Our friends at Ornot are celebrating their ten-year anniversary as an independent cycling apparel and accessory brand. As part of this milestone, founder Matt Quann penned a retrospective about his experience starting an apparel brand in a San Francisco garage, tracing a path through custom frames, hurdles with domestic manufacturing, and a ride where waffles were promised but not delivered. Continue reading below for more from Matt and keep your eyes peeled for some special giveaways along with this exciting occasion!
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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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Readers’ Rides: Alessandro’s Nevi Italian Titanium Vintage MTB
Today’s Readers’ Rides features a wonderful example of an Italian mountain bike brand called Nevi and was sent in by Alessandro who shared a bit about himself, his journey through cycling, and this sick build. Let’s check it out!
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Once Around the Block: A FYXO Surly e-Big Dummy with CYC Photon Motor Review
If it isn’t clear that I’m a fan of e-bikes for UTE-ility purposes, then check here or here or just Google ‘FYXO Tonka’. Carrying cargo, kids, running errands, dinking your partner on date night, commuting—forget the financial benefit. One benefit that cannot be easily quantified is how much fun and hassle-free they are.
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No More Jostlin’: An Old Man Mountain Basket and Elkhorn Rack Review
Announced way back at the 2021 Sea Otter Classic, Old Man Mountain’s Basket ($80 – made in Taiwan) is a stamped aluminum, rugged basket meant to take the place of the almighty Wald 137. John got his grubby little mitts on one of these along with an Elkhorn Rack ($168 – made in Taiwan) and offered up some thoughts below…
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Cycling the World With McKenzie Barney Part 1
For McKenzie Barney, cycling the world was never about chasing a record, or even adhering to all of the Guinness Book of Records parameters to qualify for an “official” time. But after an introduction to bike touring in Vietnam and learning about the 18,000-mile goal post for a “Cycle the World” completion, she was intrigued. For the next few years she planned, scrimped and saved between trips while pursuing her own Cycling the World project. Earlier this year, she completed the project after having ridden 18,000 miles, in 28 countries, and on five continents. Read on for Part 1 of her journey download, where she writes about moving from thru hiking to bike touring, gaining solo experience in Europe, and then putting it to the test on a ride from Cairo to Cape Town with her partner James. Plus, don’t miss the trailer to her upcoming self-documented, self-edited film!
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The Dust-Up: An Ode to Friction Shifting
After Nic Morales ditched indexed shifters for a friction system, he hasn’t looked back. Below, Nic breaks down the differences between index and friction and explains why he’s excited about bucking mainstream shifting trends towards a life of friction...
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The Altai Traverse Part 3: The Road to Tsambagarav and Ryan’s Mongolia-ready Tumbleweed Prospector Review
After finishing the route up from Bulgan, I arrived in the largest city I’d come across in the entire trip outside of Ulaanbaatar. Yet, with a shade under 30,000 inhabitants, it’s not exactly a metropolis. Still, after so many days out in the middle of nowhere, it was nice to have a hot shower and a couple of restaurants to choose from. A serious upgrade from settling for boiling instant noodles in a hotel’s electric kettle in some of the smaller villages.
I intended to come here to visit the military guard post, which is responsible for issuing permits to reach the Altai Tavan-Bogd region at the border with China. In the past, one was allowed to simply use their satellite tracker as a means to be allowed entry or higher a guide on a horse right at the park entrance to obtain a permit, but since Covid, they changed the rules up and tourists could no longer go to the region without a local jeep tour guide straight from the city of Ölgii.
Being tailed by a jeep for a week in the countryside isn’t exactly my idea of a great time, so I started looking for alternatives to fill that gap in my route. A quick glance over some satellite maps showed a small cluster of snowy peaks that were only about 50km away as the crow flies, and there was a little white-checkered line crossing them on the map, so this seemed like a nice plan B, no chaperon required.
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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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Radar Roundup: Meriwether Shimzilla, Agave Finishwork Bars, Wizard Works Bespoke Framebags, Ornot Mission Pants Stone Blue, Wilde Nitto Country Bar, and Riding Platypuses Around Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan
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 Santa Fe S24O: The Aspen Ranch Overnighter
Last weekend, John hopped on board for an overnighter in the Santa Fe National Forest with Adventure Bikepacking and the Santa Fe Fat Tire Society…
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Secrets of the City: A Cycling Tour of Seattle’s Hidden Swim Beaches
It is hard to avoid the bodies of water that surround Seattle. I have always loved the water, from childhood summers spent swimming in Greenlake, to building illicit rope swings in high school, to having a first date on a small strip of sand my family long ago dubbed “Secret Beach.” As I grew up, I learned my friends had their own secret beaches, small access points bordered by tall trees and houses, strips of pebbles off Lake Washington Boulevard with a view of Mount Rainier, and rare sandy beaches touching the icy waters of Puget Sound.
Continue reading below for Conor Courtney‘s two-wheeled explorations of Seattle’s secret beaches…
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Readers’ Rides: Mike’s Meriwether Soft Tail 29er
Today we’re bringing you a great feature from Mike from Big Wheel Building who recently took delivery of a Meriwether Cycles 60mm rear travel soft tail 29er, dubbed the Miser. This is a very unique bike and we’ve got a wonderful piece from Mike, so let’s get to it!
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Hybrid Moments: A Hudski Doggler Review
As cyclists, we love bikes that can do more than one thing. A Swiss Army knife rather than a scalpel, if you will. So when a bike like the Hudski Doggler passes through my possession, I want to find its limits and then push through them. I’ve spent a few months riding the Doggler around Santa Fe, in and around our beloved Santa Fe National Forest, and I’m ready to spill the beans on what makes this bike so appropriate for gravel and mountain riding…
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Returning to Cuenca Los Ojos: Sarah Swallow’s Otso Voytek and Ruta del Jefe Updates
Ruta del Jefe has officially announced the dates and the new venue – March 21-24, 2024 in Cuenca Los Ojos, Mexico – for the next edition of this adventure, education, community, and advocacy event. Cuenca Los Ojos is a protected natural area in the Sky Islands of the Mexican state of Sonora, southeast of Agua Prieta/Douglas, Arizona. Daniel Zaid and Karla Robles recently linked up with, organizer Sarah Swallow and, below, document her new new Otso Voytek, which she has been using for scouting the 2024 Ruta Del Jefe route. Additionally, Daniel and Karla share an update on the work Cuenca Los Ojos has been doing to provide the best platform for Ruta del Jefe in advance of the event’s first season south of the border…
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Introducing Shimano GRX Mechanical 12-Speed Components
Today, Shimano released the long-awaited mechanical 12-speed versions of their popular GRX gravel-focused drivetrain. With three 12-speed varieties to choose from (two 1x configurations and one 2x) and a list of desirable accouterments (optional dropper lever, interchangeable derailleur cages, refined wheelsets, updated ergonomics, and more), Shimano is covering a lot of ground in this new generation of gravel components. Josh recently had a chance to click through and pedal the wide range GRX RX820 groupset and, below, details the full product launch along with his first ride review…
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So … I Guess We Review Band-Aids Now: Why You Should Use 3M Nexcare Bandages
This isn’t as much a product review as it is a public service announcement: Every cyclist should have an assortment of 3M Nexcare waterproof bandages at home, and maybe even a couple in your pack. They’re pretty special. If you know, you know. And if you don’t, Travis Engel is here to explain why they’re nothing like the band-aids you used as a kid.
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Radar Roundup: BTCHN Ti Post, Wolf Tooth Olive Drab, Mosaic MT-1, Wizard Works Lil Presto, SAS Frogskin, Mosaic MT-1, and Chile Chasers
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…