Friday, May 20, 2016

Friday News And Views

From the post-DK200 cleaning. My Fat Fargo w/Cowchipper installed.
Drop Bar 101 Feedback:

I've gotten a lot of nice comments from you- the readers- on my Drop Bar 101 article from earlier this week. Thank you, I appreciate all the feedback. It means a lot to me.

I didn't want to leave it there though, and I have been contemplating the next post in the series. Look for that to appear next week, most likely. I'll also post up some quotes and links to reference material I have used over the years to get where i am today on all this drop bar stuff.

Finally, I am going to point out what I believe differentiates the off road drop bar from others that are more gravel road friendly designs. Got an idea for me? Hit me up in the comments section.

New tires from China.

Arisun Tires: 

Okay, so I got these new gravel road going tires which will get reviewed on RidingGravel.com soon. I'll spare the details on that in lieu of the upcoming post on that site. However; in speaking with the representative of the company here in the US, I have heard about a couple of interesting models they will be introducing here later in the year.

One is a "plus sized" tire, which I would assume is based on the 27.5"er size. The other is something I've wanted to try out for a long time. A high TPI count, tubeless studded tire. Obviously for Winter usage, but it is the tubeless thing I was hearing that pricked up my ears. Studded tires which are tubed are really bad. Sluggish, slow, heavy. Just the worst to ride. Tubeless designed studded tires should help those things a lot. More as I find out about them.

The company is Arisun, which probably doesn't mean a thing to you. Let me put it this way- The parent company is ZC Rubber, and they are the largest tire manufacturer in China. I was told that this company pumps out well in excess of 200,000 bicycle tires each day. Loads of tires for a lot of brands you've heard about. Now ZC Rubber wants to strike out into the US market under the name Arisun for their premium line of bicycle tires. Kind of like what Cheng Shin Rubber did with Maxxis. So, anyway.....that's the deal here. Stay tuned.........

The RG at the DK:

Okay, so here's the deal this year. I will be down to Emporia Kansas during the Dirty Kanza 200 weekend. I won't be riding in it. I didn't wake up early enough the day the registration opened, and well...... Anyhow, I'll be down there, so I figured on doing some RidingGravel.com stuff while I was down there. I'll have stickers to hand out, so if you see me down there, hit me up for some. I may have another odd item or two along with me as well, so don't be afraid to stop and say hello while I am running around down there on Friday.

So, as far as the rest of the time there, I think I'll be dragging down a bike and doing a ride of my own. Obviously, I'll be staying clear of that whole DK200 thing if I do that. It's a thought, nothing planned for certain as yet.

Okay, that's a wrap on this week. Hope y'all have a great weekend and that you get some good riding in.

 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Because of your post on the drop bars I became aware of the 3T Ergonova. Seems like more of a road bar than a drop mtb bar but I think it would be stellar for a gravel/road bike. I use the same bike for both so this would make sense because you could use it both in a road race as well as a gravel century. Any experience with this bar?

Guitar Ted said...

@Andy Czechanski: No experience with that particular bar, but it looks nice if you are more comfortable with a traditional road bar. I've also had a good experience with the fizik drop bar for gravel riding, which is a traditional road bar.