Last but not least and perhaps maybe the best for last is Petor‘s Favourite Products, Rides, and More From 2024. Read on as our intrepid Gonzo journalist, and owner of BESPOKED reflects on his year one clever quip at a time…
If I had to use one word to describe 2024 it would be “Turbo”. I’ve done too much and I’m not quite sure how I survived it, but I did. It’s been the first year of really getting to grips with having an actual child who cares about me, and what I do and whether or not I’m present, rather than a baby who I’m pretty sure doesn’t give a shit.
I rode the most I have in years for the first part of the year followed by the least I have in years, after a back injury in the second half which has left me with more or less constant pain, as well as stopping me from doing a lot of my normal activities which has been even harder to deal with.
2024 has been the first year running two BESPOKED shows in a single year, one of which was among the largest and best attended hand made bike shows in the world, ever, I’m told second only to NAHBS in Denver in 2013, which I’m both immensely proud of, and grateful for, since the shows success pivoted directly on the contributions of our still tiny, but growing team of contributors and employees.
There was stuff along the way, and of that, these area few of my favorite things…
INGRID Flat Bar Shifter €220.49
As a company I love Ingrid. Nothing makes me happier than when companies support the little guy and have excellent customer service. Talk to any small independent bicycle manufacturer who’s had any dealings with INGRID and they’ll corroborate my story. For how prolific they are, they’re a very small company, with big aspirations and a strong sense of aesthetics and functional ergonomics. They turn up to shows with sausages, cheese and good wine, but most of all, each time they release a component, it aims to be simpler, more compatible and more repairable than what already exists, and the TTS 1×11 or 1×12 thumb shifter is no exception.
It’s made from a weird mix of hard anodised CNC-aluminium parts and printed composite parts where they make sense. The printed parts are covers, which don’t need to do much, and the tactile parts; the big flat thumb paddle, the outer part of the adjuster screw where the printed texture enhances grip, and the experience of using the shifter.
The shifter is super simple. Theres just a lever that you push one way to shift one way and the other to shift the other way. It sits neatly out of the way under the bar, and looks great and feels great. But mostly I like that you know where it is. Instead of two buttons or levers that you push which actuate a mech and then spring back into place, you can look, or feel which gear you’re in by the lever position, just making it all more intuitive, but also somehow more direct.
It looks and feels great. It costs loads but it’s also inexpensive.
Fenwicks Stealth Road Bike Chain Lube £12.61
I don’t know what this stuff is or why it’s only meant for road bikes. The lovely twin brothers who run Fenwicks gave me some products to try out, this is the only one they tried to dissuade me from using, and it’s by far the best. I use it on everything and its amazing. I know I should but I’ve never really cared about what lube I use – it feels temporary and mostly inconsequential, since I don’t race, and I’m sensible with the infrequency of application.
This stuff is basically magic. If you apply it like a normal lube you won’t notice any difference, but follow the instructions to the letter; clean the chain so it’s not covered in old lube, put plenty of this stuff on, spin the cranks for a minute, wipe off the excess and allow it to cure for at least 4 hours before riding and it’s a completely different box of frogs.
It runs quieter and smoother than anything I’ve ever used, and lasts, rain or shine basically forever. Fenwicks claim a thousand miles of road riding. I used it on my wife’s fat bike, which lives locked up on the street by the sea, after the chain broke from corrosion, and I repaired it with a new quick link. It’s been ridden on everything from salty roads in the rain to sandy beaches and hasn’t seen an interior for a month, and its still running cleanish and as silent and smooth as when it was first applied.
They told me they were thinking about no longer producing it, so I stocked up.
Parsec Polaris Bags and Frank Cages $60/each
So yeah its pretty much a dry bag but like the perfect dry bag. Its made from basically the best stuff, Challenge Sailcloth Ultra 200x fabric, with a bit of UWMPHE reinforced climbing sling webbing as a daisy chain on each side, and a Fidlock buckle.
They weigh approximately nothing, have pretty excellent abrasion resistance, are obviously watertight and are just incredibly versatile. I got these bags thinking that I’d use them as fork cage packs with the Frank cages, however, since the weather has become sloppy I’ve been using one with a shoulder and cross strap as a super light super minimal messenger bag, and typing the other one on as a saddle bag for extra clothes.
Because they’re so light and robust they also make great resupply bags cycletouring, or even just getting groceries. They work well in the cage, with a strap, or with not very much fiddling around at all, they also make amazing super light panniers, bar bags, saddle bags.
Whatever. As a tweaker, I always catch myself trying to work out what could be better about things that I like and use.
“Wouldn’t it be great if they had a valve? Or like some kind of pannier attachment to you can put them on a rack quicker? I wish they came with a repair kit?”
Each time I go through a process of mental iteration, I cycle back to the conclusion that they are perfect as they are: minimal, light, and essential. They’re not even very expensive for a US made bag that’s made from all the fanciest materials. And they can be reasonably priced because they’re also pretty simple. There’s also a cheaper version made from 300d coated PU with a normal nylon buckle (which I also have and use) at $48, which you can even get custom printed if you order 8 bags but I really prefer the Polaris bags for their spaciness.
The Frank cages are hard anodised and integrate a voile strap buckle, which is like a pokey thing sticking out, which I’m kind of scared of, but makes attaching and detaching stuff way quicker, easier and neater, so that’s super nice.
It’s a fun design based on architect Frank Lloyd wright’s ‘Saguaro Forms’ stained glass panel designs. It offers greater functionality than a standard cage when used with voile straps, but it’s also a bit more fun!
Tailfin £140
I’m late to the party with this one for sure. I remember seeing Tailfin’s first Kickstarter and thinking it was a good idea, but this year Tailfin sent me one to try out. I used it as loaded as possible for a ride around the Atlas Mountains last spring, and it significantly surpassed all my expectations. In the end, I used it as a traditional rear rack with Tailfin’s medium sized panniers. The panniers worked really well and didn’t rattle at all on even the most off road sections, and the whole set up just felt so rock solid that I kind of forgot it was there (except the weight).
Not only is the system super light, stiff and secure, but it also has pivots at the top, so it can be used with on a bike with suspension. There’s no basis for this but I feel like perhaps that also means its less prone to work loose over time with the weight of the frame.
Tailfin offers a QR system with a proprietary rear axle however my bike had rack mounting holes so I found I could mount it a little lower by using a traditional bolt to mount it, in addition, to further reduce the height of the luggage, @ballern.cycleworks made me a custom rear rack which the tailfin wishbone stay attaches to rather than the band on seatpost clamp it’s meant to come with.
Even with normal bolts, its supper quick to attach and detach because of the design of the Tailfin, which flat packs nicely and has no ridged angles. I struggle to see how or why I’d go back to using a normal rack for touring. Except for aesthetics, perhaps? Because the Sturdy needs a printed titanium one. Could this be an opportunity for a future collab?
Early Rider Super Velio £175
There are so many very good bikes. For the most part, at a fairly modest level it’s easy to get hold of a very good bike, and anything beyond that is fetish, preference and tweaking, all of which I fully endorse. However, everything made for small children is the opposite, you can pay a lot of money for actual shit.
Having been part of the tweakiest end of the industry for a while I kind of feel like “normal” should be like, usable. Since raising a child it’s clear no one has any respect for children as humans. You can comfortably spend £300 on a cot or a perambulator or like a highchair that’s so shit it literally doesn’t even work.
I think changing tables have to be the biggest con. They’re literally CNC cut hardboards that slot together and will support the weight of a baby, maybe, but not an exhausted adult leaning on it at 2 AM and then 4 AM and then 6 AM. The level of predatory selling to new parents that hinges on fear of accidentally harming their children, or the sheer desperation for sleep by companies that make kid shit is absolutely feral.
Stair gates, breastfeeding cushions, socket covers, any child specific furniture. I have never in my life encountered such harrowing poorly made shit. Oh there’s ok stuff too, but ok is for the most part the limit. I have a highchair that Ralph Hollies (Huhn Cycles) designed I think that’s the only piece of kid shit I’ve ever been actually happy with.
So this is the baseline, this is what most companies making kid’s bikes think they can get away with. 8kg lumps of mild steel with sparkles and tassels, twice as many wheels as bikes have, loose bearings that don’t even make it onto an APEC chart, and geometry that seems to be based on having looked at a picture of a bike once.
Kids bikes are made by toy makers and tat sellers and snake oil mongers who don’t realise that some parents actually respect their tiny humans. If respecting a small person as an actual human who needs some help and guidance to develop is a baseline then I don’t see a lot of alternatives to the Early Rider Velio Bikes.
I got the Super Velio because it was the first, and it looks like its marketed towards dads rather than children, so this was a bike for me. It’s the only good quality, well thought out bike i’ve ever seen that’s designed for children before they can even walk. It has rear wheel steering with a big dial on top to limit how much it can turn, and comes with two different bars and two saddles to continue to fit children as they grow, and wheels that are big balls so they don’t have a tipping point.
Obviously as a parent, I gave this to my daughter at the lower age limit of 9 months and hoped that she’d pick it up immediately and learn to ride before she could even walk and obviously she hasn’t. Kids are all different and develop in different ways so now nearing the upper age limit of the bike she’s only really attempted riding it seriously a handful of times. Although, she loves playing with it.
She spins the wheels and takes my Allen keys and jams them anywhere they’ll go in and then looks at me and says “fix it”. For me, the Super Velio didn’t go to plan. We probably still have a few months before she completely outgrows it, but its an object I have at least enjoyed living with because it works well, and is built to last and be repairable.
Unlike the majority of the rest of the kid shit that seems to be infesting our living space, it’s a super well-designed learning tool, made by a company that respects both bicycles and small humans. There is no doubt that next summer when she outgrows the super Velio we’ll be looking at either the bonsai or the charger from early riders as a size up of balance bikes. I know she wants a scooter… all her friends have them, but what do they know. Poor misguided little fools.
Sturdy Cilla X-Wing £8000*
(*+VAT for frame kit, including frame, fork, seat post, cockpit, headset, Bottom bracket, crankset, chainrings, computer mount, through axles, custom bolts, bar ends, and rotor lockrings, all made in-house from titanium)
I’ve already reviewed this bike here, and still haven’t managed to say in a long form review all the things that I like about it. Of course, it’s an absolutely ridiculous superbike, and it’s more than I or anyone else needs, but more than any other bike I’ve owned in the last quarter of a century, since I had agency over my own bike ownership, feels like a forever bike.
Not because it has a lifetime warranty, but because it’s not too anything. It’s robust and minimal, it’s designed around my bike fit and use case so it fits me in every way, and it’s made to sensible and relatively conservative standards.
Nothing is “future proof” but I still use a Leica m3 which was made in 1964, and the Cilla is on that vibe for sure. At no point will this bike become obsolete. I have ridden some amazing bikes, but never has a bike been so good to live with. For me, at least, right now, I think this is the best bike ever. More than any other bike its completely changed how and how much I ride.
It’s a tool for getting the most out of my time on a bike, and seeing it propped up against a wall at home brings me joy even when I’m not riding it.
Daysaver Multi Tool
This has saved my day a few times. Everything on the sturdy is adjusted with a T25 but the day saver weighs basically the same as a T25, and sometimes I ride with other people whose bikes use Allen keys. Surprisingly I haven’t lost any of the bits but they are replaceable when I do lose them. I like that they are replaceable incase of damage too, although I have found them to be much harder and more robust than the bits on the other multi tools I sometimes use…
Zipp 101 XPLR Rims £636.29*
(*but whole wheels seem to be available for £351.93 at the moment?
As far as I’m aware there isn’t another rim that’s designed to do what the 101 XPLR is designed to do. It’s not the lightest but its super wide, and extremely stout, and feels different to any other rim I’ve used. They are single walled rims designed to pivot and flex, which, in practice for me inspired more confidence on rougher and more technical terrain.
They feel more comfortable and stable, like having a higher volume tyre without any of the extra weight? Well, perhaps not quite like that, but similar. I’ve been riding stouter, more resilient tyres at slightly higher pressures on them without being beaten up too much off road, so maybe I’m faster rolling and have a more reliable whole wheel set up?
They’re definitely a lot more comfortable off road on the same bike with the same tires as the 303 or the ENVE G23 and they don’t suck on the road either. If there’s any penalty in speed its imperceptibly marginal and isn’t worth considering for anyone who isn’t a pro level racer.
Also the super low profile looks cool, it makes a big tyre sit like a big rubber ring. They feel utilitarian rather than aggressive. Sometimes, “aero is ugly” (thanks Chris Schmidtt!)
Sour Business Fork €449
I’ve been hearing whispers of this fork for a couple of years now, but finally I have my hands on one, attached to a Drust Heckmeck which I currently have to review. While the fork was designed specifically for Sour’s own Purple Haze, I love this fork because it’s the fork I wish existed when I was building frames.
I wouldn’t be surprised if over the next few years, a lot of these forks find their way onto handmade “gravel” bikes and touring bikes all over the world. It just has everything! All the holes, well thought out dynamo routing, flat mount direct mount for a 160 rotor, a pretty average weight and price for a carbon gravel fork (€449 550ish grammes) and some fancy test results to boot.
What is the EFBE TRI-TEST? And why do you care? Well, basically because the way we ride bikes and the loading that they are required to endure because of that abuse is changing faster than ISO test standards, which are considered to be a baseline rather than a benchmark.
According to EFBE Prüftechnik:
“The TRI-TEST® is EFBE’s proprietary development, which goes way beyond the established national and international standards and reflects the specific challenges faced by modern bikes. With its three modules – fatigue tests, maximum load tests and overload tests – in various load cases, it provides a time-lapse simulation of the stresses throughout a bike’s entire life. A frame, for example, has to undergo up to eight individual test stages before it can be awarded the EFBE TRI-TEST® seal.”
In other words, it’s a higher standard of testing designed to simulate much harsher conditions. A sort of best practice rather than bare minimum. Gravel bikes which could be loaded up or ridden too much or ridden like they were stolen or often all three are where you really want (both as a rider and a builder) to know that a fork exceeds the bare minimum acceptable standard.
The Sour Business Fork is the first fork of its kind ever to have passed this test, which isn’t to say no other forks would pass, or that this is the strongest fork ever, but currently its the only fork on the market guaranteed to the standard. It also looks super nice and minimal for a fork with so much going on. I can’t wait to see some of these
bad boys painted fancy!
My Vintage Toyota Truck – Priceless
There’s an amount of time that a person can feasibly contribute to the Radavist without owning a cool old Toyota truck. Its not like company policy or anything but no one is trying to dissuade me, and if anything, I feel enabled. Having contributed as regularly as I can manage since 2019 now it felt like high time to tow the line and get myself a sweet old Toyota truck.
So, I live in the sterile hellscape of the South of England, and so I really just drive on the roads, which would make an off-road vehicle a kind of grotesque manifestation of an aspirational reality, rather than a utilitarian vehicle for me most of the time.
So my truck weighs at least twice as much as John’s Troopy, runs on propane rather than diesel and could flip the Troopy upside down if they were ever in a fight, but struggles going up and down kerbs. This year, I purchased a vintage Toyota forklift, and life has never been better.
Forklifting things that until now had to be moved by hand has brought about a level of smug I never thought I was capable of. Sometimes if I’m stressed or depressed I just go to the warehouse and reorganise it again with the Toyota. I don’t have a licence but I watched “forklift driver Klaus” and I recommend you do too.
Tobizubon Work Trousers By Toraichi – £149
Big baggy work trousers for Japanese gardeners, which don’t fit me how they are meant to because I’m too tall. They have heaps of fabric around the butt, knees and thighs, and are fitted with a zip around the calves, so they’re really comfortable, especially on a bike. They’re white, which I like more when they get dirty, and they have reinforced knees with two layers of fabric.
They’re weird as hell but in a good way. They Are better for riding in than any full length riding trousers i’ve every used (except perhaps the Albion waterproof trousers, but there waterproof so they’re kind of a different thing) I don’t have any pictures of these trousers because they were broken along with my spirit when my van sunk into a bog in Dunwich, and I had to dig my way out with my hands.
Favorite Rides
For once there were a few, I enjoyed a lot and had to narrow it down. A gaggle of young good looking Germans took me on a loop of the Atlas Mountains, which was amazing, I rode a horrible e-bike that was significantly too small around Buff Creek with Ashley King which was amazing in spite of my multifaceted discomfort, and I managed a super fast mixed surface 100 mile(ish) solo ride to Rye off the back of a house party this year, all of which were fun but the real defining rides of this year for me were in many ways about what they did for me rather than about the rides themselves.
The ride from Cliftonville, where I live, to Reculver, the ruin of a burned down church rumored to have hosted witches covens, satanist rituals and child sacrifices (the only part of the rumor that can be substantiated by the number of children buried there) built on the ruins of a burned down Roman fort, has been transformative this year.
It’s flat, and boring as hell, along a concrete cycle path, the width of a road, with chalk cliffs on one side and the sea on the other. Nothing happens, it’s not epic in any way, and there isn’t even a nice loop. It’s just out and back to the ruin, sitting at the top of the cliff.
I don’t even stop to look around when I get there. The ride really has nothing to offer but for me it’s two things, its freedom from the burden of feeling like I MUST enjoy riding. That means no planning, no expectation, and no disappointment. There’s nothing to achieve, no Strava segment and no pressure. I can head out after I put my daughter to bed, and go as hard as I can every day or every other day or once every three days and on a good day it takes 40 minutes or up to an hour and 20 on a bad day. But each time I ride it, I’m less of a bike guy and more of a cyclist.
I’m out, rain or shine, wind or hail riding by bike, because it is better to ride a bike than not to ride a bike.
The other thing the ride offers beyond being a ride is boredom. When every minute of every day is full, jamming in a pair of headphones and gunning it with loud music, is essential relief from things. Nothing happens. Ever. Sometimes it’s very windy and the waves splash me and I get home extremely tired. Often I don’t want to ride it at all, but I never regret the ride when I’m home.
Real boredom is a rare and precious commodity in modern times. Riding the same boring route each day is like a cue to immediate flow state. Like my body has learned what it needs to do, so it just does autopilot, and my brain goes on holiday for a bit. Riding bored makes me a better person in every way. My Sturdy Cilla, with its little Shaggy John frame bag, and thousands of pounds of Albion equipment have made this boring ride an integral part of my existence.
The Dunwich Horror
Dunwich is the UK’s only desert. It has a nuclear power station, and sits at the edge of a continental shelf, so the water gets very deep very quickly, so there’s a fishing trade there. It’s a bleak, windy and somehow always overcast landscape, peppered with little fisherman’s huts painted with bitumen.
It’s bleak as hell, and weird too. There are two lighthouses, the old one and the one that works, and director Deric Jarmen’s house, which is now a little museum you can visit. Three miles from the beach is a MOD base where there are tanks driving around and all sorts of kooky military aircraft flying around, and next to that is the RSPB wildlife sanctuary, where migratory birds stop each year to build nests and breed.
In the sanctuary there is a little island with a swing bridge which is now never opened, so you have to wade across a fairly deep, very cold and gross pond to reach the sound mirrors. The sound mirrors are a series of experimental concrete structures built to reflect and focus sound for the purpose of early warning against aerial attacks during the first World War.
In practice, aircraft got a lot quieter and radar was invented which was far more effective. Now they sit, covered in moss as brutal monoliths in a forgotten sculpture park. I hate that the site is not really open to the public or accessible without getting wet and gross, except for a couple of days a year when it’s crowded and unpleasant; this is the British way.
Removing all joy from everything always. The aim is to stop people graffitiing the sound mirrors and riding them on BMX bikes but in practice I can’t think of two other groups of people more likely to just wade across and do the thing undeterred. I advocate stealing joy when it doesn’t cause any harm, however the breeding season is from March to July so those months should be avoided.
It’s a long windy and bleak ride to the sound mirrors. On the cusp of my range for a day ride from my house. So I almost never take a camera.
Love Letter Turbo
Love Letter Turbo found me, via a copy left at the front desk. It was a further two weeks before I could even really look at it. It’s basically the pest bit of printed bicycle media I’ve seen for like a decade. It’s the printed media I’ve been longing for, in the form of a big €32 A3 glossy magazine, full of super nice pictures shot on film and spacious layouts that flip the bird at printing costs of additional spaces.
There are no adverts, there’s no agenda, it’s just a celebration of cycling culture from the editors’ point of view. printed media is amazing because when you’re looking at it you can just look at it without texts and emails and who knows what else popping up at you all over the place. It’s a reason to sit alone in a nice cafe with a slice of pie, which brings me neatly to my next thing.
Madre
Madre is a bakery/cafe/wine shop which as been open on Cecil Square for almost a year now, and it’s become my regular spot for good black filter coffee, and a slice of apricot and earl gray tart, or for a high grade sandwich with my daughter after school when I’m too fired to boil an egg. It’s spacious and relaxed and often quiet, and the bread is second to none.
Music
Ultimate multi disciplinary artist/troll Harmonie Korine’s new production company, EDGLRD seems to be dedicated to making reality feel more like a video game. After a screening of the 2024 “film” Aggro Drift, a feature length visual, with a loose narrative about assassins, shot entirely on NASA’s thermal imaging cameras, Harmony Korine played a terrible but infectious boiler room set that’s equal parts arhythmic gun shots, Baile funk, Slipknot and Seal.
It was kind of terrible but kind of amazing? People wanted to dance but were struggling because it basically wasn’t music for more than 10 seconds at a time, and at some point all the visuals went offline and they were just screening the back end of the mapping software for a decent part of the gig.
It was amazing. Such a weird mixed up crowd. Such confusion, what a troll. The Miami set is available here. I’ve been feeding off it like a vampire. All my acquaintances hate it.
Shoki “Cumshot”
Potentially the most German thing that’s happened to me to date, road tripping with Bennet from @ballern.cycleworks really got me hooked on this.
It’s edgy to the point of just silly. The music video for the techno edit of “Dirty Hobby” is an actual sex tape that’s only available to only fans and costs €50 per watch. I haven’t seen it, but I love it. Its probs the best response I know of to the state of the music industry right now.
Slipknot “Slipknot”
I’ve been flitting between the Slipknot album “Slipknot” which is better than “Iowa.” Fight me. You can’t see California without Marlon Brando’s eyes. And “Horse of the Dog” by the 80s Matchbox B Line Disaster. I just need energy. This is where it comes from.
Favorite Book: “The Third Policeman” by Flann O’Brien
The best book is The Third Policeman. It has everything you need to know about from the atomic theory to the merits of the Sturmey Archer three speed gear. Written by Irish writer Flann o’brian in the 30s and deemed too weird to publish until the 60s, it’s now the author’s best known work.
I used to listen to the audio book while building frames, so I’ve heard it so many times now that I almost know all of the words. Flann O’Brien’s writing has been a big influence on the way I think about writing. It’s where I find joy in writing which couldn’t be further from what comes naturally to me, so it’s something I’m really grateful for.
It’s fun and hilarious but also scary and very real.
Lessons Learned
I can do everything but my body can’t. I need to look after my body better. I can put up with a lot, both physically and mentally which is net negative, because I can, so I do. This year I injured my back quite badly and it’s been really shitty trying and failing to recover.
I’m so used to being a very capable person that having that taken away suddenly even if that’s just temporary has been incredibly frustrating. If nothing else, because it’s so avoidable. A doctor told me that if I slept more, the health benefits would probably be greater than a person quitting smoking.
So I guess the lesson here is to delegate better and make time to rest even if I can carry on without. It sounds easy but feels like a utopia.
New Things
You know when you’re in love, and it’s an absolute all encompassing well off infinite energy? I love my daughter more than I knew I was capable of loving anything. Loving so much is an entirely new perspective. Having a little person who’s dependent on me is a much bigger mode shift than I could ever have imagined and for very different reasons. I love being a parent and it took like a year to understand that.
