PART 1 – HUTCHINSON FUSION 5 ROAD TUBELESS-READY TIRE...
PART 1 – HUTCHINSON FUSION5 ROAD TUBELESS-READY TIRE This review will be in 2 parts, (a) Understanding what a tubeless ready is, and testing how easy it is to install, (b) how did they ride, how long did they last? Hutchinson currently (9/2018) offers 6 FUSION 5 road tires; 3 Tubeless Ready and 3 Tube-type. For this review, we will be looking at their FUSION 5 tubeless ready PERFORMANCE tire. The table below includes all 3 FUSION 5 tubeless ready tires currently offered. For comparison, WEIGHT shown on first row are Tubeless Ready, second row is the weight of the Tubeless. BUT, BEFORE WE GET TOO FAR AHEAD … When putting this article together, I had several questions for Hutchinson. Q1) What is the difference between a TUBELESS “READY” road tire and a TUBELESS road tire? A1) Great question. Below are the advantages and disadvantages TUBELESS ADVANTAGES BUTYL casting – can patch the inside of tire with a standard butyl tube patch BUTYL casing liner completely seals tire so no sealant needed (but is still recommended) DISADVANTAGES HEAVY –...
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2019 LIMAR SUPERLIGHT+ HELMET (in Celeste)
LIMAR SUPERLIGHT+ BICYCLE HELMET BUT FIRST I just wanted to mention ALBABICI, who not only supplied this helmet, but has contributed with many other great Italian products to long term test. Bike Test Reviews believes that long term tests help you pick the best and highest quality product. A product that won’t fall apart after just a couple of uses. When a product is tested by Bike Test Reviews, you can be sure that it’s put through the wringer. So, check out ALBABICI. They are not only a great company with great support, but also have a great product mix … I’m sure you will find something that you need or want! Products offered; Selle SMP Saddles (Road & Tri), SCICON Technical Cycling Bags, Nalini Cycling Apparel Collections, Limar Helmets and Eyewear, Favaloro Handcrafted Frames, Fondriest Bicycles, Bianchi Milano Apparel, Ursus Wheels and Kickstands, Forza Components, BiciSupport Bike Shop Equipment/Stands, Embrocation (Hibros), Tiso Components, Alfa Romeo Bicycles, Italjet Electric Bicycles and Sapo Pumps. NOW, BACK TO THE LIMAR HELMET REVIEW HEAD-TO-HEAD LIMAR manufactures helmets for ROAD, TT, MTB, URBAN...
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OUTBOUND LIGHTING FOCAL SERIES ROAD LIGHT
OUTBOUND LIGHTING FOCAL SERIES ROAD LIGHT NOW THAT SUMMER IS COMING TO A CLOSE, IT’S TIME TO LOOK INTO GETTING A NEW BIKE LIGHT OUTBOUND LIGHTING LED BIKE LIGHT There are two types of headlights for (road) bicycles; (a) to-be-seen and (b) to-see. Those under the to-be-seen category usually carry their own battery such as a single AA or several AAA’s. Lights under the to-see category are usually powered by an external battery. By drawing power from a larger (external) battery, higher lumen LED’s can be used. The Outbound Lighting Focal Series Road headlight is a to-see light consisting of a headlight, plug-in wall charger and battery pack. UNIQUE CAR-STYLE HEADLIGHT. New to the market, Outbound Lighting has designed a headlight that spreads the beam horizontally instead of shining a circular beam (see photo 1 below). This concept allows a cyclist to see the road better left-to-right. The other main advantage of this ‘ROAD’ light is the ability to aim the light higher than a typical bike head light without blinding oncoming traffic (cars and other bicyclists) thanks to...
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LATEST WORD ON BEST CHAIN LUBES for bicycles and sport bikes...
A LONG TERM REVIEW ON BEST CHAIN LUBES A while back, I did a very detailed chain and lube test – see bikeestreviews.com. Fast-forward a couple years and let’s see how these lubes are holding up. 11-speed chains and name brand chain oils were tested for almost 5 years. For these conventional/oil-based lubes, I followed 5 rules for all tests; 1) I used a new Ultegra chain. 2) I used only one lube for each new chain, i.e., I used the same lube for the entire life of a chain. 3) I applied lube every 200 miles (322 km) and recorded chain wear at each of these intervals. 4) I cleaned the chain just prior to applying new lube. 5) Rode the chain at a consistent high wattage. All oil-based lubes lasted between 3,200-3,400 miles (5,150 – 5,470 km), and, compared to these oil-based lubes, the wax-based Squirt adds about 1,400 miles (2,253 km) to the life of the chain. SMOOVE adds a phenomenal 124% more life to the chain … that’s about 2.25 X more chain life than...
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SHOCKSTOP SUSPENSION STEM
SHOCKSTOP SUSPENSION STEM Six or so months ago, I built a ‘gravel grinder’ out of my Giant TCT Advanced road bike. During this time, I have ridden it both on-road and off-road, for off-road, mainly hard-pack trails. For those that missed this great series, here is part 3 – http://biketestreviews.com/part-3-extended-gearing-for-the-road-bike/, where I put it all together. So far, everything has worked out perfect on this build. Looking back, the Wolftooth components are ROCK-SOLID and the drivetrain selection couldn’t be better. But, the only drawback is that since I converted a road racing bicycle, the largest tires that fit are 700×28. Compared to the 700×40 for other gravel bikes (ex, OPEN), these 28mm tires are not quite wide enough to mitigate vibration, even at lower pressures. So, when REDSHIFT sent me a suspension stem to test, this couldn’t have come at a better time! After opening the box, I laid all of the parts and directions out on the workbench. Included was a +/-6° x 100mm Redshift Sports Shockstop stem. At first glance, the instructions seemed a little daunting, but,...
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Buying Guide: Chain or Belt Drive Bike
Image Source: Pexels by Luke Mitchell. Due to the progress of manufacturing technologies, the bicycle industry has progressed tremendously. The newest topic of discussion in this category is that of chain drives versus belt drives. Here is what you need to know about the distinctions between the two, as well as some recommendations on what to buy. Belt drives are present on various two-wheelers nowadays, from commuter bikes that are meant for city use to robust mountain bikes that conquer the trails. Indoor bicycles also make use of this equipment, as it brings many advantages to a home workout. Even motorcycles come with belt drives nowadays, which shows just how pervasive the technology is. Chain Drive vs Belt Drive An article published by Gizmodo back in 2008 boldly stated that chain drive bikes were becoming a thing of the past, while belt drives were taking the forefront. Ten years later, it is safe to say that this indeed happened. Even though many bikes still sport a chain drive, more and more companies have reoriented their lines toward the better...
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KNEE PAIN, KNEE ALIGNMENT & PEDAL STANCE WIDTH...
KNEE PAIN, KNEE ALIGNMENT & PEDAL STANCE WIDTH BACKGROUND In the last article, we spoke in-depth about crank-arm length and how crankarms that are too-long can cause knee-pain. In this article, we will be concentrating on Pedal Stance Width and why this is important. This article focuses more on road bikes and Tri/TT bikes since they have close to the same bottom bracket shell widths and use similar if not the same cranks with q-factors right around 146mm. MTB’s, on the other hand offer different crank width q-factors such as 168mm, 175mm, 176mm, and even wider. TERMINOLOGY First, let’s define several terms… PEDAL WIDTH vs. (PEDAL) STANCE WIDTH vs. Q-FACTOR. These terms are often used interchangeably but really have different meanings. Following is their correct (cycling) definitions. -PEDAL WIDTH (not shown in Figure 1 to the right) is the distance from the center of the pedal to the outside of the closest crankarm. Standard road pedal width is 53mm. -STANCE WIDTH (or pedal stance width) is the distance between the center of one pedal to the center of the...
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