The bigger pumps.
Mechanics from cyclocross and mountain bike have been checking and topping up pressures with handheld electric inflators for well over a decade. However the shift in the pro road ranks happened slowly and then suddenly. In pro racing, the floor pump is now effectively dead.
I’ve now returned to the topic of testing electric inflators, this time focussed on the larger and higher capacity options that can still easily be transported.
It’s over at Escape Collective. Please consider supporting my work if this topic interests you. You’ll also get access to 47 other editions of Threaded, plus a weekly mechanic’s focussed podcast.
Gravel is no longer a single segment. There are bikes great for exploration, those optimised for rough gravel, and a few that feel more like they’re made for the road.
My own preferences for a gravel bike is one of versatility, where comfort and control can be had off-road, but efficiency is still on tap for smoother terrain. If you’re fighting the bike, you’re wasting energy.
Then there’s a bike like the Cervelo Aspero-5. In the right conditions it’s damn fast, but it sure had me thinking that the terrain needs to be pretty smooth for this to be the best performing pick. My long-term review of this road-feeling gravel bike is now live over on Escape Collective.
There is always a different path to success.
Yes, you can just eyeball stem alignment - most do. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a better, faster, or more consistent method to get there.
I’ve used stem alignment tools off-and-on for roughly a decade. None are perfect for all situations, but a few are great for certain purposes. Here’s such a thing, a new and clever approach from the career mechanic and new maker @velotechnics (based in Australia).
Full details of this one, along with eight other innovative tool makers using 3D printing, can be found over at EscapeCollective.com. Threaded 57 is now live.
Shimano or SRAM?
It’s an age-old debate in cycling, and the correct answer is never so simple. What’s the use case? What are your preferences? What are your biases?
I just wrapped up a long-term review comparing two relatively new 1x wireless gravel groups from the two companies - Force XPLR E1 versus GRX RX825/827.
As you’ll read over at EscapeCollective.com, there is a winner, but it’s not either of these complete groupsets.
A little rant.
There are way too many different tooling fitments for no clear reason. It’s a rant I’ve had before in relation to T47 (see Threaded #12), but here I am repeating that thought due to e-bike lockings.
If you’re going to copy someone else’s design, don’t then change the tooling fitment by a millimetre or two. FFS.
#bicyclemechanics #djiavinox #toolboxwars @angrybikemechanic
15 years of using specialist bearing removal tools, distilled into one article.
Sure, plenty can be done with a punch and hammer, but there are certainly better ways today. My latest Threaded reviews a whole bunch of these dedicated tools, including options from @altaltbike , @abbeybiketools , @enduro_bearings , @bearingprotools , @vartools , Lebycle, and more. Now live over at Escape Collective.
Happy tool nerding 🤓
Diamonds are… forever?
Got an ultra fast delivery of some fancy new bottom bracket facing tools I bought from @rotationengineering_bike late last week. Explainer in the audio.
Like diamonds, facing tools are no small expense! That reminds me… it truly sucks that mechanics need tools like thid at all. It really should be done by the manufacturer. Things are improving in this regard, but still plenty of shitty examples remain in the market today. Sigh…
#bicycletools #toolboxwars #diamondtools
Thoughts on Clik valve?
A little over a year in use and I’m convinced that it’s a superior valve. However, there’s just no getting past that initial expense on a product you’re already accustomed to.
My full review is now live on Escape Collective.
New Tiagra.
I find budget-minded components highly interesting. The design choices, the manufacturing compromises, the intentional places of differentiation to not undercut more premium options.
Something I’ve heard before, and I tend to agree with, is that Shimano Tiagra is often damn close to Ultegra from a generation or two before. This latest R4000 stuff proves that, but that makes the incompatibility to the old stuff ever more tough to swallow.
Full details of that over at Escape Collective (no paywall on this one, but you may need to hand over an email address if you haven’t already).
Got a torque wrench?
Bad torque wrench habits and techniques are everywhere when it comes to social media and YouTube content. From how you hold the torque wrench, to how you click it, how to use a crows foot adapter, through to how you store it - there’s plenty to go wrong.
I figured it was time to return to the topic of do’s and don’ts. Head on over to Escape Collective to read it all. Or alternatively, much of the same information is shared in a new bonus episode of the Geek Warning podcast.
Devil in the details.
Last week I made my annual pilgrimage to Adelaide with a camera in hand. A few long days later and I’ve now got a mountain of images to flick through.
Here are just a few of the finer details spotted on the bikes of the Women’s WorldTour (WWT). My full gallery, which collates all of the road bikes from the WWT, is now live on Escape Collective.
#escapecollective #tourdownunder
Time for another New Tools Day.
Birzman has just released an overhauled version of its disc brake piston pusher. This new Double-Ended Piston Pusher is now made of steel and sized to fit into narrow gaps where other piston pressing tools won’t go. It also works with a rotor in place. So far, so good.
You’ll find details of this new tool, plus the latest from many other cycling tool brands (including Abbey, Wheels Mfg, Bearing Pro Tools, PB Swiss, and more) over at Escape Collective.
