Around Lake Champlain on a road bike

Well, it's been a while but somehow I couldn't find time earlier to write a few words about my latest bike trip. Since back in April I finally managed to put a "new" road bike together, I wanted to try it out on a longer route.

First, the bike isn't really new. In fact, it's exactly the same old Lemond Poprad you have seen here back in 2012. Basically, since I built a new gravel bike in 2018, my old Poprad was disassembled and sold off for parts (partially, at least). The frame was nice though and I was looking for way to repurpose it, so I got a new fork, rebuilt the wheels, and pull out as many old parts from the spare parts bin as I could find. The result is a "new" road bike, that's actually pretty fun to ride.

Anyway, the idea for this route was to partially revisit old places (on a road bike this time) as well as to explore the unknown-to-me side of Lake Champlain in NY State. Since there aren't many gravel roads right near the lake's shore, road bike seemed to be perfectly appropriate. Additionally, I figured that I could travel really light and skip all camping equipment, booking a couple of budget hotels in the area. Call it credit card touring if you wish.

Day 1 - Williston, VT to Ticonderoga, NY (104km or 65mi)

Having nearly nothing to pack up for the trip, I left my house on Thursday (June 27th) in the morning and drove north towards Burlington, VT. As usual, left my car at Park & Ride and I was in the saddle at about 11:20am. The day was cloudy, with heavy overcast skies, but despite that it was warm (21C or 70F). It felt actually like a nearly perfect weather for bike riding (dry, cloudy, calm), but less so for taking pictures (grey skies are kind of boring).

Shortly after taking off I discovered a problem. The previous night I decided to charge the battery for my Ricoh GRIII but somehow instead of being charged, the battery got discharged completely (I had some issues with batteries in this camera before). At least I was able to confirm that the camera works and problem was only with the dead battery. So that meant that I can still recharge it in the hotel, but it left me without this camera for the rest of the day. Fortunately, I still had the old Lumix GX1 with me.

I got to Vergennes where originally I planned to stop for lunch, but I wasn't hungry at all so I snacked on a protein bar and decided to keep going. The route was taking me south, near the lake. There are some nice views from the hills in Addison County overlooking the lake below, with mountains across on the NY State side.

Eventually, I reached the ferry. Turns out that the ferry closes at 6pm, but I was there around 4pm so that was not an issue. However, after crossing the lake I just missed the cut off time for ticketing at Fort Ticonderoga. They stop selling tickets at 4:30pm. As I was getting quite hungry at this point, I decided to stop at the Ticonderoga Natural Foods store in the town center. Late lunch, but better late than never.

I did a short loop around the town but as there isn't much to see there, I got to the hotel early (~5:30pm). I could finally shower and charge the camera for the next day. Since the hotel was conveniently located near Walmart, I decided to resupply, and I must admit that food selection at Walmart is lousy at best. Unless I was just unlucky at that specific location.

Day 2 - Ticonderoga, NY to Plattsburgh, NY (143km or 89mi)

Friday, June 28th, I started at 7am. That's what happens when you don't have to waste time in the morning to pack up the tent and you go to bed early the night before - early starts.

The weather forecast completely missed the mark as it was predicting clouds, periods of rain and even thunderstorms in the afternoon. Instead, I got a perfect sunny morning weather with a very pleasant 16C (61F), later warming up to 24C (75F) in the late afternoon, but with some more clouds. Awesome cycling conditions, especially considering a light cool breeze from the lake.

Fairly quickly I reached the historic Fort at Crown Point, or its ruins, actually. Nice picnic spot with some pretty lake views.

I kept going with a brief stop at Port Henry, then reaching Westport, stopping for a quick lunch. From there my next stop was at Essex. That's where the route becomes very scenic with some magnificent views of the distant mountains in Vermont across the lake.

Not that I'm in favor of closing the already-scarce passenger train lines, but if the Amtrak Adirondack line ever gets axed, its tracks should be converted into a scenic bike touring route. The tracks are in places right next to the lake shore so I imagine that on the day like that one with great visibility, views from the train must be absolutely awesome.

Essex was cute, but next I had to climb across some hills to reach Ausable Chasm - an old hydroelectric plant on Ausable River and also an interesting tourist attraction of the river gorge.

From there, it was only a short run to Plattsburgh and since it was still early, I went to a local bar at the marina for a fish dinner with a pint. I got to my hotel around 5pm, resupplied at Hannaford (much better than Walmart) and called it a day.

Day 3 - Plattsburgh, NY to Williston, VT (65km or 40mi)

Saturday was supposed to be tricky as forecast was predicting severe weather changes. Periods of rain were essentially certain, but the worst part of it was supposed to be the wind, blowing from the south. As the most of my route was in the southern direction, taking me over the islands on the lake, I started to seriously question my choices. On top of that, some thunderstorms were forecasted in the afternoon. All that just didn't look too exciting.

I left the hotel around 7am again, considering two options: #1 - staying on the original route, which meant going further north towards the Canadian border, then crossing the lake over the bridge to Alburgh, and then going south back towards Burlington. Or, #2, taking a new alternative  route, by ferry to Grand Isle and going straight back to Williston through Essex Junction.

As you can tell from the map, option #2 won, mainly because the wind was absolutely wild so I  was quickly very glad that I don't have to ride in it for the most part of the day. Also, I figured that the since the main purpose of this trip was to see the NY side of the lake, I have already done it on the day before, repeating the route over the lake islands made little sense, as I have been there a few times already. I simply didn't feel like adding miles just for the sake of it.

The ferry ride was "fun", feeling like being in the sea during a storm. The ferry was swaying with large waves crashing into its sides and flooding the deck. Temperature on the lake dropped quite a bit, but as soon as we arrived in Vermont I was welcomed by light rain and warmer weather.

On the way south the rain stopped eventually, but strong wind was slowing me down. I finally reached the southern tip of the island and I discovered that the bike ferry connecting the causeway was closed on that day. I sort of expected this and while I have no idea what the reason was, I figured that they probably closed it as they thought that no one will be crazy enough to ride across the causeway in the middle of rain with strong winds. I had to find an alternate route.

That made the rest of the trip less exciting as I was forced to take more main roads, unfortunately sharing the space with cars. But I also figured out that since I had to ride towards Colchester, it made no sense to go back to Burlington, and I made my way directly towards Williston instead.

I briefly stopped at Essex Junction for something to eat and a hot tea, and I was back at the car at 11am, just before it started raining again.

Overall, it all worked out quite well, maybe except the last day, but views I have seen and new places I have visited the day before were rewarding enough to make the whole trip worthwhile.

Is the golden age of bicycles over?

This is a tricky question to answer. How do you even define a golden age anyway? To each their own, I think, as what matters to me may not matter at all to others. Anyway, just when I was pondering on the latest trends in the bicycling industry, Russ from Path Less Pedaled published this video:

First, I should explain what this golden age means to me. I'm a simple man and I like simple things, bicycles included. My type of bike is all-mechanical (although hydraulic brakes are ok) that looks somewhat classic, perhaps even retro. That doesn't mean I'm a luddite though. I appreciate certain innovations if they make my life easier. This may include thru axles with disc brakes, tubeless tires, and dynamo lighting. But it also means that I have very little need for aero carbon frame, ultralight carbon wheels, internal cable routing, and any electronics. 

Unfortunately, in the recent years the general trends in industry have been exactly opposite. It looks like bicycle companies are pushing aero-everything (frames, cockpits, even seat posts). With this, new bicycles come with internally-routed cables (which may looks pretty but is painful to service) and integrated cockpits (more aero, but not allowing for any adjustability).

Is this the future?

This also means a widespread use of carbon fiber. Don't get me wrong - it's a fantastic material (although not recyclable = not good for environment), unfortunately, it cannot be finished in polished silver. I just like those classic polished silver parts and they seem to be disappearing like "tears in rain". As more and more components are made with carbon fiber, we see more components in plain black: rims, handlebars, seat posts, cranks, brake levers, even derailleurs.

To sum it all up, for me the golden age of bicycles happened perhaps some time between 2005 and 2015. This was a time when we could pick from a wide selection of different types of bikes, using a large variety of components.

It was a time when the world was slowly switching from 10 speed to 11 speed road groupsets and Shimano introduced Dura Ace 7900, Ultegra 6800, or 105 5800. Many of those components were still available in classic polished silver finish. It's all gone now. Black is the new silver.

All these groupsets were completely mechanical and electronic systems were barely taking off. Now it feels that you can't ride your bike if you don't charge your derailleur, shifters, and your Garmin.

This was when we had a full variety of wheel sizes with 29" and 27.5" wheels being both popular and available, while even 26" wheel not being fully out of question. Now it looks like everyone forgot about 26", 27.5" has dramatically lost its momentum, and the industry is already trying to persuade us that we will need 32" wheels soon (for what?).

This was the time when aero wasn't in its full craze yet. Now new frames are often sculpted to be be more aero at a cost of utility, cockpits are integrated, seat posts are ovalized, and housing with cables must be completely hidden.

This was when though e-bikes were growing in popularity, the fully electric mopeds were not yet dominating. Now I feel that bike paths are full of high speed electric motorcycles that pretend to be bicycles, yet you never see anyone actually pedal them. In fact, while the youngest generation may be very interested in personal transportation, they don't want to pedal a bicycle. They just want to ride on it. E-mopeds will be the new bikes.

If I could predict the future, it doesn't look too exciting for me. Looks like the cycling world is evolving towards:

• more aero and this usually means more carbon fiber
• more complex systems with integrated electronic controls, wireless communication, etc.
• larger wheel sizes
• more factory-built wheels with carbon rims
• larger cassettes with more gears (14 speeds anyone?)
• more e-bikes and e-mopeds

So what's the risk? How will all this affect things I love? I predict that:

• Simple and efficient mechanical systems (like 2x9 setups) may become limited to only very low cost components. There will be no further development of high-performance mechanical gearing. Gone will be those 9-speed XT cassettes and Ultegra-level chains.
• "Peak mechanical" systems will become more obscure and niche. They will still exist but will be kept alive by alternative brands (Rivendell, Crust, Velo Orange, Merry Cycles, etc.). Russ compares it to the situation with CDs or vinyls - now used only by few.
• Polished silver components may exist with a very limited availability (unless they become fashionable for some reason) and will likely be provided mainly by alternative brands (Paul, White Industries, Nitto, Sugino, Garbaruk, etc.).
• Tires that are not applicable for racing (i.e. are not 700c) will become less available and 27.5" tires will be likely kept alive only by some small brands (Rene Herse, Ultradynamico, Simworks, etc.).
• Analog bicycles will be a minority. Even basic recreational bikes will have automatic, electronically-controlled gearing systems.
• Servicing bicycles at home will become difficult. Many components will be either of proprietary standards or have electronics built-in, making them impossible to service without proper tools.

On that last point, I strongly feel that those bike enthusiasts who fully embrace integrated cockpits and electronic shifting are the ones who are mainly interested in performance, but do not actually service their own bicycles. In such case paying someone to deal with the cable routing through a fully-integrated handlebars is not an issue.

On the other hand, those of us who ride to travel, often into the unknown, expect the bicycles to be reliable, simple, and easy to fix. Proprietary electronic components will not take us there.

Rene Herse Umtanum Ridge tire review and other 2.2" options

Back in 2017 when I put together my new "gravel" bike, my go-to tire choice was Maxxis Ikon. You can call my decision weird or unreasonable, but I was switching at that time from a bicycle that had a maximum tire clearance of 35mm and the typical gravel tire choices at 40-45mm were simply not wide enough for my taste. My local trails always run through forest paths, full of roots and rocks, and therefore, wider tires seemed necessary. That also meant that I went with 27.5" (650b) wheel size, to squeeze in as much rubber as possible.

Years later, I still think it was a right call, even though most leading manufacturers have abandoned the 27.5" wheel size so I may need to rely on smaller, boutique brands. I feel that 27.5" x 2.2-2.3" (56-58mm) is a perfect wheel/tire combo on gravel, allowing for plenty of grip, extra comfort, and large enough diameter and width to roll well over anything, while still making for a relatively compact bike. Even now that many race gravel bikes run 700c wheels and 50mm wide tires, I'm still very happy with my non-racing choice and think that the extra 6-8mm of tire width helps quite a lot to dampen rough roads.

Maxxis Ikon TR EXO 27.5" x 2.2"

• tubeless-ready XC tire, better suited for dry conditions and hard-packed surfaces
• measured width on Velocity Blunt SS (27mm internal) rims: ~56mm
• measured weight: 580g in the old non-EXO version (manufacturer's spec for the new EXO version: 650-700g, depending on the source)
• price: $70

Maxxis Ikons served me well for a few years, but after wearing out through 2 sets of these tires, and when I was ready to buy a 3rd set, I noticed that things have changed for the worse (for me). Maxxis completely abandoned the old casing and went with the new, reinforced EXO sidewalls. That's probably a good choice for XC riders, but that's not how I was using those tires! I certainly much more preferred the softer, cushier sidewalls over heavier, stiffer ones with more protection. I had a chance to directly compare the new EXO version with my old non-EXO one and the difference was immediately noticeable, even without mounting the tires on wheels. The EXO tire is stiffer, feels tougher and heavier. While I can understand Maxxis' decision, I wasn't happy about it. Nevertheless, the old Ikons still remain my benchmark to compare all other tires against. They were light, fast, supple, supremely comfortable, easy to install, and with perhaps only 2 potential issues: (1) rolling noise on pavement and (2) some sealant seepage through sidewalls over time.

My overall rating (for the old, non-EXO version):

• comfort: 5/5 (very supple!)
• grip: 4/5
• speed: 4/5
• noise: 2/5 (noisy, but it's a MTB tire)
• weight: 5/5 (very light in non-EXO casing)
• width: 5/5 (true to size)
• ease of installation: 5/5
• price: 4/5

Rene Herse Umtanum Ridge 650b x 55mm

• ultralight knobby, tubeless-ready tire
• measured width on Velocity Blunt SS rims: ~51.5mm
• measured weight: 553g (standard casing)
• price: $78

All this made me look at other options out there, not that there are many to choose from (but that's another story). Since I was searching for a wide, yet lightweight tire, Rene Herse was a very obvious choice, and as soon as the new "Umtanum Ridge" was announced, I got really excited about it. I finally got a pair last year and been riding on these for the last 8+ months. 

Generally, I'm quite impressed. There is no doubt that these RH tires are of high quality, fast-rolling, very lightweight, and very supple. They provide excellent comfort, good grip, and what I like a lot after switching from Ikons - are very quiet. I mean, they are not silent, but for a knobby tire, the rolling noise is impressively low. Even their high price doesn't seem too bad at the moment. As long as you don't pick the Extralight or Endurace casing, the cost of a single tire, despite not being cheap, is comparable to all other high-end offerings. Over the last 8 months I also have not noticed any sealant seepage through sidewalls and that's typically immediately visible on tan sidewall tires.

Would I buy them again then? Sadly, no. What completely disqualifies them for me is their width. They are simply not 55mm wide. My own measurements on pretty wide (for gravel standards) rims show only 51.5mm. Other reviewers also found the same exact problem. I have also read in the past that RH's other tire, the 26" Rat Trap Pass is reportedly only 2.1" wide, even thought it is rated at 2.3". It seems to me that this is a common issue with many (most?) RH tires. They are simply not wide enough. I also don't buy Jan's explanation that:

"Due to the nature of hand-made tyres using natural rubber, the size can vary batch to batch, but they err on the side of smaller as larger could mean tyres rubbing."

Difference in size between several copies of the same tire could be explained by manufacturing tolerances, if we could find tires both smaller and larger than nominal. But in this case all tires seem to have width far on the low side, indicating RH's manufacturing process is simply way off target. And no - deliberately selling undersized tires because "larger could mean tire rubbing" is not an explanation. This is just BS. No experienced cyclist who is willing to drop $80 on a tire will be happy receiving a falsely-advertised product. If I buy a 55mm wide RH tire, I expect a 55mm (+/-1mm) tire, not a 50mm tire (In fact, if I wanted a 650b x 50mm one, there are many more choices out there).

It seems to me that RH should therefore either, (1) change the sizing on their tires, (2) set the process back on target, or (3) add a note on their website stating "Please be aware that these tires run routinely narrower than advertised". Interestingly, their website shows quite the opposite:

• Actual width on 21 mm rim (internal): approx. 56 mm
• Actual width on 23 mm rim (internal): approx. 57 mm

No idea where this comes from. If this was true, then my copy of tires should be about 60mm wide on 27mm internal width rims. Either I have a bad luck, or Jan must have measured a completely different batch of tires. Anyway, my overall rating (for Standard casing version) is:

• comfort: 5/5 (very comfortable)
• grip: 4/5
• speed: 5/5 (fast)
• noise: 5/5 (very quiet for a knobby tire!)
• weight: 5/5 (light, but it's really a ~50mm tire)
• width: 1/5 (severely undersized)
• ease of installation: 5/5
• price: 3/5 (pricey, but not too terribly for the Standard version)

Ultradynamico Mars JFF 27.5" x 2.22"

• lightweight tire for all road surfaces, tubeless-ready, with centered knobs for reduced noise and increased speed
• measured width on Velocity Blunt SS rims: ~55.5mm
• measured weight: 620g
• price: $65

Now it's 2025 and I'm thinking that I should have stocked on a couple more pairs of non-EXO Ikons back when they were still available. On top of that we have new tariffs on most products from Asia, which means that soon all tires will become more expensive. I'm still riding on RH tires, but it prompted me to think ahead and buy a pair of Ultradynamico Mars JFFs. I have not had a chance yet to try them out, but I installed one briefly and so far they certainly look very promising. They are lightweight and true to size. I think I will just use Umtanums until they wear out and then switch to Mars JFFs for the nearest future.

Here is how both tires look together, on the same rim (RH Umtanum Ridge on the left, Ultradynamico Mars on the right):

My overall rating (so far):

• comfort: TBD
• grip: TBD
• speed: TBD
• noise: TBD
• weight: 5/5
• width: 5/5
• ease of installation: 4/5
• price: 5/5

The general conclusion is that buying tires can be a lottery sometimes. From what I have notices so far, the manufacturing tolerances of Japanese tire brands are typically quite good, but a lot depends on the tooling design. It seems that in many cases brands get it right (See online reviews of RH Fleecer Ridge, a 700c x 55mm tire, showing that it's mostly true to size. My Ultradynamico Cava tires measure 49mm, being rated at 48mm. Both of these are made in Japan). But sometimes the bad happens and the final size ends up being off target. And because changing tooling can be very expensive, the problem gets never corrected and we end up with tires that not perform as expected.

Newport S36O - A quick visit to the north

About a week ago, in the middle of October I finally had a chance to travel somewhere by bike this year. Usually, I try to plan a short bike camping trip in the summer but this year was just so busy that summer was out of the question and even September was not an option. This left me with October as the last chance before temperature drops, rain comes, and winter darkness arrives. The destination this time was the northeastern part of Vermont and some places I have visited before.

October in New England is a very good option for bicycle travel and camping, of course. In fact, it's likely the best time. Not only air temperature is still decent (in fact, 50-70F or 10-20C is the best range for cycling), fall colors are gorgeous, and daylight still long-ish, but there are also no bugs, so exploring New England forests is finally enjoyable. I tried October camping a few years ago, and while it was sunny, I suffered at night. I remember the temperature dropped to just 30F (-1C) and it was too low to be comfortable in a thin summer sleeping bag.

This time I packed up a bit differently, placing a much warmer sleeping bag under the saddle. This meant my tent had to occupy most of the handlebar bag, leaving just a bit of space for clothes. On the other hand, I saved some space by not taking a cooking set. It's just not worth it for such a short trip, especially if staying near town overnight.

Packing up for October weather is a bit tricky because you never truly know what to expect. Nights can be freezing, mornings still very cold, while later in the day when the sun is up it could be almost a short sleeve weather. I checked the forecast, of course. Some rain was possible, but other than that it was supposed to be sunny, but windy.

In the end, it turned out that I overpacked. The tiny, packable waterproof windbreaker was not used, just like it was completely unnecessary to bring winter gloves along. I never used them. They are not heavy but took valuable space in the bag for the remainder of the trip. Other than that, things worked well. Weather was gorgeous and views lovely.

Day 1

I arrived in St Johnsbury, left the car at Park & Ride, and started my ride at 9:30am. It was warmer than expected and after climbing a few hills I had to take off a couple of layers and stuff them in the handlebar bar. Initially, I thought my tempo was somewhat slow but I was steadily making progress and there was no need to rush anywhere. After climbing the highest elevation of the day on New Duck Pond Rd I decided to stop briefly for lunch (a sandwich that I packed with me). And that's where I found this:

The real black bear paw, lying in the middle of the road! Completely puzzled, I tried to figure out what exactly had happened there. It looked new and recently cut off. My best guess is that since it's apparently legal to hunt bears in Vermont, it was probably a trophy, cut off by a hunter that perhaps later fell off the bed of his pickup truck (The paw, I mean. Not the hunter). At least that's what I think. I don't have a better theory at this point.

On the way to Newport I stopped briefly at the Old Stone House Museum (just to see it from the outside) and eventually arrived at my campsite quite early - just before 4pm. The Pine Hill Rd just south of Newport turned out to be slightly disappointing. I mean it has nice views, but it's fully paved now. I have a photographic evidence that it was unpaved back in 2016. Too bad - we lost a nice gravel road then. I will have to look for an alternative route between Barton and Newport the next time.

I stayed at Prouty Beach Campground, which may not be a budget option ($38 for a tent per night), but on the other hand it offers some of the best situated camping spots in the area. Not only they are placed away from the RVs and motorhomes, right by the lake's waterfront where you can enjoy beautiful sunsets, but they all have power outlets available, and even... a wi-fi! I certainly was not expecting a wi-fi connection right from my sleeping bag.

The night was surprisingly warm for mid October upstate (45F or 7C) so it was all very cozy inside the warmer sleeping bag. The main issue turned out the be the wind.

Day 2

I woke up at 6am and could not stay asleep any longer. As it turned out it rained at night, even quite heavily at times, but surprisingly, the bike and tent were almost completely dry in the morning. All because of the 40mph winds from the lake. It was so crazy windy that for the moment I thought my tent was going to take off. It didn't, but folding it and packing up properly was absolutely impossible. I packed up my bags, unhooked the tent and fly from the tent poles and carried everything inside the bathroom facilities. Only there, shielded from wind, I could properly fold everything up and place it inside the bags on bike.

I left campground at 7:30am and made my way north, on the bike path that runs on the east side of the Lake Memphremagog. The lake looked absolutely wild that morning. More like a sea, in fact. I kept going alongside the Canadian border and eventually reached Morgan Country Store to finally grab a hot egg & bacon sandwich to bite. Weather was actually still very nice for this time of the year, a bit cooler than the day before and with much stronger wind, of course. At least the wind from northwest was basically pushing me forward the entire morning.

Approaching Burke, I found out that there is no bridge on Brook Rd so I had to go a bit around but soon I found myself on Darling Hill Rd where all of the famous Burke Kingdom Trails begin. It was a good moment to stop for lunch, especially that Village Sport Shop not only sells and fixes bicycles, but also serves beer and somewhat decent sandwiches. The place was packed with mountain bikers and I noticed that my rig attracted some attention, probably because it looked completely out of place - no suspension, with bunch of strapped bags, and on (by their standards) too narrow tires.

I continued downhill to Lyndonville and then after a few more climbs I arrived back at St Johnsbury around 4pm.

Generally, it was fun. I really like bike touring in October. This year we got totally spoiled though. Essentially, since the 3rd week of August until now (and still going) we are having a streak of perfect weather - warm but not hot, sunny with little rain, and with those lovely fall colors. You could travel around New England for 2 months straight and likely not have enough. Let's hope the next year will also be like this.

Gear shifting - electronic or not?

However you look at it, it's 2024 and electronic gear shifting is now available to masses. There is no need to pay $700 for just the rear derailleur only. Thanks to new groupsets, like SRAM Apex, a 12-speed electronic rear mech can be had for "as little" as $270. So when the prices keep dropping and everyone around you raves about how great button-shifting is, you start to wonder - should I go for it?

 

First of all, there is no denying that electronic shifting comes with measurable benefits. Two main ones are precision and speed. These systems can change gears faster than mechanical indexed setups. In terms of precision - the best way to understand the difference is to try shifting a 9-speed and 12-speed cassette with a friction shifter. Since the 7, 8, and 9-speed cassettes used wider chains and had wider spacing between cogs, there was simply a lot more travel required to move the chain between these cogs. This means there was much more tolerance to the position of chain. A slightly misaligned chain would still run through cogs just fine. Not so with a 12-speed cassette. Cogs are now spaced so tightly that a narrower chain is needed and that means much shorter jumps between cogs and much less tolerance to chain misposition. 

Spacing and sprocket width of typical Shimano cassettes. Source: BikeGremlin

 

The situation becomes more challenging the more cogs you pack on the cassette and that will require higher shifting precision that mechanical systems may won't be able to provide. This makes me predict that 13-speed derailleurs may be the last ones to be offered in the mechanical version. Everything beyond that will be electronic-only. Now keep in mind that I'm writing it from a standpoint of someone who has 3 bikes, none of which use electronic shifting, 2 of them still run 9-speed cassettes, with one using friction shifting. So yes, I'm way behind the newest tech.

 

As you can tell right now, I decided that despite the obvious benefits, electronic shifting is not for me. At least not right now. The reasons are:

Price

Yes, prices came down quite a bit. For a simple 1x drivetrain, the most expensive components are the rear derailleur and shifters. These entry-level components will still cost you about $500-$600 total. That's a good chunk of money and everyone needs to decide if it's worth it. But price may be just a minor problem. The next one is...

Battery

Note that I didn't say battery life, but battery in general. Of course, there is a non-zero chance that you may run out of battery to your "gearbox" during your ride, but the bigger problem for me is the existence of battery in the first place. I see bikes as simple machines. One of the major advantages over other means of transport is that bicycles don't require fuel and only very little maintenance. Once you throw in battery to the mix, you complicate things unnecessarily. Now you have to think about "fueling" your bike before the ride. Now the "it just works anytime" mode is gone. You sacrifice simplicity for the sake of precision and speed. You need to decide, which one is more important to you.

Reliability

This may not be a burning problem for you, as modern components are generally quite reliable, but certainly increased level of complexity over purely mechanical systems means that chances of something going wrong go up. After all, an electronic derailleur contains not just circuit boards, but also battery, motors, wireless communication, mechanical systems, etc. It's like the Charles Lindbergh situation - when asked why he wanted to fly across Atlantic in a single engine plane, he replied that with 2 engines chances of something going wrong are doubled.

Compatibility

This is the big reason why I'm still resisting. Once you dive into the electronic groupset, you are stuck as these components are only compatible with their own kind. That's not a problem if you are buying the entire groupset for your bike, but if you like to mix and match, you will run into issues. On the other hand, mechanical systems, especially when running on friction shifting, give you all the setup freedom you want. Comparing the the world of computer operating systems, electronic shifting is like MacOS - works great, is fast, precise, easy to learn, but also costs more and locks you in. Basically, you sacrifice some of your freedom for the convenience of use. On the other hand, friction shifting a mechanical derailleur is like Linux - a much steeper learning curve, less precise, but free and with complete compatibility and freedom.

Looks

Finally, there is a beauty problem. Let's be honest - these modern electronic derailleurs are ugly. First of all, they are all black. Gone are the classic, polished silver components. Next, due to integrated battery they look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame (the rear ones) or a British Royal Guard in a comically oversized hat (the front ones). There is no subtlety in these designs.

Shimano GRX Di2 rear derailleur - looks like Robocop's mechanical arm

SRAM Force eTap front mech - is it a tumor?

So there you have it. Some of you will consider these to be unimportant and irrelevant. That's ok - everyone has different priorities. For now, I'm perfectly happy with my oldie, friction 2x9 setup and I don't really need anything "better".

Indoor trainers or outdoor rides?

It's winter time so some of you are likely still in hibernation mode, which means parking your bike in the garage until it gets warmer again to ride. Others, myself included, will keep riding as long as it's reasonably dry outside (i.e. it's not pouring heavily at the moment). Then, there is a third group that will not ride outside, but use an indoor trainer instead.

The new and fancy Garmin Tacx 3M for as little as... $2000. (Source: garmin.com)

I don't like indoor trainers and find them pointless, but I think I understand why they may be an attractive option for some cyclists. I'm guessing that there are at least 3 main technical reasons why someone would use an indoor trainer:

1. Bad weather. This one is most obvious. Some people don't like riding when it's cold, icy, snowy, rainy, etc.
2. No "winter bike". Some people only have 1 bike (impossible!) and they don't want to expose their nice, expensive bike to road salt, mud, etc.
3. No place to properly clean a bike. Some people live in apartments or tighter spaces that lack facilities to clean the bike after a ride. Knowing that I can simply use a garden hose to wash my bike right after, makes me want to ride it more in winter time.

But then there is another, important, philosophical reason why some prefer indoor trainers, while others would never use them. It's the answer to a question - why we ride?

It's basically a difference between racing or more competitive riding and touring or "romantic cycling". You simply need to ask yourself - what's the goal of my riding? If the goal is the destination and you want to get there as fast as you can, then you are racing and in this case your body output and power will be important to you. An indoor trainer will help you stay fit, well-trained and maintain peak performance through those gloomy winter months.

The other answer is - my goal is the journey, the ride itself. The destination is not only secondary, it's actually something unwanted because it ends my ride. I want to travel, see places, take pictures, spend time in nature. In that case an indoor trainer is as useless as two chopsticks to eat a soup. A trainer won't take you to places. You will be stuck in your room, spinning cranks and staring at a wall.

Liberating Limitations

We live in interesting times - the times of many opportunities. We have a chance to go to more places than our grandparents ever could. We can do more things, as they are generally more accessible to us. We have more options to buy and own various stuff than before.

And yet, sometimes it feels that this variety, this accessibility, these opportunities are overwhelming. Not that I would like someone to make decisions for myself, but I do get a feeling that less is more and limitations can be... liberating.

Take cameras, for example. I always take one on every bike ride. If I want something small, it's my Ricoh GRIII. If I have space for something larger, it's my Fuji with a 35mm lens. That's it. No multiple choices. No zooms. Small and simple. One focal length to do it all. At first, this looks like a severe limitation. You may think that you need to be able to take ultrawide angle pictures of landscapes and close ups of distant wildlife, all on the same 50 mile trip. No, you don't. It actually better to limit yourself to one focal length and learn how to see the world through just one lens. You won't take all pictures, but you will take some good ones.

Ricoh GRIII with a single focal length built-in lens - limiting yet wonderful.

Back to bicycles - single-speed bikes are liberating in some sense. Not having to think about gear shifting keeps it simple. You can focus on your ride and surroundings only. Just push on pedals and go. If you can't go - walk your bike uphill. It's not a race and you are not in rush.

If that's too much for you and you really want to keep your gearing, that's fine. It's useful in most situations. However, I found out that those modern, multi-speed systems are not needed to day-to-day riding. Unless you race, there really is no need for a 12-speed cassette and top of the line shifters. In fact, my adventure bike has a simple 2x9 speed setup with friction shifting. That sounds ancient and is not something that most cyclists would be willing to try, but again, it's liberating. It works with any derailleur, from any brand, is cross-compatible with most mechanical components, and is so simple that there is basically no way to break it. I mean, a friction shifter is built of 3 main parts that pretty much can't fail in normal conditions. May not feel or look fancy, but it is in fact a true zombie-apocalypse-ready gearing.

Simple friction shifter - works with anything.

Sometimes it's just not necessary to overcomplicate things!