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The clean lines of a modern touring bike are hard to resist and for this week’s Readers’ Rides, we look at Jouko‘s Brick Lane Bikes Hitchhiker build. These frames are capable beauties, with a solid Columbus Cromor tubeset spec. Check out more details of this classy and timeless build below.
Photos by Rugile Kaladyte
When Rene Herse Cycles decided to develop a tire specifically for bikepacking and ultra-endurance racing, they asked Lael Wilcox what she wants in a tire. Lael has raced many ultra-endurance events, including the Tour Divide and Silk Road Mountain Race. She provided Rene Herse Cycles with heaps of feedback and they’re now introducing the result of this collaboration, the Fleecer Ridge 29″ x 2.2″ (or 700C x 55 mm), named after Lael’s favorite climb on the Tour Divide.
The Fleecer Ridge is a true all-rounder. Large knobs with generous space in between provide superb traction on loose and soft surfaces, while the knobs are spaced to put more rubber on the road as the tire leans into corners during paved descents into town to resupply.
The Fleecer Ridge offers a choice of the four Rene Herse casings:
-Standard combines comfort and speed at an affordable price.
-Extralight is our most supple casing for ultimate speed.
-Endurance uses the same ultra-fine threads with extra protection against punctures and cuts.
-Endurance Plus is one of the toughest performance tires available today.
Available in mid-May 2020 from good bike shops and directly from Rene Herse Cycles.
Finding a 1-1/8″ steerer carbon fork with bosses for cargo cages, fenders, and yes, dynamo lighting is near impossible. So what are we to do with all those capable 1-1/8″ steerer frames we have that would otherwise make a great touring bike? CINQ makes one such fork, with all the above features. The Touring Fork weighs 550g, a unique “no-thread” thru-bolt eyelet system for cargo cages, fits bigger tires, utilizes internal routing, and much more!
Specs:
-Clearance for 27,5″ x 2.2″ or 28″x2.0″ (700x50mm) tires
-Great for touring and gravel applications
-“No-Thread” stainless steel thru-bolt cargo mounting system avoids damaging threads permanently mounted in the carbon
-Compatible with internal dynamo wiring for a clean setup
-Light and fender mounts
-Lightweight and strong
See more at CINQ!
These aren’t available in the US but CycleMonkey has licensed it and they make a tapered steerer version too!
The Ritchey Outback received a hefty facelift for 2020, making it more capable than ever. With an all-new Ritchey Adventure Fork design, complete with cargo mounts, and a frame with more braze-ons, including rack and fender mounts, you can take it on gravel rides, or out on a multi-day tour. The Outback also clears 700c x 48mm or 650b x 2.0″ tires, making it an extremely versatile bike within Ritchey’s lineup. The frame + fork will run you $1,399 and you can see one in person at your local dealer. Head to Ritchey to see more!
Twin Six’s Standard Rando frame is a real sleeper. For $700, you get a capable, versatile bike, with a steel fork, all the braze-ons you could want, a PF30 BB perfect for SS conversion, and clearance for either a 700c x 43mm or 650b x 48mm tire. Build it up to ride gravel, or to go on a tour. At that price, there are few competitors! For 2020, Twin Six updated the Standard Rando’s colors with a bright Saffron yellow and an Extra Black. Jump on the pre-order now and get $100 off through May 15th. Head to Twin Six to see more!
A while ago Liz and I were rolling through Connecticut, on a mission to eat the best pizza in the world. We went to Frank Pepe’s, Sally’s, Modern, and BAR, a list provided to us by the one and only Ronnie Romance. Ronnie even told us a story of a date at BAR that would forever change his life, but both of us still agreed that Sally’s was the best pizza New Haven had to offer, and I’ll even go as far and say it’s the best pizza I’ve ever had. Ronnie and I have shared pizzas all across the globe, we’ve also shared many stories while eating pizza, and besides Namz, I don’t think anyone person has come up more than Peter Weigle. To me, Peter Weigle is a living legend, dealing in a world I know very little about, and because of this, I thought untouchable. Well… besides holding a can of his Frame Saver. To Ronnie, Peter is an old friend, who shaped the way he pieces his own bikes together to share with the thousands followers along for the ride. Hints, making everything Peter does “The New/Old Hot Thing”!
I’m not alone when I say how much I love a good basket bike. Typically, you either run a Wald basket with the stock struts and that’s enough. Many people run a Wald, sans hardware, zip-tied to a rack. Pelago has taken the latter and made a rack and basket in one. It’s called the Rasket and it’s a sturdy resolution to create the ultimate basket bike.
Our friends at Latigo Coffee hold annual Campouts in the areas around their operations on the Central California Coast. Last year’s event took them to Kernville, a veritable gravel and mountain bike mecca, for some riding, running, swimmin’, good times, music, and of course coffee! Check out their vibes-heavy video.
While we’re all locked down in our homes, a lot of us are biding our time planning tours and travels. One of the ways we can help you with that is by teaming up with the Adventure Cycling Association to offer you a free, 6-month trial.
The Radavist and Adventure Cycling are teaming up to offer you a free 6-month trial membership to Adventure Cycling Association. Become a member with Adventure Cycling Association today and unlock the keys to a wealth of resources and valuable tools that will ignite your dreams and plans for bicycle adventures of any kind — whether short overnight trips, weeklong tours, cross-country rides, or around-the-world journeys.
Perks of membership with Adventure Cycling include:
-A subscription to Adventure Cyclist – the only magazine dedicated to bicycle travel
-Discounts on Adventure Cycling maps as well as deals on hotel stays, gear, and apparel
-Access to trip planning resources and more!
With over 50,000 members, Adventure Cycling is the nation’s largest bicycling association. We exist to inspire and empower people to travel by bicycle. Sign-up now!
*This 6-month free trial membership is valid only for new members and must be sent to a U.S. mailing address.
Sign up at Adventure Cycling
First of all, we’d like to thank all of you who have submitted Readers Rides builds to be shared over here. The response has been incredible, with hundreds already in our email box. I’m not sure how often we’ll be posting them but I figured we’d start it off this week with Tom’s Singular Peregrine fat tire randonneur…
These are just four of the bags from Swift Industries’ 2020 collection, which come in these colors, plus black, across the whole lineup. Each of these bags have been refined over the years to be durable, withstand the elements, carry snacks, and ya know, things like that. All are in stock now at Swift Industries, who is still open for business!
Last week, Bombtrack announced their yearly Bilderbuch, a compilation of what to expect from the brand’s dense catalog of bicycles. Naturally, as a brand, they have diversified their line up to meet just about any preference. There are road bikes, disc road bikes, rigid MTB, hardtails, gravel bikes, and classic tourers. Check out preferences and why we have gravitated to them below.
Puna is about a bicycle trip in search of answers through Argentina’s highlands.
Disclaimer: This happened before the Covid-19 outbreak
I am a team manager/photographer for Deluxe, a skateboard company out of SF. It’s always a trip to say it out loud or write it down on paper but I have my dream job. The posters and stickers that adorned my childhood bedroom walls came from the very place that I commute to every morning.
Behold, a timeless diamond in the crust. The “cantibolt” is the “sign a waiver” lightest tubed-cantilever-1” threaded offering from Crust Bikes; the first name in Boastfully Poor Business Decisions Index Weekly. A riff on the Jan Mule that so famously/infamously dons just about every other page of Bicycle Quarterly; the Crust version has coincidentally received praise from its muse… the sultan of supple; the prince of planing himself… Jan Heine uuuuuuvvv Bicycle Quarterly.
Pannier and Brother Cycles pulled together a great video documenting an bikepacking trip through Scotland’s Gloomy Grampians…
“Alighting the Sleeper Train at the highest, remotest station on the West Highland Line, a group of cyclists head off on an opportunistic wintry journey to ride the old-established network of gravel drove roads, only to find themselves bogged-down exploring the alluring voids in between. That’s why they’re called push bikes, after all…“
Long-time readers will recall this bike from 2015. That photoshoot was a lot of fun and while we lost a bulk of the gallery images when our server failed, a few photos survived, including a drive side shot and the Brüt Rosé spray photo, which still to this day is tooooo hawt.
Curve Cycling, based out of Australia, has really taken off with innovative products that are the direct result of what their sponsored riders request during their grueling ultra-endurance races all over the world. With the GMX+, they threw all their preconceptions out the window. They’ve created an all-new touring platform, built around their super-wide Walmer Bars and completely redesigned fork. This GMX is now able to carry up to 10 x 1L bottles, has a bikepacking specific geometry, and clearance for 3.0″ tires. This is a limited release with 10 frames arriving just after Easter to pre-order customers.
Features:
-frame: 3Al – 2.5V Aerospace Grade 9 titanium
-7x cage mounts, rear rack mounts, Clearance max 3.0″ tires
-fork: lowest possible axle to crown height (430mm) allows for the best use of storage space within the front triangle.
-bars: The Walmer Bar – Curve’s ultra-wide drop-bar – available in 4 sizes – 46, 50, 55, 60cm on the hoods
GMX+ Frameset $4,499 AUD Titanium Frame, Carbon Fork, Headset, Seatclamp, Front & Rear Axles.
GMX+ Frameset + Walmer Bars $4,599 AUD
See more at Curve.
