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Off The Beaten Path

Off The Beaten Path
01. April, 07:23 Uhr

In recent years, there has been a lot of technology transfer from motorcycles and cars to bicycles. Modern bikes finally have tubeless tires and disc brakes, both introduced in cars as early as the 1950s! Cyclists tend to be a conservative bunch, but it’s only a matter of time until we’ll see bicycles follow the lead of cars and motorcycles in other ways: Spoked wheels are a total anachronism....

Off The Beaten Path
03. April, 12:24 Uhr

We’re offering a new chainring combination for our 11-speed compatible Rene Herse cranks. The 48/33 is a perfect size for fast-paced group rides – you won’t get dropped even on downhills with a tailwind, yet the 48 is a bit smaller than the more common 50, allowing you to stay in the big ring on most hills. And if it gets really steep, the 33 extends your range down to a 1:1 gear with most...

Off The Beaten Path
09. April, 16:17 Uhr

Gravel racing is one of the most exciting developments of cycling as a sport in recent years. It combines full-on racing with adventure and drama. Gravel races are a modern take on the roots of cycling, when racers were battling it out on the unpaved mountain passes of the Alps and Pyrenees, when bikes had to survive the entire race, and when racers were independents who had to read the race...

Off The Beaten Path
10. April, 12:45 Uhr

Safety advice: Rene Herse tires are designed for rims that meet the ETRTO standard, specifically: G height: 5.2 – 6.5 mm Sidewalls with hooks. Rims that do not meet the current standards – especially hookless rims and rims with sidewalls that have G heights of less than 5.0 mm – are not recommended for use with Rene Herse tires. This is especially important when installing your tires...

Off The Beaten Path
16. April, 17:49 Uhr

In his latest video, Ted King takes us around his bike for Land Run 100 and explains why he chose the Rene Herse Snoqualmie Pass 44 mm all-road tires, rather than knobbies, for the race across the red dirt of Oklahoma. Click on full screen mode and enjoy!

Off The Beaten Path
15. April, 16:41 Uhr

After 2 years of R&D, we’re excited to introduce the UD-2 rack in a version for cantilever brakes. All you need to fit this rack on your bike is a hole in the fork crown and cantilever brakes. Handlebar bags are popular for touring, randonneuring and bikepacking, because they offer a lot of capacity in an easy-to-access location. They don’t extend beyond the outline of the bike, making it...

Off The Beaten Path
12. April, 15:20 Uhr

Paris-Brest-Paris, one of the world’s oldest long-distance events, is held every four years. 2019 is a ‘PBP Year,’ and thousands of cyclists all over the world are preparing to ride 1200 km (750 miles) from France’s capital to its westernmost city and back. PBP is not just an epic ride – it’s an amazing event with a long history. Started as a ‘utilitarian race’ in 1891 to promote cycling as a...

Off The Beaten Path
26. März, 14:27 Uhr

When Compass Cycles became Rene Herse Cycles earlier this year, many cyclists wondered: Who was René Herse, and why is his work relevant today? Here is the story of how René Herse and his bikes have inspired modern all-road bikes: Eighty years ago, René Herse entered the cycling world with a splash when he entered the lightest bike in the 1938 Concours de Machines technical trials (above)....

Off The Beaten Path
28. März, 11:26 Uhr

The Juniper Ridge 650B x 48 mm dual-purpose knobbies have arrived. Unlike any other all-road tire, they combine excellent speed and cornering grip on pavement with unrivaled traction in mud and snow. At 450 g (Extralight) and 510 g (Standard), they are among the lightest tires in this popular size. We had a lot of fun testing the new tires in the Cascade Mountains, and you’ll have a lot of fun...

Off The Beaten Path
19. April, 11:10 Uhr

Our entire line of Berthoud bags is now available in black-on-black, for a contemporary aesthetic that matches modern bikes. Unchanged is the outstanding performance, light weight and durability of these bags. Leather and canvas may seem like unlikely materials for a high-performance bag, but Berthoud bags aren’t just lighter than most ‘modern’ bags, they also retain their waterproofness in...

Off The Beaten Path
19. März, 13:45 Uhr

They call Ted King the ‘King of Gravel’: Winner of both the Dirty Kanza and Grinduro in 2018, he’s the man to beat. With ‘gravel’ being the fastest-growing segment of the bicycle market, even professional teams are lining up to challenge Ted. So what does a champion do when others come after him? Ride hard and work on his equipment to ensure he has the speediest bike in the peloton. He’s also...

Off The Beaten Path
14. März, 07:13 Uhr

Good news: The long-awaited Kaisei ‘TOEI Special’ fork blades are back in stock. Even better news: We worked with Kaisei to maximize their length, so there is a little extra for bikes with ultra-wide tires, or to cut off the bottom part that is hard to bend smoothly. The new blades are 430 mm long instead of 405 mm in the past. Why do we love these fork blades? The fork is an integral part of...

Off The Beaten Path
11. März, 13:44 Uhr

Beautiful bikes, great roads, traditional Japanese inns: BQ editor Natsuko Hirose’s short clip takes you to the Izu Peninsula. It’s the first trip on her new all-road bike – a great opportunity to enjoy cyclotouring with friends. Enjoy this preview, then read the full story in the Spring 2019 Bicycle Quarterly. Make sure to watch in ‘Full Screen’ mode! Click here to subscribe.

Off The Beaten Path
09. März, 13:03 Uhr

Recently, Enve put out a Consumer Safety Bulletin about their carbon wheels and tires made with natural fibers. The conclusion: “Tires using natural sidewall materials with an open tubular type construction are not fit for use with ENVE carbon rims.” Natural fibers are inconsistent in their strength, and the hard edges of carbon rims can cut the weakest ones, causing the tire to split and blow...

Off The Beaten Path
06. März, 17:13 Uhr

Our Rene Herse cranks are available in three length: 165, 171 and 177 mm. We chose 3.5% increments, because that is the smallest difference you’ll notice as you ride. That part is just common sense. What makes our cranks unique among small-production cranks is that we use different forging dies for each crank length. Let’s first talk about why we forge our cranks: Forging strengthens the metal...

Off The Beaten Path
28. Februar, 16:38 Uhr

At Rene Herse Cycles, we love supple tires. More than anything else, they have come to define what we do: Bring you the highest performance and greatest joy as you ride your bike. Supple casings makes tires faster and more comfortable – what is not to like? This post’s headline already hints that, like all great things, supple tires have some drawbacks. They are high-performance parts. We make...

Off The Beaten Path
25. Februar, 12:25 Uhr

The Spring 2019 Bicycle Quarterly is at the printer. We are finalizing our mailing lists – subscribe or renew today to get your copy with the first mailing. You don’t want to miss this edition! One focus of the Spring BQ is women in cycling. More women enjoy cycling than ever before, but many still face a problem: Most bikes are designed for average men – and many women have a hard time finding...

Off The Beaten Path
22. Februar, 09:06 Uhr

We’re excited to release our new Rene Herse waterbottles. The bottles are based on the popular Purist bottles and feature the new Rene Herse logo. The new design is limited to 500 bottles. Available now for $ 10. We’re not suggesting that these will become sought-after collectors’ pieces, but we do suggest that you order your bottles while they last! We also have stickers with the new logo....

Off The Beaten Path
19. Februar, 14:39 Uhr

Tubeless tires have eliminated the risk of pinch flats. For riding in really rough terrain, they are a game changer. But like all new technologies, it’s taken some trial-and-error until we figured out how to run bicycle tires tubeless. Of course, tubeless tires are nothing new. Car tires have been tubeless for decades, but translating that technology to much more flexible and lighter bicycle...

Off The Beaten Path
11. Februar, 08:04 Uhr

It’s official: Compass has become Rene Herse Cycles. It’s a big change, with a new name and new logo for a line of products that has a very strong following. Rest assured, our philosophy won’t change, and neither will our products. We’ll continue to make the high-performance components that we need for rides that mix gravel and pavement with plenty of adventure. This is the same style of...

Off The Beaten Path
06. Februar, 10:46 Uhr

SON generator hubs and other parts have been flying off the shelves lately. Some of it can be attributed to cyclists preparing their bikes for the upcoming Paris-Brest-Paris 1200 km brevet. More cyclists also realize that generator hubs provide peace of mind on long rides and commutes alike. As a result, some of the most popular hubs – especially the Wide-Body that makes for stronger wheels...

Off The Beaten Path
02. Februar, 08:33 Uhr

The first rides of the new year are very special to me. Getting out of the city, breathing the cold mountain air, and feeling my body get in unison with the bike again – those are sensations that I’ve been missing during my annual early-winter rest. So I left just after 6 in the morning for an all-day ride. It was nice to just ride – no photoshoot for Bicycle Quarterly, no prototype components...