Friday Debrief: Randi Jo Coozies, Rohloff GMX+, the Cost of Bikepacking Races, and More…

The weekly Debrief highlights small but important bits of news, products, and things that caught our attention on the website, in the conversation, and elsewhere around the community. These include upcoming events and interesting items 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…

More Randi Jo Fab Coozie Sizes

Made in USA / $18 at Randi Jo Fab

Randi Jo Fabrications’ are handmade in Oregon from 10.10oz waxed canvas with webbing handles and a closed-cell foam liner to keep your paws warm. They’ve just added more sizes to the lineup, with options to fit 12oz cans, 8oz mason jars, 12oz mason jars, a longneck bottle, and tall boy cans. They make pretty great gifts as well!

Gearbox and Rohloff Titanium Curve GMX+ Options

Made in Taiwan / Curve Cycling

Curve just announced they are offering custom build options for their titanium GMX+, which supports Rohloff internally geared hubs and Pinion and Effigear gearboxes with chain or belt-driven setups. The gearbox GMX+ features a 3D-printed titanium yoke, which is attached to the gearbox case. The Rohloff version is simpler but features sliding dropouts that work seamlessly with a standard Rohloff Speedhub in QR-configuration. Read more about the new GMX+ options in their blog post, linked above. If you haven’t seen Miles’ review of the Curve GMX+ Titanium, check that out here.

Wren Perseverance Accessory Rails

$59 at Wren Sports

Teased at MADE last year, the Wren Perseverance Accessory Rails are clamp-on cargo rails designed specifically for the Wren Inverted Suspension Fork. They use two aluminum clamps to hold each rail in place, have six mounting points for bottle and cargo cages, and are ISO-certified for 5 kilograms (11 pounds) per rail.

SimWorks now Stocking Shovel Research Rod Steward

Made in USA / $100 at Sim.Works

Logan shared his review of the Shovel Research Rod Steward handlebar bag support last week and summed it up by describing it as the epitome of new and innovative products. As of this week, our friends at SimWorks are stocking Shovel Research in their web store, which happens to pair nicely with their Voyageur Handlebar Bag. SimWorks put together a blog post that shares more about their decision to work with Shovel Research and how their products correlate with some of SimWorks’ offerings. Read that here.

Three New Tools from Feedback Sports

$30+ at Feedback Sports

Feedback Sports from Golden, Colorado, just introduced a trio of new tools for spring. The Adjustable Pliers Wrench ($55), Mini Needle Nose Pliers ($30), and Mini Diagonal Cutters ($30) are all built for “discerning mechanics who value light weight, portability, and compact size with zero compromise in function and durability.”

Hokem by Bob Scales

$10+ at Bob Scales

This week, SimWorks collaborator Bob Scales launched his new publication, Hokem. Issue 1 is the first in what is planned to be a quarterly release—available in both print and digital formats. From Bob Scales: “Hokem is a (small) quarterly publication that explores the idea that people who are interested in bikes are interested in (a lot more) than bikes. Design, music, art, gardening, cars, and whatever else we are into are all fair game.” The first issue includes a Sukiyaki recipe from SimWorks’ own Rie Sawada—a delicious traditional dish from Japan.

In Conversation

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

The Cost of Bikepacking Races

In yesterday’s excellent piece on Ana Jager’s tour of the Iditarod Trail, she mentioned not riding in the formal ITI event because the entry fee for the race was out of her budget. This raised the point that there are a lot of relatively expensive rides/races these days. There are a lot of free ones, too, such as the Tour Divide, the Colorado Trail Race, BC Epic, Trans Washington, Lost Elephant, Log Driver’s Waltz, and BT700, but the costs of arriving at the starting line can add up quickly, even for “free” events.

The expenses associated with putting together a bikepacking setup and traveling to take on routes and races are precisely what spurred us to create resources such as The Local Overnighter Project, the Budget Bikepacking Build-Off, and our growing archive of DIY Tutorials. We can always do more to make racing and riding more accessible, though, and we’d love to hear your thoughts, wishes, and ideas for additional resources you think would be helpful to make bikepacking more accessible in the conversation below.

Around the Community

News from around the bikepacking world…

Dean Liebau Illustrated the Tanglefoot Moonshiner

Our friend Dean Liebau created another brilliant illustration from one of our bike reviews. this time, Dean rendered the Tanglefoot Moonshiner that Joe reviewed. Read Dean’s entry from his Instagram post below…

“I’ve never been snobbish about where I source my water from if I have my water filtration kit with me. Cloudy marshes, opal tinted ponds and tepid ditches were always fair game but I was hesitant to dunk my LifeStraw into the shocking orange stream that confronted me.

It had been years since I’ve returned to my home state and the years of environmental degradation had made itself known through the eggy smell of sulfur and ceaseless sounds of dump trucks hauling their spoils from one end of the gravel quarry to the other; seemingly never fast enough. The insatiable pit had expanded its boundaries from the last time I had surveyed the area, upending the forest and my memories of a childhood sanctuary.

I pedaled onward; my Tanglefoot Moonshiner carrying my belongings for a three day trip and newly acquired mental weight; of which I don’t know was heavier.

Somehow cutting through the noise of diesel and carnage was a haunting, reedy song that I knew belonged to a Veery; a thrush native only to the East Coast. It would greet me regularly all those years ago. In my absence, here it remained to remind me not to lose hope of the things you hold dear.”

RITUAL Mountain Bike Film Tour

RITUAL Mountain Bike Film Tour is a nationwide film tour kicking off in Asheville, North Carolina, on April 24. It’s a 50-stop, big-screen celebration of the human spirit that defines the sport of mountain biking and highlights incredible athletes and creative filmmakers with engaging storylines and stunning cinematography. Find dates, details, and tickets at RitualBike.com.

Kia Binch is Salsa Cycles Australia’s First Ambassador

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Kia Binch was just named Salsa Cycles Australia’s first ambassador. We reached out to Kia’s good friend, Tia Evans from Framework Designs, to learn why she’s so deserving of the role. Here’s what Tia had to say: “Kia is committed to cycling in a very wholistic way, from volunteering her time to community groups like RAR Australia and Melburn Dirt to taking on epic solo bikepacking challenges. She is dedicated, motivated, and far too humble. She inspires so many people by just being who she is, and I’m so happy that she’s being recognized!”

Dallas Mignano on the Central Oregon Backcountry Explorer Route

Dallas Mignano, Dominic Zuckswert, and Mike Tona tackled the Central Oregon Backcountry Explorer route in October of 2023 and captured footage and photos along the way for a compilation video of their ride. You can find more about the route here.

The Curve Titanosaur Crowdfunding Project Update

Last month, Australia’s Curve Cycling announced a crowdfunding project to bring their Titanosaur 36-inch wheel drop-bar titanium gravel bike to life. Unfortunately, they didn’t meet their goal of 20 backers and have since closed down the project. “Farewell sweet giant prince,” shared Curve. Learn more about the Titanosaur here.

Events Starting Soon

What to watch this weekend and bikepacking events starting soon…

The Reset

This first edition of The Reset will see riders departing the shore of Lake Wanaka, New Zealand, and traveling through some of central Otago’s rugged contours, crossing saddles, traversing ranges, and relishing tough climbs and spectacular landscapes. There are over 30 riders registered for the innaugural grand depart, which takes off this morning at 7:00 a.m. local time. Follow along live here.

Fried Clay 200

The Fried Clay is a self-supported endurance gravel event that takes riders through Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in Georgia. This is the fifth year of the event, and the grand depart takes off from Eatonton tomorrow at 8 a.m. There isn’t live tracking for the event, but you can learn more about it here.

Wish We Were Here

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

Logan Watts: The Pine Forests of EDT Segment 7

A friend of mine was telling me about seeing an interesting natural wonder on a recent ride on one of Karlos’ new routes down in Florida last week: a large circular clearing around a pine tree. Apparently, a specific type of woodpecker cleans an area around their home pine tree to attract a mate. This got me dreaming about a ride on the Eastern Divide Trail through southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, soaking in the morning sun through the pine forests.

Weekly Social

Some things we found around the ‘gram and elsewhere. This week, a handful of updates from the Super Jambo Grom Pre event in Australia…

Further Reading

Make sure to dig into these related articles for more info...

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