Skyler Des Roches created the Mica Rack as a solution for bikes without rear rack mounts for riders who didn’t want the hassle of bikepacking saddle packs. Rather than having a bag swaying and bouncing all over, the Mica Rack allows you to strap dry bag with your straps of choice. It is not a pannier rack, nor a rack for fully-loading; think of it as a bag support. Let’s check it out below…
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Homegrown Bike Show in Nelson, BC
Nelson, B.C. – Get ready to kick off a summer of riding with the Homegrown Bike Show, a celebration of Canadian handmade bikes taking place at Torchlight Brewing Co. on Saturday, June 1, from 5-10 pm…
Radar
VIDEO: The Slow Lane
Dedicated to slowly exploring the world on two wheels, Pierre Bouchard and Janick Lemieux have covered more than 250,000 KM by bike and spent 14 years in the saddle since 1990…
Radar
Main St. Brewing Honors Paul Brodie with a Paul’s Workshop Pacific Ale
Main St. Brewing is raising a glass to a true legend by collaborating on a beer with mountain biking icon Paul Brodie and hosting a Vintage Mountain Bike Show and Shine at the Mount Pleasant Brewery (261 East 7th Avenue) on Saturday, May 4…
Radar
Project 321 G3 Hub with 6-Lock Technology Use Center Lock or 6-Bolt Disc Rotors
The bike industry insists on making diametrically opposed standards, often conflating them with improving the user experience or solving non-existent problems. While it’s often the larger companies making these moves, it’s up to the smaller, quicker to pivot brands to create solutions. The all-new Project 321 G3 Hub looks to tackle one such problem. The G3 hubs use what Project 321 calls 6-Lock Technology, and the tech is illustrated above: they can run center lock or six bolt. Check out more at Project 321.
Radar
BoneshakerMTB Mountain Bike Club Vintage Show
We’re big vintage bike nuts over here and have dedicated immeasurable energy to documenting these innovative designs and telling their stories. Up in Toronto, BoneshakerMTB hosted a vintage MTB show earlier this month, and you might recognize one of the bikes in the mix. The club wrote up a quick recap of the event for us to share. Let’s take a look!
Radar
VIDEO: Echoes
Almost one year after a disastrous trip in the Chilcotin Mountains, which led Race Face athlete Celeste Pomerantz with a dislocated elbow and broken bike, she finds herself exploring a different kind of challenge: How to get your mind back into a confident space to continue to explore these longer and dangerous bike adventures…
Radar
VIDEO: Sabali Bicycles ‘Enjoy the Ride’
Ali from Sabali Bicycles, in Toronto recently worked with Marco Baldonado on a short film about his company entitled ‘Enjoy the Ride’; read on for an introduction to the project by Ali and the full-length film below!
Reportage
Canadian Carbon Fiber: A Factory Visit with We Are One Composites
We Are One Composites fabricates carbon bike frames, rims, and handlebars in North Kamloops, British Columbia. In this immersive shop visit and tour, Pat Valade delves into the brand’s inner workings, looking under the metaphorical hood, to learn about their origins, inspirations, meticulous manufacturing approaches, and quite literally, what makes the wheels go around…
Radar
The New HMPL No.15 Handlebar Bag
HMPL just announced a pre-order for it its new No.15 Handlebar Bag, an homage to the first bag the Canadian maker ever made. Let’s check out the No.15 in Wide and Slim below.
Radar
Radar Roundup: Crust Bikes Sea Monster Bombora, Meriwether Stemstash, Rivendell Clem, Fab’s Performance Purse, Chromag Riza Stem, Horse Cycles Pack Knife, VEOLO Bike Trailer, Paul’s 1962 Kearney & Trecker 2-D, Burning Matches, and Ted King’s XL’ent Gravel Adventure
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
Reportage
Rigid, Vintage, Ready: Lachlan Sillitoe’s Anonymous Beach Bruiser
You won’t find many fully rigid, bi-plane forked, singlespeed mtbs on the trails of Kamloops—or anywhere else for that matter. But Lachlan Sillitoe, an Aussie transplant in the Loops and owner of the Bicycle Cafe, breaks the mold of the typical British Columbia Interior ride, with style and flow to spare. After hanging on his wheel during a few rides earlier this year, Dylan Sherrard writes about his friend’s unconventional bike choices and eagerness to embrace the entire spectrum of the riding experience—comfort be damned. Read on for Lachy’s thoughts about why easier isn’t always better and for a closer look at his anonymous vintage rigid SS mtb “beach bruiser.”
Reportage
Take Care, Ride Slowly: The First Annual Dirtbag Cycles Rambler
I was leading the pack towards the tail end of the first annual Dirtbag Cycles Rambler on Vancouver Island. We were riding through the last singletrack section of the 90-ish km ride, and only I knew what was coming. After a quick 90-degree turn off the main trail, the forest opened up into a powerline clearing with about a half-kilometer descent. I heard behind me someone say “Oh shit, here we go!” and then all 15 of my fellow riders started hooting and hollering. I let go of the brakes and took off, reassured that the experience I’d been planning for the better part of a year had ended up being exactly what I hoped for.
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.
Reportage
Multi-Sporting on Garibaldi Classic: The Nch’kay House of Pleasure and Pain
We were one day into a three-day trip dubbed the Garibaldi Classic or “The Nch’kay House of Pleasure and Pain.” Pandemics aside, on the long weekend in September, it has become a tradition to embark on some sort of ill-advised multi-day trip involving mountain landscapes, good friends, small backpacks, and quite a bit more foot travel than would be advertised in a long-weekend bike trip brochure. The goal was to leave from our front doors, bikes loaded with everything we would need for a three-day, lightweight excursion in the mountains, curling a horseshoe around Garibaldi Lake within British Columbia’s Garibaldi Provincial Park.
Reportage
A Double Header of Dispatches from a Canadian Summer
Long tours are often lauded as being the ultimate way to tour but getting out for overnighters, here and there when the schedule allows, can be just as powerful an experience. Amidst general life busyness, photographer and pedaling-enthusiast Pat Valade makes time for a couple overnight bike campouts this summer. It should be no surprise that he packed the camera and we’re stoked to share the following doubleheader photo essay and its myriad glimpses offered into the Canadian summer.
Reportage
The 2022 TransRockies Gravel Royale
TransRockies has become an institution in the stage racing world: they have been around since the beginning. In late August, the inaugural Gravel Royale was their first foray into the world of gravel racing. The edition of the truly off-tarmac event makes sense, as the main critique of TransRockies in years past has been riders complaining about too many gravel roads. Sounds like they’ve just been honing the course for a real gravel throw down! After the four stages, Rob Britton of Victoria, BA and Rach McBride of Vancouver, BC took the top step in the Elite Men’s and Women’s categories, respectively. What follows is Barry Wicks‘ rider journal from each of the four days which gives a stream of consciousness account, followed by his interviews with other competitors. Each interview maintained the same format and consisted of just three questions designed to skip the small talk: What is your favorite color? What are you reading right now? What is the meaning of life? Enjoy the ride!
Reportage
Vancouver to Cape Breton: Robin Todd’s Solo Bikepacking Trip Across Canada
Robin Todd, 57, wants you to know that you can do big things, and that a grilled cinnamon bun will help significantly at the end of a long rainy day.
Last fall, Robin bikepacked alone for 6,800 kilometers (4,225 miles) from Vancouver, British Columbia to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. She’s always been an adventurer, but this journey across Canada was done in part to prove that age isn’t a factor when it comes to adventure, especially for women.