New fat-bike stuff, Milwaukee bike happenings, the Oak Leaf Trail speed-limit proposal, Tim Commerford on two wheels, and considerably more discussion of the number 337 than anyone asked for.
Full Spectrum Cycling #337 is out.
We begin, naturally, by discovering that 337 is a prime number, wander briefly into numerology and solving Tony's math problem, and eventually remember that this is supposed to be a cycling show.
From there, things improve. Or at least become more bicycle-related.
🎧 Listen to Show #337
Apple Podcasts:
Listen and subscribe to Full Spectrum Cycling
YouTube:
https://youtu.be/owHc1sgcYbo
And now, for newsletter subscribers, here are the links, events and assorted rabbit holes behind the episode.
The Milwaukee Minute (or 5)
Milwaukee Tweed Ride - October 17
Time to locate some of that woolen gear you stored last spring.
The Milwaukee Tweed Ride rolls out from Cafe Hollander at 1 PM on Saturday, October 17.
Period-correct bicycle apparently optional. Period-correct attitude encouraged.
Santa Cycle Rampage + Global Fat-bike Day - December 5
December 5 does double duty this year, like most years, with the Santa Cycle Rampage and Global Fat-bike Day.
This seems like an excellent opportunity for Santa on a fat-bike. With a dash.
Sausage Fest at Amorphic - September 26
There was also considerable discussion of sausage.
That would be Sausage Fest at Amorphic Beer, coming up September 26.
We'll let you decide whether that sentence requires any additional explanation.
The Lake Michigan shoreline case
We talked about the long-running dispute over walking the Lake Michigan shoreline north of Atwater Beach in Shorewood.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court recently dismissed the trespassing citation against shoreline walker Paul Florsheim. Shorewood has been considering its next steps, so the larger shoreline-access question may not be completely finished yet.
We were talking about this stuff back in 2012, which Greg discovered after finding an old PDF while cleaning up drives.
15 MPH on the Oak Leaf Trail?
Here's one worth paying attention to.
Milwaukee County Parks has proposed a 15 mph speed limit on the Oak Leaf Trail and other county park pathways where bicycle riding is allowed.
Despite much of the discussion surrounding e-bikes and faster electric moped/motorcycle type things, the proposed limit would also apply to ordinary pedal bicycles too. Enforcement would occur in areas where the speed limit is posted but the system wide 15mph may come to pass!
The County Board's Parks and Culture Committee is expected to consider the proposal September 29.
This one generated exactly the kind of calm, measured legal analysis you've come to expect from Full Spectrum Cycling.
Which is to say: we probably should not be your lawyers.
Also worth checking out:
Poovey Farms Racing — Racing to the Beer
pooveyfarmsracingmke.com
Hartford Avenue changes at UWM
Hartford Avenue through the UWM campus is being converted to one-way eastbound traffic, along with a new two-way protected bicycle lane.
We discussed the design, crossing traffic to reach a two-way lane on one side of the street, and the general unpredictability of human beings moving through a college campus.
And for more Milwaukee bike happenings:
Talkin' Schmack
A new Salsa Beargrease
There's a new Salsa Beargrease, and the geometry gave us something to argue about.
The new bike is longer and slacker than the fat-bikes many of started on when we began riding fat-bikes. That could make plenty of sense for faster trail riding, but we spent some time wondering how that approach translates to really soft snow and sand.
In other words: Is it a modern mountain bike with really big tires, or the direction fat-bike geometry ought to be going?
Discuss amongst yourselves.
New 45NRTH carbon rims
45NRTH also has a new carbon fat-bike rim, the Levitas, that looks awfully familiar to anyone who remembers the old Whisky carbon fat-bike rim.
That's not necessarily criticism. We liked that rim.
Carbon that survives hitting things is generally preferable to carbon that doesn't.
32-inch wheels are becoming a thing
Yes. 32-inch mountain-bike wheels.
They're showing up in serious racing, which inevitably led to the question nobody was asking:
Will somebody eventually make a 32-inch fat-bike?
Our current technical assessment is approximately: Dear God, why?
Someone will probably do it now.
Save the Dash
Greg's ongoing linguistic crusade continues.
Around here:
fat-bike = the big-tired 26-inch and 27.5-inch bicycles we've been riding for years.
fatbike = the increasingly common 20-inch mini-moto-looking machines with motorcycle-style seats and throttles.
Why care?
Because headlines, particularly overseas, increasingly use “fatbike” while reporting problems involving throttle-equipped electric machines, while the word has historically also been associated with the bicycles we know and love.
So we're staking out our little corner of the English language.
Save the Dash.
Read more at Fat-bike.com.
And while you're there, check out the Fat-bike Lab and the new Fat-bike.com newsletter and community.
Bikes on the Bus
Tim Commerford
This episode's cyclist who happens to do something else for a living is Tim Commerford, bass player for Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. among other hard-rocking bands
And this isn't celebrity-was-photographed-near-a-bicycle territory.
Commerford has been mountain biking since the early 1990s, has ridden extensively while touring and has famously said:
“I think I ride bikes maybe more than I play bass.”
His riding connections have included mountain-bike legends Hans Rey and Brian Lopes, and he's spent serious time on both conventional mountain bikes and e-MTBs.
So yes, Timmy C qualifies.
Naturally this also gave JK an excuse to start thinking about a Rage playlist. Aaand here it is…
We're continuing to hunt for musicians, touring crew and other interesting people who genuinely ride bikes. If you've got somebody we should talk to, hit reply and tell us who.
🍺 Show Beer
Potosi Oktoberfest
This week's beer was Potosi Oktoberfest, a Märzen-style lager from Potosi Brewing Company.
Beer was consumed.
Beer terminology was discussed.
Knowledge may or may not have increased.
One More Thing
Full Spectrum Cycling recently landed at #27 on Feedspot's list of U.S. cycling blogs, while our friends over at Fat-bike.com came in at #48 on its Mountain Bike Blogs list.
We'll take it.
Coming Up
Week Without Driving runs October 1–8 in Milwaukee.
The idea is simple: experience daily transportation without automatically reaching for the car keys.
That's Definitely Talkin’ Some Schmack
Full Spectrum Cycling is moving to a twice-a-month schedule, give or take the occasional calendar anomaly, live event, beer, bicycle ride or other distraction.
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