Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Salsa Cycles

New Timberjack Model:

Salsa Cycles revealed earlier this week that it has a new Timberjack model out. It features a Deore SLX 12 speed 1X drive train and a Rock Shox Psylo Silver fork with 140mm of travel. 

The 6061 T-6 aluminum frame feattures fully lined internal routing, a dropper post route, and plenty of accessory mounts. The bike also has the Alternator V2 drop outs for single speed or varying your wheel base. 

This model is set up with 29" wheels but Timberjacks can also support 27.5"er wheels and tires as well. The Timberjack Deore SLX is listed at $1,699.00 USD. You can see more on this bike HERE. 

Salsa also announced new Rangefinder models. These are Salsa's entry level hardtail MTB's with prices ranging from $899.00 to $1,499.00 in varying spec and colors with 27.5" and 29" wheels. Check those out HERE. 

Finally, Salsa also announced that they now offer a UDH compatible Alternator drop out. See your Salsa dealer for details. 

Blogs Making A Comeback?

Recently I have noticed a very small bit of chatter online concerning social media platforms, content creation, and the desire for created content to have more accessibility and permanence. It seems that many people are seeing certain social media platform owners as being not very palatable, and also there is a feeling of missing connections with prospective viewers/readers due to how social media platforms operate. Content can be dropped and can be buried in a feed quickly, making its impact of little import. 

So, there has been talk of people resurrecting, or creating blogs again. I saw one such instance where a blog which had been dormant since 2012 was started up again. Others are also thinking along these lines and some are pointing to content sites like Substack as a venue for more permanent content holding. 

There used to be a thriving network of cycling related bloggers which one could "make the rounds" on every day or weekly, depending on how often a creator uploaded content. That all died away in the late 2000's when Facebook basically took that role over. However; now many see that social media site as less than optimal. Many see the owner, "Mr Z", as being a person they do not wish to support by using the site. 

Another facet of this may be the disappearance of physical media, the lack of any quality, free centralized informative cycling sites or publications online, and the wish for reading material versus videos. Many have cited videos as being tiring and not how they want to connect. I don't know, but if blogging makes a comeback, I'm here for it. 

They say what comes around goes around....

Image courtesy of Dirtsixer's Instagram

Will 32" Tires Become A Thing?

Dirtysixer, a small company specializing in larger diameter wheeled bicycles, has shown a new tire from Maxxis on one of their gravel bike models recently with a promise that this tire will be available from Dirtysixer on their 32"er wheeled gravel and MTB models. 

Comments: The tire, an Aspen, would make sense from the perspective of being good at gravel, dirt, and broken up surfaces. The tire is a versatile model, very popular in Maxxis' range, and should be a very good performer. 

However; it is what this says about the future of 32" wheels which is possibly of more importance. Understanding that a company like Maxxis isn't going to open a new mold willy-nilly. No, they don't do things like this unless they plan on selling a lot of tires. 

It would seem to me, knowing what I know from the past and 29"er development, that someone else other than Dirtsixer is interested in doing 32"er bikes. Of course, that could be any brand out there, but if I had to guess, I would exclude Trek, Giant, Specialized, and Cannondale off the top. Now certainly, it is entirely possible I am wrong, but usually bigger companies wait on trends to see if they will take hold before stripping away resources from somewhere else to develop a heretofore unknown quantity. 

We will see. Next time you are riding in a big gravel event, look closely at those taller riders. If they are on a Dirtysixer, you may get a close-up of this new Maxxis tire, or the Vee Tire model also being offered in 32" by Dirtysixer. Happy tire spotting!

Image courtesy of Twin Six

A Gravel Road Themed T-Shirt:

Twin Six, the Minneapolis, Minnesota based apparel company, usually launches a "T-shirt of the Month" every 6th of any given month. They have been doing this for years now.  

February's T-shirt of the Month is a gravel road themed design that I have not seen the likes of from Twin Six. In fact, it may be their first ever gravel road oriented t-shirt design. I cannot think of another from the past, but I could be wrong. 

For what it is worth, these Twin Six offerings are fantastic t-shirts. I just got one last year in the Fall (Bicycle riding Jesus) and it feels great and launders well. These shirts from Twin Six run around 28 bucks and should last you for years. 

Okay, so you are probably thinking I'm getting one of these. And I would, but for a hang-up I have with light colored/white t-shirts. I refuse to wear light colored/white t's. I just can't do it. I feel horrible in almost any color that isn't black, but I have been known to wear dark blue, dark grey, maroon, and maybe a few other colors here and there. But yeah.....I wish this woulda been a black T-shirt. But it isn't It's "Oatmeal". 

sigh!

Get yours if you don't have a hang-up like mine soon because Twin Six only does these T's of the Month in limited quantities. 

That's a wrap on this week's FN&V! Now get out there and ride a bicycle!

Two Things

Image courtesy of Switchgrade

Throughout the years, I have enjoyed checking up on what Mike Curiak is doing. Mike was notably a major force in the ultra-distance MTB, ultra-distance snow racing of old. Once upon a time, Mike dominated those scenes, won his share of events, and along the way he "thinkered" up many new ways of doing things. Crazy things like putting camp stove fuel in frame tubing.  In my mind, Mike is as important, probably more important, a figure to MTB, fat biking, bikepacking, and gravel events as Jay Petervary is/ ever was. (Don't tell Mike though. The whole JP thing is kind of a sore subject with him) 

Don't ask about the friction part of what I referenced above, I just wanted to point out that Mike Curiak might just be one of the most underrated, unheralded figures in all of those scenes, and I won't even mention 29"ers, which Mike helped with from the get-go as far as promoting and championing that wheel size. 

You may not have heard of Mike. Maybe it is because Mike has quietly been running a business (Lacemine29.com) since 2004 and riding his bikes in his own way at his own pace and timing now for the better part of a decade, maybe more. Mike eschews the spotlight, and that's his prerogative. I respect that, but I'm telling you, he has done a LOT for off-road and off-pavement cycling. He's worth keeping an eye on. Fortunately you can still do that because he writes an occasional blog post from time to time. (Link in right sidebar)

Most of the time what he chooses to write about is stuff regarding his riding, his white-water rafting, or a wheel set he's trying to sell. But once in awhile Mike will come up with something I've never heard about that makes me stop and ponder things. Such was the case with his latest post (HERE) You can learn more about the Switchgrade HERE. 

It is good to see that people still think outside of the box today. Mike always has. Good thing too, because Mike was a MAJOR influence on Trans Iowa, and therefore, what came afterward. If you like gravel riding, bikepacking, fat bikes, or 29 inch wheels, a tip of the hat to Mr. Curiak would not be out of line. Although, I dare say, he likely would just rather be left to scaling some way-out-there single track and gazing at mountain flora and fauna. Notoriety seems to be way down on his list of "important things". That's cool..... 

From social media

What's Going On With Alt Wheel Sizes?

Back in 2018 I learned of a new alternative wheel size that WTB was working on dubbed "750D". If you don't remember anything about that, I wrote a post about this wheel size HERE about a year ago now. It seems that it was later last year when other folks started getting wheels and tires from WTB to "play with". I know Meriweather Cycles was one such builder. I know a friend that supposedly was sent a set. But then things went dark on that wheel size, again, so I am not sure what the latest word is on that front.

That said, 750D isn't the only new wheel size being explored. The company, Dirty Sixer, who, as you can probably tell, is the purveyor of 36" wheeled bicycles, is toying around with 32"ers. 

I saw on Facebook a mention that Dirty Sixer had a 32" wheeled gravel bike all set to show at Eurobike recently but the bike got hung up in customs and never made the show. That said, the bike exists, and it will probably get shown at some point soon. So, keep your eyes peeled for that.

Of course, none of these bigger wheels is going to be "the next 29"er". You might think I'm just being a Negative Nancy with a statement like that, but if you consider what was done in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries with regard to engineering and exploring optimal equipment for human powered cycling, you might understand that a statement like that makes more sense than you may think initially. 

700c wheels did not just appear out of thin air, nor were they adopted out of convenience. There was a LOT of math and engineering that went into calculating what wheel size was going to be best for adults. This shouldn't be forgotten. Of course, taller folks could benefit from larger diameter wheels, and there are always those people who have to try things out of curiosity, (raises hand), but wheel diameter and weight matter, and we humans have only so much horsepower and most of us are not well over six feet tall. The equation is still in favor of 700c wheels, and I don't see that changing much in the future.