In the crosshairs brings us a look at the 2016 Hilly Billy Roubaix.
Tag: gravel
I like the look of these but not got the cash to splash ….. well i do but i cant bring myself to
The first specific pant for gravel race or rides.
When riding on the gravel, you need to have the comfort of a free-ride short combined with the fit of a bib short. In and out of the saddle challenging the dirty roads but comfortable when riding on the asphalt. The Kyoto gravel pants is the perfect short for this. You can use it with or without a bib short layered underneath for additional comfort. Its slim fit ensures the rider the perfect match between aerodynamic needs and comfort during long rides, preventing the pant from snagging into the bicycle complex parts.• Performance fabric to wick away sweat and help keep you dry and comfortable
• Elastic waist with front draw cord for a snug, adjustable fit
• Elastic inseam gusset to prevent pad area scratch
• Side pockets and back zip bonded pocket for item storage
• Vented hem for range of motion
• Reflective elements remain visible in dark riding conditions
• Slim Fit for performance
Categories
Teravail ….. video
The Teravail Galena tires meet the crushed limestone gravel of the infamous Almanzo route.
Categories
Dew Film Ireland
Blood pudding, Guinness and a little ‘Luck of the Irish’.
For this installment of the Dew Files we sent our intrepid wanderer to Ireland for a St Patrick’s day exploit. Rather than letting Dew loose to partake in the revelry and libations in Dublin, we put him on a fully loaded Sutra LTD to explore the quiet and picturesque backdrop of the Emerald Isle far from the Blarney Stone kissing tourists. So follow along with Dew on his trip through a land frozen in time, a land with stone walls that checker the hillside, sheep that run wild, dramatic cliffs and single lane gravel “roads” that disappear over the rolling countryside. You’ll quickly discover that Ireland truly delivers the right amount of ‘magic’ for a great bikepacking adventure.
Fast forward to modern times. The cycling industry is enamored with the outdoors. Bikepacking, touring, bicycle camping and S24 rides are all the rage. Hell, even Adventure Cycling is celebrating the Bikecentennial this year! All the brands have taken a stab at designing the best-suited bike for the aforementioned activities. While Specialized wasn’t by any means the first to the party in terms of “adventure bicycles,” they have staked their claim to the movement.
A Thousand Decisions Properly Made
The original marketing of the 1980’s Sequoia boasted the quote “A thousand decisions properly made.” This became the mantra for Erik, now the Sequoia’s third designer, following Tim Neenan and Jim Merz. Erik knew to make a bike that would ride light on its feet like brevets and similar races required, he’d have to start with the tubing. The Sequoia uses custom drawn tubing for each frame size, from 50cm to 61cm and it shows. There’s also a custom fork, with rack, fender and cargo cage mounts, as well as a new headset (that black block under the head tube) If you lift the bike up, it feels lighter than the AWOL. How light? I’m not sure exactly, since we didn’t have time to weigh them this weekend.
Once the tubing was dialed in, so to say, Erik looked at where the industry was heading. Thru axles, flat mounts, internal routing, and wide range 1x drivetrain systems had taken over the drop bar market, making a bike like this almost as capable as a mountain bike in terms of gear range. The Cobble Gobbler post and its funky design is met at the cockpit with their new drop bar, which has 20mm rise, flair and a shallow drop. Erik even designed a new rim, the Cruzero. A wide, tubeless-ready rim with a classic style. There are rack and fender mounts, as well as braze ons for a third bottle cage. Other details include internal routing for generator lamps, clearance for a 45mm tire, and new thru-axle hubs. Oh and that black denim bar tape and saddle! Even the paint, called White Mountain, inspired from Erik’s venture into the White Mountains during an outing with Yonder Journal, was new to their catalog.
Riding the Juggernaut
While our ride got cut short, due to Erik’s wreck, I did get to spend a good amount of time on the Sequoia, which shares almost the same geometry as my Firefly. Off the bat, I could tell it was one of Erik’s designs, who likes to front-load his touring or camping bikes. In the size 58cm, it has a 72º head angle and a 73.3º seat angle with a 50mm rake and 65mm of trail. The tubing felt lively and the front end felt stiff. For a bike this old in legacy, you might even say it felt spry.
I like the 42mm tire platform on bikes like this. They’ll roll on the street just fine, thanks to the new 42mm Sawtooth tires who have the same rolling resistance as a 32mm tire of similar tread, and they’ll take on dirt with confidence-inspiring cornering. Unlike a lot of the “slick” tires of this size, the Sawtooth bites on loose corners, instead of skidding or sliding out. This coupled with the 65mm of bottom bracket drop, and a 430mm chainstay makes for a fast bike on the descent that’s stable yet responsive when you need it to be.
FORK YEAH!
The most impressive feature of this bike is the fork. Thru-axle, internal routing, flat mount disc brakes, hidden fender mounts, drilled crown, cargo cage attachments and designed to carry a front load with rack mounts. All with around 50mm of clearance. This fork is what everyone has been asking the industry to make for some time now. I’ve even requested certain companies to make it out of frustration. Unfortunately, it won’t be available separately though. Why oh why!?
What Is It?
These days, the industry wants to label every drop bar bike with bigger tires a “gravel bike” and I’m sick of it. So what is the Sequoia? A road bike? Cross bike? Touring bike? Brevet bike? It is whatever you want it to be. If I owned one, I’d treat it like my Firefly. It’d go on bikepacking trips in Japan, or dirt rides in Los Angeles and everything in between. Logging miles on the road is also the norm for a machine like this. No one here in Los Angeles goes on “gravel rides,” we just ride all roads. Paved, deteriorated chipseal, fire, frontage and forest service roads. Our frames, tires and gearing are all designed around this type of riding and now, the Sequoia would fit right in next to my already solid stable. The Sequoia is a production bike, made overseas that has addressed what many custom framebuilders are being requested to build for their customers, at half the price.
It’ll come in various build kit options and pricing tiers and will hit stores in August. As built here, it’ll run $3,500 at the Expert model or $1,200 for a frameset. Base complete for $1,200 and Elite complete in between those. As for the tires, bars and bar tape, expect those to be in stock in August.
Categories
le gravel de France
nice wee film … from these bike boys
Now I grew up in South Africa and the word sonder is Afrikaans for ‘without’ but this bike is definitely ‘with’
I pedal home three weeks ago with a new bike came into the flat changed and went out for a first shakedown ride on the bike – these on my quick impressions after just 30 km
Very quickly I came to think that this bike might be one of those fabled you can do it all bikes. I went down the canal which is gravely with occasional small potholes on to cobbles and then later on into singletrack path weaving through the forest – the bike seem to handle everything with aplomb
My only niggle was perhaps that the seatpost or saddle was not as comfortable as it could be but still good for the price point. I will be changing out the seatpost for something made of titanium or perhaps something like the Ritchey flexlogic and the saddle well that’s always down to the user and I have a preference for a new Brooks Cambium C15
The bike is quick very quick even on this first exploratory ride I seem to have come home and found out that on Strava I have a King of the Mountain on one section over cobbles – Paris Roubaix might be a walk in the park
The discs brakes mechanicals from avid – I’ve not used avid mechanicals before they seem to do very good job of slowing the bike with excellent modulation when braking, the tires are WTB nano 40 mm tires and the seem to be quite progressive in grip and feedback. This was in the dry and this review is just the 1st (one hour ride) review and shouldn’t really be taking for a long-term review but so far I am completely stoked by the ride of this bike.
Brandt Richards who is also been behind some of on-one’s bikes in the past seems to have finally nailed it – this is everything I wanted it to be perhaps more than I hoped and definitely a lot lot better than I ever expected it would be
I came home and hung it up in my ‘toy’ cupboard to see four other bikes standing there looking slightly forlorn.
Alpkit give the bike a 10 year guarantee which is amazing considering it’s the first bike that they are doing. this bike is built so beautifully the weld is excellent and everything seems to be is put together as well as any of my Lynskey bikes
Now if only work, a broken hand and kids didn’t get in the way of me doing another ride tomorrow but I will post further reviews once I have a few hundred miles in on this bike.
gravelcycling 