Ortlieb, makers of waterproof bags for bike touring, just announced a new color for its entire bike bag lineup called Dark Sand.
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Radar
Of the British Isles Pt. 2: How Albion Cycling’s Apparel Performs On and Off the Bike
As a companion piece to his workshop visit with Albion Cycling Clothing, Petor Georgallou spent the majority of the past year reviewing multiple pieces across Albion’s range of cycling and cycling-adjacent outerwear product lines. Below, Petor shares his experiences with the Ultralight Insulated Jacket, Zoa Rain Trousers, and Zoa Lightweight Insulated Jacket…
Radar
Searching for Goldilocks: 7Mesh Copilot Waterproof Cycling Jacket Review
In his 1973 book Coast to Coast, Alfred Wainwright wrote, “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing”. Well, perhaps Alfred never experienced being blasted by sideways rain while desperately trying to gain traction on a rutted, sloppy trail! Let’s just face it, sometimes the weather can be crappy and when it is, a good jacket can be the difference between damp fun and fuckin’ drenched and dangerous.
In this review, we’re looking at the newly redesigned, Copilot Jacket from the good folks at 7Mesh. Based in Squamish, Canada, the 7Mesh crew definitely get bad weather. Afterall, Squamish regularly gets all four seasons in a day and has an average rainfall of over 220cm per year. That’s hella wet. Even by this Englishman’s standards.
Radar
Spin Dry: Testing Waterproof Flat-Pedal Shoes From Five Ten and Leatt
Continuing our quest to cover obscure sub-genres of flat-pedal shoes, we brought together a couple waterproof options, just in time for April showers. Travis Engel took the opportunity during a rainy and snowy California winter to dip his toe in models from Five Ten and Leatt. Turns out he had a hard time picking a favorite, because they’re both very special in their own way.
Reportage
An In-Depth Look at Ortlieb’s 2021 Waterproof Bikepacking Lineup
Bikepacking gear has evolved so much over the last couple of years and I’m always excited to see brands expand on products and concepts that are proven to work and also step up to create solutions to carrying gear on bikes in innovative ways. Utilizing 100% the waterproof and durable construction they are known for, Ortlieb just released updates to their classic bikepacking line and also added some interesting new products. In advance of the products becoming available this week, Ortleib sent me a handful of bags from their new and revamped bikepacking lineup. I’ve been using them on my Kona Sutra, fairly full and weighted, around my local singletrack to provide some initial insights and detailed photos of some of the new aspects.