Based in Seattle, Washington, Swift Industries is a bike bag company known for blending classic randonneuring aesthetics with modern functionality. Co-founded in 2008 by Martina Brimmer and Jason Goodman, the brand has grown from a basement DIY passion project to a mainstay in the bike luggage space. In celebration of their 15-year anniversary, Hailey Moore writes about Swift’s journey over the years from its founders’ punk roots, to landing shelf space in REI.
“Bikepacking Roots”
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Swift Industries Celebrates 15 Years With a Special Anniversary Collection
To celebrate its 15-year anniversary, Swift Industries just released a capsule collection that is an ode to its roots with an original colorblock in classic 1000D Cordura. This Anniversary Collection features the iconic Swift Zeitgeist Pack and the Sidekick Stem Pouch in two colorways accented by a bold hot pink and desert bone. Like the first Swift bags ever stitched, this collection was designed and manufactured in Seattle, Washington.
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The Rough Road Renegade: Introducing the Curve GMX+ Steel
Is it a drop-bar mountain bike? A gravel rig on ‘roids? Or a bike from another dimension? When it comes to codifying bikes these days, it’s really easy to get really lost (real quick). However, once in a while, a bike comes along that challenges the norm, flips the bird to conventional geo numbers, and stands alone: not as an outlier, but as an original. Sam Rice has been test riding Curve Cycling‘s long-awaited GMX+ and shares his thoughts on why it isn’t “just another touring bike” below, along with a look at their updated Seek 430 FM carbon fork.
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2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show Part 3: Avalanche, Ballern, Black Sheep, CMG, Fern, Huhn, Rheintritt, Rossman, Repete, and Timba
The 2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show just wrapped after three action-packed days of talks, parties, and drooling over the heaps of amazing craftsmanship on display. Josh was on the ground at the Dresden, Germany airport where this year’s event took place, and, below, shares his final gallery of bikes and a couple of interesting components. Let’s get right into it!
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Radar Roundup: DKG Maglite Mount, Stelbel 50th Anniversary 50esimo, Riv Shirts, Suntour Hats, Wilier Adlar Touring Bike, Chris King Open House, PEdALED Odyssey, and Fat Biking the Oregon Coast
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
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Readers’ Rides: Whit from Meriwether’s Luddite Softtail
A couple of weeks ago, we shared Mike’s unique Meriwether build for our Readers’ Rides and this week, we have an interesting project from Whit, the owner of Meriwether. Whit wrote up a long-form review of the process behind designing and fabricating his “Luddite Softtail” mountain bike. Without further ado, let’s check it out!
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Titanium Touring Perfection: Singular Gryphon Drop Bar 29er MTB Review
Over the years, I’ve had the ability and privilege of throwing my leg over a number of fat tire, drop bar touring bikes. From the almighty Tumbleweed Stargazer to the readily available Kona Sutra ULTD, these robust bikes with an off-road and load-bearing geometry make for great interstitial, genre-bending machines for all sorts of riding.
Yet before brands like Salsa were even making high clearance, drop bar, 29er, disc brake, production touring bikes, a brand called Singular Cycles in the UK shifted the paradigm with its Swift in 2007 and, later in 2008, Gryphon models. These frames featured high stack numbers, fit big tires, and most importantly, had rack/fender/cargo bosses aplenty.
This year, Singular debuted its custom Gryphon Titanium, and once again, I’m questioning which bike to crown “best in class.” Check out my full-length review below…
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A Familiar Feeling: A Review of the Sklar Bikes SuperSomething
Adam Sklar has been building custom bikes for close to a decade—and we’ve featured plenty of them on this site! But, in 2022 he decided to move production of a new model overseas to Taiwan. Dubbed the SuperSomething, this first production Sklar has road bike bones while still (subtly) paying homage to Adam’s mountain biking roots. Hailey Moore has been riding our signature Radavist edition SuperSomething all summer and, below, shares her review, along with insights into Adam’s design intent for this all-steel gravel bike.
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The Dust-Up: Most New Mountain Bikers Should Start on Full-Suspension Bikes
In today’s installment of our ongoing opinion column, The Dust-Up, we bring you Travis Engel’s thesis on why full-suspension bikes offer the most inviting, user-friendly experience to people trying mountain bikes for the first time, and why the commonly held “hardtail-first” doctrine is flawed and outdated. Please read in full before commenting, but please comment.
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Deadfall, Cow Sh*t, and Monsoons: A Well Used Revelate Nano Panniers Review
In a world where traditional bicycle touring setups are seemingly overtaking strap-on bikepacking bags, micro or mini panniers make a lot of sense. If you have a rear or front rack, why not run a pannier over a lashed, structureless bag? Panniers are great for many reasons, mainly their ease of loading and stability. They don’t flop all over or rub your tires on smaller frames like bikepacking bags tend to, and if they’re packed and mounted right, they stay out of your way during the inevitable hike-a-bike. Plus, depending on how you load your rear rack, you can still use a dropper post.
John recently took the new Revelate Nano Panniers ($250/pair) out on the Northern New Mexico CDT for four days of navigating deadfall, battling cow shit, and being trounced by Southwestern Monsoons, i.e., the true test of a pannier’s reliability!
Read on for his well-used review!
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ISO Lifelong Wheelset: Three Seasons on NOBL’s TR37 Carbon Wheels
After almost a year jumping, riding, and—occasionally—bashing NOBL’s TR37 carbon mountain wheelset, Colt Fetters thinks he might just have found the one workhorse enduro wheel to rule them all. The TR37s tip in on the lighter side of the scales, and feature a 32-spoke construction and NOBL’s signature sinewave design. Read on for Colt’s full rundown on these wheels and thoughts on why carbon wheels should get more credit for their durability.
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FAIL 13: 2023 Border Bash Aragon Event Recap
In late April, Ryan le Garrec rode his bike from Madrid to the start of the Border Bash Aragon, a gravel camp in the Aragon region of Spain. The event is not a race but simply a way for riders interested in camaraderie and sharing big days to meet in a beautiful place. Along with stories about a few characters he met at the bash, Ryan shares words from the organizer on the event’s intent, and Ryan’s own perspective on these “non-race” events.
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Hecho en Colombia: A Visit to Scarab Cycles in the Heart of the Andes
It isn’t often that I have a chance to stop by a custom frame-building shop in places where I typically like to tour, but upon arriving in Colombia, it was clear that cycling culture in this country is on another level. During weekends in Bogotá, it was not uncommon to see large herds of spandex-clad riders hanging out at coffee shops with fancy gravel bikes or amongst a sea of other riders, dancing on the pedals up to “Patios”, the local roadie hotspot.
Walk into a random bakery in any town throughout the country and it would be no shock to see some obscure (to me) bike race on TV, with a group of abuelas keenly following the action as they enjoy an almojabana and hot chocolate. Catch yourself cruising down one of the many cycle paths in Bogotá and you might just get dropped by a dude in jeans with a backpack heading to work. When it comes to cycling, Colombians are built differently. Read on for a behind the scenes look at my visit to the Colombian builder Scarab Cycles.
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Semi-Supported and Ultra Rad: The 2022 Salsa Ochoco Overlander
Fresh pulls of espresso waltz through a cold September morning, dancing alongside a particular brand of nervous excitement. It’s a certain hum I’ve come to understand as unique to the start of bikepacking trips and the suckers who choose such endeavors as their vacation. Strangers who will become good friends in a few short miles clear the frogs from their throats to answer early morning queries about their hometowns, bike set-ups, and handlebar tchotchkes over hot breakfast burritos and steamy lattes slung by Autobahn Coffee as we all wait for the start of the Salsa Cycles Ochoco Overlander.
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Radar Roundup: POC Propel Sunnies, Brooks Jeremy Collins B17, Oveja Negra William Foldinghaus Wallet, RAL Panniers on Sale, John’s Selling Prints, and Last Try
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
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Radar Roundup: SimWorks Black Super Yummy, LaMarche Bike Co Stems, Ombraz Side Shields, Silca Terra Pump, Cotic Solaris 2023, and Kona Unit X 2023
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
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Bikes of the 2022 GiRodeo: Argonaut, Battaglin, Belle, ENVE, Mosaic, OPEN, Repete, Rizzo, and Scarab
Aside from pristine days of riding, the GiRodeo was also a semi-nomadic bike show. The Service Course has long-term collaborative relationships with a number of builders, working together to pair builders and customers appropriately. I say “semi-nomadic” because the majority of builders rode their bikes, but also because the bikes that were not being ridden magically popped up in restaurants and breweries or wherever else events were held as part of the show. This is a rundown of my favorite bikes, many of which were part of the GiRodeo, and others were part of The Service Course’s furniture.
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2022 Philly Bike Expo: Acoustic, Blaze, Chapman, Engin, Jubilee, Liberation, No22, Rodeo Labs, Vicious
Picking up where yesterday’s post left off, we’ve got our second and final gallery from the Philly Bike Expo, featuring track bikes, gravel bikes, commuters, and a high-pivot full suspension. Read on for John’s closing thoughts on the offerings from this year’s Expo and a reflective outro on the future of custom bike showcases…