ATB. Like what we used to do in the early 90’s. Just riding whatever bike you have wherever you want to ride it. Exploring old roads in the woods and following trails wherever they may go. Before purpose-built trails and before every segment of cycling had a name and a specific bike to go along with it. I welcome the return of the ATB with open arms.
I feel like the ATB segment is almost like a ghost segment that drifts in and out of fashion. First it came as early mountain bikes, then when they got more specific it became something between old mtbs and hybrids with a smattering of CX/gravel conversions. Then it got classified into a "gravel" segment, and now we're seeing anti-performance oriented ATBs become a thing. I agree though, it really is more of a philosophy rather than a specific bike segment. Any bike will do! (see r/xbiking !)
@Swamp Rat right. The majority aren't in for racing so extremely specilized equipment doesn't cut it. Most people want a bike that will get things done at a decent speed and don't care if they lose 0.1km/h due to the "wrong" set of tires. No dampers makes a bike lighter but certainly less comfortable when you are using it for fun.
I agree. I started gravel biking to get off pavement and away from cars. At that time there were gravel rides. Now those rides have turned into races.☹. Never had any interest in racing. So I will continue to puddle along with friends. I also interested in lower maintenance biking, looking towards pinion gears and carbon belt drive. Heavier, I know. But then again I am in no hurry.
My current daily commuter bike is gates belt with shimano alfine 8 speed hub. Bought it used just over 2 months ago. Yes I'm looking forward to the lack of chain and mech maintenance. I would recommend it. Still have chained bikes a gravel and 3 MTBs
Do it! I'm on my 3rd year commuting on a Gates/Shimano Nexus 8 equipped bike, and with the typical mileage I do the original belt is still good for at least another 5 years. It has made me ENJOY riding in the rain and mud knowing that there is no chain to clean and lube afterwards. I'd love to get a Pinion equipped gravel bike and be done with chains completely, but the price of admission is pretty steep.
Yeah, I think I may be done with chains and derailleurs. I've turned into a Priority Bikes shill after I bought their 600 commuter 2.5 years ago and just recently got their Apollo drop bar bike. I've cleaned my 600 maybe 3 times over the past 2 years even with it being my daily commuter. There's some rusted bolts I'm probably eventually going to have to deal with, but that's way better than having to constantly clean and replace chains that get mauled by rain, snow, and ice melt. The Pinion gearbox just works all the time - barely any maintenance needed aside from an oil change once in a great while - and the belt drive is silent and absolutely maintenance free. The Apollo bike I'm still getting used to. The Alfine hub definitely can't be a year round option for me since the cold of the Midwest, -10 degrees F a couple weeks ago, makes the hub sluggish to shift. I'm also not a huge fan of the drop bar shifter with the cable sticking out of the side as it interferes with my handlebar bag. Still figuring that one out. But I can't recommend the Priority 600 enough for someone who wants a daily commuter that is extremely low maintenance. The price is a little steep at $2500, but I figure it pays for itself over time by not needing as much maintenance or parts.
I hear you, though I don't see why the prevalence of gravel racing means anyone should stop gravel fun riding. I've never entered a race but all my bikes are fun.
Me too! Not a racer. In for complete not compete! I am still patiently waiting for shipment of my VSF FAHRADMANUFAKTUR S-300 LOW STEP NEXUS 8 GATES BELT DRIVE bike. In the meanwhile, I'm happily riding a 'gravel' bike which is really my Kona Sutra Touring Bike with René Herse Snoqualmie Pass tires 44mm. I think the 'Bike Industry ' will be caught napping again, trying to force us to do riding we don't want to and they will realize too late that fewer and fewer people want to race. The iceberg's right ahead but no one's watching! Us unracers will take care of each other.
I hate it so much but I agree with you about gravel cycling. I don't know if it's "dead" per se, but the shift towards racing has made it more exclusive, more bro-y, and so much less oriented toward community building.
I never can understand bike prices. I paid a shade under $6,000 for my Royal Enfield 350 motorcycle. I bought it brand new. That amount of money will only get me a middle of the road Specialized and Trek. Seems like a lot more moving parts and tech in my motorcycle.
How much carbon fiber, cold forged aluminum, and precision CNC stuff is on your motorcycle? The bike industry has convinced us that we need the same bikes the pros ride. A professional motorcycle racer rides a 50-$100,000 machine. Food for thought.😊
@@danwebber9494 there are defiantly more cnc parts and higher tolerances on a motorcycle, even on a basic machine like a royal enfeild. pistons rings exist, cnc aint special its how things are made these days, folks aint hand cutting your threads, they throw fancy terms on bike advertising to make it seem like something magic is happening in the engineering and manufacturing, it aint. there is just no magic in bearings and tubes. the issue isnt even just with bike brands, its mostly with uninformed consumers duping themselves into "incremental gains" and paying for them and never even testing to see if it made a difference, a good lie needs the listener to do the writing of it.
Put in a slightly different way than dan, it seems that it is relatively easy to engineer something durable and reliable if you can make it heavy. It is significantly more difficult and costly to engineer something light, durable and reliable. Perhaps it's the other way around. It's amazing what materials science has given us the ability to buy if we want to. Otherwise there's nothing stopping anyone from buying a bike from Walmart. On a side note, $6000 was the msrp of the CBR600F2 I bought new in 1993.
@@jprelock i think your right more folks should shop at walmart for bikes, for less than a thousand dollars the Decathlon Triban rc120 can be had using the same aluminum bikes costing double or even tripple use, it has integrated shifter/brake levers, disc brakes, its frame is only half a pound heavier than the average carbon bike frame, if folks want to believe that a bike that js five pounds lighter will make the difference in them riding faster or more they should go for it, but there is a good chance they'll still be dropped, cause flipping the stem on the walmart bike will achieve better time savings than that five pounds.
There is no trend that has convinced me to abandon my 80s road bike, 90s mountain bike or my single speed bike. However after watching your videos this year I have decided to change my drop bars to alternate bars for a more upright position, I'm old. But when I look at alt bars I just see the same bars we using on bikes in the 60s. Looking forward to more great videos from you in 2023.
I'm wishing I could find another Bontrager Race or Racelight. I had a custom Race frame a few years ago. I had it made with a longer top tube extra bottle cage mounts and a few other frame braze ons for ultra long back country rides. I met and talked with Keith about engineering many years ago. My project manager at NASA knew him from engineering school at San Jose state. Keith is a very sharp engineer. He was sort of THE mad scientist back in the day. Also a very humble and nice guy. Everybody at school seemed to dislike Mr Bontrager because he drove up the grading curve! My friend and manager was a thermodynamics engineer, essentially a 'rocket scientist'. I was his contractor machinist. This gentleman was an 'out of the box' thinker and spoke many languages. Due to a very small budget we built and flew NASA's most cost effective sounding rocket experiment in NASA history. It involved advanced Mars reentry research. It seemed ironic that this man had a lot of respect for Keith. Keith made some great innovations to MTBs and bike manufacturing in general. These bikes could survive a whole lot of serious abuse. Lots of really hardcore riders rode these in the Santa Cruz mtns near here. I don't think I ever saw one of his welds break and I have other friends who are long time frame builders. Lots of bike companies tried to copy his engineered gussets (which were simple, common sense) and failed miserably. Because bike designers generally aren't engineers in this marketing BS industry. Keith helped design early Rockshox fork crowns and common suspension fork design. His 'composite rigid fork was the first triple clamp bike fork! Then Tange copied it. He also helped design the first Kestrel carbon fully. He was at the cutting edge of bike technology. I did many huge epic rides in big mountains on my beloved Bonty. My longest mtb ride of all time. 75 miles, about 12 hours ride time and over 12000 feet of climbing. I traded the bike to my neighbor for engine work on my Subaru. I can still ride it if I want. I want another of these old frames to build a drop bar Dinglespeed/fixed gear conversion. These frames may be perhaps some of the best handling bikes ever made. I may trade my neighbor a newer full suspension bike to get mine back! It was that special of a bike. I just stopped riding it awhile because I've got too many bikes and my old school racer boy position hurt me.
That's pretty funny. My friend had one we made fun of often. I rode it a few times. Early suspension bikes were often a bad experiment, tested on consumers and pushed by marketing BS. Much like new bikes today........ Y bikes bounced around lots in the saddle. On a descent where you actually NEEDED suspension, once you got out of the the saddle to sit to try and get more weight on the rear tire, the suspension stiffened way up. I really hope youre making a joke. Trek's A-hole bikes (A is for aero) is the best they can do..... I'd only ride one if I was sponsored or paid for my time. If I got one free, I'd sell it to one of those 'suckers born every freakin minute'.
To add on to what you said about the divide between expensive and cheap bikes, I think the used bike and build a bike markets are gonna be huge. Rising cost of bikes, rising cost of everything, and the industry moving towards electronic components is really going to push non enthusiasts to learn more about maintanence.
Unless a rider needs the assistance to overcome a physical challenge, I think electronic groups are basically the same as ride-on shopping carts at the grocery store, a luxury that eliminates a bit of physical effort for most users of them.
@@mikefox-cf1jl O no, just goofing on the cost and extravagance of electronic gizmos for shifting. And I feel that way about them for pros, too, part of the art of it all is manually selecting gears and living with a selection up a steep section or a sprint or whatever. And I am all for ebikes and especially conversion kits for affordable entry and one of my 26" commuters has a Green Zone Bikes kit and its cost and simplicity and dependability are all so far so very good, plus I stash the battery in a rear pannier so aside from the front-hub and a thumb throttle and a couple of wires, my modified mountain bike looks like a regular commuter. And I truly appreciate the safety afforded by the power, lots of intersections and stretches are best navigated with the extra speed.
@@robbchastain3036 The only real reason for electronic shifting is at the highest ends of racing, like getting the fastest possible shifts on a road bike, or continuous shifting for MTB. It doesn't make sense for any typical lycra guy to use it, and all of the cat 4-5 racers I know still use 105/ultegra mechanical. its for people cosplaying the pros.
Revolt! Build a reliable singlespeed out of free old junk. I've been doing this since I was a broke teenager. The build part is easy and these bikes are quite capable if one can put their mind to the task at hand. The limit is in the human mind. DI2, e-bikes, plastic bike junk, aero BS and INFERNAL routing is for those suckers born every minute. Thats ALL mere job security for somebody!
I am excited to see where the year goes! This time last year I was just starting to ride my 15 year old MTB again (after several years). In the spring I bought a HT MTB and in October bought a gravel bike. Still can't believe how much I love riding gravel (and roads/paths), and despite a rather cool Colorado winter so far, averaging 90 miles a week still. I really appreciate this channel, as you always remind me to focus on what's fun. Thanks Russ!
As always you articulate what is bouncing around in my head so well. One trend that I see growing here in Europe is competitive bike packing (Act 5, Transcontinental, ...). Ultra light minimal bike packing because as you know at the end of the day you must have 100+km and upload your ride to Strava and impress people with your speed!!! Another trend that will come into play even more is putting an "E" on bike parts and accessories to further confuse and trick eBike people that they must have "Tyres with 'E' on it." "You need to get the E-pedals for your bike" "E-Shifters".
I've always ridden a bicycle among other self propelled means of transportation in order to get to work and between towns where I live. At some point I wanted to travel, needed to travel. After considering the ways, the packed bicycle was the one that would get me farther on less money and most in touch with the places. Point is, all the trends were not the motivation. The desire to go places and the enjoyment I found in the experiences were the reward. Where we may diverge is that I am a solitary rider and when people start filling up places the trends lead them to, where I have found solace, I will be gone onto my next places without having left a trace.
Also a solo rider, the "gravel/ATB" bikes resonate with my youth of riding my steel framed 10 speed everywhere. There was something about that old technology that made riding on gravel, old dirt roads, single track, corn fields, pastures, etc. very comfortable. Modern road bikes are just too stiff and tires too thin to survive any off pavement riding for the bike and rider. Mountain bikes are a pain for long distances on mixed terrain even if you can lock out the suspension. My preference for solo riding likely developed from car camping until the parks got too busy, then to canoe camping until so many areas became overrun with boats then to back country hiking. After all of the children moved on my parents went back to car camping in National Forests or tribal lands finding reasonable places to pitch a tent. From Scouts we also learned to leave our campsites cleaner than when we arrived. Another plus of solo riding is being able to stop to enjoy the scenery without pressure from others to keep riding.
Thanks Russ! Love your channel. Cave of Bad ideas got me into building an all road bike from scratch and now commuting, roading and dirting are much more enjoyable! Put 4,500 miles on my bike and less than 1,000 on my car. Bags and racks look cool now thanks to you moving Fight Club out of the basement. Happy New Year and will continue looking forward to your vids in 2023.
I think you were right with "tired and true" regarding cycling marketing. When a trend (like gravel) gains momentum the major cycling brands move in, and specialization, complexity, and higher prices follow. I like Grant Petersen's take on this: "The best bikes aren't at the extreme ends of the functionality spectrum, so specialized that they're a bike-length away from dysfunctionality. The best ones are boring jacks-of-many-trades, and you stretch them to their limits with skill and experience." Looking forward to more PLP in 2023!
I think you're on to something. Underbiking ROCKS! Its the rider, not the freakin bike! I'm 61 years young. I own a bunch of bikes but usually just ride my fixed gear 'cross bike or a singlespeed. Fixed offroad is more fun than should be legal! Singlespeeds ALL make me feel like a kid exploring new freedoms again!
Back in the early 80's, there was some people calling mountain bikes, all terrain bikes. I'm sure there is an old Bicycling magazine with that discussion as to what to call them.
Solid predictions. Gravel bikes are still awesomely versatile and efficient machines but gravel events attract cross and xc athletes so they are more intense than originally touted. Light-ish, up-to-date full rigid mtbs are fun if the tires aren’t too heavy. The town bike that can do both overnights and long rides is the holy grail. More bike clubs built around short social rides and overnights would be great.
Happy New Year Russ and Laura! Keep the supple side down. I will keep enjoying my bar end shifting and will look forward to 2023 riding what I already own.
Wishing a HNY to everyone. Rid'em if ya got'em. I also plan to ride what I already have. I discovered there is another version of the # of bikes formula. N+1+P. My N currently = 7 and P (Project) = a 90s Gary Fisher Hard tail, might be a little tricky it has a 1 1/4 threaded fork
If I get anymore bikes my garage might burst. I almost always find excellent old used bikes. Often I get them for free! With recession on its way and a glut of new overpriced bikes in the retail market, there will be plenty of barely used bikes for sale. Plenty of folks bought bikes when they were stuck at home itching to get out. Now lots are going back to work. Consumers are often fickle. Gotta cash in in that.
Very well said Russ. I see the form factor of the daily driver e-bike continuing to evolve. Moving away from mad max tank to something more elegant and integrated. I also think we’ll see movement in automatic and or internal transmissions. The extra weight offset by elegant integrated e-assist. My guess! 😊
IMHO we're moving into one of the most interesting times in bicycling. Think about all the different styles of bikes there are now, the increased desire (and need) to ride them, and the incredible access to custom builders from around the globe. Whatever flavor of two-wheeled fun you desire, there is someone out there making it. New materials, new manufacturing techniques, new engineering and tech, and new concepts for what a bicycle can be, and what it can do...I think it's all pretty cool. I wish I had more space, because the little kid inside of me keeps seeing new bikes I wish I had.
Amazing take on the industry. Thanks for being the "voice of reason" and for fostering a community. There is always a positive takeaway and maybe the smaller communities will end up pushing the developments we all seek. Boutique industries are always better at meeting the actual needs of their customers while the major conglomerates are good at flooding the markets.
Happy New Year, Russ - and thanks for being the leading voice in all things "practical cycling". I really hope to see cargo bikes continue their momentum and am also hoping to see the world of electric touring/packing grow and evolve as off-pavement capable e-bikes like the Surly Skid Loader come to market. All the best to you in 2023.
re: cargo bikes, I'm hoping to upgrade from my cheap but decent hybrid bike from REI to a cargo bike this year, specifically the Omnium Mini, and have it be my one and only do-it-all bike. I think those short-john / cycle truck style bikes are the way to go for most people. They're super practical for running errands and getting groceries, but still fit in normal bike racks. I think they would make a great platform for bikepacking (cargopacking?) too. No need for bikepacking-specific gear or bags, just throw everything in a duffel, put it on the bike, and off you go! Plus they just look cool which is always a bonus. I think with gas prices, climate change concerns, increased interest in urbanist design / people-first infrastructure, people are looking for ways to reduce how much they drive anyway - cargo bikes seem ready to really explode in popularity.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I chose to get a Marin DSX 2 recently; and part of that was watching your reviews of some of their other bikes. Not only is the price quite reasonable for the specs, but the ethos of the company is something worth supporting. It's a great bike for the everyman.
Agreed. I had underestimated the force of the move to electronic shifting. It makes the Riv derailleur make even more sense. The bro’ification of adventure cycling continues apace
I hadn't heard the term "bro-ification" before so I googled for it and even read an article titled "Stop complaining about bro-ification already." I still don't know what the terms "bro" and "bro-ification" mean. Do I win an award for being out of touch?
Happy New Year! Great stuff Russ, I love the way you think. Gravel bikes really have become just road bikes with a little bigger tires. This crazy escalation in pricing has been going on for 10 years. Lots of people bought something expensive years ago and they still ride them , not wanting to buy another expensive bike. I have been looking at the alt bike sector for a couple years hoping one would convince me to spend the cash. Maybe 2023 is the year! thanks for sharing your thoughts, experiments and rides. Great channel Russ and Laura
I think you're right on all accounts. I plan to buy an ATB this year for touring. I'm surrounded by gravel and typically hauling a kid on a WeeHoo trailer that's soon to be replaced with a trail-a-bike. My daily commuter is a Radwagon 4 electric cargo bike. I wish I would have bought a bike like that years ago!
Still love my carbon hard tail with cable shifter and hydro brakes. Will ride for another 10 years. Buying group set and other parts to keep it on the road. Like the old gear but extra for the frame u love
Voting for more cargobikes to be sold. Working in the industry and we already saw a steady invrease through 2022 on their sales. More and more people are replacing cars with them.
Yeah...my "gravel" bike is a Nukeproof Digger with a dropper post and 47mm tires. It does everything. Roads, gravel, single-track, and none of it is raced or timed...it's just fun. There no question in my mind that the drop bars are better than flats though. The hoods are so comfy.
The mark of a good ATB or all purpose bike will be the tire clearance for swapping out wheel sets and quick conversion to single speed. Will be hard for bike stores to sell new bikes when Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji and other sites are getting flooded with barely used bikes and trainers.
Bike brands can spend all their marketing budget on their highest price Dura-Ace options for dentists and other rich people, but if there are similar budget versions, like a Tiagra version of the bike, people who need a lower price can buy that
Been cycling for sixty years now. Been a racer, a commuter and a tourist. My favourite bike is a 1986 Miyata 1000. I don't race any more, and I do have a "race" bike. In the end, I like the turn of the last century technology of a 80's bike because its robust, I can repair it anywhere. I think you are spot on with the changes in the gravel world. As for e-bikes, I think that ebikes will do for recreational cycling what the ski lift did for the ski industry. It will raise cycling, in North America, from a niche activity to mainstream.
Refreshing as always. I especially agree about the escalating cost of cycling. I will always lust over Pinarellos, Ferraris & Ducatis but I am much better suited to more practical, mundane means of transport & fun. No shame in saying that. Because of these escalating costs, gaps are opening up in the cycling market which I hope that enterprising manufacturers will see as opportunities. More fun & adventures in 2023 is my personal wish. One of my New Year's resolutions is to stop looking at my Strava segment times. As I inevitably get older & slower they are becoming depressing!
I recently bought a used 26' mountain bike with cantis and flat bars and bar ends and 3x6 GripShift, major sweetness. Plus the frame is smallish, so it feels like a BMXy mountain bike, lots of fun for errands. So that's my trend, wrong-size thrift-store bikes. But that's always been a beautiful thing for some of us. And one media observation, a sad one, is that this was the last year for VeloNews magazine, then Peloton magazine and now, with my Outside-Plus membership, I get Outside magazine as the replacement print offering. And I have the Bicycling-Plus membership and I still get Bicycling magazine but what is it now, a quarterly or something, no longer anything close to a monthly. So, for sure, Russ, challenging times for traditional cycling media and I'm still one who enjoys an hour here and there with a cycling magazine and a cup of coffee. And a funny aside: Awhile back at a neaby laundromat, I went over to their stack of magazines to find something to read as I waited. And lo and behold, someone had put several minty issues of Bicycling magazine from over a decade ago into the stack. 😀
Bicycling magazine has always been marketing BS, but even they will tell you to get on the right size bike with a good practical fit. Ignore the silly roadie fit rules. The more comfortable you are, the longer you can spend rolling around. I dig really long rides so this is just my POV. Of course if you're happy on what you've got, so be it! Just the fact that you don't feel the 'need' to upgrade is pretty darned promising! 😁 Happy New Year!
@@rollinrat4850 I actually enjoy the ads and marketing and hype, whether in print or on video or at events and such, tho' the 'buy this 15-grand bike to finally ride like a pro' pitch is a little rich. And I'm all for genuine upper-crust high-performance anything, bespoke or mass market, just that the jive needs to be dialed down. And yeah, with my thrifty find, I'm thinking the smallish frame may be perfectly accented with a banana seat and BMX bars and some plated components to accessorize and customize. And I'm lovin' 3x6 GripShift and the chrome-plated frame and everything. Just a little work and I'll be ridin" low and slow. 😀
@@robbchastain3036 I'm restoring an Albert Eisentraut custom steel frame from the late '70s. One of my customers gave me his barely used old race wheels. The rear has a very early Dura Ace 6 speed cassette hub. I didn't even know these existed. Its still smooth as silk. It uses 'Uniglide' cogs that can be flipped over for twice the wear. No ramps or pins. With friction shifters it shift plenty fast enough for me. A few of my bikes use 10 speed set ups. That's more than enough for me!
@@rollinrat4850 That sounds cool, have fun with it, RollinRat, and I was thinking, re cycling magazines, that I pretty much consider my monthly support of a handful of cycling channels, including Russ', to be like a magazine subscription and this channel is like a video version of Bicycle Times, another favorite magazine until it ended its print run.
@@robbchastain3036 I used to enjoy Bike magazine. An MTB publication. Then they got too political. I dug Dirtrag back in the day as well. Bicycle Quarterly is the only 'magazine' I take seriously any longer. It's an expensive subscription. Each issue is more like a soft cover coffee table book. Obviously 4 issues a year. It's very well written and the quality is amazing. Jan Heine is the main man. It's rando-centric and sort of a part of Rene Herse cycles.
Would like to see bike demo days in Australia, since Covid there have been virtually none, would be great to compare a gravel bike, hard tail & full sus MTB, still using my 1998 Apollo '90s MTB' for off roading.
E-bikes will be there area I think a lot of brands will focus on to appeal to the Everyperson. That way they don’t even have to convince you to get as fit to use the bike. I also think gravel will split into race gravel and fun gravel and we will just have to hope people buy the right bike when they decide they want to cycle.
Underground racing rocks! Start your own race with friends. DIY. Organized racing and all pro sports are greedy and corrupt. There's just too much money involved. This much is pretty clear. The lancehole easily bought off the freakin UCI. I say screw em! Don't support such entities with your hard earned money. That's consumer's only power. Deprive crooks of money. When you give it to them, you have no recourse. Not a leg to stand on. The same goes for the overpriced, non quality bike industry. To the OP: E-bikes? The larger bike industry is pricing out common consumers and offer little in return. Cheap 'affordable' e bikes are a joke in regards to quality and safety. Good quality motorbikes (compared to enthusiast level e-bikes) are cheaper, much better quality and far more reliable. E bikes are job security for mechanics like me. They eat drivetrains and brake components. They are more complex and expensive to service. This industry often makes me ashamed, yet it provides job security!
I think you're correct about the alt brands moving in. I personally love Microshift. If they stopped making everything except R10 I could cycle on happily till the day I drop. I'm pretty cold on electronic drivetrains. I probably would never ride an electronic bike out of Uber range. Not a fan of extra cost and complexity.
I am still building and riding 20 year old high end cast offs from Craig's and yards sales with occasional "used" drivetrain components from Amazon warehouse. At 62 I'm not trying to impress anyone but still manage to regularly with my retro builds. Electric shifters and hydraulic disc brakes? My concession to progress is a RockShox Duke C on my latest build. Long Live The Front Derailleur!! Time for a nap...
I have the last fully mechanical Ultegra groupset on my road bike and I love it. I don't really want to go electronic. I would like to see a fully mechanical sub-compact with hydros.
Still using 9 and 10 speed drivetrains. Never saw the need for 11 or 12. I matched a Shimano XT 9 speed rear derraileur to my Shimano 105 10 speed shifters. Using a 11-42 cassette and 50/34 cranks which I can change to smaller rings if I wanted. This is like having a Shimano GRX setup without having to buy a new groupset which can break the bank. If I did need a new drivetrain I would seriously look into chinese alternatives based on some of the reviews I see and some products that I've purchase.
I remember when I bought my Gary Fisher Aquila in '93(and it is still my daily ride), I went in and asked for the "ATBs from the 2020's" section. When he looked at me funny, I said "Oh, the mountain bikes."
Great review, I enjoy your discussions on a regular basis. I don't see the murder of Mo Wilson as a scandal for the upstart gravel segment of the sport, but a terrible tragedy that occurred within it. I can't imagine it having a long term negative impact on the gravel side of things, certainly hope it doesn't, wouldn't be fair to anyone.
I am currently building a custom steel Manzanita Cycles 120mm alt-bar hardtail with fast, light 2.2" XC race tires on carbon hoops with an Onyx hub, X01 12-speed, XT brakes, PNW suspension dropper and 30-tooth oval ring. I feel that's the ultimate do-it-all bike at only 25½ pounds. Rack and bottle mounts for bikepacking. I hated riding my Cannondale Topstone Carbon Ultegra-RX gravel bike and sold it. The hardtail is SOOOOOO much more comfortable and fun to ride! Hope everybody stays healthy and safe out there!!!
My local bike shop sells almost only electric assisted bikes. Maybe due to government grants here in montpellier, france. As for me, I sold all my bikes and ordered a Brompton. Trek gravel AL4 was fun but a couple of attempted thefts left me feeling quite nervous.
Thanks for the thoughts and a shout out to microShift. I’ve been using the AdventX 1x10 on 3 of my bikes (1 in the US, 1 in France and 1 in the Isle of Man). Combined with alt bars like the Surly corner bar I can use the cheaper mtb shifters. The newer drop bar adventX brake shifter only does cable brakes so I guess I’m going to have to get some Growtec disc callipers if I want drop bars. My frames are up cycled hybrid frames from Trek and Kona which I picked up cheap on marketplace and built my own bikes as these frames will take wider 700c tyres. I think the most important part of the bike is the wheels. I run DT Swiss, yes they re pricey but bullet proof hubs and rims are essential when travelling off road on gravel. Loved your review of handlebar bags.
My approach to gravel riding is that it's just car free mountain biking. The 10k ride to my local mountain bike trails is more fun on a drop bar bike than a mountain bike, so that's what I usually ride. ATB, or "general purpose bike" would be better terms for what I'm riding than gravel bike. What I've liked about the gravel bike trend is that it's kind of normalized the idea that drop bar bikes can be ridden on single track. Mountain bikers seem to be generally ok with this.
Well maybe your right . I am breaking out the old Eastern Sierra Best 100 rides which are mostly fire roads. Although I am going full hipster with my ebike for time sake.
Hi Ross, I am not sure what is the market situation of Cargo bikes in the US, but in Europe, we have seen a massive evolution in the last 5 years. The Bakfiets and Bullit are really old design now and a lot of smaller, more city adapted and everyday use brand are available with lots of e-motor, such as muli-cycle
I am so happy I never got rid of my 26 inch MTB. There is so much cool stuff our there, but at the end of the day we are all just doing the same thing. We cycle and have fun.
I hope the smaller brands really shine this year too. I love my Advent X drivetrain on my grappler, and the upgraded Microshift bar end shifters on my Fargo have been amazing. That's right, I said I upgraded to bar end shifters! Confuses the heck out of everyone lusting after Di2. I hope ATB interest grows along with more people loving the partypace.
Out of curiousity what year is your Fargo? Do you have any issues catching your knees on the bar end if standing? I bought a MS bar end for my 2021 Fargo in case the Apex shifter dies. Without playing with it yet, am just curious if it even has to be in the back of the mind. Would be nice to hear it ends up completely out of the way. I'm weird and really looking forward to converting to friction. May have used it as a kid but honestly can't remember. Plan on gevenalle shifters if I get another bike. Going to keep using what's working until it stops though.
@@briand8862 I have the 2019 Fargo and it came with a 44cm woodchipper bar. While I was redoing a bunch of stuff on Fargo, I changed the drop bar to a Redshift kitchen sink 47cm. The drops are a lot more usable and more out of the way of my knees. So far my knees have not hit the bar end shifters while riding.
Haha, I'm still using decades old Sun Tour and Dura Ace bar ends. The Dura Ace units were 9 speed, the clicks wore out years ago, but friction mode still works great! They ALL still run through my gears perfectly after years of 'cross racing, power washing, crashing and being thrown down in the dirt. Now try that with brifters and see how long they last! Besides lasting nearly forever, the coolest thing about friction shifting is that you can mix a wide variety of commonly available parts and different speed parts together. Proprietary is no longer nearly as big an issue. The other cool thing is reliability in a rough and tumble environment. When you bend your derailleur hanger or even damage the derailleur, it will still change gears since there's no indexing to worry about.
A friend of mine has a titanium omnium cargo and he rode with me on a 10 days bikepacking epic around the alps with his dog while I was on my hardtail. The thing is realy great. For the gravel development I'm quite ok with it, my gravel bike is a "gravel race" carbon bike that double as a road bike with its second wheelset and I love it. Not great for the party pace people tho.
I have electronic Di2 shifting so I felt the need to make this comment. It has been mentioned, what will people do when we are locked out of our smartphones for whatever reason, we haven't paid the bill, or it got stollen, or broken, or even if the government decides to block choice apps from working anymore. You need the Shimano app to tune or tweak the Di2 functionality. I don't know about SRAM. But during the times when things are down we look to the bicycle as an escape or to cope just like during the pandemic. If these shifting systems get even more "Smarter" and dependent on the device it's connected to to operate and that system fails you no long have the ability to ride your bike. Not to mention the other elephant in the room, Government tracking". Who is gathering and using this information they collect just from you going for a ride on your bike? I never considered these things when I bought an electronic groupset but I can promise you it is the last one I will buy. It's back to mechanical in my future.
Great video and interesting as always. We would hope that, as a small bike business, in 2023 the bike industry settles down into a more sustainable way of working. But whatever happens LONG LIVE the ATB 🎉
Just got my first disc brake bike Raleigh rx 2.0 from a friend that wanted get it out of their storage. Previous bikes were canti/v brake CX bikes. No more rim brake wheels except the tubular set left. Long time CXer and been doing mixed surface rides for years before it became gravel and took off. New bike came with rival 1 mech disc. Question on mech disc. New bike Has Trp sypre post mount 160mm brakes. How do those compare to the mech disc mentioned in other RUclips videos you have made. Front is 15mm thru axle while rear is 12mm thru axle. Are still wheelsets like that around so not using the heavy wheels when needing lighter wheels. Agree with the new China components makers/ longtime budget friendly makers will start taking off in the low-mid range price points. High end wheel companies will have to lower prices to stay competitive in the market. Losing the mid price point bikes will lose customers unless frame companies go with quality but cheaper cost parts. Then most to all bike going back to threaded bb( English or t47). Separation of frames between high end with wireless/electronic and cheaper frames with cables routing.
Just picked up a used late 1980s Dawes Super Galaxy touring bicycle for £150, it is Reynolds 531 double butted tubing, Deore XT, it had bar end shifters which were great but I fitted Sora brake shifters, it has an Aheadset converter so it is using 31.8mm clamp size bars, the Canti brakes are swapped out for V brakes with top bar mounted cyclo cross style repeater levers, I am really struggling to think how this bike could be meaningfully improoved on with the exception of disc brakes, it even came with Blackburn front and rear carriers on the frame mounts and big Esege chromplastic mudguards, perhaps thats the problem for manufacturers, its pretty hard to improve on the technology that we had 30 years ago, they have to convince us to bin it and buy something else, hence 1x etc
Electronic disc brakes! Calipers connected via bluetooth with the levers. The question of compatibility with the existing axs and di2 systems is another topic but at the very least there would be no cables and brake bleeding involved, maybe an occasional lubrication of some sort and a few more batteries involved ...
I agree 100% with everything you said. I I’m a new old stock kinda guy but I have however really come to love the Shimano sora r3000 and I know I’d love the Claris 8 speed groupset as well. eBay is always finicky with finding things so it’s unreliable, but I’ll for sure still advocate for the 8 and 9 speed MECHANICAL Shimano groupset because any more than 9 speeds I’m double shifting more often than not.
Hello Russ. Here in germany the focus as far as i can see (at Rosebikes for example) is still on gravelbikes in 2023. Performance orientated. Gravelevents, thats strange here, maybe everywhere now, because its so expensive to joyn them here. So its something for people who bring and have money and the people who create events see that they can earn a lot instead of creating a fun event for everyboby. All terrain bikes is what the germans will definitely need one or two years longer compared to find (again) if they ever will. I loved them in the 90s and still love them but the availability of parts for them is small here. So we ride here relaxed and when on the ATB never being part of a bike community 😂. Liebe Grüße 🙋🏼♀️
comonents were at its best 9-11s mechanical. it would be great to have flat-/dropbar and frame shifter options for all the same mechanic components. and please lets end thru-axle with weird hub sizes and cassettes.
I agree that the workhorse of the bike world, the cargo bike, may see its glory days come to fruition, but will that happen in 2023? Not sure. For me the drawback to my old and venerable Yuba Mundo was that its wheelbase was too long for public transit, namely the bus. I would like to see a slightly more compact version able to fit on the bus. I just saw a brand new electric Mundo with Magura hydraulic brakes.
I miss the times when it was possible to have one bike that could handle everything, mostly rim brakes and disc brakes, as well as any combination of components was possible too. I would like to ask, if you could get a custom bike, would you still put disc and v-brakes? Steel fork? Drop and flat bar capabilities ? Which gearing? 2x10 I feel is the best gearing option for me, even though I currently have all my bikes with 1X systems... What would you include in a custom do-it-all bike if you could?
Agree 100%. I'm watching the eBikes. It's Orville and Wilbur out there with so many start ups trying so many things. I think there are a few forks in the road. Is an ebike a version of a motorcycle with cafe racers and hopped up bikes, or more a bike with pedal assist? There is also a huge trend of making older boomers comfortable with the tech (moderate power, high bars, etc.). I expect this will turn into several crowds. I went with an ebike with less power and towards the light end. Sawed the bars narrower and put on a shorter stem. Thinking pedal assist with a rack to do gravel or get groceries. Gonna put on smaller tires for less weight and rolling resistance. As gasoline gets expensive, I expect ebikes and small motorcycles/scooters will become more accepted. Watch for a technology crossover. Fewer of us a doing the daily commute and we need practical vehicles that do shorter runs. The US will learn from Europe and Asia.
Hot take: electronic groupsets are actually cheaper to manufacture than mechanical groupsets. But they sell them for even more, increasing their profit margins. Personally, I'm really looking forward to Microshift, Sensah and all the other smaller manufacturers to start eating into the market of the bloated major ones. They could really do with being brought down a peg or two.
I like my mountain bike for wherever I choose to ride. I have some asphalt I need to cover before riding scenic trails that have hard packing under some loose materials. Making things complicated can take the wind out of my sails. I've been told to: "Keep it simple stupid"..
Great insights Russ! Technology (and drugs) seems to invade many sports to give the athletes (human or horse) the edge. Like others on this channel, I ride because it's fun and I use my bike for errands when I can. It's also my avenue to meet and hang out with some good friends on local trails and an annual out of town biking trip. We ride our now obsolete road bikes with those little caliper brakes on shared use paths and rail trails, and they work just fine. The bike industry keeps changing things up to keep people wanting and spending on the latest and greatest, like planned obsolescence of iphones. Never raced, never had the interest, never will.
I had an argument with a roadie on an insta post from Rivendell bikes about gearing manufacturers being obsessed with racing. He ended up saying that electric bikes eliminated the need for more realistic gear sets for average users whilst failing to acknowledge the high price of ebikes. I really hope Microshift can do a better job serving everyday users in the void the big three are leaving by going full electric shifting.
Russ, I applaud you. I've been in marketing for many years and you seem to have identified the developing dimensions of the market pretty perfectly. That you've pointed out that Gravel is no longer 'Gravel in Spirit' (my words) anymore is a truth. The big bike companies are always going to do what they do and relate everything to performance (racing). Such a pity - they are closing the door on fun and practicality. That there is an emerging ATB niche where there is still some fun left is also a truth, but don't expect the big players to go there....not that I think you do. The growing cost of entering the cycling market is the biggest concern. Though I do have some hope that the emergence of some of the Chinese component brands will make accessibility a little easier in the future. Have a navigate through the components offered by Sensah and once you take the time to figure out what they're trying to talk about (not very easy), they have mechanical parts that can resurrect ancient shifting from 8 speed on up. Of course, if friction's your bag....makes no difference. Anyway, what could be more fun than that?
ATB. Like what we used to do in the early 90’s. Just riding whatever bike you have wherever you want to ride it. Exploring old roads in the woods and following trails wherever they may go. Before purpose-built trails and before every segment of cycling had a name and a specific bike to go along with it. I welcome the return of the ATB with open arms.
I feel like the ATB segment is almost like a ghost segment that drifts in and out of fashion. First it came as early mountain bikes, then when they got more specific it became something between old mtbs and hybrids with a smattering of CX/gravel conversions. Then it got classified into a "gravel" segment, and now we're seeing anti-performance oriented ATBs become a thing. I agree though, it really is more of a philosophy rather than a specific bike segment. Any bike will do! (see r/xbiking !)
Used to rip around the horse trails on my 3sp Schwinn back in the early 90s
@Swamp Rat right. The majority aren't in for racing so extremely specilized equipment doesn't cut it. Most people want a bike that will get things done at a decent speed and don't care if they lose 0.1km/h due to the "wrong" set of tires. No dampers makes a bike lighter but certainly less comfortable when you are using it for fun.
@@swamprat5654 Weird is cool. Companies are getting it too, no worries.
@@OriginalGabriel I used to rip around old coal mining roads on my single-speed Schwinn back in the 1960s. I win!😁
Whatever direction the industry goes I know where I can find my people. Thanks for cultivating a great space for bikey fun. Cheers!
I agree. I started gravel biking to get off pavement and away from cars. At that time there were gravel rides. Now those rides have turned into races.☹. Never had any interest in racing.
So I will continue to puddle along with friends.
I also interested in lower maintenance biking, looking towards pinion gears and carbon belt drive. Heavier, I know. But then again I am in no hurry.
My current daily commuter bike is gates belt with shimano alfine 8 speed hub. Bought it used just over 2 months ago. Yes I'm looking forward to the lack of chain and mech maintenance. I would recommend it. Still have chained bikes a gravel and 3 MTBs
Do it! I'm on my 3rd year commuting on a Gates/Shimano Nexus 8 equipped bike, and with the typical mileage I do the original belt is still good for at least another 5 years. It has made me ENJOY riding in the rain and mud knowing that there is no chain to clean and lube afterwards. I'd love to get a Pinion equipped gravel bike and be done with chains completely, but the price of admission is pretty steep.
Yeah, I think I may be done with chains and derailleurs. I've turned into a Priority Bikes shill after I bought their 600 commuter 2.5 years ago and just recently got their Apollo drop bar bike. I've cleaned my 600 maybe 3 times over the past 2 years even with it being my daily commuter. There's some rusted bolts I'm probably eventually going to have to deal with, but that's way better than having to constantly clean and replace chains that get mauled by rain, snow, and ice melt. The Pinion gearbox just works all the time - barely any maintenance needed aside from an oil change once in a great while - and the belt drive is silent and absolutely maintenance free.
The Apollo bike I'm still getting used to. The Alfine hub definitely can't be a year round option for me since the cold of the Midwest, -10 degrees F a couple weeks ago, makes the hub sluggish to shift. I'm also not a huge fan of the drop bar shifter with the cable sticking out of the side as it interferes with my handlebar bag. Still figuring that one out.
But I can't recommend the Priority 600 enough for someone who wants a daily commuter that is extremely low maintenance. The price is a little steep at $2500, but I figure it pays for itself over time by not needing as much maintenance or parts.
I hear you, though I don't see why the prevalence of gravel racing means anyone should stop gravel fun riding. I've never entered a race but all my bikes are fun.
Me too! Not a racer. In for complete not compete! I am still patiently waiting for shipment of my VSF FAHRADMANUFAKTUR S-300 LOW STEP NEXUS 8 GATES BELT DRIVE bike. In the meanwhile, I'm happily riding a 'gravel' bike which is really my Kona Sutra Touring Bike with René Herse Snoqualmie Pass tires 44mm. I think the 'Bike Industry ' will be caught napping again, trying to force us to do riding we don't want to and they will realize too late that fewer and fewer people want to race. The iceberg's right ahead but no one's watching! Us unracers will take care of each other.
I hate it so much but I agree with you about gravel cycling. I don't know if it's "dead" per se, but the shift towards racing has made it more exclusive, more bro-y, and so much less oriented toward community building.
What the hell are you talking about? You can still do it just because it's a racing category now. You just want to be a hipster.
Already happened to mount biking.
I never can understand bike prices. I paid a shade under $6,000 for my Royal Enfield 350 motorcycle. I bought it brand new. That amount of money will only get me a middle of the road Specialized and Trek. Seems like a lot more moving parts and tech in my motorcycle.
How much carbon fiber, cold forged aluminum, and precision CNC stuff is on your motorcycle? The bike industry has convinced us that we need the same bikes the pros ride. A professional motorcycle racer rides a 50-$100,000 machine. Food for thought.😊
@@danwebber9494 there are defiantly more cnc parts and higher tolerances on a motorcycle, even on a basic machine like a royal enfeild. pistons rings exist, cnc aint special its how things are made these days, folks aint hand cutting your threads, they throw fancy terms on bike advertising to make it seem like something magic is happening in the engineering and manufacturing, it aint. there is just no magic in bearings and tubes. the issue isnt even just with bike brands, its mostly with uninformed consumers duping themselves into "incremental gains" and paying for them and never even testing to see if it made a difference, a good lie needs the listener to do the writing of it.
Put in a slightly different way than dan, it seems that it is relatively easy to engineer something durable and reliable if you can make it heavy. It is significantly more difficult and costly to engineer something light, durable and reliable. Perhaps it's the other way around. It's amazing what materials science has given us the ability to buy if we want to. Otherwise there's nothing stopping anyone from buying a bike from Walmart.
On a side note, $6000 was the msrp of the CBR600F2 I bought new in 1993.
@@jprelock i think your right more folks should shop at walmart for bikes, for less than a thousand dollars the Decathlon Triban rc120 can be had using the same aluminum bikes costing double or even tripple use, it has integrated shifter/brake levers, disc brakes, its frame is only half a pound heavier than the average carbon bike frame, if folks want to believe that a bike that js five pounds lighter will make the difference in them riding faster or more they should go for it, but there is a good chance they'll still be dropped, cause flipping the stem on the walmart bike will achieve better time savings than that five pounds.
There is no trend that has convinced me to abandon my 80s road bike, 90s mountain bike or my single speed bike. However after watching your videos this year I have decided to change my drop bars to alternate bars for a more upright position, I'm old. But when I look at alt bars I just see the same bars we using on bikes in the 60s. Looking forward to more great videos from you in 2023.
Howdy, I'm 69, and use the Jones H-Bar on my hardtail mtn bike. Super comfy, saved my neck and hands.
The Bontrager Privateer will be re-issued specced with v-brakes, 26" wheels and 3 X 7 drivetrains and become the best selling bike of 2023!
I'm wishing I could find another Bontrager Race or Racelight. I had a custom Race frame a few years ago. I had it made with a longer top tube extra bottle cage mounts and a few other frame braze ons for ultra long back country rides.
I met and talked with Keith about engineering many years ago. My project manager at NASA knew him from engineering school at San Jose state. Keith is a very sharp engineer. He was sort of THE mad scientist back in the day. Also a very humble and nice guy. Everybody at school seemed to dislike Mr Bontrager because he drove up the grading curve!
My friend and manager was a thermodynamics engineer, essentially a 'rocket scientist'. I was his contractor machinist. This gentleman was an 'out of the box' thinker and spoke many languages. Due to a very small budget we built and flew NASA's most cost effective sounding rocket experiment in NASA history. It involved advanced Mars reentry research. It seemed ironic that this man had a lot of respect for Keith.
Keith made some great innovations to MTBs and bike manufacturing in general. These bikes could survive a whole lot of serious abuse. Lots of really hardcore riders rode these in the Santa Cruz mtns near here. I don't think I ever saw one of his welds break and I have other friends who are long time frame builders.
Lots of bike companies tried to copy his engineered gussets (which were simple, common sense) and failed miserably. Because bike designers generally aren't engineers in this marketing BS industry.
Keith helped design early Rockshox fork crowns and common suspension fork design. His 'composite rigid fork was the first triple clamp bike fork! Then Tange copied it. He also helped design the first Kestrel carbon fully. He was at the cutting edge of bike technology.
I did many huge epic rides in big mountains on my beloved Bonty. My longest mtb ride of all time. 75 miles, about 12 hours ride time and over 12000 feet of climbing.
I traded the bike to my neighbor for engine work on my Subaru. I can still ride it if I want.
I want another of these old frames to build a drop bar Dinglespeed/fixed gear conversion. These frames may be perhaps some of the best handling bikes ever made. I may trade my neighbor a newer full suspension bike to get mine back! It was that special of a bike. I just stopped riding it awhile because I've got too many bikes and my old school racer boy position hurt me.
I would buy one!
Lol I actually have that bike. I'll be the coolest kid in the block.
I was hoping Trek would bring back the Y....
That's pretty funny. My friend had one we made fun of often. I rode it a few times. Early suspension bikes were often a bad experiment, tested on consumers and pushed by marketing BS. Much like new bikes today........
Y bikes bounced around lots in the saddle. On a descent where you actually NEEDED suspension, once you got out of the the saddle to sit to try and get more weight on the rear tire, the suspension stiffened way up.
I really hope youre making a joke. Trek's A-hole bikes (A is for aero) is the best they can do..... I'd only ride one if I was sponsored or paid for my time. If I got one free, I'd sell it to one of those 'suckers born every freakin minute'.
Unfortunately Russ I think you are spot on. I'm just a party pace guy living in a consumerist racing world 🌎
Yep, Americans like to go nowhere fast. Party Pacers go somewhere interesting, and enjoy the ride.
To add on to what you said about the divide between expensive and cheap bikes, I think the used bike and build a bike markets are gonna be huge. Rising cost of bikes, rising cost of everything, and the industry moving towards electronic components is really going to push non enthusiasts to learn more about maintanence.
It would help if enthusiast stopped asking "dumb" questions
Why would they make this bike thru axle and not qr, etc
Unless a rider needs the assistance to overcome a physical challenge, I think electronic groups are basically the same as ride-on shopping carts at the grocery store, a luxury that eliminates a bit of physical effort for most users of them.
@@robbchastain3036, Are you referring to Pedal assist? I've thought of them as more of a car alternative.
@@mikefox-cf1jl O no, just goofing on the cost and extravagance of electronic gizmos for shifting. And I feel that way about them for pros, too, part of the art of it all is manually selecting gears and living with a selection up a steep section or a sprint or whatever. And I am all for ebikes and especially conversion kits for affordable entry and one of my 26" commuters has a Green Zone Bikes kit and its cost and simplicity and dependability are all so far so very good, plus I stash the battery in a rear pannier so aside from the front-hub and a thumb throttle and a couple of wires, my modified mountain bike looks like a regular commuter. And I truly appreciate the safety afforded by the power, lots of intersections and stretches are best navigated with the extra speed.
@@robbchastain3036 The only real reason for electronic shifting is at the highest ends of racing, like getting the fastest possible shifts on a road bike, or continuous shifting for MTB. It doesn't make sense for any typical lycra guy to use it, and all of the cat 4-5 racers I know still use 105/ultegra mechanical. its for people cosplaying the pros.
Microshift! I was complaining about all the electronics on cars these days and now it has infected bicycles too!
Revolt! Build a reliable singlespeed out of free old junk. I've been doing this since I was a broke teenager.
The build part is easy and these bikes are quite capable if one can put their mind to the task at hand. The limit is in the human mind.
DI2, e-bikes, plastic bike junk, aero BS and INFERNAL routing is for those suckers born every minute. Thats ALL mere job security for somebody!
thank you for always covering the bike industry in the way that you you do
I am excited to see where the year goes! This time last year I was just starting to ride my 15 year old MTB again (after several years). In the spring I bought a HT MTB and in October bought a gravel bike. Still can't believe how much I love riding gravel (and roads/paths), and despite a rather cool Colorado winter so far, averaging 90 miles a week still. I really appreciate this channel, as you always remind me to focus on what's fun. Thanks Russ!
As always you articulate what is bouncing around in my head so well. One trend that I see growing here in Europe is competitive bike packing (Act 5, Transcontinental, ...). Ultra light minimal bike packing because as you know at the end of the day you must have 100+km and upload your ride to Strava and impress people with your speed!!! Another trend that will come into play even more is putting an "E" on bike parts and accessories to further confuse and trick eBike people that they must have "Tyres with 'E' on it." "You need to get the E-pedals for your bike" "E-Shifters".
I've always ridden a bicycle among other self propelled means of transportation in order to get to work and between towns where I live. At some point I wanted to travel, needed to travel. After considering the ways, the packed bicycle was the one that would get me farther on less money and most in touch with the places. Point is, all the trends were not the motivation. The desire to go places and the enjoyment I found in the experiences were the reward. Where we may diverge is that I am a solitary rider and when people start filling up places the trends lead them to, where I have found solace, I will be gone onto my next places without having left a trace.
Also a solo rider, the "gravel/ATB" bikes resonate with my youth of riding my steel framed 10 speed everywhere. There was something about that old technology that made riding on gravel, old dirt roads, single track, corn fields, pastures, etc. very comfortable. Modern road bikes are just too stiff and tires too thin to survive any off pavement riding for the bike and rider. Mountain bikes are a pain for long distances on mixed terrain even if you can lock out the suspension.
My preference for solo riding likely developed from car camping until the parks got too busy, then to canoe camping until so many areas became overrun with boats then to back country hiking. After all of the children moved on my parents went back to car camping in National Forests or tribal lands finding reasonable places to pitch a tent. From Scouts we also learned to leave our campsites cleaner than when we arrived. Another plus of solo riding is being able to stop to enjoy the scenery without pressure from others to keep riding.
Thanks Russ! Love your channel. Cave of Bad ideas got me into building an all road bike from scratch and now commuting, roading and dirting are much more enjoyable! Put 4,500 miles on my bike and less than 1,000 on my car. Bags and racks look cool now thanks to you moving Fight Club out of the basement. Happy New Year and will continue looking forward to your vids in 2023.
I think you were right with "tired and true" regarding cycling marketing. When a trend (like gravel) gains momentum the major cycling brands move in, and specialization, complexity, and higher prices follow. I like Grant Petersen's take on this: "The best bikes aren't at the extreme ends of the functionality spectrum, so specialized that they're a bike-length away from dysfunctionality. The best ones are boring jacks-of-many-trades, and you stretch them to their limits with skill and experience." Looking forward to more PLP in 2023!
I think you're on to something. Underbiking ROCKS!
Its the rider, not the freakin bike!
I'm 61 years young. I own a bunch of bikes but usually just ride my fixed gear 'cross bike or a singlespeed. Fixed offroad is more fun than should be legal! Singlespeeds ALL make me feel like a kid exploring new freedoms again!
Yep...my in-town commuter is also my rural adventure bike.
Interesting take Russ and my best to you and Laura for an amazing 2023.
Back in the early 80's, there was some people calling mountain bikes, all terrain bikes.
I'm sure there is an old Bicycling magazine with that discussion as to what to call them.
I remember that.
Just ride! I so appreciate your unique voice on the cycling community and industry. Happy new year 🥳!
You da man! Thanks for going out on a limb here - and kudos for your dry sense of humour. Five stars for sure.
Solid predictions. Gravel bikes are still awesomely versatile and efficient machines but gravel events attract cross and xc athletes so they are more intense than originally touted. Light-ish, up-to-date full rigid mtbs are fun if the tires aren’t too heavy. The town bike that can do both overnights and long rides is the holy grail. More bike clubs built around short social rides and overnights would be great.
Happy New Year! Looking forward to another year of interesting videos!
Happy New Year Russ and Laura! Keep the supple side down. I will keep enjoying my bar end shifting and will look forward to 2023 riding what I already own.
Wishing a HNY to everyone. Rid'em if ya got'em. I also plan to ride what I already have. I discovered there is another version of the # of bikes formula. N+1+P. My N currently = 7 and P (Project) = a 90s Gary Fisher Hard tail, might be a little tricky it has a 1 1/4 threaded fork
If I get anymore bikes my garage might burst. I almost always find excellent old used bikes. Often I get them for free!
With recession on its way and a glut of new overpriced bikes in the retail market, there will be plenty of barely used bikes for sale. Plenty of folks bought bikes when they were stuck at home itching to get out. Now lots are going back to work. Consumers are often fickle. Gotta cash in in that.
I might be leaning with Peak Torque towards a basic Ti hardtail 29er as the new all do-it-all bike.
Russ: Happy New Years to you and Laura. Thanks for your predictions. Ride on!
Very well said Russ. I see the form factor of the daily driver e-bike continuing to evolve. Moving away from mad max tank to something more elegant and integrated. I also think we’ll see movement in automatic and or internal transmissions. The extra weight offset by elegant integrated e-assist. My guess! 😊
IMHO we're moving into one of the most interesting times in bicycling. Think about all the different styles of bikes there are now, the increased desire (and need) to ride them, and the incredible access to custom builders from around the globe. Whatever flavor of two-wheeled fun you desire, there is someone out there making it. New materials, new manufacturing techniques, new engineering and tech, and new concepts for what a bicycle can be, and what it can do...I think it's all pretty cool. I wish I had more space, because the little kid inside of me keeps seeing new bikes I wish I had.
Amazing take on the industry. Thanks for being the "voice of reason" and for fostering a community. There is always a positive takeaway and maybe the smaller communities will end up pushing the developments we all seek. Boutique industries are always better at meeting the actual needs of their customers while the major conglomerates are good at flooding the markets.
Happy New Year, Russ - and thanks for being the leading voice in all things "practical cycling".
I really hope to see cargo bikes continue their momentum and am also hoping to see the world of electric touring/packing grow and evolve as off-pavement capable e-bikes like the Surly Skid Loader come to market.
All the best to you in 2023.
Absolutely brilliant cut at 2.12, made my day!!
re: cargo bikes, I'm hoping to upgrade from my cheap but decent hybrid bike from REI to a cargo bike this year, specifically the Omnium Mini, and have it be my one and only do-it-all bike. I think those short-john / cycle truck style bikes are the way to go for most people. They're super practical for running errands and getting groceries, but still fit in normal bike racks. I think they would make a great platform for bikepacking (cargopacking?) too. No need for bikepacking-specific gear or bags, just throw everything in a duffel, put it on the bike, and off you go! Plus they just look cool which is always a bonus.
I think with gas prices, climate change concerns, increased interest in urbanist design / people-first infrastructure, people are looking for ways to reduce how much they drive anyway - cargo bikes seem ready to really explode in popularity.
Thanks for mentioning us! Hope you are able to test our bike some day.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I chose to get a Marin DSX 2 recently; and part of that was watching your reviews of some of their other bikes. Not only is the price quite reasonable for the specs, but the ethos of the company is something worth supporting. It's a great bike for the everyman.
Agreed. I had underestimated the force of the move to electronic shifting. It makes the Riv derailleur make even more sense. The bro’ification of adventure cycling continues apace
I hadn't heard the term "bro-ification" before so I googled for it and even read an article titled "Stop complaining about bro-ification already." I still don't know what the terms "bro" and "bro-ification" mean.
Do I win an award for being out of touch?
@@johngorentz6409 same here!
Thank you for introducing me to the term bro-ification.
Happy New Year! Great stuff Russ, I love the way you think. Gravel bikes really have become just road bikes with a little bigger tires. This crazy escalation in pricing has been going on for 10 years. Lots of people bought something expensive years ago and they still ride them , not wanting to buy another expensive bike. I have been looking at the alt bike sector for a couple years hoping one would convince me to spend the cash. Maybe 2023 is the year! thanks for sharing your thoughts, experiments and rides. Great channel Russ and Laura
Hopefully we'll see those hinged bar ends we're all looking for!
I think you're right on all accounts. I plan to buy an ATB this year for touring. I'm surrounded by gravel and typically hauling a kid on a WeeHoo trailer that's soon to be replaced with a trail-a-bike. My daily commuter is a Radwagon 4 electric cargo bike. I wish I would have bought a bike like that years ago!
I've been riding road bikes on gravel, and off road bikes on road... it rides, it's a bike... it gets me where I'm going... ride what you have
Still love my carbon hard tail with cable shifter and hydro brakes. Will ride for another 10 years. Buying group set and other parts to keep it on the road. Like the old gear but extra for the frame u love
Voting for more cargobikes to be sold. Working in the industry and we already saw a steady invrease through 2022 on their sales. More and more people are replacing cars with them.
Yeah...my "gravel" bike is a Nukeproof Digger with a dropper post and 47mm tires. It does everything. Roads, gravel, single-track, and none of it is raced or timed...it's just fun. There no question in my mind that the drop bars are better than flats though. The hoods are so comfy.
The mark of a good ATB or all purpose bike will be the tire clearance for swapping out wheel sets and quick conversion to single speed.
Will be hard for bike stores to sell new bikes when Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji and other sites are getting flooded with barely used bikes and trainers.
Bike brands can spend all their marketing budget on their highest price Dura-Ace options for dentists and other rich people, but if there are similar budget versions, like a Tiagra version of the bike, people who need a lower price can buy that
I predict more bike stickers! Imma need a Friction is Funner sticker.
Been cycling for sixty years now. Been a racer, a commuter and a tourist. My favourite bike is a 1986 Miyata 1000. I don't race any more, and I do have a "race" bike. In the end, I like the turn of the last century technology of a 80's bike because its robust, I can repair it anywhere.
I think you are spot on with the changes in the gravel world. As for e-bikes, I think that ebikes will do for recreational cycling what the ski lift did for the ski industry. It will raise cycling, in North America, from a niche activity to mainstream.
Refreshing as always. I especially agree about the escalating cost of cycling. I will always lust over Pinarellos, Ferraris & Ducatis but I am much better suited to more practical, mundane means of transport & fun. No shame in saying that. Because of these escalating costs, gaps are opening up in the cycling market which I hope that enterprising manufacturers will see as opportunities. More fun & adventures in 2023 is my personal wish. One of my New Year's resolutions is to stop looking at my Strava segment times. As I inevitably get older & slower they are becoming depressing!
Good insight as always.
I recently bought a used 26' mountain bike with cantis and flat bars and bar ends and 3x6 GripShift, major sweetness. Plus the frame is smallish, so it feels like a BMXy mountain bike, lots of fun for errands. So that's my trend, wrong-size thrift-store bikes. But that's always been a beautiful thing for some of us. And one media observation, a sad one, is that this was the last year for VeloNews magazine, then Peloton magazine and now, with my Outside-Plus membership, I get Outside magazine as the replacement print offering. And I have the Bicycling-Plus membership and I still get Bicycling magazine but what is it now, a quarterly or something, no longer anything close to a monthly. So, for sure, Russ, challenging times for traditional cycling media and I'm still one who enjoys an hour here and there with a cycling magazine and a cup of coffee. And a funny aside: Awhile back at a neaby laundromat, I went over to their stack of magazines to find something to read as I waited. And lo and behold, someone had put several minty issues of Bicycling magazine from over a decade ago into the stack. 😀
Bicycling magazine has always been marketing BS, but even they will tell you to get on the right size bike with a good practical fit. Ignore the silly roadie fit rules. The more comfortable you are, the longer you can spend rolling around. I dig really long rides so this is just my POV.
Of course if you're happy on what you've got, so be it! Just the fact that you don't feel the 'need' to upgrade is pretty darned promising! 😁 Happy New Year!
@@rollinrat4850 I actually enjoy the ads and marketing and hype, whether in print or on video or at events and such, tho' the 'buy this 15-grand bike to finally ride like a pro' pitch is a little rich. And I'm all for genuine upper-crust high-performance anything, bespoke or mass market, just that the jive needs to be dialed down. And yeah, with my thrifty find, I'm thinking the smallish frame may be perfectly accented with a banana seat and BMX bars and some plated components to accessorize and customize. And I'm lovin' 3x6 GripShift and the chrome-plated frame and everything. Just a little work and I'll be ridin" low and slow. 😀
@@robbchastain3036 I'm restoring an Albert Eisentraut custom steel frame from the late '70s. One of my customers gave me his barely used old race wheels. The rear has a very early Dura Ace 6 speed cassette hub. I didn't even know these existed. Its still smooth as silk. It uses 'Uniglide' cogs that can be flipped over for twice the wear. No ramps or pins. With friction shifters it shift plenty fast enough for me. A few of my bikes use 10 speed set ups. That's more than enough for me!
@@rollinrat4850 That sounds cool, have fun with it, RollinRat, and I was thinking, re cycling magazines, that I pretty much consider my monthly support of a handful of cycling channels, including Russ', to be like a magazine subscription and this channel is like a video version of Bicycle Times, another favorite magazine until it ended its print run.
@@robbchastain3036 I used to enjoy Bike magazine. An MTB publication. Then they got too political. I dug Dirtrag back in the day as well.
Bicycle Quarterly is the only 'magazine' I take seriously any longer. It's an expensive subscription. Each issue is more like a soft cover coffee table book. Obviously 4 issues a year. It's very well written and the quality is amazing. Jan Heine is the main man. It's rando-centric and sort of a part of Rene Herse cycles.
Would like to see bike demo days in Australia, since Covid there have been virtually none, would be great to compare a gravel bike, hard tail & full sus MTB, still using my 1998 Apollo '90s MTB' for off roading.
E-bikes will be there area I think a lot of brands will focus on to appeal to the Everyperson. That way they don’t even have to convince you to get as fit to use the bike. I also think gravel will split into race gravel and fun gravel and we will just have to hope people buy the right bike when they decide they want to cycle.
Underground racing rocks! Start your own race with friends. DIY.
Organized racing and all pro sports are greedy and corrupt. There's just too much money involved. This much is pretty clear. The lancehole easily bought off the freakin UCI. I say screw em! Don't support such entities with your hard earned money. That's consumer's only power. Deprive crooks of money. When you give it to them, you have no recourse. Not a leg to stand on.
The same goes for the overpriced, non quality bike industry.
To the OP:
E-bikes? The larger bike industry is pricing out common consumers and offer little in return. Cheap 'affordable' e bikes are a joke in regards to quality and safety. Good quality motorbikes (compared to enthusiast level e-bikes) are cheaper, much better quality and far more reliable. E bikes are job security for mechanics like me. They eat drivetrains and brake components. They are more complex and expensive to service.
This industry often makes me ashamed, yet it provides job security!
Nice industry review. thank you.
I think you're correct about the alt brands moving in. I personally love Microshift. If they stopped making everything except R10 I could cycle on happily till the day I drop. I'm pretty cold on electronic drivetrains. I probably would never ride an electronic bike out of Uber range. Not a fan of extra cost and complexity.
I am still building and riding 20 year old high end cast offs from Craig's and yards sales with occasional "used" drivetrain components from Amazon warehouse. At 62 I'm not trying to impress anyone but still manage to regularly with my retro builds. Electric shifters and hydraulic disc brakes? My concession to progress is a RockShox Duke C on my latest build.
Long Live The Front Derailleur!! Time for a nap...
I have the last fully mechanical Ultegra groupset on my road bike and I love it. I don't really want to go electronic. I would like to see a fully mechanical sub-compact with hydros.
Still using 9 and 10 speed drivetrains. Never saw the need for 11 or 12. I matched a Shimano XT 9 speed rear derraileur to my Shimano 105 10 speed shifters. Using a 11-42 cassette and 50/34 cranks which I can change to smaller rings if I wanted. This is like having a Shimano GRX setup without having to buy a new groupset which can break the bank. If I did need a new drivetrain I would seriously look into chinese alternatives based on some of the reviews I see and some products that I've purchase.
As an electronics engineer, the only thing electronic in my bike are the lights 😋
I remember when I bought my Gary Fisher Aquila in '93(and it is still my daily ride), I went in and asked for the "ATBs from the 2020's" section. When he looked at me funny, I said "Oh, the mountain bikes."
Great review, I enjoy your discussions on a regular basis. I don't see the murder of Mo Wilson as a scandal for the upstart gravel segment of the sport, but a terrible tragedy that occurred within it. I can't imagine it having a long term negative impact on the gravel side of things, certainly hope it doesn't, wouldn't be fair to anyone.
I am currently building a custom steel Manzanita Cycles 120mm alt-bar hardtail with fast, light 2.2" XC race tires on carbon hoops with an Onyx hub, X01 12-speed, XT brakes, PNW suspension dropper and 30-tooth oval ring. I feel that's the ultimate do-it-all bike at only 25½ pounds. Rack and bottle mounts for bikepacking. I hated riding my Cannondale Topstone Carbon Ultegra-RX gravel bike and sold it. The hardtail is SOOOOOO much more comfortable and fun to ride! Hope everybody stays healthy and safe out there!!!
Yes Cargo Bikes! i guess this will be the next / last N+1 Bike for me this year, if I have enough space to store it inside
Pulley or disc jockey wheels will be equipped with Berd spokes
My local bike shop sells almost only electric assisted bikes. Maybe due to government grants here in montpellier, france. As for me, I sold all my bikes and ordered a Brompton. Trek gravel AL4 was fun but a couple of attempted thefts left me feeling quite nervous.
Thanks for the thoughts and a shout out to microShift. I’ve been using the AdventX 1x10 on 3 of my bikes (1 in the US, 1 in France and 1 in the Isle of Man). Combined with alt bars like the Surly corner bar I can use the cheaper mtb shifters. The newer drop bar adventX brake shifter only does cable brakes so I guess I’m going to have to get some Growtec disc callipers if I want drop bars. My frames are up cycled hybrid frames from Trek and Kona which I picked up cheap on marketplace and built my own bikes as these frames will take wider 700c tyres. I think the most important part of the bike is the wheels. I run DT Swiss, yes they re pricey but bullet proof hubs and rims are essential when travelling off road on gravel. Loved your review of handlebar bags.
I'm a school teacher. I'm afraid e-cycles & e-scooters will see the decline of traditional bikes. Kids just aren't interested unless it is powered.
A path less pedaled Ginkgo bike review? Delicious!
My approach to gravel riding is that it's just car free mountain biking. The 10k ride to my local mountain bike trails is more fun on a drop bar bike than a mountain bike, so that's what I usually ride. ATB, or "general purpose bike" would be better terms for what I'm riding than gravel bike. What I've liked about the gravel bike trend is that it's kind of normalized the idea that drop bar bikes can be ridden on single track. Mountain bikers seem to be generally ok with this.
Well maybe your right . I am breaking out the old Eastern Sierra Best 100 rides which are mostly fire roads. Although I am going full hipster with my ebike for time sake.
Hi Ross, I am not sure what is the market situation of Cargo bikes in the US, but in Europe, we have seen a massive evolution in the last 5 years. The Bakfiets and Bullit are really old design now and a lot of smaller, more city adapted and everyday use brand are available with lots of e-motor, such as muli-cycle
I am so happy I never got rid of my 26 inch MTB. There is so much cool stuff our there, but at the end of the day we are all just doing the same thing. We cycle and have fun.
Same - 1998 Rockhopper.
I’m going full bore bike packing as long as I can turn a pedal. A lot of out there riding to be done.
I hope the smaller brands really shine this year too. I love my Advent X drivetrain on my grappler, and the upgraded Microshift bar end shifters on my Fargo have been amazing. That's right, I said I upgraded to bar end shifters! Confuses the heck out of everyone lusting after Di2. I hope ATB interest grows along with more people loving the partypace.
Out of curiousity what year is your Fargo? Do you have any issues catching your knees on the bar end if standing? I bought a MS bar end for my 2021 Fargo in case the Apex shifter dies. Without playing with it yet, am just curious if it even has to be in the back of the mind. Would be nice to hear it ends up completely out of the way. I'm weird and really looking forward to converting to friction. May have used it as a kid but honestly can't remember. Plan on gevenalle shifters if I get another bike. Going to keep using what's working until it stops though.
@@briand8862 I have the 2019 Fargo and it came with a 44cm woodchipper bar. While I was redoing a bunch of stuff on Fargo, I changed the drop bar to a Redshift kitchen sink 47cm. The drops are a lot more usable and more out of the way of my knees. So far my knees have not hit the bar end shifters while riding.
@@juliapoelstra3624 Thank you for the insight! Have a blessed year!
Haha, I'm still using decades old Sun Tour and Dura Ace bar ends. The Dura Ace units were 9 speed, the clicks wore out years ago, but friction mode still works great! They ALL still run through my gears perfectly after years of 'cross racing, power washing, crashing and being thrown down in the dirt. Now try that with brifters and see how long they last!
Besides lasting nearly forever, the coolest thing about friction shifting is that you can mix a wide variety of commonly available parts and different speed parts together. Proprietary is no longer nearly as big an issue.
The other cool thing is reliability in a rough and tumble environment. When you bend your derailleur hanger or even damage the derailleur, it will still change gears since there's no indexing to worry about.
A friend of mine has a titanium omnium cargo and he rode with me on a 10 days bikepacking epic around the alps with his dog while I was on my hardtail. The thing is realy great.
For the gravel development I'm quite ok with it, my gravel bike is a "gravel race" carbon bike that double as a road bike with its second wheelset and I love it. Not great for the party pace people tho.
Funny U show address that, I was just mulling over inevitable Groad racing doping reveals last night.
I have electronic Di2 shifting so I felt the need to make this comment. It has been mentioned, what will people do when we are locked out of our smartphones for whatever reason, we haven't paid the bill, or it got stollen, or broken, or even if the government decides to block choice apps from working anymore. You need the Shimano app to tune or tweak the Di2 functionality. I don't know about SRAM. But during the times when things are down we look to the bicycle as an escape or to cope just like during the pandemic. If these shifting systems get even more "Smarter" and dependent on the device it's connected to to operate and that system fails you no long have the ability to ride your bike. Not to mention the other elephant in the room, Government tracking". Who is gathering and using this information they collect just from you going for a ride on your bike? I never considered these things when I bought an electronic groupset but I can promise you it is the last one I will buy. It's back to mechanical in my future.
Roadification happened in DH and other mtb disciplines as well
My ATB; all-around terrific bike, is my Ritchey Outback Breakaway! Recently rode up the Alto de Letras. Could not do this with any other bike!
Great video and interesting as always. We would hope that, as a small bike business, in 2023 the bike industry settles down into a more sustainable way of working. But whatever happens LONG LIVE the ATB 🎉
Omg fancy seeing you here Sarah, happy new year to you and Paul and yes, here's to a sustainable cycling industry!
@@danieliroh 🙌👍
Just got my first disc brake bike Raleigh rx 2.0 from a friend that wanted get it out of their storage. Previous bikes were canti/v brake CX bikes. No more rim brake wheels except the tubular set left. Long time CXer and been doing mixed surface rides for years before it became gravel and took off. New bike came with rival 1 mech disc. Question on mech disc. New bike Has Trp sypre post mount 160mm brakes. How do those compare to the mech disc mentioned in other RUclips videos you have made. Front is 15mm thru axle while rear is 12mm thru axle. Are still wheelsets like that around so not using the heavy wheels when needing lighter wheels. Agree with the new China components makers/ longtime budget friendly makers will start taking off in the low-mid range price points. High end wheel companies will have to lower prices to stay competitive in the market. Losing the mid price point bikes will lose customers unless frame companies go with quality but cheaper cost parts. Then most to all bike going back to threaded bb( English or t47). Separation of frames between high end with wireless/electronic and cheaper frames with cables routing.
Fantastic predictions. We would like to know your views on the upcoming 105, 12s fully mechanical groupset.
Don’t hold your breath.
My prediction is that belt drives will become more popular.
Just picked up a used late 1980s Dawes Super Galaxy touring bicycle for £150, it is Reynolds 531 double butted tubing, Deore XT, it had bar end shifters which were great but I fitted Sora brake shifters, it has an Aheadset converter so it is using 31.8mm clamp size bars, the Canti brakes are swapped out for V brakes with top bar mounted cyclo cross style repeater levers, I am really struggling to think how this bike could be meaningfully improoved on with the exception of disc brakes, it even came with Blackburn front and rear carriers on the frame mounts and big Esege chromplastic mudguards, perhaps thats the problem for manufacturers, its pretty hard to improve on the technology that we had 30 years ago, they have to convince us to bin it and buy something else, hence 1x etc
Electronic disc brakes! Calipers connected via bluetooth with the levers. The question of compatibility with the existing axs and di2 systems is another topic but at the very least there would be no cables and brake bleeding involved, maybe an occasional lubrication of some sort and a few more batteries involved ...
Electronic disc brakes sound terrible.
@@PathLessPedaledTV why do you hide my comments?
Happy New Year to both of you!! Still pro looking cyclist here in England!! On their £14,000.00 road bikes !
I agree keep it simple.
I agree 100% with everything you said. I I’m a new old stock kinda guy but I have however really come to love the Shimano sora r3000 and I know I’d love the Claris 8 speed groupset as well.
eBay is always finicky with finding things so it’s unreliable, but I’ll for sure still advocate for the 8 and 9 speed MECHANICAL Shimano groupset because any more than 9 speeds I’m double shifting more often than not.
1983 Miyata Six Ten is pretty close to holy grail of bikes
Hello Russ. Here in germany the focus as far as i can see (at Rosebikes for example) is still on gravelbikes in 2023. Performance orientated. Gravelevents, thats strange here, maybe everywhere now, because its so expensive to joyn them here. So its something for people who bring and have money and the people who create events see that they can earn a lot instead of creating a fun event for everyboby. All terrain bikes is what the germans will definitely need one or two years longer compared to find (again) if they ever will. I loved them in the 90s and still love them but the availability of parts for them is small here. So we ride here relaxed and when on the ATB never being part of a bike community 😂. Liebe Grüße 🙋🏼♀️
comonents were at its best 9-11s mechanical. it would be great to have flat-/dropbar and frame shifter options for all the same mechanic components. and please lets end thru-axle with weird hub sizes and cassettes.
Predicting the iBike or Testla bike!
I agree that the workhorse of the bike world, the cargo bike, may see its glory days come to fruition, but will that happen in 2023? Not sure. For me the drawback to my old and venerable Yuba Mundo was that its wheelbase was too long for public transit, namely the bus. I would like to see a slightly more compact version able to fit on the bus. I just saw a brand new electric Mundo with Magura hydraulic brakes.
I miss the times when it was possible to have one bike that could handle everything, mostly rim brakes and disc brakes, as well as any combination of components was possible too. I would like to ask, if you could get a custom bike, would you still put disc and v-brakes? Steel fork? Drop and flat bar capabilities ? Which gearing? 2x10 I feel is the best gearing option for me, even though I currently have all my bikes with 1X systems... What would you include in a custom do-it-all bike if you could?
Agree 100%. I'm watching the eBikes. It's Orville and Wilbur out there with so many start ups trying so many things. I think there are a few forks in the road. Is an ebike a version of a motorcycle with cafe racers and hopped up bikes, or more a bike with pedal assist? There is also a huge trend of making older boomers comfortable with the tech (moderate power, high bars, etc.). I expect this will turn into several crowds. I went with an ebike with less power and towards the light end. Sawed the bars narrower and put on a shorter stem. Thinking pedal assist with a rack to do gravel or get groceries. Gonna put on smaller tires for less weight and rolling resistance. As gasoline gets expensive, I expect ebikes and small motorcycles/scooters will become more accepted. Watch for a technology crossover. Fewer of us a doing the daily commute and we need practical vehicles that do shorter runs. The US will learn from Europe and Asia.
Always wanted to ha a bullitt cargo bike. There was one making cargo bikes here in the Philippines but I think they suddenly stopped production
More (affordable, available) internal shifting hubs and belt drive.
Hot take: electronic groupsets are actually cheaper to manufacture than mechanical groupsets. But they sell them for even more, increasing their profit margins. Personally, I'm really looking forward to Microshift, Sensah and all the other smaller manufacturers to start eating into the market of the bloated major ones. They could really do with being brought down a peg or two.
I like my mountain bike for wherever I choose to ride. I have some asphalt I need to cover before riding scenic trails that have hard packing under some loose materials. Making things complicated can take the wind out of my sails. I've been told to: "Keep it simple stupid"..
Great insights Russ! Technology (and drugs) seems to invade many sports to give the athletes (human or horse) the edge. Like others on this channel, I ride because it's fun and I use my bike for errands when I can. It's also my avenue to meet and hang out with some good friends on local trails and an annual out of town biking trip. We ride our now obsolete road bikes with those little caliper brakes on shared use paths and rail trails, and they work just fine. The bike industry keeps changing things up to keep people wanting and spending on the latest and greatest, like planned obsolescence of iphones. Never raced, never had the interest, never will.
I had an argument with a roadie on an insta post from Rivendell bikes about gearing manufacturers being obsessed with racing. He ended up saying that electric bikes eliminated the need for more realistic gear sets for average users whilst failing to acknowledge the high price of ebikes. I really hope Microshift can do a better job serving everyday users in the void the big three are leaving by going full electric shifting.
I love they way you dedicated a full 3 seconds to eBikes😅
Russ, I applaud you. I've been in marketing for many years and you seem to have identified the developing dimensions of the market pretty perfectly. That you've pointed out that Gravel is no longer 'Gravel in Spirit' (my words) anymore is a truth. The big bike companies are always going to do what they do and relate everything to performance (racing). Such a pity - they are closing the door on fun and practicality. That there is an emerging ATB niche where there is still some fun left is also a truth, but don't expect the big players to go there....not that I think you do. The growing cost of entering the cycling market is the biggest concern. Though I do have some hope that the emergence of some of the Chinese component brands will make accessibility a little easier in the future. Have a navigate through the components offered by Sensah and once you take the time to figure out what they're trying to talk about (not very easy), they have mechanical parts that can resurrect ancient shifting from 8 speed on up. Of course, if friction's your bag....makes no difference. Anyway, what could be more fun than that?