Friday News And Views

Look for another Project 1X1 update coming soon...

Project 1X1 Update:

Well, the wheels went well. I will get you all caught up to speed on how the final bits went and then I will move on to the rest of the bike. I had to get a new stem, handle bar, and I haven't decided 100% on what I will need to do about the brakes yet.

This is kind of a weird bike, for me at any rate. 26 inch wheels, and as it goes with most bike companies, I am an in between size for this bike. This is an 18"er, which is smallish for me, but a 20"er is too long. Oh well..... I am used to it and will make do for now.

So, at this point the bike is rideable. I have several "fine tuning" adjustments I have to make though. The brakes, mentioned above, being one of those things. The other major change will be when I can get my mitts on a set of Surly's new Extraterrestrial tires. Those meats are tubeless rated and should fit the Cliffhangar rims fine. All of that tubelessness will be awesome, and I expect to be able to do a lot with this set up over the course of the Winter.

The "place holder" tires are kind of interesting. They are some Serfas tires I got over a year ago when I was still writing for Twenty Nine Inches. Wait........twenty six inch tires were sent to Twenty Nine Inches for review? Yep! By mistake, and they didn't want them back when I offered to send them back, so they hung around here until I had a reason to use them. That reason is the Project 1X1. So, now you know and that in "full disclosure mode" and all.... Anyway, one of the tires is dubbed the "Boil" model. Yes......boil. Who comes up with these names anyway? Weird.

Is a Luxy Bar redux just around the corner?

Alt Drop Bar News:

As many of you long time readers here know, I am a fan of the old Ragley Luxy Bar, which is a highly swept, flared drop bar. Since it hasn't been in production now for a few years, many folks hunt these down on E-bay and are paying more than what they were originally offered for in hard earned cash. I have casually kept my finger on the pulse of a rumored re-introduction of this design for years now.

The latest that I have heard is that "pact bikes", the new project started by the designer of the Luxy Bar, Brant Richards, was green lighted to do a knock off of the Luxy Bar. Then things were very quiet for quite a while. That is until yesterday.

That was when I noticed a bit of Twitter back and forth between Brant and some other UK based blokes who were mentioning the Luxy Bar and a company named "Alpkit" in the same breath. What?!! So I investigated, and it seems that this company is going to do a line of bicycles and components, one of which is a flared drop bar that, (supposedly), is the Ragley Luxy Bar reborn, or close to it. Now, I've not seen this mystery, unicorn bar yet, but when I do, I'll post up about it here. Stay tuned......

By the way, this is a "pactbike" Battlecat 650B+ rig. It's titanium. I think it is quite lovely. Brant designed one in Alu for Alpkit too. Check it out.

Velo Orange Dajia Far Bar

Velo Orange has just released the "Dajia Far Bar" for sale on its site at $54.00. This, or one nearly like it, appeared as a bar on some Koga-Miyata trekking bikes, as I understand it, in Europe a while back. However that may be, here is another choice for a flared drop bar.

It kind of reminds me of what might be called the love child of a WTB Dirt Drop v2 and a Woodchipper. My initial comments were that it looks as though you have one place to put your levers and one place to put your hands in the drops. That seems a bit limiting when you compare this to other swept/flared drop bars that are out there for sale these days.

These are available in silver or black ano, so that is cool. At least you aren't stuck with boring ol' black ano. Velo Orange also offers them in two widths, 44mm and 48mm. They are bar end compatible as well. The bars are definitely different, but I struggle to see any benefits over what we have now with Midge, Cowchipper, and hopefully that new "Mud Love" components bar from Alpkit.

Okay, that's a wrap from G-Ted Productions for today. Have a great weekend and go ride a bicycle!

Friday News And Views

Look for another Project 1X1 update coming soon...

Project 1X1 Update:

Well, the wheels went well. I will get you all caught up to speed on how the final bits went and then I will move on to the rest of the bike. I had to get a new stem, handle bar, and I haven't decided 100% on what I will need to do about the brakes yet.

This is kind of a weird bike, for me at any rate. 26 inch wheels, and as it goes with most bike companies, I am an in between size for this bike. This is an 18"er, which is smallish for me, but a 20"er is too long. Oh well..... I am used to it and will make do for now.

So, at this point the bike is rideable. I have several "fine tuning" adjustments I have to make though. The brakes, mentioned above, being one of those things. The other major change will be when I can get my mitts on a set of Surly's new Extraterrestrial tires. Those meats are tubeless rated and should fit the Cliffhangar rims fine. All of that tubelessness will be awesome, and I expect to be able to do a lot with this set up over the course of the Winter.

The "place holder" tires are kind of interesting. They are some Serfas tires I got over a year ago when I was still writing for Twenty Nine Inches. Wait........twenty six inch tires were sent to Twenty Nine Inches for review? Yep! By mistake, and they didn't want them back when I offered to send them back, so they hung around here until I had a reason to use them. That reason is the Project 1X1. So, now you know and that in "full disclosure mode" and all.... Anyway, one of the tires is dubbed the "Boil" model. Yes......boil. Who comes up with these names anyway? Weird.

Is a Luxy Bar redux just around the corner?

Alt Drop Bar News:

As many of you long time readers here know, I am a fan of the old Ragley Luxy Bar, which is a highly swept, flared drop bar. Since it hasn't been in production now for a few years, many folks hunt these down on E-bay and are paying more than what they were originally offered for in hard earned cash. I have casually kept my finger on the pulse of a rumored re-introduction of this design for years now.

The latest that I have heard is that "pact bikes", the new project started by the designer of the Luxy Bar, Brant Richards, was green lighted to do a knock off of the Luxy Bar. Then things were very quiet for quite a while. That is until yesterday.

That was when I noticed a bit of Twitter back and forth between Brant and some other UK based blokes who were mentioning the Luxy Bar and a company named "Alpkit" in the same breath. What?!! So I investigated, and it seems that this company is going to do a line of bicycles and components, one of which is a flared drop bar that, (supposedly), is the Ragley Luxy Bar reborn, or close to it. Now, I've not seen this mystery, unicorn bar yet, but when I do, I'll post up about it here. Stay tuned......

By the way, this is a "pactbike" Battlecat 650B+ rig. It's titanium. I think it is quite lovely. Brant designed one in Alu for Alpkit too. Check it out.

Velo Orange Dajia Far Bar

Velo Orange has just released the "Dajia Far Bar" for sale on its site at $54.00. This, or one nearly like it, appeared as a bar on some Koga-Miyata trekking bikes, as I understand it, in Europe a while back. However that may be, here is another choice for a flared drop bar.

It kind of reminds me of what might be called the love child of a WTB Dirt Drop v2 and a Woodchipper. My initial comments were that it looks as though you have one place to put your levers and one place to put your hands in the drops. That seems a bit limiting when you compare this to other swept/flared drop bars that are out there for sale these days.

These are available in silver or black ano, so that is cool. At least you aren't stuck with boring ol' black ano. Velo Orange also offers them in two widths, 44mm and 48mm. They are bar end compatible as well. The bars are definitely different, but I struggle to see any benefits over what we have now with Midge, Cowchipper, and hopefully that new "Mud Love" components bar from Alpkit.

Okay, that's a wrap from G-Ted Productions for today. Have a great weekend and go ride a bicycle!

The Tale Of The Luxy Bar: Revival?

Two rare Luxy Bars from 2011.

Here we go again! more on the old Luxy Bar. To catch up on the story so far, you'd better click in here.

Since that last post more Luxy Bar Lust has occurred, and Brant Richards left On One to start up a company dubbed "Pact Bikes". So....

Tuesday I see a Tweet that the Luxy Bar is coming back and it will need a new name. Anyone going to their Facebook page can suggest a name and if chosen, they will get a new handle bar.

So, I cannot say exactly when this will happen, but Brant Richards has reached out to me and said it is all true. The bar is coming back, in original form, with a new name re-branded under Pact Bikes marque. There will be a U.S. point of distribution for retail sales.

Hang on.......I've been promised the latest information when it becomes available.

The Tale Of The Luxy Bar: Revival?

Two rare Luxy Bars from 2011.

Here we go again! more on the old Luxy Bar. To catch up on the story so far, you'd better click in here.

Since that last post more Luxy Bar Lust has occurred, and Brant Richards left On One to start up a company dubbed "Pact Bikes". So....

Tuesday I see a Tweet that the Luxy Bar is coming back and it will need a new name. Anyone going to their Facebook page can suggest a name and if chosen, they will get a new handle bar.

So, I cannot say exactly when this will happen, but Brant Richards has reached out to me and said it is all true. The bar is coming back, in original form, with a new name re-branded under Pact Bikes marque. There will be a U.S. point of distribution for retail sales.

Hang on.......I've been promised the latest information when it becomes available.

Friday News And Views

Welcome to the first Friday News And Views of 2015! If you are new here, you can expect to see this every Friday unless otherwise preempted or noted.

pact bikes "BATTLE CAT' hard tail, long travel project looks pretty cool.

 Okay, so it isn't He-Man:

Here's a trend I think you'll be seeing a lot more of in 2015 and beyond. This is a frame project from the mind of Brant Richards' and part of his newest venture, "pact bikes".  (The home page is "ace" as they might say in Hebden Bridge) Anyway, the thing is basically a titanium, slack head angled, long travel, all-mountain/trail bike that will take on the new "Mid-Fat" wheels based on 27.5"ers and also will handle 29"er wheels with what I would assume would be better mud clearances.

The hard tail, big wheeled rig should prove to be a simple, fun, and very versatile bike that could cover a lot of territory for many folks. "pact bikes" example here will likely make it to the States at some point. I've seen hints that a certain importer is going to stock the frames, at the least. But you'll see this idea creep into other company's lines. I've heard that Trek's new Stache will be a "Mid-Fat" hard tail, and if Trek is doing that, you can bet that others will be jumping on the band wagon as well. It makes a lot of sense when you consider that 29+ just doesn't work for shorter folks and that if you didn't like "Mid-Fat" you could lace up 29"er wheels for these rigs.

Oh......yes- these will have wider hubs on the rear, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a wider standard for front wheels too, now that we have 150mm front hubs for fat bikes.

Tires are the next thing, but I do know Panaracer is bringing a Fat B Nimble in a 27.5'er variant and you can bet that Bontrager will be represented on the new Stache, bringing another model or two to the table. (Chupacabra in a fat, 27.5" size?) Sea Otter should be very interesting to watch this year.

GT In The News:

This week marked a couple of things about myself in the media. I mentioned in my "A Look  Forward" post a while back that I was leaving Twenty Nine Inches.com and moving on with RidingGravel.com. The guys at TNI.com wanted to have me write a "goodbye" post, but that felt a little too pompous to me, and I let them know that they could just do what they wanted, if they wanted, for a goodbye post. Well, they did one. They were very kind and gracious, and I wanted to say a public "Thank You" to Grannygear and c_g for that nice send off.

Then I got a phone call on Wednesday from Matt Weibe from "Bicycle Retailer & Industry News". He wanted to talk about my leaving TNI and where, if anywhere, I would be going afterward. Well, they put up a brief story about that after interviewing me which you can see here. I am a bit mixed in my feelings about all the attention. On the one hand, I have expended a huge amount of time and effort into all of this, so to get a little pat on the back and some recognition for those efforts is nice. On the other hand, I am never one to want to let any of that get to my head. Hopefully, that never happens!

If you order before midnight tonight.....

Pirate Cycling League Kit:

Down in Nebraska the gravel cycling scene has been going on for a long, long time. I have visited on several occasions and participated in the "Good Life Gravel Adventure" and "Gravel Worlds" These fine events and more are all done under the auspices of a loosely knit group of folks that have dubbed themselves the "Pirate Cycling League".

As a community of riders, the PCL is a pretty cool bunch and they have survived quite awhile now. A few years back the PCL started selling their own "kit" and then invited anyone of like mind to join in the "crew", as it were. I like these guys, and they have sort of adopted me as one of their own, so I am doing them a solid here by helping to promote their kit order for the coming season. Order the black kit by clicking HERE.  It's quality schtuff, made by Voler, and you can get a selection of jersey styles, shorts/bibs, and accessories like arm warmers and caps.

The PCL doesn't make anything off this, and they aren't in it for the dough either, but they would like to have their folks get the kit and they need a few more to be sold to make minimums. So, check it out. I've supported them for the past two years or so in this and the jerseys are really cool and very well made. Now I have to get my arse down that way to join them in some riding again!

Okay, that's a cold, frigid wrap. Get outside and ride, ski, hike......whatever!

Friday News And Views

Welcome to the first Friday News And Views of 2015! If you are new here, you can expect to see this every Friday unless otherwise preempted or noted.

pact bikes "BATTLE CAT' hard tail, long travel project looks pretty cool.

 Okay, so it isn't He-Man:

Here's a trend I think you'll be seeing a lot more of in 2015 and beyond. This is a frame project from the mind of Brant Richards' and part of his newest venture, "pact bikes".  (The home page is "ace" as they might say in Hebden Bridge) Anyway, the thing is basically a titanium, slack head angled, long travel, all-mountain/trail bike that will take on the new "Mid-Fat" wheels based on 27.5"ers and also will handle 29"er wheels with what I would assume would be better mud clearances.

The hard tail, big wheeled rig should prove to be a simple, fun, and very versatile bike that could cover a lot of territory for many folks. "pact bikes" example here will likely make it to the States at some point. I've seen hints that a certain importer is going to stock the frames, at the least. But you'll see this idea creep into other company's lines. I've heard that Trek's new Stache will be a "Mid-Fat" hard tail, and if Trek is doing that, you can bet that others will be jumping on the band wagon as well. It makes a lot of sense when you consider that 29+ just doesn't work for shorter folks and that if you didn't like "Mid-Fat" you could lace up 29"er wheels for these rigs.

Oh......yes- these will have wider hubs on the rear, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a wider standard for front wheels too, now that we have 150mm front hubs for fat bikes.

Tires are the next thing, but I do know Panaracer is bringing a Fat B Nimble in a 27.5'er variant and you can bet that Bontrager will be represented on the new Stache, bringing another model or two to the table. (Chupacabra in a fat, 27.5" size?) Sea Otter should be very interesting to watch this year.

GT In The News:

This week marked a couple of things about myself in the media. I mentioned in my "A Look  Forward" post a while back that I was leaving Twenty Nine Inches.com and moving on with RidingGravel.com. The guys at TNI.com wanted to have me write a "goodbye" post, but that felt a little too pompous to me, and I let them know that they could just do what they wanted, if they wanted, for a goodbye post. Well, they did one. They were very kind and gracious, and I wanted to say a public "Thank You" to Grannygear and c_g for that nice send off.

Then I got a phone call on Wednesday from Matt Weibe from "Bicycle Retailer & Industry News". He wanted to talk about my leaving TNI and where, if anywhere, I would be going afterward. Well, they put up a brief story about that after interviewing me which you can see here. I am a bit mixed in my feelings about all the attention. On the one hand, I have expended a huge amount of time and effort into all of this, so to get a little pat on the back and some recognition for those efforts is nice. On the other hand, I am never one to want to let any of that get to my head. Hopefully, that never happens!

If you order before midnight tonight.....

Pirate Cycling League Kit:

Down in Nebraska the gravel cycling scene has been going on for a long, long time. I have visited on several occasions and participated in the "Good Life Gravel Adventure" and "Gravel Worlds" These fine events and more are all done under the auspices of a loosely knit group of folks that have dubbed themselves the "Pirate Cycling League".

As a community of riders, the PCL is a pretty cool bunch and they have survived quite awhile now. A few years back the PCL started selling their own "kit" and then invited anyone of like mind to join in the "crew", as it were. I like these guys, and they have sort of adopted me as one of their own, so I am doing them a solid here by helping to promote their kit order for the coming season. Order the black kit by clicking HERE.  It's quality schtuff, made by Voler, and you can get a selection of jersey styles, shorts/bibs, and accessories like arm warmers and caps.

The PCL doesn't make anything off this, and they aren't in it for the dough either, but they would like to have their folks get the kit and they need a few more to be sold to make minimums. So, check it out. I've supported them for the past two years or so in this and the jerseys are really cool and very well made. Now I have to get my arse down that way to join them in some riding again!

Okay, that's a cold, frigid wrap. Get outside and ride, ski, hike......whatever!