Cycling News & Blog Articles

Do you ever find yourself wishing you could drink the same old wine from a new bottle?  Well, guess what?  I've got a new blog!

After the Bike Forecast ended I figured it was high time I moved this whole operation over to new digs.  My original plan was to build something dazzling from scratch and start off the decade with a new announcement about the launch of Bike Snob 2.0.  But then I realized I had no idea what the hell I was doing, and that it would take me years to pull off something like that.

So instead I decided to do it all in a half-assed fashion.  I mean hey, it got me this far, right?

Anyway, go check it out.  I think you'll find the feel of the place is distinctly "rental house with a few air mattresses in it," but I'm slowly furnishing it.  And while it may not have the character of this place, at least it's clean.  (For now anyway.)

Speaking of disconcerting new things, Business Insider asked me to do write-ups on bike stuff I liked, and so I reviewed the Brooks Cambium C17 All-Weather:

And the Hiplok Z-Lok:

Owing to cascading back-to-school schedules I make my return to typing words into the internet incrementally, and to that end here's a short post alerting you to the fact that I was on the radio Monday and now you can listen to it:

It's gonna be a looong decade...

Hi!

Remember how I said I might pop by to flog an Outside column or something?  Well here you go!

As someone with a special bike for everything I relish the smugness and hypocrisy of telling people they don't need a special bike for everything.

Also, I was on the radio yesterday and you can hear the show here.  The best part was probably around halfway through when someone called to ask about helmets.

OK, bye!


--Tan Tenovo

I don't want to make too big a deal over the fact that we're on the cusp of a new decade.  I don't even want to say that this will be my last post of 2019. I mean it might be, but I also may pop in if there's a new Outside column to flog or I get a really awesome Christmas gift and I can't wait to share it.  For example, I did put this in my letter to Santa, so we'll just have to see if he delivers:

Yeah, like a road racer is going to accept the weight penalty of a vibrating saddle.

Still, despite my not wanting to make a fuss, I can't help but reflect briefly on what a significant decade it's been--for me!  Here are just a few things I pulled off between 2010 and 2020:

Had two kidsPublished four booksRelocated from Brooklyn to a different part of the country (the Bronx)I don't know what else...got a cat, does that count?
The above is a comment I deleted from someone who is pathologically obsessed with my integrity for some reason.  I can only assume that my influence over them is so profound and all-consuming that they can't help but buy every single thing I mention on this blog, even $4,000 titanium frames, and I imagine them screaming, "Oh god, please no, make it stop!" as they click on the "Confirm Purchase" button with trembling hands and sweat streaming down their brow.  As for the rest of you, I trust you understand that the mere existence of a $4,000 Jones titanium frame does not require you to purchase it, and that you can also buy a complete steel Jones for half that--or even no Jones at all!

Speaking of all-terrain bicycles, check this thing out:
— James Huang (@angryasian) December 16, 2019
Regardless, Evil’s own press release isn’t shy about these figures being totally removed from what people have to come expect of gravel bikes. “Most companies start with road and conservatively relax things for gravel—just enough to not stir any feathers,” it reads. “Not us. We went from full-blown mountain bike and sorta, but not really, roadied it out.

I'm not judging, but I will point out that for a long time I've been saying the gravel bike is basically the bike industry slowly reinventing the cross-country mountain bike, and I think with this bicycle that process is finally complete.  I'm also tempted to say it's kind of just a Jones made out of crabon with less tire clearance and less comfortable bars, but that's not a judgement either, and clearly the next decade is going to be one in which there will be a production bicycle for every single cycling niche you can possibly imagine.

Just make sure to wear your performance jorts:


If anyone has ever put a pair of pants between a set of scissor blades and thought, “these might look cool, but I’m wasting two lower pant legs, and they are gonna chafe like a mother…,” then Ripton & Co has some good news. 

 The new brand, debuting from the Western Slope of Colorado, brings performance-minded jorts to mountain biking. The shorts are stretchy and offer an ethical and sustainable approach to jorts.

I've never had a problem with jorts-chafing, and the most ethical and sustainable approach to the jort would seem to be making them out of the old pants you don't wear anymore.  Neither, presumably, does the person who keeps calling me a shill, and who just ordered 10 pairs of performance jorts because I mentioned them on this blog.

Sucker!

Anyway, that's enough out of me.  Have an exuberant holiday season, and I'll see you next decade, if not before.

Love,


Tan Tenovo

It's cold today:

Oh, sorry, I mean it's relatively cold for New York City in mid-December today, but not cold in the grand scheme of things, so spare me your "Minnesota humblebrag:"


Yes, I know you don't even bother with kneewarmers when the temperature is over 20 degrees American.  Good for you.

But anyway, here in the tropics we're having a bit of a cold snap today.  Moreover, we're coming off a period of rain and snow and fluctuating temperatures that has encased pretty much everything in a fairytale-like shell of ice:


While it may look pretty, those heavy ice-encrusted tree boughs have been falling off lately, which is why I always wear my pedestrian helmet at this time of year.

As for riding, freezing temperatures coupled with a dusting of snow presented me with a perfect excuse to hop on the Jones LWB and pop into Highbridge this morning:


Sometimes just an hour on the bike is all you need (or all you have time for) and Highbridge affords me the opportunity to incorporate some dirt into that hour:


Moreover, even though it's capable of multi-day bikepacking expeditions (don't forget your designer axe!), the Jones is equally ideal for a quick urban winter jaunt: it rolls right over ice patches and inch-deep road salt deposits (the city has gone seriously crazy with road salt this year), and I also don't have to worry about wiping out on the Broadway Bridge:


Not only does the entire road surface consist of metal grating that can get very slick when it's wet, but it's also a lift bridge, so you have to contend with the metal maw depicted above.

On a road bike you've got to lift both wheels to make it across, but on the Jones you just roll on over it.

Speaking of Jones, obviously you can buy affordably priced SWB and LWB (smooth or knobby) versions, but Jeff Jones also informs me he's offering new titanium SWB framesets in his store:


They're available in Spaceframe and Diamond frame versions, with various fork options:


Given that the Jones and the new-to-me Litespeed are basically my two favorite bikes now I find the idea of a titanium Jones extremely compelling.

Here are the prices:

Jones Plus SWB titanium Spaceframe with Ti Truss fork- $4540
Jones Plus SWB titanium Diamond frame, Ti Truss fork- $4240
Jones Plus SWB titanium Diamond frame, steel Truss fork- $3640
Jones Plus SWB titanium Diamond frame, steel unicrown fork- $3340

But the best thing about Jones's announcement is that his email came with all sorts of GIFs.  Here's one illustrating the difference between the SWB and the LWB:

See that?  The fit is same, but the wheelbase is longer.

Here's one showing that the steel and titanium SWBs both have the same geometry:

And here's one of a cat:


Sorry, I just slipped that one in there.

So yeah, if you're ready to build your do-anything dream bike now's the time.

I wish I was...

And for you Minnesota Humblebraggarts wondering how the titanium Jones frames old up in temperatures under -50 degrees, you'll have to take that up with him.