This week someone had asked me to pick some of my favorite project bikes and send them more detailed photos. In thinking about this I realized 3 of my 5 top choices had one thing in common, artist Geoff Mcfetridge. Not too many people get to work with such an awesome artist and I feel lucky that I’ve been able to work with Geoff on 3 projects so far, and hopefully another chance will come up in the future. If you aren’t totally familiar with his work, I’d suggest clicking this link and taking a look. Since we’ve now taken some new photos and pulled some never before seen ones from the archives it seemed like a good idea to share them. I’ve tried to use mostly detail shots that focus on the paint rather than the complete bikes. So without any more delay on to the pictures.
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So here we are back for another quick update on the worlds lightest Pro XL bmx bike. Last post covered the hubs, this time we’ll keep going with some more of the wheel components.
First off we have some rims that Velocity made for us using their A23 extrusion. Not terribly expensive at around $90 per rim, which is really quite affordable for a one off. This set came in at a very consistent 282 grams each for a 32 hole version.
Mated to that will be some Tioga Powerband and Powerblock tires. The front 1.85 came in right at claimed weight but the rear 1.75 was a portly 20 grams over claimed weight. Still not considered heavy by any means.
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For a few years we’ve been publishing what we consider to be the definitive hub reviews. Now we feel it’s time to tackle the rims and spokes that go into making a complete wheel. For now we’ll just be looking at rims: clincher alloy 700c rims, in fact.
One thing that made our hub review so successful was the presentation of different viewpoints by having the article be written by more than one person. We are going to continue on with that theme, this time with wheel builder Eric Gottesman from Ergott wheels. I consider Eric to be one of the best wheel builders working in the U.S. and am honored to have him writing this article with me. Eric has been building custom wheels for more than 12 years, giving the two of us a combined experience of more than 30 years.
Unfortunately, due to the staggering number of rim options, we just can’t cover every rim on the market. So we are limiting this review to 15 of the most popular rims, including selections from DT Swiss, H+Son, Hed, Kinlin, Mavic, Pacenti, Velocity, Stans, and Zipp.
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Here at Fair Wheel Bikes we like to test most products before we add them to our catalog. We get a lot of products to test and we cycle through them so that different people get a chance to use each one. Once an item has been tested we usually move on to the next. This means that we eventually end up with extra items that we are never sure what to do with. A couple weeks ago we tried a test, we gave away a set of test Grooving Road Skewer through Facebook with the agreement that the winner would write a review. That seems to have gone pretty smooth, but not everyone that wanted to participate had a Facebook account which made it difficult to enter. Also it seems that we broke a few of Facebook’s rules. So in an attempt to correct these issues, we’re going to try this next round differently. This time for recently added New Ultimate carbon water bottle cage.
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I’ve sometimes been asked how we come up with the ideas for our project builds. Somehow the ideas just seem to find us, and being one who is willing to try most things we play with the idea until it either materializes or it becomes too absurd to pursue anymore. To show more how the whole process works start to finish, over the next several months I will chronicle a project start to finish and post updates here as it progresses.
The idea, it has to begin with the idea. Sometimes I try to give myself ideas by leaving things on my desk or hanging on the wall where I can see it in hopes that at some point the idea comes. This fails as often as it succeeds, as an example I have a 50th anniversary Colin Lange custom that’s been hanging on the wall for almost 10 years waiting for the idea to come, which it still hasn’t. Other times it seems to come quick. The quick ones tend to be the best as everything just seems to fall into place easily and naturally.
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Last year Shimano announced that the new Dura Ace 9000 and 9070 groupos would be moving to 11 speed. Since that time there have been lots of questions about what hubs are compatible, which can be converted and what is required to do so and what effects those conversions will have on wheels. A lot of different answers and numbers have been thrown around on the internet as answers, but as far as I can tell many of these are just guesses or assumptions. What follows are the true answers that we’ve been able to gather talking directly with each manufacturer. We of course aren’t going to try and compile this for every hub, but here we have answers for the most common high end hubs. Read more
It’s been over 4 years since I wrote the last skewer shootout and many of them have since changed. I’ve decided to do an updated review featuring the latest and greatest. Writing this review has made me realize that things have changed over the years and the gaps between brands have definitely shrunk. They do still have their differences but those are becoming smaller. Any of the skewers in this review are just fine and there won’t be clear winners and losers but there will be some differences.
We hardly ever post bike builds that we don’t complete here at the shop but working with Sugarkane on this bike build has been one of our favorite projects. The build does a great job of focusing on weight but not emphasizing the ultra light over functionality and race worthy aerodynamics. The final build would hold up in any race and luckily he’s also been documenting the project on Weight Weenies showing why he chose a lot of the parts you see here now. Major changes have included switching ENVE 1.45s (now used as climbing wheels) to the more all around Smart 6.7s. Braking was also improved when the popular EE Brakes replaced the Zero Gravity stoppers. The stock Campagnolo Super Record 11-speed cranks have been changed for THM’s M3 modular crank complete with a ceramic bottom bracket and Praxis chain rings. Finally the New Ultimate seat post and striped down SLR saddle gave way to a Berk combo after an Extralite post was installed. The final seat / seatpost combo not only lets you get a custom feel on your rig it saves a lot of grams.
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Recently we were talking with Alchemy Bicycle Works about hubs and the results of our latest hub review. During this discussion we learned something interesting: their ORC hub is undergoing its first major re-design since its release 3.5 years ago. The new versions, expected in the next few months, will be designated the ORC-UL, and yes, it will be Shimano 11 speed compatible. At this point it’s probably a good time to point out that there is no planned retrofit to make the existing model Shimano 11 speed compatible. There will be new variation of the ELF front hub sold alongside the current ELF that will be lighter and with a more aerodynamic shape. Last but not least, a new disc brake mountain bike hubset using the same internals as the ORC-UL is being developed, but will be a bit further away. Read more
We often get sent lots of samples of new, upcoming products in the hopes that we’ll give it our endorsement and add it to our catalog. Many items get rejected before we even test them, others after we test them. Some do get a thumbs up from us and get added to our product list. The latest one to make it through is the AICAN Bungarus. Most of you are asking yourself at this point, “what the heck is that?” I had to ask the same question as well. It’s a super light segmented cable housing that runs without an additional inner liner.
If you’re like me and you hear the words super light you naturally have to wonder, how light is super light. Claimed weight is 18gr per meter, which is definitely light but isn’t beyond some others, or is it? In this case the 18 grams per meter is a bit deceptive and here’s why. The 18 grams per meter is not only the shift housing, but also the brake, and that weight is indeed impressive.
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