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The FAIR Bicycle DROP BEST UC is more than just an excuse for Travis to talk about how much he really loves steep seat angles. It can add years of life to an outdated mountain bike by moving its saddle forward by more than an inch. Or, it’s a solution for people who really hate steep seat angles.
Summer means something different for mountain bikers in Los Angeles. Unless you’re in Malibu, it’s not a great time of year to ride. Travis is not in Malibu, but he’s got ten products that will make the season more palatable.
The Ibis Ripmo may be the perfect bike. And how could Ibis update the perfect bike? Well, Travis got a couple short weeks on the new 2025 Ibis Ripmo V3, and it turns out you can do a lot more than just straighten the top tube.
For our second-ever high-pivot bike review, Travis tests the third-generation Norco Optic. Turns out short travel and short chainstays pair pretty well with high pivots and high speed, both downhill and uphill.
When you have too many bikes and too little space, simply living your life feels like one big bike hack. It’s something Travis knows all too well, juggling multiple cycling disciplines, piles of gear, and a smattering of trail-work tools. With the help of a very forgiving spouse, he fits it all in (and around) a rental unit that’s about the size of a two-car garage. Oh, and he doesn’t have a garage.
This isn’t exactly a “review” of the Carlito lightweight U-lock. Reviewing a lock is like reviewing a helmet. You can’t be sure if it will perform when you really need it until a very bad thing happens. And when (or if) that bad thing does happen, there are too many variables to say if your experience will be the same. But Travis’s experience with the Carlito has been overwhelmingly positive, even though this lock may not perform when you really need it.
Travis’s praise for the Forbidden Druid may occasionally seem hyperbolic. As if he’s exaggerating the thrills offered by a particular trail in an effort to convince you that it’s totally worth the climb. We understand why that would be a little off-putting if you’re reading this for objective buying advice. It’s hard to trust a bike review that sounds like a Happy Meal commercial. But whenever Travis talked about the Druid, it sounded like some sort of Greek myth that could defy the laws of nature … See? Now he’s got us doing it.
Travis often sneaks a scornful jab at thru-headset cable routing into his stories. In this Dust-Up, he explains why. And it’s not for all the obvious reasons.
This is not one of Travis’s trail-work humble-brag stories. His Silky Pocketboy folding saw can’t make lasting changes like the chainsaw or sawzall he prefers to use. But he carries a Silky Pocketboy on every mountain bike ride, and maybe you should, too.
You can spend $30 on a mountain bike helmet, or you can spend $300. So, Travis aimed for the middle and compared eight budget helmets with boutique swagger.
When downcountry isn’t enough, and all-mountain is too much, there’s probably no safer bet than a 140 mm bike like the new 2024 Canyon Spectral. But that’s the problem. These are not precision instruments, nor are they unstoppable eaters of worlds. To stand out, a 140 bike has to either cast a very wide net or have some very clever tricks up its sleeve. After a couple months with the new Spectral, Travis discovered it does a little of both.
Travis‘s Otso Fenrir shows up a lot in his reviews. So does the 85mm-travel Fox Step-Cast 34 he customized for it. We’ve gotten some questions about how he finagled this hack. He’s here to give answers, but not to recommend you try it.
Sometimes, the bike industry throws cost-conscious consumers a bone, and the 2024 RockShox Psylo Gold RC is a meaty one. Travis has been chewing on it for a couple weeks now, and he’s got a review with almost no flesh-based metaphors.
If you use folding multi-tools, you’ve probably used one that’s gotten loose over time. Travis set out to find a permanent solution. He failed.
Just when you think handlebars can’t get any weirder, Redshift Sports drops the Top Shelf. But after riding them for a week, Travis found they actually felt pretty normal. Whether that’s a good thing is up to you.
Yes, Travis calls the $3,300 YT Jeffsy Core 2 “budget.” Maybe because it’s so good at so many things that the net bang/buck ratio is off the charts.
TPU inner tubes are light, compact, and expensive. So, Travis compared knock-off, RideNow, to OG, Tubolito. It didn’t go well, but why does he still carry one?
Weighing less than 57 grams, the Flextail Zero Pump is the sort of bike camping luxury that’s easy to live with. It cuts the hyperventilation out of sleeping-pad inflation, though a temperamental deflation function had Travis leaving it at home on trips where every ounce counts.
