Friday Debrief: Sardine Tool, Upcycled Bikepacking Bags, and Please Go Vote…

We started “The Debrief” on our YouTube channel last year as a way of highlighting the week’s news and things that caught our attention on the website, in the conversation, and elsewhere around the community. To take this a step further, we’re posting a weekly Debrief here on the site to highlight all of those things and more, including upcoming events and interesting things our readers shared in the comments. Check out this week’s findings below.

Bits & Bobs

New products that are worth highlighting but didn’t make the Dispatch…

Omnium Big Bad Jumbo Preorders Open in USA

Omnium’s first-ever mountain bike, the Big Bad Jumbo, is based around 29+ tire clearance, adjustable dropouts, modern specs, and loads of mounting points. Previously only available in Europe, Omnium just opened up preorders on their USA website in five sizes and two color options.

$760 (frameset) / Made in Taiwan / Details

Tunitas Carryall Basket Tote 139

San Francisco’s Tunitas Carryall just announced a larger version of the Basket Tote 137 they released over the summer. The Basket Tote 139 shares all the same features as its smaller sibling, is designed to fit perfectly within the Wald 139 basket, and is equally suited for use on and off the bike.

$160 / Made in USA / Details

Equipt Sardine Multi-Tool

Alternative Bicycles, a distributor of Wolf Tooth, PNW, Apidura, and more in Japan, recently launched a new brand called “equipt,” and they’re kicking things off with a clever little multi-tool called the Sardine. The Sardine is a skinny multi-tool with five pivoting bits that work at any angle for awkward jobs. According to Alternative Bicycles, the bits are intentionally limited to the most commonly used functions of Hex 6/5/4/3 and Torx T25.

$60 / Made in Japan / Details

New Race Face Era Carbon Cranks

Launched this week, the new Race Face Era Cranks are claimed to be the “strongest, stiffest, and most durable carbon crank” they’ve ever created. They feature unique stainless steel wear plate guards, seven color options, optional crank boots, and a no-hassle lifetime warranty that includes crash replacement.

$499 / Details

Austere 3/4″ Halloween PopUp Buckle

Austere Manufacturing just added a fresh new Halloween Popup edition of their CNC-machined cam buckle to their web shop. It features a stealth grey body and orange lever, is available in 1.5, 3, and 4 foot lengths, and is machined from solid billet aluminum at their shop in Washington. Make sure to check out our shop visit article to learn more about Austere.

$24.92 / Made in USA / Details

Spurcycle Bell Limited Fall Colors

Earlier this week, Spurcycle announced their latest limited-edition Bell colors. This year’s releases are black with green and black with orange. They come with a lifetime guarantee, impeccable build quality, and the clear, distinctive sound that makes them one of our favorite bells on the market.

$69 / Made in USA / Details

Jones Fenders

A few years ago, the fenders commonly seen on Jones Bikes stopped being produced. Jones just bought the tooling and molds for the fenders, and they’re are having them made by the same US-based fabrication company that produced them before. Note that they don’t currently have complete Jones fender kits, sets, or installation instructions, but they have ABS plastic fender blanks and some of the original fender stays in stock now. Jones plans on offering complete fender sets soon.

$80-$185 / Made in USA / Details

Aldr Works Distesa Bag

The new Aldr Works Distesa Bag is a simple handlebar bag designed to be more accessible for folks who aren’t ready to shell out $100+ on a bag. It’s made with an X-Pac or Cordura exterior, 400 Denier coated liner fabric, a YKK water-resistant zipper, and multiple webbing attachment points. There is an internal HDPE liner for structure and stretch side pockets for small items. Orders open Monday.

$85 / Made in USA / Details

In Conversation

Exchanges and ideas that caught our attention in the site’s conversation section…

The Journey To The Other Side: Indian Pacific Wheel Race 2017 Documentary

A follower on social media let us know about this documentary made in 2017 featuring Abdullah Zeinab during the Indian Pacific Wheel Race, Mike Hall’s last event. It’s well worth a watch.

Around the Community

News from around the bikepacking world…

An Adventure in Upcycling

Hamish Elliott (@hamishelliottnz) recently collaborated with 7mesh on a project to give new life to returned, warrantied, and sample garments by upcycling them into bikepacking bags. Freelance photographer Taylor Burk (@taylormichaelburk) documented the process and had a chance to test out his designs on a bikepacking trip in Southern British Columbia. Head over to the 7mesh journal to learn more.

New Event: The Bright Midnight

New for 2023, The Bright Midnight is a self-supported bikepacking event in Norway designed and organized by ultra-racer Justinas Leveika and Bruno Ferraro of the Seven Serpents event in Slovenia. The event follows a 1,000-kilometer route through small Norwegian villages in the highlands on a mix of gravel roads and tarmac by mountains, woods, rivers, waterfalls, and dozens of unique places in between. Learn more here.

8600FT

“The Whole Enchilada” is one of mountain biking’s most recognizable epics, made up of several trails in Moab, Utah, that amount to 8,600 feet of descent. The trails are rugged and raw, with plenty of rock drops, boulder fields, and technical moves. It’s a challenging descent. No one has ever tried to ride up every inch of the trail… until now. The feature-length 8600FT, documents Braydon Bringhurst’s climb of the iconic “Whole Enchilada.” It’s a lot, so at the very least, check out 1:09 as he climbs “the Snotch.”

Events Starting Soon

What to watch this weekend and bikepacking events starting soon…

Tassie Gift

The Tassie Gift is a relentless 1,800-kilometer bikepacking event along roads, trails, goat tracks on the island of Tasmania. It is not a gravel ride or a touring route. It does not profess to be a mountain biker’s haven or an FKT-friendly experiment. It is a tough, gritty, at times ugly jigsaw puzzle pieced together through a labour of love that started from scratch: targeting the very best secrets this little island has locked away and finding the roads, trails, goat tracks, and not-tracks that would allow these to be wrangled into a loop format. The grand depart took off today at 6 a.m. local time, and you can follow along live here.

Renegades Muster

The Renegades Muster is a self-supported bikepacking race following an 843-kilometer loop in the Taranaki region of New Zealand. There are over 60 riders registered for the grand depart, which took off from Durie Hill in Whanganui yesterday morning. You can follow their progress along live here.

Wish We Were Here

Shedding a little light on a route one of us is dreaming about riding at the moment…

Conan Thai (@everydaycult_): The Alps

I’ve been dreaming of the Alps ever since coming across Mattias Fredriksson’s photos. And, having spent more time riding through big mountains lately, I’m more curious than ever to spend time at elevation with my bike. Among others, the Tour du Mont Blanc feels like an ambitious trip with long, sustained climbs, plenty of alpine, sections of hike-a-biking, and expansive vistas—exactly what I’m drawn to! And what better place to absorb a slice of mountaineering history than the Chamonix region?

Weekly Social

With decision day right around the corner, we were surprised to find very few Instagram posts from the bike industry calling attention to our important mid-term elections here in the US. Please get out and vote. And when you do, spread the word. Early voting is almost over for many of us, and next Tuesday is the day.

Please keep the conversation civil, constructive, and inclusive, or your comment will be removed.