New Bike Gear Out And Due Out...

[faustus]

Sonder teasing a new bike out soon...my guess is a steel broken road

[Bearlegged]

Nice colour.

[faustus]

Just a few new colours for the camino - v. boring

[Verena]

Anyone seen these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295440751670 ... 50b1956300
(other retailers are available)

I hadn't, quite impressed.

Guy I met at the side of the road on Monday and spent the night with (sorry, still gets me, the things that seem perfectly normal in the world of bikepacking...) got one out in the morning, I thought, wow, now that IS a big tooth paste tablet, hey presto couple of drops of water from his bottle and he has a full size bath towel on him (ok not quite, but big by wet wipe standards...)

[Verena]

Also: the bike douche/ face mist (patent very much pending)

Discovered by my good self this week, by chance, as all great inventions are.

Ever feel hot and bothered during bike rides and in need of freshening up?

Here's what to do:

Buy sparkling water and fill up your water bottles,.place in their cages.

Ride around quickly, ideally downhill, on some rough gravel tracks.

Every so often, when you least expect it, the bottles will become so pressurised that that they will emit a sudden burst of fine spray, upwards to possibly your face, more likely elsewhere, causing you to probably make this face

[Alpinum]

Another new tyre by Schwalbe with a funny name announced and tested. Should be on the shelves in 2025

[redefined_cycles]

Another new tyre by Schwalbe with a funny name announced and tested. Should be on the shelves in 2025

Looks like they're only coming in 2.4 widths. Is that the way forward, 2.4 max thicknesses!

[PaulB2]

Is 2.6 not the new hotness now or is that so last year?

[redefined_cycles]

Is 2.6 not the new hotness now or is that so last year?

It was for a brief while Paul. But lately have read some journos saying it was all a bit of a myth about the 2.6 being 'the one'. Plus Santa Cruz 2022 (or was it 21) Highball model had a absolute max tyre width of 2.4. Thought maybe Schwalbe only making a 2.4 in a sticky tyre meant that's where it's all ending. Like 29er being the final bike we'll need (harder to get 27.5 tires now in many models).

Time will tell

[Alpinum]

Another new tyre by Schwalbe with a funny name announced and tested. Should be on the shelves in 2025

Looks like they're only coming in 2.4 widths. Is that the way forward, 2.4 max thicknesses!

Depends what and how you ride.

Thought maybe Schwalbe only making a 2.4 in a sticky tyre meant that's where it's all ending.

Goes more to show that Schwalbe made the tyre for gravity oriented riders and racers. It comes in two compounds, soft and ultra soft.

Ohhh... other news from Schwalbe (may have mentioned on here before). Magic Mary now comes in a slightly lighter "Super Ground" version too. Throw in a 50 g insert and save 100 g, yet get more grip and comfort. Win

For outright braking and cornering grip I still prefer Magic Mary front and rear. What current (quick) tests don't tell, Big Betty and Tacky Chan offer noticebly less traction on steep/techy uphills than Magic Mary. Trade off for better rolling (which I don't feel, since I push or carry all the time anyways )

Loads of 2.6 Schwalbes still available, also Big Betty which is very similar to Tacky Chan.
As with other brands I think we owe this to pedelecs.

[Cheeky Monkey]

Have we done PHD's quilts?

New to me but quite possibly old news to many Typical PHD pricing as well (not arguing up or down about it, just know it's much more than I could justify to myself) starting c.£400 and max'ing out at £600+.

https://www.phdesigns.co.uk/catalog/all ... ackpackers

[rudedog]

Yeah, the equivalent Enlightened quilt is about £200 cheaper. Would be hard to justify.

[fatbikephil]

https://bikepacking.com/news/shimano-ex500-ex900-shoes/
FFS the only decent mountainbike boots have been ruined - cheers Shimano...

[faustus]

Agree, always wanted a pair of XM9s, and I don't think BOA is necessarily an upgrade and not keen on the looks of the new one - may have to find some old ones still in stock now..

[fatbikephil]

Agree, always wanted a pair of XM9s, and I don't think BOA is necessarily an upgrade and not keen on the looks of the new one - may have to find some old ones still in stock now..

Just scored a pair of size 46's from Amazon for £107. I'm thinking between these and my old ones, they should see me out!

[faustus]

This is a genuinely cool bike, first disc Moulton:


EDIT: Rear tyre does have a puncture!

[redefined_cycles]

https://bikepacking.com/news/shimano-ex500-ex900-shoes/
FFS the only decent mountainbike boots have been ruined - cheers Shimano...

Hold on... So you weren't actually wearing hiking boots on the HT but they were XM9. Somehow I thought the pics looked like Solomons or similar) hiking boots. Always thought about XM9 but felt they looked a bit too stiff.

Good to know that so many find them to be ace. My elder bro bought the flap version (the black and white ones which had the flap over the laces). Hardly lasted him a year and hence I was always in doubt bought the XM9/91 too...

[fatbikephil]

https://bikepacking.com/news/shimano-ex500-ex900-shoes/
FFS the only decent mountainbike boots have been ruined - cheers Shimano...

Hold on... So you weren't actually wearing hiking boots on the HT but they were XM9. Somehow I thought the pics looked like Solomons or similar) hiking boots. Always thought about XM9 but felt they looked a bit too stiff.

Good to know that so many find them to be ace. My elder bro bought the flap version (the black and white ones which had the flap over the laces). Hardly lasted him a year and hence I was always in doubt bought the XM9/91 too...

Yup XM9's bought new in 2017 for the HT that year. I actually used my older MT91's in 2021 as they do seem a bit wider round the toes but I think this is just because they have been nikwaxed so much they have stretched. These are still OK too so my current XM 9's, the new ones I got cheap off Amazon and the old MT91's should see me out!

[redefined_cycles]

Thanks Phil. Reason why I was keen to notice your footwear on the HT550 reports was cos I have this loop of 80 miles. Goes from mine, dissects the Peak District over Pym Chair. Pym Chair being a proper walking path only (if that and probably overgrown by now) and about 5 or 10 miles of it IIRC.

I've swapped back to spd for the Everesting training (to be fair, in my state of health and generally being a bit of a weakling, I'll probably be doing a 3rd Base Camp [6000ish metres] rather than a full Everest, to allow easier recovery before the BB200) and the Pym Chair being part of the training I'd been thinking about how to walk that section. Sorry for the mouthful of a sentence!

So, I could put on flatties but the Five Ten bikepacking shoes can become painful when walking extended lengths. On the other hand the spd would be excellent as part of the training - of extended spd usage on the feet - but I'd probably destroyy feet walking them 5 or 10 miles in MT700 shoes. Might end up taking some (lightweight, trail-running version) Scarpas or the like for the hike across.

Good to know that the xm9 and mt91 are HT550 approved and weren't just hype. One of the lads on the Bikepacking.com review of the BOA version mentioned how he'd used his xm9/mt91 for over 4000km of bikepacking usage. That's phenomenal...

Congrats on your new purchase btw Phil

[redefined_cycles]

This is a genuinely cool bike, first disc Moulton:


EDIT: Rear tyre does have a puncture!

Looks like that'd be good for a 100 mile commute!!?? Winder how tightly it pack down... Always stayed away from the Bromptons as it feels a daft bike for an 80 mile (technicaly my longest) commute but Moulton I've always seen as a class above... Drop handles, nice touch!

[Bearbonesnorm]

I don't think it folds Shaf.

[redefined_cycles]

Oh... Thanks Stu. About time they started making folders - especially looking like that. False representation

[JohnClimber]

This is a genuinely cool bike, first disc Moulton:

But £10,950.00

[Lazarus]

I don't think it folds Shaf.

Seriously
WTF is the point of it then?
and that was before i saw the price

[faustus]

I think they can be split in half for transporting, but I guess for travel rather than commuting - and they must have QR connectors on the brake hose. As a bike object I still like it!