Cool new products for long distance cyclists
January 22nd, 2008Posted by David in Bikes & Equipment
Oregon Randonneur Bert Lutz with the Salsa Casseroll
Ready to Ride is testing a number of new products that will be of interest to long distance road cyclists. Of course, a true test of gear that is meant to go the distance requires that the test last a relatively long period of time, over hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles. The goal is to create a the test to simulate the conditions a road rider is likely to encounter.
We have done our best to do just that. As a result, the products aren’t what you might call “fresh from the floor of Interbike.” But a good long distance bike – and components and accessories to match – are hard to find, which may explain why products that are “new to me” are just as good as ones that are “new to the world,” as far as many distance cyclists are concerned.
We have been using a number of products throughout 2007, and we are happy to report that much of the gear we’ve tested is worthy of your consideration. All of the reviews will eventually be shared here, but two new products (the Salsa Casseroll and the Schwalbe Marathon Supreme) will be considered for publication at theRoadBikeRider.comweb site. We will let you know where to look first, as the reviews go live.
Here are a few of the products we are currently testing:
All-steel, all-rounder, road bike
- Test conditions: brevets, day trips, commutes to work, training rides
- Test duration: 24 hours (cumulative) / 400 miles
- Estimated publication date: March, RoadBikeRider.com. April, Ready to Ride
Space-age, bullet-proof, all-weather road tires
- Test conditions: brevets, commutes, training rides, indoor trainer
- Test duration: minimum 1,000 miles
- Estimated publication date: April, RoadBikeRider.com. May, Ready to Ride
Multi-sport heart rate monitor with speed, cadence, altimeter and power
- Test conditions: brevets, commutes, training rides, indoor trainer, running, swimming, surfing
- Test duration: 12 months / 6,000 miles
- Estimated publication date: April, Ready to Ride
3D PC-based mapping software
- Test Conditions: route planning for day trips, brevets, training rides
- Test duration: 8 months
- Estimated publication date: June 2008, Ready to Ride
Hand-held GPS Receiver
- Test Conditions: day trips, brevets, training rides
- Test duration: 5 months
- Estimated publication date: June 2008, Ready to Ride
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2 Responses to
“Cool new products for long distance cyclists”
steely
February 9th, 2008 at 8:27 pmI’ve been commuting on Marathon Supremes for about 2,000 miles now. I use 26×2.0 on a hard tale mountain bike. Excellent tires. One flat in that time. It was the mother of all goat head thorns. I should have sent it to the Smithsonian. I also found a staple from a staple gun embedded in the back tire, but no damage to the tube. The only negative is that these tires are not, repeat not, for snow and icy conditions.
mirco
March 13th, 2009 at 6:21 pmsteely, do those make any kind of buzzing/humming noise from the grooves in the tread? I considered these as my summer tires, but I was put off by the grooves in the tread. I ended up choosing Bontrager Race Lite 32s, in the Hardcase flavour, wishing I could upgrade to the HD ceramic flat protection and triple nano tread of the ultremo/marathon supreme, but in 35 slick, two worlds separated hopefully not forever by shwalbe. The Hardcase is like Schwalbe’s Double Defense system before HD vectran came in. For dirt use, I’d select something like Marathon Extreme, Marathon XR, Marathon Plus Tour, or Marathon ATB. In winter, Some flavour of Marathon Winter, or Nokian Hakkapelitta 106/240, or, space allowing, extreme 296, all available in 26″ or 700c, up to 54mm in the case of extreme 296.
ah, choices.