Rider & Rig

In part two of our Rider and Rig Blackborow double feature, we take a look at Brett Davis’ rig. With a custom set of Bedrock bags, this Blackborow was built for exploring the sand and snow around his homebase in Durango, Colorado.

On the eve of a weeklong winter bikepack, we catch up with musician and poet Ben Weaver as he preps his Salsa Blackborow. Ben’s no stranger to long, music-themed bike tours. We ask him how he uses his bicycle as a way of connecting with his audience and find out about his summer tour, celebrating 20 years of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route through riding and music…

With a Niner carbon fork and Ibis hoops, Logan dialed in his Salsa Timberjack Ti for ultralight adventure. Read why he picked this frame and a cast of components that includes a Shimano/Wolf Tooth wide-range 1x drivetrain, I9 hubs, and 29×2.6″ rubber for his dream bikepacking build…

We catch up with Australia-based Pepper Cook and her basketpacking Tumbleweed Prospector. Whilst cresting the mountain passes of Peru, we ask her about solo tours, what she’s been doing to get women cycling, bikepacking verses road touring, and braids…

The second coming of Virginia’s Salsa Deadwood was a last-minute scramble build finished the day before our flight to the Republic of Georgia. Fortunately, it couldn’t have turned out any better… or more comfortably. In this Rider and Rig we talk to Virginia about her style of bikepacking and how to stay comfortable on long tours… plus her full packlist.

Wondering what it takes to forgo the majority of your earthly possessions for two years and ride the length of South America? We caught up with San Francisco-based architect Brian Mulder and checked out his patinaed, battleworn Ventana el Gordo, complete with Rohloff Speedhub, Gates belt drive, and SON dynamo hub… We asked him what he learned after riding from Patagonia to Colombia, how his gear fared, and pressed him for a few highlights from his journey…

In our latest Rider and Rig, we admire Danish couple Kenneth and Marie’s beautifully crafted 29+ steel hardtails, made by framebuilder Ari Rosenzweig in Israel, for their dirt road journey across the Americas.

We talk to filmmaker Jay Ritchey about his 27.5+ Tumbleweed Prospector, the camera gear he carried on a recent tour of the Peru Divide, and find out about the rack and bikepacking bags he custom made to accommodate it.

In the latest Rider and Rig, we check out Michael Dammer’s Surly Karate Monkey bikepacking rig as used on the Colorado Trail, plus its awesome farm-made leather framebag…

We take a look at Zach Shriver’s all carbon, 29+ trail slayer, the Trek Stache 9.8. We also hear about how it was set up for bikepacking the Colorado Trail, as well as exactly what gear Zach carried. It’s a great checklist for anyone planning to undertake this beautiful, challenging journey.

Dylan Taylor is currently leading the American Trail Race and after 14 days he’s just about halfway through the 5,148 mile route. We caught up with Dylan to inquire about his bike, gear kit, and race experience so far…

After just 12 days, Indiana Schulz is almost halfway through the 5,000 mile American Trail Race from North Carolina to Oregon. We intercepted Indy just outside the Smoky Mountains to learn more about his gear kit and trip so far…