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Today we’ve got a special bit of Reportage from the crew at Squid Bikes showcasing their new handmade in Taiwan steel gravel model, the Gravtron. Read on below for a look at the owners’, Chris and Emily, personal Gravtron builds as well as a friend Nick’s bike loaded down for a trip from Reno to Sacramento with a trip report by Emily. Check it out below!
We posted this video within today’s Reportage but here it is in a stand-alone post. Thanks to Kyle Klain for whipping this up on such short notice.
Music by Afsky…
We joke that time is a flat circle in cycling all too often. Gravel bikes are just ’90s mountain bikes, etc. Yet, we have to accept that we’re in an era of electronic shifting and yes, suspension forks on gravel bikes. This tech, however, is nothing new especially not for RockShox, who for the 1994 Paris Roubaix unveiled a suspension fork on team Lemond GAN’s bikes. In that same year, Mavic even had some Zap electronic groups on the exact same bikes.
Now, 27 years later, we have my Sklar gravel bike which is familiar to most of you, with a suspension fork and electronic shifting, under the banner of SRAM and RockShox’s new XPLR lineup (explore, not explorer). While I haven’t taken on the Hell of the North, I have spent a lot of time being a weirdo in the woods on this kit and have a really fun review to share with y’all, so read on below.
We recently featured Ratio’s 11-speed to 12-speed conversion kit on John’s Crust Dreamer using Apex shifters and an Eagle GX rear derailleur. But what if you have 10-speed shifters and you want to convert them to 12? Well, that’s where the new Ratio Upgrade kit comes into play! This upgrade kit allows you to pair 10 or 11 speed mechanical SRAM shifters and a 1x-specific Exact Actuation™ derailleur with a 12 speed eTap™ AXS™ cassette and chain. This delivers a greater gear range and closer gear ratios without the expense or weight of electronic shifting…
See more at Ratio and YES, these kits really do work great!
Speedvagen just announced their 2021 Surprise Me paint job, dubbed “the Painter’s Proof”, inspired by printing registration marks. This might be the most intense Surprise Me to date, so to read all the details, drop on into the Speedvagen Blog…
It’s inundating to keep up with cycling’s technological advancements yet if one development has shifted the paradigm for drivetrains in the past few years, it’s SRAM’s AXS system. While the kit is a dreamy riding experience, the price can be daunting, and that alone is a major reason why many people haven’t had the chance to ride it. Yet, as with all cycling tech, it tends to trickle down like alluvium in the desert.
The new GX Eagle AXS rolled downhill and right into my lap recently, so I decided to put it on the Sklar touring bike because why not? Check out the unveiling below with some initial thoughts on the system and a component breakdown with pricing/availability…
I’ve got this bike. It’s a touring bike. So when it’s loaded down with gear, it can get quite heavy. To remedy this, I built it up with an Eagle GX rear derailleur and cassette, giving me a whopping 10-50t range (the new GX goes to 52t even). To shift this range, I used a barcon shifter from Microshift because as you are well aware, SRAM doesn’t make a cable-actuated road shifter that’s compatible with their MTB mech lineup.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with the Microshift barcon. I was and have been more than pleased with this option but then Ratio, a small startup out of the UK announced a 11-speed road to 12-speed mountain upgrade kit.
I think this is one time when we can ignore that old Eddy Merckx adage “Don’t buy upgrades, ride up grades…” Sorry Eddy, Johnnie’s bike needs this.
We posted about Ratio’s kit back in October. I ordered a kit the day the post went up but didn’t get motivated to do the install until I felt like I had a reason to. A few friends here in Santa Fe are taking on an all-road tour in April, and I wanted to get this bike dialed in before that trip, so last week, I swung by Sincere Cycles with the Dreamer and Ratio’s kit with hopes of rolling around on an 11-speed road shifter working with a 12-speed mountain…
SRAM is hosting four stories by a few of its sponsored athletes including Ayesha McGowan, Renee Hutchens, Lael Wilcox, and Isabeau Courduier over at their website. If you have a few minutes this week, we highly suggest reading one, two, or all of these stories.
There are a lot of Time pedal fans out there and with good reason. Time’s design allows for easy shedding of mud or snow and has one of the most secure engagement designs on the market. Last week, SRAM acquired the entire range of road and mountain pedals, cleats, and all related patents of TIME Sport from Rossignol Group. The two companies completed the transaction on February 18, 2021. For Time loyalists, the good news is this means better distribution under the SRAM umbrella and SRAM will keep the Time name going.
Customers will continue to contact TIME for product service and support during the transition phase through mid-year 2021.
Good news for those loyal to the SRAM Red eTap group but were less than thrilled with the previous range limitations. Today SRAM announced a new Red rear derailleur, compatible with a 10-36t cassette, similar to the previous Force eTap upgrade. There are two models of derailleur now, a 33t-max and a 36t-max.
-SRAM AXS™ enabled for easy personalization
-Orbit™ chain management technology keeps drivetrain quiet and secure
-Compatible with both 1x and 2x drivetrains
-36t-max derailleur is compatible with 10-36, 10-33, and 10-28 cassettes
-33t-max derailleur is compatible with 10-26, 10-28, and 10-33 cassettes
-Improved motor and signal travel for faster shifting
-Larger X-SYNC™ pulleys and ceramic bearings for increased durability and efficiency
-Compatible with existing eTap® batteries
See more at SRAM.
Everyone loves the bling of XX1 Eagle but X01 is the kit of choice for those who race enduro or ride rugged terrain. The new updates to the AXS lineup include a more robust XO1 rear derailleur. This updated mech has a 10mm shorter cage than its mechanical counterpart, to avoid dragging it on rocks, sits further inboard, and provides a tighter chain wrap around the cassette. See more at SRAM.
I’m going to nerd out here. Fair warning. When I see a bike like the Kona Sutra LTD hit the internet, I feel mixed emotions. Part of that has to do with my love of the now-dead “adventure” category Specialized launched a few years back, beginning with the AWOL. I had some good memories on that bike and it feels like eons ago. If you remember, this was around the time people started calling bicycle touring “bikepacking”.
The AWOL was a touring bike in the sense that it had rack mounts, clearances for, at the time, big tires and it came specced in both its Poler and Trans-Continental limited-edition build kits with racks and panniers. Sounds like a touring bike to me! While this isn’t an article about the AWOL, I can’t help but see the face-value similarities between it and the Sutra Unlimited, or LTD for short.
Now, the AWOL came out in 2014, and in these past six years, a lot has changed in the touring or bikepacking world for me but one thing remains constant: I love fat tire tourers, and the Sutra LTD really impressed me. It pulled at all the heartstrings…
This week’s Readers’ Rides comes from Michael in Vancouver, BC. His Granville Burtly Road with a beautiful Sunset Fade graces our website this Friday morning. Enjoy!
The mid of March is usually a time where you think about the upcoming season and what kind of adventures you are going to tackle during springtime. Suddenly, the world is closing down, throwing everyone into the status of the unknown. Leaving us with restless and raving minds. Diving into the world of bikes has always been a great way of escaping reality for me. Let it be physically or virtually – if you don´t have the chance for some saddle time.
I was blessed to have the chance of getting my first taste of ultra-cycling at the Atlas Mountain Race last February. The harsh brutality of the Morrocan rock fields brought up the first ideas for this project. Rocks and smaller stones hitting my frame and rims for hours let me think about how I would repaint my bike after the race.
With Covid-19 throwing a wrench in the spokes of the traditional tradeshow schedule, even open houses have had to switch to an online, or virtual, format. We saw this earlier in the year with ENVE and now, the 2020 Chris King Open House. While it wasn’t safe to travel to Portland to document the bikes, Chris King’s in-house photographer Jacob Olsen did a stellar job at documenting all ten bikes, while videography team Modify Content knocked out some great, in-depth video profiles of these handmade marvels. We’ve got part two today, featuring Pursuit, Rock Lobster, Sage, Speedvagen, and Sycip, so let’s jump right in…
The Ratio upgrade kit allows you to pair 11-speed mechanical shifters with 12-speed Eagle MTB derailleurs and cassettes. While it includes dissecting your shifter and derailleur, Ratio’s instructions are super clear and enable you to ride a wide-range 1×12 drivetrain on a gravel, road, or touring bike without the expense and hassle of electronics and batteries.
Check out the Upgrade Kit at Ratio. We just bought a kit, so stay tuned for a full-review in the near future.
We’ve featured Cari’s Elephant National Forest Explorer before, back in 2016, and yet every time it pops up in our social media here at the Radavist, people request an updated feature…
We often joke that Eagle GX killed the singlespeed MTB and by “we” I mean myself and Bailey Newbrey, someone who knows a lot about SSMTB riding and racing. Using Bailey in this opening sentence is relevant for a number of reasons and yes, it also legitimizes that statement in many ways. While this won’t be a history lesson in SSMTB riding, it does mull over the antithesis of that, SRAM’s Eagle GX drivetrain.
I’ve been riding the new Eagle GX with its massive 52t cassette for a few months now and have finally flogged it enough to be able to write an honest review of this system, so read on below.
