Posted in Components Reviews Tires

Donnelly Strada USH 700 X 40mm Tires: At The Finish

Put these tires on if you have a lot of paved road in your gravel loops, or if the bike you have needs to do double duty as a commuter, or touring bike. Give the Strada USH smooth, dry, dirt of finer crushed rock to run on and you won’t be disappointed. In these scenarios the USH is at home. Plus, with the choice of a tan sidewall, it can class up the look of just about any bike.

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Posted in Accessories Lights Reviews

Giant Bicycles Recon HL 1600 Light: At The Finish

The Recon HL 1600 is in a hotly contested category in the bike lighting market place. New contenders are out there with similar, and sometimes better, feature sets. As always, ‘caveat emptor’ when looking at this category, but the Recon HL 1600 is a solidly built, reliable light. While it has a basic feature set, (unless you own the proprietary Giant computer which opens up more features), it holds its own at the asking price of $126.00USD.

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Posted in Components Handlebars Reviews

A Tale Of Three Bars: Giant Contact SL XR Dfuse Bar

Now then…the ride quality. It is smoother under sharp impacts than any alloy bar I have used. It is noticeable.

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Posted in Apparel Reviews Shoes

Shimano RX8 Gravel Shoes: Checkpoint

As is often said, the best apparel and components simply “disappear” while riding, leaving you to enjoy the ride. The RX8 shoes from Shimano are the definition of such an apparel item. While either walking a gnarly, muddy dirt road or riding up and down hill and vale, the RX8 just got out of my way and let me do my thing.

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Posted in Components Handlebars Reviews

A Tale Of Three Bars: Ritchey WCS Streem II

A Tale Of Three Bars: Ritchey WCS Streem II – by Grannygear Introduction: The world of gravel riding has spawned a few trends and brought…

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Posted in Components Tires

Donnelly Strada USH 700 X 40mm Tires: Checkpoint

Similarly, wet mud riding does not impart a secure feeling when using the Strada USH. But then again, if you even think that is a good idea, well…..good luck to you. The obvious point here is that the Strada USH is best on dry dirt and gravel and is absolutely at home on rough, broken up pavement.

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Posted in Components Handlebars Reviews

A Tale Of Three Bars: FSA K-Wing AGX

When I get back to riding, I will be moving this to my road bike to get longer miles on it, but so far, as a gravel bike bar, I think it is very, very good and could be a total winner for someone who struggles with hand or wrist issues.

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Posted in Apparel Jerseys

Castelli Climber’s 2.0 Jersey: Quick Review

It’s Castelli, and this is a race type jersey, so the cut is slim and I upped things to an XL just to make sure I could wear it with some of my pride intact. The fit for me was very good unless I zipped the jersey all the way up, then it felt odd and tugged across the front of the jersey. Even unzipping a little bit made that go away.

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Posted in Accessories Lights Reviews

Giant Bicycles Recon HL 1600 Light: Checkpoint

I thought the light beam color and pattern was excellent. I ended up running this on the medium/800 Lumen setting, which to be honest, was more than bright enough.

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Posted in Gravel Bikes Gravel Grinder News Gravel News

Gravel Grinder News: Bjorn Bikes – Trying To Make A Difference

“One more bike, one less car. “I remember seeing this message emblazoned on a huge booth at the end of a trade show,” says Dennis. “And as I was reading it, a Bobcat came along and pushed the whole booth into a dumpster.”

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