Zinn Cycles Blog

117 miles is in the books for my longest gravel race ever, and what an absolutely epic experience it was! The Rule of Three 117 mile course in Bentonville, Arkansas was a true mixed-terrain challenge, throwing everything imaginable at me. We had 30 miles of challenging singletrack – often loose, twisty, and technical – interspersed with 40 miles of diverse gravel, featuring both relentless climbs and exhilarating fast descents. The rest of the 40 miles were on the road, providing moments of swift cruising before dipping back onto the rough stuff. Through every single twist, turn, climb, and descent, my new Clydesdale BFG 32er gravel bike not only handled it all, but it truly crushed it.

I have been 6’ 8” for roughly 30 years, but a cyclist for only a dozen or so. When I decided to get into cycling, I quickly learned the challenges of finding a bike that actually fits. After a failed attempt with the largest bike that could be ordered from the local bike shop (a 64cm Trek that just wasn’t big enough), I was fortunate enough to find Zinn cycles. The custom bikes were out of the range of what I could afford, but fortunately the KHS 747 offered an affordable option and introduction into real cycling. The 747 was a great starter road bike, had good enough components, and allowed me to actually ride comfortably for the first time in my adult life. Even though it was a budget-friendly option, Lennard Zinn was still helpful in helping size and fit me on the bike which I was grateful for. After a number of years, I decided I was cycling enough that I could justify moving up to something even better, and graduating college after 25 years of continuous enrollment (not a typo) I decided to treat myself to a Clydesdale as a graduation gift. Living only a short drive away from Zinn Cycles new retail store, I was able to visit in person and Lennard was again able to provide his guidance and assistance for the pre-sales and the final fitting, and Nick was able to help with spec decision making to make sure the bike had exactly what I was looking for… and the Zinn team has been helpful ever since with maintenance and minor repairs after the fact.

“Consider monkey bars or bike shelves Keep your bikes off the floors by using vertical bike storage solutions like Monkey Bars. If space is limited, a more creative, minimal, and space-saving approach is bike shelves that allow you to store your ride a little more flush with the wall, which may be better for apartments. – Nick Wigston, General Manager, Clydesdale Bikes”.

It’s been a couple of months since the new 4XL Clydesdale Draft arrived. It’s been absolutely great! I’m enjoying the longer cranks. I was a little concerned about knee pain, but the opposite has been true. Everything from clipping in to riding hills has felt more natural and more comfortable. I can really feel bigger muscles working in a new way.

-Andy Rudeen

What’s most important is what our extensive experience with big riders has told us. We have been repeatedly told by riders over 250lbs that they feel much much safer with disc brakes. They feel that they slow down much better when needed, and they are no longer nervous about braking when it’s wet out. This level of confidence is huge, and is the main reason we are building all Clydesdale bikes with disc brakes.

What’s most important is what our extensive experience with big riders has told us. We have been repeatedly told by riders over 250lbs that they feel much much safer with disc brakes. They feel that they slow down much better when needed, and they are no longer nervous about braking when it’s wet out. This level of confidence is huge, and is the main reason we are building all Clydesdale bikes with disc brakes.

Everyone asks, what if the battery dies? Well, they last a really long time, so if it dies, it’s because you forgot to charge it many times. If it does die, Shimano has a good failsafe designed into the system. The front derailleur will stop working first, so you still have many more miles to get home using just the rear derailleur. If you are on a long cross country trip, you’ll want to charge it at hotels. If you aren’t staying at hotels, then you can get a solar powered USB charger. All in all, Shimano Di2 is a really great system. Once you try it, it will be hard to go back to mechanical shifters.