Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2018 i Bicycling

MEGAN FAY RIDER, AMERICA’S BEST BIKE CITIES Make every mountain-bike ride better: Pack a cooler with a few Rainiers and stash it in the car to share a cold one with your friends afterward. A.C. SHILTON WRITER, AMERICA’S BEST BIKE CITIES I have one simple tip for avoiding injuries during the holiday season: Bring your bike to Grandma’s and sneak off to ride when you can. I find the likelihood of me injuring an in-law decreases exponentially with every minute I spend out on my bicycle. ANTHONY SIRACUS BIKE ADVOCATE, EVERY BIKE TOWN STARTS WITH A BIKE LANE Learn to DIY! Start with the Park Tools Big Blue Book of Bike Repair, read up, slowly invest in a stand and tools, and learn basic repairs as you go along. It’s…

THE FIRST TIME I tried a “gravel” event was back in 2012 at D2R2, the Deerfield Dirt Road Randonnée in western Massachusetts. While the name suggests otherwise, it is definitely a “gravel grinder” by today’s standards. I’d heard a lot of buzz about how hard it is, and considering the 112-mile distance, I expected as much. But I shrugged off a friend’s recommendation to prep and pack extra food for the event. I’d done plenty of long, arduous stage races and single-day events—I knew how to suffer. But as I glacially crawled up the final, loose, double-track climb more than 10 hours into the ride, I accepted the hard-earned realization that gravel events are challenging in ways I had not anticipated. Now gravel is exploding in popularity (more than 1,500…

NO MATTER HOW BUSY it is at work on Tuesdays, I close my laptop by 5:20 p.m. That gives me time to ride home, stuff a snack in my mouth, rummage around the house for the sundry items required to complete an hour-and-a-half-long mountain bike ride (and run up and down the stairs a couple times to gather forgotten pieces of gear—dammit, my gloves again!), and make it to the bike shop, South Mountain Cycle & Cafe in Emmaus, PA, by 6 p.m. That’s when the shop ride leaves. The group varies in size from the handful of regulars to more than 20 riders on mild, sunny summer nights. After we ride the trail network in town—a loose stack of rocky loops that can be combined into an impressive number…

As of March 2017, Pronto, Seattle’s original, city-funded bike share program, was done-zo. “We killed a bike share, which felt like a huge loss,” says Tom Fucoloro, author of Seattle Bike Blog. But with that failure came an unexpected success: a new model of bike share, which offered residents more bikes and greater access to them. Pronto started small, with only 50 stations with 10 bikes each. That proved to be inconvenient for residents. With low ridership numbers, political support for the program crashed, leaving Seattle as one of the largest American cities without a bike share. Not having a system, however, turned out to be a good thing when private, dockless companies like ofo and LimeBike were looking for cities to test their for-profit model. “It was the perfect…

MEMPHIS WAS IN TROUBLE. In the early 2000s, the city was at or near the top of every major negative index of urban living: obesity, violent crime, poverty, and poor education. All those negatives meant that it was nearly impossible to recruit employees and businesses to the city. And to top it off, this magazine named Memphis one of the country’s worst cities for cycling in 2008 and 2010. City and county leaders knew they needed to do something to turn the city’s fates around—but what? They needed so much: to improve public health, to fix blighted neighborhoods, to assist lower-income residents with basic needs. When a group of citizens first floated the idea of building a 10.7-mile bike path called the Greenline in 2001, it was put down in…

SE Dblocks Big Ripper $699 Spec’d with favorites from wheelie innovator Darnell “Dblocks” Meyers: Power Wing cruiser bars, low-profile Xpedo pedals, and Flyer Seat with grippy cover for tricks. Framed Twenty9er BMX $330 This simple ride offers the wheelie essentials of a BMX frame, big wheels, and a rear disc at a fraction of the cost of the high-end options. Tall rider bonus: The top tube is an inch longer than the other bikes here (24.5 inches). Cult Devotion Cruiser $570 Sleek and subtle, this BMX 29er is a single-speed machine with a rear rim brake. The chromoly frame has a slick chrome paint job and a vintage-style looptail rear triangle.…

1 // Silca Seat Roll Grande Americano $58 // For when you need extra storage in a secure parcel. The Boa closure system keeps it attached to the seatpost, no matter how many potholes you hit. 2 // Continental Grand Prix 4-Season Tire $40- $60 // Make the ride in any condition with these all-season tires. Durable, strong, and super grippy, they come in four sizes to suit whatever road bike you’re riding. 3 // Garmin Varia RTL510 Radar Tail Light $200 // Be seen from up to a mile away in daylight. This taillight mounts easily to almost any bike and provides visual and audible alerts when vehicles approach from behind. 4 // Specialized Flux Expert Headlight $113 // Great for predawn or evening rides, a tilted reflector creates…

PRICE: $1,500 / WEIGHT: 22 LB (58CM) FUJI’S JARI 1.5 is a gravel bike for riders planning (or dreaming) of big, out-there adventures but who also like closer-to-home outings. You can spin some easy road miles on this bike, but it’s made for long rides on dirt and gravel roads. The Jari’s stout aluminum frame, massive tire clearance (up to 700x42mm or 650bx47mm), and frame angles that prize stability over maneuverability make this bike ideal for big rides in wild places. Just look at the details. Fuji adds mounts for five water bottles so you can go forever. There are front and rear rack mounts, a bento box mount on the top tube for storage, and a flared bar that creates space for a bar bag. The 1x drivetrain is…

PRICE: $1,900 / WEIGHT: 21.2 LB (53CM) SPECIALIZED CALLS THE Diverge an “adventure and gravel” bike, but it’s much more than that. Sure, it’s an affordable gravel bike with clearance for up to 42mm tires, and yes, you can rack and bag it up for adventure riding. But it’s also a stable-handling, smooth-riding bike with wide-range gearing and disc brakes that’s ready for daily riding on any road. The $1,900 Comp E5 is the least-expensive Diverge with Specialized’s Future Shock. This 20mm travel suspension unit sits between the stem and head tube and helps damp the impact from rocks and pavement cracks. You can feel the shock move a smidge when climbing out of the saddle, but not more than you would if you took 5 or 10 psi out…

PRICE: $3,999 / WEIGHT: 18.7 LB (58CM) THE FULL TILT BOOGIE is an uncompromising and unapologetic cyclocross racing machine. Sure, you can grind some gravel with it or put on skinny tires for a day on the pavement, but this bike is designed by a hardcore racer for hardcore racers. With a shorter wheelbase and tight angles, the FTB jumps hard off the start line and corners as sharply as you dare ask it. The high bottom bracket (65 mm drop) allows you to keep turning the pedals through tight hairpins and tricky off-cambers. The bike strikes a nice balance between precise steering and handling; despite being so good in the turns, it’s not overly twitchy in a straight line. It looks great, too: The full carbon frame is sleek…

PRICE: $4,000 / WEIGHT: 30.1 LB (S) ONE OF MY first full-suspension bikes was Scott’s Contessa Genius. At the time, it impressed me with its low weight, good value, and ability to shine on a wide range of terrain. The 2018 Contessa Genius 720 retains all of those qualities but with bigger, 27.5+ tires (it’s also compatible with 29er tires), better suspension, a nicer drivetrain, and a dropper post. This bike will work for a lot of riders, but it’s not made for racing: It’s too much bike (and weight) for cross-country, and the 2.8-inch tires can bounce at the high speeds and on the rough terrain you find in most enduros. But if your goal is all-around trail fun, this bike will put a huge smile on your…

JENNIFER SHERRY ASSOCIATE TEST DIRECTOR / HAS RIDDEN IT ALL, BUT HER LATEST OBSESSION IS E-BIKES 1 / Blackburn Central Saddle Bag Pannier and Interlock Rear Rack $130 pannier, $120 rack One bike lock, three beach towels, six seltzers, two phones, three beach chairs, one sand shovel, and snacks. It all fit in the bag. And yes, I rode to the beach like this. Still dreaming of that summer ride. 2 / Bare Republic Aloe Vera+Seaweed After-Sun Spray $13 Another summer memory: the feeling of this cooling mist as it soaks in and brings my skin to life. Stocking up for next year. 3 / Mint Triangulate Socks $20 For every made-in-Italy Mint sock sold, a dollar goes to NICA. If you see a design you like, buy it now—once…

SHIFTING IS A lot like skiing: It’s easy to learn and difficult to master. If you’re new to cycling, the concept of shifting gears can be crazy confusing. If you’re an old pro, it’s an intuitive part of the sport that’s as simple as it is necessary. But no matter where you fall on the shifting spectrum, paying closer attention to it can result in improvements as simple as a more effortless spin or something as monumental as a race-winning move. The Easiest Way to Improve: Know When to Shift Aside from learning how to shift, understanding when to shift is most important. Shift to an easier gear on hills or when you’re riding into the wind. Use a harder gear on flats or if the wind is blowing from…

MAL RECOMMENDS Patagonia Storm Racer Jacket, $249 “Waterproof. Buy it a size up to fit over a bag.” #1 Seattle Is the Bike City of Future-Today! AN AMBITIOUS BIKE PLAN AND A DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH MAKE THE EMERALD CITY A GREAT PLACE TO RIDE. SEATTLE TICKS ALL the boxes on cyclists’ wish lists. Scratch that, the Emerald City doesn’t check the boxes, it crushes them. Crazy smart infrastructure? Definitely—you can ride a protected bike lane from the Space Needle nearly two miles to Pioneer Square, with features like bike-specific traffic lights to make your cruise even safer. The most passionate bike advocates in the country? Absolutely—elected leaders have actually taken DOT staffers to task for not building lanes fast enough. An awesome community? Of course—there are thousands of events throughout the…

EVIL BIKES WHAT THEY MAKE Super shreddy mountain bikes OUR FAVORITE With 120mm of rear suspension, 29-inch wheels, and long/slack/low geometry, the Following MB XO1 Eagle ($7,399) is a uniquely fun mountain bike. REI WHAT THEY MAKE Affordable bikes—and any other outdoor gear you need OUR FAVE The $1,299 ARD 1.2W gravel bike from Co-Op Cycles, REI’s house bike brand, is a zippy, capable ride that’s a great value. RALEIGH BICYCLES WHAT THEY MAKE Urban and recreational bikes, plus a few road and mountain models OUR FAVE The $400 Alysa 1 townie is an excellent choice for zipping down the bike path or running errands.…

GET YOUR NEIGHBORS ON BIKES People who ride bikes are more likely to support bike projects. Volunteer with local programs that get women, children, and seniors out biking. Assist with trips and events, donate gear or help refurbish bikes, and encourage friends to join in. CONNECT WITH ADVOCATES Find people who know about plans to build bike projects in your community. Your local cycling advocacy group is a great place to start. Talk with people you see riding bikes — many will already be involved in the local cycling advocacy community. MEET LOCAL OFFICIALS Introduce yourself to city council members, and to managers in the city transportation, recreation, and planning departments. Then when new projects come up, these people will know you’re interested in helping out.…

Every weekday before dawn, teams of cyclists gather all over San Francisco, shivering at street corners and in parking lots. They synchronize their watches to leave precisely on time, often as early as 4:30 a.m. When the appointed minute hits, they charge through city streets, a pack of Lycra-clad, gear-shifting machines, avoiding the despair faced by drivers on U.S. Highway 101, the soul-killing sclerotic artery that connects San Francisco with Silicon Valley. Who are these cyborgs who brave the long, harrowing 40-mile ride every morning? They’re a club, a band of techy bike commuters called SF2G, shorthand for San Francisco to Google. It began in 2005 as a way to avoid the 30- to 50-mile bumper-to-bumper car ride between San Francisco and Google HQ, but the participants now head variously…

GIRO AETHER PRICE: $325 / WEIGHT: 263G (EUROPEAN EDITION) Giro’s latest and best road helmet, the Aether, delivers all the claimed benefits of MIPS, which reduces rotational forces on the brain in some impacts, without the drawbacks—the system can squeak, snag hair, and impair fit. The Aether uses a proprietary version of MIPS, called MIPS Spherical: two helmet shells that can rotate against one another in an impact to dissipate force. The Aether fits and feels like a regular helmet and might be the best-ventilated option you can buy. TREK CROSSRIP+ PRICE: $4,200 / WEIGHT: 40 LB (52CM) This drop-bar, wide-tire, disc-braking, pannier-toting, and aptly named ripper of a bike makes long-range trips on mixed surfaces in all kinds of weather practical and fun. Default handling is stable, but you…

PRICE: $11,800 / WEIGHT: 17.1 LB (54CM) LEAN IN CLOSE and you’ll notice upgrades that make this sixth-generation Madone the best one yet. There’s now a disc-brake option and a more adjustable two-piece bar and stem system. But the most notable update is the hardest to see—the adjustable Isospeed seat tube “decoupler,” which lets riders fine-tune how much compliance they feel in the saddle. The system uses a simple elastomer and a more complex frame construction to allow the seat tube to flex, absorbing road bumps and vibrations. The new version allows riders to adjust the firmness of their ride without the hassle of changing parts, wheels, or fit. On Pennsylvania’s very inconsistent pavement and numerous farm roads, I often set the Madone’s Isospeed toward the middle rather than at…

PRICE: $8,999 / WEIGHT: 23 LB (M) LAST SOLD BY Santa Cruz in 2014, the Blur returns this year with a leaner, faster, more aggressive frame for cross-country racing and fast trail riding. This 100mm travel (front and rear) 29er features the latest version of Santa Cruz’s VPP rear suspension—it’s more linear for better bump absorption and increased anti-squat for better pedaling, especially with the shock set to the “open” mode. This is a pure XC package: It’s light, fast, and extremely efficient. There’s a remote lockout for the fork and shock, but on this bike it feels redundant; the VPP system won’t squish when you stomp on the pedals. The bike’s focus on race speed limits what it can do off the course. The suspension can feel harsh and…

PRICE: $1,999 / WEIGHT: 26.5 LB (55CM) WITH THE ACME, Spot made a city bike that is eminently purposeful, easier to ride than most, and attractive in a way that’s not just beautiful, but also exciting because it makes you want to ride more. Spot has deep roots in cycling design, engineering, and innovation. That DNA shows in the aluminum frame and the parts added to it. There’s a Gate’s CenterTrack belt drive that requires little maintenance, a Shimano Alfine internally geared hub, front dynamo hub to power lights (that you buy separately), sliding dropouts that let you easily remove the rear wheel, and Spot-brand leather grips and saddle. The bike is ridiculously quiet, too. Not a rattle, not a squeal, not a rub—nothin’. And the ride? It’s fast like…

1 WE ALL, IF WE’RE LUCKY, live many cycling lives. I’ve been a lean crit racer. A mountain biker who didn’t touch skinny tires for what must have been four or five years. The car-free, care-free impoverished urban romantic. Got really into charity rides and centuries for a bit. Wandered into a spell of what today would be called adventure (and misadventure) riding all over Africa, in Australia, Madagascar, throughout Europe. Gave my heart (and liver) to ’cross. These days, owing to a move to a new town and a schedule that’s made lunch rides tough for me to hit, most of my riding is as a long-range commuter. One thing my 40- to 60-mile round-trip has reminded me is how cycling can be simultaneously not at all and all…

WHEN WE’RE LOOKING at new bikes, we cyclists love to immerse ourselves in numbers. We fixate on weight, aerodynamic drag, millimeters of suspension travel, and millimeters of deflection. We ponder tire width, rim depth, and rim width. We obsess over geometry tables, scrutinizing the head tube angles, seat tube angles, chain stay lengths. It makes us informed. It makes us confident we’re buying the right bike. But there’s one big problem: A bike is not a number. It is not a dimension, or a measurement. Lightest, stiffest, slackest—these numerical superlatives, quantified in labs and wind tunnels to degrees accurate beyond human perception, are meaningless on their own. Since 1995, I’ve ridden almost every bike that’s claimed to be, at the moment, the -est of something. And not one of these…

BRENT TONGCO Cascade Bicycle Club senior director of communications & marketing “There are great programs for kids. The Major Taylor Project does bike rides, maintenance education, and a Build-a-Bike program for underserved students. And every summer, the kids bike 206 miles from Seattle to Portland.” ANDY BOKANEV Seattle Rapha Cycling Club coordinator A lot of people commute; it can be faster than driving a car into the city because of the great infrastructure. Both bridges you cross to get downtown have wide, protected bike lanes making it more comfortable to ride.” JESSICA CUTLER ex-pro roadie turned Washington Bike Law lawyer and daily commuter “The city now has LimeBike, which are e-assist bike-share bikes. These are really cool for people who live up a climb—all of a sudden they can comfortably…

The group is acronym-obsessed and naughty, so proposing a ride is tempting. Here’s what all those letters mean. FCF FERAL CAT FREEWAY The bike path around the perimeter of Foster City, which is the domain of menacing gangs of untamed feline beasts. GOD GRATE OF DOOM A particularly nasty metal storm drain with grates about the width of a bike tire. Ride over it and you’ll probably crash. JTT JUST THE TIP A variant of SEX including just the first bits of that route. TTTT TEAM TIME TRIAL TUESDAY If decreed, the pace will be as fast as at least four people can maintain.…

PIVOT VAULT PRICE: $4,499 / WEIGHT: 20 LB (58CM) FOR RIDERS LOOKING at gravel bikes, the struggle to decide which type to buy is real. There are options for gravel racing, cross racing, bike touring, bike packing, and dirt-road cruising. Pivot promises that the Vault is the ideal bike for someone who wants to do it all. The bike’s racy geometry and carbon frame make it fast handling, so you can line up for some ’cross events. Even compared to some ’cross bikes, it has a short wheelbase and low stack height. There’s even a curve in the top tube for shouldering. But this highly versatile bike also feels fantastic on cinder paths and is an absolute pleasure on long, casual gravel excursions. A lot of that versatility comes from…

PRICE: $3,995 / WEIGHT: 55 LB (M) VINTAGE ELECTRIC IS an e-bike unlike the rest. Most use torque sensors to modulate the motor’s output: The harder you push, the more boost you get. But set this retro cruiser to maximum fun (level five) and the pedals act more like a throttle—if the cranks are turning at all, the motor cranks out max watts. That means you can spin with the effort of a butterfly and the motor will drag you with its full strength up to the 28mph cutoff. You’ll also tear through the battery with impressive speed. Thankfully, the battery charges in just two hours (claimed). While level 5 is addictive, and handy for burrito runs during commercial breaks, the other modes provide a more traditional e-bike experience and…