When we proposed the 'all-road bike' as a new type of bike, way back in 2006, we envisioned modern carbon racing bikes with ultra-wide tires. In fact, bikes exactly like the OPEN U.P.P.E.R. Of all the bikes we've tested for Bicycle Quarterly, the one I really wanted to keep was...
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 little...
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 fenders...
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 about...
In this mini-series, we look at the bikes of the BQ Team. These are the bikes we bought with our own money and/or built with our own hands. These are the bikes we ride most often, because we feel they work best for the rides we do. And – most...
This mini-series shows the bikes of the Bicycle Quarterly Team. These are the bikes we've bought with our own money and/or built with our own hands. They aren't show queens, because we ride them hard. They've proven themselves over many thousands of miles on the – often quite rough –...
In this mini-series, we're looking at the bikes that the BQ Team rides. These are the bikes we've bought with our own money (or built with our own hands). These are the bikes we ride most of the time, whether we're heading for a quick 2-hour spin or a multi-day...
Editor's Note: We've been thinking about our role in the response to Covid-19. Here is what we can do: If there is a way we can positively influence the situation – like advocating social distancing and wearing face masks before these practices had widespread support – it's our responsibility do...
The beginning of the season is a good time to check our bikes carefully. The last thing we need the evening before a ride is to find out that our chainrings are too worn to work with a new chain, or that our bottom bracket is about to pack...
Just one week of riding without a mudflap, and look at my bike! It's a mess! I ride my Urban Bike year-round in rainy Seattle, but thanks to its generous fenders, it rarely gets dirty. I clean it only once a year, because it doesn't need it more often. Then, last...
At this time of year, we plan our rides for the summer. There are so many places we want to explore! We pore over roads and look at event calendars. And we think about changes to our bikes. Some of the changes are intended to make our bikes better...
Many people see my bike and think "Retro!" In some cases, this is seen as cool. Others are dismissive, like the famous builder who once compared riders like me to civil war re-enactors, who dress up and play civil war in their spare time. It is true that I enjoy...
Some people wonder whether special bikes can be too precious to ride. They ask me about my bikes: "Aren't you afraid that it will get scratched?" or "What if you crash it?" or "What if it gets stolen while you lock it up on the street?" Those things...
I moved from Texas to Seattle 20 years ago and continued to ride and train year-round. At first, I refused to use fenders. I did not want to spoil the beautiful lines of my racing bike. After one miserably wet winter, I gave in. Like most of my teammates,...
"You ride the bike you have, not the bike you might want or wish to have at a later time," said a famous secretary of defense. (More or less. He was talking about armies, not bikes, but both are tools toward achieving an end.) That statement paraphrases my thoughts about...
When I started riding seriously while I was in college in Germany, it became apparent that my Peugeot 10-speed no longer was sufficient. Not only did it lack performance, but it required repairs almost daily. So I soon started shopping for a new bike. Like most new cyclists, I was...
I am the fortunate custodian of a lovely 1962 Alex Singer that is in almost-new condition. It has all the features that make an Alex Singer special, and really represents Alex Singer's ideal of the perfect bike: lightweight, elegant and performing. Years ago, Ernest Csuka of Cycles Alex Singer sent...
Car drivers are lucky: They can buy sports cars that are fully equipped to be driven in the rain and even at night. And their fenders rarely rattle loose, their lights don't fall off, and most car owners think little of driving 1200 km without having to tighten...
In recent years, the bike industry has realized that most riders don't race, and so the racing bike has been renamed: It's now called a "road bike" or a "performance bike." In the minds of most cyclists, a performance bike has narrow tires, no fenders, no lights, no racks....
I spend so much time assembling test bikes, testing components, etc., that I have little time to work on my own bikes. Fortunately, my Alex Singer (above) has been very reliable, even though it is 38 years old and has been ridden at least 200,000 km (120,000 miles) in...
In this series, we have explored how our preferences changed from mid-trail geometries, 700C x 28 mm tires and saddlebags to low-trail 650B bikes with much wider tires and handlebar bags. What will come next? Will we soon ride fully-faired carbon bikes with fenders and racks that form structural...
Most of the time, I ride two bicycles: My 1973 Alex Singer Randonneur for spirited rides with friends, and my Urban Bike for rides that involve carrying loads that do not fit in a handlebar bag. (Due to lack of time, my Alex Singer Camping bike does...
In the previous parts of this series, we have looked at how our preferences in bicycles changed over time. More important is how the changes in our bikes have expanded the way we ride. Indeed, we replaced saddlebags with handlebar bags, triple cranks with compact doubles, mid-trail geometries with...
In the previous parts of this series, we have looked at how our preferences in bicycles changed over time. We started out on "state-of-the-art" bikes with mid-trail geometries, 700C x 28 mm tires and saddlebags. How did we come to prefer low-trail 650B bikes with much wider tires and handlebar...
How did our preferences change from our familiar bikes with mid-trail geometries, 700C x 28 mm tires and saddlebags to low-trail 650B bikes with much wider tires and handlebar bags? In the previous parts of this series, we related how we found out about the advantages of handlebar bags,...
How did our preferences change from our familiar bikes with mid-trail geometries, 700C x 28 mm tires and saddlebags to low-trail 650B bikes with much wider tires and handlebar bags? In the first two parts of this series, we talked about discovering handlebar bags and aluminum fenders. Inspired by the...
In the last installment of this series, we looked at the bikes we rode when Bicycle Quarterly got started almost a decade ago. How did our preferences change from our familiar bikes with mid-trail geometries, 700C x 28 mm tires and saddlebags to low-trail 650B bikes with much wider...
We sometimes hear people criticize our technical analyses: "Bicycle Quarterly's testers simply prefer they bikes that they ride most. You get used to anything, and then you prefer it." Or: "Jan has got his preferences. He started a magazine so he could have a place to talk about them." The reality is a...
My favorite bookseller called and said: "We just sold the last copy of The Competition Bicycle, and there is a gaping hole next to your other book in our window display." There was only one thing to do: I loaded up the trusty Urban Bike...
Emergency Roadside Repair in 3 Easy Steps Materials required: • wooden stick • steel strap • big rock • 5 mm Allen wrench (optional) Time required: 25 minutes. On a spring-time ride in the Cascades, we took a side road from Sultan to Gold Bar in the Skykomish River Valley. Our destination was Index, and we...
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