Firstly, to your comfort this bicycle weblog can be open on Monday, January twentieth, which is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
I imply positive, I gained’t be updating it that day or something, however you’re greater than welcome to come back in and make your self at dwelling.
Transferring on, after attempting skinnier tires, I’ve put the Garvel Kings again on the Roadini:
I do choose them, and I believe the rationale could also be that the bike sits larger with the fatter tires, which is by some means extra in proportion with the longer wheelbase and common roominess of the bike. With the 32s it sort of had a bit little bit of a “lowered CRV” factor occurring:
[From here.]
As for the Garvel Kings themselves (the precise mannequin is “Gravel King SK”), I famous some dialogue within the feedback yesterday about their propensity for flinging very small rocks resulting from their tiny, closely-spaced knobs:
Apparently individuals even name them “Gravel Flings.”
I had no thought this was even a factor earlier than I took supply of the Roaduno, although I did instantly discover it the primary time I took the bike onto a path. Nevertheless, I quickly modified the tires–not due to the flinging, however as a result of I used to be having hassle getting considered one of them to seat correctly (I may really feel a bit “hop” when driving), and I occurred to have a pair of Bruce Gordon tires within the ol’ tire piile that gave the impression to be a greater match. So once I was placing the Roadini collectively I figured I’d give the Garvel Filngs one other shot, and never solely did they roll easily and hop-free, however I additionally haven’t actually seen a lot if any flinging, although I think it is because the bottom has since frozen and there’s actually nothing to fling till it thaws:
As for flat-resistance, which I imagine another person additionally talked about, I don’t wish to tempt the Puncture Gods, however up to now so good–although the Homer initially got here with the slick model of the Garvel King, which rode very properly, however which I ultimately gave up on as a result of I used to be getting too many flats:
I’d suppose the knobby model could be not less than rather less flat-prone for the straightforward purpose that there’s extra rubber for small and pointy issues to burrow by way of earlier than they’ll liberate the air from the tire, however I suppose we’ll see.
By the way in which, I ought to notice that I’m utilizing primitive internal tubes. I wouldn’t essentially rule out going tubeless on the Roadini in some unspecified time in the future, however typically on a motorbike like this I don’t thoughts utilizing a heavier-duty tire with tubes over a lighter one arrange tubeless, since pinch flats aren’t actually a lot of a priority, and I’d relatively not take care of topping up the sealant and all that stuff. In fact the calculus is completely totally different on the Jones:
Whenever you’re driving 3-inch tires at low double-digit pressures over rocks and logs, tubeless is the one method to go.
However perhaps subsequent time I alter the tires on the Roadini I’ll attempt it with out tubes, who is aware of?
In different information, a reader informs me that the New York Occasions’s “Ethicist” has taken with reference to bicycling and site visitors lights:
Right here is the query:
And right here is the reply:
From the Ethicist:
These of us who stroll in New York Metropolis know the unwelcome expertise of getting bicyclists whizzing by way of pedestrian crossings when we now have the sunshine. Every year, the truth is, just a few hundred unfortunate pedestrians on the town can be injured from encounters with bicyclists, a handful fatally. With a pedestrian scramble — also referred to as a Barnes Dance, in honor of the site visitors engineer Henry Barnes — vehicular site visitors is paused in each instructions; pedestrians can cross the intersection diagonally if they need. In case you’ve forded Tokyo’s well-known Shibuya Crossing on foot, you’ll be struck (or, relatively, not struck) by the flexibility of a whole bunch, even 1000’s of pedestrians to swarm throughout the intersection with out bumping into each other, not to mention a automotive or bike.
I’ve little question that you just’d be a cautious crosser; your evenhanded abstract of the scenario suggests that you just’re capable of look in each instructions and dimension issues up. However one rationale for these scrambles is to reinforce pedestrian security by fully separating automobiles from pedestrians. Cyclists who play it by ear, or eye, are defeating the purpose of the system. And norms get settled by choices that individuals such as you make. Keep put when your gentle is purple, and also you function a job mannequin for different cyclists. Predictability and social belief are strengthened when individuals comply with the foundations even after they don’t see any profit in doing so. At a Barnes Dance, it truly is greatest to let the site visitors indicators lead.
Setting apart the difficulty at hand for the second, I’m undecided individuals must be seeking to the New York Occasions for moral recommendation, because it’s a bit like consulting PornHub’s Requirements and Practices Government in issues of style. Nonetheless, general I discovered his response passable, although I may have executed with out the gratuitous discourse on “Tokyo’s well-known Shibuya Crossing,” which serves no function right here in anyway aside from establishing how well-traveled the author is. (That is colloquially often called a “humblebrag.”)
Anyway, as soon as he returns from this flight of fancy to Japan, he notes that every yr “just a few hundred unfortunate pedestrians on the town can be injured from encounters with bicyclists, a handful fatally.” Definitely reckless cyclists pose an actual hazard to pedestrians, however the “handful fatally” half was fairly jarring, and it leads me to suspect he’s getting his statistics solely from the “AI Overview” you get whenever you do a two-second G**gle search:
I’m undecided what the quantity is for 2024, however in line with the DOT, in 2023, bicyclists killed two pedestrians:
In 2022 it was three:
And listed below are the prior years all the way in which again to 2008:
Now I understand he’s The Ethicist and never The Semanticist, however in 16 years there have been solely two years wherein greater than two pedestrians have been killed by cyclists, and almost half of these years noticed no pedestrians killed by cyclists. So I’m undecided the place he’s getting “a handful” every year. I imply positive, technically one could be a handful–simply ask double hand job man:
However to say a “handful” of pedestrians are killed by cyclists in New York Metropolis every year is sort of deceptive. Think about: I’ve 4 Rivendells, and also you’d be proper to say that’s a handful. But when I promised to present you a handful of Rivendells yearly and half the time I don’t offer you shit, you’d be proper to name me a liar.
In any other case, sure, the Ethicist is appropriate that try to be thoughtful in direction of pedestrians and be a mannequin bicycle owner and blah blah blah. Although in the case of cycling-related questions it’s typically higher to seek the advice of somebody who really rides a motorbike:
Put that in your hand and stroke it.