Every year Quality Bicycle Products, or QBP, produces a trade show for their dealers featuring vendors who sell their products through QBP. Your humble reporter was invited this year to the frozen wasteland that is Minneapolis. By the way, those who refer to Portland, OR as Minneapolis West are not even close to the mark. So, stop it. There is a relatively limited mass transit system here and, even though the local beers are quite good and a welcome relief from Northwest Hop Bombs, beer higher than 3.2 % alcohol is only sold at liquor stores or bars. And it is cold here. So cold it hurts. Cold enough to kill you in short time. Actually don’t even use Minneapolis and Portland in the same sentence anymore.
But, I digress- back to the trade show.
I have lusted in my heart for a Ritchey Road Logic bicycle for as long as I can remember. I’m not sure why. The only one I ever rode felt unforgiving and, while not really exactly twitchy, it was, shall we say, very responsive. In fairness, I was already spoiled at the time by the feel of a nice, relaxed touring bike geometry and bigger cushy tires.
I think maybe it’s the Tom Ritchey legacy and the fact that he made his own frames with proprietary Ritchey Logic tubing. So imagine my excitement when I came to the Ritchey booth and saw that, after a hiatus of several years in which he made only his Breakaway bikes, Ritchey is now having the Road Logic, P29r, a 650b bike (not 27.5, thank you very much) and the Swiss Cross made again. Not by Mr. Ritchey personally but by very experienced frame builders in Taiwan who have received training by Ritchey and use the same proprietary tubing.
Classic, understated, sturdy, simple tools.
Cogburn is a brand being distributed by QBP. They make a camo fat bike which attempts to attract a new customer to biking; the sportsman. The thing that has interested me is the rack they have for carrying weapons- bows and arrows, rifles and/or fishing poles. Could also work for skiis.
This thing appears to be adaptable to most racks and the carry brackets can be moved around to work with different cargo. Neato!
Another item I have been curious about is the rack and pannier system from Thule. Got to see the setup here and I have to say it looks pretty nice. Thule makes their own rack which mounts without eyelets so it will fit on about any bike. It’s sort of gnarly looking in my opinion but the
bag attachment will work on any rack with 10 mm rails so using the Thule rack is not mandatory. Whew. The bottom of the bags are held tight by a rare earth magnet built-in to the Thule rack and sold after market for other racks. The quality seems high and the details are well thought out. Available from Campmor
Old Man Mountain 26″ Sherpa Rear Rack on Surly ECRI was a stumped for a little while recently when a customer asked about a rear rack for her new Surly ECR. Most standard rear racks are either not tall enough or not wide enough to clear the massive 29×3 Knard tires. I figured Channing at Old Man Mountain would have some ideas- since he already makes racks to fit regular fat bikes- and I was right. He suggested mounting the Old Man Mountain Sherpa rack to the rack eyelets on the ECR rather than trying to use the typical, hub axle mount. It’s as if this rack was designed for this bike when attached this way! I used the 26″ Sherpa rack and ended up with a couple centimeters clearance between the bottom of the rack and the top of the tire. The stock extender bar made to go from the rack to the threaded holes in the seat stay needs to be replaced with the longer, 12″ extender bar. The fit kit brackets on the bottom of the rack legs are about 27mm thick so I found some M5x0.8 bolts in a 35mm length at the local hardware store and used those to attach the rack to the threaded holes on the dropout. With those two easy modifications the 26″ Sherpa rack is a good option for the ECR. For those who prefer a little bit larger, beefier rack with lower pannier rails, the Old Man Mountain 26″ Pioneer fits too as long as the longer bolts and extension bars are used. These fittings on the bottom of Old Man Mountain racks provide proper spacing and support for mounting the rack through the hub axle with the included, extra long quick release skewer.
M5x0.8x35mm bolts from the local Ace Hardware will replace the quick release skewer and bolt into the eyelets on the drop out or frame.Old Man Mountain sells longer extension bars for semi-custom applications such as this.Old Man Mountain Pioneer rear rack on the ECR. Fits Fine!O.M.M on the ECR. Plenty of room.
The Bike Touring News store now has Phil Wood bottom brackets for your Long Haul Trucker (or even brand x touring bikes!) builds. Phil Wood has gained a reputation over the last 40 years or so for being the standard in durable, strong and serviceable bottom brackets. Here’s a short pictorial guide: The Phil wood bottom bracket and retaining rings. The rings come with thread lock and they are required for installation.
On a new frame the bottom bracket shell threads should be chased before installing the bottom bracket. Phil Wood retaining rings have no outer flange to rest against the the outer surface of the shell, so the paint does not need to be cleaned off nor does the shell need to be faced.This is a thread chasing tool for bottom brackets. A person could probably get away without this step on a new frame.The drive side retaining ring threads in to the shell, just partway to start.The Phil Wood bottom bracket tool is specifically designed for the retaining rings and is required for installation.Two bottom bracket tools, one on each side makes the job much easier. The bottom bracket is slipped in from the non-drive side before the non-drive retaining cup is threaded in.Here is a pair of Phil bottom bracket tools. Using two makes final adjustment much, much easier.On of the unique and clever benefits of the Phil Wood bottom bracket design is the ability to move the cartridge left or right up to 5mm in order to get the chain line perfectly dialed. Here the bottom bracket is more or less centered since there is about the same amount of thread left exposed on the cups on both sides of the shell.The proper length of bottom bracket spindle will be a function of the shape of the crank, mostly. Too short a spindle and the chainrings can hit the frame, too long and the chainline could be awkward and the Q-factor will be increased. This is a 68×108 bottom bracket with a Sugino XD2-500T triple crank set.New (2013 or so) to the Phil Wood product lineup is the BB Cup Mudguards designed to friction fit into the retaining cups and to keep the splines free from muck buildup. On this 108mm bottom bracket the bottom of the spindle taper doesn’t clear the mud guard and when the crank is tightened onto the spindle it binds. Clearly this idea needs some work. Phil Wood & Co. has been selling bottom brackets without mudguards for 4 decades though so they are not a requirement.
If you follow any of our posts you have already noticed we aren’t afraid of touring on dirt and gravel roads. In fact in the last few years we have probably covered more miles on dirt than on pavement… AND we cover most of them on loaded touring bikes. Certainly, riding a fully loaded touring bike on dirt/sand/gravel is not the same experience as the rider on a “fat” bike or a “mountain” bike. Sometimes our descent will be slower or we may have to walk a few stretches but overall we rarely shy away from following that enticing road and going exploring.
The last few weekends have found us seeking sunshine in the Big Jacks Creek Wilderness Area, south of Boise. Evan Worthington, the Owyhee Wilderness Ranger from BLM took the time to share his knowledge and passion for the area at a recent Wandering Wheels meeting (a loose group of people who like to ride bikes). What makes the area special for biking is the existence of many cherry stems- from the BLM website:
“Cherrystems are spurs of roads in Wilderness areas that do not themselves have wilderness status. The boundary of a Wilderness area extends up one side of a cherrystem route, around its terminus and down the other side of the roadway, to allow for motorized or mechanized activity on the roadway that is prohibited in the Wilderness area.
The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 also designated a few cherrystem routes that cross entirely through the Big Jacks Creek, Bruneau-Jarbidge Rivers, and Owyhee River Wilderness Areas.
All cherrystem routes are signed and open to motorized and mechanical transport unless posted otherwise. Please stay on established cherrystem routes to protect adjacent wilderness.”
Photo by Aileen Frey
Evan also blessed the shop with several excellent maps of the area so if you live near by feel free to come in and plan adventures. The recent ride involved a section of road that is best described as double track. Some sections were rocky, others quite sandy and a few of the descents would be described as somewhat challenging regardless of the type of bike a person was riding.
Roads really aren’t my topic though. My topic is what bike can I, do I, choose to ride for Adventure Cycling. My answer is – it really doesn’t matter – much; I am taking a big leap of faith that if you are reading this, your bike of choice probably isn’t of the road racing variety. Taking a bike with a tire narrower than 32 mm may lead to frustration but other than that we say don’t underestimate the ability to try the intriguing dirt road on your current bike. (see Chris Kostman’s Rough Riders Blog) Understand that the riding experience will not be the same as a full suspension mountain bike and personally, we think that is fine. Our group of back road adventures often will have a wide variety of bikes – Touring style, Mt. Bike Style, Fat Bike Style, Adventure Bike Style. Some cover ground faster than others but everyone who shows up to ride realizes we are in a group and nobody seems to get their bike shorts in a twist about waiting for others or having others wait for them.
Things to consider and to include on your adventure:
Sky King and Sky putting the Grand Bois Hetres through the paces.
Tire Width & Tread – A width of 32 mm is a minimum. Skinny tires don’t do well in soft dirt, sand or deep gravel. Tread – while I have ridden my Gran Boise Hetre’s on many dirt roads & also have used Schwalbe Marathon Supremes I do need to pay attention to loose/deep gravel and have walked sections others have been able to ride because these tires aren’t heavy on the tread. Don’t over inflate either! If anything start out in the mid range of PSI for your tire and adjust accordingly.
Some good tire choices: (l. to r.) Surly Knard 700×41, Bontrager 29×2.1, Schwalbe Big Apple 700×2.35
Pedals & Shoes – I have the Shimano A530 which is a two sided pedal, giving me the option to clip or go clipless. I typically ride clipped in and will clip out if I am concerned about needing to put my foot down quickly on a tricky descent but ride with many who don’t use a clipped in style. Some use a BMX style pedal. The 45North pedal with the hi traction pins are great for those who don’t want to be clipped. The Power Grip is another alternative.
Bags & Bottles – For day trips or overnighters I never ride without at least one bag on my bike. We have had many discussions about to ride or not to ride with a front bag. The front bags we like and offer for sale rest on the front rack so the weight is on the tire and not weighted on the handlebar but others will argue that the weight of the bag affects the handling. Once again I will just say riding a loaded touring bike on dirt/gravel is going to be a different ride than a bike with suspension sans bags. If you ride in heavy brush or trees, using panniers can be an issue. Frame bags aren’t just for Mt Bikes and work quite well on touring and adventure bikes. Several of our biking buddies take their hydration packs for back road rides. I don’t happen to own one so I always make sure I carry plenty of water and we often will throw the water filtering devices in the seat bag if we know we will be in an area that has water. For day adventure rides I take a saddlebag. This last trip I used a Frost River Gunflint Trail and had so much room I carried extra clothes for a few others.
The Gunflint Trail bag on the Nitto M15 rear rack. Note the riveted and sewn leather attachments.
Be Prepared – Day trips or overnighters; always bring more than you think you’ll need. Getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere and not having the right tools, clothing, food is not going to be any fun for anyone. We always have the essentials – tube, patch kit, pump, tire irons and other simple tools. In addition- strike anywhere matches, flint tool, tactical flashlight, emergency blanket, first aid kit, chemical toe warmers, jacket, hat, gloves and pants (based on the season) and extra food – fruit, nuts, gorp, sardines or whatever you’d appreciate if your ride takes a sudden unexpected turn.
Riding a touring or adventure style bike on loose gravel, deep sand or rocky roads does take some practice. Learning to power through deep sand and to not back off when hitting the unexpected were two things I had to concentrate on when I began to leave the pavement. Rough roads can be tiring on the hands and the arms, but at the same time perhaps that reminds you to stop, take a break, enjoy the scenery and remind yourself it’s about the journey, not the destination.
