A Follow-Up On The Make-A-Wish Post

 Earlier in the week I posted a list of wishes for the 2026 cycling season and I invited you, the readers, to chime in with any suggestions for wishes. I did get a few great ideas, and so I wanted to share those here in this follow-up post. 

I'll post these in no particular order, but I will say I think these ideas for wishes from my readers are brilliant. So, settle in for some thought provoking suggestions from the audience! 

Plastic Packaging: In an industry which prides itself on health benefits and being "green", you'd think we'd have eliminated waste in packaging. Especially plastic waste. But while things have gotten better in some areas, we've still a long, long way to go. 

Cardboard is being leveraged to be more versatile in packaging, and this has been a great development. However, when you receive a part from an online cycling retailer and it has several folds of those air-pocket packing materials in plastic, you have to just shake your head in despair.

Probably the worst offender here is new bicycle packaging. I know some companies are making an effort to reduce plastic packing materials, but a new bike generates a boatload of waste in the form of plastic zip ties, plastic sheet and coatings on components, and wheel/drop out protection. Not to mention the sheer amount of zip-loc type baggies you can accrue while building a bicycle.  

I agree with this idea. The bicycle and aftermarket retail segments need to do better here.  

Shimano Parallax hub set. (Image poached from the internet)

Serviceable, High-Quality Hubs: In terms of new bicycles for recreational and enthusiasts, many times companies use inferior, cheaper hubs, (and many other components not usually noticed by consumers). This causes issues when these hubs let in moisture and dirt. Many times these hubs are over-adjusted from the factory. They typically slip by in the build process at bike shops and big box retailers because adjusting bearings takes time. Accountants don't like it when labor costs are high. Then again, try finding an assembler who even has the slightest idea how to adjust cup and cone bearings. Between those two things, these cheap, cup and cone hubs can become quite a liability to the owner of any bicycle equipped with them. 

On top of this, parts to service these hubs are usually not available. Due to how many bicycles do not get ridden much, harvesting these hard to get bits at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective usually nets me a score when I am overhauling a Far East manufactured hub. Thanks to our generous donations we get, I can keep these hubs rolling. But this isn't the case everywhere. 

So, why not just make nice, decent quality Shimano Parallax hubs forever? The tooling can remain the same. Make some decent amount of replacement parts for service shops, and boom! Use these on every entry level to mid-tier bike with QR type drop outs. And then make through axle variants. 

Silver Components: While some efforts have been made to release limited edition ($$$!) silver and polished components recently, there are no really great options for riders looking for silver finished components. 

Obviously, how the stuff works is most important, and looks come second, or third, or.... But the point is, all this black, industrial design non-sense is not beautiful. And bicycles used to be an art-form. Now days, with the focus on aero, carbon fiber, and performance above all else, we have descended into making bicycles with a techno-edginess which, to be honest, is a bit dehumanizing and uninspiring.  

I'm not asking for a ban on black anodized components, or black fishes on components, but look at an original 1992 XTR group,, or any older road groups in a brand's top range, and tell me it is ugly. You cannot. It is beautiful stuff. A SRAM RED AXS crank looks like something spat out of a digital machine, rendering it with no line or surface worth caressing with the eye. You simply just ride the thing into oblivion and spend exorbitant amounts of cash to buy a new chain ring set when it wears out. Soul-sucking, it is. 

 On Shimano CUES: Someone also brought up Shimano CUES in the comments in the post from earlier in the week. While it was an interesting concept, Shimano kept this group-set idea from being great by manufacturing most of its bits for the group at an Acera/Alivio type level. 

This was not what I was hoping for when it was introduced. I was hoping it would be a forged alloy component line with compatibility with all legacy shifters and derailleurs. But Shimano went with a more entry-level approach and then saddled consumers with having no options outside of its ecosystem due to Shimano's choice to make the cable pull ratio specific to CUES.  

So, CUES, while interesting, is "not quite it" when it comes to a group which could have had a major influence in the used bicycle market, OE entry to mid level bikes, and with enthusiasts who want to tinker with bicycles. Instead Shimano made it a closed system and the air was sucked out of the room because of this.  

So, I wish Shimano would reconsider their philosophy in regard to CUES and redesign it with more upscale, all-aluminum bits with an eye to versatility and compatibility with older Shimano parts.  

As always, thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions. If you'd like to comment on any of this, please leave a comment in the comment section.  

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of the UCI. From the 2024 Gravel World Championships

Gravel Season Ending On The Professional Level:

This weekend and next weekend mark the end of the Pro gravel season for the riders of Life Time Grand Prix and for the UCI Gravel World Series. 

Up this weekend we have the UCI event, held in the Netherlands. We will see the women and all age group riders set off on Saturday while the Men's Elite category will tackle 111 miles in 3,5 laps of a loop course. The women and age group riders will do less miles with only 2.5 laps. 

Meanwhile, next  weekend  in Bentonville, Arkansas, the Big Sugar Classic will end the Life Time Grand Prix series with a 100 mile course in the Ozarks. Of course, the Grand Prix isn't all gravel events, but it is seen as one of the bigger gravel series from a Pro perspective regardless, mostly due to the wealth of the prize purse for participation and getting good results.  

Trans Iowa v14 Image by Celeste Mathias

Pro Events Are "Watered Down Gravel":

As I peruse what the UCI, Life Time, and even events like the much vaunted Traka 560 have for courses, I am left wanting. Why? Because most of these events have less than 3/4's of the distances as "gravel" and several are barely over 50% "gravel". And I use the term "gravel" in quotes because what many of these events have to use for courses just do not measure up to the same level as what is on offer in the USA.  

This is why you'll notice several European riders who come to Unbound say it is an amazing, tough course, because it is mostly gravel. I know, for many of you dear readers this seems silly to even think about, but a gravel event, in my opinion, should be at least 80% gravel, or more, to be considered a "true gravel event". 

Maybe you think this is a harsh judgement? Well, what if we had a UCI XC MTB course which was 45% paved? Does this even make sense? Or how about a UCI DH MTB course which was 50% flat? You'd hear about this, and people would say it was a farce. 

Well, I'm pretty much saying the same about these "big time" gravel events which feature LOTS of pavement. You might counter with something like, "Well, they have to put a lot of pavement in to connect the gravel sectors.". Well, that is true. Maybe those places are not all that great for actual gravel events which would challenge Pro riders on courses which were 80% gravel or more. 

Good, Pro-level events deserve the best courses. Not a compromised version of gravel racing. There are places this could be done. You know.....like they do at Gravel Worlds in Nebraska? (And elsewhere) 

Image courtesy of Shimano

 Shimano Offers Limited Edition CUES 10/11 Speed Components:

Shimano released news earlier this week concerning a new hue for CUES components. Silver polish will now be offered for a limited time in their 11 speed and 10 speed  range for CUES. 

Previously Shimano had done a limited run of silver anodized GRX components. The CUES signals a less expensive way to get in on some silver components. 

The limited silver edition CUES includes a crank, levers, the rear derailleur, hydraulic flat mount calipers, a front derailleur, and a cassette. (Standard  CUES cassettes are black)

Comments: Is Shimano now going to start offering silver anodized/polished parts more often? This bears watching from a fashion standpoint. I can see older, aging cyclists digging it as it would remind them of bicycles of days gone by. 

But younger folks will drive the market, and from what I have been seeing, younger folks are not showing as much interest in cycling as they once had when silver was common for components. Maybe if Shimano made electric scooter parts in silver..... 

Image courtesy of Ari Bikes

Ari Bikes Shows Off Shafer V3 Gravel Bike:

Ari Bikes (Formerly Fezzari Bikes), the direct-to-consumer brand, has just released their version 3 of the Shafer gravel bike. Boasting revised geometry, room for 29" x 2.2" tires, and in-frame storage, the new Shafer is on-point with regard to today's gravel bike trends. 

The Shafer can be configured in several ways to suit most budgets. There are plenty of accessory mounts and Ari has also boosted the stack height on the Shafer per customer requests. 

The head tube angle is a slack - for garvel bikes - 69° and the bottom bracket drop is a healthy 78mm, which means the Shafer is not a good choice for skinny tires or 650B wheel sets.  Interestingly, the chain stays are size-specific on the Shafer, which you do not see normally, especially in carbon fiber. 

Starting with prices for complete bikes at $2,549.00 and topping out with the Shafer Pro at $8,499.00, there are several ways to get into this bike. You can also purchase a frame set for $ 1,999.00. 

Comments: This trend for fatter tires and slacker angles up front now is getting to the point where we are entering Fargo/Cutthroat territory. In fact, the new Shafer is very much like a Cutthroat. The main difference is the Cutthroat's 8mm higher bottom bracket, lack of in-frame storage, and larger, 2.4" tire clearance. 

And Just Because It Is Beautiful.....

Singular Kite Ti which will be at the Bespoked Dresden Show this weekend. (Image courtesy of Singular(

  Gotta give a shout-out to Sam Alison Singular Cycles for this special Kite Ti which will be at the Brooks booth for the Bespoked Dresden bicycle show this weekend. 

That is a wrap for this week! Thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions! Get out and do some Fall bicycle rides! 

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of ROTOR

ROTOR Unveils UNO Electronic Shifting Group Set:

ROTOR, the Spanish company best known for oval chain rings and crank sets, had Wheeltop, a Chinese component manufacturer, buy a majority stake in the company last year. Long rumored to be having an electronic group set in the making with Rotor branding, this now has become a reality with UNO. 

The "Gravel Upgrade Kit" version of UNO consists of the levers, hydraulic brake calipers, and the rear derailleur. Compatible with 1X only and with a 46T rear cassette limitation, the group set will cost $948.42 USD (Odd pricing, but likely a conversion from a foreign currency figure) 

The group set's rear derailleur is carbon with 7005 series aluminum bits. ROTOR claim the rear mech will shift up to 15,000 times on one battery charge. Interestingly, this group set is compatible with 10, 11, 12, and 13 speed cassettes as long as the rear cassette does not exceed a 46T low gear.

Comments: Well, another electronic, wireless choice which is breaking the 1K price point. Wheeltop's collaboration here is notable as previous efforts by ROTOR to make a group set were hydraulically controlled. This would appear to be more Wheeltop than not. Wheeltop users on the internet have reported mixed results with their group sets, and how ROTOR's UNO will fare is not known at this time. 

We will have to wait for the results to come in via real world usage, but for now, this marks a further march toward a wireless bicycle era which will feature no cables on bicycles. 

Image courtesy of Velo Orange

Velo Orange Announces Raffle For Charity:

Here's a fun bit of news. Velo Orange is holding a raffle for a Neutrino rolling chassis which has been custom Cerakoted by Weichel Coatings and has components from ATW Builds . Each $5.00 chance gets you in line for possibly winning this size Large Neutrino partial build. 

All proceeds go to helping out the mission of Happy Helpers of the Homeless, a charity who bring meals and support to homeless and poverty stricken men and women every weekend in the Halethorpe, Maryland area. 

The raffle runs through now to October 15th. A winner will be chosen at random the week of October 20th. See all details and rules for this raffle HERE. 

IMage courtesy of IRD Components

Airdrop Seat Post Provides Dropper Feature In Silver Ano:

IRD Components, who do a variety of niche items, have a new Airdrop dropper post which has a few unique features. You'll notice right away it is offered in a silver anodized finish rather than the common black anodization. 

The Airdrop also has no cable running to it or a lever to deal with on your handle bar. Rather, it uses a simple lever located off the seat post head to raise and lower the post through its 100mm of drop. 

The Airdrop comes in the common 27.2mm size only and has an overall length of 400mm. The maximum insertion is listed at 190mm and minimum insertion for the post is listed at 90mm.  

The Airdrop is available on IRD's site and runs $129.00 USD. 

Comments: This is kind of cool for anyone with a silver anodized build who may want to explore a dropper post on a gravel bike. Why would you want to do this? Well, for one, a dropper post can be used as a way to easily mount and dismount a bike by lowering the saddle when stopped. This is of particular benefit if you have a very heavily laden touring bike set up, or if you are bikepacking. 

Secondly, lowering the post on any longer downhill will help you get lower on the bike, and more aero. You'll bomb hills far faster with a dropper post lowered than not. It can be rather eye-opening, actually. Of course, there is the benefit while descending steep, rough terrain as well. 

US Customs Cites Giant For Forced Labor Practices, Holds Imports:

On Wednesday, "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" broke a story in which Giant Bicycles is being investigated for forced labor practices at its Taiwan factories. As a result, all Giant product and other branded product made there is being held at port until the matter is solved.  Giant is reportedly filing a petition to revoke the Withhold Release Order.,

You can read the story HERE.

Comments: This is an interesting development as it is widely known Giant also makes bicycles for several other well known brands. If, in fact, the Withhold Release Order is upheld, this could further disrupt the chain of supply and cause detriment to an already depressed economy for the cycling industry. 

This could also be seen as a bad public relations event, if this ends up becoming a larger issue. 

UPDATE: 9/26/25:  (From Bicycle Retailer and Industry News X Account) UPDATE: Giant clarified to BRAIN this morning that CBP is currently not holding any shipments from the company. The CBP's Withhold Release Order announced Wednesday applies to any products arriving after the order.

Image courtesy of Trek Bikes

That Full Suspension Gravel Bike From Trek Finally Is Official:

On Thursday Trek Bikes finally unleashed the Checkout SL- a 9K carbon fiber full-suspension gravel/bike packing bike. Replete with 55mm wide tires out of the box and the new Rudy XL (released yesterday) on the front. This bike has 60mm of travel up front, and according to a Instagram post I saw, 55mm in the back. 

Rumors and images of this bicycle were floating around the web since around the Unbound event back in early June, so those who caught the pictures then probably are not surprised here. 

And look at the flares and swept tops on this drop bar. Pretty radical for a 2025 release. I happen to like this sort of thing, but it does go in the opposite direction from the racing type handlebars on most newer gravel bikes. 

Comments: Hmm.... Much can be said about a bicycle like this. I will say it looks a little ungainly and the "Miami Vice| color palette is not my cup of tea. (The Checkout SL 5 is a more subdued black, by the way) The images of this bike kitted out for bikepacking look great, but the bare bike is sort of jarring to the eye with the tipped forward rack and MTB-looking fork. 

I could see an aluminum, more budget friendly version of this bike at some point if they sell these things. $8,999.00 for the Checkout SL 7 is no joke though, so you have to wonder if many of these will be sold. Mostly because (a) it is an oddball bike, not really XC MTB and not really gravel, and (b) it is a carbon frame bike. Most bikepackers are looking for Titanium or steel in this space. It is an interesting bicycle, nonetheless. 
 

That's a wrap on this week's news and views. Thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions. Get out and ride those bicycles!
 

The Gravel Bus Gets "Limited Editioned"

The Shimano GRX Limited rear derailleur. Image courtesy of Shimano

 Many of you readers already know that I received a GRX Limited Edition group* set from Shimano recently as a gift to celebrate my getting into the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame back in June. I had given thought as to what to do with this group for many days and I only decided just last week what to do with it all. 

So, this past weekend was a roller coaster of weather with Saturday being all hot, humid, and inhospitable while Sunday was stormy, rainy, humid, and inhospitable. That meant that it was perfect weather for a group set installation. Now, I was not sure I would even have all the stuff I would need to get the job done. In fact, I was almost certain that I did not have everything necessary, but......well, you'll see. 

The single speed version of the Gravel Bus

 Obviously, the first order of business was to tear down the bike from its single speed status and rebuild it from that point. Originally, the Gravel Bus was to have been a geared bike, but in June of 2020, you weren't getting any GRX stuff. I was very fortunate to have found flat mount brakes back then to make it a single speed bike I could ride. So, that is why it came with the full cable stop set up. Because I was going to have a geared bike. But when plans changed, it was just one of those things I figured I would just live with. And I was glad that I did in the end.

So, with that out of the way- I knew I needed a new bottom bracket to fit the Press Fit shell on the frame. Now, it was something of a surprise to me, and even more so as to why I had this at all, but I actually had a Wheels Manufacturing PF-30 bottom bracket for a Shimano crank! So.....yeah. Weird! It had an Andy's Bike Shop tag on the box, so I must have picked one up to replace the one in my Noble Bikes GX5 at some point, but why I had it, I don't know, because the one in that bike is fine. Looking to the future maybe? Did I trade Andy for it? I may have, since I believe Andy was going to do a GRX crank in his Standard Rando and couldn't get it. I don't remember..... Point is, I had it. WooHoo! 

Then it was a question of would I have full-run housing for it? I knew that I had housing, but a full rear derailleur run's worth? And you know what? I had it! Crazy! Then it was finding the brake hardware for the rear brake attachment. The new calipers came in paper wrapping, not in their proper Shimano boxes, so I had calipers set up with pads and that was it. Add in the fact that the rear rotor was a 140mm diameter one and finding bolts in that small size that flat mounts use was going to be tough. Also- Why didn't they just use the same size bolts that brakes have used since, like- forever?!! Dang Shimano! 

But I found a pair! That was amazing to me. I mean, every time I thought I was going to run into a road block to getting the bike finished, I found a work-a-round or the actual part. It was as if this was meant to be. And, well- maybe it was. 

That got me a bit excited because I realized that maybe I could get the bike done and rideable by the end of the weekend. I did run into one slight bump in the road, so to speak, and that wasn't with the group, actually. No, it was with tools. Any bicycle mechanic can tell you that specific tools sometimes put an end to a repair session. But this wasn't even that. No- it was a basic tool set that I did not have that I should. 1/4" drive hex drivers. That's no big deal, right? 

So while Mrs. Guitar Ted and I were out to buy groceries, I suggested a stop at one of our big-box chain store supply outlets in town. Nope! No go. I was a bit surprised, to be honest. So, once I got back home, I looked for these on the internet and found that another big-box supply outlet did have what I wanted. They even told me what aisle and in which section to find it. Pretty neat! So on Sunday I got that and was able to use my fancy Unior torque wrench to tighten the crank arm bolts to the spindle interface.

The brakes on newer Shimano road levers are the No-Bleed type which allows you to cut the hoses, insert them into the lever after removing a yellow plug, and then tightening the compression nut in the lever. Pretty slick deal, but....I didn't get any extra barbs! Fortunately, the stock hoses come with barbs installed, so I had to salvage them by way of utilizing some old whittling skills and free them from the ends I cut off. Then I reinstalled them into my shorter hoses, and then I did the no-bleed attachment. 

Whew! Another hurdle crossed! Then it was on to re-using the old black handle bar tape, which I happened to like well enough and was in good shape yet. I think it is some basic stuff from Quality Bicycle Products from their "MSP" line. It isn't necessarily the easiest to wrap, and wrapping a Shimano hydraulic road lever is challenging as well. So that took a bit of wrangling, but I got it to work. 

Some final tuning, chain installation, and double checking bolts later and this came out of the basement Lab.....

The new, geared version of the Gravel Bus.

Other than the obvious new GRX Limited stuff, I also changed the bottom bracket, added a found front derailleur strap I had on an old Campy front derailleur, and used the WTB CZR wheels I recently reviewed for RidingGravel.com. *

I'm hoping that today I get out to test out this set up. I'm not a huge fan of a bigger front chain ring mated to a smaller inner front chain ring, but I'll give this a whirl and see what I think. I definitely will have a lower range gearing than I typically do! I tried out the granny on my test ride in the neighborhood and wow! Spinning like a hamster wheel! Not used to that, I'll say that much for now. 

Impressions: I was told not to "review" this group, and I won't. This is from an aesthetic point of view. I really, really like the silver. I am not 100% sold on the look here on the mostly black and yellow Gravel Bus. Honestly, I knew I would be a bit cool on this set up, and that is why I was looking for a different frame for a bit. I probably could get one of those Ritchey Classic seat posts, and maybe I could do a set of Velocity polished silver rims and some silver hubs from, well like from White Industries, let's say. But..... Yeah. I'm not complaining. This was a gift, and I am very humbled to receive it and I will put it to good use. Once it is dusty it probably won't matter anymore anyway! 

If the Raleigh Tamland Two would have had brake mounts compatible with the flat mount brakes that would have been a slam-dunk for this GRX Limited. That was my first choice, and while I did find that Wolf Tooth now makes an IS to Flat mount adapter, you have to bump up from the stock settings to the next larger rotor size. In my case, that would have been 180mm frt/160mm rear, and 160mm rotors are not compatible with the Tamland Two frame. So, bummer! 

So, this is the bike the GRX Limited will live on. I hope that I get on with the gearing! More on that soon.....

* Standard Disclaimer

The Gravel Bus Gets "Limited Editioned"

The Shimano GRX Limited rear derailleur. Image courtesy of Shimano

 Many of you readers already know that I received a GRX Limited Edition group* set from Shimano recently as a gift to celebrate my getting into the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame back in June. I had given thought as to what to do with this group for many days and I only decided just last week what to do with it all. 

So, this past weekend was a roller coaster of weather with Saturday being all hot, humid, and inhospitable while Sunday was stormy, rainy, humid, and inhospitable. That meant that it was perfect weather for a group set installation. Now, I was not sure I would even have all the stuff I would need to get the job done. In fact, I was almost certain that I did not have everything necessary, but......well, you'll see. 

The single speed version of the Gravel Bus

 Obviously, the first order of business was to tear down the bike from its single speed status and rebuild it from that point. Originally, the Gravel Bus was to have been a geared bike, but in June of 2020, you weren't getting any GRX stuff. I was very fortunate to have found flat mount brakes back then to make it a single speed bike I could ride. So, that is why it came with the full cable stop set up. Because I was going to have a geared bike. But when plans changed, it was just one of those things I figured I would just live with. And I was glad that I did in the end.

So, with that out of the way- I knew I needed a new bottom bracket to fit the Press Fit shell on the frame. Now, it was something of a surprise to me, and even more so as to why I had this at all, but I actually had a Wheels Manufacturing PF-30 bottom bracket for a Shimano crank! So.....yeah. Weird! It had an Andy's Bike Shop tag on the box, so I must have picked one up to replace the one in my Noble Bikes GX5 at some point, but why I had it, I don't know, because the one in that bike is fine. Looking to the future maybe? Did I trade Andy for it? I may have, since I believe Andy was going to do a GRX crank in his Standard Rando and couldn't get it. I don't remember..... Point is, I had it. WooHoo! 

Then it was a question of would I have full-run housing for it? I knew that I had housing, but a full rear derailleur run's worth? And you know what? I had it! Crazy! Then it was finding the brake hardware for the rear brake attachment. The new calipers came in paper wrapping, not in their proper Shimano boxes, so I had calipers set up with pads and that was it. Add in the fact that the rear rotor was a 140mm diameter one and finding bolts in that small size that flat mounts use was going to be tough. Also- Why didn't they just use the same size bolts that brakes have used since, like- forever?!! Dang Shimano! 

But I found a pair! That was amazing to me. I mean, every time I thought I was going to run into a road block to getting the bike finished, I found a work-a-round or the actual part. It was as if this was meant to be. And, well- maybe it was. 

That got me a bit excited because I realized that maybe I could get the bike done and rideable by the end of the weekend. I did run into one slight bump in the road, so to speak, and that wasn't with the group, actually. No, it was with tools. Any bicycle mechanic can tell you that specific tools sometimes put an end to a repair session. But this wasn't even that. No- it was a basic tool set that I did not have that I should. 1/4" drive hex drivers. That's no big deal, right? 

So while Mrs. Guitar Ted and I were out to buy groceries, I suggested a stop at one of our big-box chain store supply outlets in town. Nope! No go. I was a bit surprised, to be honest. So, once I got back home, I looked for these on the internet and found that another big-box supply outlet did have what I wanted. They even told me what aisle and in which section to find it. Pretty neat! So on Sunday I got that and was able to use my fancy Unior torque wrench to tighten the crank arm bolts to the spindle interface.

The brakes on newer Shimano road levers are the No-Bleed type which allows you to cut the hoses, insert them into the lever after removing a yellow plug, and then tightening the compression nut in the lever. Pretty slick deal, but....I didn't get any extra barbs! Fortunately, the stock hoses come with barbs installed, so I had to salvage them by way of utilizing some old whittling skills and free them from the ends I cut off. Then I reinstalled them into my shorter hoses, and then I did the no-bleed attachment. 

Whew! Another hurdle crossed! Then it was on to re-using the old black handle bar tape, which I happened to like well enough and was in good shape yet. I think it is some basic stuff from Quality Bicycle Products from their "MSP" line. It isn't necessarily the easiest to wrap, and wrapping a Shimano hydraulic road lever is challenging as well. So that took a bit of wrangling, but I got it to work. 

Some final tuning, chain installation, and double checking bolts later and this came out of the basement Lab.....

The new, geared version of the Gravel Bus.

Other than the obvious new GRX Limited stuff, I also changed the bottom bracket, added a found front derailleur strap I had on an old Campy front derailleur, and used the WTB CZR wheels I recently reviewed for RidingGravel.com. *

I'm hoping that today I get out to test out this set up. I'm not a huge fan of a bigger front chain ring mated to a smaller inner front chain ring, but I'll give this a whirl and see what I think. I definitely will have a lower range gearing than I typically do! I tried out the granny on my test ride in the neighborhood and wow! Spinning like a hamster wheel! Not used to that, I'll say that much for now. 

Impressions: I was told not to "review" this group, and I won't. This is from an aesthetic point of view. I really, really like the silver. I am not 100% sold on the look here on the mostly black and yellow Gravel Bus. Honestly, I knew I would be a bit cool on this set up, and that is why I was looking for a different frame for a bit. I probably could get one of those Ritchey Classic seat posts, and maybe I could do a set of Velocity polished silver rims and some silver hubs from, well like from White Industries, let's say. But..... Yeah. I'm not complaining. This was a gift, and I am very humbled to receive it and I will put it to good use. Once it is dusty it probably won't matter anymore anyway! 

If the Raleigh Tamland Two would have had brake mounts compatible with the flat mount brakes that would have been a slam-dunk for this GRX Limited. That was my first choice, and while I did find that Wolf Tooth now makes an IS to Flat mount adapter, you have to bump up from the stock settings to the next larger rotor size. In my case, that would have been 180mm frt/160mm rear, and 160mm rotors are not compatible with the Tamland Two frame. So, bummer! 

So, this is the bike the GRX Limited will live on. I hope that I get on with the gearing! More on that soon.....

* Standard Disclaimer

Is The Un-Dark Component Era Returning?

Zipp now offers Service course level parts in silver ano.

Silver anodized parts used to be "normal". Back when I first got into working at bicycle shops, only mountain bikes used black on components and that was frowned upon as being "uncouth" by many roadies and even by some mountain bikers themselves. Heck, silver and black were often seen as "boring" while, you know "ultraviolet stems, cranks and every other bit.....well THAT was where it was at!

Then the 90's came to a close and silver stuff was relegated to road bikes, while black overtook the look of mountain bikes. By the mid-00's, even road bikes with silver bits were rare. It was black anodization or nothing. At least it seemed that way. There were a few islands in the darkness though.

There were companies like Velo Orange and Rivendell Bicycle Works holding down the old guard silver components parts, amongst some other smaller brands. But for the most part, no- you were getting blackened everything! No silver for you! But then things started to turn. Slowly, but surely, silver started popping up. Ritchey Design brought out a line of "Classic" bits, which I jumped on to outfit my Black Mountain Cycles "Monster Cross" rig. Later Salsa Cycles announced that the Cowbell and Cowchipper were available in silver. And now we see roadie stalwarts Zipp offering silver bits. It makes me wonder, "Are we turning a page and going back to silver anodized componentry?"

The ol' Orange Crush rig with silver anodized Ritchey stem, seatpost, and a rare silver non-series Shimano crankset. 

Of course, wheels have been available in silver for a while, mostly thanks to Velocity USA who do a polished silver look or silver ano on their rims, and they offer silver hubs as well. Some other companies are doing silver hubs, but there are not many rim choices, really. But, it's getting to the point again where a guy or gal can switch for some bright-work instead of the same ol' boring dark matter all over their bicycles.

All this mining of silver ano makes me wonder if we aren't on the cusp of a change. I hope that we are going to see silver make a big comeback. And if we are, can we have that pearly, glowing anodization they used to put on old Campy parts, Sugino cranks, and first generation XTR? Because THAT was silver ano done right!

A guy can wish........

Is The Un-Dark Component Era Returning?

Zipp now offers Service course level parts in silver ano.

Silver anodized parts used to be "normal". Back when I first got into working at bicycle shops, only mountain bikes used black on components and that was frowned upon as being "uncouth" by many roadies and even by some mountain bikers themselves. Heck, silver and black were often seen as "boring" while, you know "ultraviolet stems, cranks and every other bit.....well THAT was where it was at!

Then the 90's came to a close and silver stuff was relegated to road bikes, while black overtook the look of mountain bikes. By the mid-00's, even road bikes with silver bits were rare. It was black anodization or nothing. At least it seemed that way. There were a few islands in the darkness though.

There were companies like Velo Orange and Rivendell Bicycle Works holding down the old guard silver components parts, amongst some other smaller brands. But for the most part, no- you were getting blackened everything! No silver for you! But then things started to turn. Slowly, but surely, silver started popping up. Ritchey Design brought out a line of "Classic" bits, which I jumped on to outfit my Black Mountain Cycles "Monster Cross" rig. Later Salsa Cycles announced that the Cowbell and Cowchipper were available in silver. And now we see roadie stalwarts Zipp offering silver bits. It makes me wonder, "Are we turning a page and going back to silver anodized componentry?"

The ol' Orange Crush rig with silver anodized Ritchey stem, seatpost, and a rare silver non-series Shimano crankset. 

Of course, wheels have been available in silver for a while, mostly thanks to Velocity USA who do a polished silver look or silver ano on their rims, and they offer silver hubs as well. Some other companies are doing silver hubs, but there are not many rim choices, really. But, it's getting to the point again where a guy or gal can switch for some bright-work instead of the same ol' boring dark matter all over their bicycles.

All this mining of silver ano makes me wonder if we aren't on the cusp of a change. I hope that we are going to see silver make a big comeback. And if we are, can we have that pearly, glowing anodization they used to put on old Campy parts, Sugino cranks, and first generation XTR? Because THAT was silver ano done right!

A guy can wish........

Friday News And Views

Flared drop bars are not well understood. (Easton EA 70 AX bar pictured)

Flared Drop Bars - Hype Or No?

The other day I saw a few posts on social media from a few riders deriding the trend in gravel bikes using flared drop bars. The overall feeling was that they were completely foolish, unnecessary, and "who really stays in the drops in the rough stuff anyway?"

I restrained myself from trying to teach on the benefits of the flared drop bar, because really, in light of such ignorant and uninformed criticism, it was obvious I'd have been wasting my time there. But it does point out the fact that the mass adoption of the flared drop bar has been completely without any education, marketing of the benefits, nor with any historical context. If this type of bar had been detailed by brands in such a manner, then riders could make informed comments and choices. Unfortunately, the deafening silence on this type of bar, (and other facets of cycling in general), from brands that sell this stuff leads to the sort of worthless banter on components and bikes all over the internet. (Tires are the worst, for instance)

Standard race bred drop bars are perfectly fine, for what they were meant for, but gravel riding is a different animal, and therein lies the reasons for being when it comes to flared drop bars. Then there is the propensity for many drop bar bike owners to never use the drops in the first place. This also leads to a misinformed opinion on drop bars, because if the drops are something you'd rarely use anyway, well then, yeah.... Flared drops are pointless. But on the flip side, you should be using the drops a LOT, or why bother? Just cut them off, or use "bull horn" bars. It'd be lighter and those pesky drops wouldn't be in the way, using up bar tape when you could be double wrapping those bits by the levers. Or....maybe just use flat bars. 

Uneducated, misinformed opinions and takes on components abound on the internet. Flared drop bars are just one thing in the pile of parts that are not well explained, nor marketed correctly by the brands that spec them on their bicycles. I could write an entire series on this sort of thing, but the recent flared drop bar commentary I saw prompted me to post this time. I wish companies would see that they are doing a really poor job in this area.

The Cowchipper (shown here) and the Cowbell are now available in silver ano from Salsa Cycles.

 HiHo Silver!

I look at my Orange Crush BMC Monster Cross rig once in awhile and wish I had silver handle bars, but.....yeah. Silver flared drop bars aren't very common, and the ones that you can get in silver are not up my alley. It used to be that you could get the original Gary Bars in silver, and I may actually have a set somewhere, but no..... Cowbells or Cowchippers just blow those things away, at least for me.

So it was that I was rather excited to see that Salsa Cycles has now offered silver anodized Cowbell and Cowchipper bars in the "Deluxe" level. (7000 series aluminum, lighter weight) It looks like my dream of putting on silver flared drop bars on the BMC just might come true soon.

The Evil Bike Company's "Chamois Hagar" gravel bike.

 Wait.........WUT?!!

The other day I saw a Tweet about Evil Bike Company. You know.....the radical mountain bike, trail shredding brand? Well, they now have a "gravel bike". Yep! But check it out, because it is not a "me-too" bike at all.

Now y'all may wonder what I mean by "me-too" bikes. That was a term coined in the 00's for companies that were throwing together something with fat 700c wheels and calling it a 29"er, when in fact it was just a Taiwanese, or Chinese sourced "catalog" bike and was about as generic as they came. At one point I think there were a half a dozen brands using the same, or nearly the same, carbon hard tail from the same factory, but claiming differences. This also happened when gravel bikes took off four years ago and companies were slapping the gravel tag on cyclo cross bikes with terrible geometry for gravel roads.

I'm sure Evil Bikes sees the gravel scene as "the latest shiny object" like many bike companies do, and if you cannot afford, or want to deal with electrifying bicycles with motors, then gravel is your game. Evil Bikes took a very "clean sheet" on the design table and went nuts. Just what do we have here anyway? A new game in town- that's what.

Back when I was looking at what I thought would make for a really great gravel bike, I was advocating for a deeper bottom bracket height, slacker head tube angles, and longer fork offsets. In my mind, a 70° head tube angle and a 80mm bottom bracket drop was "pretty extreme". Ben Witt and I actually were toying around with having Mike Pofahl, a frame builder in Northfield, Minnesota, weld up a couple of these bikes. We were thinking fatter 700c rubber too. Maybe not 29"er sized, but bigger than 40mm for sure. At the time, (2010-2011), there just wasn't much of anything other than Bruce Gordon's Rock & Road tires, which were nominally 43-44mm wide, depending upon the rim you used. So, that was the tire Ben designed around. Unfortunately, we never got around to pulling the trigger.

But the "Chamois Hagar", (dumb name, but whatever), blasts past most of what we were thinking back then and sets a new bar. With a 66.8° head tube angle mated to a custom fork with 428mm axle to crown height and 57mm of offset, you could be excused for thinking this was a gravel bike designed by a trail shredder, because, well......it was! They used the 80mm bottom bracket drop too. And, with room for 50mm tires in 700c and 650B, the bike would be a pretty interesting rig in Iowa on a day where you had fast hills and fresh, chunky gravel.

What I don't know that I'd care for is the really low top tube. I know.....dropper post, but this makes the Chamois Hagar a bit less capable in terms of carrying along a top tube bag like a Revelate Tangle bag. But there is a lot to like, and more to be very curious about here.

That's it for this week! It's going to be nice this weekend around here and I hope to get some riding in. I hope that you do as well! 

Friday News And Views

Flared drop bars are not well understood. (Easton EA 70 AX bar pictured)

Flared Drop Bars - Hype Or No?

The other day I saw a few posts on social media from a few riders deriding the trend in gravel bikes using flared drop bars. The overall feeling was that they were completely foolish, unnecessary, and "who really stays in the drops in the rough stuff anyway?"

I restrained myself from trying to teach on the benefits of the flared drop bar, because really, in light of such ignorant and uninformed criticism, it was obvious I'd have been wasting my time there. But it does point out the fact that the mass adoption of the flared drop bar has been completely without any education, marketing of the benefits, nor with any historical context. If this type of bar had been detailed by brands in such a manner, then riders could make informed comments and choices. Unfortunately, the deafening silence on this type of bar, (and other facets of cycling in general), from brands that sell this stuff leads to the sort of worthless banter on components and bikes all over the internet. (Tires are the worst, for instance)

Standard race bred drop bars are perfectly fine, for what they were meant for, but gravel riding is a different animal, and therein lies the reasons for being when it comes to flared drop bars. Then there is the propensity for many drop bar bike owners to never use the drops in the first place. This also leads to a misinformed opinion on drop bars, because if the drops are something you'd rarely use anyway, well then, yeah.... Flared drops are pointless. But on the flip side, you should be using the drops a LOT, or why bother? Just cut them off, or use "bull horn" bars. It'd be lighter and those pesky drops wouldn't be in the way, using up bar tape when you could be double wrapping those bits by the levers. Or....maybe just use flat bars. 

Uneducated, misinformed opinions and takes on components abound on the internet. Flared drop bars are just one thing in the pile of parts that are not well explained, nor marketed correctly by the brands that spec them on their bicycles. I could write an entire series on this sort of thing, but the recent flared drop bar commentary I saw prompted me to post this time. I wish companies would see that they are doing a really poor job in this area.

The Cowchipper (shown here) and the Cowbell are now available in silver ano from Salsa Cycles.

 HiHo Silver!

I look at my Orange Crush BMC Monster Cross rig once in awhile and wish I had silver handle bars, but.....yeah. Silver flared drop bars aren't very common, and the ones that you can get in silver are not up my alley. It used to be that you could get the original Gary Bars in silver, and I may actually have a set somewhere, but no..... Cowbells or Cowchippers just blow those things away, at least for me.

So it was that I was rather excited to see that Salsa Cycles has now offered silver anodized Cowbell and Cowchipper bars in the "Deluxe" level. (7000 series aluminum, lighter weight) It looks like my dream of putting on silver flared drop bars on the BMC just might come true soon.

The Evil Bike Company's "Chamois Hagar" gravel bike.

 Wait.........WUT?!!

The other day I saw a Tweet about Evil Bike Company. You know.....the radical mountain bike, trail shredding brand? Well, they now have a "gravel bike". Yep! But check it out, because it is not a "me-too" bike at all.

Now y'all may wonder what I mean by "me-too" bikes. That was a term coined in the 00's for companies that were throwing together something with fat 700c wheels and calling it a 29"er, when in fact it was just a Taiwanese, or Chinese sourced "catalog" bike and was about as generic as they came. At one point I think there were a half a dozen brands using the same, or nearly the same, carbon hard tail from the same factory, but claiming differences. This also happened when gravel bikes took off four years ago and companies were slapping the gravel tag on cyclo cross bikes with terrible geometry for gravel roads.

I'm sure Evil Bikes sees the gravel scene as "the latest shiny object" like many bike companies do, and if you cannot afford, or want to deal with electrifying bicycles with motors, then gravel is your game. Evil Bikes took a very "clean sheet" on the design table and went nuts. Just what do we have here anyway? A new game in town- that's what.

Back when I was looking at what I thought would make for a really great gravel bike, I was advocating for a deeper bottom bracket height, slacker head tube angles, and longer fork offsets. In my mind, a 70° head tube angle and a 80mm bottom bracket drop was "pretty extreme". Ben Witt and I actually were toying around with having Mike Pofahl, a frame builder in Northfield, Minnesota, weld up a couple of these bikes. We were thinking fatter 700c rubber too. Maybe not 29"er sized, but bigger than 40mm for sure. At the time, (2010-2011), there just wasn't much of anything other than Bruce Gordon's Rock & Road tires, which were nominally 43-44mm wide, depending upon the rim you used. So, that was the tire Ben designed around. Unfortunately, we never got around to pulling the trigger.

But the "Chamois Hagar", (dumb name, but whatever), blasts past most of what we were thinking back then and sets a new bar. With a 66.8° head tube angle mated to a custom fork with 428mm axle to crown height and 57mm of offset, you could be excused for thinking this was a gravel bike designed by a trail shredder, because, well......it was! They used the 80mm bottom bracket drop too. And, with room for 50mm tires in 700c and 650B, the bike would be a pretty interesting rig in Iowa on a day where you had fast hills and fresh, chunky gravel.

What I don't know that I'd care for is the really low top tube. I know.....dropper post, but this makes the Chamois Hagar a bit less capable in terms of carrying along a top tube bag like a Revelate Tangle bag. But there is a lot to like, and more to be very curious about here.

That's it for this week! It's going to be nice this weekend around here and I hope to get some riding in. I hope that you do as well! 

Something Old, Something Blue

It will get the job done.

Parts bin parts are sometimes a good thing, and then again sometimes they can be a curse. I mean, what the heck am I saving this stuff for? Then comes a day when you find that part that allows your build to continue forward and you think you are a genius for saving all that stuff.

Most of the time though, it is stupid and a burden. Of course, there are those bits one should never toss out, like good 8/9 speed derailleurs. I had this old 90's era XT derailleur hanging around and I decided to employ it once again for the rebuild of the custom rig I have here. You might remember the post about the chain rings from last week? Yeah, that bike build.

Anyway, I have found the derailleurs for the build. The front, a shiny top pull XT, is likely the one from the original Fargo. I'm not sure though. It had a clamp that fit the fillet brazed frame I am building up perfectly though, so whether it was from a Fargo or not, it was likely a steel framed mtb of some sort. Parts bin parts, ya know. Their origins are sometimes murky at best.

The rear derailleur, well, I think I know the story here and the blue, sealed bearing jockey wheels are my clue. I had a 1996 Diamondback V-Link Pro dual suspension bike and it was an XT equipped rig. I remember it had a raw aluminum/blue theme to its look. There were the blue grips and matching Panaracer Magic blue treaded tires. Not really blue rubber. It was so dark you almost could mistake it for black, but it was definitely blue.

At any rate, I decided to swap in more blue anodized bits and these jockey wheels would have been something I would have done back then. So, I think this rear derailleur was from that Diamondback V-Link Pro. Most likely, it was. Blue jockey wheels don't really go with the theme of this build, but the nostalgia for me carries the day and this will be the part I use. I suppose if I really am offended by the blue I can swap out to silver sealed bearing pulleys easily enough.

Oh! And I tracked down a set of 9spd bar end shifters, so I will be going with Gevenalle's Audax shifter/levers for shifting and braking duties. Stay tuned..........

Something Old, Something Blue

It will get the job done.

Parts bin parts are sometimes a good thing, and then again sometimes they can be a curse. I mean, what the heck am I saving this stuff for? Then comes a day when you find that part that allows your build to continue forward and you think you are a genius for saving all that stuff.

Most of the time though, it is stupid and a burden. Of course, there are those bits one should never toss out, like good 8/9 speed derailleurs. I had this old 90's era XT derailleur hanging around and I decided to employ it once again for the rebuild of the custom rig I have here. You might remember the post about the chain rings from last week? Yeah, that bike build.

Anyway, I have found the derailleurs for the build. The front, a shiny top pull XT, is likely the one from the original Fargo. I'm not sure though. It had a clamp that fit the fillet brazed frame I am building up perfectly though, so whether it was from a Fargo or not, it was likely a steel framed mtb of some sort. Parts bin parts, ya know. Their origins are sometimes murky at best.

The rear derailleur, well, I think I know the story here and the blue, sealed bearing jockey wheels are my clue. I had a 1996 Diamondback V-Link Pro dual suspension bike and it was an XT equipped rig. I remember it had a raw aluminum/blue theme to its look. There were the blue grips and matching Panaracer Magic blue treaded tires. Not really blue rubber. It was so dark you almost could mistake it for black, but it was definitely blue.

At any rate, I decided to swap in more blue anodized bits and these jockey wheels would have been something I would have done back then. So, I think this rear derailleur was from that Diamondback V-Link Pro. Most likely, it was. Blue jockey wheels don't really go with the theme of this build, but the nostalgia for me carries the day and this will be the part I use. I suppose if I really am offended by the blue I can swap out to silver sealed bearing pulleys easily enough.

Oh! And I tracked down a set of 9spd bar end shifters, so I will be going with Gevenalle's Audax shifter/levers for shifting and braking duties. Stay tuned..........

French Shiny Bits

The French Connection for shiny, pointy rings of doom was Peter White Cycles.

Another rung in the ladder to the finish of my old custom bike has been reached. The crank set and bottom bracket have now been acquired and installed. Of course, I tried to stick to my plan of keeping it as polished as possible going strong. That meant I had to go to a source that maybe we don't think enough about. The French company, TA Specialties.

Old, old school mountain bikers might recall that the earliest Breezers, Ritcheys, and other custom mountain bikes came with TA Specialties crank sets as they were the only thing around one could fit to a bike with triple chain rings and get ring tooth counts which would provide the wide range gearing riders wanted. After the industry caught on to mountain bikes and started making purposeful designs for the activity, TA Specialties fell from grace. Touring, as a cycling activity, also faded from the forefront in the late 80's and early 90's and where TA Specialties held a strong presence was now no longer a focus for the majority of cyclist in North America.

Here are the rings with the bottom bracket and my XT crank arm.

I am not going to pretend to know how TA Specialties managed to carry on after those days, but I would imagine that they have had good sales in Europe all along. I say this because when my search for silver chain rings led me to this company, I found out that there were 34 pages of choices in chain rings alone! Now, I may not know details, but a company just doesn't make that many chain rings unless they are selling some.

I purchased my rings via Peter White Cycles, but I understand that there are a couple of other US importers as well.  Anyway, since I had a triple chain ring crank, I decided to utilize all three positions and purchased a 46T, 36T, and 26T Chinook model set of rings in silver. The rings are ramped and pinned for better shifting and they have a beefy, solid feel to them. I was impressed with how well they seemed to be made.

I bolted those up to my circa 2008/2009 XT triple crank and then I matched that up with a set of Shimano outboard bearing cups that I filled with Enduro sealed bearings. I also used an anodized red FSA bottom bracket sleeve just because it looks cool and is, well..........metal. I like the way it interlocked in with the Shimano bearing cups better than a plastic Shimano tube does.

All bolted up and ready to install.

The big, thick tabs on the TA Specialties rings don't quite match up with the lines of the spider on the XT cranks, but that's okay with me. This would really be an issue only if the cranks were black and the rings were silver or vice versa. With both being a similar hue, it isn't the eyesore it could be. So, I am okay with this.

I have found that a 46T is a good place to be for gravel travel on flatter roads, so the 36T only gets used on hilly to rolling terrain. That 26T will come in handy when I am on really long rides and the legs are spent, or if the winds are contrary in combination with hills. A "leg saving" bail out gear. It is nice to have that to fall back on.

This bike will likely bike a 9 speed rig now. I have a mostly silver XT rear derailleur from the mid 90's that I will likely use here. I also will have to check in to a front derailleur, but obviously those are silver most of the time, so I am not too worried there. I checked in to my parts bin and I do not have a shifter set up. This means I will likely get either a set of bar end shifters, (not the best option with Luxy Bars), or I will opt for a new set of Gevenalle levers.

Then there are the wheels. That could get pretty expensive, and I am leaning toward doing White Industries XMR hubs laced to Velocity Blunt SS polished rims. This may have to wait for a bit. So, depending on how things go on that front, I may end up rolling on a place holder wheel set for a time. Most likely I will if the rest comes together well.

Stay tuned........