowa a bit. Then we talked about how much things have changed, a bit about event production, and more. In case you missed this episode, you can find it HERE. 

My vision going forward  would be to try to find more participants in the early gravel scene, and specifically from Trans Iowa, but not necessarily from the event alone. I wanted to try to get as many takes on what that time was like to preserve those memories and have a place where those facts can live on. 

But if people don't find that to be an interesting thing to listen to, I may not pursue the idea. Or I might anyway in spite of that. Ari feels folks would dig it. And what about you? Would you find this to be an interesting thing to listen to, or have curated? Let me know in the comments. Or you can e-mail me at g.ted.productions@gmail.com. 

Image courtesy of BMC Bikes.

BMC Overhauls URS Gravel Range:

BMC announced on Thursday that they had revamped the entire URS gravel bike range. The top-line URS Two has an interesting take on geometry. By the way, there is an URS One. That is the frame with the "Micro-Travel" rear end, a feature BMC have had for a few years now. 

Comments: Here we have a great example of a gravel bike being made to appeal to mountain bikers. While I feel elements of MTB geometry are interesting in gravel bikes, (slack head tube, lower bottom bracket, longer top tubes), there is one element I do not think is a good thing in a gravel bike at all. Keeping in mind that a gravel bike is really an "All-Roads" bike, not a mountain bike with drop bars. 

What I don't like is the steep seat tube angles being borrowed from MTB. This doesn't really make a road bike "better". Well, unless you use a dropper post and are scrambling up short, steep climbs on dirt. But again, a gravel bike and a drop bar MTB are two very different things, and they should be. 

Added to that is the limited (47mm in this case) tire clearance and the URS Two becomes an oddball bike. It can neither be a true MTB, (not enough tire clearance), or a good gravel riding bike, (too steep a seat tube angle). I'm sure it is okay, but at the prices people pay for such bikes, you should be getting a bike that is dialed in for one or the other thing. Not an "underbike" that is trying to be something via its geometry that it cannot truly do well. 

That's my take.

Image courtesy of Trek Bikes

Trek Announces New Checkpoint v3 and Checkmate SLR:

Trek announced the version 3 of their venerable Checkpoint bike Thursday alongside a new racing gravel bike called the Checkmate SLR. 

The new Checkpoint features all kinds of accessory mounts, tire clearance for up to 50mm tires, and the ISO rear end compliance design. 

The new Checkmate SLR differes in that it isn't as fully featured in terms of accessory mounts, and it has a narrower maximum tire clearance of 45mm. Most notably this bike features a 4mm deeper bottom bracket drop at 80mm than the Checkpoint does.

The Checkmate SLR (Image courtesy of Trek Bikes.

Trek also tightened up the rear chain stay length and steepened the seat tube angle by about one degree over the Checkpoint v3. 

Comments: Here I see a more road-focused design, which makes sense since unpaved roads are still roads, not MTB trails. I like Trek's take on things, for the most part, but I would rather see a slacker, by one degree, head tube angle and the rear end of the Checkpoint v3 on the SLR with the SLR's lower BB. 

And the frame set is 4K? Ouch! Unbelievable. I'll get a custom frame for that price, thank you very much! (In fact, I could easily buy two steel custom frames for that much!) But I am sure that Trek will sell many of these bikes since a lot of people will think that this is what they have to have to be "competitive", or something!

Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions! Get out there and ride those bicycles people!

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Mondraker

Olympics And Bikes!

Mondraker Shows Off Olympic Liveries:

Tuesday Mondraker Bikes showed off two Olympic liveries for two of their sponsored riders who are contesting the games in the XCO MTB category. The bike shown is the Mondraker F-Podium and this one is done up in a special livery for rider Bec Henderson who will represent Australia. 

Comments: The Olympics are a big deal in cycling and especially for MTB. I don't really follow Pro MTB anymore, so what struck me about this announcement was how much XC-ish bikes have changed in the last ten years or so. 

First of all, Bec Henderson is 5'2" tall, and she is on a 29"er. Now, I have been amazed by all the places 29"ers have made inroads, but the smaller riders still racing 29"ers has been something of a ongoing surprise for me. I know many women were really into the stability and safer feeling of the big wheels having been told this straight from some high-profile female racers back fifteen years ago now. (15 years ago!! What?!!) 

So, it's really something when you consider many would have said "No way women should be riding 29"ers, especially shorter women!", which is something I used to hear back then. Given the existence of performance oriented tires and wheels in 650B, that's even more crazy to consider. (And yes- I am aware some folks do use those wheels) 

And then there is the bike, a dual suspension model. A dual suspension XC racer wasn't super common, back in the day, but now it seems to be at least a fairly commonly chosen option. Anyway, just noting how things have changed in that scene.  

Image courtesy of KASK Helmets.

KASK Shows New Nirvana Aero Helmet:

Tuesday also saw the announcement by KASK Helmets who now offer a new aero helmet called the Nirvana. 

KASK used CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) programs to develop the Nirvana which KASK claims has displayed a 35% more reduction in  aerodynamic drag and a 19% increase in air-flow through the helmet to make this their most aero and comfortable helmet in the category. (Compared to "best aero helmets in the category" according to the press release)

KASK does its own internal safety testing which has resulted in their exclusive Multi-Pod Technology. A new design which incorporates a 3-D printed pad which KASK claims is resistant to rotational and linear impacts, yet allows direct airflow to the rider's scalp. 

The Nirvana is available in matte black, matte white, Cherry Burst, Blueberry Fade, and Ultraviolet. The US price for the Nirvana is $400.00.

Comments: Aero is a thing in gravel, although KASK doesn't market the Nirvana helmet as being a "gravel helmet". My bet is that the fast folks will show up with these at gravel events. Notice in the image how the helmet covers the tops of the ears? That's right folks! Your ears are not aero! (HA!) Of course, anyone who has noted the time trials in the TDF recently, or at any point in the last 40 years, has already been well aware of this. It is kind of strange to me that this sort of treatment and design hasn't been utilized in road helmets much, if at all. 

No MIPS here! And did you see that price? Ouch!  

Image courtesy of State Bicycle Co.

State Bicycle Co. Debuts Titanium AllRoad:

State Bicycle Co. announced a pretty compelling AllRoad variant in titanium on Tuesday of this week. The bike features double butted, "Gr9 3AL/2.5V titanium", according to State Bicycle Co. The frame also has internally routed cables, room for 50mm 700c tires, or 2.2" 650B tires, and it has PVD graphics over a sand blasted finish. 

The carbon fork has a stealth through-axle and flat mount brakes with a internally routed cable port. 

The bike can be had as a complete starting at $2,499.00 on up or as a frame only at $1,299.00 (no fork). There are a lot of options so check out the page for the bike HERE. 

Comments: Notice the maximum tire size? This will be the new gravel bike standard going forward. Long gone are the days of maximum tire clearances being under 45mm. These new gravel bikes will be criticized and said to be "drop bar MTB's" by many folks but that just doesn't quite fit here. Too many small details separate the two things. 

I like the aggressive pricing on this bike and most of the details. I do not see 650B as being a big deal for buyers anymore and while the ability to swap in those wheels once made sense it really doesn't anymore. Once you could get that 45+ millimeter tire by going to a 650B X 47mm tire, and maybe a bit larger, but with these new rigs handling 50mm+ sized 700c tires, the question becomes more about the size and height of the rider when it comes to using 650B wheels. I still think 650B makes a lot of sense for shorter riders, but most folks that can should ride larger diameter wheels for their inherent benefits. 

Because State doggedly sticks to their "two wheel diameter - one bike" marketing schtick they have to compromise on bottom bracket drop to allow for smaller diameter wheels. And that is the only thing that would keep me off this bike. There are just too many bikes hitting all the numbers for me to compromise on a design like this State AllRoad Ti. But that's me. I still think it is a smoking hot value. 

USA Gravel National Championships Adds Spots For UCI World Gravel Championship Race:

Besides a $40,000.00 prize purse split equally between the Men's and Women's Elite classes, now it has been revealed that there will be ten spots to the World Gravel Championships to be held in Belgium for those who win those spots. 

The USA Gravel National Championships will be held on a 131.1 mile course with an estimated 5,715ft of elevation gain. The event will be held again in Gering, Nebraska on September 8th. There will be three shorter courses available for amateurs as well. 

Comments: Interesting that the USAC event now is $20,000.00 poorer than last year's event was. But how does USAC/UCI fund racing in the USA with this kind of total competitive flavor? This has been the perennial issue with racing at this level for road for decades. I see no reason why gravel should be exempt when the pattern for everything USAC is doing in gravel mirrors everything they were doing with road events.

The pot was sweetened (or was it?) by the offering of spots to the 2024 World Gravel Championships to be held in October in Flanders. Of course, that sounds all good, but I'm betting the dime to get there is on the competitors, and you'd have roughly a month to come up with the dollars to fly back and forth, get lodging, and of course, food and drink. So, it isn't that big of a deal unless someone else is footing the bill, and I suspect no one is sponsoring this. Maybe a brand of one of the lucky winners would chip in, but with the cycling industry strapped as it is? I doubt it would happen.

Okay, that is a wrap on this week! Thank you for reading the Guitar Ted Productions site!