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Members of our editorial team have shared multiple looks into “essential ride kits” this year, including one from John and another by Travis. Today, Kurt Refsnider – ultra-endurance bikepacker and backcountry trail adventurer – takes a different approach to detailing what he carries on big rides where his priority is self-reliance regardless of the scenario. Read on below for a trove of helpful information about one of Kurt’s most requested topics!
MicroSHIFT, SRAM, and now Shimano all offer gravel brake levers with built-in dropper post remotes. And there are ways to hack most left shifters to work great as dropper remotes. But if you aren’t currently in the market for a new drivetrain, or if you run a front derailleur, there aren’t many good plug-and-play options that work from both the hoods and the drops. Travis Engel found just four of them, from ENVE, Crankbrothers, PRO, and Easton/Fox. It turns out they’re all very special in their own little ways.
This is the story of a perpetually unfinished project, but also of a really cool bike that’s taken me a lot of great places – and how it came to me is its own unlikely story. The fact that a custom Rock Lobster built for someone else has been the best fitting bike I’ve ever owned is pure coincidence, particularly as I would learn that it didn’t quite fit the original owner as they had hoped. Settle in for the Tale of the Humongous Rock Lobster.
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…
Our friend Paul Kalifatidi went to MADE and all he bought were keychains. Yep, keychains at a bike show. Continue reading below about these special finds and how they all stack up…
Earlier this year I was able to spend some time on the Chris King GRD23 wheelset. It was during the tail end of Portland, Oregon’s rainy season and I rode the wheels, photographed them, and started typing, yet I kept thinking about the wheels and have revisited this “short and quick” review many times over. I was just trying to figure out what I was hung up on or why this particular review was so difficult. Even though I had almost nothing but good things to say. Sometimes it turns out that great products are simply hard to talk about.
The GRD23 is Chris King’s first foray into their own “house” wheels. Featuring a FusionFiber rim (we will get to that) with, you guessed it, a 23mm internal width paired to their legendary center lock R45D hubs. King’s design intent for these was for an all-road wheelset or a perfect wheelset for someone who wants to swap between their slightly-plump-road bike and their gravel bike.
Note: since I did the testing and took forever to wrap this up they have followed up with the deeper more road oriented ARD44.
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…
Way back in 2018, Spencer picked up an Alpacka Caribou Packraft when he went to visit Alpacka Raft HQ and then proceeded to paddle the East River in NYC. During the time since, he’s spent a lot of time in his Caribou and other boats in Alpacka’s lineup, so he figured it was time for a thorough long term review and clear up some other details about this packraft’s position straddling the cycling and water worlds…
Adam Sklar has been building custom bikes for close to a decade—and we’ve featured plenty of them on this site! But, in 2022 he decided to move production of a new model overseas to Taiwan. Dubbed the SuperSomething, this first production Sklar has road bike bones while still (subtly) paying homage to Adam’s mountain biking roots. Hailey Moore has been riding our signature Radavist edition SuperSomething all summer and, below, shares her review, along with insights into Adam’s design intent for this all-steel gravel bike.
Created by two climbers turned Physical Therapists, Wave Tools Therapy offers two portable soft tissue massage and myofascial release tools that lower the barrier to entry for routine bodywork. Hailey Moore has been using the original Wave Tool for years and, below, shares a brief review on why it and its successor, the Arete Scraper, should be essential for every cyclist.
![Reboot Damping: A Review and Retrospective on the Fox Float [2023]](https://media.theradavist.com/uploads/2023/09/FLOAT-03.jpg?w=750&quality=72)
The new 2023 Fox Float rear shock is not any flashier than its predecessor. In fact, it’s less flashy. Fox abandoned the blue lever’s not-too-hard, not-too-soft “Middle” setting, leaving riders the simple, classic choice between “Open” and “Firm.” Travis Engel loved the idea, and could gush all day about its implications for the future of trail bikes, and how it relates to their past. Now, he’s finally ridden the new Float so he could make sure of it. And he’s talked to some folks at Fox so he could make sense of it.
Reviewing a group of high-end, North-American-made pedals is, perhaps, best compared to reviewing a group of gourmet cheeseburgers: They are all going to be delicious, and you’ll need a pretty distinguished pallet to pull a lot of the finer details out—is that a Wisconsin smoked cheddar or Vermont? Ok, maybe I’m getting a bit off the rails here with the comparison, but the reality is: Just like two people may have differing opinions on what makes the best burger, each pair of these pedals has its own slightly distinctive flavor that may satisfy one rider more than another, or, even the same rider on different trails, bikes, or conditions.
Continue reading for Ryan LaBar’s roundup of six North American-made flat pedals including Blackspire, North Shore Billet, Tectonic, Tenet, Wolf Tooth, and Yoshimura…
We like to look at the origins of cycling nomenclature occasionally, dissecting the etymology of certain nuanced terms and explaining their origins. Today, we’re looking at the term “clipless pedals.” Read on for a short but sweet rundown by John…
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.
We love the products Austere Manufacturing is producing in Northwest Washington state. Uriel Eisen’s clever designs have taken a critical look at items you can buy from hardware stores and injected real engineering into the design process, resulting in more robust, longer-lasting products that operate as well as they look.
We’ve been using the Cam straps for a while now on our bike tours and even in our 4×4 buildouts, but today, we’re checking out Uriel’s latest creation: a 1″ Pin Ladder Lock buckle (stainless pins $16.95 / ti pins $19.85). These are meant to replace the plastic ladder buckles found on your bags and packs that can break out in the backcountry.
John took delivery of some early production 1″ Pin Ladder Lock buckles and put them to work on his trusty Realm Crossbody Pack. Let’s check out the process below!
There’s a classic, time-honored technique to help you evenly position your drop-bar brake levers by using a ruler or straightedge. If you know, you know. But handlebars have changed, and the ruler method sometimes won’t apply. So, Travis Engel is here to share a bike hack to help keep the brake lever positions symmetrical on today’s shallow or oddly shaped gravel bars. There’s no ruler involved, but you will make use of some items you may already have in your home office.
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…
A faint kiss of cool air blows across the Southern Rockies here in Santa Fe. That means summer is almost over. This season shift has led me to reflect upon my ERC, or Every Ride Carry, that I’ve been using all summer here on MTB and gravel rides in the foothills and deep into our Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Let’s check it out below…
