Looking at that shop they seem to focus on more high end road bikes. Might not be the best shop for your first bike.
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Bicycle ERA |OT| This Is Why
- Thread starter Jill Sandwich
- Start date
Looking at that shop they seem to focus on more high end road bikes. Might not be the best shop for your first bike.
i like giro stuff and was looking to buy some down the line, but i'm now turned off.
i support a personal boycott but i know it's hard for shops to do the same, especially if those brands have been profitable to them. i wouldn't hold it against a shop if they do carry them in that case. it does suck for these brands to suffer because of new corporate overlords. it could be a lesson for those being taken over, to do more due diligence on who they're going with. and even that isn't enough since corporate could make moves after purchase.
to make clear, consistent stand on moral grounds, there needs to be some sorta corporate map of who owns what. even most of the shops didn't know about the corporate overlord of the brands they carry. and in many cases, holding companies like to ensure that continues to be the case.
Yeah the ride was nice, got home and was gonna go for a ride and it started pouring. Honestly the service there was so good I was happy to make a purchase.
Welcome to the club, buddy!
Don't be like me and fall straight into the rabbit hole and eat, sleep, breathe cycling, it will consume you.
enjoy the new bike. Here's to many miles ridden.
You not fancy doing something else? Go for a few swims? Run?
I literally don't have time for anything right now. I can pretty much just fit my morning yoga sessions in before the shit hits the fan.
Be grateful, just found out my little cough that's been annoying the hell out of me the last week was a few days from becoming full blown pneumonia according to the gp, I'm guessing I'm out for a while :(
But good luck getting your house sorted, I'm expecting photos of the man cave once the final plans are inplace
Right now I'm trying my best to get the concrete dried as fast as possible so I can get the floor levelled before everything goes in... but we've just had a hit of serious cold weather so my dehumidifier isn't working. :(
All of my shorts were still drying but I needed to do my workout yesterday so I dug out a crappy pair of liners and athletic shorts I bought when I first started cycling. They didn't align with my sit bones at all. Incredibly uncomfortable but I powered through. Nothing stops this train XD
Typical Winter, spent the end of Jan & start of Feb full of flu, bit of a set back with the training unfortunately. Started it back up though and almost got the 300w average I was aiming for originally, just could've done without missing those 2-3 weeks. Won't be doing much riding outside with all this snow & freezing conditions though.
Typical Winter, spent the end of Jan & start of Feb full of flu, bit of a set back with the training unfortunately. Started it back up though and almost got the 300w average I was aiming for originally, just could've done without missing those 2-3 weeks. Won't be doing much riding outside with all this snow & freezing conditions though.
Congratulations :)
Thanks. If I get one more bout of (man)flu or cold this Winter though. I blame air conditioned offices.
I saw your post a few days ago about a new gravel bike from Trek and then I saw the news about the Checkpoint. Seems like a fun bike, could be a good all a rounder.
Ordered 80 dollars worth of tools and supplies for my bike that should get here friday. Hoping to clean up my bottom bracket for the first time this weekend to fix the insufferable creaking. I'm also going to try to remove the rust from my rear gears and chain, so we'll see.
My shellac still won't show up for an eternity, but I picked up some denatured alcohol to dissolve it in.
In other news, I got a couple of torque wrenches, which I'm pretty excited about.
I also got a 6-speed Dura-Ace cogset. Any bike I attach it to will become completely useless on steep climbs.
In other other news, chainrings are sharp.
In other news, I got a couple of torque wrenches, which I'm pretty excited about.
I also got a 6-speed Dura-Ace cogset. Any bike I attach it to will become completely useless on steep climbs.
In other other news, chainrings are sharp.
Not sure why but ok. I've said for over a decade that the industry needs more versatile road bikes for people who aren't interested in emulating road racers. These bikes provide a flexibility in use that to we have not seen in many years. :)
It's more the distinction of a "gravel" bike and how I see people saying they need both. It's just a road/touring bike. It's more the heavy handed marketing of it. It feels like a way of getting people to buy more bikes just because. My friends and I have been on "gravel" bikes for the last 3 years and use them as our primary bike. Yes the geometry is sometimes more laid back but a lot are still aggressive in the stack.
It's just me being a dick about the industry
I'd agree with that. When I started looking into what exactly makes a gravel bike vs a tourer, there really wasn't a lot. Manufacturers have been making them for a loooong time, though possibly with the exception of allowing for much wider tyres.
At most what I see a lot of these companies doing is basically just allowing wider tires, or even 650b, and throwing some rack mounts on the back. Suddenly you have a new product category that many people are ready to yell about and geek out over. As I said I do recognize the geometry is different from a CX or road bike, but not by a whole lot. Something like the Ritchey Outback still has a very road-like geometry.
Not to mention the proliferation of social has now made people all "Gravel riding" posts and lapping up touring lifestyle. Just ride a bike, wig out and have fun. Stop worrying about the details of it all.
Have a road bike and wanna "gravel" ride? Just find some 25-30mm gravel tires and go have fun. No need to go buy a brand new bike.
Not to mention the proliferation of social has now made people all "Gravel riding" posts and lapping up touring lifestyle. Just ride a bike, wig out and have fun. Stop worrying about the details of it all.
Have a road bike and wanna "gravel" ride? Just find some 25-30mm gravel tires and go have fun. No need to go buy a brand new bike.
I would disagree. Most touring bikes rely on heavy steel tube sets, overly long chainstays and too relaxed of a geometry. I've been rocking a Surly LHT as a gravel bike for a decade, then an All City Space Horse. Now there are high end carbon options that can fit 45's while still having a high bottom bracket and a lively geometry. Trek and Specialized also add nice touches for bikepacking such as lowering the water bottle mounts so that frame bags will easily fit.
Not sure where you guys found touring bikes that looked and are spec'ed like this:
While the term gravel bike is a bit silly, there has been a huge gap in the market for bikes that work both as group ride endurance road bikes as well as gravel/adventure/light touring bikes.
I think a lot of assumptions and snobbery prevent folks from using Hybrids as "gravel bikes." I've done the AIDS Ride and multiple Backroads vacations on Hybrids and finished in the first ten and five percent respectively, with a happy butt, wrists and knees. I think some folks think of therm as "compromised" but I feel the opposite - they are laser focused on comfortable quick touring. My Gary Fisher Mendota is going to be my distance bike forever. I never enjoyed the road bike handle position.
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Not sure where you guys found touring bikes that looked and are spec'ed like this:
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Because no one cared until it became a hot trendy thing via social media, so big brands started doing it? As you noted with Surly, Salsa and All City you could build up some solid bikes but you couldn't walk into many local dealers and buy one from Cannondale, Trek, Giant, etc up until very recently. And TBH to me that Trek looks like another road bike. This is purely personal preference but there is not much making that stand out from another Trek, Specialized, etc.
This is likely 100% a personal thing though.
It's not? Psycho and I are just discussing branding and impact it can have on consumers.
It was a joke.
I like my gravel bike and definitely use it for different purposes then my road bike. I however loathe the term "gravel grinder". Just say "gravel ride", it's fewer syllables.
Oh, and for the love of god, don't feel you need to use bosses and panniers for bikepacking. It's a shit way of doing things unless you want to carry massive weight... and why would weight weenie roadies want to carry massive weight? :P
#TLS
#TLS
https://cyclingtips.com/2018/03/trek-checkpoint-review/
yea, i'm into it. who cares if the market is over saturated, these all-arounders own.
For the record, I would much rather ride a bike that allows me to ride 605b or up to 40mm tires. I just find it silly when people who are every day joes get so caught up in the marketing and hype that they feel the need to have a road bike AND 'gravel' bike.
I agree on this point. I want a high end carbon gravel bike as my road and gravel ride. I have always hated modern road bikes and their inability to run wider tires, racks, etc.
it's weird seeing this when the majority of advertisements for gravel and adventure bikes are centered around it being the only bike you'd ever need.
who cares what these average joes decide to do with their money.
Hey man, let me rage a little about capitalism!
And I want a hand made steel frame that offers the same, haha. I absolutely hate modern aluminum road bikes.
I couldn't afford the handhmade goodness, but my space horse was damn awesome. :D
Plenty of road bikes from the last few decades can't fit 30mm tires. A few have trouble even fitting 25s.
That's more or less why "gravel bike" has been able to become a phrase: we're coming out of a bizarre period where nearly all road bikes were aggressively designed to be non-gravel bikes. Go back a few decades, and it was pretty normal for road bikes to fit 32mm tires; plenty even came stock with such widths. Really old racing photos are often fun:
Depending on the gravel, though, 30mm tires can still be very marginal. If the surface is very rough or loose, you might need to pump them down to extreme drop, which in addition to very poor rolling resistance means that you're exposing your sidewalls a lot to the riding surface. That then requires beefing up the sidewalls, which further increases rolling resistance...
Not that road bikes with even bigger tire clearances and itsy-bitsy granny gears are anything new either...
That's probably the main thing that makes me skeptical of the "gravel bike" moniker. A lot of cyclists traditionally tend to feel that anything that makes accommodations for some rougher riding is severely compromised as a road bike. "Gravel bike" feels like it kind of embraces this outlook.
HTupolev I hope so, but I still see people who get caught up on spd vs look or 25mm vs 30mm. I know dudes who ride spd and 35mm that can FLY. If anything, like you said, this can hopefully burn down the stigmas
I might have a connection a frame builder that could make one for ~1300. It wouldn't be a huge brand name or anything, but I'd still take it and the precision that comes with it. Breadwinner & Stinner are the 'cheapest' i could find for handmade and Firefly would be my dream option but the idea of $5500 for just a frame is insane.
Plenty of road bikes from the last few decades can't fit 30mm tires. A few have trouble even fitting 25s.
That's more or less why "gravel bike" has been able to become a phrase: we're coming out of a bizarre period where nearly all road bikes were aggressively designed to be non-gravel bikes. Go back a few decades, and it was pretty normal for road bikes to fit 32mm tires; plenty even came stock with such widths. Really old racing photos are often fun:
Depending on the gravel, though, 30mm tires can still be very marginal. If the surface is very rough or loose, you might need to pump them down to extreme drop, which in addition to very poor rolling resistance means that you're exposing your sidewalls a lot to the riding surface. That then requires beefing up the sidewalls, which further increases rolling resistance...
Not that road bikes with even bigger tire clearances and itsy-bitsy granny gears are anything new either...
That's probably the main thing that makes me skeptical of the "gravel bike" moniker. A lot of cyclists traditionally tend to feel that anything that makes accommodations for some rougher riding is severely compromised as a road bike. "Gravel bike" feels like it kind of embraces this outlook.
Specialized's Diverge line is basically a Roubaix. I think they are awesome pavement bikes as well as a super fun gravel bike. :)
Also, the industry is pushing gravel because the road bike market in the US is cratering. It has been down by double digits every year for five years now. Overall US bike sales are the lowest they have been in a decade, with gravel, ebike, and bmx being the only segments that have shown increases. The industry is trying to find anything that excites consumers. We sell 2-3 gravel bikes for every traditional road bike at this point.
I can't give away Tarmac's, Madone's, Emonda's etc.
My friends shop doesn't even carry road bikes anymore. He can move mountain bikes like crazy and the occasional gravel/tourer will go as well. He cleared out his space for road/cx specific bikes so he could pile in more beach cruisers (these things move like hot cakes when you're near the beach). He had to heavily discount any remaining road specific bikes he had.