Tires

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I've been working on a couple of tire reviews. The most interesting one is a review of a couple of Cyclocross tires. One -- Cross EVO XG -- is by Vittoria, the other -- Mezcal Cross -- is by Geax. What makes this interesting, I think, is that Vittoria makes Geax tires, but they are nothing alike. Vittoria doesn't have any mountain bike tires and Geax doesn't have any road tires.

Other than intended usage -- the Mezcal is a semi-slick, while the XG is a full knob -- the biggest difference is in the size. Both are labeled as 34c, but while the Geax measure out to 34mm, the XG doesn't. I have found this to be true of other European tire manufacturers. Continentals almost always measure smaller than the stated size, even taking the knobs into account, and Hutchinson's Cross tire is labeled a 30 but is really only 28mm wide.

Frankly, I find 'cross tires intriguing. They don't have the room that mountain bike tires have for serious knobs, but they still need to be able to grip over a wide variety of conditions. 'Cross races are run on sand, mud, hard pack, pavement, grass and gravel -- often with rooty and off-camber sections thrown in for good measure -- and sometimes that's all in the same race! The tires need to roll fast and resist flatting. Since 'cross bikes don't have suspension, the little cushion the tires give is all there is. To this end, both the Geax and Vittoria tires did well. The full review will be up in the next few days and I'll let you know when it is.

Light Mount, Part 3

The ongoing saga of mounting the rear Dinotte tail light took an interesting turn when I got an email from Dinotte's engineer about a light mount that he is using, see below.



This mount is available from Terracycle.com and is really pretty cool. They've got pictures of it stem mounted, for lights, and mounted in various configurations on recumbents -- it is, primarily, a recumbent gear site. They also have extensions so you can mount, say, lights and a computer on it. Frankly I think that it looks pretty clean and very sturdy -- check it out.

For Parts 1 and 2 of the light mount saga, click HERE and HERE.

More Light Info

As expected, I've been asked -- numerous times -- for details on the big Dinotte (Big Green, as I call it); what's the price, when is it available, what's the burn time, etc. I thought I'd throw up a comparison with the Lupine Wilma and Light and Motion Arc Li-Ion and include some pictures of the three side by side.

First, the numbers.

Price: The Light and Motion Arc Li-Ion can be had for $500 (msrp is $550), the Wilma goes for $550 and Big Green will be under $500, when it goes on sale.

Availability: The Arc has been around for a couple of years now, and the Wilma has been available for over a year, in it's current state, as well. Big Green will be available in limited quantities in January.

Weight (all done on my scale, not manufacturer weights. The cords are included in the weight of the part they are attached to, for L&M, that's the light head.): L&M Arc Li-Ion -- the light head is 155g, the battery is 350g and the handlebar mount is 35g. Big Green -- the light head is 130g, the battery (subject to change in commercial units) is 245g and the handlebar mount is 45g. Lupine Wilma -- the light head is 120g and the battery is 240g; there is no separate handlebar mount, it's part of the light head.

Burn times (all on full power): The Arc Li-Ion gets (hrs:min) 3:30, the Wilma gets 3hrs and Big Green gets 2:40, though this will likely change to a longer burn time.

Size: I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

First up, from the front, left to right: Light and Motion Arc Li-Ion, Lupine Wilma, Big Green

From the top, same order:
Batteries -- this is somewhat deceiving, since the Light and Motion battery isn't encased in a holder that magnifies it's size. From the front, same order as above:

Batteries from the top:

Now the light mounts. Lupine doesn't have one, since it uses an elastic cord attached to the light head itself. L&M on the left, Dinotte on the right:

And the bar mounts from the top:

Personally, I found this comparison to be interesting. At this light output, LEDs don't really have a weight advantage or a burn time advantage over the HID lights. They do, however, trump HID bulbs for durability and, this is important, switchability. What kills HIDs is turning them on and off. LEDs love to be turned on and off. This allows two things; first, you can dim them much using PWM (Pulse Width Modulation, essentially turning them on and off faster than the eye can pick up) and extend battery life, and you can turn them off at stopping points without worrying about killing the bulb prematurely. That being said, the HID is still king of illumination... for now.

As an aside, this is my 200th post here on Lactic Acid Threshold. It's been a fun ride so far, and I can't wait to see what the next 200 bring.

Happy Thanksgiving all, and get some riding in this long weekend.

Beam Shots

OK, the rain let up, and the fog held off -- gotta love Oregon, if it's not raining, it's foggy -- long enough for me to get some beam shots of the lights I have on review right now. I've also included the Dinotte Ultra 3 for comparison purposes with the NiteRider MiNewt.

Dinotte Ultra 3:

NiteRider MiNewt:
Both put out a surprising amount of light for being so tiny. I recently -- last weekend -- received a helmet mount and extension cord for the MiNewt and so I can tell you, with experience, that it makes an excellent helmet mount. Too bad NiteRider put the switch on the battery.

Next up, the bigguns.

Last Friday, the 10W Dinotte arrived. It doesn't have a name yet, and the one I asked for and was sent is anodized green, so I call it Big Green. I'll post more information on it tomorrow. Today, I'll let the beam shots speak. In addition to Big Green, I've finally got a beam shot of the Wilma and I threw in a shot of Light and Motion's Arc Li-Ion for comparison purposes. As you can see, the LEDs aren't that far off.

10W Dinotte (this one was taken first, and I don't think I got the angle quite right):
Lupine Wilma:
Light and Motion Arc Li-Ion:


All in all, I think that LED lighting is making leaps forward. The Dinotte isn't in it's final format (it's sitting at 10W, not 13), and the comercial product should be even brighter. The Wilma is also a 2006 model, while the 2007 uses K2 LEDs -- the newer one wasn't available when Gretna Bikes sent me my review sample -- and is about 10% brighter, also.

Guess What, More Light Stuff

I wasn't going to write about lights again this week.

I really wasn't.

Sure, it's what I've been thinking about, but I feel like I've been beating a dead horse. I needed a break, you know? I'm working on two other reviews, one on shoes -- not cycling (gasp!) -- and one on tires. You'll get a chance to read about those reviews in the near future.

Rather than jump into the nuances that is a review of shoes for your feet and shoes for your steed, I thought I'd point out three things that make the Knog Bar Frog a light that every person who rides should have... and yes, I'm working on a full review of this light as well.

First, it costs $10. That reason alone should be enough to send people in droves to the bike shops and mail order houses for the light.

Two, it is lighter than air. OK, it's not lighter than air, but it does weigh just 12g. That's almost lighter than air. Really.

Three, it attaches to anything with a diameter of 10mm to 32mm. This means fork legs, handlebars, seat posts, helmet vents (see below), seat stays... you get the idea.


Cheap, light and easily attached to any part of your bike or helmet where you want illumination... how cool is that? I personally find that I run it the most helmet mounted. I can't feel it up there, it's so light. I can use it for repairs, if I need to see my computer for any reason I can turn on the Knog and light up my handlebars. Frankly, it's just too handy.

Switchback 1-2-3

When I last talked about the Switchback series of lights from Princeton Tec, there wasn't much information available. Well, that's changed. The website I linked to previously -- www.Switchback321.com -- is now full of information -- and is still Flash, unfortunately.

For example:

For the Switchback 2 light -- shown below -- we knew that it used two 3W LEDs, and had long burn times coupled with short charge times.

Well, according to the updated site the light will get 5.5 hrs on high, 7 hrs on medium and 16 hrs on low, but will fully charge in only 2 hours. That's right, decide this afternoon that you want to ride tonight and you can have your lights charged and ready to go. Confirmed, also, is the fact that the lights come with both a wall charger and a 12V car charger -- in the box. It also comes with both helmet and handlebar mounts, similar to other manufacturers -- like Blackburn, CatEye and Lupine.

Frankly I'm excited to see Princeton Tec jump into the higher end lighting arena instead of dabbling with the lower cost, lower output lights. They've been in the lighting biz for a while now, I can't wait to try their newest products. Be sure to check out the rest of the specs on the Switchback 2, and what the Switchback 1 and 3 have to offer, too.

T-N-T -- It's Dynamite

Apologies to AC/DC, but that's what comes to mind when I see Geax' new tire lineup.

Last week I got a pair of Barro TNT tires. Rather than being shorthand for Trinitrotoluene, the TNT stands for Tubes / No Tubes. The idea being that instead of making a fully tubeless tire -- that many folks will run a sealant in anyway -- they can make a tire that is mostly tubeless and design a sealant to go with it, should you decide to run it without tubes. This saves 90grams over the UST version of the same tire. The bead is the same as the UST tire, so it should lock on the rim just fine. Their sealant is self-propelled so it'll inflate the tire as well. I'll report back once I have these mounted to let you know how easy/hard it was. At the very least, it's an interesting idea.


I've not used the Barro's in the past, but the tread pattern looks good and it has a nice rounded profile. Again, more information to come once I get these out and get 'em dirty.

News

Man, this week has blown by. Every time I sit down to type I get interrupted. I better get this entry typed up before I get distracted... again.

First up, confirmation of last time's report on Hayes and Manitou.

From the press release:
Mequon, Wis. (Nov. 10, 2006) – HB Performance Systems Inc., a leader in the design, manufacture
and sales of non-automotive custom-engineered brake systems, has acquired the assets of Answer Products
Inc., of Valencia, Calif., a company that produces Answer™ and Manitou™ brand bicycle suspension
forks, shocks, bars and stems. An agreement was reached on Nov. 3. Details of the sale were not disclosed.

Answer Products is the third acquisition of HB Performance Systems and its bicycle division in
the past 16 months. HB Performance Systems purchased Sun Metal Products in July 2005 and is
completing a deal with Wheelsmith Fabrication Inc. that was finalized in September 2006. These
acquisitions followed the June 2005 management buyout that created HB Performance Systems Inc.,
formerly Hayes Brake. At that time, President and CEO Rand McNally stated that the management team
had plans to grow the company and acquisitions were a part of that strategy.

“Bringing together complementary businesses that offer premium brands to the bicycle industry
is part of our strategy in growing the Hayes Bicycle Group division.” said McNally. “These first three
acquisitions do that.”

It'll be interesting to see what Hayes/Manitou come up with.

Next up, lights.
I just received word that the 13W Dinotte is on hold. They are investigating some new LEDs and want to hit this one out of the park upon introduction. I'm as antsy as you guys are to see this light in the flesh and I'll keep you apprised of any new information as it becomes available.

Quick correction: My review sample is on hold, the commercial units are still on schedule and if the new LEDs work out then they will be used, if not, the design reverts to its original form.

Yesterdays mail did bring a little goody from them, though. It's an amber front light that is similar to the tail light... but, you know, yellow. It seems that yellow is more visible than white in the rain -- it's Oregon here, so you know I'll be checking that out -- and fog. Frankly, it looks like a fog light from a car. I ran it this morning and was impressed with it, I heard comments that it was visible for at least a mile in the post-dawn-overcast daylight. I like that.

The yellow light is also finished in "chrome anodizing" giving it a mirror-like finish. This is a hard anodization so it'll be scratch resistant too. So far, I like it, it gives me another measure of security when dealing with drivers in inclement weather.

Silly Season, it's not just Athletes

Normally, now that the road and mounatain biking calendar is all but done teams go into a state of flux, trading team members as one would shuffle cards -- and trying to stack the deck in their favor. But, it seems, that this is not limited to pro racing teams. It looks like some manufacturers are getting in on the fun.

First up, brakes and forks.

Fresh off their acquisition of Sun/Ringle -- that's wheels if you don't know -- it looks like Hayes is buying Manitou. I've emailed my contact there and he has promised me a press release shortly so we'll see officially what this means.

Now, this might be transparent to the end user, but -- as a what if scenario -- now that Hayes can make wheels, brakes and forks, will we see a dual disc set up for the front? Oh, man, I'd love to try that out! Of course, Magura already makes their own brakes and forks. This could be interesting.

Now, what about forks and hubs?

According to SingleTrackWorld.com, it looks like DT Swiss -- maker of hubs and wheels -- is buying Pace forks. Who, you ask? Pace is out of England and makes some very trick suspension forks as well as light weight carbon rigid forks for those who need a little more punishment in every ride. Why DT is going that route, I don't know.

I wonder what else this winter holds in store.

Light Mount, part 2

In my previous Light Mount post, reader Jaime said that he had a different way of mounting his DiNotte tail light to his bike. I asked for pictures, he sent them. I think what makes his method superior is that it relies on O-rings alone. No zip-ties. Now, don't get me wrong, I really like zip-ties. I buy them in bundles of 100, but they do require being cut off when you swap bikes or wish to remove whatever you've zip-tied to your bike. They are, in fact, semi-permanent.

So, without further ado, here's his set up:


Very clean. Jaime, thanks for sharing.

Racks

Some help you carry stuff on your bike, some help you carry you bike on your vehicle. I recently took a look at one of each.

Moots TailGator

The TailGator is from the Titanium wizards at Moots. I've mentioned it before, here and here.


Now, my official review has been posted at GearReview.com. Click HERE and read more.

Sierra Coast Fat Boy Rack

This the other type of rack, the one to carry your bikes. This works in pickup beds, and I tried the 3 bike version all summer. It works wonderfully.


There is no way to lock the rack, but other than that -- something that can be worked around with a little ingenuity -- the rack is a worthy investment. Read all of my thoughts on the rack HERE.