philly bike expo 2026

Tom H and Laura OLPH, or one or the other (I forget) planned a ride this week of 42 miles, which is longer than I like to go in my dotage (I'd done one with Laura last week with that mileage and neatly 2800' of climb, and far from the end, I was thinking, "This could really be enough, thank you). I didn't register in time anyway, so, while I probably could have imposed on friendship and tagged along, I decided to take the day to go to this year's Philly Bike Expo.

 I've been going for years, and I look forward to seeing all the lovely (and crazy) bikes, the new tech, and the useful and silly accessories. I try to keep the entire weekend free so that I can choose to go on whichever day is a presentation I'd like to catch, but none of the presentations nailed me this year. 

There was, however, an exhibition of restored, historic (mostly from racing) bikes.

There were the custom builders showing off what they do.

 

I do not give a damn about carbon fiber, internal routing, or anything of the sort. I love these bikes with the elegant paint, the exposed workings, the rim brakes. 

And if I ever want to replace my beloved titanium frame, I might go to this guy to do it:

 The term "retrogrouch" was coined for Grant Peterson, who founded Rivendell Bikes (he was there, but I didn't get a good picture). Velo Orange, one of the sources for my retrogrouchy parts, had only sold frames for disk brakes... but I saw two in their booth with their lovely Grand Cru caliper brakes on:

 

 I feel like hope is not yet lost.

There were the usual bags and accessories.

 And the usual silly things. One guy has 3d-printed a tool for ensuring your right and left drop-bar brake-shifters are at exactly the same height. Another has a purpose-built tripod for your laptop for when you're on your trainer, which consists of a rubber-coated tabletop and three legs that screw into the bottom, in your choice of stained finishes. Another 3d printer aficionado made valve caps:

 And there were more than the usual number of tours, destinations, and charity rides.

I didn't see any great new technologies.  Shimano wasn't there, nor was SRAM, White Industries, Paul Components, or other vendors I'm used to seeing. It may be that the international situation has made travel inadvisable. 

I like the bikes, but I was disappointed in the show this year. I hope my experience improves with the next one. 

tech woes, but a good ride

My Garmin device, an Explore 2 (basic model that I mostly use for navigation and basic bike computer utilities), was several software updates and at least one map update out of date, so I did all of the upgrades yesterday. The map update disabled the current US map, and the new map installation aborted before it was completely installed. I didn't know it until I was en route to the No-Pace Ride I'd scheduled for today, and couldn't see the route, and got the message that the maps I had on the GPS (I later found they covered parts of Canada and Mexico) didn't include any of US roads smaller than the Interstate Highways (so I saw the NJ Turnpike when I crossed it, but otherwise the map was as blank as the are outside the Other Mother's house in Coraline [and if you don't know the reference, go read the book; it's worth it, despite Neil Gaiman]).

It was a non-crisis, as I know this route well enough to do it with no prompting (although I will need prompting for a ride I'm leading later this week). Still, The Excellent Wife (TEW), who was on the ride, had brought her second-best GPS as well as her primary one, and lent that to me so I had something. We DID find the route on it, and it DID have the prompts, although it didn't have all the special settings I have set up on my devices*.

*It doesn't surprise you for a minute that I have special settings on all my devices, does it?

I can never tell how many are going to come out for these No-Pace Rides. Today, I had fifteen.

 We did that same route I always do for these No-Pace Rides - I can't link to today's ride page for reasons to be described shortly (that's pretty heavy-handed foreshadowing, isn't it), but you can see it at this link. Twenty-one miles, and flat.

Usually the faster folks disappear off the front, but they were better-behaved (I guess) today. We mostly stayed together around the course, including the dodgy turn at George's Road and Culver. 

Shortly after that, I looked down at the GPS I'd borrowed from TEW to see a "low battery" message, and by the time we got to the stop at the McCaffreys on Southfield, the screen was blank.

Oh, well. I know the route.

 And back we came on Cranbury Station Road. I had one complain that she'd be slow in the heat and falling off the back, but she and another rider got chatty, and within the bounds of safety on that road, had a social ride all the way back to the start.

I really enjoyed that the group stayed together, and people appeared to get to ride with different companions throughout the ride. Despite the heat, we had a good time, and folks made appropriate noises like they might want to come out again.

---

I rode home from Cranbury, and went to the internet to try to find out why the map wasn't showing on my GPS, but there was little help to find... except for a reference to making sure the correct map was enabled in Garmin Express. I launched that on my laptop, connected up the misbehaving device... and saw that the US map was not enabled! I had to download it again, but on restart thereafter, my little street at home showed on the map, and the device behaved on a short around-the-block ride.

But with all this, I'm thinking I may ask pal Rickety about his experience with a Wahoo device.  

'nother no-pace ride

 

I like doing the no-pace rides; I like the opportunity they afford to meet people I don't normally ride with, and I like that they offer an opportunity for riders who aren't strong and fast to come out. That said, all of the folks that came out today are pretty experienced (and four of the five others are friends). But I'm glad to offer these anyway.

We do the same 20-ish mile route, and riders know what to expect. We go at the pace of the group (don't let the pace on the ride page fool you; we've gone slower than this if the group needs that), and faster folks sometimes go off the front, but we generally stay together. We were all in sight of each other on today's ride, which is not always the case.

 I didn't get a picture of it, but Jeff had installed the new Wheeltop electronic shifting system on his titanium bike. While there's a disk brake system available, they also make it for cable brakes, so it went well on his older bike... and he said that the phone app for adjusting the system took some getting used to, but he was able to set it up and get it going by himself, and he was happy with the performance on the ride today. (Another rider, Mindy, is also interested, because the heavy spring on front derailleur shifters hurts her hand, and the electronic assist would make riding much more pleasant for her.)

I'm intrigued enough to consider a set for the Yellow Maserati, my titanium road bike... and I can just see myself riding half the year on electronics, and the other half on my bar-end friction system. (Rivendell bikes has a low-normal rear derailleur, designed with friction shifters in mind, in the pipeline, and I'm eagerly awaiting news on that, as well...). 

 Above is Abhijeet, who came out today for the first time on one of my rides, and who can clearly ride rings around me. He had a custom bike business, and complained that it interfered with his riding and his love of bikes generally, and that makes perfect sense to me, with the Ramblin' Wrench operation I have. But he is pleasant to speak to, and had nifty pictures and animations of his bikes on his phone. I hope to see him again.

I know these no-pace rides aren't for everybody, but I like doing them. Maybe you'll come out for one.