No worries. I like hearing other opinions. When people don't see things the same way, there's an opportunity to learn. I, for one, would like to hear your take on the biases you've noted. There's the chance that some people may not see things the same as you do, but it isn't a big deal if that's the case.

I have no issues buying the products if I like them and I think the price is right. I find Compass bike parts by and large more expensive than I like to pay though.

I like many of the Bicycle Quarterly articles I've read and thought that by and large they were pretty sensible. I also agree with you about the value of the advice from posters here. I respect the positive reviews of the Compass products from posters. I thought, for example, that @poprad's response to my post was very much spot on. I've also enjoyed this thread and it has made me think about mounting a bit fatter tire on the bike I am currently building up for gravel grinding duty.

It irks me though that someone puts himself out as a journalist and then profits from the advice he gives. That doesn't make the advice wrong but it makes me skeptical. I'll bet in any arena other than cycling, you'd be a little skeptical if you read an article from a journalist who was making money from the products he told you were better than those sold by a competing company.

Oh come on. 26 inch road tires? Not only were those standard fare half a century ago when I was a kid.... my long deceased father had those [then called balloon tires] on his Rollfaster bicycle that he used to deliver newspapers in the 1930s.

There isn't anything wrong with the tires! But "new" they are not.

I agree with [MENTION=19743]USAZorro[/MENTION] and others. Jan has an agenda, his livelihood, but I trust his research and development is in the aim of producing good stuff. Sometimes a sales pitch is mutually beneficial for seller and customer, and it seems this is one of those cases. I now have some Grand Bois tires, and I haven't ridden them a lot yet, but I like them.
[MENTION=73614]rhm[/MENTION], I had one decent experience with a pair of Schwalbe tires. They were Stelvio tires, on the cusp between racing and so-called training tires. They did seem fast, and they were surprisingly supple even at high pressures. They didn't last long: punctures caused them to rip. I'm not complaining about that, because they were performance oriented and not at all aiming to be tough. I think in general, Schwalbe tires are overpriced, so I'm not inclined to get them again, but my experience shows that they don't all ride like rocks.

I was watching George Carlin's last HBO special, a reminder that we should question everything.

We're all human. Grant, Jan, Donald Trump, they're all selling something. Listen to what's being said, what's being written. I read what Grant and Jan write because they have a unique voice. It's good to be exposed to different ideas.

Now, I'd like to get me some of those 50mm tires to try out...

Here's the deal.

I was quite skeptical as well of the Compass tire reviews, so I bought a set when they were on sale at Harris.

Those were the 700x28 Chinook Pass tires that I put on my Hollands.

They felt like wider Veloflex Masters!!!

I was sold.

So, I ended up buying trying the 700x32 Stampede Pass and finally the 700x38 Barlow Pass tires.

Each of these tires have worked well for me.

In fact, my son now uses 700x28 Chinook Pass tires on his Della Santa.

So far, so good.

I really like these tires and at this point I have first hand knowledge.

I'll buy more of these in the future. :)

The size is not new. Making a high volume tire with sidewalls like those on "racing" tires is a new combination that works quite well.

I thought your original comment was pretty clever...."that Bridgestone guy....." LOL

I'm a fan of both Jan and Grant. They are both marketers for what they see as improvements in the world of bicycling. They also happen to sell products they think will improve bicycling. That's a good thing, both in general and for me personally, because my riding style is more inline with what they are advocating.

Look at the current MTB trend of 27.5" wheels, pavement riders moving to fatter tires, steel is making a comeback (Surly, All-City, Handsome Cycles). It's fair to attribute a large part of this (maybe most or all?) to Grant and Jan.

They are obviously doing something right and if they can improve the bicycling world while managing to make a living for themselves, more power to them!! We should all be so lucky.

+1. I went from Specialized, Armadillo's to Schwalbe, Marathons to Panaracer, Paselas to Vitorria, Rando Hypers to Challenege, Parigi Roubaix to Compass, Barlow Pass ELs. Glad I did and I will buy them again when I wear this set out.

No Continentals, [MENTION=61463]gomango[/MENTION]?

I used the 4000s at one point.

Great tires.

I've just settled in on Compass, Veloflex and Maxxis as my top brands.

I don't really see JH as either an entrepreneur or a journalist, but rather a very serious enthusiast. He's a guy who really likes bikes, and I think we can all relate to that. He's spent as lot if time looking for the perfect bike, and I think we can all relate to that. He's just gone a whole lot farther in that quest than the rest of us, and (as it seems to me, anyway) in the process has decided that bicycling in general is poorly served by the existing bicycle industry. And I certainly agree with that.
So he's trying to make a living off doing something he wants to do, and he's trying to steer cycling in a direction he thinks it should go, and to do these things he is a publisher, a writer, an advocate, and a businessman. Okay, so that makes him a journalist and a businessman, but I still didn't think that's how to best describe him. I still think he's just this guy who's really into bikes.

I discovered BQ years ago when I was planning a performance oriented, custom fabricated road bike with wide tires. At the time there really wasn't such a thing. So I saw the founding of Compass as a very positive thing. The products I have tried are absolutely first rate, but obviously not for everyone.

If you read his intro to the new even wider tires, you will see that even JH does not favor such wide tires on the road. He complained that the tire pressure was too critical, and the 42s were easier to live with. He has no plans to switch. But when heading out on rougher dirt roads and gravel, they shine. So again, not for everybody, or every ride. Elsewhere he has mentioned historic tires that old timers said were even better.

Years ago he commented to me about the many great dirt roads to ride around LA, when he was still riding his Singer with 32mm tires! No way! Not even with no other choice.

The technology is new. But the idea that soft fat tires give a better ride... my Dad told me that. According to Dad... the old penny farthings and (newer more modern) safety bikes with the solid rubber (no tube) tires where real bone shakers. Before tubed tires many people thought the jarring caused to the cyclist might do internal damage.

I am glad these guys are growing bicycle use... and evolving the technology. I read Grant Petersen's book, Just Ride. I've experimented with some of his ideas. I have a bell on one of my bikes!

I've got a bell on all my bikes! Just the other day I was on a trail and "dinged" my bell well before I caught up with two elderly ladies. When I got up with them, one of them said "I just love a bell! Much better than those "on your left" people!"

I've heard the same.

BTW: Grants book is perfect for a phone DL. It can be read in tiny little chunks of time while waiting for this or that.

Sadly, that link now takes us to a different page. The "Ravn" frame project announced in the spring fell through, and they have recycled the name for a different project, now a complete bicycle. It still takes the 26" tires, but it's no longer something that interests me.

So now what's the best use for these tires? I'm tempted to order a custom frame, but I doubt I'll ever go there.

Yeah, what a disappointment. Also, what is with all of the cheezy, psuedo-heavy metal graphics???? That stuff was lame in the 80's and still is today.

Curious. In what sense did it fall through, and why is it a problem if it's a complete bike that otherwise sounds just the same as what they intended you to do with the frame?

Frame was about $750 IIRC and the complete bike is about $4,000-$4,500.

The frame as announced originally was designed for V-brakes or cantilever brakes, explicitly staying with rim brakes so the fork could be made super light and springy to optimize the ride for riding comfort. The fork was designed with an elegant bend similar to the Russ bend. The announcement included an eloquent rejection of dick breaks that, though I'm not sure I believed it, I was certainly willing to try.

After taking frame orders they realized the factory couldn't deliver the promised frame, found a new factory, and changed the design to suit what the new factory can deliver, which has straight fork blade, dick breaks, and so on. For my purposes, a different animal entirely. I understand they can't sell something the factory can't deliver, so I can't criticise the decision to face reality, but they just abandoned any plan to offer the thing as designed.

Rudi, tell us what you really think about a certain braking technology! :p Or by chance was the above a great example of the humor sometimes found in smart phone auto correct? :eek:

I agree, [MENTION=46029]fender1[/MENTION], what a pitiful website with off-putting line art. At least put up a sketch of the bikes you hope to sell, :( and not of some Samurai-Viking hybrid monster who belongs in a comic book. There is nothing on their site that would motivate me to keep up with them.

http://ravn.rawlandcycles.com/images/viking.png

This is all a very sad chapter for this small company.

When they started here in Minnesota they had clear vision and decent products.

They've had a major mis-step here with the Ravn launch and it will be interesting (to me) to see the outcome.

Sean's a nice guy so I hope it works out.

What, you think I'm trying to be funny? I am shocked, shocked!

But I do see there is some alarming autocorrect going on here. In my last sentence, I wrote "I can't criticise." By which, of course, I meant I can't criticize. My bad. In your quote this became "I can't criticism," which is not an improvement.

I really don't have a problem with the referenced braking technology. I have a problem with upsell, and the bicycling industry's notion that what's good for one cyclist is good for all cyclists. I understand that some riders need stiffer frames and stronger brakes and I'm entirely in favor of them getting what they want. But I do not need these things. I do not want these things. It's not because I'm a cheapskate --we, okay, we all know I'm a cheapskate, but that's another issue-- but because all bicycle frames built for a rider of my height are seriously overbuilt for a rider of my weight. I understand why the industry does that. That's why I was eager to buy a frame from a company that commissions small batches of boutique frames that don't match what the industry tries to sell everyone else.

The "design philosophy" behind the Ravn was summed up in two points:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f...Philosophy.jpg

They decided to offer a different bike. I'm still looking for the frame they promised in the Spring.

As for the graphics, I agree the image you posted is terrible. But I rather liked the raven design they had on the earlier spec sheet:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-o.../ravn_bird.png
I was going to make a saddle with that design on the skirt. Now I've abandoned that plan.

When I've been out and heard a bell- I didn't know what that was- I had to think about it. I guess, much like a Pavlov dog, once I get conditioned to what the bell means...

I do have a crappy bell, I think I'll try it out, if it works for me, I'll get one of those nice brass ones.


Regarding "Just Ride," it is perfect for reading little snippets here and there- the chapters are set up nicely for that.