Bike Stuff

So, there has been a fair amount of chatter in the last year+ about the new electronic shifting gravel groupsets from China.  LTWOO got to market first with the eGR and you can read my writeup of installing that here . But more recently Wheeltop came out with their equivalent GeX system ( Installation writeup here ). Initial pricing on both was almost too good to pass up as an experiment and I did so. Current pricing is still quite competitive vs even the lowest end electronic shifting from SRAM or Shimano but not the 'no brainer' it was at first. Highlights of these systems: Both 'groupsets' are really just 1x mini groups. They both include: Rear Derailleur Brifters Brake calipers Charge cable (use your own USB brick) For a full groupset, you will still need to provide: Crankset/chainrings (1x only with GeX and eGR. Both have road 2x options) Chain Cassette options: Wheeltop GeX 3-14 cogs, 10-52 teeth LTWOO eGR 10-12 cogs, 11-46 teeth officially. However, I've run ...

I've already had experience with the first of the new, value-priced electronic groupsets from China in LTWOO eGR. You can read about that experience here , but in summary it's pretty good but wasn't perfect for my application for two main reasons It expects to stash the battery inside the frame and have a wire run out to the derailleur. Unfortunately, my V1 Cutthroat isn't set up that way and I had to strap it to a bottle cage in a less-than-pretty way Officially it only supports up to a 46t cassette and I run a 50t. It does actually work, but it's a little cranky about it in setup and operations. But along comes the Wheeltop GeX solution. Same idea from a company that has been making components for others for many years and MTB electronics for a couple of them. It promised to address my issues in that it uses a battery attached to the rear derailleur directly and officially supports 51t cassettes. Reports are the...

Living here in the Bay Area, we are blessed with a variety of hilly rides though the forest and more. But there are four key peaks to ride up that I'm calling the "Big Four Bay Area Summits": Mt. Hamilton at 4,265 ft Mt. Diablo at 3,849 ft Mt. Umhunhum at 3,489 ft Mt. Tamalpais at 2,579 ft All of these can be ridden from near sea level to the summit so the elevations at the summit are aligned with the total climb, but not the same.  This makes them a 'clean' achievement to ride to the top. Note: Some include Mt Saint Helena in the far North Bay but I'm going with the ones you can see from the main Bay as prominent, independent peaks.  It's also worth acknowledging that there are far more official peaks in the Bay Area. Many of them are taller than Mt Tamalpais (Black Mountain for example at 3,747 ft), but arguably none have the same prominence. ( See a full list here ) or aren't rideable. So, why am I writing about this now? Because I set out to climb ...

Gravel bike. What is a 'gravel bike'? It's lots of things. And I already had a pretty great one in the Salsa Cutthroat . The Cutthroat is at the hardcore adventure end of the gravel scene, bordering on a drop bar MTB. In fact, if you look at the bottom of the down tube, you'll see a map of the Tour Divide for which it was designed. Over the couple of years I've had it, I've set it up to do anything short of full MTB riding (including an hour-long bomb run descent down at the Grizzly Gravel ). It wears mountain bike 2.25" race tires some of the time. But for other rides, I've had a set of 38m, gentle knobby tires for more champaign gravel, sporty, or touring use.  But there's the trick:. I've also evolved the setup as a whole for good performance on rugged trails with a Redshift suspension stem and an PNW Coast suspension/dropper post and those MTB tires at the expense of a more nimble configuration. It is a great setup that can be used for so...

So, the Scott Sub Speed 10 has been a great, practical bike. With one, glaring exception: The rear wheel. It just wasn't built right for heavy-duty use. It has been popping spokes over and over again. At this point, I've probably replaced at least half of them. As far as I can tell, I've had no 'repeat customers'.  So I'm assuming that the spokes were underspec'ed. And as I repaired it, I came to realize that it was probably built undertensioned to boot. So, I'm always worried another one is going to go in some inconvenient place. Yes, I know the rule that when the third one goes you rebuild. But wheelbuilding is not something in my skill set (yet at least). And when I thought about getting it rebuilt a few years ago (yeah, mid-pandemic), I was quoted $200 plus spokes AND it would probably mean having the wheel in the shop for a month. So I kept putting it off. (I do know how to replace spokes myself) Also, I've been intrigued with the Alfine 11-sp...