Bicycle Quarterly, Issue 62 Winter 2018

In 2002 Jan Heine decided to follow his passion and start a low budget black and white zine about the culture, history and technology of cycling. 14 years on and Bicycle Quarterly has become a respected voice in the bicycle industry with an almost cult following. Reading a copy will help you appreciate and understand your bicycle even more, but most of all it will make you want to head out for a ride that pushes your boundaries.

In this issue:

Bicycles are a great vehicle for adventure, and the Winter 2017 magazine is dedicated to rides that are a bit out of the ordinary. We take a tandem trip to the Alps. As you can imagine, taking an unrestored 70-year-old bike on a challenging tour was full of adventure. Natsuko writes about her first tandem ride, and a companion article explains why this old tandem performed so well.

Even further off the beaten path, Gerolf Meyer and three friends rode their bikes across the Balkans. They encountered grandiose landscapes, plenty of gravel, and fascinating cultures. Reading their story will make you want to pack up your bike and head to Bulgaria, Macedonia and Greece.

Adventure bikes are one of the biggest trends in bicycles. What happens when you increase the tire size beyond what fits into a road frame? To find out, we ride the Rawland Ulv, a randonneur bike designed for 80 mm tires.

Seattle’s 333fab offers the hand-built AirLandSea as ‘one bike to do it all.’ We ride it high into the Cascade Mountains on a quest to re-discover Jack Pass, which was cut off when a river jumped its banks and washed out the road. How does this bike designed for ultra-wide tires handle the different conditions encountered during this adventure?

Shimano has grown from humble beginnings to dominate the bicycle component market. How did Shimano achieve its current status? We visit the company’s headquarters to get an inside look at the company. Our journey takes us not only to the beginning. of the Japanese cycling industry, but to the roots of Japanese metalworking when we visit a maker of traditional knives, who works not far from Shimano’s global headquarters.

We report on the Firefly after two years and use the opportunity to test different wheel sizes – below with a 26″ rear and 650B front wheel. Does the handling of a bike remain the same, as long as you keep the outer diameter of the wheels (and thus the front-end geometry) the same? Or are there other factors to consider?