Continue reading]]> Adventure / touring / gravel bikes are great, aren’t they? They allow you to get out on the road and almost hang with the best road bikes out there. They also let you depart from said road and nearly keep up with the best cross country mountain bikes around. This is a great fantasy except for one little gremlin that messes it up. And believe it or not, it is not tires, suspension or geometry. It is gearing. It would be great if there was a component group that offered gearing nearly as tall as a 53/11 road bike group and at the same time offering a granny nearly as low as a mountain bike group. That is a big ask, to be sure. But if you are willing to tinker a little or get out there on the edge, it can be done.

Before going any farther, I admit to being a Shimano biased amateur bike mechanic. I will touch on SRAM a little. Campy does not make an MTB group so they don’t really play in this arena. So I may miss some options, but I am pretty sure this covers most of the bases. But if not, please feel free to let me know.

In the distant past there were various ways to make a wide range drop bar group. A triple road group, i.e. with a 3 chainring crankset, was one way. Mixing and matching road and mountain bike components could also be part of the solution. These options worked great up through 9 speed Shimano. Starting with 10 speed, Shimano began to break this compatibility between its road and mountain groups. Road bike 10 speed shifters did not work with 10 speed mountain bike derailleurs anymore. They could work with a 9 speed MTB rear derailleur, but that meant using older components in the mix. When Shimano went 11 speed, compatibility was nearly gone. No road shifters worked with any MTB derailleurs, and high end triple road groups were gone too. Admittedly the loss of road triple was not a big blow: it was possible to get the same range with new 2×11 speed groups. This was all happening at a time when gravel/adventure bikes were rising in popularity, creating a demand for a wide range group that was no longer supported. It seemed that component makers were caught off guard .

In order to understand compatibility between shifters, derailleurs and gears (cogs/chainrings), it is helpful to break down compatibility into three categories: cable pull, gear capacity and max gearing.

Cable Pull This is the amount of cable movement needed move a derailleur enough to shift one gear. The amount of cable pull that a derailleur needs and the amount that the shifter delivers must be the same. If not, derailleurs will not position the chain centered on the gears.

Gear Capacity This is the sum of the range of gears of the cassette and the crankset, expressed in the number of teeth. For example, a compact 50/34T crankset has a range of 16T. An 11/28T cassette has a range of 17T. Used together on a drivetrain they have a capacity of 33T. A wide range drivetrain will have a greater capacity. The chain must be long enough to wrap around the big/big gear combo. When you shift that chain into small/small, there is chain slack to take up. The wider the gear range, the more slack must be taken up. It is the job of the rear derailleur to handle that. The cage (the plates that connect the derailleur pulleys), must be longer to take up more chain slack. Long cages slow down shifting, add weight, and stick out to interfere with the world, so you don’t want a longer cage than needed. Shimano makes 3 cage lengths: SS or short, GS or medium, and SGS or long. In general, SS is for tight ratio road race bikes. GS is for normal 2x gearing, and SGS is for 2x wide range or 3x gear ranges. In the current lineup Shimano offers SS and GS for road and GS and SGS for mountain. They have never offered an SGS rear derailleur for a current 11 speed road group, and that limits the gear range of drop bar groups.

Max Gear Size and Range Rear derailleurs have limits on the max size cog they can handle. SRAM’s commonplace 42T big cog will not work with older derailleurs, for example. The mech simply cannot pivot out far enough to reach the bigger cogs. Sometimes you can make move them out farther with adapters or by using long “b tension” bolts. But that can mean the derailleur will not be able to get close to the small cogs and compromise shifting in that range. Front derailleurs are a little different. The curvature of the shifting plates is designed for different sizes of chainrings. Shimano’s road derailleurs accommodate this. For example with the newest Ultegra R8000 band mount front derailleur is offered in L (large) and M/S (Medium/Small) options.

Other Compatibility I am going to focus on shifter/derailleur/gear compatibility, but that is not the whole picture. As if it were not enough to get the components all working together on paper, they must all work together when bolted onto a frame and under power. Putting a modern road bike crank a mountain bike may not go well. Integrated spindles may not be wide enough. That can be solved sometimes be using older BBs / cranksets where the spindle was part of the BB, like good ol’ square taper or Octalink. Putting a road bike crankset on a mountain bike may work at the bottom bracket, but the frame may not have enough clearance for the rings or a good place to mount the front derailleur. Road front derailleurs are bottom pull only, so keep that in mind. Chainline is another matter. The width of the spacing of the bike at the rear may move the cassette inboard or outboard far enough to make cross chaining even worse than normal and even affect 2 or 3 gears at the extremes. If you start to consider plus side tires or fatbikes, you may have tire clearance between the chain and frame to consider.

So for the options below, let’s presume you have the other compatibility issues sorted, i.e. just look at shifter/derailleur/gear compatibility. I have built bikes using options 1-4 below, so I know they work.

#1: Make a Franken-derailleur. I have found two ways to do this. Number one: hack a Shimano 105 5800 rear derailleur and a Shimano LX T670-SGS rear derailleur. This is documented well here. Remove the long cage from the LX and install it on the 105 and voila, an SGS 11 speed road derailleur! That solves the cable pull and capacity issue. To solve the max gear issue you may have to use the upside down b-tension screw trick, or use a derailleur hanger extension like the Wolf Tooth Road Link. Number two: Same hack but mix a Shimano GRX rear derailleur with an M8000 XT SGS long cage. I have not tried this one myself, but it is demonstrated in this video.

Pros: Relatively simple, no adapters needed.

Cons: You may have to tear apart a derailleur in ways you never have before. The older derailleurs have no shadow low profile or adjustable clutch, so for off road use you might get a lot of old school banging around of the derailleur. Small cog shifting feels numb and slow. And the derailleurs are a little on the heavy side, if that matters to you. The newer GRX/M8000 looks more promising.

#2 SRAM To The Rescue! SRAM offers a clean solution: Their 11 speed drop bar shifters are compatible with their 10 speed mountain bike rear derailleurs and 11 speed mountain bike front derailleurs. I had SRAM Rival shifters, an X-9 10 speed clutch rear derailleur (a rare beast), and a GX 11 speed front derailleur and it worked a charm. Other combos will work. If you are not trying to make existing Shimano components work and you can go all SRAM, this is a good option.

Pros: Lots of options for components, easy compatibility, no hacking or adapters needed.

Cons: Limited to 10 speed rear derailleurs, not the latest and greatest.

#3 Cable Pull Adapters Mix Shimano road shifters and an MTB derailleur with a cable pull adapter. I know of 2: the JTEK Shiftmate 8 / 8A, and the Wolf Tooth Tanpan.

Pros: You can use any 11 speed MTB derailleur you want which means current models.

Cons: Adapters do add complexity to the cable routing. Surprisingly, if there are no other problems in the cable run, they do not affect shifting. But any problems, like kinks in cables, gunk or corrosion in the cables and housing, etc. will all be magnified by an adapter. I like the Tanpan better. The set screw and internal routing keeps the cable from unwinding in the adapter. The adapters are not cheap, but most of these drivetrains means some added cost.

#4: Go Electronic. Shimano allows mixing road shifters and mtb derailleurs with their Di2 groups. SRAM may allow the same, but, well, I am a Shimano guy, remember? 2nd Gen Di2 did not initially allow the mixing and matching of components, but a later firmware update added that ability. You are limited to making both derailleurs mountain bike components, i.e. you cannot use and Ultegra front derailleur and an XTR rear derailleur. I am not sure about first gen Di2 either, if you want to consider that you have some homework to do, sorry.

Pros: Di2 shifting. If you have not experienced it and you don’t have the money for it, do NOT ride Di2. Electronic shifting is not a gimmick or small evolution over mechanical shifting. It is a true game changer.

Cons: The same con as always for electronic shifting: the price. Now that we have 2nd and 3rd generation electronic shifting systems, some deals can be had on older parts or bikes if you are patient. That is how I did it.

#5 Lose the Brifter Presumed in all of these options is the use of “brifters” (combined brake shifter) and indexed shifting. If you consider bar end shifters that offer a friction mode, you open a whole new world of options. You need to keep them in friction mode all the time. That means losing the clicks in your shifting and learning to shift by feel: a skill that has been lost in the history of cycling for most. But considering the way you might want to use a bike like this, it does have its appeal. Almost any shifting problems you encounter with a friction shift bike can be overcome by your own skill, on the fly, anywhere in the world, without special tools or parts. Sounds like an adventure bike spec to me.

Pros: Eliminates the cable pull issue completely and with a simpler drivetrain.

Cons: Friction shifting is not for everyone.

#6 (ish) Hope for other options. If Shimano offered a long cage GRX or Ultegra derailleur that would be the de facto way to go. We can hope. Shimano has also introduced 12 speed mountain bike groups, but not 12 speed for road. Yet. Perhaps when they do, the cable pull of the road shifters will be the same as the MTB derailleurs and we can have the mechanical mix and match nirvana of 9 speed. Farther out on the horizon, maybe a 1x group one day will deliver this kind of range. But we are talking about maybe a 9/60 cassette with 13 or 14 speeds (in order to get decent gear spacing). A new player on the component scene, Rotor, has introduced a 13 speed group. And Shimano has patents on 14 speed components.

So one thing is a constant going forward: change. Fortunately, amidst all of the turmoil of the ever changing bike drivetrain technology, there is usually a way for us outliers to make a group that gives us all of the features we want.

Continue reading]]> Picture the plight of  poor Pearl Izumi when it comes to marketing their X-Project shoes. These are race level, high-tech, top performing shoes. Pearl has figured out that even on a race shoe the entire sole of the shoe does not have to be so stiff that they make you walk like a penguin. X Projects soles are stiff in the center where it counts but they flex around the edges. It may not sound like a big deal, but it works well in practice. They are flex free when pedaling, but when you walk in them you look like a proper upright primate.

Pearl’s X Projects are a premium shoe to be sure

The cleat pocket is deep enough that your cleats don’t clank on the floor, at least while the tread is full depth. Toe cleats, not installed here, are included.

Pearl have chosen to position X Projects as a high performance shoes that are comfortable when you have to push the bike. But what racer chooses a product based on how much it helps them walk?

I tried these on and my first response was “these would be great for commuting and touring!” I wore these on my recent bike tour and they were so comfortable that I opted not to pack street shoes or sandals. Make no mistake, real casual shoes would have been more comfortable, but they were not worth the weight and space when a shoe like this was an option. I was repeatedly amazed at how versatile these were.

I was skeptical about the “BOA” adjuster dials even though they have been used on bike shoes for a long time now. They are usually reserved for high-end shoes and I have never tried them. They reel in and loosen a nylon string to adjust the shoe in lieu of laces, buckles, straps, etc. My feet swell as a ride, which is normal, so I need to adjust the fit of my shoes on long rides.  Playing around with the  BOAs at the store made them seem a bit gimmicky: change for change’s sake.

But on the trail the genius of the BOAs became clear. Compared to my existing buckle/velcro combo shoes, these could be adjusted much more easily while riding, and in smaller, more precise increments. My adjustment technique on my old shoes was sometimes to completely loosen them until I could stop and fine tune them later because it was just not possible to get a good adjustment while riding.

The Pro model has 2 BOA dials.

The black color has lots of subtle style accents but the overall effect is stealthy. Pearl also makes a bright orange option if stealth is not your thing.

Having 2 BOA adjusters is not overkill as I originally thought. The upper BOA adjusts the back of the shoe around to the heel cup. The lower one works as a toe box adjustment. And I like adjusting them independently as I ride. They don’t look like they would work that way being so close together and sharing the nylon string, but they do. Pearl opted not to make both BOAs tighten “righty tighty” style. The left BOAs are reverse threaded. So you have to think to rotate them outward to tighten them, and inward to loosen them. Or whatever works for you.

The shoes come with adjustable insoles. They are removable and have pockets where you can slide in shims of different thicknesses. There is one pocket under the arch and one under the ball of your foot (Pearl calls it the varus). They are “set and forget”, but if you wanted to make huge adjustments on long rides you could carry a shim or two with you. They are very small and make a big difference.

X Projects come with a lot of accessories. I have the shims partially installed in the liner so you can see how they work.

Proper Fit Is A Big Deal

I also thought the shims were gimmicks at first. These shoes were replacing my older pair of X Projects and I never used the shims on them. But the reason for that is that my old X Projects were too small for me. I made do by stretching them (see my separate blog on that), replacing the insoles with something thinner, and keeping them at the loosest setting most of the time. I had no idea how good the shoes actually were because they did not fit right. My new PROs are a whole size bigger (44 vs 43) than my previous X Projects and now all the adjustments make sense. The moral of the story is make sure your shoes fit right or you may not getting the full benefit from them even if they seem to fit OK. The adjustable insoles are such a great feature I think they could used on other kinds of athletic shoes. They would even be good for professionals who stand all day and change shoes to fight fatigue. It is a common trick. You could rearrange shims, have more options and not have to carry another pair of shoes or even insoles.

I feel like a good review should have some constructive criticism. If I had to nit pick, I would say these shoes are a little heavy for a race shoe. Pearl quotes 373g for them, but mine weighed in at 438g each. Maybe they absorbed a lot of dirt. They are heavier than my old X-Project 2.0 shoes that weigh 384g one size smaller. That weight may make them more durable, but it is too soon to say. To keep it in perspective, they are not a heavy shoe: they are on the heavy side for the way they are marketed.  And they are pretty darned pricey at $350 list, but so are all shoes in this category. I hope the flexy sole and adjustable insole trickle down to more affordable models. Pearl offers an  Elite model at $75 less that swaps out the lower BOA for a velcro strap that is farther forward on the shoe.

Alas, I have never seen Pearl market X-Projects as anything but high performance shoes. Pearl wants to keep their top of the line shoes positioned as fast, serious gear. Which they are. But between you and me, their unique features make them just as good or better for everyday riding.

Continue reading]]> Bike Shirt (bīk SHərt) noun: A shirt suitable for cycling, styled like a casual shirt with a collar, made with technical fabrics and features helpful to cyclists.

Why bother with a nerdy definition? It distinguishes bike shirts from bike jerseys, tech tees and wing suits. Many companies that make them call them jerseys but I think they need their own name. It also distinguishes them from fashion wear that is usually all cotton and not cut for cycling. I started wearing bike shirts for commuting and touring, but now I find that I like them for almost all of my riding. I am doing a survey of shirts I bought with my money (that is why you see all men’s shirts here. Of course there are women’s shirts, too). No one asked me to review them. Because, well frankly, no one cares what I think. But that has never stopped me before, so here goes.

The Zoic District is a good example of a bike shirt. It looks like a casual button down, but au contraire! It is very much a piece of riding gear.

Bike shirts make it easier to get off your bike, socially speaking. You can go to a party, sit down at a restaurant, get groceries or walk into the office and not get the same old questions and funny looks from non-cyclists. Even if you want to change clothes eventually, you can take your time and stay in your riding clothes for a while longer. Ironically their slight dressiness can give a more relaxed look while you are riding. It is like making a statement that you always ride your bike, even when you need to look a little nicer, no big deal

Bike shirts: they are not just for hipsters anymore. You can mix and match with technical and not so technical clothes and gear.

Bike shirts are defined by fit and fabrics in addition to the collar. They should give you room to move around, esp across the shoulders when your arms are forward in a riding position. They should be shorter than a tuck in shirt. And while I prefer 100% synthetic fabrics for their ability to handle sweat, some cotton blends are acceptable. Synthetics seem to be getting more cotton like and comfortable every year. And most of the fabrics used have a UPF sun protection rating, which is the equivalent of SPF but for clothes instead of sunblock.

There are many other features you might find on a bike shirt. The shirts I like all have snaps that are styled like buttons. It is easier to snap and unsnap and as you ride for air flow adjustments.  And if you crash or hit something, snaps come undone instead of tearing off.  Extra pockets, usually with zippers and often hidden to maintain the casual look, are handy. A mesh yoke across the shoulders can allow the shirt to move around by sliding across the mesh instead of your skin. Pleats can provide freedom of movement. Reflective material, media cable ports, mesh panels and vents are all options you might find on a bike shirt as well.

Hiking shirts often fit the bill, and sometimes a fashion brand will surprise and make a shirt that works. I will review a bunch here. I have worn all of these shirts on multiple rides.

And while it is obvious, let me say it here in black and white: you must wear casual style shorts or pants as an outer layer with a cycling shirt. A cycling shirt and Lycra only shorts combo is just, no. I wear shorts OVER technical riding shorts, that is OK, But no “Lycra lower” look, please.

The Zoic District  is shown above. The lightweight 50/50 nylon polyester fabric performs well and looks great. It has a mesh yoke with a vent flap in back for great air flow, making this a good warm weather option. The vent is positioned higher than hiking shirts to stay above your hydration pack. It is tacked into 4 sections so that if one gets pulled shut the others can stay open, and you don’t get all the flapping  that comes with one big untacked vent. It features two hidden zip pockets on each side at the bottom. And all the “buttons” are snaps. All in all a nice alternative to regular cycling tops.

The mesh yoke serves multiple purposes.

These pockets are functional, I usually carry my wallet in one. And they are pretty near invisible. The plaid pattern turned at an angle down the middle of the back adds some style that is kind of a reveal when you take off your hydration pack.

The vent is high and separated into 4 sections by tacks for a great cycling specific feature.

I bought the  Club Ride Vibe partly because it was available in a sportier color, but it is still muted enough to wear casually. This shirt is styled to send signals that it is a techy top. Its 97% polyester 3% spandex blend gives it a natural jersey feel. The mesh panels in the underarms aren’t see through, but the contrasting color tells you that this is no ordinary casual shirt. Also noteworthy are two zipped pockets including a low side pocket with a media port and a zipper pull that does not try to hide itself.

The Vibe has a lot of cycling specific features like a slightly longer tail than the front.

Buttons are all actually snaps, and both pockets are zipped.

The back is pretty straightforward, though the logo is reflective.

   
The low pocket is given away by the zipper pull. A media port in side the pocket lets you route a cable out of the pocket while it is zipped.

The Troy Lee Designs Grind shirt has a different mission than most shirts here, and like all things TLD it goes about it in it own funky way. All of the other shirts here have woven patterns. The plaids you see are created by the color of the threads in the garment. Not so with the Grind. It is a printed pattern on a very technical fabric of 91% polyester and 9% elastane for lots of stretch. My wife did a double take and spotted the print vs woven pattern right away, but I think it is cool and not everyone will have her eagle eye. It is a warmer shirt, so no vents and it has a heavier fabric, but it works in a wide range of temps due to its extra techy fabric. It uses snaps everywhere but hides most of them under a flap, showing off collar and gauntlet faux buttons for a super classy touch. Arm length was spot on for me for riding, and it is longer in back to keep you from getting a case of biker’s crack. It is tech riding gear disguised as a flannel shirt.

MOST people won’t realize this is actually not a cotton flannel shirt (I was staring at my wife just then). The 45 degree tilt of pocket pattern common with sportswear lately.

More angled plaid across the shoulder. A couple of small pleats allow you to move around on the bike.

There is a single small zipped pocket down here. just the right size for a phone. The cuff treatment puts this shirt over the top.

The Bass Trail Flex is part of Bass’ technical “Propel” series of clothing, something a little unexpected from a mostly shoe company. The blend is 60% cotton, 37% polyester and 3% Lycra. The cotton would usually rule it out completely, but it can handle short commutes fine, and amazingly 3% Lycra makes a big difference. This is a heavier fabric which gives it a sturdy feel and the cut gives you just enough room to be comfortable. Otherwise it is pretty basic, no extra pockets, mesh, vents or snaps.

Just the basics and a sturdy feeling fabric with some useful stretch

Next up is the Columbia Westerly Winds short sleeve shirt. Columbia turns over styles very quickly, you may not find this exact shirt. It is 100% polyester, thus the “omni wick” moniker. The breast pockets have dual velcro closures so they would hold on to something while you were riding. Another basic but effective shirt that does work on the bike.

It is a lighter fabric good for warmer weather.

Styling and details are basic.

Should you decide to use the breast pockets, they should keep things secure.

The Eddie Bauer Rainier Long Sleeve is similar to the Columbia in that it may differ a little from what you find when you shop. I wanted a long sleeve to contrast the Troy Lee Grind, and this surely does that with some surprising twists. It is full synthetic at 73% polyester and 27% nylon, featuring a mesh yoke and a big pleat between the shoulders. The breast pocket is flapless, closed with a hidden bit of Velcro on the inside. The tab sleeves are a useful feature, sort of like having arm warmers that you can get rid of without having to figure out where to put them.

Eddie Bauer makes mostly fashion clothes with an outdoorsy image, but they also make some pretty technical clothes  like this shirt. It works well, but tends to be a little wrinkly and the cut is slightly long  in front.

The mesh is not vented, which makes this a warmer shirt, but it still helps with movement and off the skin comfort.

The tab sleeves are handy. Many days I commute in the morning with the sleeves down and in the afternoon with the sleeves up.

The Orvis Short Sleeve Tech Shirt is 73% nylon 27% polyester. It features a mesh yoke and a couple of pleats across the back. I took this on my recent week-long tour, and the nice thing about this shirt is how well it resists wrinkling. I got it on a blow out price so it also wins the best value award.

The lower hem  dips down more than the other shirts here, but was rarely noticeable.

A couple of pleats are nice attention to detail.

The small mesh yoke does help.

Overall these are all worthy shirts for riding. Get a technical fabric cut with room to move and a length that won’t ride up. Add a few nice to have features and you may find that getting off your bike has never been be easier.

Continue reading]]> I recently modified a mountain bike that came with a 2×11 drivetrain. It was nice, but I wanted a wider gear range. The result was a 10/42T 11 speed cassette paired with a 40/24T 2x crankset. I can hear the cries already: “A 24×42 granny gear? That’s madness!” “You will never get shifting to work with that!” “You will create a discontinuity in the space-time continuum!” “What do you need gearing like that for?” Well it is not as crazy as it may sound.

The crankset was originally 36/24T. Now is it is 40/24T.

All I want to deal with in this blog is gear ratios. I am going to look at two things: the ratio of the front to rear gear teeth. i.e. for every rotation of the crank, how many times does the rear wheel rotate? By looking at those numbers we can compare 1x, 2x and 3x drivetrains on level ground. I also want to take one other thing into account, and that is the difference in diameter of the wheels. 29er wheels increase gearing vs 26″ wheels. How much? This is where gear inches come into play. Gear inches are how far the bike moves forward with a single revolution of the crank. Sound familiar? So we can use these two numbers together. More on this later.

Let’s start with a baseline: the classic drivetrain that was the standard of mountain biking for years until 2x, 1x and 29er’s entered the scene. And that is the following: a 3×9 drivetrain with a 11/34T cassette and a 22/32/44T crankset on a 26″ wheels. Here is the total gear range:

Range: 44/22 * 34/11 = 6.18 or 618%

i.e, the high gear is 6.18x higher than the low gear. Keep this in mind when look at 1x and 2x drivetrains. The latest 1x 12 speed groups have a range of 500% (50/10) or 511% (46/9). To put it another way, to get about 618% range in a 1x drivetrain, you would need a 10/62T or 9/56 cassette. Rohloff internally geared hubs have a range of 526%. Shimano Alfine 11 have a range of 409%.

The rear was originally 11/32T. Now it is 10/42T.

As for the 2×11 combo that I put together:

Range: 40/24 * 42/10 = 700%

To replicate that in 1x you would need a 10/70T or a 9/63T cassette, which don’t exist yet. If you want a range like this you need to go 2x, at least for now.

Here are some other parameters I keep in mind. The max spread I go for on the crankset is 16T. That is, the big ring is 16T bigger then the small ring. That is a wide but common range with road bikes and a compact 50/34T crankset. Road and mountain bike front derailleurs seem to handle that kind of range. The standard 10/42T 11 speed cassette has a drop of 32T. So together the crank and cassette have a total drop of 48T, which is about the max a mountain bike long cage rear derailleur can take up. Note that the 9/46T cassette has a drop of  37T, so pairing that with a double crankset would mean reducing the drop of the crankset, since 37+16=53T is just to much for even the longest of rear derailleur cages to deal with.

Let’s have another look at wheels. Gear inches are a function of the circumference of the tire, which in turn depends on the diameter. Circumference is pi times diameter, if you remember your geometry. But since we are going to divide the numbers, we can use just the diameter. The new ISO diameters are the best numbers to use. For 29ers, the diameter is 622mm, for 26″ it is 559mm. So 29ers increase gear inches compared to 26″:

622/559 = 1.11

29er rims are 622mm at the bead. Not to be confused with the ERD of 605mm.

In other words, if the gearing is the same on a 29er and a 26″ bike, the wheel diameter would give the 29er 11% higher gearing. If we want to compare the 3×9 above to the 2×11, we should increase the gearing on the 2×11 by 11% giving us:

High gear: 40/10 = 4.0 x 1.11 = 4.44
Low Gear: 24/42 = .571 x 1.11 = .634

The range is unaffected. So while it may not seem like it, a 24/42 granny on a 29er is actually only slightly lower than 22/34 gear than on a 26″ bike (.634 vs .647). This 2×11 29er drivetrain provides a wider range of gears than our 3×9 26″ benchmark, and mostly on the higher ratios.

Of course the advantages for 1x are numerous. A drivetrain like this wide range 2X11 is not needed for most bikes. In this case it is for an adventure bike that is meant for off road use with a touring load. At the same time the bike is well suited for the road where it is a shame to be without the taller gears. You could use similar gearing on a road touring bike but with larger chainrings (say compact 34/50) and get gearing comparable to traditional 3×9 road touring triple group but with the simplicity of 2x shifting.

This is not the end of the comparison by any means. Some 3×9 groups have wider ranges with a 46T big ring or a 36T big cog. I think we will see wider gear ranges and more gears going forward for 1x drivetrains. i.e. the trend of 10/42T 11 speed to 10/50T 12 speed will continue. Shimano has patents on a 14 speed drivetrain. And what about 27.5 / 650b wheels? Now you know how to compare these drivetrain options.

Continue reading]]> I decided to make a short visit to Interbike this year. They have customer appreciation day now, and I am appreciated I guess. This is not meant to be some exhaustive industry report of Interbike, you can get that from various magazines and such. This was just me having fun. I made the decision to go at the last minute and I am cheap, so I stayed at Primm Valley because it is the best way to get low room rates on short notice. It is on the way from Southern California and only about 30 minutes from the strip.

Buffalo Bill’s needs a little sprucing up

Primm ain’t what is used to be, let’s just say it needs a little maintenance. It does not seem as popular as it once was. As Vegas becomes more and more outrageous I am guessing that fewer visitors want to stay this far from the action. I did not ride the coaster or monorail but…

Kind of weird to find something like this in Primm Valley now

I spent some time looking at the Bonnie and Clyde display, which is at Whiskey Pete’s. I DID mention that this was not a professional Interbike report, didn’t I?

The big entrance

But I made it to the show.

My current n+1. Which may end up being an n-1 after I own it. But I doubt it.

The Salsa Cutthroat is my current object of desire. I don’t get every bike that I lust after unfortunately. If I get one, it will be blogged on here, worry not.

Inter E Bike

Overall impressions of Interbike? The eBike section of Interbike was huge and the show floor was segregated so the eBike stuff was all together. Sorry, no eBike pics. Someone seems to think eBikes are going to be big. I have dabbled with them and we will see. The technology will continue to improve because they will benefit from advances made by electric cars. I have not seen many eBikes in use on the streets or trail. They can be pretty stealthy but I can usually spot them. The premise of eBikes as basic transportation is a good one. They could help people in the USA cope with zoning policies, urban sprawl or rural areas that separate homes from jobs from retail by such great distances.

I will take one of each

I never thought of taking a spear and flippers with me on my bikepacking trip. Blackburn is just one step ahead of me. Or not.

I have no idea what they were selling at this booth. I ask permission before taking model pics, BTW, a policy that is always well received.

Mountain Bike Hall of Fame Inductees Chris Chance, Gary Sjoquist, Joe Breeze and Charlie Kelley

You never know who you will meet at Interbike. I ran into these guys while I was visiting the Mountain Bike Hall Of Fame booth. I was just having casual conversation with them then I started reading their badges and got a nice surpirse. They were all friendly and approachable. It was great fun. Chris Chance showed up with a beautiful 90’s vintage bike equipped with authentic and marvelously restored components. Charlie has published a book, “Fat Tire Flyer”.

I enjoy checking out Interbike. It is fun meeting the people and seeing the stuff, and it makes me want to ride that much more when I get back.

Continue reading]]> My current multi purpose bike features some unusual component combinations that may be of interest to other bike builders. It is a fairly techy build, so warning: this post may cause eye twitches and other assorted muscle spasms in retro grouches. You have been warned.

The frame is an Airborne Carpe Diem, circa 2004. And since I have new parts on an old(ish) frame, I choose to call it my steampunk project. It is a bit of a stretch, I know, but it is my bike and I can call it whatever I like.

Airborne has since been acquired and is now making completely different bikes. But back then they were all about affordable titanium. The Carpe Diem is a light touring/cyclocross frame. It predates the current wave of adventure/gravel bikes. It does cannot handle a very wide rear tire, which keeps it out of those categories, as well as the fact that is it not suspension corrected so you can’t put your favorite RockShox on the front. Besides having an awesome name, the frame has some interesting design choices. For example, the rear dropouts have 132.5mm spacing, which is just plain showing off one of the great traits of titanium. To be specific, road bikes have 130mm spacing. Mountain bikes back then were all 135mm. Nothing was, is, or ever will be 132.5mm. But titanium can handle being pulled wider or squished in by 2.5mm. Not so much with other materials. So the Carpe Diem can be fitted with either road or mountain wheels without having to modify the dropouts or use spacers, etc.. The frame also has IS disk mount tabs in addition to canti/v-brake mounts. So a road bike/disc brake combo was possible with this frame way back in 2004, a little ahead of its time, don’t you think? The frame also features some nice tube shaping at the junctions, nice looking welds, etc. Some Lynskey/Moots/Seven/Litespeed owners are quick to point out that Airborne had some quality issues with some bike’s welds, and by all accounts it looks like they did, but I think by now it is safe to say my frame has proven to be one of the good ones.

I have been waiting for road integrated shifter/brake levers for hydraulic brakes to come into existence so I could install them on this bike. After a decade of waiting, Shimano’s RS685 were among the first available and I snatched up a set soon after they came out. I got mine as a “pull off” set and they came paired with BR-M447 calipers – a bit of a mismatch because the levers are Ultegra level, while the calipers are probably more like Alivio. But they are totally compatible. My white babies have awesome stopping power nonetheless. I had Avid BB7s on the front before getting these. These deliver more stopping power with less effort and great feel and modulation.

But hydros for a touring bike? Yup. “Aren’t you afraid they will fail and leave you stranded?” Nope. When was the last time you heard about hydro lines bursting or whatever? About as often as you hear of brake cables snapping. I bled these myself and they are super easy to work on. It is just a new skill you need to develop.

My lust for hydro drop bar brakes created a chain reaction of updates because I needed to go 11 speed to get them. That was a problem. Shimano 9 speed road and mountain bike components are highly compatible. You can pair 9 speed road or mountain triple cranksets with road or mountain cassettes with road or mountain rear derailleurs and road or mountain shifters. It is touring bike building nirvana. (Front derailleur compatibility aside). But Shimano got away from this with 10 and 11 speed. So it was SRAM to the rescue. Many of its road and mountain 10 speed components are compatible. But road hydro did not hit the scene until 11 speed, and neither SRAM nor Shimano road and mountain groups are compatible with 11 speed.

But wait, it gets worse!  Road hydro shifters are currently only available as 2x, i.e. no 3×11 road groups are out yet. So no 3×11 crankset either. There are 3×10 cranksets that would work fine if the shifters ever come into existence. This unfortunate situation is happening at the same time touring/gravel/bikepacking bikes are growing in popularity. For those kinds of bikes you want wide range gearing that you can only get by mixing road and mountain components. My fearless prediction is that this situation will be fixed with 12 speed and maybe later with 11 speed. All we really need is long cage 11 speed road rear derailleurs.

But for now the solution to this is 2 parts:

1. An adapter known as the Shiftmate from a company called Jtek. Several other companies now make equivalents. It changes the cable pull ratio of the shifters to allow 11 speed road shifters to throw 11 speed mountain bike rear derailleurs.
2. A great big honking pie plate sized cassette. This delivers a wide gear range with a double crankset. I use an 11/42T Sunrace cassette. Paired with and 34/50T compact road crankset, it has about the same low gear ratio as a 24T chainring paired with a 34T large cog on a 9 speed mountain bike cassette.

I actually like this gearing/drivetrain BETTER than a triple combos. 2x shifting is simpler and better than 3x. You have the option of even wider range cassettes. There are 11-46T Shimano cassettes and 10-50 SRAM cassettes. Some of those are marketed as 1x cassettes, and you may have to modify your rear derailleur to get them to work. Mostly by installing a longer B tension bolt. A few notes about my specific set up:

1. The 50T chainring and 42T granny cog combo takes a full uncut 116 link chain to wrap around it. If you decided to use a bigger cassette or crankset you will need 2 chains. Recumbent riders are used to this, so it is not totally weird, but be aware of it.
2. The drivetrain is quiet and shifts everywhere surprisingly quickly
3. Setting up the Shiftmate is a little fussy. You need to set it up so that the flat section of the adapter does not rotate so far that the cable crosses it again. If you set one up you will see what I mean. AND if you ever release all of the tension on the cable you may have to carefully position the adapter wheel again. But probably not.

Overall this makes for a beefy feeling road/tourer in spite of the relatively lightweight build. The big Salsa Cowchipper bars contribute to the big feel vs. a road bike. It can handle a heavy load with no problem. Compared to full touring frames it handles a little twitchy. Compared to a road bike build it feels like a tank. It can handle light off road duty with cyclocross tires. While it may not be as flexible as the latest round of adventure bikes on the market, it is still my indestructible, unstoppable, post apocalyptic, steampunk urban guerrilla bike.

Continue reading]]> Yummmmm, dehydrated bikepacking food. Before I look at these beans in more detail it is probably worth talking a little about “why” dehydrated foods and some of your options. The pros of dehydrated foods are that they pack down small and they are lightweight since you are not carrying the water. And they keep for a long time. Dehydrated foods usually require boiling water to rehydrate them and these beans are no exception, so you have to carry some kitchen and cooking equipment and you have to filter or carry more water. The end result is that you get warm food though. You could bring along some sandwiches, for example, but they get nasty after a couple of days, and by the time you add up the weight and size, dehydrated starts to make sense. You can get complete dehydrated meals; there are a lot of well known brands. They offer a lot of variety and convenience, but they can get pretty pricey. You can also dehydrate food yourself. But there are limits to what you can do at home and it can be time consuming, especially at first as you get the hang of it. I like finding individual dehydrated items like eggs and potatoes. They are much less expensive than the complete meals and I feel like I am cooking and I have fun when I prepare them.

The golden package

I found these at the grocery store, which is handy. If they don’t have them at a grocer’s shelf near you, you can get them direct from the bean company themselves, as seen on the url on the label below.

The stats

I like that the ingredients list is short. I need to look up interestified though. I cannot help but compare these with a staple and favorite of mine:

And in this corner

Of course you make very different meals with potatoes, but variety is a good thing. These two have a lot of similarities. I will compare as I go. In terms of nutrition they are close, so close I did not bother showing the potato’s label, but the beans win big when it comes to protein. You get 7g per 6 servings or 42g total in that package of beans. The potatoes deliver 2g per 4 servings for a total of 8g protein. The only surprise there is that the potatoes did not have zero grams of protein. The beans weigh more, but I reckon you get about the same amount of food out of either package.

They look, um, different from what I expected

I dumped them into the pot out of curiosity before I prepared them. They are non uniform flakes of varying color. Curiouser and curiouser. One of the reasons I decided to try these is the traditional trail cooking technique is listed as one of the preparation options:

Double, double toil and trouble. Well, not really

Good old boiling. The next step should come as no surprise:

In they go

One downside of these vs. the potatoes is preparation. With the spuds you boil the water, add the flakes, mix, and you are done. With the frijoles you do the same, but you must then simmer for 5 minutes. So these will use a little more of your cooking fuel for preparation. And you will have to stir and take measures to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan. My teflon camp cookware will do the job though.  When they are done they may look a little thin, but as they cool down to a temperature where you can eat them they get thicker. You can adjust the amount of water to make thicker or thinner beans.

The competitors, and finished beans.

You may not be able to add cheese or sauce on the trail, but if you can, go for it. How do they taste? They were excellent, I give them a thumbs up for flavor and texture. I admit to being a little shocked. Other family members  swooped in and took some to make huevos rancheros and also gave them the seal of approval.

I cannot finish a review of refried beans as trail food without mentioning the elephant in the room. Ummm…digestive odor, let’s just say. Beans don’t have that affect on me so much. And if you are alone, no big deal, right? But if you are camping with a group, this may be a concern. Or it might be downright hilarious. Unless you are sharing a tent, then it may get old fast. I don’t know if burning through calories and food fast when you are hungry will make matters worse or not. There is only one way to find out. I am packing some of these on my next trip.