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Ride Everything

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tiresWhen we designed the All Roads the idea was to create a bike that could excel in a wide range of riding environments. We wanted a bike that could do everything. Be spirited and fast on the pavement, be capable and stable on gravel and dirt, and confidence inspiring in the woods over roots and single track. In the past riders would have to choose between a cyclocross bike or a road-oriented bike. With the All Roads you don't have to choose and make a compromise. With a simple tire change you can have one bike that literally does it all. We recently received a sampling of Clement tires that are targeted at what we wanted the All Roads to be all about. Over the past month we tested the X'PLOR MSO 40, X'PLOR MSO 32 and Strada LGG Road 28. All three tires were 120 tpi folding tires. We took all three tires into every possible scenario you could imagine. We were very impressed by all three tires.

Our most recent ride was a "road" ride. A simple rolling loop of familiar roads with the Strada LGG 28s. We popped into some trails to see how they would handle and were very surprised by how they held up. Over mixed terrain in the woods we didn't flat or tear a sidewall. Ok, we might have crashed a few times as the Strada is not a mountain bike tire. And trying to ride a road tire on wet roots sometimes ends predictably. But that is part of tire testing. You need to push the bounds to see what the limit of the tire and the bike are.

The X'PLOR MSO 40 quickly became known as "The Fear Eraser" It is a great tire on the road. It MSO40rolls fast for such a high volume tire on pavement. But when you take it off road into the woods or on gravel you see what the tire is really about. At 40mm it is wider and higher volume than a cyclocross tire. It almost turns the All Roads into a 29er. We rode trails that we would usually only ride on a mountain bike. We rode over roots, ice, snow, axe head rocks. And the tire held its own. No sidewall cuts or flats. On gravel roads it provides phenomenal stability and sure handling.

JRAThe X'PLOR MSO 32 in my opinion would be the perfect tire if I had to pick just one tire and leave it on the bike. It rolls almost as fast as the Strada but is very trail worthy. Its not as sure handling as the 40 over really rough terrain but I pushed the tire hard on trails I would usually use an aggressive knobby tire on and it held its line and provided ample traction. It is a very nice tire in the woods. It is definitely a quicker handling tire than the 40mm, providing quick accelerations and nimble climbing up rocky terrain.

Overall we came away hugely impressed by Clement's lineup of gravel tires. They offer a wide range of tires for gravel, road and trail.

To see just what the All Roads can do check out this video we recently made with DirtwireTV.

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Minneapolis Musette

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We had a special guest this week. Aaron Smith traveled all the way from Minneapolis to see if Boston drivers' reputation would in fact live up to its urban legend. Aaron survived. He may have gotten a bit lostMPLS, or more likely distracted by all the Dunkin Donuts shops, he saw along the way to HQ but otherwise arrived unscathed. Once we had him under our care we took him to the Ride Studio Cafe in Lexington to get him highly caffeinated and then rolled out for a quick Concord loop. He actually seemed to enjoy our rolling (pothole strewn) lanes and bike paths. Unfortunately the Battle Road wasn't open as that is always a ton of fun. Most of our talk revolved around studded tires, gravel bikes and yes, even fat bikes. Minneapolis has a really cool bike scene. And Aaron was a great ambassador from that region. I am always amazed at what a common language cyclists have. Get us on a bike and its like we were friends for years. Its funny how you know a good rider the sMinutemanecond you follow their wheel or are chatting with them at 20 mph on rough tarmac and don't even for a millisecond feel nervous. Aaron is our type of rider. Nice, enthusiastic and super strong. Any rider who says he rides in -30 degree weather because it is "fun" gets it. It was only a short visit but I can safely say Honey needs to take a trip out to MPLS and investigate the bike scene in the Midwest. Whether it is for a good dose of gravel riding or some sweet fat bike riding it is going on the bucket list for 2014! Aaron works at a cool shop called Omnium Bike Shop and contributes to Minneapolis Musette. Check it out if you get a chance. Aaron thank you for coming out and getting rad with us.    atac

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Spring is Coming

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Most people think of Cape Cod as a summer vacation destination - warm beaches and lobster rolls. For Boston-area cyclists it is a winter escape portal. During the wiscargo towernter it is usually the only place within an hour of Boston that has trails that are rideable. This winter has been unusually harsh. People make do. They ski, snowshoe, ride fat bikes. But at some point your need for dirt hits a breaking point. This past weekend we fled our ice and snow encrusted trails of Boston to see how the Cape was riding.

 

The last two years we have been toying with putting together a Kranberry Kermesse. The Cape has lots of great trails. The key is to link them up into a good loop. The dream is a 40 mile loop mainly comprised of nice woods and paths. On Sunday we took the new F100 and CX race bikes down for some shredfesting on dirt. The conditions were perfect. No snow or ice. And even bogmore important this time of year-no mud! You can easily wreck the trails this time of year by riding them as they are thawing out. The Cape has great drainage and all the trails we rode were dry and loamy. Early Spring is one of my favorite times of year to ride. The Cape is beautiful in its starkness in mid-March. It was so good to finally be railing corners and hitting berms on knobby tires.

 

 

We found some great trails. Took the time to stop and climb Scargo tower and look out over the water to see if we could see Boston and P-town in the distance. As the ride went on it became a battle between SRAM Force and Shimano Ultegra. SRAM won one townline and Shimano won another. Nothing is more fun than a spirited ride with a10006596_10203375814265231_181402538_n good friend on new bikes. Both bikes performed flawlessly. First rides aren't supposed to go this well. I don't think we had to stop once for anything bike related. Coffee-related of course! Spring is almost here. The Kranberry Kermesse is shaping up rather nicely. We bumped into a pack of SS Mtn bikers down for some stealth training for SSPalooza and exchanged pleasantries and admired each others bikes. Everyone is coming out of their WInter hibernation!

 

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Thoughts on Tire Size

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Ondirte of the main design objectives for the Honey All Roads model was to allow for clearance for high volume tires. Tires effect how a bike rides on so many levels. When we set out to develop a bike that would shine on all types of roads and that could handle everything that it encountered along the way, we knew wide, higher volume tires would be the key to handling gravel, broken pavement and even roots. There seems to be much discussion about what a "gravel" bike is lately. We don't really call the All Roads a "gravel" bike, although it shines on gravel courses. We rarely encounter true gravel roads here in New England. We have a mix of dirt roads, single track, broken path and pavement. The rides we thought of when we created the All Roads included lots of woods riding and pavement. The popularity of grmillavel riding has really opened the flood gates for what you can do as far as tire selection. Before gravel riding became so popular you had to rely heavily on cyclocross tires. With the recent UCI rules barring tire width beyond 33 mm it really limited the tires that were available for those looking to ride off road beyond the constraints of cyclocross racing. CX racing is great, and the type of riding we like to do can be tackled on a cross bike. But its not the best solution for all types of riding. The biggest issues are tire clearance (most racing CX bikes don't have enough clearance to fit a tire bigger than 35 mm) braking and geometry.

We have been experimenting with Clement Cycling's range of tires. msoThe beauty of their range is that you can go from riding a 40 mm one day to a 33 mm the next to a 28 the next. It really is perfect for the All Roads. The All Road is a very versatile bike. There has been a lot of talk about the perfect tire for riding dirt. A lot of it is about rider preference and road conditions. Clement had an interesting post on their Facebook page recently that is worth sharing.

From Clement Cycling:

In the next week we are going to outline why we do not simply re-purpose our CX designs (or resize MTB) for gravel. One thing we know quite clear is that a traditional file (pyramid) pattern is toast after 400 miles on a dirt road. You have to think it, the dirt road, acts like sandpaper. We have designed the Clement X'Plor series from the ground up for dirt, gravel and commuting with a serious group of sounding board riders providing a wealth of feedback. The X'Plor series is quite adapt to changing surfaces and can be ridden hard...7 out the top 10 finishers at Dirty Kanza were on board with Clement X'Plor tires.

I found this interesting for many reasons. The first thing that stands out is that most of us tend to gravitate towards CX tires when choosing a tire to ride gravel roads. But as Clement stated above, gravel roads and CX courses are very different. It makes perfect sense, and I have noticed the wear factor on CX tires when I have shadowridden them extensively on dirt roads.

The weekends riding was such a needed reminder of just how great riding mixed terrain can be. The snow is melting. And with it receding we will get our dirt roads back. In the coming weeks we will have more in-depth reviews of the types of tires you can choose for your All Roads and which perform best for the specific course profile.