The Radavist

Forgotten Highways looks at some of New Zealand’s most breathtaking scenery along the Whanganui River, Explored by Mountain Bike and Packraft.

When it was released, the Crust Bikes Evasion was a true to form game changer for production bikes but even then, some games should be changed up a bit. Matt from Crust Bikes has been leaking this project for a while. A stripped-down, lighter-ish, yet just as capable Evasion, dubbed the Evasion Lite.

Here is the take-away:

– Straight 1,1/8th Crust carbon fork with internal dynamo routing and brake cable routing. 100mm X 12mm.
– Flat mount front and rear.
– Fixed 142mm X 12mm rear dropouts. No rocker dropouts on this one, in efforts to shave weight.
– Integrated headset cups.
– All sizes up to the Large have 28.6 D.T and TT, the Large and Xtra-Large have a 28.6 TT and a 31.8 DT. All sizes are heat treated CR-MO
– The steel plate on the drive side has been axed, you guessed it, save weight. However by doing this it slightly minimizes the max tire clearance.

You can see more information regarding tire size and other tidbits at Crust Bikes.

Our friends from Russia took part of a trip to Murmansk oblast in the Summer of 2019. Did they partake on this trip to test out their new bikepacking bags or to have conversations with the pebbles, sandy beaches, and decayed barbed wire?

John Watson picks up this series we began with Ryan Wilson during the pandemic. Consider this a shout out to our favorite small businesses in the cycling industry. Here are some of John’s personal picks.

Small businesses are the foundation of the outdoor industry and many have been seriously impacted by the pandemic over the last couple of months. While money is understandably tight for a significant portion of people, if you do have the means and are dreaming up your next bike trip or local ride, I wanted to offer up a few suggestions for gear that I believe is worthy of investing in from some of my favorite small businesses in the industry.

This week’s Readers’ Rides features Marko‘s Karussell, a frame builder from Slovenia, gravel bike with photos by David Krevs from Karussell and words by Marko, himself. Enjoy!

So this is my only drop bar bike at the moment and I wanted it to be as versatile as possible so that I can use it for road rides, gravel grinding, bikepacking, and even an occasional cyclocross race. I have two sets of wheels for it – 650b with wider tires for bikepacking and harsh terrain, and 700c for everything else.

Into the Rift is a deep-dive into what it takes to compete in and complete the Atlas Mountain Race:

“To simply finish the Atlas Mountain Race means navigating 1,200 kilometres of the most rugged and remote roads in Morocco. To win requires riding almost non-stop, night and day, for days on end. It is a combination of strength and sleep deprivation that only a few riders in the world can manage. Alone, unsupported and loaded down with supplies, each competitor must constantly battle mechanicals, heat exhaustion and saddle sores to get to the finish. There is no prize, no money, simply the satisfaction that comes from pushing oneself to the limit while exploring the forgotten corners of a beautiful country.”

Colt Fetters and his partner toured from Bologna to Rome last June. Alternating between following the Italy Divide and the Tuscany Trail, they embraced the credit card style of touring and spent time experiencing the culture of this beautiful country… check out the first of five videos here! Simply play the playlist to watch them all.

Taiwanese bicycle bag company WOHO just launched its limited-edition bikepacking bag system, in collaboration with Basel’s OPEN CYCLE, using the WI.DE. model to reveal WOHO’s new CYBER-CAMO BLACK special edition.

In addition to this OPEN WI.DE collaboration, WOHO has upgraded its Xtouring Bikepacking Series. The bikepacking product line was redesigned with feedback from riders all over the world and includes refined details that enhance WOHO’s bags.

Only a limited number of the new Cyber Camo Xtouring bags will be bundled with this limited OPEN WI.DE collaboration frame. This project comes in at a retail of $4,186.90 USD for the frameset (XS-XL) and bags. Check out photos of this project below and head to WOHO to order. Yes, they ship to the USA and accept Paypal.

Into the Rift is the story of the Atlas Mountain Race. Follow along as racers have to self-navigate for over 1,200 kilometres of the most rugged and remote roads in Morocco. The AMR will take them along long-forgotten gravel paths from Marrakech to the Atlantic coast where they will ascend a staggering 25,000 meters.

INTO THE RIFT debuts Wednesday, May 20 at 21:00 CET!

Anglers will go to great lengths for the right fishing spot, luckily for the Provo brothers, Northern Idaho, specifically in the Bitterroot Mountains, is home to exceptional singletrack and a healthy population of Bull Trout. Check out this fun video they made last year….

On a recent ride, I broke out my trusty Mini Sawyer filter, after storing it per the instructions and cleaning it the night before, to find that it just didn’t work all that well anymore. Granted this filter had probably only been used once or twice before. The stream from the filter was more of a trickle which struck me as odd as I haven’t filtered any silty streams. Granted, when you’re re-hydrating, you should be sipping water, not chugging it so it didn’t bother me at the time. Filling my bottles though, took forever.

It leads me to think there has to be a better filter for smaller, back-country rides where water is a concern. We have lots of streams, creeks, and tributaries here to drink from on big rides, which is nice but I’d love to find a better filtering option. We use an MSR pump filter for bike and backpacking trips but they take up a lot of space. Filters like the Scout Inline and MSR Thru-Link inline filters look appealing but what if you don’t ride with a bladder all the time? Steripen? Iodine? Surely you’ve got opinions, so we’d like to head what you use!

Salsa‘s latest video follows Sarah Hornby, a rider in mourning for her late husband. She would attempt all 10 routes he created while researching his Bikepacking in the Canadian Rockies guidebook, in a single year. Like life, her plans changed along the way…