Unbound, the gravel race across the Flint Hills of Kansas, keeps getting bigger with every year—in every way. This year, more than 5,000 riders lined up in various categories to test their stamina, skill and speed. I don't know whether Unbound is the world's biggest gravel race, but it certainly...
Thank you to all our readers and customers who've made our charity drive a success. We were able to round up a bit—also to take into account subscriptions that came in after the deadline—and donate $ 2000 to Doctors Without Borders. Thank you to everybody! If you missed the
Update: Thanks to the great response to the charity drive, we've extended it by a day. It also covers renewals to Bicycle Quarterly subscriptions. Cycling is a wonderful part of our lives, and it's fun to talk about fascinating bike tech and inspiring adventures. At the same time, as cyclists, we...
Why do people ride 355 miles on hilly gravel roads? On the face of it, Unbound XL seems a little crazy. Perhaps something you suffer through so you can tell the tale afterward? Actually, quite to the contrary, it can be hugely enjoyable, because it combines endorphins, beautiful landscapes and...
What do you pack for a 350-mile gravel race into the Flint Hills of Kansas? There are two philosophies: Pack light and buy what you need on the road. That's the classic bikepacking strategy. For races that last a week or longer, you simply have to resupply on the road. Bring most...
Yesterday's post about my Unbound XL bike mentioned tire pressure: 21 psi (1.5 bar). That is very low. In fact, it's about 20% less than the 'soft' value from the Rene Herse tire pressure calculator. Should we all run our tires that low? Not necessarily—what works for...
The Flint Hills are totally different from the Cascade Mountains where I usually ride, but equally fascinating. Flying here yesterday, Kansas seemed flat, but the Flint Hills are anything but. The climbs are shorter, but relentless. The rocks are chunky and can be sharp. The climate is hotter, especially at...
Today, Wired magazine published an article titled: "Your Bike Tires Are Too Skinny. Riding on Fat, Supple Tires Is Just Better." It's not like we don't know this already—after all, Tadej Pogačar is currently dominating the Giro d'Italia on 28 mm tires. Rubber that wide was considered appropriate only for...
Just in time for bikepacking season (and for the long brevets), we received a restock of the wonderful generator hubs and lights from Schmidt in Germany. It's no exaggeration to say that these hubs and lights have changed the way we ride. Having lights available anytime, at the flip of...
Summer is finally arriving in Seattle, and the rides and adventures that we've been dreaming of all winter are approaching. It's an exciting time, full of training, preparation and anticipation. This year, my calendar is organized around a few big races. I love that these races are fixed dates on...
The days when all we needed on a ride was a spare tube that fit into a tiny underseat bag are in the distant past. Today's rides are longer and venture further off the beaten path. That means carrying several tubes—just in case—plus some food and a rainshell. We need...
The courses for Unbound Gravel 2024, the famous race across the Flint Hills of Kansas, were announced today. This year, the race heads north from Emporia, where the gravel is rougher and the hills are steeper and longer than in the south. We've asked two of the pro racers who...
To celebrate 85 years of Rene Herse Cycles, we're offering some of our most popular models as Limited Editions with all-black Endurance casings. Because some bikes, like the 'Super Fern' from our friends in Berlin, Germany, simply look better with black tires. We've just received a big tire shipment that...
Tadej Pogačar is the undisputed star of pro cycling this year. After winning the Volta a Catalunya, Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in dominant fashion, he's the favorite for the Giro d'Italia that starts on Saturday. That may not come as a surprise if you are following pro cycling: Pogačar has...
On Saturday, Jenna Rinehart and Brennan Wertz won Elite women's and men's categories at the UCI Highlands Gravel Classic in Arkansas, which guarantees each a spot at the UCI Gravel World Championships in Belgium. It was an exciting race over 68 miles (109 km) with more than 7,000 ft (2,100...
Rene Herse TPU tubes are back in stock. The first production run sold out in less than 24 hours. We have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, we are happy that so many customers share our excitement about the new TPU tubes. On the other hand, we consider our...
We're excited to announce a few new products in the Rene Herse program. For a while now, we've been working with Schmidt in Germany, the makers of SON generator hubs and Edelux headlights, to make a taillight that mounts in various places on a bike. The result is this taillight...
More than half a century after the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, there has been much progress, and yet the world we live and ride in faces more challenges than ever before. At Rene Herse Cycles, we shy away from meaningless promises of becoming carbon-neutral at some point...
...and achieves P2 in the road race! A huge congratulations to our friend Brennan Wertz for two amazing races at the Sea Otter Classic. The big festival of bikes in Monterey, California, started with the 68-mile road race. Brennan raced his custom Mosaic RT-1 titanium bike, shod with tubeless Rene...
This year's Paris-Roubaix was a gripping race. With 60 km to go, Mathieu van der Poel launched a crushing solo attack and won the race at the fastest-ever speed, averaging 47.8 km/h. (That's almost 30 mph!) It was bike racing at its best. Van der Poel was one of the...
To celebrate 85 years of Rene Herse Cycles, we're introducing a new line of Rene Herse bags. The first model is the Ultralight Handlebar Bag, a minimalist bag that's designed for long and challenging adventures. In recent months, eagle-eyed readers have spotted a new bag on my bikes—those were actually...
The new Rene Herse TPU tubes are here. It's still surprising to me how tiny and light these inner tubes are. There is much to like about them: Lighter than butyl and latex tubes. Lighter than tubeless sealant. Faster than butyl tubes or tubeless. As fast as latex tubes. Better puncture- and pinch flat-resistance than...
The same boat that brought the first of our 85th Anniversary Limited Edition tires also carried long-awaited shipments from Nitto, Honjo and Ostrich. Many customers have been patiently waiting for our handlebars, which had been out of stock due to high demand. As more riders embark on...
This year, we are celebrating 85 years of Rene Herse Cycles. In late 1938, René Herse built the world's lightest bikepacking bike and entered it in the prestigious Concours de Machines, the competition for the best bicycle, to showcase the innovative components he had developed. Drawing on his experience of...
Seattle, April 1, 2024: Now that the Nivex derailleurs have been in production for a while, Rene Herse is taking analog shifting to the next level with the Floating Chain. This system is lighter, has less resistance and costs far less than all derailleur systems available today. Jan Heine, head of...
We're beyond excited to introduce the new Rene Herse TPU tubes. They take the performance of our tires to the next level. Why tubes? Tubeless is great for many applications—anytime you ride on debris-strewn highways, where the sealant will seal small punctures from glass and steel wires. Or during gravel races,...
Global Cycling Network (GCN) has been following Bicycle Quarterly and Rene Herse for a long time. Recently, they covered our Nivex derailleur in their Hot Tech review. Back in 2018, they talked about a "brand-new idea": suspension losses due to vibrations of rider and bike. And they credited Bicycle Quarterly...
Mid South has been called the opening weekend of gravel: It marks the real start of the season's big races. And for good reason: The team in Stillwater puts on a festival like no other, and the red dirt of Oklahoma makes for great racing. Rene Herse has a long...
The reception of our new road tubeless Orondo Grade tires has been overwhelming. Riders love the speed, grip and road feel that Rene Herse tires are famous for, in a tubeless-ready tire for road bikes. In fact, demand has been so overwhelming that our first production run sold out quickly....
One-by cranks are great when the going gets rough: There's always another gear just a click away, and modern cassettes have a range that gets you up (and down) the steepest hills. They work great with 11- or 12-speed drivetrains: Few riders need 22 or even 24 gears. Many of...
Valley of Tears is a new gravel race, and the stars of gravel racing lined up last weekend in Turkey, Texas, as a prelude to next weekend's Mid South. Ted King described the 115-mile (185 km) course: "The Texas panhandle is true Wild West, and the sand presented quite the...
If you are following bike racing and/or tech, you will have heard of Thomas De Gendt's mysterious crash during Stage 5 of the UAE Tour in Abu Dhabi. Video footage shows the front wheel of the Belgian breakaway specialist jerking to the right before he falls. After the crash, De Gendt's...
An acquaintance once remarked: "Isn't it funny that Rene Herse tires always score best in your tests?" There was a twinkle in their eye, and their voice made clear that this was a gentle ribbing and not an accusation, but it got me thinking... It's easy to suspect foul play...
The 2024 gravel racing has started with exciting racing in California's Grasshopper Adventure Series. Last weekend, the second event of the series, the 88.8-mile (142.9 km) Huffmaster Hopper saw an all-star field. There was the long-standing, but friendly, rivalry between local favorites Brennan Wertz and Peter Stetina. Lachlan Morton and...
Some cyclists find it hard to believe that a small company from Seattle can make some of the best tires in the world. Surely the big names must have much greater resources. How can a couple of scientists compete with an army of technicians in white lab coats who have...
The days of shortages in the bike industry are largely over—thankfully—but for small companies like Rene Herse Cycles there is still some catching up to do. Many of our products take a long time to make, with multiple steps, each done by a different supplier. That takes time. And sometimes,...
Rene Herse tires have won many awards over the years, starting with the bikepacking.com's 'Gear of the Year' award and the Design and Innovation Award when the 29" x 2.2" Fleecer Ridge was first introduced. More recently, our 650B x 55 Umtanum Ridge won road.cc's coveted 'Recommended Tire 2022/2023' award, and...
Every edition of Bicycle Quarterly brings you carefully curated stories that will surprise, delight and inspire. We cover many areas of cycling and refuse to be pigeonholed into one category, because the world of cycling is simply too great and exciting for that. As one reader recently put it: "It's nice...
Riding 1200 km (750 miles) almost non-stop is never going to be easy. That's one reason Paris-Brest-Paris, the world's oldest long-distance event, is held only every four years. There's enough time in between to forget how hard it was, yet it's short enough that we remember the lessons from the...
Our new tubeless road tires have a lot of people excited—including the editors at Cycling Weekly, the world's oldest bike magazine. Luke Friend penned the article. He mentioned the three casings—Standard, Extralight and Endurance—and he was especially impressed with the new tires' longevity and light weight: Of course, the truth...
I love solo rides, especially on flat terrain. They have a different rhythm from rides with friends, and from mountainous courses. They invite meditation und contemplation. They are also a great time to test equipment and ideas. During our year-end trip to Japan, I discovered perhaps my favorite course for solo...
A while ago, we mentioned our new road tubeless Orondo Grade 700C x 31 mm tires to our friends at Above Category Cycles, the famous pro shop in Sausalito, California, in an email. Almost immediately, we got a message back: "Have been waiting for that type of tire from you....
The new Rene Herse 700C x 31 mm tubeless-specific Orondo Grade road tires are now available. As true road tires, the Orondo Grades are designed to handle high pressures of up to 90 psi (6.2 bar) whether you run them tubeless or with tubes—enough for heavy riders and those who...
Gravel riding isn't really a big thing in Japan, because there are so many wonderful mountain roads, and almost all are paved. There is no need to head onto gravel just to get away from traffic and explore interesting places. And yet, there is a burgeoning gravel scene... It's spearheaded...
The new year is off to a good start: We've just received a shipment from Europe, plus we've made use of the days between the year-end holidays to assemble more Nivex derailleurs. We're excited to have Ted King's favorite mirrors (above) back in stock, as well as the ultra-comfortable, fully rebuildable...
When we posted about the tires ridden by Sofiane and other top-ten finishers in the Tour Divide, Mark Rude contacted us and asked—maybe half in jest—whether we'd want to look at the tires of a heavier rider after a full season of gravel racing. Mark seemed surprised when we took...
As riders prepare for rides and races in 2024, they also wonder what tires to run. How do you choose the right width, tread pattern, casing, pressure, etc.? It can seem overwhelming, but in reality it's simpler than you might think. We've distilled the science down to five points. With...
Wishing you a great 2024 with health, happiness and many great rides! Jan, Natsuko & the RH team
It's no secret that we love steel bikes at Rene Herse Cycles. (We are fond of carbon and titanium, too!) Bikes from each material have their purpose in our stables. I love my carbon Rene Herse × OPEN U.P.P.E.R. and my titanium Firefley for what they do. Both are wonderful...
In many ways, 2023 has been a year full of challenges. For me, that's where cycling provides an antidote, and I'm glad 2023 will be a year to remember for the incredible rides and emotions it brought. At times it seemed like a whirlwind, with a packed schedule that forced...
Usually, we don't pay much attention to 'favorites' lists, since most are little more than paid advertisements. (We get plenty of solicitations to have our products placed on these lists.) This one is different: We didn't even know Josh Weinberg, on of the contributors on The Radavist, was using a...
At Rene Herse Cycles, we take protecting your data seriously—and your privacy, too. We don't store sensitive data in our systems, we don't collect data we don't need, and we'll never sell your data. This means that sometimes our website doesn't know things about you that you think it should...
It's been a year since we've introduced our Suggestion Form as part of our revamped customer service. Twelve months and more than 600 (!) suggestions later, we can say: Our customers have a lot of great ideas—and quite a few far-out ones, too! Earlier this week, we discussed the most...
We're on the final straight toward the holidays. If you need last-minute gifts—or your own reading material or bike parts for projects you'll tackle over the quiet days at the end of the year—don't worry: There's still time. Here's the shipping situation at Rene Herse Cycles for the next week: Most...
It's been a year since we've revamped our customer service. The main objective was to make it easier for you to contact us with questions about your orders, how to set up your Rene Herse parts, warranty requests, etc. At the same time, we've also added a 'Suggestions' form to...
There is joy in reading a magazine or book that is hard to explain, but easy to experience. As we get more and more of our information on-screen, we also become aware of the pitfalls. With ads popping up, links begging to be clicked, and beeps alerting when messages arriving...
The wait is over! We have Nivex derailleurs, shift levers, cables, dropouts, brazing jigs—the entire program is in stock now. We appreciate all our customers who've waited patiently while we finalized this innovative drivetrain. At a time when electronic shifting works extremely well, developing an alternative only makes sense if...
It's that time of year again... when we tend to ride less, spend more time indoors with family and friends, and also think about gifts that show how much we appreciate them. At Rene Herse, we're no fans of the holiday shopping frenzy, and we don't want to sell you...
We wish all our readers, customers and friends a happy Thanksgiving! We honestly think we have some of the nicest customers in the world, and we're grateful for your support. Let's celebrate our love of cycling together! Jan, Natsuko & the RH team
Rene Herse Cycles is excited to team up with the Peninsula Adventure Sports as a sponsor of the Gravel Unravel race series. The Pacific Northwest has some of the best gravel roads in the world, yet there aren't many well-known gravel races in the region. When I heard that there...
We always work on improving our products. For every ground-breaking change, there are dozens of small improvements that we make all the time in our production runs. One recent one was to increase the length of the standard struts on our UD-1 racks from 240 to 250 mm. Why does...
Tire design comes down to one essential rule: Supple, wide, high pressure—pick two. Why can't we have all three? At high pressure, wide tires have to withstand extreme forces, so they need to be stronger (and thus less supple). Here is how this works: The tension on the casing is directly...
It wasn't too long ago that every high-end bike was equipped with quick releases. (Track bikes were the rare exception.) Quick releases allow removing the wheels without tools. Good quick releases grip the dropouts tighter than nuts. Quick releases were considered so important for bicycles that the story of their...
Last week, we saw the new Bicycle Quarterly come off the press here in Seattle, where the magazine is printed. Right now, the pages are in the bindery. Soon the finished magazines will be sent to our subscribers. Printing a magazine requires a lot of extra steps compared to putting content...
Every brake system is only as strong as its weakest link, and often that is the cable hanger. When you brake hard, the hanger flexes. That means less braking force is available to squeeze the rim – your brake is lacking in stopping power and feel. To solve this problem,...
Just minutes ago, Kevin 'Benky' Benkenstein finished the 2,712 km (1,685 miles) of The Rhino Run bikepacking race. After traversing the rugged Cape Province of South Africa and the Karoo and Namib Deserts, Benky arrived in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, just before midnight (local time). For 7 days, 18...
Fender can seem unglamorous compared to electronic derailleurs or one-piece carbon cockpits. Yet fenders actually make a bigger difference in how much we enjoy our bikes, especially during the rainy season. Even when it's dry outside, the forecast may predict a "30% chance of rain." With fenders, we head out...
In the current situation, the news can become overwhelming. We want to be aware, but we also need to tune out from time to time to retain our sanity. That's when we make a cup of tea and sit down with a good magazine... So we've decided to do another mailing of...
Kevin 'Benky' Benkenstein has finished the first leg of the Rhino Run bikepacking race, traversing the Cape Province of South Africa at a blistering pace. He took a short rest in Stellenbosh near Cape Town, before embarking on the 'main course' of the race into the deserts of the Karoo...
This morning, the 2023 Rhino Run bikepacking race started in Plettenberg, South Africa. Riders will cross the rugged mountains of the Cape in South Africa before traversing the Karoo and Namib Deserts during the 2,750 km (1,708 mile) race. Last year, Kevin 'Benky' Benkenstein and Abdullah Zeinab raced neck-to-neck for...
During the Arkansas High Country Race, my most memorable—and fun—riding was at night. As it turned out, I rode the roughest and most technical sections of the course in the dark. What surprised me was that I found riding gravel easier at night than during the day....
When the podium for the challenging South Loop of the 2023 Arkansas High Country Race was announced, we were excited to see that all riders in the first places chose Rene Herse tires: 1st and FKT – Andrew Onermaa: 700x55 Fleecer Ridge Endurance 2nd – Bryan Dougherty: 700x42 Hurricane Ridge Endurance 3rd – Jan Heine: 26"...
When I entered the Arkansas High Country Race last year, it was just the right mix of fun and hard to create lasting memories. Winning the South Loop and setting the FKT was nice, too. It was almost a foregone conclusion that I'd return. Partially to experience it again, and...
Yes, I'm back! Beautiful, challenging roads; amazing scenery; friendly people; a wonderful start/finish location... I just could not resist. So I'm lining up on the start line again this year to race the South Loop: 486 miles (780 km) and 32,500 ft (10,000 m) in elevation gain. I really loved the...
We're excited that our friend Kong Fùfù (he prefers to remain anonymous) has been selected to represent France at the UCI Gravel Worlds this weekend. Naturally, I asked him which tire he'd run. His reply: "I will ride the 700x44 Manastash Ridge. I don't like to do what the others do,...
In late 1938, Rene Herse Cycles was founded out of a passion for making bikes faster, more versatile, and more reliable. In the 85 years since then, this passion has set records and FKTs, won national titles and world championships, and has made cycling more fun for...
A huge congrats to Lauren de Crescenzo for winning The Rad Dirt, the final round of the Lifetime Grand Prix race series. Averaging 19.08 mph (30.71 km/h), Lauren surged into the lead on the challenging 110-mile (177 km) course that traversed the remote and rugged Spanish Peaks region of Colorado. Lauren...
This year is the second time that the UCI holds the Gravel World Championships. USA Cycling has announced the roster they are sending to Veneto, Italy, to take on the best racers in the world. We're excited to see these two outstanding athletes selected as part of the national team....
Our book about the technical developments of the last 15 years is called 'The All-Road Bike Revolution.' We don't use the term 'revolution' lightly—modern all-road bikes truly have changed how we ride. We used to have multiple bikes: a road bike for going fast, a touring bike for carrying...
Ted King and his wife Laura have long been champions of the cycling community in every sense of the word. Ted, of course, is best known as the 'King of Gravel,' having won Unbound (twice), SBT GRVL and many other big gravel races. Laura is a champion in her own...
Last weekend, the first-ever USA Gravel National Championships were held in Gering, Nebraska. The chance to put their name forever at the top of the list of U.S. gravel champions brought together most of the fastest racers in the U.S. Nobody wanted to miss the chance of putting on that...
One of the most popular tires in the Rene Herse program is the Oracle Ridge dual-purpose knobby. Now it's also available with our ultra-tough Endurance PLUS casing. At 48 mm wide, the Oracle Ridge hits the sweet spot between narrow gravel tire and mountain bike volume—ideal for the latest generation...
If you've read the previous post, you know that this year's Paris-Brest-Paris wasn't without challenges. It was a hard ride, and if the final result is actually quite respectable (60:05 hours for the 1218 km), that's due in large part to my bike. Not only did it perform flawlessly, but...
The 1200 km of Paris-Brest-Paris are never easy—the relentless hills will see to that—but the best rides are those where working hard is almost pure pleasure. It's not that the pedals turn by themselves—you feel your legs working hard, but all you notice is what the French call "the taste...
With Paris-Brest-Paris, a big part of the adventure is just getting to the start. First you have to qualify, then train, then plan your ride... and finally you have to get yourself and your bike to Paris. Especially your bike. Air travel with bikes has become easier as airlines have...
A huge congratulations to Sofiane Sehili for winning the Silk Road Mountain Race for the third time in a row! The 1880 km (1170 mile) race goes over long-abandoned military roads in Kyrgyzstan, climbing 35,000 m (115,000 ft) over some of the world's highest passes. In recent years, it has...
"I'll be in Seattle for one day in August. I'd love to go riding," said the email from our friend Hirohisa Yamaguchi. He's the editor-in-chief of Japan's Bicycle Club magazine. At first I thought of a big adventure in the mountains, linking several gravel passes. But with jet lag and...
The training is done. The bike is (almost) ready. The time to go to Paris for the 1200 km (750-mile) Paris-Brest-Paris is approaching rapidly. Over the last year, we've talked about preparing for this big ride (or any other) in our 'Road to PBP' series in Bicycle Quarterly. The days...
Long-distance events like the Dark Divide 300 require more than just leg power. Unlike road racing, where bikes are very similar, strategies are decided by directeurs sportif in team cars, and the rider with the most watts usually wins, there's no established standard for bikepacking bikes, and strategy is just...
There are many cycling films, but few have moved me as much as Don't Look Back, the story of last autumn's Rhino Run ultradistance race in South Africa and Namibia. Readers of the Spring Bicycle Quarterly are familiar with the story of how Abdullah Zeinab and Kevin 'Benky' Benkenstein raced...
The new Bicycle Quarterly is at the printer. It's always fun to see the pages come off the press. We're there to check that the colors are exactly right. It's much more work than putting together an online journal, but the sheer beauty and permanence of print make it worth while....
Writing about the Dark Divide 300 is a challenge—not quite as much as riding it, fortunately. You see, I'm suffering from the opposite of writer's block: There are too many stories. Which one to tell? This route is epic, reminiscent of the dramas of ancient Greek: full of action, beauty,...
This afternoon, I am heading out on the Dark Divide 300 bikepacking route. Ever since Ben Everett, the mastermind behind the Evergreen Gravel Racing series, announced this challenging route, I've wanted to ride it. The course includes many of the best gravel roads in the central Cascades, passing through the...
Just a quick note that we finally received our latest shipment from Berthoud in France. Ted King's favorite mirrors are back in stock. If you pre-ordered one, it's been shipped, and you'll receive an email with tracking information in the next day or two. We also have most Berthoud saddles,...
Adrien Liechti is one of the world's fastest ultra-distance racers. Recently, he won Ascend Armenia, a new race on the calendar that took riders far off the beaten path in this relatively unknown eastern European country. After the race, I caught up with Adrien to talk about the race. Jan: Congratulations...
In France right now, the Tour de France is omnipresent. That's not an overstatement. Almost everybody, whether they are sports fans or not, follows the Tour. It's not just the racing, but also the beautiful images. The Tour is a carefully choreographed show of French landscapes and sites, with the...
Readers of this Journal may remember that I've been dreaming of testing tires in an abandoned railroad tunnel. A bit of background: We've known for a long time that testing tires on drums in the lab produces misleading results. Without a rider on the bike, you can't measure the suspension...
For the last few editions of Bicycle Quarterly, we've been celebrating the 20th anniversary of the magazine. Back then, we were just out of college, ready to challenge the established cycling world with new ideas (and a few forgotten ones that we were rediscovering). At a time when road racing...
A huge congratulations to Lael Wilcox! First female finisher of the Tour Divide, still smiling after 2698 miles and a ride that was not without challenges. Way to go, Lael! Photo credits: bikepacking.com (Photo 1); Rugile Kaladyte (Photo 2)
I'm riding in a world of green and white. Evergreen tree branches are above my head. Ferns grow by the roadside. Moss covers the tree trunks. All are different, vibrant shades of green. Anything beyond the next fifty meters disappears in the white fog of low clouds and drizzle. The...
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