N-1wsletter #5: The week in tech, November 22, 2024
Fancy new gravel bikes, a steel showstopper from Colnago, the pressure is real, and some of my favorite pieces of fall riding kit.
Featured in this week’s tech round-up:
Some of my go-to pieces of fall riding clothing.
Mondraker is making a commitment to gravel.
Argonaut knows what’s best.
Colnago still believes steel is real.
Some neat cage upgrades for SRAM rear derailleurs.
Add laser etching to your Wolf Tooth Components mini-pump or tools – for free!
Tern cargo bikes for a good cause.
An explainer on suspension pump pressure.
Exactly how sketchy is Aliexpress, anyway?
Regardless of which side of the equator you’re on, this is often one of the trickiest times of the year in terms of figuring out what to wear for a ride. For me here in Colorado, it’s totally normal to get swings of 30°F / 15°C in a few hours – never mind temperature changes with elevation – and it’s not at all uncommon for me to head out in shorts one day and in full winter gear the next.
Given such wildly variable conditions, versatility is usually my biggest priority when it comes to riding kit, and two pieces consistently stand out – one old, one new – but coincidentally, both are from lesser-known San Francisco-based brand Ornot.
The Micro Climate jacket has been a staple of mine for years thanks to its insanely wide comfort range and stupendously good breathability. At first glance, its strategically placed array of tiny triangular bits of fuzzy insulation bonded to the interior really doesn’t look like much, and Ornot doesn’t even bother assigning any fancy buzzwords or acronyms here. With even just a moderately insulative long-sleeved jersey underneath, I’ve happily worn it down to the freezing mark. But yet it does such a good job of letting sweat vapor pass through that I’ve also tackled long and steep climbs in more springtime (say, 65°F / 18°C) conditions without even bothering to unzip the thing.
The cut is also trim without being stifling (perfect for the holiday riding season…), the soft fabric is super stretchy and feels good against bare skin, and the unadorned exterior (an Ornot trademark) is offered in a bunch of different colors that won’t make grown-ups look like they’re heading to Comic-Con.
My Micro Climate jacket is now old enough that it doesn’t have the two-way zipper that newer ones do, or the handy strap for attaching the jacket to your bike after you’ve stored it inside the built-in stuff pocket. And whatever DWR coating this once had has worn off long ago (which is ok for me since I live in a dry climate), but it’s otherwise held up remarkably well over the last four seasons. It’s also not the cheapest thing at US$228 / AU$355 / £183 / €219, but given the made-in-California sourcing, how much use I’ve gotten out of it, and how incredibly useful it is, I can’t say it isn’t a solid value.
The other piece is a newer addition to Ornot’s catalog: the Alpha Riding Vest. Like most shoulder-season vests, it features a wind-resistant front panel to ward off cold breezes. However, this one also sports a body made of one of my all-time favorite insulation materials, Polartec Alpha. It’s remarkably warm given the lack of weight and bulk, the fuzzy collar is an especially nice touch when it’s chilly, and because it’s only wind-resistant up front, the back is fantastically breathable.
Interestingly enough, I find myself reaching for this in colder conditions more than the Micro Climate jacket despite the fact that the latter has sleeves. Combined with a heavier-weight winter jersey, I’ve found it to be an outstanding combo to keep my core warm without overheating. The vest is also the more affordable of the two at US$134 / AU$209 / £108 / €129, but if I had to only pick one, it’d still be the Micro Climate for its greater versatility.
Alright, on to this week’s happenings on the tech front:
In the news
Mondraker moving into gravel for real
Mondraker just dropped a new gravel bike this week called the Arid, and interestingly enough, while it’s technically the Spanish brand’s second-ever gravel model, it’s the first one that doesn’t come with a motor and battery (that honor belongs to the Dusty, which launched early last year).
Mondraker has strong roots in dirt, and so it’s perhaps no surprise that the Arid is aimed at riders coming to gravel from the mountain bike side of things as opposed to roadies migrating away from tarmac. The geometry features a long reach and short stem (just 60-90 mm, depending on frame size), the head tubes are fairly slack there’s clearance for 700c tires up to 50 mm-wide (“with clearance to spare”), and while the 420 mm axle-to-crown length on the fork is just about right for a shorter-travel suspension fork, there’s instead an emphasis on compliance built directly into the carbon fiber frame with a super-flat top tube that should soften things up significantly up front, and leaf spring-like connections between the seat tube and dropped seatstays that should do the same out back.
Claimed weight for a medium painted frame is 1,250 g (2.75 lb) and the matching carbon fork adds another 600 g (with axle).
Some new gravel bikes are conspicuously straying more toward the racing end of the spectrum, but Mondraker seems to be taking more of an all-purpose – or even adventure-minded – approach. The long reach and short stem should make for friendly manners in loose and/or steep conditions, and that’s paired with wider bars that certainly aren’t chosen for aerodynamic efficiency. The stack dimensions are also on the taller side, there are mounts for up to six water bottles (or a mix of bottles and cargo), and the top tube is intentionally only modestly sloping so as to leave more space for frame bags.
The headset cable routing isn’t my favorite (big surprise, eh?), but it at least doesn’t run the lines through either the stem or bar, and it admittedly makes it easier to attach a bar bag without interference. Perhaps more importantly, the clean and uncluttered look is just what high-end customers expect these days. More storage can be found inside the down tube with a pivoting hatch that stays connected to the frame (for better or worse) and three custom bags that fill the entire down tube from fork to bottom bracket (So. Many. Gummy bears.).
The frame design and geometry may suggest capability and adventure, but the spec is a little more of a juxtaposition. For example, mullet gearing is heavily featured with mountain bike rear derailleurs and cassettes for maximum gearing range (there are no provisions for a front derailleur). Mondraker has also opted for higher-volume 45 mm-wide rubber, but half the models are outfitted with aero-profile carbon wheels and all of the bikes are equipped with speed-focused tread designs like the Goodyear Connector Inter and Maxxis Reaver instead of something more general-purpose.
Curiosities aside, this strikes me as one of the more interesting gravel introductions in recent years, and I’ve now got one on hand for a proper review (instead of just first impressions). Watch this space.
Argonaut announces new GR3 Supernaut gravel flagship (and new gravel wheels, too)
High-end carbon specialist Argonaut Cycles has mostly focused on fully custom frames since moving from steel in 2012, but it’s now shifting gears again with the expansion of its Supernaut line. Originally debuting in a trial run last year on the road, the RM3 Supernaut combined pre-set geometries with rider-specific lay-up schedules for what Argonaut claimed was basically the ultimate pseudo-stock road bike. That concept has now made its way to gravel with the debut of the GR3 Supernaut gravel bike.
“Born from a decade of pioneering revolutionary ride quality and innovative composite manufacturing, the Supernaut distills years of innovation into the perfect bicycle,” states the Argonaut press release. “This is the bike Argonaut staff members ride, day in and day out.”
As with the RM3 Supernaut, the GR3 Supernaut will feature fixed geometries, although with 13 sizes in total, the majority of riders with reasonably average proportions probably won’t have any issues finding something to suit. Carbon lay-up schedules will also be customized to each rider (from a set menu of options per tube) to produce the desired ride characteristics, and the frames are being built with the same innovative “high-pressure silicone molding” process that Argonaut uses elsewhere in its lineup.
Argonaut’s approach to the whole Supernaut concept in general is interesting, though. Usually when most custom builders introduce a range with stock geometries, it’s conceived as a way to increase sales volumes and streamline the production process (i.e. offer them at a lower price). To that end, Supernaut versions of the RM3 and GR3 will indeed be less expensive than their full-custom cousins, but only to the tune of about US$1,000 when comparing apples-to-apples. Instead, Supernaut models are being billed more as distillations of what the company has determined to consistently provide the best outcomes for its customers over the last 12 years – more prêt-à-porter than “stock”.
“For 90% of riders, this will be the best way to get them the best bike possible,” explained Argonaut’s PR point person, Billy Sinkford. “This is the best representation of what Argonaut does.”
To that end, each GR3 Supernaut will be sold exclusively with preset build kits (including Argonaut’s new 28 mm-wide D33 carbon gravel wheels) as well as fixed colors-and-graphics packages. And they certainly will be exclusive. Argonaut is only setting aside 30 production slots for the 2025 calendar year – and moreover, that 30 is split between both RM3 and GR3 Supernauts. Retail price is set at US$15,900.
Colnago celebrates its 70th with the limited-edition Steelnovo
Colnago perhaps isn’t the first name that comes to mind when you think of “innovation” – not these days, at least – but the iconic Italian brand just dropped a new limited-edition model called Steelnovo that presents a lustworthy combination of old and new (despite what I feel is kind of a silly-sounding name).
As you’d guess, the Steelnovo is a steel road frame, built with a Columbus tubeset that’s joined together with a mix of brazing and welding. But instead of typical lugs or mitered joints, the Steelnovo features 3D-printed nodes that lend a lusciously flowing and seamless look – not entirely unlike what innovative Australian builder Prova Cycles is doing in titanium, in fact. Colnago says the Columbus tubeset used on the Steelnovo is entirely specific to the project with dedicated shaping, and the nodes are printed by Italian outfit Additiva in Modena, just a couple of hours away from Colnago’s headquarters in Cambiago.
Eschewing aero shaping, the Steelnovo instead sports more traditional profiles with nominally round cross-sections throughout that promise a similarly traditional ride quality – not to mention a distinctively neo retro aesthetic – while the headset cable routing and Colnago’s CC01 integrated one-piece carbon fiber bar-and-stem combo keep things tidy-looking up front. And although the Steelnovo wears all the hallmarks of a classic steel road bike, there’s nevertheless enough clearance for 35 mm-wide tires.
Colnago unfortunately isn’t offering any custom options with the Steelnovo – including geometry, although there are seven sizes to choose from – and each is being sold exclusively as a complete build. However, it’s one heck of a Italian-focused build that includes a Campagnolo Super Record Wireless electronic groupset and Campagnolo Bora Ultra WTO aero carbon wheels (both with Colnago-exclusive graphics), a Brooks Cambium C13 saddle with carbon fiber rails, Pirelli P Zero Race tires, and custom-etched Carbon-Ti hardware.
What’s it weigh, you wonder? I have no idea, and Colnago didn’t say. I’m not sure that I care all that much, though, and my guess is none of the lucky Steelnovo buyers will care all that much, either. Just 70 Steelnovos will be available in total, each with a lofty price tag of US$18,000 / €17,500.
N-1? More like n-plus-eighteen grand.
SRAM MTB derailleur cage upgrades
SRAM’s marketing team has done a great job of making sure everyone is fully aware of how strong the Transmission mountain bike derailleurs’ connection is to the frame. However, the pulley cage with its delicate plates hanging low to the ground is still as vulnerable as it’s always been, and it hasn’t take long for the aftermarket to swoop in with some proposed solutions.
Colorado company MRP has come up with the simply named Cage Guard, a bit of bolt-on armoring made of machined Delrin thermoplastic that’s intended to keep rock strikes and sticks from tearing into the outer pulley cage plate. MRP says it’s compatible with S1000, GX, X0, XX, and XX SL T-Type rear derailleurs, and retail price is US$30. That’s maybe a little expensive for what many will perceive as just a chunk of plastic, but it’s way cheaper than a new cage – especially if you’ve got a carbon fiber one.
Alternatively, if you’re instead running AXS stuff, Dutch brand Leap Components has finalized development of its so-called Stealth Cage, which replaces the stock pulley cage assembly entirely with a 3D-printed fiber-reinforced nylon part. Intriguingly, the Stealth Cage trades the usual two-piece pulley cage construction for a unified design that’s printed all at the same time. According to Leap, the one-piece design keeps the weight down to just 74 g (supposedly the same as a stock carbon fiber XX1 Eagle AXS cage) while also boosting strength as compared to separate plates bolted together.
“We mounted six cages to be tested for more than a year on enduro bikes,” Leap Components engineer Henri de Lange told me. “ All the riders were super surprised that they couldn’t break it. The trick that makes this cage stronger than expected is that it can flex a little before it breaks.”
Retail price is US$59 / €54 for just the cage assembly (with titanium hardware), or US$77 / €70 with a fresh set of 3D-printed upper and lower pulleys.
I’m intrigued.
Strava is apparently shooting itself in the foot – again
Strava recently sent an email out to users outlining some changes that would affect how the popular – ubiquitous, almost – activity-logging service interacts with third-party apps. Basically, it’s apparently not going to interact with them with them at all anymore, which is invariably going to wreak havoc on the countless third-party apps that rely on access to Strava’s data to function.
Ray at DC Rainmaker has already put together a much clearer and more thorough explainer on this, so I’ll let him take it from here, but in short, it doesn’t sound good:
All I want for Christmas is a custom laser-etched Wolf Tooth Components mini-pump
Just in time for the holidays, Wolf Tooth Components has added optional custom laser-etching for its Encase mini-pumps, regular and 8-bit Pack Pliers, and 6-Bit Hex Wrench. Four different background graphics are offered for each, along with up to 75 characters of space for personalization – and after I inquired about it, Wolf Tooth has also added the ability to etch five lines of medical/emergency contact information.
As neat as this is, it may also be a clever way for the company to avoid discounting around this time of year. I couldn’t help but notice that this initiative was launched at the time seemingly everyone else is announcing early Black Friday deals, and instead of cutting into its margins for a holiday sale, Wolf Tooth has opted to sweeten the deal by adding rather of subtracting.
Regardless, laser etching is neat, and customization is always fun.
And a bit of uplifting news
Tern Bicycles has donated 60 of its Short Haul short-wheelbase cargo bikes to a number of families, aid workers, and local service providers in Ukraine.
“The people of Ukraine have been astoundingly brave and resilient in the face of daunting obstacles,” said Tern ‘team captain’ and company founder Josh Hon via press release. “We want them to know that they are not forgotten and that we support them. We hope that our cargo bikes can make daily life a bit easier.”
Tern has several e-cargo bikes in its lineup, but the Short Haul was chosen specifically because it does without given the country’s currently unstable power grid and yet can still carry up to 70 kg (154 lb) of stuff.
“While the war has damaged the lives of the locals, their spirit remains strong," said head of Swiss NGO Pro Ukraïna Michael Roffler, also via press release. “Life goes on, just at a slower pace. These cargo bikes will help people rebuild their lives, empower essential workers, and bring moments of respite and joy to local families.”
TL;DR review: Elita One Carbon saddle
I needed a new saddle for my indoor bike last winter, and took that as an opportunity to explore a topic I’d been curious about for some time. Instead of using a saddle from a well-known and established brand, I instead ordered one of those superlight – and super inexpensive – saddles from Aliexpress that so many people seem to rave about.
By superlight, I mean an actual weight of just 117 g, thanks in part to a carbon fiber shell and 7x9 mm carbon rails. And by super inexpensive, I paid a whopping US$22 including tax and shipping – and nope, that’s not a typo. To get that sort of weight from a major brand, you’d looking at about 20 times that.
In terms of the shape and design, the Elita One is a blatant rip-off of the Specialized Power, complete with the same snub-nosed profile, broad and flat rear section, a similarly progressive taper, and even the tip of the nose droops down the same way. It’s such a thorough facsimile that there simply can be no question that mimicking the appearance was the primary intent.
That said, if the company was going to copy anyone, that’d be a solid choice given its popularity.
There are differences if you look a little closer, though.
Whereas the carbon fiber shell on genuine Specialized Power carbon saddles have a more complex shape with various ribbed reinforcements in some areas and thinned-out sections in others, the Elita One’s carbon hull appears to use a consistent thickness throughout. And whereas the genuine Power’s carbon rails are flattened and feature a shallower angle toward the rear (presumably for a bit of leaf-spring effect), the ones on the Elita are thicker and more upright. The cover on the genuine item is also tucked in around the edges before it’s bonded to the base for a tidier appearance, whereas the Elita One Carbon’s synthetic leather is more simply wrapped around the bottom and glued. The Elita doesn’t have any threaded inserts for accessory mounts, either.
The Elita One Carbon otherwise looks convincing. The carbon fiber bits sport consistently even surfaces with no visible voids or wrinkles, the bonding agent where the rails attach to the shell is tidily applied, and even the edges of the synthetic leather cover are neatly trimmed and thoroughly bonded around the entire periphery. Up top, the printed dots in the cover (sorry, they’re not actually perforations) are symmetrically positioned, and the whole thing just feels pretty well done.
Months of riding the Elita One Carbon – both indoors and out – have been pleasantly uneventful.
The shape is indeed super familiar, and just about everything I like about the various Power models I’ve ridden for years applies here. The broad and flat rear offers a stable foundation to plant yourself for long stretches of road, the short and tapered nose stays out the way when you’re down low and really on the gas, and the generous cutout does a good job of minimizing any undue pressure on softer and more sensitive bits. The carbon shell feels like it has just the right amount of give to it, at least for my 73 kg (161 lb) frame.
Sounds all good, right? Almost.
The padding is impressively thick given the low weight, and it feels inviting and cushy when you first hop on. But it’s support that you want on longer rides, and it’s here where the Elita One Carbon falls a little short. Some of the comfiest saddles I’ve used over the years were also some of the most starkly padded, relying more heavily on a well chosen shape and thin – but very dense – foam to provide more support. Just like how a thick and squishy car seat that feels good at first becomes fatiguing after a few hours, such is the case with the Elita One. It’s since been relegated back to indoor use since those sessions rarely run past a couple of hours.
That said, Elita One also offers an “E” version of this saddle with less padding that’s also about 20 g lighter. I perhaps should have gone with that one instead, but if I decide to bite the bullet again, that one still only costs a laughably low US$24.
At this point, it’d perhaps be irresponsible for me to not bring up the elephant in the room: safety and reliability. What sort of testing does Elita do? Has this thing passed ISO certification? What recourse do you have if the rails snap in half and carbon shards tear up your nether regions?
The 120 kg (265 lb) rider weight limit included in the product description suggests some kind of testing has perhaps been done, and there’s supposedly a three-year warranty. Aliexpress lists the vendor as “Dongguan Alita Sports Equipment Co.” in Dongguan, China, but if you’re able to find how to actually contact the company for a claim, your reading comprehension is clearly better than mine. That all said, I scoured the internet looking for mentions of failures and while I was certainly able to find some, nothing seemed especially out of the ordinary.
So what’s the conclusion here?
I’d say it’s best to play well within the margins here. If you’re a lighter rider – or just generally easier on your gear – then this could very well be a safe way to put your bike on a diet without breaking the bank. But heavier riders or anyone looking for a new lightweight saddle that’s going to see a fair bit of abuse might want to keep the uncertain odds in mind.
In the works
Speaking of Aliexpress, it’s well known to be chock-full of blatant knockoffs (here’s the original) and straight-up counterfeits (weird, the real thing is somehow so much more expensive), but it’s also ripe with bargains for financially savvy buyers that aren’t concerned with labels and/or are willing to take a risk.
That Elita One Carbon saddle isn’t the only bit of dabbling I’ve been doing lately on the online megastore. My 11yo needed some longer cranks on a bike she only rides back and forth to school, and the "Goldix Children Bicycle Crankset" I ended up buying not only included an entire assembly (arms, spindle, bottom bracket, and chainring with an integrated machined guard) for just US$45, but it was also offered in my choice of 110-160 mm arm lengths and chainrings from 28-38T. And you know what? At least in that application, it works just fine.
I bought a combo hydraulic brake hose cutter and barb press for US$16, and it turned out to be pretty darn good. A set of three double-ended stainless steel suspension top cap wrenches cost me less than US$15, and they’ve so far done the job perfectly well for my occasional-use needs.
Is any of this stuff actually tested? How much are original inventors hurt when someone rips off their design? Should buyers feel guilt or remorse if they decide to tap the Aliexpress well? Is most of the stuff you find on Aliexpress really just cheap junk, or it closer to the truth that name-brand stuff is grossly overpriced? What about the items that appear to be real, but might be grey-market?
I don’t have the answers to any of these questions, but I know I’m not the only one to be lured by what Aliexpress seems to offer. Let me know what you think in the comments as I’m inclined to tug on this thread a little more.
Tech tip of the week
“If I want 160 psi in my shock, I need to pump it up to like 170 because I lose about 10 psi when I take the pump off, right?”
Confusion over shock pump pressure comes up all the time. A buddy of mine brought it up just the other day, in fact, so I figured it was worthy of some space here..
Unless your pump is positively ancient, pretty much anything sold within the last 20 years will include a no-leak head that seals off the Schrader valve on your suspension component before air is let out of the pump. That means the pressure that’s displayed on the gauge when you remove the pump really is what’s actually inside your fork or rear shock.
In other words, when you unscrew the pump head and hear that ‘psssst!’ of air rushing out, that’s only air coming out of the pump body, not your rear shock or fork. And yep, if you were to screw the pump back on immediately afterward, the displayed pressure will be lower than what you saw before because you just connected an unpressurized pump to a pressurized chamber, and the resultant total will be lower than what was in that pressurized chamber before. Put another way, if you have two air chambers of identical volume – one at 100 psi and the other at 0 psi – and then join them together, the resultant air pressure of the combined total will be 50 psi.
So yep, stop overcompensating for a perceived loss of pressure when there actually isn’t any. While you’re at it, get in the habit of writing your inflation pressures with a Sharpie directly on your rear shock or fork because when it comes to suspension tuning, it’s always good to know what your baseline is. But if you can’t be bothered, you can use this same shock pump trait in reverse to your advantage.
If you just want to know where you’re at currently, attach the pump and note the pressure on the gauge. Without making any changes, remove the pump and then note the displayed pressure again. The difference is roughly the amount of pressure your pump bleeds off. Take that number and add it to the first pressure you recorded, and you’ve got a pretty solid estimate for what you’re running (this isn’t a linear scale since we’re talking proportional volumes here, but for most folks, this is more than close enough).
Example: You attach a pump to your rear shock and it reads 150 psi. After removing and reinstalling it, it now reads 140 psi. That means the pump is bleeding off about 10 psi each time it’s attach, which tells you the original pressure inside your rear shock was 160 psi.
Got it?
ICYMI
I just posted earlier this week the full gallery from my visit to No.22 Bicycle Company in upstate New York, and I think my head is still processing everything I saw there. Very few of us will ever get the privilege of riding one of those beautiful titanium machines, and far fewer still will get to own one. But hopefully my factory tour will at least give you a little taste of what goes on inside those nondescript doors until the MADE show comes back to Portland next August.
A word of warning: the No.22 factory tour post is only available in full to paid n-1 subscribers (free subscribers will still get a preview, though).
One last thing: these newsletters are getting pretty big. Would you all prefer longer, but less frequent, posts or shorter and more easily digestible pieces that I publish more often? Let me know:
Alright, that’s all I’ve got for you for now. Enjoy the weekend!
I’ve bought numerous tools and parts from Ali. A few carbon saddles that seem to copy the specialized power mirror Mtb saddles. I’ve never ridden the original but this one seems great. Really great. Similar to the tools I’ve bought. The one category of part I’ve not had luck with are carbon stems. All of them have cracked even at the specced torque range. Given this - I am reluctant to try the handlebars.
Curious what it’d be like to try some of the generic carbon frames and super light wheels.
Need to load up on AE purchases before the tariffs begin 🥲