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Today’s bikepacking races like the Tour Divide or the Atlas Mountain Race, but also Unbound XL and the Arkansas High Country Race, share the ethos of randonneuring events: They are self-supported long-distance rides. They include equal parts of adventure and performance. And they do without the sole focus on winners that you find in racing. […]

Today we celebrate all the women who have inspired us—in cycling, in life, in the world. Here are a few of the women who have been part of the Rene Herse family—both literally and figuratively—since the beginning in 1938. Marcelle Herse (right) was not just a strong cyclist herself, but also an essential part to […]

Tubeless is great for many applications, but it comes with the hassle of having to top up sealant frequently. If you don’t ride on debris-strewn highway shoulders (where the sealant will seal small punctures from glass and steel wires) and if your tires are wide enough (so you don’t get pinch flats), TPU tubes are […]

This is not a political journal. However, there are rare times when current events give us a responsibility to speak out. This post represents my personal views, not those of our company or its employees. —Jan In the current situation, it can be easy to feel discouraged. Whatever our political opinions, the wholesale dismantling of […]

This is just a short note that the Corkscrew Climb semi-slicks are back in stock in all casings. Demand for the new tires has been so great that they ran out before production could catch up. Quantities are still limited, so there is a limit of 4 tires per order. That way, riders and racers […]

Brennan Wertz started the 2025 race season on a high note: The reigning U.S. Gravel national champion won the 90-mile (150 km) Huffmaster Hopper in northern California. A punchy mixed-surface race with 5,000 feet (1,500 m) of climbing near the Snow Mountain Wilderness, the Huffmaster Hopper is known for its technical descents. The race has […]

Demand for the new 700C x 44 Corkscrew Climb semi-slicks has far outpaced our expectations. We have sold out of the Endurance casing, and other models are running low. A small quantity with Endurance casings is on the way to Seattle—we expect them in 7-10 days. We are now taking pre-orders for these, so you […]

A short trip to Japan, to visit family, friends and suppliers, was a welcome break from Seattle’s winter. It’s always fun to immerse ourselves into the vibrant cycling culture that inspires us in so many ways. One highlight of recent trips to Japan is riding with Makoto Ayano, the founder of Japan’s most popular cycling […]

We returned from Japan just a couple of weeks ago, but so much has happened since then that it almost seems like we were there during the last century. With this onslaught of news, it can be hard to maintain our sanity. In difficult times, we must find our inner strength—by focusing on who we […]

We developed the 700C x 31 mm Orondo Grade tires for riders like Ted King and Brennan Wertz, who had grown to love supple Rene Herse tires on their gravel and all-road bikes, and now wanted to experience the same comfort and speed on their road bikes. And they wanted a tubeless tire. What sounded […]

We received another shipment of chainrings, and now we have all Rene Herse cranks, in all configurations, back in stock. That includes 15 different crankarms, 26 different chainrings, custom chainring and crank bolts, pedal washers and more. Why do we go through all the trouble to offer so many combinations—and then custom-assemble them to order? […]

Early on Wednesday morning local time in Morocco, Marei Moldenhauer won the 1,300 km Atlas Mountain Race in record time. For 4 days, 14 hours and 20 minutes, Marei rode and pushed her bike over the rough dirt tracks that criss-cross the Atlas and Anti-Atlas Mountains, climbing more than 30,000 m (100,000 ft) in the […]

Few reviewers command as much respect as Anne-Marije Rook (aka ‘Rook’), the North American editor for Cycling Weekly, the world’s oldest bike magazine. Rook really knows how to ride: She placed 2nd in the 350-mile Unbound XL in 2023, the year when it was relentlessly muddy and most racers had trouble just keeping their bikes […]

The Atlas Mountain Race, the famous bikepacking race in Morocco, started on Friday. More than 250 racers headed out of Marrakesh and into the Atlas mountains on their 1,300 km journey. The Atlas is a true adventure. We took this opportunity to catch up with a few riders. After talking to some of the favorites, including […]

The Atlas Mountain Race, the great bikepacking race in Morocco, is happening right now. Yesterday, more than 250 racers headed out of Marrakesh and started their 1,300 km journey over long-forgotten gravel tracks. What they are finding along the way is very little pavement and plenty of hike-a-bikes. Distances between resupply points are large. The Atlas […]

The Atlas Mountain Race, the great bikepacking race in Morocco, will start within the hour. More than 250 racers will head out of Marrakesh and climb into the Atlas mountains on their 1,300 km journey over long-forgotten gravel tracks. Ahead of them is very little pavement and plenty of hike-a-bikes. Distances between resupply points are large. […]

The Atlas Mountain Race, the famous bikepacking race in Morocco, starts tomorrow. More than 250 racers will head out of Marrakesh and cross the Atlas and Anti-Atlas mountains on their 1,300 km journey over long-forgotten gravel tracks. There will be very little pavement and plenty of hike-a-bikes. Distances between resupply points are large. The Atlas […]

The ‘King of Gravel’ has added the Race Around Rwanda to his long list of trophies. Best known for his strength in North American one-day gravel races like the Unbound 200, Ted likes to get outside his comfort zone—this time with a self-supported bikepacking race over 1,000 km (620 miles), with no less than 17,000 […]

As one of the first acts after assuming power, the U.S. president has declared a national emergency: It appears that our country is being invaded from the north and the south. Under a law that used to be called the Trading with the Enemy Act, a new 25% tariff on goods imported from Canada will become […]

And they are off! More than 100 racers and bikepackers started a few hours ago in Kigali for the Race Around Rwanda, a self-supported bikepacking race in east Africa. The challenging course will have them climb into the clouds at elevations of almost 3,000 m (10,000 ft), before dropping back down into the East African […]

A few weeks ago, Mark told the story of his new bike and the incredible adventure in the Pyrenees Mountains that was its maiden voyage. A number of readers went to our ‘Suggestions’ page to ask about the specs of his bike. Many wondered how a fully equipped bike could be so light: Mark’s bike weighs […]

We just received another shipment of TPU tubes from Germany. Demand is still so strong that production has trouble keeping up. Some models have been out of stock for a while. Right after the tubes were delivered, we shipped pre-ordered tubes to our customers. Even with those tubes sent out, all models are in stock—for […]

Amanda Naumann Sheek and Ted King will join the Gravel Hall of Fame in 2025. The selection committee couldn’t have made a better choice! Both Amanda and Ted not only have won the 200-mile Unbound twice (in addition to numerous other races), they’ve also been the face of gravel for years. Their podcasts—Amanda’s Groadio and […]

If you’re running 700C tires on carbon rims, the wheel situation is better than ever. As companies have rolled out new rims, they’ve redesigned them to (mostly) meet the ETRTO / ISO standards for rim/tire fit. That’s good news, whether you run your tires tubeless or with tubes. Things don’t look as great for 650B […]

When we were growing up, the year 2000 was short-hand for ‘the future.’ Now we’re a quarter century past that landmark. To celebrate that landmark, Natsuko and I compiled an (entirely subjective) list of a dozen innovations that have reshaped cycling during these last 25 years. These range from wide tires and disc brakes to […]

The new Corkscrew Climb semi-slick tires are now shipping. First priority went to our racers who’ve been testing and racing on prototypes for months now. Above is the Stars-and-Stripes bike of the current USA Gravel National Champion, Brennan Wertz. Jenna Rinehart (above) and Ted King (below) rode their prototypes at the UCI Gravel World Championships […]

Interest in our new Corkscrew Climb Semi-Slicks has far exceeded our expectations. It’s clear that the cycling world has been waiting for a semi-slick that finally delivers—combining the speed of a slick with the traction of a knobby. Our first production run of Corkscrew Climbs will start shipping to our customers in about a week. […]

To all our readers (and everybody else) in Los Angeles, we hope that you and yours are safe. We are saddened by the lives lost and hope that the count will not go up further. That is the most important, but losing homes, neighborhoods, and places you love is devastating. We cannot even begin to […]

We’ve added one more patch and alcohol wipe to our TPU Tube Patch Kits. Patching TPU tubes is easy—just wipe the area around the puncture with the included alcohol wipe and apply the self-adhesive patch. There’s no need to sand the tube or use vulcanizing fluid. And since there’s no fluid that might dry out, […]

We’re introducing the Rene Herse Ultimate headset to complete our program. Some readers may wonder: Why would anybody run a 1″ threaded headset in this day and age? There’s no doubt that carbon forks need massive tapered steerer tubes—that’s how makers have finally eliminated the dreaded brake judder of earlier carbon bikes with disc brakes. […]

We just received a re-stock of the forged Drust Taillight Mounts. They just received a coveted ‘Gear of the Year’ award from www.bikepacking.com. Now they are also available in anodized colors in very limited quantities. Get yours while stocks last! More Information:

Selecting Rene Herse tires for your bike is easy, because our program is logical and simple. It’s all based on performance. We don’t offer dozens of functionally similar tread patterns—just three that cover all riding conditions. Rene Herse tires are available with four different casings, because the casing, more than anything else, determines the performance […]

It’s always fun when somebody mentions Rene Herse components among their favorites, but it’s doubly meaningful when it’s somebody of the stature of Joe Cruz. bikepacking.com contributor, route finder, philosopher—Joe is an absolute legend! Imagine our surprise (and delight) when Joe mentioned TPU tubes among his four favorite new products of 2024. He wrote: “Here’s […]

“Not just another semi-slick.” We don’t ‘innovate’ just to create something new. We have a lot of respect for pioneers who came before us, like the U.S. Army engineers who discovered suspension losses or the mid-century constructeurs who built the original gravel bikes at a time when most roads in the mountains were still unpaved. […]

It’s almost 2025! A quarter century has passed since that big landmark, the year 2000. It’s a great moment to take stock of the revolutionary changes in cycling over those 25 years, and then have a look how things might develop in the future. Natsuko and I talked about the things that have shaped cycling […]

A ‘wide tire revolution’ has swept through the cycling world. Whether it’s gravel racers on 48 mm rubber or Tour de France champions on 30s, today’s tires are wider than ever before. At the same time, pressures have dropped. In the past, 4 bar (58 psi) would have been a sign that the tire was […]

All of us at Rene Herse Cycles wish you Happy Holidays! We are grateful for your support this year, and we look forward to being part of your rides and adventures in 2025! Natsuko, Jan & the Rene Herse team

When we work with the world’s fastest racers, our main goal is not marketing, but R&D. These riders test our tires to the max, in the real world, under conditions that are impossible to replicate. An essential part of this testing is examining the tires they’ve raced on, so we can see how they’ve fared […]

This is just a quick note that we’ve received our latest shipment from Schmidt in Germany. We’ve got the famous SON generator hubs in stock again. If you’re looking for the fastest and most reliable generator hub to power your adventures, look no further. We also carry the excellent Edelux II headlights with their layered […]

When Rene Herse couldn’t find the bags he wanted for his bikes, he began offering his own, way back in the mid-1940s. As far as we know, he pioneered the forward-opening flap that allows accessing the bag’s contents while riding. Building on those 80 years of experience, as well as 1000s of miles of testing […]

Two shipments came in this week. From Japan, we received MKS pedals. I’ll never forget visiting the MKS factory during my first visit to Japan, years ago. After seeing huge machines forge all kinds of specialized parts for the automotive industry, we entered a small room where the top-end pedals were assembled by a single […]

The last time I bought a new bicycle was 17 years ago. Long-time readers of Bicycle Quarterly might be familiar with my ‘Six Hands’ bike that served as the control/reference for numerous bike tests and has carried me over tens of thousands of miles through many unforgettable adventures. I didn’t buy a new bike because […]

We get a lot of questions on how to run a generator lighting system. Compared to a self-contained battery-powered light, it can seem complex. Why are there so many different parts? They are mostly for special installations, and you don’t need them for a basic setup. In fact, the simplest setups are super-easy—no soldering or […]

The Winter Bicycle Quarterly is now arriving at our subscribers, just in time for reading over the holidays. It’ll be an opportunity to turn off their screens, make a cup of tea, and immerse themselves into long-form stories of rides, adventures, shop visits, product tests and history. We’d like to send you a copy, too. […]

Bicycles are fun first and foremost. Sure, we use them for transportation and fitness, but the main reason we ride, race, work on our bikes, discuss technical details and generally nerd out about bikes is simple: Bikes are fun! When we saw Dominique Ehrhard’s delightful pop-up book at a local bookstore, of course we bought […]

We got another shipment of TPU tubes from Germany. Demand has outstripped our ability to make these tubes all year. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that so many cyclists share our enthusiasm for these TPU tubes. They are superlight, pack super-small, roll faster than butyl tubes or tubeless setups, and are more puncture-resistant, too. Many […]

When we wrote that our Universal Mudflaps were the result of two years of R&D, some people found that hard to believe. Of course, we didn’t work full-time for 4,000 hours on these mudflaps… but it really did take two years from the first discussion with Ass Savers, who make our mudflaps, to the finished […]

We love handlebar bags! Putting the weight up front means it’s easier to balance, especially when you’re riding out of the saddle. (None of that tail-wagging-the-dog feel that you get with rear bags.) Food, clothes, camera—the contents of a handlebar bag is easy to reach, either while you’re riding or at least without having to […]

“Giving gifts is about finding something that both you and the recipient love.” I heard that once in Japan, and I like it—even though it rules out most bike parts. Unless you use them as tree ornaments before putting them on your bike. And if you’re working on a special build, a registry can be […]

A new Bicycle Quarterly is going to the printer. That’s always a big deal around here. The Winter 2024 edition is our 87th. How does a magazine remain relevant and successful for so long? I think part of the secret is that we’ve shaped trends rather than just reported on them. Wide tires, the joys […]