Grand Bois Cypres follow up

First flat!

But wait, there's more: It's not the tire's fault! It was from a goathead!!!!!!

For a primer on the foul devil-seed, go here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/goatheads/pool

I picked this one up while riding up Alessandro (goathead hill) where I pulled up 10 or 12 large plants last month. Lots of little buggars around there.

It was quite a relief to see that it was a goathead! I felt the tire going soft the last mile or so on the way home and was bummed, but flats close to home aren't that big a deal :-) Got the wheel off, pulled the tube, and found the cause.

Nothing I want to ride withstands goatheads. Marathon XRs or Specialized Armadillos might be ok, but yikes, not fun at all to ride. Up to now, I've been riding on Panaracer/Rivendell Ruffy Tuffies, and those have had their share of goathead punctures. Pasela Tourguards do as well! I think the Col de la Vie 650b tires were the worst for me.

All that said, I have about 100 miles on the tires and am immensely happy with them. Have done maybe 20 of those miles on dirt, and no problems. As mentioned in the initial write up, the tires do great on dirt. The float over the loose sandy stuff pretty good, hold a line on singletrack, and best of all, really seem to give me more traction on technical climbing. On asphalt they role really quietly and seem to have incredibly low rolling resistance.

I think they're keepers!

Grand Bois Cypres - Initial Impressions

To start, let's get this straight: My "handle" on the internets is just a play on words. I know it's not French. That's the point. Sort of like Mr. Sheldon Brown's "Derailer." You know what else isn't French? Grand Bois tires. They're from Japan and that's fine and good.

What also is kinda' a stretch of truthiness is the whole allusion to being a randonneur. 50 miles is about where I top a good ride out at. 30 is better. 70 can be done, but usually not very much enjoyment in it.

And did I mention that I'm pretty slow?

One of the things I am pretty good at is riding on trails on inappropriate bikes. Fire roads, double-track, Jeep-track, whatever you want to call it. I can mostly pick a good line and climb through the rutted stuff, and keep the front end from washing out on the downhills. Whenever I go for a ride, there is usually some dirt involved with it, and I love it.

Most of the time I ride Panaracer Paselas, either 32mm or more common now, 35mm. I also have a lot of miles on Rivendell Ruffy Tuffy tires. They're 28mm wide, last a long time, and are fairly puncture resistant. I've had problems with their tread cracking.

OK, so now you know where I'm coming from and my biases. Here's my quick-impression review of the 30mm wide Grand Bois Cypres: THEY'RE GREAT! Really, these tires just feel perfect. Nice and soft/supple, but plenty fast. Yes, that is anecdotal fast. They just seem that way and you can't tell me otherwise. Blissfully quiet, hardly any vibration transmitted, and they just roll, roll, roll down the street. That's kinda' the opposite of Ruffy Tuffies which have always felt kind of inert, and the Paselas are somewhere in the middle. Remember, this is anecdotal, just my impression of them.

So how 'bout their propensity that you've heard of to self-destruct due to a butterfly flapping it's wings in the Amazon? I purposely rode them on a fairly rutted, rocky-in-places and full-of- tumble-weed (no goat heads though) singletrack section to to find out how they would hold up.

If they couldn't handle that, what's the point, right? The verdict: see above (they're great!). They hold a line on the downhills, even on the center crown of rutted double track. Maintained traction on the few sections of technical climbing I did. Flew through the hard pack, whether uphill, downhill or level.

And they have that Ninja-silence to them on the asphalt. That has to translate into more efficiency over time. I won't turn that down in a product, but it wasn't the point in getting these tires. I wanted the fattest tire I could get that would fit my frame. 30mm actual is about it. The Cypres fit the bill and I'm quite happy with them right out of the gate. Remember, this was the first ride, and I haven't been out to the garage to see if I have any slow leaks from it. I'm hoping for the best, and hope these turn out to last a long time as I have to get my money out of them!

Ban the helmet!

This is a great little essay by Adrian Short. http://adrianshort.co.uk/2009/08/24/456/
I wear a helmet about 50% of the time, knowing it could save my life, but also knowing a meteor could fall from the sky and squish me any moment as well.
It's all about the critical mass when it comes to bicycle safety. The Amsterdam/Copenhagen example of when everyone rides, everyone is safe. Someday when oil is $200/barrel we'll all get to know what that's like.

The Missile

Well this sucks. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=4268555

Missy G. is one of the few pro-athletes I've met, and she was sooooo cool. I was up in Big Bear at Snow Summit the week before some races, and she was just hanging out in the parking lot. Real nice and approachable. For the record, I did not smell any essence of the wacky-weed anywhere near her.

Caffeinated Wheelmen Association

How's that for cool!!! Just ordered three. Here's the story from the RBW list:

"Are you a member?

So here is the story...turning the "way-back" machine to about 1996,
some friends and I were sitting over coffee after a ride and started
to recount how many times we had done this. As it turned out, it was
apparent that not only had the vast majority of our rides (bike,
motorcycle, skateboard, snowboard...) started or ended over coffee,
but many of our good friends and riding partners were met at the cafes
we were frequenting. We had a pretty good network that spanned darn
near coast to coast. An "Association of Caffeinated Wheelmen" I
blurted out while simultaneously sketching out a logo on the
napkin....

Fast forward to about 6 months ago, I was digging through some piles
of artwork looking for something, and stumbled on my original sketch.
All of the patches and hats we had originally done up were long
retired, lost, or given away...so I got in touch with some of the
original ACW's and told them I was going to mint some lapel
pins...everyone chipped in to beat the minimums.

Our whole thing was very tongue in cheek, but we wanted it to have an
"old money-secret society-unleash the hounds" type of feel to it.
Anyway after finding the iBob's / ROB's and meeting so many awesome
people and reading about the network that exists between the riders, I
thought it would be cool to expand the ACW.

It's all for fun and conversation, and really just a bit of decoration
for the bags, hats etc...but wanted to offer them up. I have @ 20-30
or so left of the lapel pins, but we can do more if interest is there.
We were also contemplating doing up some patches too?

$6/pc shipped to you. Trades for your "club" pins is good too. For
that matter no interesting trade would be turned down. Drop me line
hbclick (at) yahoo.com or just paypal me there with your info!

Stay thirsty my friends....for coffee. ;)"

Copehnagen City of Cyclists

I can see my little bitty town of Redlands becoming cycling friendly. There's no reason for it not to. Year round riding. No snow, not much rain (fenders/mudguards!). Yeah, it's hot in the summer, but it's cool during the morning commute time, and you can take a shower after your ride home.

Most of the town is flat, although there are a lot of homes in the hills. The 75% of the town in the flats has no excuse!


Copenhagen - City of Cyclists from Colville Andersen on Vimeo.

Look what the mailman brought.

No, not a Look 556 crabon bike, something even better:


So how cool is that? Harry H. on the RBW list and flickr thought I needed a cloisonne magnet (which I do!) and sent me one.

Now the trifecta is complete!






Best April Fools yet!