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Blog June 13, 2024

Can you build a budget TT/Tri Bike?

I have never regretted buying a Speed Concept, and overall I’ve been very pleased with it. But, running out and dropping $10,000 bike isn’t realistic for everyone. I was recently chatting with some friends around this, and I decided to see how much it would cost to build a TT bike that I would ride, and feel comfortable providing a roadmap around if someone wanted to get into the discipline “on the…

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Blog May 16, 2024

Why are some bike OEMs putting rear calipers on the front fork?

I must admit that I don’t follow bikes I would never buy that closely. So it totally escaped my notice that ENVE’s Custom Road frame uses a “rear-mount” brake caliper on the front fork. They aren’t the only bike OEM that does that. I first noticed it on the 3T Exploro; a bike a friend owns, that I have occasionally worked on. Unfortunately, I don’t have a great answer there. I’ve seen…

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Blog April 22, 2024

Considering USA Cycling Ride+ / Race + Insurance? You might not be getting what you think…

I recently discovered that USA Cycling (USAC) offers a variety of cycling related incident insurance packages. On their face, they seem like a reasonable price. For $260/year in the Ride+ and $350/year for Race+ you get “$0 deductible $50,000 insurance policy provides 24/7/365 on-the-bike coverage during non-racing activities including charity rides, gran fondos, group rides with your club, everyday commutes, and solo cycling adventures. ” coverage. But it doesn’t really work the…

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Blog April 9, 2024

Ben Delaney goes to a wind tunnel, demonstrates that Science is hard

It’s great to see this kind of content.  But we need to note that the lack of proper controls during testing almost certainly changed the results. Impossible to say which way, or how much. For e.g. the lug pattern is different between the two tires used with the different wheelsets. The tire that tested slower appears to have squared off lugs that protrude past the edge of the tire. The disc rotors…

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Blog April 4, 2024

Form Smart Swim 2 goggles seem cool, but…

I briefly looked at the previous version of the Form’s Smart Swim googles when I was in my tri-curious phase (still a little bit, but need to figure out running again before I can really do that). The Smart Swim 2 look really cool. AFAIK, they are based on the same basic technology as the ENGO glasses that I reviewed a while back. I’m sure they are awesome, DCR seems to like…

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Blog November 7, 2023

Laces are more aero?

I came out as SPD-everywhere a long time ago, so my choice around this topic shouldn’t come as a surprise. What does surprise me is how many people aren’t able, or willing, to follow the data. There’s nothing measurable in it. Ride what you want to ride, for whatever reasons, there’s not one right answer. Well, unless you might need to walk, at any point. Then there’s a clear winner :D.…

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Blog October 17, 2023

WWWTPD (What Would World Tour Pros Do)

Every so often I run across a WWWTPD cyclist. You know the type, they look at what the pro teams are doing, and say out loud to those who do their own research that all of that effort is a waste of time. You should just do what the World Tour (WT) teams do. Performance is so important to the pros that they wouldn’t possibly compromise on the products they use. I…

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