This week’s Debrief features mail-in derailleur rebuilds, the Soma Rufus, the SL 70 XPLR handlebar, a 20-year photography project, two events to follow live, and more. Find it all here…

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…

Bike Buds Feed Bags

Made in USA / $46-$63 at Bike Buds

Bike Buds Feed Bags

Bike Buds in Virginia recently launched two new feed bags made from a flashy TrueTimber Flooded Timber Camo fabric. The Mini is small enough that it doesn’t fit a standard bike bottle but looks perfect for cold drinks, a phone, or other quick-access items. The XL is big enough to fit a Nalgene bottle with room to spare, can accommodate some camera setups, and has two exterior pockets. Both bags are looped with webbing and have a single-handed opening/closure, a drain hole, and closed-cell foam inserts for insulation and protection.

Chris King “Ready to Ride” Wheels

Made in USA / $850-$3,000 at Chris King

Chris King Ready to Ride

Hand built to the same exacting standards as every King product, the brand’s new Ready to Ride wheels are in stock and the fastest way to get yourself some Chris King wheels. Simply choose between steel or ceramic bearings, select the driveshell you need, and Ready to Ride wheels will ship the same day. The Ready to Ride assortment includes King’s own high-performance FusionFiber rims (GRD23, MTN30 and ARD44), as well as rims from trusted partners like Stan’s, HED, and ENVE. All wheelsets are built in house with King hubs, which come with the unparalleled King Lifetime Warranty.

Cranberry + Sunflower Dyneema from Ripstop by the Roll

Made in USA / $22.73/half yd at Ripstop by the Roll

Cranberry Sunflower DCF

The technical fabric suppliers at Ripstop by the Roll just added two new colors of Dyneema Composite Fabric (DCF) to their massive collection of materials. DCF is a patented, ultra-lightweight fabric made of flexible non-woven composite laminates reinforced with Dyneema fibers. It’s 15 times strong than steel and provides the highest tear and tensile strength of any competing fabric on a weight-by-weight and thickness basis. The new Cranberry and Sunflowers fabrics are available by the half yard.

Soma Rufus

Made in China / $599 at Soma

Soma Rufus

The Rufus is a collaboration between Soma and Blacksnow in China and is the first time Soma has ventured outside of Taiwan to produce a bike. It’s similar to the Blacksnow Granite, with a longish rear end, 4130 double-butted Chromoly steel frame and fork, and a less cumbersome length than a full-sized bike to make traveling and trains and around the city easier. It has rear rack and fender bosses, clearance for 20 x 2.3″ tires, and uses standard quick-release hub spacing and a 68mm threaded bottom bracket.

Zipp Service Course SL 70 XPLR

$320 at SRAM

  • Zipp Service Course SL 70 XPLR
  • Zipp Service Course SL 70 XPLR

Launched alongside the uber-fancy SRAM RED AXS groupset, the new Zipp Service Course SL 70 XPLR is a high-end carbon drop bar made for gravel bikes. The bar features an overhang to cover the brake hose where it exits the hood and a shelf platform that mates with the brake lever, providing a hand perch for riding on the hoods. Along with the wheels and tires we posted about yesterday, the SL 70 XPLR is made for speed by prioritizing an optimal hods-drops “comfort zone” position for mixed terrain. The bar features shallow and wide drops for efficiency and comfort for long rides and defined positions marked on the drop and the bar top for easy placement of SRAM Wireless Blips.

The Zipp Service Course SL 70 XPLR comes in 40cm, 42cm, 44cm, 46cm, 48cm widths, each with a 70mm reach, 115mm drop, 5° drop flare, and 11° outsweep to create a drops position 6cm wider than hoods. The 44cm model weighs 240 grams and is priced at $320 with a lifetime warranty.

Rene Herse Headsets

Made in Taiwan / $189+ at Rene Herse Cycles

Rene Herse 1" Threaded Headsets

Rene Herse Cycles just launched a pair of 1″ threaded headsets with needle bearing that help reduce the likelihood of shimmy. The Rinko headset (left) has retainers to keep the bearings inside when you remove the fork as you pack your bike for travel. The Low-Stack headset (right) is designed to work as a replacement even on bikes with very short steerer tubes, with a stack height of just 38 mm. Both are super light, weight just 119 and 96 grams, respectively. They’re also polished, not anodized, so they conduct electricity in case you use your frame and fork as the return path for your generator-powered lighting system.

Madrone Mail Order Derailleur Rebuild

Details Madrone Cycles

Madrone Cycles derailleur cage

As featured in our Sea Otter coverage earlier this year, Madrone Cycles makes several products that enable you to rebuild your GX, X01, and XX1 AXS and mechanical derailleurs to get them back in proper working order. For those not interested in doing the work, Madrone announced a new mail order service, offering an easy way to upgrade your derailleur or get it properly shifting again. To initiate an order, you simply pay an $18 deposit, and they send a shipping label. From there, you send in your derailleur and choose from their parts and upgrades, including links and bushings, pin replacement, and a new cage or pulleys.

In Conversation

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

Painted or Raw Frames?

Lucas’s detailed What’s So Alluring About Titanium Bikes? piece from yesterday has already generated a ton of good discussion, with around 100 comments at the time of publishing. Among other themes that have popped up several times is the debate between whether painted or raw frames look better. What do you think? Do you prefer the austere beauty of an unpainted Ti frame or something more vibrant like a painted steel frame? Let us know below, and bonus points if you have a photo to share!

Around the Community

News from around the bikepacking world…

Join the Tree to Sea Loop Facebook Group

Tree To Sea Loop, Vancouver Island

Miles recently created a new Facebook group specifically for the Tree to Sea Loop, a 1,000-kilometer bikepacking route on the north end of Vancouver Island. The route has become quite popular since it was published three years ago, and having a designated online community for the route will be helpful for those with questions, anyone who wants to share a trip report or photos, and for riders to coordinate the boat ride between Tahsis and Zeballos—possibly the highlight of the entire route. Join the group here.

Gateways: Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park

Filmed entirely through active travel modes, Gateways is a new video from Markus Stitz that journeys through Scotland’s first national park and its picturesque landscapes and communities, offering a glimpse into the lives of those who live and work there. Watch it above.

RAR Northeast Autumn Retreat

RAR Northeast Autumn Retreat

We’d planned to share the news that tickets are now on sale for Radical Adventure Riders’ Northeast Autumn Retreat (RAR NAR), but they’ve already sold out! However, there’s now a waitlist for riders who are interested in attending the four-day event for femme/trans/women/non-binary folks, which will take place from September 13 to 16. Learn more and get signed up for the waitlist for the long weekend full of workshops, group rides, shared meals, bonfire stories, community building, bike skills, and joy here.

Bikepacking Solo Across New York on the Empire State Trail

Troy Hopwood’s latest video shares his experience bikepacking across the state of New York on the Empire State Trail and the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail. “This five-day bikepacking adventure features spectacular scenery, idyllic towns, and enough challenge to suit any touring cyclist. Solitude and splendor await on this spectacular bikepacking route. Smaller portions of this trip would make a great beginner bikepacking route, while the full route will demand more energy from those with more experience cycle touring.”

Bikepacking Japan: Bike Break Down

Fischer Olpin of Fish-Ski Designs recently finished up a 950-mile (1,500-kilometer) bikepacking trip from Kagoshima to Tokyo, Japan. In his latest video, he provides a detailed rundown of everything he brought along for the trip. Watch it above, and stay tuned for the full-length video they put together from the ride, which will be coming soon.

Alexandera Houchin’s Colorado Trail Yo-Yo

Alexandera Houchin Joins Esker

On Wednesday, Alexandera Houchin started an individual time trial on the Colorado Trail, but instead of just riding the route once, which is already a massive undertaking, she is riding the full 520 miles southbound and then turning around and walking back to Denver. Follow her progress along live here.

Not Bikepacking

In other news and inspiration…

Everyday by Noah Kalina

As discussed in today’s Rider’s Lens feature, long-term photography projects can be interesting and inspirational. Many of you have probably seen this one, but if you haven’t, it’s pretty impressive in scope and was recently “finished” in 2020. In summary, Noah Kalina compiled a 20-year photo project into a single 8-minute video, creating a time lapse of images taken from January 11, 2000, to January 11, 2020, over the course of 7,263 days.

Events Starting Soon

What to watch this weekend and bikepacking events starting soon…

Hot Taco Bike Race

Hot Taco Bike Race

Hot Taco is a women-only (and those identifying as women) bikepacking race, beginning and ending in Boise, Idaho. The grand depart took off yesterday morning, following a 200-mile route with over 20,000 feet of elevation gain. There are 19 rider registered for the inaugural event, and you can follow their progress live here.

West Carpathian Challenge

West Carpathian Challenge 2024

The West Carpathian Challenge is a self-supported bikepacking adventure through the Carpathian Mountains in Slovakia. The fouth edition of West Carpathian Challenge started in Jakubovany and ends in Lozorno (near Bratislava), with over 70 riders split between the 300, 600, and 1,000-kilometer routes. Follow the riders live here.

Weekly Social

Some things we found around the ‘gram and elsewhere. This week, a handful of updates from the 2024 Transcontinental Race…

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