CyclingTips Digest: TdF Mayhem, 2022 Dura-Ace, Cycling's Banksy Moment, the Lightest SPD Shoe, Mechanic Tips & More

 That bikepacking story reminds me of something of my own. A bit more than 20 years ago (jesus, time flies!), in the high school we had a PE teacher who was always a bit weird, and didn't talk much. We only knew that from the few words he said now and then that he liked skiing and riding bikes. Even some other teachers made some silly remarks about him so he wasn't a recluse just with us.

But couple of years later, I was listening to the local radio station, and they actually had a interview with him (it took me a while to even recognize the voice). The thing he said really did awe me. To paraphrase: each year, when the school ended, he would go only with his bicycle all the way from Croatia to France, ride the TdF, and then come back home. Sometimes, he would just tour the Europe for weeks and weeks.

And all of this was more than 20 years ago, there were no mobile phones with GPS (the mobile phones were just getting to wider population), there were no bikes and gear which weighted next to nothing, no bike routes etc. Probably the only thing which didn't change from that time is the road bike geo It is just awesome what people can do with enough determination.

 Ah crit racing..... absolutly sh*t scary! Like easily DH level scary but with less protection, more tarmac to land on and a far higher chance of being wiped out by another rider. All whilst your heart is attempting to rip itself out of your chest and you're legs are on fire..... oh, and no you can't slow down for that turn as nobody else is about to!

 ha! i wish i didnt see that.

 Neglected headsets? Hmm pretty much the first update I usually make on any bike is a decent headset.

In my experience it’s the one component companies usually neglect, even on expensive builds. I guess they hope it goes unnoticed.

Yes, standardisation would be welcome. 44/56 inset FTW!

 King cages...the most overrated bottle cage I've ever used. Got a pair for my fat bike forks, tossed bottles on my first test curb hop. I'm actually still using one on my Knolly, but the cap side lip has a nice groove wearing into it from my bottles. $5 no brand whatever cages work better and last longer.

 I feel like I’ve gone through a Pinkbike wormhole. You mean people rides bikes on the road?

 I have a set of road wheels I built up with Stan's infamous original Alpha 340s. The combination of a large rim bed surface area, light weight, and tubeless makes it almost impossible to find a compromise with regards to spoke tension. 28H, washers, and I still wouldn't run tubeless in the rear (but choose the tire carefully, due to the low profile bead hook a loose fitting tire with tube will blow off). The article is a good read, I guess Stan's had no clue when they designed them and it doesn't look like they still offer road rims.

 I found the spoke tension article really interesting. Anecdotally, any time I'm building a wheel for a customer, particularly a rear for a DH or enduro bike, I'll insist that they provide me with the tire to be used so that I can account for tension drop during the initial build. I've found that lower profile, more "radially compliant" rims (looking at you, Flow Mk3) are particularly susceptible to dropping tension.

 That bell looks intriguing. After 4 broken TimberBells I am sick of buying bells. I hope this one lasts.

 the : We're Testing Filters for eMTB Content & Racing Disciplines , should have included road crap as an option... as it has been very often posted here now.
...and soon a butthurt roadie is going to replay to it.

 The retro Diverge has the same colour scheme as the 1990 Apollo Blizzard, the bike that got me into mountain biking.

 That's not like Banksy.

 Cannondale is coming out with 36 new pressfit headset standards next week.