Friday Debrief: Baby Legs Basket Bag, Stayer ATB Launch Party, Sklar PBJ Prototype, 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…

Updated Alpine Luddites HAB Panniers

Made in USA / $335 at Alpine Luddites

The Alpine Luddites HAB (Hike a Bike) Panniers are lightweight, low-profile, and designed specifically for bikepacking and off-road riding. While the overall functionality has remained the same, Alpine Luddites just announced an updated version with many promising new specs. Updates include bottom and back panels made from Ultra 400 fabric, tweaked strap and buckle positions, and an additional compression strap that runs over the top of the pannier. They are still less than 16 ounces each, have dense closed-cell foam back stiffener, and have wrap-around compression straps and carry handles. The standard depth is 3″, but they can be made bigger upon request.

Baby Legs Bags Pelago Rasket Bag

Made in Poland / $175 at Baby Legs Bags

A few weeks ago, one of Baby Legs Bags’ customers asked Baby Legs to make a bag for their new Pelago Rasket. The bag uses a simple roll-top closure, a magnetic Fidlock buckle, buckle side attachments, and is padded with EVA foam. Like all Baby Legs’ bags, the basket bag is made to order, so there are many possibilities for fabrics, colors, and features.

Wheels MFG Colorado Copper

Made in USA / At Wheels MFG

To pay tribute to their home state’s copper-mining history, Wheels MFG created Colorado Copper—an anodized finish that mirrors the rich, natural copper found in Colorado’s mountains and reflects the state’s rugged natural beauty. The new color is available in their bottom brackets, cage bolts, chainring bolts, UDH derailleur hangers, headset spacers, SOLO-Cogs, and the newly released Solo-Spline singlespeed kit we reviewed today.

Wilde Sugar Foot Frameset

$3,900 at Wilde Bicycle Co.

Wilde Bicycle Co. from Minneapolis is unveiling an all-new frameset at the MADE show in Portland this weekend. The Wilde Sugar Foot is a lugged steel 650B frameset with beautifully classic paint and clearance for 2.2″ tires in the frame and a 2.4″ tire up front. It also has mounts for racks, fenders, and three bottles, internal rear brake and front dynamo routing, and 132.5mm rear spacing. Wilde is going a run of 10 frames to be delivered next March/April, and they’re available in 54, 56, 58, and 60cm sizes. We love the look of these, but the $3,900 price tag is quite a high bar to clear for a rim brake, 650B-specific frameset.

San Util Design Top Tube Bags

Made in USA / $75+ at San Util Design

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San Util Design in Colorado recently added top tube bags to their ready-made and custom bag lineups. The Fault line is their standard top tube bag, which is 9″ or 12″ long and tapers from 3″ to 2″ wide. The bag has stiffeners in it to keep things stable when riding over rough terrain. A 9″ Voile Strap is used to keep the front of the bag secure around the frame, and a piece of one wrap velcro holds the back of the bag down. The Miss Poppins’ Top Tube Bag is a custom zipper-less bag with a stuffable design that can carry up to three Chipotle burritos.

Outdoor Research Freewheel Pants

Made in Bangladesh / $130 at Outdoor Research

Just in time for fall riding, the Outdoor Research Freewheel Pants are the latest addition to OR’s new mountain bike collection. They feature bluesign-approved materials, durable Duraprint overlays, UPF 50 sun protection, water-resistant DWR finish, and bike-specific features to create a versatile, stretchy, breathable pant for year-round riding. They come in men’s, women’s, and plus-sized fits.

Zpacks Octa Fleece

132 grams / $99 at Zpacks

Zpacks released the Octa Fleece Hoody, a new piece they claim is lightweight, durable, and offers an unmatched warmth-to-weight ratio. The Octa Fleece features a fluffy interior, half-zipper design, fitted hood, kangaroo pocket, and active insulation that they say performs well in a range of temperatures from the 30s to the upper 60s while moving.

In Conversation

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

How much does your Pinon bike weigh?

Yesterday, we published our review of the Priority 600HXT Pinion-equipped hardtail mountain bike weighing a hair over 37 pounds. It stirred up some discussion about the weight of Pinion bikes and whether it has more to do with the frame construction/material than the gearbox itself. We’re curious to hear from you. How much does your Pinion bike weigh, and more importantly, is it worth the extra weight? Let us know in the conversation below.

Around the Community

News from around the bikepacking world…

Stayer x 2nd Life Bikes ATB Launch Party

On Sunday, September 15th, Stayer Cycles and 2nd Life Bikes are hosting an open house where they will announce a new ATB they’ve been working on. There will be opportunities to try silver soldering, they’ll have food and drinks for everyone, and there will be a group ride at the end of the day. The event takes place at the Stayer Cycles workshop in the Acacia Business Centre building in Leytonstone, East London. Learn more here.

Bike Check – Adam’s Sklar PBJ Prototype

In Sklar Bikes’ latest YouTube video, Adam dives into the details on his personal PBJ (Performance Basket Jammer) prototype. The PBJ will be Sklar’s next production model, based on the small batch of US-made versions Adam offered in 2023. Adam describes it well on his site, “It may look simple, but you can always count on it to get the job done.”

Nathalie Schneitter and the Glacier Bike Express

The Glacier Bike Tour follows a 10-stage, 370-kilometer route with 9,500 meters of elevation gain through three cantons. Always along the picturesque railway route of the Glacier Express, the route starts in St. Moritz, first over the Albula Pass, before two more high-caliber passes await with the Oberalp Pass and the Furka Pass. Nathalie Schneitter took it upon herself to ride the entire route in one go.

Events Starting Soon

What to watch this weekend and bikepacking events starting soon…

Northern New England Borders Bikepacking Ride

The Northern New England Borders Bikepacking Ride is a self-supported 269-mile loop through New Hampshire and Vermont by the Canadian border. The 2024 grand depart starts from Littleton, New Hampshire, at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow . There are currently under 10 riders registered for live tracking, which you can find here.

Transiberica Ultracycling Race

Transibérica Ultracycling Race is the unsupported and single-stage road cycling race around the Iberian Peninsula. There are over 120 riders registered for this year’s grand depart, which starts from Bolzano, Italy tomorrow evening. Follow their progress live here.

Supergrevet: Distanzradfahrt Wien-Berlin

Supergrevet revives the pioneering spirit of cycling by recreating two timeless classics from the formative years of cycling culture: Vienna-Berlin and Munich-Milan. The Distanzradfahrt Wien-Berlin kicks off on August 24th, covering a challenging 800 kilometer route with 7,000 meters of elevation gain. Follow along live here.

Weekly Social

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

Further Reading

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

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