Bookmarks (38)

“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 […]

We just received another shipment from Ostrich in Japan. Included are the chain covers—essential protection when you travel with your bike. The Chain Cover keeps your chain away from luggage and clothing during travel or bike storage. The Chain Cover attaches with Velcro and fits virtually any bike. Made from fabric left over from the […]

Last weekend, the MADE Show in Portland celebrated the art of framebuilding, as the show’s official motto put it. Of course, the exhibitors brought much more than just beautifully crafted and gorgeously painted frames. There was some real innovation, as well as other news that didn’t make it into the more mainstream reports from the […]

Congratulations to Inno Zavyalov for a stunning 2nd place at Gravel Worlds in a star-studded field, riding on Rene Herse 700C x 44 Snoqualmie Pass Extralight tires. Here is his report: Gravel Worlds 150Lincoln, Nebraska 5:55 am start High index 105  Wow. I’m still processing exactly what happened yesterday. I’ll be fully transparent and say that going into […]

Long sold out, we now got a small number of Nivex T-Shirts back in stock, with Manga-inspired artwork by Franck Stephan. Only a few in each size…

Summer in the Pacific Northwest is a glorious time, when the days are long, the sky is blue, and the mountains are calling. We answer that call as often as we can, creating memories that tide us over the long and rainy winters, when the high passes are covered under 20 ft (7 m) or […]

FMB tubulars are made to order in a small shop in Plurien, France. Our latest order has arrived. If you’ve pre-ordered tubulars, they’ll be shipped shortly. We also have some more ‘cross and road tubs in stock. Get them while they last! More information:

It’s natural to wonder whether what we say about our Rene Herse dual-purpose knobbies is just marketing. We’ve all heard the word ‘revolutionary’ bandied about too many times. Who really believes it when a company says that they’ve created something completely new, something that eclipses everything that came before? “Come on—these are knobby tires,” you […]

This is just a short note that our TPU tubes arrived. If you pre-ordered tubes, your order is being shipped first. For those customers who’ve been waiting for the tubes to actually be in stock, I really hate to say: “Get yours while supplies last.” But that’s the current situation with Rene Herse TPU tubes. […]

When we started riding wide, supple tires more than a decade ago, we wondered about rim width. Do extra-wide tires need extra-wide rims? Figuring this out was part of our research into tire and bicycle performance. Last week, Zipp introduced their new 303 XPLR gravel wheels. Their main selling point are ultra-wide rims. Their outer […]

We’ve been working hard to get more of our customers’ favorite products in stock. Our TPU tubes have been incredibly popular. Perhaps that shouldn’t surprise us—superior strength, ultra-light weight, ultra-low rolling resistance and leak-free all-metal valves are convincing arguments in their favor—but we’ve just not been able to produce them fast enough. We now have […]

Headsets are among those bike parts that you don’t think about much—until you have to, because they aren’t working as they should. Fortunately, the headsets on modern carbon bikes rarely intrude into the cycling experience—massive, tapered steerers spread the load over much bigger bearings than in the past. For steel bikes, oversized and tapered steerers […]

More and more bikepackers and adventurers are adopting generator hubs. Having lights whenever you need them, at the flick of a switch, without worrying about battery charge, is liberating when you want to focusing on the road, trail and scenery. SON hubs, with their precision manufacture and unique pressure compensation system, are the only generator […]

Interviews are always interesting, because many questions are unexpected, and impromptu answers often chart new territory. That was definitely the case when Bike Gear Database talked to Jan recently. Among the questions: What is the vision for Rene Herse Cycles? Why did Jan continue a company with a rich tradition rather than put his own name […]