Bikepacking Apparel

This pair of Five Ten Guide Tennies has seen almost 4,000 miles of walking, pedaling, and hike-a-biking. They’ve been through muddy, rocky, wet, and bone-dry conditions in Cuba, Uganda, Rwanda, and the southeastern US… and they’re still going. Are Guide Tennies the best bike travel shoes available? Find out in this ultra-long-term review…

Virginia “The Destroyer” puts a pair of Specialized 2FO ClipLite shoes to the test for almost three years and reports back on how they held up.

Bikepacking in sandals? And non-clipless ones, at that? Cass Gilbert rides 800 Baja Californian miles in a pair of Bedrock Cairn Adventure Sandals to see what all the Instagram fuss is about… and reports back on how they felt for long distance bikepacking and whether he stubbed his toes…

Designed to handle the unpredictable nature of shoulder season riding, we put the 45NRTH Sturmfist 5 gloves to the test during the past few months in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. Cold, wind, and water… beware.

A sneak peek at the all new QUOC Gran Tourer, a high-end gravel and all-road cycling shoe with a waterproof mid, ‘Tiger Camo’ microfiber upper, and a burly lugged outsole built for tough terrain…

Looking for some new riding clothes to keep you from going into hibernation mode? Keeping cozy in cold conditions doesn’t require the latest and greatest, of course, but here are several new pieces that have impressed us this shoulder season… and will keep us warm out on the trail this winter and early spring.

As a cold-natured gal, and an ardent animal lover, Virginia was psyched to try out Patagonia’s latest synthetic down jacket, which is touted to have a better warmth to weight ratio than their ultralight down jackets, and be just as compressible. Read the detailed review after she wore it around town and on the trails for the last several months…

At the end of last season and now into the early weeks of this winter’s snow, we tested Bontrager’s vaunted OMW boots in New England’s cold and wet conditions.

In part two of our 2017 Bikepacking Awards triptych, we recognize gear that’s made a lasting impression in categories, including ‘Best New Component’, ‘Best Tools’, and ‘Top 5 Bikepacking Bikes’, plus thoughts on the bikes that capture our interest most for 2018..

For our long-term Gift Guide, we’ve racked our collective brains and drawn up a list of more than 50 of our most prized pieces of bikepacking gear. Think of this as a roster of goods that have already proven their worth… gifts that promise to keep on giving, over thousands of miles, all around the world.

Search and State makes all of their cycling apparel in New York City’s Garment District. Their early focus was racewear, but adventurous off-the-grid cycling was always in their DNA. They’ve just introduced a jacket conceived specifically for expedition style bikepacking, designed with Joe Cruz as a consultant. Read on to see how he got involved and his eye-opening introduction to made-in-the-USA small batch technical wear.

A review of Giro’s Alpineduro SPD boots after a year of bikepacking and trail riding through both shoulder seasons and the dead of winter…