Wow, lots of food for thought in this interview. Pickman touched on something that has been debated to death (although not quite?) and I think still confuses and frustrates a lot of people, which is 1x v 2x for gravel riding and gravel racing. He stated with an almost comical lack of doubt that 1x is better for racing on gravel, except, oh wait a sec, Lachlan won Unbound on a 2x system last year. Also, it seems contradictory to say that 1x is superior in gravel racing while also acknowledging that the speed of gravel racing is getting higher all the time. For example, I personally like 1x for gravel, but that's because I'm going slow af, so I actually want bigger changes in gearing with each shift, and I don't care about cadence or holding speed at all. When I ride on the road, I'm still not going as fast as the pros are in gravel races, and I can't even imagine trying to ride at my road speed on 1x...yuck.
But, on the other hand, maybe 1x only is the right choice, because the pros are so ridiculously strong and durable that they are fine with sacrificing some drivetrain efficiency in order to have some more meat on their tires, so they don't flat or crash or get dropped when they are running into baby head rocks at 50kph. Meanwhile, all the people like me who will never race gravel and just want to be comfortable while riding gravel will also benefit from the huge tire comfort and grip, and we don't care about 1x only, because we are riding so slowly that 1x actually makes more sense for us than 2x...
The wife and I visited Allied a few years ago on my way home from Unbound and I have followed the company's development with great interest. Sam promises a significantly lower price tag on the Able at the end of the pod. I did not get that impression from Jame's excellent review of the new Able. It would have been interesting to hear Sam's take on the impact of the tariffs.
I perhaps should have brought up the tariff thing but to be perfectly honest, I wasn't confident what that situation would look like by the time the episode went live. Unfortunately, I think right now the only certainty we have is uncertainty.
Wow, lots of food for thought in this interview. Pickman touched on something that has been debated to death (although not quite?) and I think still confuses and frustrates a lot of people, which is 1x v 2x for gravel riding and gravel racing. He stated with an almost comical lack of doubt that 1x is better for racing on gravel, except, oh wait a sec, Lachlan won Unbound on a 2x system last year. Also, it seems contradictory to say that 1x is superior in gravel racing while also acknowledging that the speed of gravel racing is getting higher all the time. For example, I personally like 1x for gravel, but that's because I'm going slow af, so I actually want bigger changes in gearing with each shift, and I don't care about cadence or holding speed at all. When I ride on the road, I'm still not going as fast as the pros are in gravel races, and I can't even imagine trying to ride at my road speed on 1x...yuck.
But, on the other hand, maybe 1x only is the right choice, because the pros are so ridiculously strong and durable that they are fine with sacrificing some drivetrain efficiency in order to have some more meat on their tires, so they don't flat or crash or get dropped when they are running into baby head rocks at 50kph. Meanwhile, all the people like me who will never race gravel and just want to be comfortable while riding gravel will also benefit from the huge tire comfort and grip, and we don't care about 1x only, because we are riding so slowly that 1x actually makes more sense for us than 2x...
Today I learned a new term, Geo Mule!
The wife and I visited Allied a few years ago on my way home from Unbound and I have followed the company's development with great interest. Sam promises a significantly lower price tag on the Able at the end of the pod. I did not get that impression from Jame's excellent review of the new Able. It would have been interesting to hear Sam's take on the impact of the tariffs.
I perhaps should have brought up the tariff thing but to be perfectly honest, I wasn't confident what that situation would look like by the time the episode went live. Unfortunately, I think right now the only certainty we have is uncertainty.