Howdy, Roosters! While I try to avoid subjecting you to too much ear-beating with my various work and projects, I hope/think this one might actually help some of you. I started writing for Bikerumor.com recently, and just published a super-mega-huge guide for getting up to speed on road bikes:
https://bikerumor.com/2019/01/29/2019-road-bike-standards-guide-all-you-need-to-know-to-buy-a-new-bike/#comment-3241043The idea is to help new-ish folks, or those who are just struggling to keep up with all of the constant changing of "standards" in the bike industry. If you're shopping for a road bike this year, we're trying to help you future-proof as much as possible. I'm working on two more similar guides, for gravel bikes and mountain bikes.
I'll note that there are two things in the Road buyer's guide that I don't *quite* think apply to the average busy triathlete, and that's tubeless tires and disc brakes. I see a LOT of industry support for these (from companies that need new things to sell), but I have honestly never heard it coming from someone that actively trains and races triathlons (and also has a family, kids, etc). It tends to come from tech-focused bike guys that love working on their bikes, and don't have the time constraints of also trying to swim, run, and get to the gym. It's not that tubeless + discs are bad necessarily, there are just a lot of different executions of them, and they tend to take more of your time... and can make traveling with a bike box more difficult. I always err towards simplicity for busy triathletes, and something like a Cervelo P2 (with rim brakes and tubes) is about as simple as it gets these days. If you're techy and know how to deal with the latest gadgets - I'm not here to stop you. I'm just trying to give a heads-up for those who don't have the time or inclination to deal with any new equipment baggage.
Also, I released my latest episode of the Minimal Multisport Podcast a few days ago - with none other than Tyler Benedict of Bikerumor! He's very sharp, and it's the conversation that actually led to me writing for them.
https://www.minimalmultisport.com/blog/episode15https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/minimal-multisport-athlete-podcast/id1419762273
Comments
Tubeless and Discs are definitely coming to Tri. Maybe not the entry level just yet, but by 2020 for sure.
I'm just saying that I've tested a lot of different tubeless and disc setups over the years. 10 times out of 10 they required more maintenance than a bike with standard rim brakes and inner tubes. When I was racing a lot and flying around trying to race pro while working full-time, there's no way I had time for tubeless/disc on my personal bike. It's a somewhat nuanced viewpoint that the performance road cycling crowd doesn't tend to see.
MY PATREON!
Great, great writeup!
Totally agree on the tubeless disc "issue" of maintenance time drain. Also, tubeless costs more over time. Someone can do a great math equation in the marketing department to tell me I'm wrong, but the real world cash drain on sealant, rim strip replacement, etc. is bigger than with tubes.
However, I ride 97% rough gravel roads. I'm hooked on the tubeless drug.
https://www.facebook.com/sworrytrials/
https://www.facebook.com/OdetoLaz/
I think more of the modern setups are getting better, and easier to install. My problem is that I am a tire geek and like the ability to change tires often... so tubeless becomes a pain. When I lived with a real winter, I'd do studded tires in the winter, light tread CX tires for fall/spring, and essentially road tires for summer. Tubes are just easier.
MY PATREON!
MY PATREON!
Schwalbe Pro Ones fit more tightly and don't seal as well, but that might be my fault at installation.
I can't imagine going back to clinchers.
Bontrager's old wheels weren't tubeless-ready, so you'd need a conversion kit... Like Stan's conversion rim strips, though these were recently taken out of production due to lack-of-demand (since so many newer rims are tubeless-ready). Here's a review of some Bonty wheels I did in 2013... and I believe this was the first year that they were tubeless-ready from the factory (using their special TLR rim strips). If you don't use the TLR strips, they're effectively tube-tube rims.
So - then long story short is that tubeless compatibility depends entirely on the rim. Pretty much every old rim "can" be converted to tubeless, but the process often becomes a time-consuming science experiment to get the right amount of tape built up for an adequate seal.
MY PATREON!
https://www.facebook.com/sworrytrials/
https://www.facebook.com/OdetoLaz/