In this Dust-Up, Travis claims 27.2 mm seatposts are symptoms of the gravel industry’s refusal to evolve. Turns out there’s more to it, but he’s still upset.
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Hey, Sweet Bikes: A Visit to Sour Bicycles in Dresden, Germany
Over the last couple of years, our European correspondent Petor Georgallou has gotten to know Sour Bicycles, a small East German bike company who are trailblazing in their mix of domestic framebuilding in Dresden and continued importation of Taiwan-made bikes. Read on to hear about the unique conditions that have made the former states of East Germany a hotbed of innovation and manufacturing in Europe, as well as how a mega fail by Petor leads to the second of many shop visits in Germany.
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Cobbles and Comedores: An Introduction to the Trans Ecuador Mountain Bike Route
After extensive touring through Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina, the only remaining “missing link” in Ryan Wilson‘s Andean traverse was Ecuador. Last year, he met up with fellow cyclo-tourist Joe Sasada to share miles on the dirt-road variation of the Trans Ecuador Mountain Bike Route, an 850-mile mountainous traverse through the country’s volcanic corridor. Read on for Ryan’s introduction to Ecuador…
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Hooked on a Feeling: How I Prepped for Atlas Mountain Race
Mel Webb is an ultra-distance bikepack racer and host of Detours: An Ultra Cycling and Adventure Podcast. She’s lined up at the start of events like the Silk Road Mountain Race, the Hellenic Mountain Race and the Alberta Rockies 700.
In just over a week she’ll be racing the 2024 Atlas Mountain Race and will be putting her body and setup through their paces in one of the world’s toughest, and most beautiful, ultra-endurance events.
Standing at 5’2, she’s no stranger to the game of tetris that is packing a small bike. Come along as Mel takes us through the evolution of her ultra race kit with photos from Morgan Taylor.
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Yosemite of Southern Arizona: Two Nights Around the Chiricahua Mountains
The often overlooked Chiricahua Mountains sit between Las Cruces and Tucson. Sitting on the edges of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, the range boasts incredible scenery and biodiversity. Spencer and some buds spent a long weekend bike camping around the Chiricahua mountains. Check out one of the most underrated areas in Southern Arizona and all it has to offer.
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The New Traws Eryri Trail: Bikepacking Across Wales’s Most Intimidating Mountain Range
After three years in the making, Cycling UK and Natural Resources Wales launched Traws Eryri this summer, a new 200-kilometer bikepacking route that crosses Eryri National Park in North Wales. Among the first to ride it, Katherine Moore gives her verdict on the Welsh rough stuff.
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Charlie Cunningham’s 2012 Personal 29er: So Many Details
The following post is a labor of love. Hours of tedious work went into not only documenting this bike but writing about it. It is by far the most ambitious story Tasshi Dennis from The Vintage MTB Workshop and John Watson have worked on. Charlie Cunningham was more important to the modern mountain and gravel bike movement than many know. His work spanned over four decades, and the bike you see here today was his personal bike.
Read on for a complete dissection of what has to be the most detailed bicycle ever to grace this humble corner of the internet. We hope you feel the love that was poured into this post…
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Too Good for Its Own Good: A 2023 Rocky Mountain Element C70 Review
Is it possible for a bike to be too good for its own good? Where it’s so capable that it pulls you into terrain and features beyond the category its predecessors lived in? That’s the question Morgan Taylor poses in this review of the 2023 Rocky Mountain Element. Read on to see if swapping out parts ruins this bike’s character, or if it transcends categorization while Morgan rediscovers backyard singletrack…
Radar
Radar Roundup: Silver Stallion Fundraiser Devo, Amigo Frameworks 3Rensho Lug Track Bike, 3T Extrema Italia, POC Calyx, Bagman Universal Bar Rack, Nivex Derailleurs Are Here, and Change Your Bars, Change Your Life
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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A Man, a Tree, a Photo, a Citation from Federal Agents, and a Ritchey Annapurna
You’ll never know who you’ll meet while on the road, and sometimes, the characters floating around campsites within our National Forests are as colorful as the natural surroundings. While John and Cari were cashing in on some long overdue R&R last week in the mountains of New Mexico, they met a fella with a Ritchey Annapurna and quite the story to tell…
Radar
Almost Dialed: A Bookman Volume 800 and 1500 Bicycle Light Review
How functional does a gimmick have to be for it to stop being called a gimmick? Consider down-tube storage compartments for example. They seemed like a novelty at first, but use one for long enough and you might wonder why they’re not on—or in—every new bike. Travis Engel had a similar experience testing the Bookman Volume 800 and Volume 1500 bike lights. They’re loaded with gimmicks, some of which should probably be standard on every light. Still, they’re not quite perfect.
Radar
Radar Roundup: Bridging a Gap, Surly Grappler New Color, SaddleSpur, Nordest Albarda GT Gravel, Mountain Laurel Border Handlebar Harness, Ripton Black Pant, Twotone Long Sleeve, Finding Balance in Tweed Valley, and NYC Loop with Aiyana
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: Bombtrack 2024 Lineup, Bedrock Mountain Clogs, Revelate Pronghorn Returns, Farewell Scout Roll, Wizard Works Quick Draw Bottle Pocket, Steve Potts Bars, Bender MADE Show Bike, and Tesekkür Turkey
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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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!
Radar
Radar Roundup: Shovel Research Goes Gold, Tunitas Motion Camera Strap, DSPTCH and Engineered Garments, Bookman Lights, NPR on NM Outdoor Rec/Mineral Extraction, and Paul’s Pro Cruiser Got Restored
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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What’s Old is New Again: Crust X Ron’s Bikes Alumalith Rigid MTB Review
Unveiled at the 2022 Philly Bike Expo to much fanfare, the Alumalith is a realization of Ronnie Romance‘s dream to incorporate his favorite aspects of vintage mountain bikes into a deciededly modern offering. Featuring a non-suspension corrected Switchblade-style fork, rim brakes, sharp angulation, and 6061 aluminum fabricated by renowned craftsman Frank Wadelton–but with internal dropper routing, clearance for 27.5 x 2.6″ tires, and a contemporary approach to geometry–the Alumalith is nostalgic delight for riders of today. Josh picked up an Alumalith earlier this year and has spent months building it, riding, refining, and riding some more. Continue reading below for his review of this niche yet capable and fun machine…
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Single or Dingle? A Wheels Manufacturing SOLO-XD Single Speed Conversion Kit Review
In our current climate of cycling innovation, where maximizing gear range and number of cogs is top priority for many, singlespeeders are often left out. Teased earlier this year at Sea Otter Classic and available for sale today, Wheels Manufacturing flips the script with the SOLO-XD Single Speed Conversion Kit, which offers a reliable solution for converting both XD and XDR driver-equipped hubs to carrying a single gear. Josh recently received a SOLO-XD kit and, below, outlines the installation process and a review after riding with a “dinglespeed” setup for a couple of weeks.
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Assembly Required: Are Lugged Carbon Mountain Bikes Having a Moment?
No matter how innovative or controversial a given mountain bike technology may be, it’s usually just a means to an end. A way to add efficiency or capability. Sure, these technologies can often make for utterly spectacular rides. But bikes themselves—especially full-suspension bikes—rarely add any soul purely for soul’s sake.
That may be why we love to highlight bikes like the REEB SST, Chromag Darco, and, of course, the Starling Murmur. These bikes have esoteric quirks usually found only on hardtail, gravel, and town bikes. And they just happen to also offer utterly spectacular rides.
But when Travis Engel noticed function-first stalwarts, Pivot and Specialized suddenly teasing in-house experiments in lugged carbon fiber, he wondered if there might be a new search for soul afoot…