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Yes! This thing is so badass. It’s breaking rad into pieces, or at least it better be during a race. Seriously, if you ride a bike like that, you had better be airing the flyover and bunnyhopping the barriers. See more of this rad Tonic Fabrication at Bike Daily’s Flickr!
Keirin Bank and Groooove put together a short and sweet video from a recent track racing event in Japan. It’s been a while since something from Groooove has been posted here. More of this!
Photo by nu llpo
Imagery like this never gets old and cyclists from every background can appreciate the beauty of Keirin racing. I suggest you look through this entire set on Flickr.
If you need scientific data to support tire purchasing, you need not continue reading. Just look at the pretty photos and move on. This is not a controlled test on rolling resistance, aerodynamics or puncture protection. I don’t do that kind of product review. What I do is actually use something until I feel like I can sign off on its quality, before I choose to write anything.
Let’s look at this tire’s history before we go any further. Bruce Gordon was arguably one of the first builders in the USA to support “gravel grinding”. His bikes were straight-forward, utilitarian beasts that sometimes were painted like an 80’s hotrod, or even adorned with animal print. They are wild. In fact, one of the first BG bikes I ever saw was a flat bar cross bike, with these tires and tiger stripes that was well before any 29’r hit the market. A lot of bikes back in the 80’s couldn’t even fit these tires. There weren’t exactly stock framesets that fit a 700c x 43c wheel, so these stood out from other offerings of the time.
Bruce’s Rock N Road tires are iconic, much like his bikes. Originally designed by Joe Murray, a well-known figure in the MTB community. These 43mm (1.72″) tires were designed to be high-volume, fast rolling and rip through gravel like I rip through a Frito Pie. Are they slow on the road? Of course. They have decent tread. Are they good for loose and sandy conditions? Mostly, yes. They move as fast as you pedal them.
The Rock N Road tire is one that’s at home on chip seal, paved, gravel, rock, sand and just about everything else you can throw at it on a ride. It’ll handle great at 60psi on asphalt and excel at 40psi in gravel. I had a great time ripping through the cedar-topped trails here in Austin, as well as a few gravel roads and even rocky terrain. All save for one flat (snake bite in a rock garden), I’ve yet to have any issues. Let me add however that if all you do is ride sealed roads on your rig, I would go for something else, mostly because you’ll probably wear through the tread too fast.
Puncture protection? It’s not thorn season here in Austin, so I’ve yet to tackle anything like that but I’d say they’re pretty resilient to the normal road and trail debris. Some tire liners would help and I read somewhere that people have been successful at running these on a tubeless wheel. If anyone has insight to that, share in the comments!
If you want a big, fat tire for your cross, touring or even MTB with 700c or 29’r wheels, look no further. $50 a piece is a great deal for anything coming out of the Panaracer facilities in Japan I might add! For the weight-conscious, they’re 540g each. One major note. They’re BIG and wouldn’t come close to fitting on my cross bike, so MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CLEARANCE!
Pick up a pair at Bruce Gordon’s online shop in skinwall or blackwall.
Another day, another Ryokou chapter:
“Chasing the Glory media house in association with Projucer presents the official trailer and announces the digital release of our latest sports story: RYOKOU (Journey) – a five part web documentary published on this channel.
Ryokou follows the journey of Aussie Cyclist Shane Perkins from his home in Adelaide post London Olympics to taking residence in Japan whilst competing in the 2012/13 Keirin competition. The sports documentary explores Japanese Keirin cycling as a pivotal part of Shane’s personal and professional growth, in context of some of the major events in his professional and personal career.”
The Ryoukou series continues with yet another episode. Here’s chapter 4:
“Chasing the Glory media house in association with Projucer presents the official trailer and announces the digital release of our latest sports story: RYOKOU (Journey) – a five part web documentary published on this channel.
Ryokou follows the journey of Aussie Cyclist Shane Perkins from his home in Adelaide post London Olympics to taking residence in Japan whilst competing in the 2012/13 Keirin competition. The sports documentary explores Japanese Keirin cycling as a pivotal part of Shane’s personal and professional growth, in context of some of the major events in his professional and personal career.”
Here’s the third chapter of the Ryokou series.
“Chasing the Glory media house in association with Projucer presents the official trailer and announces the digital release of our latest sports story: RYOKOU (Journey) – a five part web documentary published on this channel.
Ryokou follows the journey of Aussie Cyclist Shane Perkins from his home in Adelaide post London Olympics to taking residence in Japan whilst competing in the 2012/13 Keirin competition.
The sports documentary explores Japanese Keirin cycling as a pivotal part of Shane’s personal and professional growth, in context of some of the major events in his professional and personal career.”
I missed posting the first chapter of the Ryokou series, so here’s chapter 1 and 2.
“Chasing the Glory media house in association with Projucer presents the official trailer and announces the digital release of our latest sports story: RYOKOU (Journey) – a five part web documentary published on this channel.
Ryokou follows the journey of Aussie Cyclist Shane Perkins from his home in Adelaide post London Olympics to taking residence in Japan whilst competing in the 2012/13 Keirin competition.
The sports documentary explores Japanese Keirin cycling as a pivotal part of Shane’s personal and professional growth, in context of some of the major events in his professional and personal career.”
Sim Works visits a factory that just about everyone has owned a component from. This is a must watch!
When you want to carry just a little more than your jersey pockets will allow and the idea of having a backpack on just isn’t cutting it, pack bags are great alternatives. With more and more companies breaking into the market, Blue Lug Japan is supporting their local manufacturers, Fairweather.
I have to admit, these are the nicest looking pack saddle bags I’ve seen so far. I really like the easy-to-access top velcro pocket. I know Marty at Geekhouse has been loving his for weekend trips. See more photos at the Blue Lug Flickr and pick one up at Blue Lug.
This video is too good. What else would you expect from Defgrip:
“I recently had the opportunity to travel to Japan with Brian Yeagle, KC Badger, Joseph Frans, Broc Raiford, Chad Kerley, Alex Magallan, and Greg Illingworth. They went over there to do demos, but afterwards Brian, KC, Joseph, and I rented a car and took off on our own with the goal of seeing as much of Japan as we possibly could. It was much more of a recreational trip than a riding trip, and we had one hell of a good time. I put together this little video with bits of footage I shot while shooting for a Ride UK article and some footage Joseph shot with his GoPro. Nothing beats exploring interesting and unfamiliar places with your friends.
– Walter Pieringer”
From what Google tells me, the title for the latest Death Spray Custom video translates to “imagination”.
Max from Tokyo Fixed visits Japan every year to see family and on his most recent trip, he visited Cycle Sports Center in Shizuoka-Ken. The photos are rad, so see more here.
Mission Workshop is opening a pop-up shop in Japan for two weeks, starting this Friday. Here are the juicy details:
[Launch Party]
Friday, 17:00 to 20:00 November 23, 2012
[Mission Workshop POP-UP STORE]
Open for a limited time: Friday 23 November 2012 – December 2, 2012
Open hours 11:00 to 20:00 (Closed Wednesdays)
[Location]
vic2 Bikkutsu
1-8-8-1F-cho, Musashino-shi, Tokyo Kichijojiminami
Tel :0422-24-6426
It’s not every day you see riding from Osaka Funny and having met him a few years ago, I can really appreciate his riding in video, as much as in person. Dude is persistant and consistant.
Here’s a new one from the Rapha Continental:
“In the spring of 2011, Rapha Japan set up a charity ride and asked for your help. We all rode for Tohoku. Everybody in Japan would like to take this opportunity to thank those who contributed. A little over a year later, general tourism is still out of the question in this area but for cyclists, there is no shortage of great roads to ride here.”
See more at Rapha.
I’m not exactly sure what this photo is promoting, but it’s in a Flickr Set on the Starfuckers stream and I had to post it. See more photos here.
Shiokaze is the longest-running fixed freestyle competition in the world and it’s really rad to see Japan holding on to that tradition. This year, Chacon went out and took 1st place.
