Bicycle Quarterly: Spring Issue

Our readers eagerly anticipate each issue of Bicycle Quarterly. The wait is almost over: The Spring 2013 issue will be mailed this week.
Many of us want to know: What makes your bike significantly faster? Perhaps the most influential research in over ten years of Bicycle Quarterly has been on tire performance. Six years after that ground-breaking research, we focus once again on the performance of tires. We use a new methodology to test tires on a smooth track surface. We answer (almost) every question you may have about tires.
Which tire rolls fastest, which rolls slowest? How does tire pressure influence tire performance on smooth and rough roads?

Are tubular tires faster than clinchers? What is the optimum inflation pressure for your tires? How does the tread pattern of your tire influence its cornering traction? We also provide a large table that compares every tire model we have tested.

Professional racing bikes have changed a lot in recent decades: Virtually no part of a 2013 racer remains interchangeable with a machine from 1963, with one exception: Then as now, most professionals ride on hand-made tubular tires. We visited FMB to learn why the pros still prefer tires that are made the traditional way. We also bring you a photo feature that shows step-by-step how FMB makes tires entirely by hand.

Bicycle Quarterly is as much about inspiration as it is about research and technology. In the Spring issue, Tim Bird takes us on another wonderful adventure in Yorkshire.

We test a custom-built randonneur bike from Johnny Coast with beautiful “bi-laminate” half-lugs.

In our Builders Speak series, Mike Kone of Boulder Bicycles examines when superlight frame tubing is appropriate, and which riders should select stiffer frame tubing. He discusses shimmy, riding no-hands (photo above) and other important considerations.

We test a number of products, including leather handlebar tape, a CNC-machined taillight and Tire Savers (above).
As always, there is the Readers’ Forum and My Favorite Bike. Click here for a full table of contents.
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