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

The GTDRI Stories: Introduction

That time my ride and I were part of a cycling themed meme.

This will be the series that details the 14 years of the "Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational". The ride started in 2006 and the last one happened in 2019, with a cancelled GTDRI in 2020 for obvious reasons. 

This will be much like the last series run on the blog here on Sundays over the last three tears, The "Trans Iowa Stories", which was done to tell everything I hadn't already shared about the event over the years. That wasn't much, and so some of that was actually a rehashing of old materials, but it was what it was. 

In the case of the GTDRI, there is a lot more to say. Many of the earliest GTDRI's had no reports, really, and there are anecdotes and facts that might surprise a few of you folks who read this blog. Many of you out there probably took part in one or two of these rides. So, you might already know what to expect here. 

Part of that untold story is how this ride began, and what the heck is up with the name of it. You'll find out how the ride got going "publicly" in 2006, and to that end, I found, and I do not know how this happened, but I found an original manuscript I wrote right after the first one happened which shed some light on how the ride got announced. It also serves as a bit of a report, and there are things there I would not have remembered had I not wrote them down back in 2006.

In this series you will learn the significance of this image.

And there are a lot of images to share which have never been published before. Some others will get shared that have been. These will help illustrate the ride's evolution throughout the years.

And what I also hope to show is how gravel riding has evolved along with this ride's run. Back in '06, there was nothing 'gravel specific' at all! Everything was bodged and cobbled from mountain, road, and touring segments of cycling. 

And - of course - there were cue sheets! 

So, sit back every Sunday, grab a cup of coffee, or juice, or whatever, relax and enjoy the wacky, whimsical, historical, and sometimes fairy tale stories of a ride with a curious name. I'll post every Sunday, just like I did with the previous series. I doubt that this will take three years, but who knows..... 

See ya next Sunday for "The GRDRI Stories" where we will find out "Where Did This Ride Come From?".

The GTDRI Stories: Introduction

That time my ride and I were part of a cycling themed meme.

This will be the series that details the 14 years of the "Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational". The ride started in 2006 and the last one happened in 2019, with a cancelled GTDRI in 2020 for obvious reasons. 

This will be much like the last series run on the blog here on Sundays over the last three tears, The "Trans Iowa Stories", which was done to tell everything I hadn't already shared about the event over the years. That wasn't much, and so some of that was actually a rehashing of old materials, but it was what it was. 

In the case of the GTDRI, there is a lot more to say. Many of the earliest GTDRI's had no reports, really, and there are anecdotes and facts that might surprise a few of you folks who read this blog. Many of you out there probably took part in one or two of these rides. So, you might already know what to expect here. 

Part of that untold story is how this ride began, and what the heck is up with the name of it. You'll find out how the ride got going "publicly" in 2006, and to that end, I found, and I do not know how this happened, but I found an original manuscript I wrote right after the first one happened which shed some light on how the ride got announced. It also serves as a bit of a report, and there are things there I would not have remembered had I not wrote them down back in 2006.

In this series you will learn the significance of this image.

And there are a lot of images to share which have never been published before. Some others will get shared that have been. These will help illustrate the ride's evolution throughout the years.

And what I also hope to show is how gravel riding has evolved along with this ride's run. Back in '06, there was nothing 'gravel specific' at all! Everything was bodged and cobbled from mountain, road, and touring segments of cycling. 

And - of course - there were cue sheets! 

So, sit back every Sunday, grab a cup of coffee, or juice, or whatever, relax and enjoy the wacky, whimsical, historical, and sometimes fairy tale stories of a ride with a curious name. I'll post every Sunday, just like I did with the previous series. I doubt that this will take three years, but who knows..... 

See ya next Sunday for "The GRDRI Stories" where we will find out "Where Did This Ride Come From?".

Karoo 2 Take 2: Part 3

 Welcome to my third, and I think final, take on the Hammerhead Karoo 2 GPS cycling computer. If you missed any of the other two "Take Two" posts, you can find #1 here and #2 here. 

To recap: The interface regarding the GPS feature seemed to be smooth, but set-up initialy was a bit of a pain and I never did get the Bluetooth connection for my iPhone up and running. To be fair, after the first failed attempt, I abandoned the idea of doing that for the remainder of my testing. 

In Part Two, I field tested the GPS turn-by-turn navigation feature and found it to be satisfactory. However; it was difficult to read the screen in rough gravel. Plus- the battery life was not impressive.

Now, I wanted to discover what other features the Karoo 2 might have that I might find interesting. I needed to understand how the screens worked and what pages were going to be of use to me. By way of reminder, I first want to post an image from my first Karoo 2 unit which shows a specific feature I was keen on. Here is that image.....

I really enjoyed the historical climbing data page with elevation gain data.

Okay, keep that page there in that image in mind as I take you now through an image dump from my latest test I conducted last Monday. These images are in chronological order. The captions will explain what is happening. 

This is what my "Basic" page looks like in recording mode. I was impressed that the map showed where the gravel started, (thicker border on road)

But the fun stopped when I kept getting this screen. It was happening on both the Basic and "Got Hills?" pages. I could ride maybe 500 feet and the unit would default to this screen.

With "recording" not engaged, this is what the basic page looked like. It was the only way I could get the computer to stay "on".

I decided to try the "Got Hills" page without recording the ride. NOTE: I turned off the head completely, fired back up, and started fresh.

I didn't even get my camera put away, (note background here and above are the same) and the screen defaulted to the home page. Weird!

Re-selected Got Hills, ride loads, ride 50 feet, and then this.... AGAIN!

Start again- and this is the page I got.

This is what it looked like if I swiped that page above to a new page in "Got Hills". I kept getting missing data on the map in random splotches.

Swipe again and this is the only page in "Got Hills" that actually worked and that not well. (Big blank area? Why?)

Okay, several disappointments here:

• Recording a ride mode was an absolute fail. I could not get it to work for more than several hundred feet. NOTE- This test was conducted under clear blue skies with NO tree cover and out in a rural area which is well documented on mapping software. Oddly enough, it worked perfectly using turn-by-turn from a saved ride.
  
• Basic page is pretty weird. The landing page has no current speed. Why not?
• "Got Hills" was a major disappointment. Missing data, pages not working 100%, and where is that cool historical climbing data graph from the first head unit I had? (NOTE- I did not have to dig up special editing choices back then, but also- THAT page disappeared on the original unit as well.)
• Battery went down 25% on a sub-two hour ride? Wow! Not very impressive at all.
• A comment on charging from the second part of this review had me research the charging protocol for this device, There are no directions given for charging upon set up, and with no user manual, there is NO direction given. Only a charging cord is provided and it is up to you to figure it out.  
• Upon researching the Hammerhead site under "Charging Karoo2" I found that there is no charging device, and "quick charging" is not advisable, since it could damage the unit, so my slow charging experience is pretty much the only way to recharge the device. This means that recharging a Karo 2 takes many hours. (I had mine on the USB port of my computer for six hours to recharge it to 100% from near zero)
  
• Charging port on the device is covered with a rubber plug that sort of snaps into the port. It is not tethered to the device and can easily be lost. Fortunately Hammerhead provides one extra in the box, but this also is pretty lame for such an expensive device.
  

Final Take: While I still think this unit is 1000% better than the first one, the Karoo 2 is a major letdown. Besides the turn-by-turn feature, this unit does absolutely nothing better than an old wireless Cat Eye computer which costs significantly less money than a Karoo 2 does. Editing? Possibly. Maybe I could get into some deeper editing to make the unit perform in a way I found fun and interesting. However; my beef with Hammerhead all along has been that it doesn't work "intuitively" or like a smart phone, as they claim that it does. 

And finding what you want to know is a dive into their home site to wade through endless pages of different users tips and whatnot. The FAQ is pretty useless, and I did not find a page telling me about that cool historical climbing data function that- if this unit had it and it worked- would have softened my take a bit. Maybe it is possible to find that and install it, or dig deeper into the unit, but my take is it shouldn't be this difficult to get what you want. 

Again- I'm not impressed and only slightly less frustrated than before. Maybe I am not fit for a GPS unit. Could be, but even my wife, who is well versed in how to get programs to work, (Epic Medical Record keeping, for instance) finds this device to be frustrating as well. While it is entirely possible I am the problem, after two Karoo 2 units and the way they have acted, nope.....I don't think so. 

This will go back in the box and maybe I'll use it if I have an event that offers GPS files for routes as its only option, but I don't think I will ever use it again otherwise. I'd not recommend the device to anyone. 

Comparing To My Lezyne Experience:

I had a GPS that I did not have issues with at all, and which had features I enjoyed, plus it generated data I was interested in, and it had a user website which was VERY easy and useful to use. It was Lezyne's ROOT and Ally app for their GPS devices. 

Lezyne has done a major overhaul of their ROOT and Ally app since I had my Super GPS crushed in an accident at the 2021 Gravel Worlds event. I checked it out here recently. 

While Lezyne still tethers your smart phone to get turn-by-turn directions to work, they do offer offline maps within the device now, which I might find useful on outings where I am riding in unfamiliar territory. Plus, even without actually having an account with Lezyne, anyone can download a user manual. So, they have a resource for you to actually have information in your hand to learn about their devices whenever you want. 

Furthermore, Lezyne has kits which have the sensors you want, or kits without anything, available at purchase. So, I can get a Lezyne GPS with a heart rate strap, or cadence sensor, or with lights which are operable from the GPS head. Neat!

GPS Ally app is also really easy to use, plus the historical data gets uploaded to the ROOT page under your account automatically if you save a ride. Data include elevation profile, temperature range throughout the ride, speed, stopped time, and more.

This is just by way of example to contrast my experiences with another competitor's GPS range. Lezyne certainly has its negatives, (Difficulty starting that old Super GPS at the beginning of a race, for one, which was mostly user error), but the user interface/experience is NOT one of them, and my device NEVER let me down once. Plus- 48 hour battery life. Right? So, there is maybe a reason to go back to a Lezyne GPS unit. OR take a chance with a Wahoo or Garmin, (both of which I've heard complaints about as well). 

For now, I'm not going to do anything. But I certainly am not happy with Hammerhead and their Karoo 2.

Karoo 2 Take 2: Part 3

 Welcome to my third, and I think final, take on the Hammerhead Karoo 2 GPS cycling computer. If you missed any of the other two "Take Two" posts, you can find #1 here and #2 here. 

To recap: The interface regarding the GPS feature seemed to be smooth, but set-up initialy was a bit of a pain and I never did get the Bluetooth connection for my iPhone up and running. To be fair, after the first failed attempt, I abandoned the idea of doing that for the remainder of my testing. 

In Part Two, I field tested the GPS turn-by-turn navigation feature and found it to be satisfactory. However; it was difficult to read the screen in rough gravel. Plus- the battery life was not impressive.

Now, I wanted to discover what other features the Karoo 2 might have that I might find interesting. I needed to understand how the screens worked and what pages were going to be of use to me. By way of reminder, I first want to post an image from my first Karoo 2 unit which shows a specific feature I was keen on. Here is that image.....

I really enjoyed the historical climbing data page with elevation gain data.

Okay, keep that page there in that image in mind as I take you now through an image dump from my latest test I conducted last Monday. These images are in chronological order. The captions will explain what is happening. 

This is what my "Basic" page looks like in recording mode. I was impressed that the map showed where the gravel started, (thicker border on road)

But the fun stopped when I kept getting this screen. It was happening on both the Basic and "Got Hills?" pages. I could ride maybe 500 feet and the unit would default to this screen.

With "recording" not engaged, this is what the basic page looked like. It was the only way I could get the computer to stay "on".

I decided to try the "Got Hills" page without recording the ride. NOTE: I turned off the head completely, fired back up, and started fresh.

I didn't even get my camera put away, (note background here and above are the same) and the screen defaulted to the home page. Weird!

Re-selected Got Hills, ride loads, ride 50 feet, and then this.... AGAIN!

Start again- and this is the page I got.

This is what it looked like if I swiped that page above to a new page in "Got Hills". I kept getting missing data on the map in random splotches.

Swipe again and this is the only page in "Got Hills" that actually worked and that not well. (Big blank area? Why?)

Okay, several disappointments here:

• Recording a ride mode was an absolute fail. I could not get it to work for more than several hundred feet. NOTE- This test was conducted under clear blue skies with NO tree cover and out in a rural area which is well documented on mapping software. Oddly enough, it worked perfectly using turn-by-turn from a saved ride.
  
• Basic page is pretty weird. The landing page has no current speed. Why not?
• "Got Hills" was a major disappointment. Missing data, pages not working 100%, and where is that cool historical climbing data graph from the first head unit I had? (NOTE- I did not have to dig up special editing choices back then, but also- THAT page disappeared on the original unit as well.)
• Battery went down 25% on a sub-two hour ride? Wow! Not very impressive at all.
• A comment on charging from the second part of this review had me research the charging protocol for this device, There are no directions given for charging upon set up, and with no user manual, there is NO direction given. Only a charging cord is provided and it is up to you to figure it out.  
• Upon researching the Hammerhead site under "Charging Karoo2" I found that there is no charging device, and "quick charging" is not advisable, since it could damage the unit, so my slow charging experience is pretty much the only way to recharge the device. This means that recharging a Karo 2 takes many hours. (I had mine on the USB port of my computer for six hours to recharge it to 100% from near zero)
  
• Charging port on the device is covered with a rubber plug that sort of snaps into the port. It is not tethered to the device and can easily be lost. Fortunately Hammerhead provides one extra in the box, but this also is pretty lame for such an expensive device.
  

Final Take: While I still think this unit is 1000% better than the first one, the Karoo 2 is a major letdown. Besides the turn-by-turn feature, this unit does absolutely nothing better than an old wireless Cat Eye computer which costs significantly less money than a Karoo 2 does. Editing? Possibly. Maybe I could get into some deeper editing to make the unit perform in a way I found fun and interesting. However; my beef with Hammerhead all along has been that it doesn't work "intuitively" or like a smart phone, as they claim that it does. 

And finding what you want to know is a dive into their home site to wade through endless pages of different users tips and whatnot. The FAQ is pretty useless, and I did not find a page telling me about that cool historical climbing data function that- if this unit had it and it worked- would have softened my take a bit. Maybe it is possible to find that and install it, or dig deeper into the unit, but my take is it shouldn't be this difficult to get what you want. 

Again- I'm not impressed and only slightly less frustrated than before. Maybe I am not fit for a GPS unit. Could be, but even my wife, who is well versed in how to get programs to work, (Epic Medical Record keeping, for instance) finds this device to be frustrating as well. While it is entirely possible I am the problem, after two Karoo 2 units and the way they have acted, nope.....I don't think so. 

This will go back in the box and maybe I'll use it if I have an event that offers GPS files for routes as its only option, but I don't think I will ever use it again otherwise. I'd not recommend the device to anyone. 

Comparing To My Lezyne Experience:

I had a GPS that I did not have issues with at all, and which had features I enjoyed, plus it generated data I was interested in, and it had a user website which was VERY easy and useful to use. It was Lezyne's ROOT and Ally app for their GPS devices. 

Lezyne has done a major overhaul of their ROOT and Ally app since I had my Super GPS crushed in an accident at the 2021 Gravel Worlds event. I checked it out here recently. 

While Lezyne still tethers your smart phone to get turn-by-turn directions to work, they do offer offline maps within the device now, which I might find useful on outings where I am riding in unfamiliar territory. Plus, even without actually having an account with Lezyne, anyone can download a user manual. So, they have a resource for you to actually have information in your hand to learn about their devices whenever you want. 

Furthermore, Lezyne has kits which have the sensors you want, or kits without anything, available at purchase. So, I can get a Lezyne GPS with a heart rate strap, or cadence sensor, or with lights which are operable from the GPS head. Neat!

GPS Ally app is also really easy to use, plus the historical data gets uploaded to the ROOT page under your account automatically if you save a ride. Data include elevation profile, temperature range throughout the ride, speed, stopped time, and more.

This is just by way of example to contrast my experiences with another competitor's GPS range. Lezyne certainly has its negatives, (Difficulty starting that old Super GPS at the beginning of a race, for one, which was mostly user error), but the user interface/experience is NOT one of them, and my device NEVER let me down once. Plus- 48 hour battery life. Right? So, there is maybe a reason to go back to a Lezyne GPS unit. OR take a chance with a Wahoo or Garmin, (both of which I've heard complaints about as well). 

For now, I'm not going to do anything. But I certainly am not happy with Hammerhead and their Karoo 2.

Friday News And Views

HiRide fork: Image courtesy of HiRide

 What Is Old Is New Again:

Back in the days when mountain bike design was a hot stew with ever changing ingredients, there was a company known as ActionTec. They were the purveyor of an unusual suspension fork design called the "Pro Shock" which consisted of a coil sprung design based around an extended steer tube and encased within the head tube of a mountain bike. 

The design was somewhat well received and copied when Cannondale came out with a similar idea called a "HeadShok". This idea of a head tube based telescopic suspension fork design had a lot of promise for the gravel bike scene, but both ActionTec and Cannondale's HeadShok were gone before the gravel bike became a hot ticket item in the cycling industry. 

But good ideas never die, they just get re-imagined and turn up again. The case of the head tube based, telescopic suspension fork is just one example. Here we have a new take on the old design called HiRide. 

The HiRide fork uses a similar design but limits travel to a manageable 20mm. This should make it an appealing design with regard to aesthetics and from a geometry perspective where changing the fork axle to crown length/head tube angle/bottom bracket height via fork travel is not conducive to fast paced road/unpaved road riding. 

Comments: The desire to mitigate vibrations is a bit different than absorbing bumps and obstacles on a dirt trail. There is overlap here, to be sure, but tackling what a gravel rider/allroad cyclist needs for more smoothness and less vibration induced fatigue by way of mountain bike suspension philosophy is wrongheaded. Besides, despite the claims on HiRide's site, it shouldn't come as a surprise that if the design is tuned so it doesn't bottom out harshly, your last several milimeters of travel are not going to be effective over anything but harsher bumps. That means that you really have a lot less travel to deal with vibrations than you might think.

Add in the fact that this fork weighs about twice that of a good carbon rigid fork and now you are looking at a penalty that may not be worth the trouble. (The suspension component of the HiRide weighs a claimed 850 grams- That's without the fork) Again- a suspension stem like the Cane Creek or Redshift types is a better way to go here. You're adding maybe a 100 grams over a traditional stem, and getting the same amount of travel tuned for vibration reduction. Seems like a no-brainer to me, but this fork is pretty cool. 

Trek's New Checkpoint ALR driftless model (Image courtesy of Trek)

Trek's New Checkpoint ALR Driftless Shows What 3G Will Get You:

Since the pandemic hit we've heard a lot about this concept of "new-normal", or alternatively, you might think of the "Great Resignation". However you term the sudden change in.....well, about everything! It is apparent that, yes, things are not the same in the '20's as they were in the teens of the 21st Century.

To help illustrate this I present to you an interesting specimen of a gravel bike, the Trek Checkpoint ALR Driftless special edition bike. This bike runs at just shy of 2900 bucks. So, with tax you are looking at plus-3G and change. What do you get for that coin these days?

Well, the bike has GRX 800 bits sprinkled throughout, which is good. I noted that the brake rotors are pretty much bottom of the barrel Shimano ones though. You get a special paint scheme and a frame bag. Okay.... Looking deeper I see a Praxis T-47 bottom bracket, which might be okay, but Praxis stuff doesn't have a very consistent reputation for high quality bits. The wheels are run of the mill Bontrager branded hubs and rims, and the cockpit parts are as well. Then you have the frame. 

It's a highly formed aluminum piece mated to a carbon legged, aluminum steer tube fork. Nothing crazy here. Just pretty straightforward production level fare from a big bicycle brand. Paint notwithstanding, there is nothing really all that great here. So, 3g? 

Hmm, I guess that's where we are at now these days. That's quite a hike in price for what would have easily been 2G five years ago. I just know that I won't miss the guy that wants to have the shop keep the frame bag and knock off $200 bucks off the price and not charge him sales tax. 

Image courtesy of Wolf Tooth

Wolf Tooth Introduces "Espresso" Ano Parts:

Wolf Tooth has been on a color adding spree when it comes to their components that they offer. Recently they added an olive green, and now there is a brown anodized color they are calling "Espresso". 

You can get this option across their range. Take a look here if you are interested. 

Comments: So.....Is Wolf Tooth the new Chris King? With all these anodized color choices, a (mostly) made in the USA manufacturing process, and competitive pricing, I'd venture to say, "Yes". 

While Wolf Tooth doesn't make hubs, they make a lot of other stuff, and in my experience, their product is pretty tough, long lasting, and performs at a high level. I've been very pleased with all the Wolf Tooth products I have either bought, or reviewed. (See Standard Disclaimer for my position on reviewed product)

Now brown ano? Yeah.... Not my thing, but on the right frame set? Could be a killer look. I like the brighter, shouty anodized bits like purple, gold, blue, and the like. But then again- I came up through the 90's MTB scene! That may be why I am about the brighter anodized colors. 

A meme which used an image from the 1st GTDRI

GTDRI Series Starts Sunday:

The 'Trans Iowa Stories" series finished up last Sunday, but have no fear! If you are wondering what you'll read instead of that series, well I have already been hard at work on the next thing.

It's going to be the tales, the behind the scenes stories, and historical significance to the gravel scene which is bound up in the "GTDRI Stories" series. 

Readers will also learn how Trans Iowa and this 'no-drop group ride' held every Summer from 2006 through 2019 are interconnected as well. So it is only fitting that this series follows on the heels of the Trans Iowa series. 

There is no other reason to tell these stories about the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational other than that it has significance to the early gravel scene, some connection to industry changes, and just the shenanigans behind this ride which many have never read about before. 

So, I hope that you enjoy this series which should appear every Sunday here for the foreseeable future. 

Rad Power bikes is being sued for a claim of wrongful death 

U.S. Electrified Bike Market May Be Affected By Litigation:

A wrongful death claim against Rad Power Bikes may affect the future of HPC/electrified bikes in the US dependent upon the outcome of the litigation which is taking place soon. 

An unfortunate fatality has led the parents of a 12 year old girl, who died as a passenger on a Rad Power bike, to file a wrongful death claim against Rad Power, according to this "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" article. 

 Apparently, as part of the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim that the Rad Power bike had poor geometry and features which were pushed by Rad Power regarding the bike's design that led to a death in this instance. One could see how the outcome of this suit might influence lawmakers to look a bit more closely at the way HPC/electrified bikes are sold and how they are not regulated at this point, despite the "three class" system we have in place now. It also would not be out of the question to see insurance companies start to push for more stringent legislation which would further codify these bicycles as "motor vehicles" with all the attendant safety regulations attached. 

Such insurance law was narrowly avoided in Europe recently, which had it been enacted, may have damped sales of electrified bikes to a detrimental degree, according to industry players. Of course, nothing like that may happen at all here in the U.S., but it doesn't take much of a leap to see how it could, since now we have a high-profile case with a child's death attached to it. Similar issues plagued the moped market in the 1980's leading to its demise. 

Time will tell, but this bears watching. 

Note: "HPC" is my term. It stands for "hybrid powered cycles" since these two-wheeled vehicles have a hybrid of human and electric motor power.

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend and get out and ride! Fall is coming!

Friday News And Views

HiRide fork: Image courtesy of HiRide

 What Is Old Is New Again:

Back in the days when mountain bike design was a hot stew with ever changing ingredients, there was a company known as ActionTec. They were the purveyor of an unusual suspension fork design called the "Pro Shock" which consisted of a coil sprung design based around an extended steer tube and encased within the head tube of a mountain bike. 

The design was somewhat well received and copied when Cannondale came out with a similar idea called a "HeadShok". This idea of a head tube based telescopic suspension fork design had a lot of promise for the gravel bike scene, but both ActionTec and Cannondale's HeadShok were gone before the gravel bike became a hot ticket item in the cycling industry. 

But good ideas never die, they just get re-imagined and turn up again. The case of the head tube based, telescopic suspension fork is just one example. Here we have a new take on the old design called HiRide. 

The HiRide fork uses a similar design but limits travel to a manageable 20mm. This should make it an appealing design with regard to aesthetics and from a geometry perspective where changing the fork axle to crown length/head tube angle/bottom bracket height via fork travel is not conducive to fast paced road/unpaved road riding. 

Comments: The desire to mitigate vibrations is a bit different than absorbing bumps and obstacles on a dirt trail. There is overlap here, to be sure, but tackling what a gravel rider/allroad cyclist needs for more smoothness and less vibration induced fatigue by way of mountain bike suspension philosophy is wrongheaded. Besides, despite the claims on HiRide's site, it shouldn't come as a surprise that if the design is tuned so it doesn't bottom out harshly, your last several milimeters of travel are not going to be effective over anything but harsher bumps. That means that you really have a lot less travel to deal with vibrations than you might think.

Add in the fact that this fork weighs about twice that of a good carbon rigid fork and now you are looking at a penalty that may not be worth the trouble. (The suspension component of the HiRide weighs a claimed 850 grams- That's without the fork) Again- a suspension stem like the Cane Creek or Redshift types is a better way to go here. You're adding maybe a 100 grams over a traditional stem, and getting the same amount of travel tuned for vibration reduction. Seems like a no-brainer to me, but this fork is pretty cool. 

Trek's New Checkpoint ALR driftless model (Image courtesy of Trek)

Trek's New Checkpoint ALR Driftless Shows What 3G Will Get You:

Since the pandemic hit we've heard a lot about this concept of "new-normal", or alternatively, you might think of the "Great Resignation". However you term the sudden change in.....well, about everything! It is apparent that, yes, things are not the same in the '20's as they were in the teens of the 21st Century.

To help illustrate this I present to you an interesting specimen of a gravel bike, the Trek Checkpoint ALR Driftless special edition bike. This bike runs at just shy of 2900 bucks. So, with tax you are looking at plus-3G and change. What do you get for that coin these days?

Well, the bike has GRX 800 bits sprinkled throughout, which is good. I noted that the brake rotors are pretty much bottom of the barrel Shimano ones though. You get a special paint scheme and a frame bag. Okay.... Looking deeper I see a Praxis T-47 bottom bracket, which might be okay, but Praxis stuff doesn't have a very consistent reputation for high quality bits. The wheels are run of the mill Bontrager branded hubs and rims, and the cockpit parts are as well. Then you have the frame. 

It's a highly formed aluminum piece mated to a carbon legged, aluminum steer tube fork. Nothing crazy here. Just pretty straightforward production level fare from a big bicycle brand. Paint notwithstanding, there is nothing really all that great here. So, 3g? 

Hmm, I guess that's where we are at now these days. That's quite a hike in price for what would have easily been 2G five years ago. I just know that I won't miss the guy that wants to have the shop keep the frame bag and knock off $200 bucks off the price and not charge him sales tax. 

Image courtesy of Wolf Tooth

Wolf Tooth Introduces "Espresso" Ano Parts:

Wolf Tooth has been on a color adding spree when it comes to their components that they offer. Recently they added an olive green, and now there is a brown anodized color they are calling "Espresso". 

You can get this option across their range. Take a look here if you are interested. 

Comments: So.....Is Wolf Tooth the new Chris King? With all these anodized color choices, a (mostly) made in the USA manufacturing process, and competitive pricing, I'd venture to say, "Yes". 

While Wolf Tooth doesn't make hubs, they make a lot of other stuff, and in my experience, their product is pretty tough, long lasting, and performs at a high level. I've been very pleased with all the Wolf Tooth products I have either bought, or reviewed. (See Standard Disclaimer for my position on reviewed product)

Now brown ano? Yeah.... Not my thing, but on the right frame set? Could be a killer look. I like the brighter, shouty anodized bits like purple, gold, blue, and the like. But then again- I came up through the 90's MTB scene! That may be why I am about the brighter anodized colors. 

A meme which used an image from the 1st GTDRI

GTDRI Series Starts Sunday:

The 'Trans Iowa Stories" series finished up last Sunday, but have no fear! If you are wondering what you'll read instead of that series, well I have already been hard at work on the next thing.

It's going to be the tales, the behind the scenes stories, and historical significance to the gravel scene which is bound up in the "GTDRI Stories" series. 

Readers will also learn how Trans Iowa and this 'no-drop group ride' held every Summer from 2006 through 2019 are interconnected as well. So it is only fitting that this series follows on the heels of the Trans Iowa series. 

There is no other reason to tell these stories about the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational other than that it has significance to the early gravel scene, some connection to industry changes, and just the shenanigans behind this ride which many have never read about before. 

So, I hope that you enjoy this series which should appear every Sunday here for the foreseeable future. 

Rad Power bikes is being sued for a claim of wrongful death 

U.S. Electrified Bike Market May Be Affected By Litigation:

A wrongful death claim against Rad Power Bikes may affect the future of HPC/electrified bikes in the US dependent upon the outcome of the litigation which is taking place soon. 

An unfortunate fatality has led the parents of a 12 year old girl, who died as a passenger on a Rad Power bike, to file a wrongful death claim against Rad Power, according to this "Bicycle Retailer and Industry News" article. 

 Apparently, as part of the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim that the Rad Power bike had poor geometry and features which were pushed by Rad Power regarding the bike's design that led to a death in this instance. One could see how the outcome of this suit might influence lawmakers to look a bit more closely at the way HPC/electrified bikes are sold and how they are not regulated at this point, despite the "three class" system we have in place now. It also would not be out of the question to see insurance companies start to push for more stringent legislation which would further codify these bicycles as "motor vehicles" with all the attendant safety regulations attached. 

Such insurance law was narrowly avoided in Europe recently, which had it been enacted, may have damped sales of electrified bikes to a detrimental degree, according to industry players. Of course, nothing like that may happen at all here in the U.S., but it doesn't take much of a leap to see how it could, since now we have a high-profile case with a child's death attached to it. Similar issues plagued the moped market in the 1980's leading to its demise. 

Time will tell, but this bears watching. 

Note: "HPC" is my term. It stands for "hybrid powered cycles" since these two-wheeled vehicles have a hybrid of human and electric motor power.

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend and get out and ride! Fall is coming!