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Halo, makers of various wheels and components, have entered the gravel market with three new models of tires. Their RXR (650b x 47mm) is an all-road/hardpack tire, GXR (650b x 47mm) is an all-surface tire, and the GXC (650b x 47mm or 700 x 38mm) is a gravel tire with lots of grip for the roughest days out on backcountry roads. Each tire comes in black or gumwall and you can find out more at Halo Wheels.
Reinventing the wheel is literally what the cycling industry is all about. Every year hundreds of companies take their shot; so it’s rare when one unique design stands out, especially when that product is competitively priced.
With Covid-19 throwing a wrench in the spokes of the traditional tradeshow schedule, even open houses have had to switch to an online, or virtual, format. We saw this earlier in the year with ENVE and now, the 2020 Chris King Open House. While it wasn’t safe to travel to Portland to document the bikes, Chris King’s in-house photographer Jacob Olsen did a stellar job at documenting all ten bikes, while videography team Modify Content knocked out some great, in-depth video profiles of these handmade marvels. We’ve got part two today, featuring Pursuit, Rock Lobster, Sage, Speedvagen, and Sycip, so let’s jump right in…
Last week we posted the new State Bicycle Co 6061 Black Label all road bike, including a mention of the new Monster Gravel Fork but we wanted to give that value-minded, full-carbon, super-capable fork some light of its own. These beefy forks fit a max recommended tire size of 45c x 700c or 2.2″ x 650b, have plenty of cargo bosses, fender mounts, use flat-mount disc brakes, and uses a 12mm thru-axle. Best of all, is the price. The Monster Gravel fork retails for $289. See more at State Bicycle Co.
Remember those bars from the ENVE Builder Round-Up earlier this summer? Well, today ENVE announced they’ve finally stocked these aero road bars, dubbed the SES AR Handlebars. These bars utilize a compound drop and internal routing to keep the lines of your bike clean.
Specs:
-Application: Road Race, All-Road, Gravel, Cyclocross
-Sizes: 38cm, 40cm, 42cm, 44cm, 46cm
-Weights: 243g, 245g, 248g, 262g, 280g
-Full Integrated Internal or External Routing
-Lifetime Incident Protection and 5 Year Factory Warranty
See more at ENVE.
Otso’s Waheela C is a crowd-pleaser all-road bike that checks a lot of boxes for lovers of gravel. For Autumn 2020, it gets a new slate and gray matte paint. After customer feedback, Otson has decided to launch this bike now instead of next year and will come with an option to have a fork with a 12mm or 15mm axle. The Waheela C has been covered here before on the Radavist but here’s a refresh for y’all:
-Massive tire clearance. 29” x 2.1” tires (700c x 53mm equivalent) with ample space. The same clearance can be found with 650b or 27.5” wheels.
-Adjustable geometry. A Tuning Chip rear dropout allows the rider to change the wheelbase by up to 20mm. This chip has three positions: the rear position makes for a long wheelbase and stable ride, the front position is a shorter wheelbase for CX racing or singletrack riding, and the middle position is kind of the best of both worlds.
-EPS molded carbon frame. It’s light, strong, and ready for the next race, climb, or spirited ride.
-Dropper compatible. 60mm and 100mm travel options on Otso’s custom bike configurator.
See more at Otso!
When I was a child and about to get my first bike, a hand-me-down turquoise kid’s bike with pink and purple streamers, I remember being elated. I loved those streamers and couldn’t wait to ride around the neighborhood with them blowing in the wind. However, my father had different plans and cut off the streamer and put a playing card in the spokes — his attempt to turn it into a “boys” bike. I was devastated and barely rode the bike. This was just one instance of my struggle with society’s gendering of inanimate objects, and the social acceptability of my interaction with them. I always found solace in the illustration of Lisa Frank, which depicted a fantastical adventure free of gender where everyone has fun and gets along. In many ways, I find this same sort of adventure, acceptance, and escape from reality in bikepacking, and I’ve long wanted a bike that reflects this.
If speed on all-roads and surfaces is your thing, check out the new Teravail Washburn. It’s a fast-rolling, 700x38mm, 700x42mm, 650x47mm wide tire with minimal tread, a slick center for a wide contact patch, and grippy knobs on the side for cornering on loose roads. These tires are meant for 23mm wide rims, come in a variety of casing designs, in black or gumwall, and carry a retail price of $55-$60 depending on casing. They’re sold out currently on the Teravail site but your local dealer can order them for you.
It’s tandemonium! Ritchey‘s Break-Away is an industry-leading travel system and this year, it made its way into a tandem, dubbed the TandM. Let’s check this unique offering out in detail below.
Long and slack gravel bikes are popping up everywhere. John’s Sklar is a good example, as is the Evil Chamois Hagar, even as polarizing as that bike is, it brought the long and slack ideology to the mainstream. Nordest just announced their Super Albarda Ti gravel bike and it looks like a beast. With a 68º head angle and a longer reach, designed for 50mm to 70mm stems, it’s onto something. Plus, it’s titanium, THE best material for all-terrain riding. Hands down. These frames retail for 1.156,20 € – 1.280,17 € and have a 10-week lead time. See more at Nordest.
Specs:
-Frame TITANIUM Ti3AL2.5V double butted tubing
-Long reach for use 50mm to 70mm stem
-Nordest 50mm stem,include with frame
-Wheels up to 650b 2.10 or 700x50c
-Interchangable dropouts, include with frame
-For 12x142mm thru axle rear hub
-Thru axle 12×1.75mm, include with frame
-For 27.2mm seatpost
-Seatclamp 31.8mm, include with frame
-46T max chainring in 1x or 50T/34/ in 2x
-TR44 head tube
-Weight for M/L size: 1.845 g
-Design for 400mm taper fork with 52mm Rake
Last year, ENVE opened its doors to the public for an Open House event. Once inside, visitors took a tour of its Ogden, Utah facilities and were greeted by two-dozen custom bikes from builders across the globe. This year the pandemic forced ENVE to pivot a bit, holding a virtual tour and framebuilder showcase they’re calling the Builder Round-Up. We’re pleased to once again host this showcase, with two-part coverage, so read on below for part two of a full breakdown on these Beautiful Bicycles along with a few teasers of new ENVE product…
Thesis has cracked the market open with their OB1, a carbon all-road bike with all the bells and whistles of other bigger brands, at a saving in cost. They offer customizable builds, with a selection of frame colors and build kits to outfit their OB1 frame. Back in March they offered up the “Bring a Friend” discount, which offered $300 off for any referral to their email and the response was overwhelming. Well, it’s back and Thesis has a bigger team to handle the influx of “Bring a Friend” discounts.
To take advantage of the $300 deal, all you’ve got to do is simply introduce your friends via hello@thesis.bike to get started. You and a friend can introduce yourselves to get $300 off, or if you already have a Thesis, you can introduce a friend to get them $300 off.
Head to Thesis to read more. While you’re there, check out their new frameset color, Olive Drab.
Let’s be honest. Wheel reviews aren’t that interesting. Modern carbon wheels only need to fulfill a few criteria. You mostly want them to disappear as your ride takes over, blurred out… I feel like we post a lot of wheel reviews and I try my hardest to not regurgitate marketing jargon or keywords that get thrown around endlessly in bike media. As a consumer, you probably only care about a few things, of which I’ll address here, while showcasing some fun and different wheel review photos on one of the most recognizable all-road bikes here on the Radavist. Let’s check out the Reserve 35 Wheels below…
I’d assume many of you, like me, have a 15mm thru-axle gravel fork that you would like to convert to 12mm. Every time I review gravel or all-road wheels, they come in 12mm and I have to spend time searching and ordering 15mm cups for the hubs. Let me tell you, it’s a waste of time. I looked for a while for a conversion kit to change my 15mm fork to 12mm but never found anything. The other day, I stumbled upon an eBay seller who makes a handy 15mm to 12mm conversion kit for just about every fork on the market. The account is JJP&E and it really is as simple as you’d imagine! Check out an in-depth look below…
Longtime readers might recognize this bike. I first documented it in 2015. Unfortunately, when our server crashed, we lost the images from 2015-2016, so when I had the opportunity to re-document it, I had to jump on the opportunity. The frame was built by Ian Sutton of Icarus Frames. It was designed to clear a 45mm 700c tire, and yes, those are quick-release axles! This bike was ahead of its time in terms of “gravel bikes” and it’s still alive and well, now rolling under my bud Gideon Tsang who bought it a little while back. Gideon is a good friend of mine, going on 10 years. He’s a spiritual person, a counselor, and as much of a sage individual as anyone I know. Check out this piece he wrote for the Radavist about riding bikes and embracing the silence only found on self-isolating rides…
For this week’s Readers’ Rides, we’re featuring Steven’s own, self-built Slug gravel bike. This one is very detail-oriented so we’ll let Steven do the talking…
Here’s my bike, my only bike. After working in the Cycling industry for several years, I realized that I had far too many bikes, and I’ve subsequently sold off all but this one. The story of Slug is pretty random, and I’m not necessarily the one to tell it. I will tell you about the bike, however.
Out of all the bikes I personally reviewed or even rode last year, the Cannondale Topstone carbon was not my favorite. Yet, I really loved the 2018 aluminum Topstone! Go figure. As I stated in the initial review, it felt too gimmicky for all the engineering that went into it. I felt like it was lacking something extra to truly make it stand out from Cannondale‘s history of making kooky, yet practical suspension bikes. A whole year has passed but my wish would finally come true. Was it worth the wait or the extra engineering? Read on below to find out.
OPEN’s latest bike isn’t an all-road or gravel bike with massive clearances. It’s an ultralight road bike with a few clever details. This bike has a lot going on but the most notable design features include a 25mm integrated seat mast, which offers more give and flex in what is normally one of the stiffest components in carbon bikes. This, combined with the ultra-thin stays give the MIN.D some flex where it counts.
Then there’s the MIN.D’s fork:
“The OPEN U-Turn was the first fork truly optimized for flatmount brakes by deleting the standard adaptor to switch between 140mm and 160mm disc rotors. The adaptor is a feature without a benefit at the expense of weight, stiffness and complexity.
The R-Turn uses the same Smartmount direct-mount design with thru-bolts without adaptors, just like the rear brake. Together with new shaping and a new layup optimized for road, the R-Turn is the lightest disc brake road fork available.”
The MIN.D fits a 32mm tire, comes in four sizes, and retails for $3,600 at Open.
