We're excited that our Fleecer Ridge tires won the 2021 Design & Innovation Award in the Category Off-Road Components. This prestigious European prize is based on real-world testing. The 30-strong, international jury consists of journalists, test riders and engineers who are amongst the most renowned experts in their respective...
Cantilever brakes have traditionally been the way to make brakes for bikes with wide tires. Invented by Nicola Barra in 1936, they were the first direct-mount brakes with pivots that attached to the fork blades and seatstays. This eliminated the flex that is inevitable with long brake calipers that...
I’ve dedicated three summers over the past six years to riding all of the major roads in Alaska, some 4,500 miles. What started as a dream to see my home state under my own power and push my limits in endurance has evolved. A condensed backstory – in 2014, I...
January is a great time for riding. A new year is starting, and it's a time for those long, slow miles that build our distance base. After a month of rest, our minds are eager to get out and start preparing for the adventures that will come later in...
It used to be easy: If you wanted a fast bike, you chose a racing bike. End of story. And what made a racing bike special were first and foremost the narrow tires. Light weight was a plus, too, and so was the lower, more aero riding position. Then came...
It's official: A new year has started. As 2020 recedes into the past, we're looking forward to a new year that brings hope and promise. May your 2021 be filled with joy, health and great cycling adventures! Natsuko & Jan
We just received shipments of Pacenti and HED rims. It's taken a long time, and some quantities are very limited. We appreciate your patience while these remain in short supply. We think these rims are worth the wait. A good rim fades into the background. It's designed so the tire...
It's been a difficult year, but cycling has provided one way to deal with the challenges we've faced. Whether riding alone or with a good friend, it's allowed us to get away from it all, recharge and return with new energy to tackle what lies ahead – and have...
A reader sent a link to the video "How a Bicycle is Made," filmed in the 1945 at the Raleigh factory in Britain. It's definitely a period piece, but look beyond that, and the 17-minute movie has a lot of interesting content about how bikes were mass-produced. Some production...
Good news! We just received a long-awaited shipment from Berthoud. The most exciting part is Berthoud's new saddle cover. It's not that you need a saddle cover when you're riding in light or moderate rain – your body covers the saddle. But when you park your bike, it's nice...
The new Humptulips Ridge 26" x 2.3" knobbies have arrived! Usually, we airship just a few tires for photography, but with so many riders eagerly awaiting these tires, we sent over a few more. We have a small quantity with Standard and Extralight casings (tan sidewalls), as well as...
Rene Herse Cycles is hiring a full-time, long-term position in our shipping/warehouse department at our Seattle, WA, location. Be a part of our fun team and growing company. Passion for cycling is a plus, but not required: We don't expect you to know our products – be ready to...
We've been thinking how we can help when the spread of Covid has accelerated again, worse than ever. To encourage everybody to follow social distancing and stay-at-home recommendations, we're offering great reading material at a discount: For a limited time, you can order 8 past editions of Bicycle Quarterly...
Every year, we enjoy the autumn cycling season, and then, suddenly, the holidays are almost here. And with that, we are looking for gifts for others, and we're being asked what we want ourselves. Gift giving is a wonderful tradition, and Natsuko and I really enjoy gifts that we...
We usually don't expect to get 'Gear of the Year' awards – we don't advertise, since we prefer to spend our resources on R&D and high-end materials rather than marketing. And our products are expensive to make, so we can't send out a lot of review samples, either. We're...
It's been a long time coming – the latest of our dual-purpose knobbies, the Humptulips Ridge 26" x 2.3", is in production now. The tires renew our commitment to the 26" wheel size, whether it's for modern all-road bikes like my Firefly or classic mountain bikes that can be...
It's always fun to chat with Diane Jenks on her National Public Radio show The Outspoken Cyclist. This week, we talked about our new book and about bike fit, disc vs rim brakes, and the state of the bike industry in the age of Covid. Click here to listen to...
Creating original artwork is always fun – especially when we work with Miyoshi. His iconic drawings delight the readers of our book The All-Road Bike Revolution. We wanted to enjoy them at other times, too. So we put some of our favorites on two water bottles. (more…)
The Winter Bicycle Quarterly is at the printer! It's another fun-filled 104-page edition with a great variety of stories. (more…)
For me as an editor, seeing a new book come out is a very special moment, especially if it's a new and challenging project. Before I joined Bicycle Quarterly and Rene Herse Cycles, I edited more than 180 books and magazines, but our latest project, The All-Road Bike Revolution,...
One of the most amazing bikes I've ever seen is Natsuko's Alps. It converts from a cyclotouring bike... ... to a passhunter in less than 10 minutes: just remove fenders and rack, and swap the bars. To disassemble it for Rinko, you need only a single 6 mm Allen wrench...
Nothing else has changed our riding as much as modern generator hubs and LED lights. When I first started riding the almost-mythical (and now long-defunct) cross-state races in Washington – Cannonball and S2S – I ran a Nightsun battery light. These races started just after midnight in Seattle, so...
After months of R&D and testing, we're now offering Rene Herse cranks with a 40-tooth one-by chainring. One-by is a great idea: Get rid of the front shifts that always break your rhythm, and you end up with 11 or 12 consecutive gears. For most riders, that's enough for...
Ted King won the 1020-mile Arkansas High Country Race in a 4 days, 20 hours and 51 minutes, setting the FKT (fastest known time) in the process. The previous solo FTK was held by bikepacking legend Jay Petervary. Ted also was faster than Ernie and Scotti Lechuga, who rode...
The vote is in, and the winner of the Bicycle Quarterly photo contest is Samuel P's evocative B&W study of his bike during a recent trip. He writes: "I'm a LatinX cyclist from the Bay Area, California. I've been riding since I was five years old. I enjoy cyclotouring...
Update 11/3/2020: The cut-off for the 10% pre-order discount and consolidated shipping for international readers is past, but you can still pre-order the book and be among the first to rear it. Click here to reserve your copy. Producing a new book is always exciting. First there are the proofs, where...
The results are in: Hundreds of photos from all over the world were entered in the BQ Photo Contest. It was fun to see so many different photos – in style and subject – and it was difficult to selected eight finalists. Many great photos didn't make the cut. Here...
Today I did one of the most important things I will do this year: I voted. It's a privilege to have a voice in deciding the future of our country. Like all rights, it's also a responsibility. The right to vote was not won without a fight – whether it...
When you ride 1200 km (750 miles) unsupported, almost non-stop, you need to carry a few things. Clothes are the most important – it's cold at night, warm during the day; it can rain; and you need to be prepared for all of it. You'll want to carry a...
It's all nice and well when we talk about our tires – why we design and manufacture them a certain way, how we think they perform, etc. The real proof is when others test them. Especially independent testers who've ridden dozens or hundreds of tires. And if the review...
Bicycles – and how we ride them – have changed tremendously over the last decade. Many accepted facts have been turned on their heads. We've learned that narrow tires aren't faster. Higher pressures don't reduce resistance. More trail doesn't always make a bike more stable. Stiffer frames don't always...
Covid-19 has created many challenges for the bike industry. Supply chains have been disrupted, lockdowns have stopped production, shipping has become erratic, and exchange rates fluctuate wildly. Even staples like inner tubes are in short supply. At Rene Herse, we've been working hard to keep our products in stock, because...
This is just a quick note that a few popular items are back in stock. Among them are all Rene Herse fenders in polished and black finish. (more…)
In October 2017, I visited Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island. After touring with a friend, I continued alone to Rishiri Island. From there I took a ferry to Rebun Island. (more…)
Politics can be a depressing subject these days, but there are occasional good news, too. Here's one: Washington State just passed a new law that allows cyclists to roll through stop signs if no other traffic is present. The same law also allows cyclists to proceed through a red...
Until 1991, all bikes in Paris-Brest-Paris had to be equipped with fenders. Traditionally, this had been a way to distinguish randonneur events from races – the randonneurs were expected to ride bikes that were equipped for real-world riding. However, by the 1980s, there simply weren't many performance bikes with...
When I got my new C. S. Hirose, I was excited to have a bike with wide tires for the gravel roads of the Cascade Mountains. I love my other Hirose, and so I asked the builder to make the new one as similar as possible. Some parts we...
Now that summer officially has officially ended, we can start to look back on the cycling season. So much has happened since we started riding in late winter under clear, sunny skies! The events of 2020 have upended many plans, but cycling is the one place where we can...
The Autumn 2020 Bicycle Quarterly is heading to the printer soon. We're especially excited about this edition, with great stories and adventures, plus a renewed focus on ground-breaking technical research. (more…)
In France, the Tour is one of the rituals of summer. I can't count how many times during my research I've interviewed somebody while the colorful images were playing on TV in the background. Racers, randonneurs, cyclotourists – all enjoy the grand landscapes, the beautiful form of the riders, the...
The Summer Bicycle Quarterly has been a favorite of our readers. They were gripped by Peter Gaskill's report from the incredible Atlas Mountain Race. They enjoyed shop visits at Fern Bicycle in Berlin and with the pioneer of American constructeurs, R. T. Jansen. They marveled at beautiful bikes, from a...
This year's rides have been more self-supported than usual – cafe stops aren't really part of the program right now. So the 'new' bike that I built for last year's Paris-Brest-Paris has seen a lot of use, since it's designed for riding long distances without stopping. In our series...
Product development is fun, because we get to think about bike parts, figure out how to improve them, and then test them on our adventures. This summer has seen plenty of excitement in that respect. Some of the parts we've been testing are almost ready to go into production;...
Roads in Alaska are precious. Many communities are isolated, only accessible by plane or boat. Pull out a map, and you’ll see village dots inland and coastal, with no road lines connecting them to the outer world. Visiting remote places has been very eye-opening for me: The communities are...
After much thought, we've decided to cancel this year's Bicycle Quarterly Un-Meeting in Marin County, California. We've made this difficult decision together with this year's organizers, Bicycle Counterculture. The pandemic shows little sign of letting up. To have a large number of cyclists travel to the Un-Meeting and gather...
Hidetaka Hirose, the genius behind C.S. Hirose, died early on Saturday. For 40 years, he built bicycles that were custom-built for their riders in every way: Not just size, geometry and tubing selection, but even the components. (more…)
Keeping everything in the Rene Herse program in stock is a challenge during the best of times, and it's been especially difficult during the pandemic. We're always excited when a shipment comes in, and even more when we get several. After a long wait, our waterbottles and many other...
We're heartbroken to hear about the fires that are raging in California and much of the West. Our thoughts go out to all who are affected. Learning of acquaintances in the bike industry who lost their homes and workshops... Seeing old-growth redwoods and historic park buildings burn... Seeing the...
Rob English is not just a talented framebuilder, but also a top-class rider and racer. He recently built this bike for himself. Even though the bike is a superlight racer, it rolls on (extralight) 700C x 32 mm Stampede Pass tires – a sign how far racing bikes have...
Ted King called: "I'll be in Seattle in early August. Want to go for a ride?" Of course I do – Ted is a lot of fun! But where do you take the King of Gravel for a ride? In August, the snow has melted even on the highest passes,...
1,409 miles and more than 115,000 feet of climbing. The French Divide is a bikepacking race that traverses the entire length of France from North to South. (more…)
Lael Wilcox has been enjoying her Oracle Ridge prototypes all summer in Alaska. Now you can get a set for your bike, too. The new tires are now in stock with Standard, Extralight and Endurance casings. (more…)
Our friends at Berthoud Cycles in France have been working overtime, and we just received another shipment. We've got most saddles in stock again, as well as spare parts to rebuild your worn saddle with a new leather top, swap stainless steel rails for titanium, or replace parts that...
It's hard to believe that 15 years have passed since I had my first real taste of the performance of all-road bikes. On a Saturday in August 2005, the second Three Volcano 300 km Brevet was organized by Robin and Amy Piper of the Seattle International Randonneurs. The previous...
When we introduced the our Fleecer Ridge 700C x 55 mm dual-purpose knobbies, we sent two sets to Neil and Logan at Bikepacking.com. Since the Fleecers are our first tires specifically intended for bikepacking and the Tour Divide, we were eager to get their feedback. That was a few...
When bikepacking legend Lael Wilcox talked about the tires she wanted for her bikepacking adventures, she mentioned a 48 mm-wide knobby in addition to the Fleecer Ridge 700C x 55: Ideal for many modern gravel bikes like her Specialized Diverge. Lael suggested a great name for the new tire:...
The Enve Builders Roundup is a show of custom bikes (and Enve's components). Among all the great bikes, here are three of our favorites (more…)
There's a lot of talk about optimizing tire pressure these days. In years past, most of us inflated our tires to the maximum pressure rating shown on the tire sidewall. It's more complex now. Like Goldilocks, we add air and then let out some again, until we've found what...
Keeping everything we sell in stock hasn't been easy: Lockdowns in the U.S., Europe and Japan have interrupted production, and international shipping is taking longer than it used to. And in some cases, demand has increased as well. Temporary shortages are hard to avoid, but we're working hard to...
Over the last few months, we've revamped our customer service, both because we've had to adapt to the restrictions that came with Covid-19 and because we want to improve your experience. We've added a lot of information online – instructions for our parts, specs and Frequently Asked Questions, plus...
These days, it's widely accepted that 700C wheels roll faster than smaller hoops. It's a bit like the old belief that narrower tires are more efficient – so self-evident that it doesn't even need explaining. After all, simple physics tells you: A bigger wheel rolls faster, because it hits...
Sometimes it's the small things that make a big difference. Things that we need or want, but that nobody makes because they are, well, small and not so profitable, since they'll sell only in small numbers. But we need them for our own rides, and so we're making them....
When I asked which part of my bike for last summer’s Paris-Brest-Paris our readers wanted to hear more about, the answer was: “Everything.” So I'm writing a series of posts about the parts of the bike. I’ve already talked about the frame and the centerpull brakes. Today let’s look...
The first half of 2020 has brought unexpected changes in many ways. When Covid-19 spread so suddenly around the world, there was little time to figure out how to deal with this. We stopped everything that was non-essential, we socially distanced, we discovered face masks, and we talked about...
In this series, we're sharing the Covid-19 experiences of friends and contributors from around the world. Giovanni Calcagno won our photo contest two years ago with this photo, taken during his ride on the Via del Sale that criss-crosses the Italian-French border. Here is his experience during the Covid-19...
There are few photos of Sofiane Sehili in full flight, because he's usually ahead of the photographers... Working as a bike messenger in Paris, Sofiane first dipped his toes into ultra-cycling in 2016, when he rode in the epic Tour Divide, the race that runs along the crest of...
Choosing Rene Herse tires for your bike is easy, because our program is logical and simple. It's all based on performance. We started making tires because we wanted to ride high-performance tires on the gravel roads of the Cascade Mountains. We came from a decade of racing on hand-made...
With great sadness, we say Goodbye to Raymond Henry, cycling historian extraordinaire, grand randonneur, and wonderful friend. He passed away today from the complications of a surgery that was to allow him resume his active life of cycling, woodworking and gardening. Raymond experienced the glory days of French cyclotouring first-hand....
In the middle of a global pandemic, delays in shipments from suppliers are not a big concern with everything else that is going on. And yet we're happy that the situation has improved to the point where deliveries are arriving again – because this means that things are getting...
Car and motorcycle tires have been tubeless for decades, but bicycle tires have continued to use tubes. That changed during the 2010s, when first mountain bikers and then the riders of all-road and gravel bikes started to experiment with tubeless technology. They reason was simple: If you could run...
The Summer 2020 Bicycle Quarterly is at the printer. It'll be mailed at the end of the month, but we just learned that due to staffing shortages at our printer, we need to complete the mailing list tomorrow morning (Thursday). To get your copy with the first mailing, please...
Ted King's DIY Gravel may have been born out of necessity – there are no gravel races right now, so why not ride our own rides and challenges in the mean time? Ted's idea has been a lot of fun, and more than a thousand riders have risen to...
With all the emphasis on gravel and less-than-smooth backroads, it's easy to forget the joys of pure speed as you glide over smooth pavement. And perhaps nothing is more about speed than triathlons. Few people know that both BQ team rider Mark and I did triathlons way back in...
There is much that needs to change in our world until all humans are treated equal, have equal opportunities, and feel equally welcome. We each must do our part to make it happen! At Rene Herse Cycles and Bicycle Quarterly, we are committed to diversity. We believe that great stories...
One of the highlights of last year's North American Handmade Bicycle Show was meeting Nelson Vails. I saw him walking by, and I thought: "That is Nelson Vails! I've got to shake his hand!" We ran after him... He turned out to be a most charming gentleman. Natsuko was...
Rachel Henry (right) loves her Jo Routens bike. When Natsuko and I visited them for a story about her husband Raymond, the historian of French cyclotouring and long-time Bicycle Quarterly contributor, the two accompanied us out of town on the spur of a moment. Rachel prefers contemplative cyclotouring, but she’s...
Now is a good time to think about the people who’ve inspired us. It’s a good time to show that cycling can be welcoming of non-whites. It’s a good time to listen to other voices. They have good stories to tell! JaBig is a DJ from Montréal in Canada. He...
Now is a good time to think about the people who’ve inspired us. It’s a good time to show that cycling can be welcoming of non-whites. It’s a good time to listen to other voices. They have good stories to tell! Eritrea has a vibrant cycling scene, ever since Ghebremariam...
Now is a good time to think about the people who’ve inspired us. It’s a good time to show that cycling can be welcoming of non-whites. It’s a good time to listen to other voices. They have good stories to tell! The Bruce family from Chicago were good friends (and...
We want to do more than just say nice words. We want to help make change that is real and lasting. With that intent, we're renewing the tradition of Bicycle Quarterly fund drives to address urgent needs. For 24 hours, from 0:00 on June 2 until 24:00 (Pacific Time)...
Last year, on the train to Sacramento, we met a wonderful black couple in the dining car. They had gone to Seattle to celebrate their wedding anniversary. They had met when they were part of the civil rights movement in the South. They moved to the West Coast, because,...
We're excited about our new jerseys. For almost two years, we've been looking for the perfect jersey. We didn't just want to get some print-on-demand jerseys, but we wanted a jersey that offers the best performance and quality, as well as responsible manufacture. The Rene Herse x Velocio Ultralight jersey...
In this series, we're sharing the Covid-19 experiences of friends and contributors from around the world. It seems that everybody in France (and beyond) knows Elisabeth as an incredible long-distance cyclist. I've ridden with her in the Concours de Machines, met her at Paris-Brest-Paris, and marveled at her adventures...
It's hard to believe that it was 20 years ago when I first got to experience a 650B all-road bike. The bike in question was a 1952 René Herse Randonneuse. I had been curious about the bikes from the great French constructeurs, but there weren't many around. And those...
The first Covid-19 case in the United States was detected near us here in Seattle in mid-January. Back then, we didn't imagine that this would turn into such a difficult situation. The entire world has been affected. As we've stayed in touch with our friends and Bicycle Quarterly contributors...
Quite a few customers are asking why their orders aren't showing up in the tracking information on our web site, why they haven't received the Spring Bicycle Quarterly yet, and other shipping-related questions. We're very sorry about these things, because we can't do anything about them right now. They...
Sometimes small things make a big difference: The Rene Herse musette bag is one of the most useful things you can bring on a ride. (more…)
https://youtu.be/IOscnup4Rys If you missed yesterday's live talk on Bikepacking.com, it's now uploaded to their channel – click above to view it. It was a fun conversation with two Tour Divide racers, Lael Wilcox and moderator Neil Beltchenko, about what they want in a tire, how we're developing tires, and how...
We've got the new Fleecer Ridge 700C x 55 bikepacking/gravel/all-round tires in stock now. They come in the Standard, Extralight, Endurance and Endurance Plus casings. This means you can get the volume and groundbreaking tread pattern – more of that in a moment – with a full range of...
Let's start with the most exciting part first: We've got new 75 mm-wide fenders, both in 650B and 26" versions to fit comfortably over our widest tires. They're made from a thicker aluminum for extra strength, so it's well-suited for bikes with knobby tires which can pick up sticks...
We're expanding our tire line-up for tough conditions: Two of our most popular tires are now available in reinforced Endurance and Endurance Plus versions. (more…)
When we developed our first knobby tires, we wanted tires that could handle all conditions, not just mud and snow. We wanted tires that rolled fast on the road, yet offered tenacious grip when conditions got really tough. We wanted a tire for adventures where we don't know what...
Most of our customers considers their Rene Herse tires 'essentials' – components they need to keep riding. Knowing this, we work hard to keep all models in stock at all times. Sometimes there are unforeseen fluctuations in demand, delays in production and/or shipping, and a model or two may...
When we offered our face masks at our cost – and the option to donate them to front-line workers at bike shops – the entire production run was spoken for within just a few hours. Clearly, our customers need masks for their errands and also for their rides when...
We're glad to report that all our suppliers are doing well, considering the current circumstances. Production has slowed at some factories, there may be some shortages of products in the future, but the most important thing is that all the people we work with remain healthy. Our relationships with...
Long distance bikepacking is all about making equipment compromises. Generally speaking, for me, bikepacking is multi-day dirt-road riding and carrying what I need along the way. Road surfaces, conditions, and weather are ever-changing— that’s part of the adventure. When setting out for a tour, I select equipment based on...
Today would have been the Belgian Waffle Ride in California – which means that Round 2 of Ted King's DIY Gravel is starting. We've got until next Sunday to do our own version of this iconic ride, which offers three versions: Waffle is 138-miles, 53 off-road and nearly 12,000...
When we pack your orders, we are encouraged by the many nice comments. We want to share this encouragement with others – we're all in this together! How can we contribute to this positive feeling? Update 5/6/2020: We received a second batch of masks - read the update about...
When Ted King floated the idea of DIY Gravel, I was intrigued: For each gravel race that's cancelled, he challenges everybody to ride a similar distance – and elevation gain, if possible – near home and solo, within one week of the original event date. There's a Strava group...
All of us are figuring out how we can resume our lives safely and responsibly. How can we ride our bikes? Does it make sense to train when races and events are postponed or cancelled? How can we enjoy the community that cycling brings us? I caught up with...
