Firstly, on your comfort this bicycle weblog can be open on Monday, January twentieth, which is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

I imply certain, I gained’t be updating it that day or something, however you’re greater than welcome to come back in and make your self at residence.

Shifting on, after making an attempt skinnier tires, I’ve put the Garvel Kings again on the Roadini:

I do want them, and I believe the explanation could also be that the bike sits greater with the fatter tires, which is one way or the other extra in proportion with the longer wheelbase and basic roominess of the bike. With the 32s it type of had a little bit little bit of a “lowered CRV” factor occurring:

[From here.]

As for the Garvel Kings themselves (the precise mannequin is “Gravel King SK”), I famous some dialogue within the feedback yesterday about their propensity for flinging very small rocks attributable to their tiny, closely-spaced knobs:

Apparently folks even name them “Gravel Flings.”

I had no thought this was even a factor earlier than I took supply of the Roaduno, although I did instantly discover it the primary time I took the bike onto a path. Nonetheless, I quickly modified the tires–not due to the flinging, however as a result of I used to be having hassle getting one in all them to seat correctly (I may really feel a little bit “hop” when driving), and I occurred to have a pair of Bruce Gordon tires within the ol’ tire piile that gave the impression to be a greater match. So after I was placing the Roadini collectively I figured I’d give the Garvel Filngs one other shot, and never solely did they roll easily and hop-free, however I additionally haven’t actually seen a lot if any flinging, although I believe it is because the bottom has since frozen and there’s actually nothing to fling till it thaws:

As for flat-resistance, which I consider another person additionally talked about, I don’t wish to tempt the Puncture Gods, however to this point so good–although the Homer initially got here with the slick model of the Garvel King, which rode very properly, however which I ultimately gave up on as a result of I used to be getting too many flats:

I might assume the knobby model could be a minimum of rather less flat-prone for the easy cause that there’s extra rubber for small and pointy issues to burrow via earlier than they’ll liberate the air from the tire, however I suppose we’ll see.

By the way in which, I ought to word that I’m utilizing primitive internal tubes. I wouldn’t essentially rule out going tubeless on the Roadini sooner or later, however usually on a motorcycle like this I don’t thoughts utilizing a heavier-duty tire with tubes over a lighter one arrange tubeless, since pinch flats aren’t actually a lot of a priority, and I’d moderately not cope with topping up the sealant and all that stuff. In fact the calculus is completely completely different on the Jones:

Once you’re driving 3-inch tires at low double-digit pressures over rocks and logs, tubeless is the one technique to go.

However possibly subsequent time I alter the tires on the Roadini I’ll attempt it with out tubes, who is aware of?

In different information, a reader informs me that the New York Occasions’s “Ethicist” has taken with regards to bicycling and visitors lights:

Right here is the query:

And right here is the reply:

From the Ethicist:

These of us who stroll in New York Metropolis know the unwelcome expertise of getting bicyclists whizzing via pedestrian crossings when we now have the sunshine. Every year, in actual fact, a couple of hundred unfortunate pedestrians on the town can be injured from encounters with bicyclists, a handful fatally. With a pedestrian scramble — also called a Barnes Dance, in honor of the visitors engineer Henry Barnes — vehicular visitors is paused in each instructions; pedestrians can cross the intersection diagonally if they need. If you happen to’ve forded Tokyo’s well-known Shibuya Crossing on foot, you’ll be struck (or, moderately, not struck) by the power of tons of, even 1000’s of pedestrians to swarm throughout the intersection with out bumping into each other, not to mention a automotive or bike.

I’ve little doubt that you simply’d be a cautious crosser; your evenhanded abstract of the state of affairs suggests that you simply’re capable of look in each instructions and measurement issues up. However one rationale for these scrambles is to reinforce pedestrian security by utterly separating autos from pedestrians. Cyclists who play it by ear, or eye, are defeating the purpose of the system. And norms get settled by selections that individuals such as you make. Keep put when your mild is purple, and also you function a job mannequin for different cyclists. Predictability and social belief are strengthened when folks observe the principles even once they don’t see any profit in doing so. At a Barnes Dance, it truly is greatest to let the visitors indicators lead.

Setting apart the problem at hand for the second, I’m unsure folks needs to be seeking to the New York Occasions for moral recommendation, because it’s a little bit like consulting PornHub’s Requirements and Practices Govt in issues of style. Nonetheless, general I discovered his response passable, although I may have completed with out the gratuitous discourse on “Tokyo’s well-known Shibuya Crossing,” which serves no function right here in any way aside from establishing how well-traveled the author is. (That is colloquially often known as a “humblebrag.”)

Anyway, as soon as he returns from this flight of fancy to Japan, he notes that every 12 months “a couple of hundred unfortunate pedestrians on the town can be injured from encounters with bicyclists, a handful fatally.” Definitely reckless cyclists pose an actual hazard to pedestrians, however the “handful fatally” half was fairly jarring, and it leads me to suspect he’s getting his statistics totally from the “AI Overview” you get while you do a two-second G**gle search:

I’m unsure what the quantity is for 2024, however based on the DOT, in 2023, bicyclists killed two pedestrians:

In 2022 it was three:

And listed here are the prior years all the way in which again to 2008:

Now I notice he’s The Ethicist and never The Semanticist, however in 16 years there have been solely two years during which greater than two pedestrians have been killed by cyclists, and practically half of these years noticed no pedestrians killed by cyclists. So I’m unsure the place he’s getting “a handful” annually. I imply certain, technically one generally is a handful–simply ask double hand job man:

However to say a “handful” of pedestrians are killed by cyclists in New York Metropolis annually is sort of deceptive. Take into account: I’ve 4 Rivendells, and also you’d be proper to say that’s a handful. But when I promised to provide you a handful of Rivendells yearly and half the time I don’t provide you with shit, you’d be proper to name me a liar.

In any other case, sure, the Ethicist is right that try to be thoughtful in the direction of pedestrians and be a mannequin bike owner and blah blah blah. Although in terms of cycling-related questions it’s usually higher to seek the advice of somebody who truly rides a motorcycle:

Put that in your hand and stroke it.