Tread patterns are the most noticeable part of a tire, yet there seems to be little agreement of what makes a good tire tread. With road tires, some are completely slick. Others have small scallops or longitudinal lines. Off-road, some tires have knobs that are round, others are square, or...
All of us wish you a great 2026 with health, happiness and many great rides! Jan, Natsuko & the RH team
Looking over the most popular articles in the RH Journal this year, our front derailleur made it into the top five! Clearly, this unusual derailleur has caused quite a stir: It's operated directly via a lever behind the seat tube. Derailleurs don't get more analog than this! Readers liked that the...
All of us at Rene Herse Cycles wish you Happy Holidays! We are grateful for your support during the past year. We look forward to being part of your rides and adventures in 2026! Natsuko, Jan & the Rene Herse team
As holiday and year-end preparations are winding down, it's a great time to head out and spend some time away from it all. That's the idea behind the Good Night 2025 Bikepacking Overnighter. In collab with bikepacking.com, we invite everybody to slip away for a quiet night under the stars...
It's no secret that we love classic bikes at Rene Herse Cycles. In fact, classics are one reason Rene Herse Cycles was reborn in the Cascade Mountains. Jaye Haworth and I rode a 1946 René Herse tandem in the 2003 Paris-Brest-Paris—and received the trophy for the fastest mixed tandem.
We just received a small shipment of our ultra-soft Merino Wool Jerseys... That's a good opportunity to revisit why we go through the trouble of making our favorite jerseys in tiny numbers: They are a key component for our rides and adventures. It's no exaggeration to say that these...
The dashboard for our website lists our most popular articles for the day, month, year and all-time. It's fun to see that some older articles have real staying power. That's the beauty of good science and good history—it doesn't become outdated quickly. Here are four articles that continue to be...
The recent furor around 'privatizing' the last kilometers of famous mountain stages in the Tour de France, and charging admission, has died down a bit. For now, those ideas have been dismissed by Tour organizers... In all those discussions of how free viewing is an essential part of the Tour...
Gifting is about giving and receiving joy. Ideally, both giver and recipient are equally excited about the gift. That's where it can get tricky for us cyclists—how do we explain to our family and friends that bike parts make ideal gifts? Here's a slightly tongue-in-check guide on how to make...
Most of us have been there: During the cycling season, we head out for rides and adventures whenever we can, and maintenance is reduced to checking that there's enough air in the tires, and maybe a quick glance at the brake pads... And then we suddenly realize that we haven't...
We’ve extended the deadline to pre-order the Rene Herse canti brakes at the old price, until Sunday (11/30/2025). It’s our way of saying ‘Thanks’ to all who help us keep rim brakes alive and well. After that, the price will go up 10%. The last production run was a few years...
Together with our friends at bikepacking.com, we invite everybody to slip away for a quiet night under the stars sometime between the winter solstice and the new year (December 19–31). That's the idea of the Good Night 2025 Campout: As the year winds down, riders everywhere will pedal out for...
Wide tires on performance bikes. A new understanding of front-end geometry. A different view of frame stiffness. Of course, we didn't do it all alone... And yet, when we started researching these topics, they weren't on anybody's radar. It may comes as a surprise that we didn't set out to...
Our long-awaited shipments have (finally) arrived. The ship actually arrived almost three weeks ago... With all the new tariffs, the custom's people are overworked, and it can take weeks to inspect and clear a shipment. Here is what's back in stock: Fenders If you've been anywhere near the West...
The crowdfunding for the Rene Herse canti brakes has been a resounding success. Over the weekend, we blew through the 75 pre-orders that made another forging run for these brakes possible. A big 'Thank You!' to all of you who stepped up to the plate! In this day...
The new Bicycle Quarterly has come off the press. Copies are in the mail to subscribers all over the world. And we've got the new edition in stock at Rene Herse Cycles, too. If you're BQ-curious, you can just add a copy to your order of components, books or other...
A few weeks ago, Ted King rode across the entire state of Vermont on the epic VTXL bikepacking route, a non-stop ride of 301 miles (484 km). The route takes in many 'Class IV' dirt roads, a local designation that, as route creator Joe Cruz describes, "indicates a public right...
Update: The crowdfunding was successful. Thank you! The brakes are now in production. They will be delivered in March 2026. As a company, we don't like asking our customers for favors. We hope you'll buy our products (and read Bicycle Quarterly) because they make your cycling experience better and more fun—and...
As much as I love my carbon gravel and road bikes, it's the steel rando bike that gets ridden the most these days. The reason is simple: Here is Seattle, it gets dark early, and the weather is unpredictable. Having a bike that I can just roll out of the...
When Velo-News recently talked about '7 Road Bike Trends We Expect in 2026,' TPU tubes were on their list: "You’re going to swap your tubeless setup for a TPU tube," predicted tech editor Alvin Holbrook. He continued: "Why would someone want to swap...
The Autumn Bicycle Quarterly is coming off the press this week. And in case you wondered based on the photo above: We aren't going to publish the first bike magazine with a cover that doesn't show a cyclist at all! Here's the full cover: This is one of my favorite covers...
The European Tire and Rim Technical Organization (ETRTO) usually works behind the scenes. If you look at the the sidewalls of a car tire, you see a bunch of numbers like P185/70R14. Those are the ETRTO specs of the tire, and they guarantee that you can buy a tire almost...
Tire manufacture is a bit of a black art. Rubber for the tread is mixed and rolled out in huge sheets like making pies in a giant bakery. The casing fabric is impregnated with a different kind of rubber. Then everything gets assembled by hand, together with puncture-proof layers (on...
We've been waiting for a few big shipments that will fill holes on our shelves. One of them just arrived; the others are scheduled in early November. We're taking pre-orders now, so you'll be among the first to get your long-awaited parts. Why were so many parts out of stock? Rando,...
Good news: Sofiane Sehili, the world-famous ultra-distance cyclist, will be released from Russian prison shortly. Here is the update from his partner Fanny Bensussan: “Sofiane’s court hearing was today. Our Russian lawyer did remarkable work to get a decision as quickly as possible—and a positive decision, too! We kept all this...
The wait is over! All casings of the new Poteau Mountain semi-slicks are in stock. That means you can get our revolutionary semi-slick tread, with its round profile and gradual transition from slick center to side knobs, in the two most popular widths—44 and 48 mm—with a choice of casings...
Ever since waxing chains has become popular again, some proponents say that everybody should wax their chains, all the time. They usually point to the (marginally) lower resistance of a waxed chain compared to lube. Yet others prefer to wet-lube their chains, as they've done for decades. Their reasoning is...
And they are off! As we post this, the riders of this year's Arkansas High Country Race are on the road. Headed by well-known racers like Tour Divide winner Justinas Leveika, Matt Pike, Nick Elliott, Andy Zolyak and Bryan Dougherty, they are racing not just for the win, but also...
"I'll ride Salida to the Sea in September. After that event, I won't be far from Seattle. Perhaps we can go for a ride together?" A message from Adrien Liechti, the Swiss bikepacker, ultra-racer and adventurer. Adrien is famous for his monumental mustache, his fun-loving attitude, and sense of humor....
Why would we make a video showing how to install tubes? For most of us, that was one of the first things we learned when we started cycling! Well, for most of us, that was also a long time ago. Since then, rims have changed. Tubes have changed. And tube installation...
Every summer, I'm a guest on my friend Gerolf Meyer's popular German podcast 'Antritt.' This year, we spoke about what it takes to make tires. How do you develop tires? What are the considerations when you choose casings, tread rubber and other materials? How do you get the tires made?...
One reason we're working with racers and also enter events ourselves is R&D: It's the best way to check whether our ideas, calculations and tests work in the real world. There's a second reason why we love races: They're great fun. The Arkansas High Country Race ticks both boxes: The course...
The national championships! Which American bike racer doesn't dream of donning the stars-and-stripes jersey for a year? (I once came close, as a student, when our team finished a very close second at Collegiate Nationals.) The opportunity to race against the very best is a wonderful challenge. The championships are...
An eagerly awaited shipment showed up at the Rene Herse headquarters here in Seattle. All TPU tubes and the innovative TPU sealant are back in stock. However, with pre-orders taken care of, some models are already running low again. Why has production still not caught up with demand, more than a...
At Rene Herse Cycles, racing is an important part of our R&D. It helps us improve our products. Racing inspires us to make our tires faster and grippier. Racing helps us to create reliable tires that withstand the toughest courses and highest power outputs. And once a tire is released,...
Some of you may already have heard that Sofiane Sehili, the bikepacker and ultra-cyclist, has been detained in Russia at the end of his World Record Attempt. Here is what happened: As the clock ticked toward 64 days, 2 hours and 26 minutes—the current record for cycling all the way across...
Recently, I talked to a famous racer who is planning an attempt for an FKT (Fastest Known Time) over a bikepacking route. We discussed timing: During the summer months, there was heat and smoke to contend with. "But if I wait until late September, the days are getting short," worried...
If you've been at a big gravel race lately, you may have noticed some unfamiliar tires on the bikes of racers like Ted King, Brennan Wertz and Jenna Rinehart. Well, they are now official: The 700x48 Poteau Mountain uses the same patented technology as our revolutionary 44 mm Corkscrew Climb...
A huge congrats to Meaghan Hackinen, first woman across the line in the 2025 Silk Road Mountain Race, and 10th overall in a field stacked with the world's fastest ultra racers. The Silk Road is arguably the hardest of the three 'Mountain' races, traversing the high mountains of Kyrgyzstan on...
What is going on at Rene Herse Cycles? One day we talk about the latest Enve carbon wheels and why they have hooks again. And then, just a few days later, we introduce a direct-lever derailleur that is about as far from modern carbon...
Enve raised quite a few eyebrows with their new SES 4.5 Pro wheels. Made specifically for Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar and his UAE Team Emirates, the new wheels are narrower than their predecessors. They also incorporate a bead hook, after years of hookless Enve wheels. What is going...
And they are off! The Silk Road Mountain Race started yesterday. As I'm writing this, it's already heating up to become an exciting race, with the top-three riders just a few kilometers apart as they traverse the inhospitable mountains of Kyrgyzstan. In 9th overall, and first woman, is Meaghan Hackinen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4aPXsU5p68 Just...
When Sofiane Sehili set out from the southern tip of Portugal 44 days ago, he knew that trying to ride all the way across Europe and Asia in record time would be an adventure. That was part of the appeal. As Sofiane put it: "This route starts in the familiar—Europe—and...
The Bicycle Quarterly fundraiser for children in need was a big success! Thanks to all who bought subscriptions, past editions of Bicycle Quarterly, as well as our books The All-Road Bike Revolution and Rene Herse: The Bikes • The Builder • The Riders, we raised $ 10,422...
This is just a short note about two shipments we received. Our popular TPU tubes are back in stock. Even more than a year after we introduced these superlight and superfast tubes with patented leak-proof all-metal valves, demand outstrips the production capacities of our supplier in Germany at times. A...
Originally, today's article was going to be about small details that matter, like the position of the headlight for descending gravel roads in the dark. Then Becca Book won the Dark Divide 300 on Fleecer Ridge tires after a tough race. That's certainly a cause for celebration. But there are...
On Sunday, I was chatting with Ted KIng. The Tour de France had just ended, and Ted compared this year's Tour with the ones he raced a dozen years ago. "What an exciting race!" exclaimed Ted. "There were so many highlights. Take Stage 20: For Kaden Groves, a guy who...
After years of R&D, the new SON Ladelux headlights are here! It's fair to say that these are the ultimate generator-powered bicycle headlights. The goal was simple: Make a headlight that has a high and a low beam, and that allows charging your electronics by directly plugging them into the...
On July 1, Sofiane Sehili left the westernmost tip of Portugal to embark on his biggest adventure yet: Ride more than 16,000 km (10,000 miles) to traverse two continents, all the way to Vladivostok on the eastern edge of Siberia. Now on the 20th day of his ride, Sofiane has covered...
That's how Marie Autrey characterized Bicycle Quarterly in a 2009 article in Bicycle Times. She was referring to our research and also our style of riding, predicting (correctly) that both would soon have a lasting impact on mainstream cycling. Back then, our findings that wide tires could be as fast...
A few weeks ago, we talked about our love of cyclotouring, and I alluded to the fact that the bike industry's focus on racing has neglected R&D in some important areas. Let's look at what that means in practice. With the Tour de France happening...
On July 1, Sofiane left southern Portugal to embark on his biggest adventure yet: a world record attempt for the crossing of Euroasia. Sofiane has 64 days to cover the distance of more than 16,000 km (10,000 miles) to Vladivostok in eastern Siberia. After a somewhat...
Our hearts go out to the people of the Texas Hill Country after the devastating flash floods. Far too many children have died in recent years all over the world. Each of them is incredibly precious. Last week’s events hit close to home for me. This is where I started racing...
Some events are so famous that the name recognition is a big part of the appeal. Boston Marathon, Kona Ironman and Unbound Gravel are household names that speak for themselves and command respect. And to be honest, these events are famous for a reason. With people coming together from all...
This is just a brief notice that all Rene Herse tires are back in stock. This includes the 700x38 Barlow Pass and 700x44 Snoqualmie Pass Extralights that have been out of stock, as well as our popular 700x44 Corkscrew Climb semi-slicks. More TPU tubes are on...
Yesterday, SBT GRVL confirmed its place as one of the most important events on the U.S. gravel calendar. The field read like a veritable Who's Who of gravel racing, with all the big stars lining up for the 116.9-mile pro race in the mountains near Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The race...
Just a few weeks ago, we suggested that the UCI might limit tire widths for road bikes in the future. Apparently, we weren't too far off: Now the UCI has announced new rules regulating the width of ... handlebars. A closer look at the...
The bicycle world tends to focus on racing. If you look at mainstream cycling news websites, you might think that cycling is a spectator sport centered around the big European races. These days, even gravel seems to focus more on professional racers than on the joys of exploring small roads...
"What is the hardest ride you've done," I sometimes get asked. Usually I demur. I ride to discover beautiful places, to enjoy the flow of beautiful climbs and descents (on gravel or pavement)—and, yes, to explore the limits of what my body (and mind) are capable of doing. But I...
Summer hasn't quite started yet, but I've decided to head out for a big adventure: I'll ride the Oregon Cascades Volcanic Arc, a bikepacking route created by Ryan Francesconi as an alternative to the Oregon Outback. Where the Outback is all about the wide-open spaces of eastern Oregon, the OCVA...
Is there anything more boring than tariffs these days? With everything going on in the world, it seems selfish to focus so much on price increases. Unless you run a company, of course. At that point, tariffs are a fact of life, like all other taxes, too. Taxes usually don't...
If anybody had doubts whether gravel is still growing, this year's Unbound answered that question with a definitive "Yes!" Never before has Unbound seen so many top-level racers, so many product launches, so much media coverage. The race itself is one of the most fascinating on the calendar, too, because...
Four days and seven hours later, and Meaghan Hackinen has won the Hellenic Mountain Race, finishing ninth overall. Not just that, she's also pulverized the women's record for this ultra-tough event by eleven hours. On a course that climbs (and descends) 27,800 meters (91,200 ft)—with no flat sections to recover...
In our series about changes at Unbound over the years, we talk today with Jenna Rinehart. Riding for the Rene Herse gravel team this year, 2025 will be Jenna's third Unbound. Many things have changed in just three short years: During this period, Unbound stopped mixing men and women pelotons....
If you are like me, you probably have a love-hate relationship with pumps. First of all, using a pump usually means we've had a flat tire, and nobody likes those. (Fortunately that happens very rarely these days.) I guess I should love the pump at that point, since it gets...
The new Bicycle Quarterly is at the printer. Make sure your subscription is current by the end of May 18, 2025—then you'll be among the first to get your copy, straight off the press. And you'll want to read this edition: filled with inspiration, information and fun—with 108 pages of...
Congratulations to national gravel champion Brennan Wertz for winning the legendary King Ridge Hopper in Sonoma County last Saturday. Here is Brennan's story: “The King Ridge Hopper has a unique format that included time segments, but also a bit of a group tactics as we started the segments together in small...
There are rides and races that we want to do because they are famous. Riding over the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix or the dusty strade bianche of Tuscany once in our lives is something many of us dream of. That's why there are amateur versions of these races. Part of the...
Our post about the new tariffs and what they mean for the bike industry has been our most popular article—ever. In fact, several bike industry contacts have told me that the article has been required reading for their employees. It's clear that there's a...
Many of our international customers wonder what happens when they order from Rene Herse Cycles these days. Especially Canadian customers may worry about the reciprocal 25% tariff that's imposed on many imports from the U.S. The good news is that those tariffs affect only products that originate in the U.S. Most...
This is just a quick notice that we'll do the last mailing of Bicycle Quarterly 87 next week: One more chance to start your subscription with this exciting edition. Some readers may wonder: Why do we print a paper magazine in this digital age? Especially when we also publish the online...
A few days ago, a message from Andy Kessler landed in my inbox. The subject line said: "Your tires rock!" The message itself just contained a photo, of an unpainted carbon bike equipped with our Corkscrew Climb semi-slicks. Andy is of course co-owner of the iconic bicycle brand OPEN, together with...
Congratulations to Jenna Rinehart for an excellent race at this year's first American race in the UCI Gravel World Series. Placing second at the Highlands Gravel Classic in Fayetteville, AR, Jenna also qualified for the UCI Gravel World Championships in the Netherlands later this year. After the race, Jenna reported: "I...
My 1992 Subaru Legacy gained some unexpected notoriety when it was stolen and recovered thanks to Instagram and the vigilance of a BQ reader who saw it parked by the roadside while riding to work. Thank you, Zach! It's hard to describe how relieved I was to get my car back—it's...
Ted King isn't just one of the most successful gravel racers of all time—he also hosts the popular podcast 'King of the Ride.' In the most recent episode, he invited me to talk about, well, everything and anything related to making your bike faster. We explore why aero socks are...
For quite a while now, the Rene Herse 700x44 Snoqualmie Pass has been the fastest wide tire (>32 mm) on www.bicyclerollingresistance.com, a popular website that tests tire performance. Every month, they test new tires—recently Pirelli's latest P Zero Race TLR SpeedCore that now comes in a 40 mm width—but none...
The days are getting longer here in Seattle, but one thing never seems to change: We're too optimistic with our ride plans. More than once have we returned home as twilight was fading into complete darkness. That's when a visibility vest comes in handy. Especially in the city, with so...
Tire choice used to be simple: If you wanted to go fast, you rode narrow tires and ran them at high pressures. If you valued comfort and didn't mind giving up speed, you went with wider tires. Not anymore! When we published our book The All-Road Bike Revolution, we recommended...
If you've followed gravel racing, you've noticed that some of the biggest and most prominent teams have been riding on Rene Herse tires. This wasn't a paid sponsorship agreement—these teams simply chose Rene Herse tires to give their riders the best chance at winning. That's how Lauren de Crescenzo's Cinch...
Tubeless or TPU tubes? Cyclists choose tubeless setups mainly for one reason: The sealant inside the tire seals small punctures caused by glass shards and tiny steel wires. (For mountain biking, a reduction of pinch flats is even more important. For road and most gravel cycling, wide tires have made...
Today's post was going to be about a new product we're introducing—but we need to hold off while we recalculate our prices. You've probably seen the news: Virtually all imports into the United States will be subjected to additional, steep import taxes, also called tariffs. The goal is to radically re-orient...
Many riders love our new 700C x 44 mm Corkscrew Climb semi-slicks. They've have been so popular that supply can't always keep up with demand, and they've been out of stock for a few weeks. We just received another shipment. All back-orders have been sent out, and limited quantities of...
April 1, 2025 In a surprise move, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) today handed down its latest technical rule: Effective immediately, road bikes are limited to a maximum tire width of 31 mm. The new rule has been rumored for a long time. As more pro racers started using 30 mm tires,...
Last year, we published our Scientific Guide to Choosing Gravel Tires. It was a summary of our and others' research into what makes tires fast, grippy and reliable—and not an advertorial for Rene Herse tires. (We figure that our tires speak for themselves...) It's been one of our most popular...
We're starting a new program, trading no-longer-functional Ergopower levers for brand-new Rene Herse tires. We'll rebuild the levers into pure analog brake levers. We plan to offer the refurbished levers in our program. That's less wasteful and better for the environment than developing new brake levers from scratch. Why analog brake...
It's no secret that prices are expected to go up again in the near future. There are three main reasons for this: Tariffs—essentially a tax on imports—will increase costs. This will not only affect imported goods, but also things made with imported parts, or with imported tools. Exchange rates: The value...
We started making components because nobody made what we needed for our rides. Way back, it started with supple, wide tires. I still remember the incredulous look of the engineers at one supplier when we showed them the specs for the tires we wanted to make. "What kind of rider...
Update 11/2025: Zipp now has added Rene Herse 44 mm tires (smooth, semi-slick, dual-purpose knobbies) to their official list of approved tires for the 303 XPLR rims. Zipp latest gravel wheels, introduced last year, went into uncharted territory: The 303 XPLR rims measure a...
Today's bikepacking races like the Tour Divide or the Atlas Mountain Race, but also Unbound XL and the Arkansas High Country Race, share the ethos of randonneuring events: They are self-supported long-distance rides. They include equal parts of adventure and performance. And they do without the sole focus on winners...
Today we celebrate all the women who have inspired us—in cycling, in life, in the world. Here are a few of the women who have been part of the Rene Herse family—both literally and figuratively—since the beginning in 1938. Marcelle Herse (right) was not just a strong cyclist herself, but also...
Tubeless is great for many applications, but it comes with the hassle of having to top up sealant frequently. If you don’t ride on debris-strewn highway shoulders (where the sealant will seal small punctures from glass and steel wires) and if your tires are wide enough (so you don’t get...
This is just a short note that the Corkscrew Climb semi-slicks are back in stock in all casings. Demand for the new tires has been so great that they ran out before production could catch up. Quantities are still limited, so there is a limit of 4 tires per order....
Brennan Wertz started the 2025 race season on a high note: The reigning U.S. Gravel national champion won the 90-mile (150 km) Huffmaster Hopper in northern California. A punchy mixed-surface race with 5,000 feet (1,500 m) of climbing near the Snow Mountain Wilderness, the Huffmaster Hopper is known for its...
Demand for the new 700C x 44 Corkscrew Climb semi-slicks has far outpaced our expectations. We have sold out of the Endurance casing, and other models are running low. A small quantity with Endurance casings is on the way to Seattle—we expect them in 7-10 days. We are now taking...
A short trip to Japan, to visit family, friends and suppliers, was a welcome break from Seattle's winter. It's always fun to immerse ourselves into the vibrant cycling culture that inspires us in so many ways. One highlight of recent trips to Japan is riding with Makoto Ayano, the founder...
We returned from Japan just a couple of weeks ago, but so much has happened since then that it almost seems like we were there during the last century. With this onslaught of news, it can be hard to maintain our sanity. In difficult times, we must find our inner...
We developed the 700C x 31 mm Orondo Grade tires for riders like Ted King and Brennan Wertz, who had grown to love supple Rene Herse tires on their gravel and all-road bikes, and now wanted to experience the same comfort and speed on their road bikes. And they wanted...
We received another shipment of chainrings, and now we have all Rene Herse cranks, in all configurations, back in stock. That includes 15 different crankarms, 26 different chainrings, custom chainring and crank bolts, pedal washers and more. Why do we go through all the trouble to offer so many combinations—and...
Early on Wednesday morning local time in Morocco, Marei Moldenhauer won the 1,300 km Atlas Mountain Race in record time. For 4 days, 14 hours and 20 minutes, Marei rode and pushed her bike over the rough dirt tracks that criss-cross the Atlas and Anti-Atlas Mountains, climbing more than 30,000...
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