Jim’s Tech Talk
By Jim Langley
This is my third and final story on the products and technical developments I found noteworthy that came out during the bike shows and events in March and April. There are some big bike shows, such as the Sea Otter Classic, which takes place in Monterey, California and the Taipei Show in Taiwan.
For these shows bike companies roll out their new products at the actual shows by attending and displaying their latest and greatest to the crowds, while other companies choose to stay home but still take advantage of all the season’s grand opening energy by showing their newest products at races, such as Paris Roubaix and other cycling events.
I couldn’t attend these shows, races or events. Instead I followed along online, reading and watching the coverage. As members of the media, we also receive press releases from the companies about their new rollouts. Fellow editor Sheri Rosenbaum has covered the new product releases from the shows too, so be sure to check out her coverage at the links below.
To catch up on the items that caught my fancy, here’s a link to Part 1.
And Part 2 is here.
TECH DEVELOPMENTS
Chinese brands make a big appearance at The Sea Otter
Here in the USA, the main brands we see on bicycles come from our major bike makers and component manufacturers, such as Trek, Specialized, Cannondale, and for components, there’s Shimano, SRAM and losing ground now, Campagnolo. Not to mention a lot of smaller players who put out great bikes and products too.
Things are starting to change as Asian makers in China and Taiwan are now producing very competitive framesets, components and wheelsets. So for some time now, I’ve been following the YouTube channel of China Cycling and their retail website Panda Podium where they sell a complete selection of products from Chinese brands, including framesets, wheels, components and accessories. Another good channel covering Chinese cycling product developments is Trace Velo.
If you follow these channels, you’ll see that there are some impressive products that generally come at very competitive prices compared to what we have here. And, the fact that Panda Podium had their first booth at The Sea Otter (right next to Shimano’s booth no less) shows how serious they are about the American market. I haven’t purchased anything from them so I can’t tell you what extra taxes or shipping fees would be on top of the prices shown in their catalog, but I expect you could find that information on their site.
I can’t begin to match the energy or knowledge of Joe Whittingham, the host of the China Cycling channel and co-founder of Panda Podium, so I’m going to let him do the talking. Here he is at their Sea Otter booth showing a selection of products they brought over, none of which you will have heard of if you’ve only been paying attention to what’s available over here. What jumped out to me was a sub 13-pound road bike built completely out of products sold by Panda Podium. You may not have heard of any of them, but I think they might become common names in the not too distant future.
It would be interesting to know if you have purchased and tried any of these Chinese products and how they’ve worked out for you.
A new wheel standard: 32-inch wheels
As far as I’ve been able to determine, the new standard of 32-inch wheels has only been applied to mountain bikes and gravel bikes. For MTBs, the governing body of professional cycling, the UCI has already approved their use.
Proponents of the new standard say that the larger diameter wheels smooth out bumps better than smaller wheels and provide more traction and control with their larger footprint. Already some mountain bike races have been won on the oversize hoops too.
Opponents say that the larger wheels require a completely new frame design, add weight, and also mean having to source different size chainrings and cogs since such significantly larger wheels make gear ratios change a lot too.
These pros and cons are similar to those that arose when the 29-inch wheel standard came around for mountain bikes when all that was available at the time was 26-inch wheels. But there’s an important difference this time, which is that 32-inch is a completely new size. The 29-inch standard was not really a new standard, but only a different form of the current 700c road standard. So mountain bikes had to change to accept the larger wheels, but the tires and gearing of road bikes was already available to ease the transition – at least a little.
With the new 32-inch wheels, a lot more needs to change, such as rims, tires and tubes, plus every type of bike will need a frame and fork designed to accept the oversize hoops.
What do I think? I know that 29-inch wheels handle the bumps and roll faster than my old 26-inch wheels. So, I believe that the 32-inchers will make some riders go faster. But, I think it could be more difficult for shorter riders to fit comfortably on a bike with such large wheels – so probably those cyclists will just stick with 700c or 29-inchers.
The other thing I wonder is if the extra weight of the wheels will make it more difficult to get a bike up to speed. I get it that the larger wheel will let you float a little more over rough terrain because the larger hoops span the undulation in roads and trails. But you still have to get the bike up to cruising speed and keep it there, which is easier as wheels get lighter, not heavier.
Then, there’s climbing on heavier wheels. If you’re using a 30 tooth chainring and 36 tooth cog as your low gear on your gravel bike now, you have a 22.5-inch gear to spin up the steeps. Tackling that same climb with the same gearing with 32-inch wheels, that low gear grows to 26 inches, which might force you to change the gearing. And that would mean adding more weight with larger cogs and probably a longer chain too.
So far few of the major companies are making bicycles with 32-inch wheels, only smaller firms. I don’t know of any road bikes with them yet either. If you do, please let us know in a comment. But the 32-inch wheel bikes are out there and it’s a trend to keep an eye on as it might become more widely available.
One of the companies behind the trend is Zinn Cycles. They’ve been making oversized bicycles for tall riders for many years as Lennard Zinn, the owner/founder is quite tall himself. He actually describes the bikes with 32-inch wheels as for taller riders too. You can see one of these bikes, his Clydesdale BFG gravel bike in the photo and learn more about it here: https://www.zinn.bike/clydesdale-bfg-gr3-axs-32-inch-wheel-gravel-bike-f.html.
If you’re already riding a bicycle with 32-inch wheels, please share how you like it in a comment.
TWO MORE NEW PRODUCTS
Abbey Bike Tools latest dream toolkit
Abbey Bike Tools’ Team Issue Toolbox is what many bicycle mechanics dream about owning and using because it’s packed with essential bike tools and all of them are beautifully protected and held in order in their dedicated cutouts in the foam pallets inside the box. Released during the Sea Otter was Abbey’s most recent upgrade of the Team Issue Toolbox. It’s been out for six years now and it keeps improving to keep up with changes in bicycles and components. The new one is called the V2.
Check out the photo and the sweet selection of Abbey and other tools in the box (below), and see if you don’t start dreaming about owning one some day too.
The V2 Toolbox Includes
Abbey Bike Tools: Crombie – Dual Sided Through Axle Std; Whip-it Chain Whip; HAG Hanger Alignment Gauge; Decade Chain Tool; Team Issue Titanium Hammer; Wash Buddy Pulley (only for through axles); Team Issue Pedal Wrench; Crank Preload Tool (Shimano); 4 Way Mag only (no bits); T Way Mag only; Abbey 10 bit holder with bits; Stu Stick
Knipex tools: Diagonal Flush Cutters; Pliers Wrench; Cable Cutter; Needle Nose
WERA tools: 7515 Torque driver; 1mm Flat blade screwdriver: #2 Phillips Screwdriver; 9 piece Hex Plus Set With Ball End; 9pcs Ball End Torx Set; Torx bits: 15, 20, 25, 30; Hex bits: 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6mm
Other: Nanuk 920 case; Olight i3T EOS Flashlight; Klein Scissors; Plano Small Parts Box; and Starrett Tape Measure (in/cm).
92% USA, Canada or EU sourced
Abbey’s Team Issue Toolbox V2 sells for $1,850. It’s 92% USA, Canada or EU sourced. For more information: https://www.abbeybiketools.com/products/team-issue-toolbox-v2
Automobile-style bicycle tire installation and removal tool
It’s no secret that bicycle tires have gotten more difficult to install and remove. The issue is mainly the result of tire manufacturers changing how their different tires fit on rims to ensure they stay on and don’t blow off. Since there are now hook-bead and hookless rims (without hook beads) out there and tubed and tubeless tires, unfortunately, if you happen to get the wrong combination of tire and rim it can be extremely difficult to install and or remove tires. So even simple maintenance, like fixing a flat tire or even swapping to different tires you want to try, can turn into a frustrating experience.
For these reasons, I’m always interested to learn of someone offering something that might help. While it’s not quite ready to come to our rescue yet (keep reading), I wanted to show you a new tool from Cush Core, the company most famous for making tire liners that save your rim in the event of a flat tire and let you keep riding on it too. Tire liners can be tricky to install and Cush Core now offers their Rotary Tire Tool to make the job much easier.
What impresses me about the tool is that from what I can tell, they’ve based it on an automobile tire changing tool. You rest the wheel on something like a sturdy trash can, attach the tool to your thru axle (it’s only for thru axle wheels), and the tool’s long lever and sliding prying plates travel around the wheel as you swing the lever to pop on or pop off your tire.
It looks like a nicely designed and well built tool. The only reason I’m not raving about it is because from everything I’ve been able to learn about it, Cush Core hasn’t yet solved the problem of how to remove stuck tire beads. Even with the tool, to remove a tire you still have to start by hand with a tire lever. And as you know if you’ve run into a stuck tubeless tire, tire levers can be useless for getting the tire unstuck.
Still, I think Cush Core has the foundation of a tool that could be hugely popular if they can just incorporate a bead breaker that works on all tires, even tubeless with stuck-on beads. They might even be working on that, which would be great.
The Rotary Tire Tool sells for $299. It’s currently marked as sold out but you can order one to be delivered when they’re restocked. You can learn more here: https://cushcore.com/products/rotarytiretool.
Jim Langley is RBR’s Technical Editor. A pro mechanic & cycling writer for more than 40 years, he’s the author of Your Home Bicycle Workshop in the RBR eBookstore. Tune in to Jim’s popular YouTube channel for wheel building & bike repair how-to’s. Jim’s also known for his cycling streak that ended in February 2022 with a total of 10,269 consecutive daily rides (28 years, 1 month and 11 days of never missing a ride). Click to read Jim’s full bio.