Tag: News and Reviews

The tape was nice and kind of rubbery feeling when pulled from the box. It also had a slightly tacky feel as well. The installation was simple and by not stretching the tape, it left it pretty soft feeling when installed.

My opinion is that the Line Shoe might be best for someone that has a mountain biking first bent to their riding, and if they ride back roads, well then these shoes would be a comfortable, durable choice, with the caveat that they might be a bit toasty on hot days and that their wide stance may interfere a bit with certain bikes/riding styles.

The stock feel of the bike fit wise is very roadie. It feels long, low, and narrow with the 100mm stem and 42cm bar. With lighter wheels and a swap to faster tires it has a very nice road presence to it. Right now I am running some Hutchinson 38mm tires…zoom zoom…I disliked the WTB Nanos on the road. Actually I simply disliked the Nanos…period

So I will be living with a Johnny Cash black Cannondale Topstone for a few months. I will be using it to play with upgrades on a budget to see where we can improve performance, drop weight, and add comfort. But first, I want to begin with my thoughts on how the bike is spec’d and how it is to ride stock at the risk of duplicating some of MG’s findings

I never even thought about using a torque wrench for working on bikes until carbon happened. Then we had to worry about over-doing things and crushing expensive components. Now to be fair, using a torque wrench is good even when you are not working with carbon bits….

Lately it got me thinking that there are quite likely a metric ton of old 29″er wheels out there that have great possibilities for modern gravel bike use.

As long as it isn’t too hot, these are actually pretty nice shoes for pedaling out on the gravel. My thought is that these would be better choices for warm to cool weather climates. Hot, humid areas will require shoes with more venting than the Line shoes have. Wide feet? These could be your shoes then.

But frankly neither one are what I want. What would I want? How about a 46/36 or 46/34 with an 11-40 rear cassette? Not with the components I have though, unless I could make it work with something like Wolftooth’s Road Link, but with 2x, I still have to deal with the capacity of the rear derailleur to handle chain slack.

Well we are finally wrapping up the saddle reviews with the final three contenders. One is a real surprise and my pick of the bunch.

The Flare 25 definitely does have a different feel. The vibrations I felt were……not muted, they were there, but not the same frequency, for sure. Other bars had a “zing” to them, which I could say might affect me negatively, but as for this SPANK bar, I cannot say at this point that it is “better” for me