On Tuesday, January 22, 2019 at 1:12:07 PM UTC-5, jbeattie wrote:

This is one-step removed from the tweed ride. Look at these guys (from Jan's site): https://janheine.files.wordpress.com...pg?w=640&h=518

WTF is the deal with handlebar bags these days? One water bottle and a canvas handlebar bag? If you can stop for water, you can stop for whatever crap you have in the handlebar bag. The last thing I want riding on gravel is a bulky canvas handlebar bag to add swing weight to the bars. Mandatory wool jerseys and dynos. Gak. It all screams for attention.

:-) Yet if they were in multi-colored lycra jerseys with team and
product logos, they wouldn't be screaming for attention? Hah.

I'm not going to say that those guys didn't make their choices based
on the fashion in their peer group. That happens with some of the
people in any peer group. But it's not a given. FWIW, I started
using handlebar bags in about 1975 and have used them ever since.
I don't stop to drink from my water bottle, and I don't usually stop
to take off my jacket, put on my hat, look at a map, grab a camera,
grab a granola bar, etc. All that stuff is in my handlebar bag
and easily accessible.

I passed a guy riding into work today who had some uber fat Jan Heine/Grant Petersen approved retro bike with canvas bags and fat tires, steel frame -- all new. Who the hell needs 45mm tires and a bunch of canvas bags (in a wet climate no less) to ride to work? What a lug. I'm on 32mm for wet traction and sailed by. I'll switch back to 28mm tires as soon as the worst weather passes.

Yes, I ride 28s or 32s. But if he likes 45, that's fine with me.
I have a couple friends who ride tires fatter than 35 (I don't know
the exact sizes). They seem to work fine for them.

It's odd to me that the Heine crowd puts down much of cycling as fashion driven and yet they are the biggest fashionistas imaginable -- re-imagining the past and dismissing as "plecebo" those things I prove every week, e.g., that heavy fat tires bikes are boat anchors. I'm sorry, I can feel the difference between a ProRace 25mm and the 32mm Zaffiro on my commuter.

FWIW, Heine likes light weight. He just seems to think that going to
ultra-narrow tires is counterproductive, even though they may be
lighter. That makes sense to me. We could debate the optimum tire
size, but we'd have to first spend time describing the road surface.
Because I'm sure narrow tires are not as fast on rougher surfaces.

Everything from the past was not better. It wasn't. Sorry. I am from the past and can say that with reasonable certainty.

19mm tires are now from the past! :-)

- Frank Krygowski