Mamilian

Giant’s new aluminum Revolt 2 gravel bike is a great value as-is, but my eyes are just on the frame. By swapping the lower end components for a mostly Ultegra setup, the bike gets significantly more capability (e.g. two more gears on the 11-34, and a clutched derailleur) with a durable frame that I don’t have to worry too much about. This is the first step in the process of swapping parts…

Guide December 4, 2019

Park Tool PCS-10 Workstand Stop Unwanted Rotation

Finally got around to fixing a problem with my Park Tool workstand that has been annoying me for ages. The top kept rotating when I was working on the bike. I can’t imagine that this issue is isolated to me, as it is clearly due to the lack of friction between the top clamp and pole, so here is my solution.…

Featured Review November 26, 2019

SRAM 11 36 Cassette + Shimano Ultegra R8000 Medium Cage

As a flatlander who likes to climb, I’m always on the lookout for some mechanical advantage which can make it easier to get up the hills. SRAM’s 11-36 cassette is an obvious way to do that, but officially my Shimano R8050 (R8000 should be the same) rear mech only supports up to 34 in the back. Having tried the Ultegra 11-34, and not being a big fan, if this works. It seems…

Featured Review November 22, 2019

Topeak PAKGO X

I love traveling with my bike. Whether it’s the point of the trip, or just coming along to make a boring excursion less so. The challenge of course, is how to get the box safely from home to place with minimal fuss and potential damage to the bike. For this, the Topeak PAKGO X is perfect, but costly.…

Blog November 4, 2019

A Tale of Two Varias – Battery issues revisited

The battery life on my Garmin Varia RTL 510 has never been great. Recently it’s gotten much worse, so I decided it was worth doing a warranty exchange with Garmin to find out it the problem was my unit or something broader.…

News October 23, 2019

LEOMO TYPE-S, a phone that thinks it’s a bike computer

Overall, the LEOMO TYPE-S looks like exactly the kind of device the the cycling computer market needs. I love that it’s a phone (nano SIM), which makes it’s heft so much easier to swallow (i.e. plop the SIM from my heavy mobile into this for a net weight saving), and the massive performance/capability jump that provides. There are so many neat use cases that the TYPE-S provides now, and has the potential…

Review October 21, 2019

Full carbon $11 16g “Bontrager” Race Lite Bottle Cage

These super light, and super cheap full carbon bottle cages are probably fakes. But I don’t care at all. They’ve proved to be very durable and very light, even though the tolerances are a bit loose.…

Featured Review October 15, 2019

Garmin Varia UT800 Smart Headlight

I’m a sucker for smart devices, whether at home, or on the bike. This smart headlamp uses ANT+ with a bike computer that supports it (cough, only Garmin currently) to set the brightness and mode based on speed and available light. Brilliant!!! Not the cheapest 800 lumen headlight, but after factoring the GoPro mountable nature of the light, the price makes more sense.…

Featured Review October 4, 2019

Fake Specialized “FACT” Carbon Saddle

When I was looking for a replacement for the super light weight Specialized FACT carbon saddle, I stumbled across some some very good knock-off versions of the saddle with a price that made it worth checking out. Can the $20 fake carbon saddle match up to the real thing?…

Featured Review September 25, 2019

Ruckus Composites Fixed My Aeroad

My Canyon Aeroad is reborn, or remade, or whatever you call it when you get a carbon fiber road bike fixed. Ended up sending the bike off to Ruckus Composites to scan and fix the bike. Looks good, and very reasonably priced.…

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