The Problem Can Be Seen In The Mirror

From KCCI's social media

 NOTE: Large doses of "my opinion" will be handed out in gloppy dollops today. You've been forewarned.....

Years ago, maybe around 2008 or so, a representative from a company called Day 6 Bicycles showed up at the shop. He had an example of a 'foot-forward' electrified bicycle. The idea was the bike could provide an extremely comfortable ride position along with electric motor assist which would make the bike easy to ride. 

My boss at the shop took the front wheel motor e-Bike out for a spin in the parking lot. I watched as he zoomed back and forth. I would estimate he was going well over 20mph and without pedaling. I was alarmed. 

Why? It looked like a ton of fun. The bike put the rider in a really easy to use position. Powered riding would get more folks outdoors, out of cars, and maybe into pedaling more. 

Maybe.... Pedaling. Yeah, that means working, and if you don't have to work? Well, why would you? This is what alarmed me. That and the immediate acceleration to top speed. Unskilled or inexperienced riders on a heavy-ish two wheeled electrified bicycle? I saw trouble ahead. 

The future of e-micromobility is murky at best

Just this past weekend I was waiting for my wife in the car as she picked up an item at a big-box store in town here. I noted movement in my right side field of vision and then noted three youth riding electrified two-wheeled contraptions. One was a mini-bike kind of thing and the other two were scooters. They were in perfect formation, the scooters flanking the mini-bike thing and flying across the parking lot at near 20mph. No helmets. No adults near by. No regard for parking lot traffic. 

Ooof!

 Municipalities in Iowa are currently wrestling with coming up with ordinances and laws to regulate these devices and differentiate them from bicycles which have electric assistance. I posted about this recently here. 

Most agree that education, parental involvement, and some knowledge amongst law enforcement about the differences between what are bicycles and what are not bicycles will help. Certainly, this makes sense. 

But you are speaking about humans, right? We cannot even expect humans to follow the rules when it comes to current usage of any of the vehicles we use.  So why can we feel safe with regard to any ordinance, law, or public education measures when it comes to electrified two-wheeled vehicles like e-Motos, e-Scooters, and the like? 

The problem probably cannot be rectified with enforcement of law and ordinance. You'll catch a few, but you won't stop them all. Getting any kind of stoppage of sales of these things would be great, but if people are making money off sales of these things, you'll have a hard time stopping the in-flow of the devices used to create these issues. And, of course, there are a lot of these things already here.

The final line of defense is relying on "people to do the right thing". This is the vibe I'm getting so far from these discussions. Sorry, but I cannot buy into this line of thinking. The problem with e-device abuse is what you see in the mirror. And to regulate that? 

I don't see the good solution yet.  

Update On The Ride For Jacob

GT's Ride For Jacob, Saturday, July 25th, 2026:

Where: North Parking Lot of Big Woods Lake, Cedar Falls, Iowa.. For detailed directions to the parking lot see the July 10th entry HERE

When: 8:00am

What: A no-drop gravel road ride of 46.3 miles which will pass through the towns of Janesville, Iowa, Shell Rock, Iowa, and New Hartford, Iowa. 

Why: A Ride to honor my son, Jacob Stevenson who died on August 2nd, 2025 at the age of 22 years. 

Expectations: Casual pace. Riders can resupply in Janesville, Shell Rock, and New Hartford. No-drop means we may stop at various times to gather up stragglers. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU! There is NO SAG SUPPORT. If you have to bail, quit, or cannot go on for some reason, then you will have to self-extract, or have a back-up plan in place. No one associated with me is going to come and pick you up. THIS RIDE IS FREE. No entry fees, and therefore there should be no expectations for anything other than for you to bring a good attitude, a capability to ride 40 miles of gravel and pavement, and to have tools, water, nutrition, and a way to communicate to the outside world, (smart phone usually...or you can choose smoke signals. You do you.), and have all this on a competent bike in good condition. 

IF you join me you assume all personal responsibility and will be held accountable for any and all actions you take, actions of others on the ride which may negatively affect you, or for any circumstances related to weather, traffic, and road conditions which may cause personal harm, injury, or death. In other words, I am not responsible for anything that happens to you if you come on this ride. IF you decide to ride with me, you assume all responsibility for YOURSELF. 

Okay.................with all this understood, here are the finer details.......

I did some tweaking of the original route. Here are some details on what to look for. First, we will be leaving going North on the bike path to Lone Tree Road, then continuing North to Dunkerton Road and going Right to get us across HWY 218/27. Then we will head North again on Symons Road. These three miles plus a little are all pavement. We should be single file, aware of our surroundings, and looking out for traffic until we reach the "T" intersection with Mount Vernon Road. 

Gravel starts here. I decided to take a Left and head up Leversee Road instead of what the original Ride For Jacob did which was to go North out of Waterloo up Burton Avenue. The start in Cedar Falls dictated this because it would make for an easier place to start, park vehicles, and return to. More so than almost any place in Waterloo would have for a start of a North route out of town. 

I also tweaked the route coming out of Shell Rock. Instead of going West I decided to go South out of there to cut off a big loop I did last year which wasn't all that interesting. We will cross that old gabled bridge over the West Fork of the Cedar River though. And we will still be taking the short bit of pavement from the North into New Hartford to go by the convenience store there. 

Finally, I did not like how I used a bit of Union Road last year and coming in on a great bike path on West First Street which dwindles down to crappy sidewalk seemed like a poor idea for a group of cyclists. So I rerouted out in the country to bring the ride back in on West 12th, then hitting that bike path to Hudson Road, and then continuing down 12th to State Street after the round-a-bout so we can go through downtown. 

IF the group feels the itch to stop at, oh say....Second State Brewing Co., or something along those lines, we could do that. Then it is a short jaunt from there via bike path to the end where we started. 

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE ROUTE.  

The route is on Ride With GPS. Please download the file into your device if you are planning to come, or even if you are not coming, this would make a fun route to ride out of Cedar Falls and back again. 

NOTE: I have not reconned this route yet and I plan on doing this before the 25th. IF there are any route changes I will announce this after recon. I do not anticipate there being anything different though.  

Questions? Hit me up at g.ted.productions@gmail.com or here in the comments.  

XLBird Review

The swap to the XL sized Peregrine Mk4 frame was covered earlier HERE and HERE. Then I posted a quick take on the build HERE. This post will cover everything I've learned since then and will suffice as the final update on the switch from the Large size frame to the XL sized one. 

My original reasoning for getting this bike was to satisfy my craving for a "classic" looking gravel bike which had up to date tire clearances. My previous choice, the Twin Six Standard Rando, is, at this time, not capable of having any tire much wider than a 43mm gravel tire in the back. I loved the look of the T-6, and it rode fine, but I wanted wider tires, so..... 

The size Large was, on paper, the right size for me, but in reality the bike felt cramped when I rode it, and I had a nagging feeling the frame wasn't quite "right" in reality. This led to - thanks to Matt Gersib and Sam Alison - to getting the size XL instead. 

Now with everything set up as I like it, I have to say this size feels a LOT better when I'm riding it. I feel more in between the wheels instead of on top of them. The Luxy Bars, ironically inspired by Sam Alison of Singular's input, is perfect for this bike. I'm so glad I had Luxy Bars in silver ano for this build. Riding in the drops is really good and the hoods are hand savers. They may look weird to a traditionalist, but when I am riding gravel these handle bars are so nice. I really wish someone could make these again. 

Which makes one wonder: Would the size Large have been okay with Luxy Bars? The bike would have been better, no doubt, but still not "right". Luxy Bars wouldn't have fixed the slight cramped feel the size Large had. 

I wanted this bike to become the one I'd pull out most often, and I think this will be the case going forward. Now, I have some other nice bikes as well, and I will be riding those also, but my hope is the Peregrine will become a bicycle which won't grow stale and be a steady, easy to ride bike now and in the future. I do think it handles very well. It feels smoother than the T-6 ever did and it is better than the size Large Peregrine was.  

So far it has been a very successful move. I do not feel any of the old niggles I had with the size Large and for this I am very grateful. Mk4's are gone now, but if you are interested in a Peregrine Mk5, I would highly recommend one, but do pay attention to the sizing chart. Be aware this is a classically inspired design, which means "not much exposed seat post" for you, in all likelihood. The new Peregrine is also a Maxway factory made frame and fork. In my opinion, the Maxway factory is a superior place to have frames and forks in steel made. So, that is a good thing. 

If I Had To Guess....

Image courtesy of Singular Cycles

The buzz over the 32"ers hasn't died down much since Sea Otter and some folks are already in line waiting on delivery of the ultimate wagon-wheeled bicycle. But what intrigues me the most is how these bikes will be received after the initial wave of enthusiasm over them wanes. 

I see some signs of momentum, (no pun intended) for 32"ers and gravel cycling. I see some interest in the wheel size for bike packing. Of course, the initial buzz was created by XC MTB and 32 inch wheels. 

I have a couple of reasons to believe that 32 inch wheels will be more popular in gravel and bike packing than they will be for mountain biking. I think it comes down to two physics related issues. 

Larger wheels hold momentum better than smaller ones do given similar set ups. Now this is a good thing for gravel riders. It may also come in handy for a bike packer, depending upon the area being ridden. Mountain biking can be a momentum driven sport, but more often than not, you are dealing with stopping quickly, or lots of deceleration, and then lots of little accelerations. Especially in Mid-West single track. Stop - Go - Stop - Go. Tight corners, not much "flow". 

I can see 32 being good on some flowy stuff, but on "real" single track? I gotta think it would be better on a 29"er. Maybe I am way off. Of course, it's all just speculation as of now. 

The other thing I see is just how darn big the rear wheel is and how dropping into steeps and trying to get your butt low and back is going to be a hindrance on a 32"er. The shorter you are, the worse this will be, in my opinion. 

Screen grab from a Trek video showing their 32"er FS proto

Gravel cycling, and to a degree, bikepacking, probably are not as affected by those two things as MTB will be. Add on the fact that below a medium sized bike your geometry will necessarily be wonky with 32"er wheels and the market for big wheeled 32"ers seems a bit limited. So, for MTB, I don't see 32"ers being super-popular. 

Trek and a couple others are banking on the MTB 32"er, and maybe they will be "right", or at the least, okay with whatever they put out eventually. Uniquely, Twin Six has a design which could be either MTB or gravel/bike packing.  Other brands, like Singular, have a model for MTB and one for gravel. Most brands seem to be hedging toward MTB as of now. 

The MTB bikes will certainly garner a lot of sales and attention on the front end of 32"er sales, but I feel gravel/bike packing will eventually become where 32"ers are at their best. We've already seen 32 inch wheels do well at Unbound. Of course, 32"ers have already been seen at the front of some XC events as well. So maybe none of those results is a good indicator for 32"er sales in "the real world". 

Again, I have nothing in terms of hard data to say one way or the other. But if I had to guess now, my gut feeling is 32'ers are going to become a bigger deal in gravel and bike packing than they will be for mountain biking.  

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of the Polk County Health Department

E-Bike/Scooter/Moto Issues Reach Fever Peak In Iowa:

I realize this is a nationwide issue, but my focus here is on Iowa as it relates to the debate and concerns over electrified two and three wheeled devices. 

Reports of crashes, injuries, and damage are on the uptick. I saw a recent post by an ED professional (Emergency Department = ED) who was stating a case for helmet usage and proper education of children and adults concerning electrified vehicles. Stating a strong uptick in ED visits due to usage of these devices, the individual was pleading with parents, especially, to educate themselves and their children on the proper usage of these devices. 

Many municipalities in Iowa are also posting on social media concerning either education, laws currently on books, or about impending city ordinances which are being considered to regulate this surge of electric vehicle usage on streets and trails. 

Comments: The issues facing many cities are beyond the scope of control, in most cases, in my opinion. In view of how people are using these vehicles, it is my opinion that there are three basic user groups. One: Youth who are looking for easy transportation, thrills, and freedom from having to beg rides from parents or older siblings. Two: Low income people, either coming out of the legal system, or from other countries, who either cannot afford a car/truck, or cannot legally operate a car/truck, or both. Three: recreational cyclists who use e-bikes as a way to exercise and enjoy the outdoors who would not otherwise be doing so without an assisted bicycle or tricycle. 

Most concerns I see being voiced are over misuse or ignorance (or both) and point at the underage crowd on these vehicles as being a menace to society. I do not see much concern over low income/disadvantaged folks using even the vehicles which are prohibited by law to be ridden without a license and insurance. That said, there are probably a few instances where these folks are causing problems. Most assuredly most of this segment is on these electrified vehicles because they cannot get, or afford insurance and/or a license. The third crowd, the e-bikers with assisted pedaling platforms, are generally no big deal to anyone. 

What will likely happen? Smaller communities with limited resources will likely ban them all. Most of these cities and villages don't even have police. They just won't have any other way to enforce or apply any laws/ordinances. (Unless they lump the e-motor vehicles in with side-by-sides) At the very least, the laws and ordinances will keep the city/village governments out of liability in case of crashes, injuries, or deaths. Bigger cities may try separating the assisted vehicles from the non-assisted ones, but again, enforcement will be limited due to limited resources. Police are already spread thin, and asking them to separate goats from sheep is not going to be efficient. Maybe states will get involved, like New Jersey did, but I think this will be hit or miss based upon the specific cases each state is seeing rise through their judiciary systems. 

My gut tells me the issue will become solved, mostly, when either states, or the Federal government steps in at the behest of insurers to make all electric assist and e-motor equipped two and three wheeled vehicles illegal unless they are licensed and insured. Essentially following the New Jersey example, if it is a successfully implemented law there. 

Time will tell, but I think it will have to be solved sooner than later. 

Substack Story:

Some of you here may already have noted my Substack account, maybe you follow it, but if not, I just wanted to point it out. 

I don't post there a lot, but when I do it usually is something I don't publish anywhere else. Recently I wrote a bit more personal story about BRAN and why I went on the trip. If you want to check it out, Click Here.  

If this sort of thing intrigues you and you like my writing, please consider subscribing to my Substack. It's free, and there is no obligation.  

Update On Chris King Hub/Wheel Build:

A slow news week here folks! So, I am going through the archives and making sure nothing gets left behind. I did come across the Chris king hub story from back in April. (Here) 

The hang up is in regard to rims and what I want to spend. Carbon is nice, it builds a strong, lightweight wheel, and is my preference. However; they are expensive for anything with a reputation for quality and durability. 

For instance, I can buy two Velocity Blunt SS aluminum rims for a little bit more than I can buy one decent carbon rim in a few cases, and for less than many single carbon rims in the size and spoke count I need.  

So, seeing as how money has been tight, or allocated elsewhere of late (BRAN), I haven't made any decisions for those hubs yet. I probably will not make a decision on rims for quite some time yet. 

Update On Ergon Review:

Another thing I need to get back on is the review of the Ergon SR AllRoad Pro Saddle and the BT OrthoCell Handlebar Tape.  Those items are on the Honeman Flyer and I switched out to ride the bikes I was considering for BRAN shortly after the review kicked off. 

Now it is time to switch over to these products n the Honeman Flyer to conclude the review. I have another item coming in I cannot speak about yet which will help push these reviews up my "to do" list. 

Interestingly, I have used the Honeman Flyer as a training bike for BRAN and since I've returned several times. I just haven't done any longer rides out in the country. I do have a bit of feedback, even from ny shorter rides, so it hasn't been as though I don't have any time on these products. I just don't have the gravel time I like to get before I write up anything. 

So, stay tuned for updates on both products here from Ergon very soon.  

And That's A Wrap! 

I know.....The tour is on now. (May as well hand Pogačar the trophy now) But I have almost zero interest in Pro road racing these days, so you are not going to see much coverage of it here. With that, I want to thank you for checking out Guitar Ted Productions today. I hope you all get out for a ride this weekend.  

Review: Aeron TPU Tubes Update #3

 Note: Guitar Ted received Aeron TPU tubes and a patch kit at no charge for test and review from Aeron. Guitar Ted is not being paid, nor bribed for this review and all opinions are Guitar Ted's. 

 I've been testing the Aeron TPU tubes most of this season already. The last update came back in early May. Then the whole BRAN thing happened and I was off doing things in preparation for that trip. Now that I'm back in a regular routine again I have had time to do an experiment with the Aeron tubes to check out something I was curious about. 

That being how an Aeron tube would respond to being taken out of one tire and being put into another. Would the tube be too stretched out to use in a smaller volume tire? Would the TPU be stressed or damaged easily by handling it after having been inflated and ridden a while? 

To learn the answers to these questions I took the front wheel I had been using with these tubes on my Black Mountain Cycles MCD, a wheel with a WTB Nineline 29" X 2.25" tire, and swapping that Aeron tube to a narrower tire. I also decided to go with a different wheel as well, just to make this even a bit more interesting. 

 The tire I chose is a Rene Herse Fleecer Ridge 700 X 55mm tire. The Fleecer Ridge is actually a bit narrower than claimed and in inches would be a 2.1" tire, so slightly narrower than the 2.25 WTB tire, which measured out right at its claimed width. 

The wheel changed from a WTB Proterra i23 to an ancient HED Belgium+ design rim called the Ardennes wheel. It is slightly narrower than the WTB rim internally as it is 21mm internal width. With an obvious change in inner rim profile and a narrower tire, would the Aeron tube be compatible after having been in a larger space? 

Removing the Aeron tube, I noted that it felt very delicate. Maybe it thinned out a bit? But when I aired it up enough to give it some shape for installation in the Rene Herse/HED combination, I observed that the tube was not oversized for the new application. Installation was easy, but it was a delicate operation.  It should also be noted again that these Aeron tubes are spec'ed to work with 650B diameter tires as well as 700c tires. The tube was not stretched out to a 700c diameter requiring a bit of finessing to get the tube into the Fleecer Ridge casing. 

My conclusion is then that - at least for the Aeron TPU tubes - they do stretch to fit a larger tire but they do not stay stretched out if removed. These examples, at least, show some return to original size out of the box, despite their feeling thinner than new as I recall things. 

This is an interesting finding since it would seem that, as long as one handles the TPU tube with care, Aeron TPU tubes can be safely transferred from one wheel to another. The main point being that you have to be very careful with the TPU material and see to it you do not damage the tube by removing it and reinstalling it. 

So, I think the Aeron tubes retain their shape to a degree that you can use a tube from a slightly larger tire and put it into a slightly narrower one. However; I do feel it would be rather easy to damage the TPU material while doing a swap-over. 

More riding will be done soon and I will return with another update later into Summer.  

Selle SMP Pro Saddle: Part 1

  Note: This review is of a used Selle SMP saddle Guitar Ted purchased from the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. Selle SMP is not aware of this review and all opinions are Guitar Ted's. 

Last week I introduced to you the Selle SMP saddles, if you were not already aware of them.  As it turned out, several of you were aware of the brand and are current users of an SMP saddle. If you missed last week's post, click HERE. 

One of the comments I received on that post was a quite informative one. In the comment was a link to professional bike fitter, Steve Hogg's article on SMP saddles. It is a deep-dive into all of Selle SMP's models and where they are best applied, in Hogg's opinion, amongst various cyclists. (Click HERE for Steve Hogg's SMP post) Beware! It is technical, long, and may be more of a rabbit hole than you may want to dive into! 

I found it to be very informative and instructive as to how to set up an SMP saddle. According to Hogg, the "Pro" model is a bit of an outlier in SMP's range, but a very comfort oriented choice nonetheless. To my way of thinking, it fits best for the common, non-racer cyclists who want a saddle to relieve numbness and promote comfort on long rides. So, I think I fell into a good choice with this Pro model. 

I decided to mount the Pro on my 2014 Raleigh Tamland Two, as it is set up in a bit more of a tourist/comfort/endurance way than some of my other gravel bikes. All that to say the Tamland is set up for comfort on longer outings. Perfect for this review. 

I did have an issue with wheels though, and this took several days to sort out. I do not have many choices in quick release wheels anymore! Additionally, I have few bikes which use quick release drop outs anymore, so this complicated matters a bit. In the end, I did find a set of wheels and if the tires seal up (tubeless) and I don't have to revisit that, we're good to go now. 

As you can see here I have the Selle SMP Pro nose down just a bit, as my friend from Nebraska, Jayme said I should do. The seat post is a two bolt design which allows easy micro-adjustments. So the next phase in testing will be to go on a ride and take a wrench with me to adjust the post as necessary. Initially I can say it feels "right", but things can change while riding a longer time than just around the block. 

 I did note something when I got the bike outdoors and test rode the set up. The leather SMP uses is very soft and luxurious feeling. In fact, it was startling compared to other saddles I have. I'm not sure this will have any effect upon riding, but it is noteworthy. For being a used saddle, it sure looks almost new, so I don't know that this softness was a wear-in effect, and I'm inclined to think this is just how the Pro is out of the box. But this is speculation. Perhaps someone out there can comment if they have any experience with this. 

In the Hogg article, it was noted the SMP saddles have longer saddle rails than many other saddles do, and I think you can see this from my image above. I agree, the rails are long. Finding a saddle set-back appropriate to your fit shouldn't be an issue. You can see how I slid the Pro up a bit, compensating for the longer offset of this carbon post I'm using. 

Okay, so that is all I have for you on this SMP saddle today. I'll get some riding done and will report back again soon. Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!  

Fleet Review: Part 2

Last week I presented my "Fleet Review: Part 1" where I showed off all my gravel bikes. Click the link to see those in case you missed that. This time I am featuring my off-road and fat bike bicycles.  This will not be everything and there will be at least one more Fleet Review post after this one. 

Okay, here we go with a look at the off-road specific bikes I have here at Guitar Ted Productions

2003 Surly Karate Monkey

2003 Surly Karate Monkey

This is my very first 29 inch wheeled bicycle. Well.....the frame and fork, headset, and seat collar are 2003 bits! The rest is far newer than 2003. Of course, if you remember, Surly wasn't selling complete Karate Monkeys back then. Just a frame and a fork.  

Long-term blog readers have seen this bike before. It has had disc brakes and drop bars on it for most of the time I've owned it. It never has had a derailleur mounted to the frame. Always single speed! It even has briefly been a fixed gear bike.  

Notable bits are the XTR hubs, vintage 2000 or so. Those are laced to Salsa Delgado rims. The head set came out of my 1996 Diamond Back V-Link Pro and is a Race Face head set. The apple green Brooks B-17 was gifted to me for this bike by one of you dear readers. The chain wheel is from a mtbr.com member who had a cottage company called Homegrown or something to that effect. He only did single speed stuff in various anodized colors.  

I could have placed this bike in my "other" category, since it is mainly my commuter bike, or in the gravel category, as it was my main gravel bike for years, or as a mountain bike, because this is what it is, a mountain bike. 

I have kept this bike because 9a) I really like it, and 9b0 it was the bike I have done my longest ever one day ride on, approximately 165 miles, on the first Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational in 2006. 

2006 OS Bikes Blackbuck

2006 OS Bikes Blackbuck:

This is an oddball bike. Well.....aren't all first gen 29"ers oddball? They all look like they've been rammed head on into a brick wall with those steep, out of fashion head angles. The Blackbuck is no exception. 

But even if the Blackbuck had modern slack, long and low geometry, it would still be weird. It has parallel head tube and seat tube angles. The bike could be had with the special Blackbuck fork, which was a short axle to crown affair with a long offset giving this bike a steep 74° head tube angle and razor sharp, super nervous handling. (Yes, I have the steel rigid Blackbuck for as well) It is a single speed specific design, yet you could get this floating rear derailleur hanger if you wanted to gear it up. The blackbuck has a really short wheel base, in comparison to modern 29"ers, and it carves Mid-West single track with precision as a result. 

The fork is a Bontrager Switchblade with 38mm offset. The 470mm axle to crown works nicely here giving the bike a 71-ish degree head angle. The head set is from Chris King's first run of pink anodized head sets. The brake levers are 1996 Avids with adjusters to make them work with cantilevers or linear pull brakes. I built the wheels using White Industries hubs donated to me by my friend in SoCal. The rims I won at a giveaway at QBP for Frostbike when only myself and one other person showed up for a giveaway of a pair of Salsa Gordo rims. Back when 29"ers were still considered weird! 

The anodized seat collar, a Salsa model, was given to me by Tim Krueger when he still worked at QBP. The green ano cranks are Sugino branded and were anodized by a local guy back in the 2000's. 

Great bike. Nice to ride around here in the Fall because the sticks and blow-downs cannot rip off a rear derailleur, since there isn't one to rip off! 

2005 On One Inbred

2005 On One Inbred: 

Here we have a really rare one since it is a very early On One Inbred. I got this from a distributor on close out because they were going to be On One dealers in the USA, then something happened on the back end business-wise and whatever stock the distributor had they closed out before any were announced to the public.  Anyway, I grabbed this size 18" example with its matching steel segmented fork in early 2006. 

I set this bike up as a single speed and entered the first Dirty Kanza (now Unbound) in 2006, so this is one of the first 34 bikes to do that event. (Along with myself, of course!) Anyway, I grew tired of the bike and sold it to a coworker not many years afterward. Then the bike went out of my reckoning for years. The coworker, Craig, gave it to his brother who was going to college. Then he used it as a mountain bike in Kansas and Colorado. Eventually the brother grew tired of the bike, and because I had told Craig I wanted first dibs on teh bike if it ever was to be sold, he brought it back to me. 

Well, the fork came home first. It was cracked though, after years of mountain abuse, so it went to the scrap heap. The frame came later with a lot of teh parts bolted to it you see above. Craig didn't charge me a penny! So, I have it back now and it doesn't get ridden much, but I have this history with it and..... 

You know? 

The wheels I built from WTB Frequency i23 rims on American Classic hubs. The handle bar is a Wilde branded made by Nitto of Japan. The shifters are SRAM TT bar end shifters on Paul Components base mounts. The fork is an On One Carbon version of the steel fork. 

Origin 8 Scout XLT

  2016 Origin 8 Scout XLT: 

This is a bittersweet addition to this list. This was my son Jacob's last bike. An Orgin 8 model frame I sourced on close-out to take the place of the 2012 Salsa Cycles Mukluk he had outgrown. Most of the parts came over from the Salsa, but the wheels are Beargrease wheels I got from N.Y. Roll. The fork was the replacement fork from his Mukluk which had been recalled. I never cut the steer tube because I figured Jacob might outgrow this bike and then I could swap the fork over to a larger frame, but that need never came.  

I struggle with keeping this or selling it, or giving it to a needy kid, or.... I don't know what the right thing to do is for myself yet. But my feeling is this bike is likely going away at some point. But right now I have it, so here it is..... 

2025 Salsa Cycles Titanium Mukluk

 2015 Salsa Cycles Titanium Mukluk (Ti Muk 2)

Long-time readers know this bike. It's the Rohloff equipped, dynamo hubbed fat bike I call the Ti Muk 2 because I had a 2011 Titanium Mukluk for a while before this bike came here. 

This was a very special bike because my brother, MG, rounded up a bunch of folks to make this purchase super-low cost for me. They paid the majority of the asking price, I paid essentially very little, but the main point is that this bike was a gift and a surprise one at that. 

It's my main Winter commuter and sometimes single track machine. It has carbon Whiskey rims and the tires are tubeless and this makes riding this bike way easier than most fat bikes are to ride. The 14 speed internally geared hub has all the range I'd ever want here. It is the perfect Winter bike for me.  

2014 Blackborow DS

2014 Salsa Cycles Blackborow DS

DS stands for "Dual Single Speed". The bike has an odd "dinglespeed" set up where you can manually drop the chain on an inner set or an outer set of gears. As long as the teeth count from both cogs equals the other set, the chain doesn't need to be shortened or lengthened and you don't have to re-tension the drive train. 

So, you end up with a Low or High gear set up. This allows this bike to be simple, light in weight, yet it has a low enough gear to crawl through very deep snow with its 100mm wide rims and 4.8" tires. 

And oddly enough, the bike is stock but for a Thompson seat post and the saddle. 

2011 Salsa Cycles Mukluk

2011 Salsa Cycles Mukluk

Another very special bike to me. I got the frame and fork for my 50th birthday funded by several friends. So, it is hard to let this one go, even though I rarely ride it these days. 

This one needs a new drive train, and I probbaly should rebuild the wheels....again. This bike has had a few wheel issues since I have had it, with the worst being centered around a pair of bad Phil Wood fat bike hubs.  

This one could also very easily become a frame on the wall thing too. We will see..... 

That's a wrap on the off-road stuff I have. Next will be utility bikes and parts bikes. Stay tuned..... 

Country Views: 4th of July 2026

Escape Route: Waterloo alleys

I had been looking forward to the 4th of July this year. Not because it was a big date in history, America's 250th, but because I needed to get out into the country. The 4th was a date I had circled since coming back from the BRAN experience. 

BRAN caused damage. I had some nasty saddle sores I needed to allow to heal. And, of course, I needed a bit of time to recover from the week. I saw progress in both areas over the last half of June, but it was slow. Then it got beastly HOT. 

So, June was slipping away and the 4th of July weekend allotted me some space to make a plan to get on a bike and grind some gravel. Then it rained all day Thursday, on Friday morning, and again early Saturday morning. Was I going to be able to squeeze in a ride? The weather looked clear between about 9:00am and maybe 2:00pm or so. I decided to take off and do a run South and East of Waterloo. 

Day lilies lined the ditches along Ansborough for several miles.

A lot of people were into the spirit of celebrating the USA's 250th. 

Getting out of town now to the South has been made a bit more complicated due to construction and a bridge out on the Sergeant Road Trail. So, I backtracked a route I typically use getting into town. Going backward on a route may as well be a new, unforeseen route. Everything looks and feels different! I ended up getting dumped out on Ansborough Avenue not far from Highway 20. Not at all where I wanted to be. Oh well! I made it work. 

 

It has been a while since I took Ansborough Avenue out of town to the South. This was the first road I used as a regular gravel riding route back in the mid-2000's. I'd ride Ansborough to Tama County and back home. About a 35 mile ride round trip. 

Today I was going to head South until I reached Quarry and turn East. Maybe I'd get in around 30 miles. At least I wouldn't have to come back through Waterloo's convoluted street layout! 

Tall corn provides excellent privacy for a "nature break". 

 

Annual check of corn growth on the 4th. 

I rode the XLBird on its first out of town gravel ride. Things went smoothly, and I'll have a specific write-up on the bike this week. But yes, I like it. I also liked the roads. The recent heavy rains have smoothed out the loose gravel and vehicles have accelerated the transfer of gravel from all across the roadway to the typical three clear lines. 

Corn is looking great. No wonder with all the rain and humidity of late. It's perhaps not as exceedingly tall as it can be at this time of the year, but it is still "man high on the 4th of July!" 

 

You can see some chicory alongside the road on the right here. 

Quarry Road had obviously been maintained recently as the gravel was thick. The rain helped it not be so loose, but it was a chore to find a good line. One positive out of the weather situation was that there was zero dust. A very unusual situation! 

Quarry Road was also lined with various wild flowers. I love seeing the flowers dancing and bobbing in the breezes. My favorite flower to see is the Chicory. I love their color. I think they are a bit early this year, but I'll take it!

 

Fellow gravel grinders Robert and Cary Fry. 

I stopped on the bridge over Miller Creek to take a quick break. I ate an Epic pemmican bar, drank some water, and listened to the swollen creek as it gurgled on its way to the Cedar River not too many miles away. 

Suddenly I heard voices and I looked back West up Quarry Road and spied two riders coming my way. It turned out to be Robert and Cary Fry out for a gravel ride. What a surprise! They were on their way to LaPorte City, so I rode about a mile with them before I turned North up Foulk Road. I told Robert he and Cary were maybe the third, maybe fourth occurrence ever of me meeting another gravel rider out around Waterloo in 20 years of grinding gravel.  

I call these lonely four cottonwood trees on the East side of Foulk Road "The Four Sisters". 

 

Evidence of our recent heavy rains. Many have stated they received between 4" to 6" in the area just on Thursday!

Foulk Road is FLAT. Lots of pedaling on Foulk Road. If you are bucking a headwind, or bashing through thick, fresh gravel - or heaven forbid, BOTH - it is a real mental slog to ride this section. Fortunately only the gravel was mildly troublesome on this particular ride. 

There is a pair of aggressive Labradors now on a place just North off the corner of Schrock Road and Foulk Road on the West side of Foulk. One is a yellow lab and the other is black. They both came out on the road and had me stopped until their foul-mouthed owner came out to call them off. Just a head's up in case you go by there..... 

Waterloo displayed 1,776 flags around the Veteran's Memorial complex in honor of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 

I made it back home with a little over 28 miles in. Not anything to write home about, although I just wrote an entire post about it! But it is what it is. A start back to regular riding, I hope, and perhaps this stupid weather will cooperate for a while. We will see! 

Two Things

Graphic courtesy of the Weather Front app

Wet Weather

This weekend was washed up in many ways due to a wet weather pattern which kicked in on Thursday and kept things dicey as far as riding all weekend.

The worst part is that now the Cedar River and its tributaries will be flooding for a while and that makes things hard around here. Camping, hard surface trails, and soft trails all get affected by this. 

Southern Minnesota was hit hard with many 8" to 10" rainfalls on Wednesday. There is a lot of that land which drains into the Cedar River. So, that is all coming down as well to add to what we got here. Friday we received even more rain, so....yeah... 

 The graphic here shows rain accumulation for Thursday. Pink is more than 4" of rain. Red is up to 4", and yellow is up to 3". That's just Thursday.

Image courtesy of Allied Bicycle Works

All Road? Wait A Minute.....

Allied Bicycle Works just posted news on their Echo model, a "road bike" which Allied places in a category called "All Road". 

Hmm..... Where have I heard THAT term before? I think I was talking about this concept at least 16 years ago now. "Gravel" is such a poor term for what bikes I love most are, and "All Road" is much preferred, but back in the day when these more capable road bikes became available through the bicycle industry, some knuckle headed marketing department went with "gravel bikes" and the name, unfortunately, stuck. 

"Gravel" means nothing now. It can describe adventure bikes, racing bikes with fat tires, mountain bikes with drop bars, or touring bikes. The term is attached to so many things because "gravel sells" that it has become a term which has been diluted to the point most are becoming deaf to its meaning. Or what it originally meant, at any rate. 

Allied, and other road bike purveyors, finally woke up and saw that people have been abandoning strictly paved riding. These riders have escaped the danger of distracted drivers, increased numbers of automobiles and trucks on roads, even though statistics show per capita mileage has decreased. The number of vehicles on the road has increased, so volume of traffic has been on the rise. 

With the effect of riders abandoning pavement, the brands offering pavement-centric, racing based road bikes suffered. Bikes with drop bars, wider, more capable tires, and better rider comfort based on geometry and fit, became desirable as these bicycles could tackle any road surface. You know.....

All Roads?

So we've seen a big push by brands trying to say they are "road bike" makers stuff wider and wider tires into their frames so people could ride, you know, all roads instead of just smooth paved ones. And now Allied has finally just capitulated and called these things what they are, "All Road" bikes. 

The Echo has pretty standard geometry from a "gen I gravel" standpoint. It can handle up to 45mm tires. It still has capabilities for standard road drive trains. I suspect this sort of bike will start to become wnat the brands will badge as "Road Bikes" in the future, avoiding the "all road' tag, because - if I am not mistaken, Giant has a claim on the name, or did at one time. 

Meanwhile "gravel" is becoming a "drop bar mountain/aero/racing" hybrid and maybe we just need to embrace what is becoming the "New Road Bike". Because I'm not all that excited about a bike which is designed for the needs of less than 1% of gravel riders, which seems to be what many brands are interested in making now. 

Happy 250th!

Red, White, and Blue

Happy 4th of July!

Guitar Ted Productions is taking teh day off to ride in honor of the United States of America;'s 250th anniversary.

Hopefully, if you observe the 4th, you can get out and celebrate by pedaling as well. And even if you don't observe the 4th, get out and ride that bike of yours!

It'll do ya good.

If the ride happens today I should have a report on Monday. Stay tuned..... 


 

Friday News And Views

Twin Six 3X2 32"er frame set (Image courtesy of Twin Six)

 Order Up! 32"er Companies Pushing Big Wheels:

You may have noted some promotions over the past week, week and a half, by several small purveyors of 32"ers. The orders are going in and minimums must be met to get production started. 

Esker, Twin Six, Curve Cycling, and others were pushing social media posts hard recently in hopes of getting riders to bite on this enticing, (for taller folks, mostly) technology.  

I know someone who has an order in, and I'm sure many of you out there are either in line to get one, or are considering it. One thing to note here: 32 inch wheels will probably not have the "gen I issues" 29"ers had. So, biting on the 32'er bait shouldn't get you an obsolete rig in five years. 

Hopefully..... 

 I'm very curious about 32"ers. But I do not need another bicycle. Plus, I'm willing to wait to see how things shake out. If this is all that and a bag of chips, I can get one whenever I want in the near future. And this means that if things change in regard to geometry, etc with 32"ers, I will not have bought into something that will be obsolete. 

Maybe....

Seeing on social media that Trek will have hard tail and FS 32"ers out in February 2027. (Heard they were taking orders now.) Specialized, Pivot, and Ari Cycles are rumored to be doing 32"ers as well. So, perhaps it won't be obsolete right away.  

Probably..... 

Guitar Ted Approved:

Well folks, I found a silver seat post and a saddle and now the Singular Cycles Peregrine Mk4 is all finished (for the near future - I make no guarantees!)

The seat post is an old Campagnolo aero post. If you are familiar with those, you know they are not very long! I was able to get the correct seat height and still have the minimum insertion mark inside the seat tube, but only just! 

The saddle is a tried and true WTB Silverado, which has been my 'go-to' saddle of late. The two pieces cap of the build and now everything is ready to go for a longer gravel ride. 

The final 'approved by Guitar Ted' action was to sticker the frame up with a Trans Iowa sticker and a 'Jacob' sticker in honor of my late son. So I'm pleased with the switcheroo and all systems are go for gravel travel now. 

Image courtesy of Giant Bicycles

Giant Announces Revolt Advance SL Model With Carbon Hub/Spoke Wheel System

On Tuesday of this week online sites were going ga-ga over Giant's newest gravel bikes. The Revolt Advance SL is the range topper with racing focused geometry and parts. 

And how about those wheels? Carbon hubs and spokes with a wheel weight under 1,300 grams total for front and rear wheels.  

Comments: Fun stuff for the bike nerds to geek out over, but dive into the marketing, specs, and geometry and really let it sink in. This is a bike for the less than 1% of gravel riders. It is a Pro level racing bike and much of the "feature list" descriptions could have been pulled directly from marketing of Tour de France bikes from the 2000's. "Stiffer", "feedback from racers". and  aero everything, of course. 

Is this a bike for The Every-person? No. It is not. But that is who will end up buying this bike because "weight", "aero", and "Pro racing" sells bikes to.....I guess some folks? Anyway, congratulations on race-ifying gravel bikes, Giant.  

And is it just me, or does this bike resemble every Chinese brand gravel bike I've seen recently? Hmm.... 

Date Set For GT's Ride For Jacob:

Thanks to Nick from the Board of the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective, I have secured a date for GT's Ride For Jacob. We will be riding from the North parking lot at Big Woods Lake starting at 8:00am on Saturday, July 25th. 

The ride will consist of a loop from the parking lot at Big Woods Lake to gravel North of Waterloo, Iowa. We will pass through Janesville, Iowa, cross the Cedar River, then we will go on to cross the Shell Rock River and travel through Shell Rock, Iowa. From this most Northern point of the loop we will head West and South towards New Hartford, our last pass-through town. 

The ride will end by coming into Cedar Falls from the West toward downtown on mostly bike path. There could be a stop downtown if folks are so inclined. The ride from downtown to the parking lot at Big Woods Lake is a short one all on bicycle path.  

Stay tuned for any further updates here or on the ride site.  

Image courtesy of WTB

WTB Teases New Unreleased Hub, Hints At New Wheels To Come:

A press release from WTB on Wednesday pointed out a new hub WTB has designed which is being used by the Cannondale Factory Race Team and won with at a recent Elite XCO World Cup event.

Looking through the release I was able to glean out that the rear hub will use a "DLC ratchet ring-drive system". It may be similar to DT Swiss' ratcheting drive design. This is a fairly commonplace move since the patent ran out on the design formerly held by DT Swiss. 

Dubbed "Frequency 7X" hubs, the set for MTB usage is a claimed sub 300 grams for the pair. These hubs spin on "oversized Enduro bearings" and are claimed to be tough enough for World Cup MTB while being amazingly light. 

The press release hinted that these, as yet unreleased hubs, will appear with new carbon rims for MTB and gravel use. So, look for some news on the wheel front from WTB in the near future. Another tidbit I gleaned from a thread on social media is that WTB is also working on an aero gravel tire design. Could it be that the new rims, hubs, and tire will be presented as a racing wheel system for gravel which is very aero? 

Could be a thing. 

That's a wrap on this week! If you are a US citizen, enjoy a safe and enjoyable 4th of July weekend! Get out there and ride some bicycles! 

Do That Again (At Least Once)

I have been saying for several years that I wanted to do a sub24 trip and...... I haven't done one. I don't know why, exactly, it's just that other stuff took precedence, or I let it do so, and I never got around to it. 

But the BRAN trip taught me that I can do this, and it also showed me I had better do it sooner than later or I won't ever do it. 

The gear is all there. I may as well use it. I know it works. There is only one thing I might have to change and that is the sleeping pad. The Thermarest Basecamp is flipping huge. I'd have to find an alternative which wasn't so massive so it did not take up so much space on the bike. Honestly, my old, ancient Thermarest pas might be okay from that standpoint. 

But no excuses. This has to happen at least once more this year. That's the goal. Small, I know, but it would be better than zero. And I have places I can go local to me as well. Maybe they are not that exciting, but that is my perspective. And in the end, it is the options that matter not "how cool/uncool" those places may seem to me. 

So, I better get on this. It's now or maybe never.....
 

What Is Up With With Selle SMP Saddles?

 Note: This review is of a used Selle SMP saddle Guitar Ted purchased from the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. Selle SMP is not aware of this review and all opinions are Guitar Ted's. 

Looking at saddles over the years a strange looking choice popped up which has always intrigued me. The Selle SMP saddles looked......weird compared to everything else I was seeing. I couldn't wrap my mind around the shape. It looked broken. And the huge cut-out section was odd too. Everything about the saddle seemed a bit off to my eyes. Plus, they weren't inexpensive either. 

Then a friend of mine showed up with a well worn one on his bike. He had purchased it new, so it was obvious he liked it and had a lot of time on it. So, of course, I had to ask. "How is that thing to ride?" He said it was the most comfortable saddle he'd ever used. It did not make him numb, and that was a big issue for him in the past. 

Okay.....sample of one. I filed that away in the brain trust, and then kept on riding. 

We're gonna get to the bottom of this....

Then on the recent BRAN ride I noted Jayme had these Growtac shifters on his bike and he offered me a quick test ride on his bike to try them out. (Another subject for another time) I then noted he had a Selle SMP saddle on his bike. So, I also got to see how this saddle felt. 

And you know what? It may look weird, but that short ride told me there was something to this oddball of the cycling saddle world. It just so happened that not long before BRAN a Selle SMP Pro saddle was donated to the Collective. So, when I returned from BRAN, I purchased the saddle and well......here we are!

What It Is: The Selle SMP Pro is their intermediate level saddle for MTB, gravel, or road for both Men or Women. It has a real leather cover, (in black only), or a MicroFiber cover in several different colors. The rails are made of AISI Stainless steel. A carbon railed version is also available. The shell is made of carbon reinforced Nylon 12. The padding is a foamed elastomer. 

The overal width of the SMP Pro is 148mm and the length is 278mm. Claimed weight is 350gm with the stainless steel rails and drops to 295gms with carbon rails. Cost for the Selle SMP Pro is $269.00USD with stainless steel rails and $449.00 with the carbon rails. 

Intentions: The intent of this review is to find out if the Selle SMP works for me at all. I want to see how it feels on longer rides. Is it the bees knees like many say it is, or just an oddball saddle that is merely different and works okay? Is it worth the asking price? How well is it made? How hard is it to set up correctly? 

That last point was something Jayme shared with me. He straight up told me if I set it up incorrectly it won't work for me. He pointed out his saddle and asked me to note how much tilt it had nose-downward. He claimed if I set it up level, with a "bucket/dip in the mid section, it would be bad. "You'll want it tipped down in the nose more than you'd think", he instructed. Although it should be noted that Selle SMP says to start out at level and the nose tilt can be anywhere from +10° to -25° after adjustments. 

But Jayme has a point. I did not catch that my WTB Silverado had slipped back in the seat post clamp at BRAN until Day Two and by then I had already done some nerve damage and caused saddle sores I only just recently have overcome. Set-up means everything with a saddle. So I am prepared to be open to different saddle set ups than I would normally think of doing. 

Initial Impressions: This saddle is not light. So, anyone looking to cut weight on a build probably wouldn't look at this saddle as an option. One likely is looking here at an SMP for relief from numbness or for comfort - or both.  

 It is well made. Very well made. I am impressed with the build quality of this saddle and there are not many saddles I've seen which rival the SMP. The leather is soft, pliable, and has a very even grain. Of course, there is every possibility this saddle is "broken in" already. But it does not appear to have many miles on it as the cover looks pristine and I don't see any marring, wear areas, or scratches. 

In the next post I will talk about set up and have a ride impression for you.  

So, here we go..... Stay tuned.