Autumn 2021 Bicycle Quarterly
The Autumn 2021 Bicycle Quarterly is coming off the press this week. We’re preparing the mailing lists on Monday – to get your copy without delay, please make sure your subscription is up to date.
Sometimes the best stories are rides where things don’t go according to plan, and Jan and Lael’s ride in the Oregon Outback a few months ago certainly falls in that category. It was an epic adventure and a story you won’t want to miss.
Jan’s ride was more than just an attempt to set an FKT (fastest known time) on a challenging course – it was also a test of his new bike. Read all about what went into this amazing machine with dozens of stunning studio photos and full specs and geometry drawings. Is it really possible to build a bike that offers road bike speed and road bike fun on the rough gravel of eastern Oregon? And why did Jan make aero fenders, but didn’t use bladed spokes?
Cyclocross bikes were the original all-road bikes. We’re testing a stunning custom bike from Max Pratt, an innovative Rhode Island framebuilder. Can a steel bike equal the performance of a modern carbon frame? And how does a cyclocross bike work as a gravel bike? There many more used cyclocross than gravel bikes for sale – does this offer an affordable way into the world of all-road and gravel riding? Apart from that, this bike test was another marvelous adventure that will make you head into the hills.
Another steel bike features in our story of touring in Portugal. Rob van Driel took his reconfigured 1970s Jo Routens on amazing roads, and he documented the trip with inspiring photos. It’s a feature you don’t want to miss!
With the days getting darker, it’s time to think about lights. We’re looking at a few popular generator-powered lights – this time we don’t just compare their beams, but also their power consumption. How much does a super-bright light slow you down? Can a beam that doesn’t waste any light also reduce your bike’s resistance?
There’s been a huge amount of talk about SRAM’s new XPLR gravel group. Is it really something more than existing parts with ‘Gravel’ written in big letters? Our test suggests that it’s actually changing the riding experience in ways we would not have thought possible.
Only Bicycle Quarterly would publish two articles in a row about fender installation! In the Autumn edition, we talk about mudflaps, how to install a rear fender reinforcement, and how to reshape the ends of your fenders to make them more elegant. As with all our How-To articles, the step-by-step instructions include dozens of photos.
To subscribe or renew, click here. You won’t want to miss this exciting edition!
Photo credits: Steve Frey (Photo 3); Rob van Driel (Photo 4); Andreas Oehler (Photo 5), Mark Vande Kamp (Photo 6)
