Bookmarks (37)

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 […]

Here at Rene Herse, we strongly believe that bicycle books should be fun. Few cycling books in recent times have been more fun than this bicycle pop-up book. What a brilliant idea: Chart the history of bicycles in nine meticulously crafted pop-up scenes. Starting with the Baron von Drais on his balance bike all the […]

As the cycling season draws to a close in most of the northern hemisphere, it’s starting ‘Down Under’ in Australia. Over the last couple of weeks, the 2024 Tassie Gift took 33 intrepid bikepackers to Tasmania. The Tassie Gift was a relentless 1,800 km race along roads, trails and goat tracks on this island on […]

We recently found two ‘Rene Herse Special’ GB 22 bags in our warehouse. What makes them ‘special’ is that they don’t have side pockets, which provides more room for your hands on the bars and improves aerodynamics. Of course, there are still plenty of pockets to keep your things organized: a large pocket on the […]

It’s been a busy week here at Rene Herse Cycles. Which is just as well, since the rains have started with a vengeance here in the Pacific Northwest… Time to focus on organizing all the shipments that have come in, on new builds and overhauling existing bikes, and on spending time with family and friends. […]

Editor’s Note: It often surprises (and delights) us when we find out what our customers do with our tires. The Silk Road Mountain Race in Kyrgyzstan is widely considered the toughest race in the world. We all know that Sofiane Sehili has won the Silk Road three years in a row, but the race at […]

We’ve all (hopefully) voted already, or we’re waiting to do so in person on Tuesday—at least for those of us in the U.S. There’s not much to do now except wait and see how it all shakes out. (I am optimistic for a variety of reasons.) Ideally, I’d head to the mountains for a few […]

The response to our TPU tubes has been extraordinary. Production has not been able to keep up with demand. A significant portion of orders are from repeat customers, who are outfitting additional bikes with TPU tubes. Why do they love these new tubes so much? There are many reasons. Light weight is an obvious one. […]

Thank you to all who signed up for Bicycle Quarterly, gifted a subscription, or bought past editions. So many of you stepped up, and the result is $ 5,538. That’s huge! Beyond the financial contribution, it’s truly inspiring that so many people care. Thank you to all of you! 100% of the proceeds have been […]

Editor’s note: Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic damage to Asheville and surrounding communities in western North Carolina in late September. More recent events have displaced the aftermath of this devastating storm in the news, but the rebuilding is only beginning. Buildings and roads are destroyed, more than 5,000 North Carolinians are still without power, and residents […]

We’ve got an election coming up. I respect different political views. On many issues, there are many valid points of view. But some things are simply not acceptable. I grew up in Germany. Hearing a candidate proclaim: “I will be a dictator—for just one day!” sends chills down my spine. It’s easy to dismiss these […]

Some climbs are appealing simply because they are out there. One of the most famous is the road to L’Alpe d’Huez. It climbs 1,118 m over just 13.9 km. That works out to an average gradient of 8%. The steepest sections are 15%. Simply climbing the Alpe was a great experience. If you do it […]

A long time ago, the leading American bike magazine called us ‘Fender Snobs.’ Perhaps that was the inevitable result of our belief that ‘Everything Matters.’ Nobody has ever been called a ‘Derailleur Snob.’ Yet we don’t shift all that often during our long winter base miles, but the spray from our wheels during a rainy […]

Our latest batch of TPU tubes has arrived. Every tube size and valve type is in stock now, but some quantities are already running low: Most of the tubes were pre-ordered. We also got the patch kits back in stock… There are quite a few TPU tubes on the market. What makes Rene Herse tubes […]

Next weekend are the second-ever UCI Gravel World Championships. That’s a big deal—it doesn’t get bigger than that. You can say that gravel has really arrived and carved out its place in the bike world, not just in North America, but world-wide. We’re especially excited that four of the elite/professional racers who’ll represent the USA […]

It probably doesn’t make sense to get a minimalist taillight like the Busch & Müller μ (pronounced ‘Mu’ for ‘Micro’) and mount it with a big bracket that weighs more than the light itself. Konstantin Drust, the framebuilder from Berlin, Germany, felt the same way, and so he created an ultralight mount for the μ […]

After we published the story about a steel bike for Unbound XL lighter than most carbon bikes that line up for this gravel ultra race, a number of you asked about detailed specs of the bike. That makes a lot of sense: Almost everything (except the bottom bracket and two bolts) is available off the […]

Light weight isn’t everything, but a lighter bike is faster and more fun. There is the simple physics of climbing—less weight means more speed. More important, to me at least, is the feel of the bike when I rock it from side to side as I climb or sprint out of the saddle. I even […]

Realizing that Rene Herse tires are named after real passes, ridges, and climbs—places that one can go ride—Henley Phillips schemed a route that linked together as many passes as he could squeeze into a short bikepacking trip. He wrote up his adventure for bikepacking.com, complete with beautiful photos of mid-summer riding in the Cascade and Olympic […]

Natsuko and I met Dustin at a café in the neighborhood. We talked about bikes and book projects. We had recently published The All-Road Bike Revolution, and Dustin was working on his first book, Blood and Lightning (link below), about becoming a tattoo artist. As we talked, he told us how the book was going […]

After a hard-fought race against America’s fastest and most experienced racers, Brennan Wertz won the 2024 USA Cycling Gravel National Championships. John Borstelmann was second, Colby Simmons third. Defending champion and general favorite Keegan Swenson finished sixth, while Inno Zavyalov was tenth. Brennan and Inno were on Rene Herse tires. Both chose the 700C x […]

In a field of mass-produced carbon bikes, it’s refreshing to see a national championship won on a custom-built metal frame. Brennan’s Mosaic GT-1 iAR is the latest all-road offering from the Colorado maker. With an Enve Gravel fork and Mosaic’s All-Road chainstays, Brennan’s bike juuuust clears the 44 mm-wide Snoqualmie Pass tires. The upshot of […]

One reason behind the popularity of gravel racing is that it treats female riders as equals to men. That is a big break from traditional racing that used to focus on men first and foremost—women were either completely ignored or treated as an afterthought. Throughout history, a few women have tried to compete with the men. Exactly […]

Before we go into our sale, just a quick note that another shipment of TPU tubes is on the way. There isn’t much we can say about the tubes that hasn’t been said, so I’ll quote a friend and customer instead. He’s definitely not a racer, but uses his bike every day for commuting and […]