Tag: grannygear

You know how sometimes a product leaves you with that “Just OK” feeling? It’s not bad, but never quite gets to great either, just kind of lives in the middle ground? That, for me, has been the Foray gravel/MTB shoes from Bontrager.

So far the Masi Brunello has been smooth riding, good accelerating (especially with the Astral wheels on there), and quite willing for multi hour rides across varied road surfaces.

…here is the Masi Brunello GRX 22 and it has more shaping in it’s frame than anything made of metal I have ever ridden. And my first impression is that it works. It works well. But that is getting ahead of myself.

GORE has been winning with me of late with clothing that really has been working well. This, after some other items that were real misses, has been a great surprise and has filled out my go-to list of staple clothing quite nicely.

One of the first real rides I did on the Trailblazer wheels was a 50 mile mixed surface loop running the Touareg tires. Now I got a bit suckered into this one. You know that friend that says that “it’s a 30 mile ride with a couple of hills” and it never is? Yeah. That friend. I have one of those.

All of these are not the ‘typical’ multi-tool that you would carry for three different reasons, but all of them serve a useful purpose. Outside the box can be a good thing.

Basically, I likely would have moved on to another tire by now. But I have not. And that has actually been just fine with me, because although the heat and the smoke from multiple fires around California kept my miles low overall, the times I did ride the Touregs have been just really good to live with.

So we have a set of wheels on the loading dock in SoCal fresh off the assembly line from Boyd Wheels. The Trailblazer line of carbon wheels is listed as both a gravel wheel and an MTB wheel. Interesting. It’s wide at 26mm internal, its hookless, which is the fashion of late, its adaptable, and it’s darn light.

It’s a compelling tire. Other than the sand issue, it’s a good sized tire, it rolls well, grips well, excels in rougher conditions, and holds air nicely.

How have they been to use? Steady. They are still very true. I have not had to tension them or toss them in the truing stand. That has been as I expected based on my experience with the older MTB branded version. It’s a strong wheel for gravel use.