Friday Debrief: New XL Voile Straps, Rainbow Cage, Scampr Shoes, 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…

10% of Industry Nine Sales Goes to Helene Relief

Made in Asheville, NC / Shop at Industry Nine

In a statement a couple of days ago, our friends over at I9 announced they’re donating 10% of sales to Helene relief funds to support their community in the greater Asheville area. They wrote, “On Thursday, September 26, 2024, our team was notified to prepare for heavy rains and the potential for work cancellations. It felt like we were gearing up for a snow day. However, what unfolded Friday morning was something Western North Carolina had never experienced. Tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains and 300+ miles from the coast, Asheville, often called a “Climate Haven,” had always been considered safe from natural disasters. But Hurricane Helene brought devastation that no one could have imagined -rains, winds, and destruction that changed our community forever.” Read the full statement here.

Ass Savers x Jody Barton: Bits n’ Peaces Collection

€13+ at Ass Savers

Ass Savers teamed up with Copenhagen-based artist Jody Barton on a fun new lineup of accessories, bottles, and fenders. Entitled “BITS N’ PEACES,” the project celebrates the beautiful simplicity of cycling in its most mindful, harmonious form and invites riders to share a more peaceful path together.

Voile XL Series Nylon

Made in Utah, USA / $10-11 at Voile

In case you missed it, Voile released their XL straps, which are 20% thicker and 25% wider than the standard Voiles, with the “Super Tough Nylon Buckle.” They’re made in Utah, come in 22- and 32-inch lengths, and Voile claims they can withstand the same harsh conditions as aluminum, from freezing mountain ranges to sun-scorched deserts.

MSR Tents 50% Off

$160+ at MSR

MSR’s end-of-season sale started this week, which features a 50% off discount on their popular Hubba lineup of tents, Elixer tents, and more. Dig in here.

Wolf Tooth Morse Cage Ti Rainbow

Made in Minnesota / $89.95 at Wolf Tooth

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Wolf Tooth announced new rainbow-anodized Morse Cages, with the same hand-bent in Minnesota, 3-2.5 hollow titanium tubing and 32mm of vertical adjustability. Get ’em while they’re available.

ENVE’s Next-gen M-Series Wheels

Made in USA / $2,300 at Enve

ENVE released their redesigned, new generation of ENVE M Series wheels, touting enhanced ride quality and compliance without compromising strength. This updated lineup includes the svelte M5 XC wheels and the more bikepacking-apt M6. Both have front and rear-specific rim designs (32mm IW front and 29mm IW rear) with tailored laminates, extra-wide hookless bead in the rear, and ENVE’s oversized ratched-based INNERDRIVE Mountain Hubs. You can learn more about the M6 in this video and more about the M-Series here.

Canyon Scampr Shoes

€160 at Canyon

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Just released, the new Canyon Scampr shoes are a high-comfort clipless riding shoe for mountain biking and bikepacking. The Scampr is designed with a wider toebox, has a single BOA closure and a Vibram Megagrip sole, and comes with Solestar adaptable insoles that mold to your unique foot shape. They look like they could be a solid option for bikepackers looking for fresh shoes.

Tailfin Bar Bag (Deep Dive Video)

$305+ at Tailfin

Following our extensive double Tailfin Bar Bag review, Tailfin made this video that takes a deeper look into why they made this bag, the process behind its design, and a detailed look at the features and specs built into the system.

Mountain Laurel Designs Littlestar

Made in USA / $220 at MLD

The new Mountain Laurel Designs Littlestar is a smaller and lighter version of their Trailstar tarp shelter, combining the high performance of a traditional pyramid shelter with the open multi-function pitching options of a tarp. It has five equal low-angle sides and no doors, zippers, flaps, or vents to wear out or fail you when you need them most. The SilPoly version weighs 382 grams, 0.75 DCF is 269 grams, and 0.5 DCF is a scant 195 grams.

Cycle Jewel Seatclamp

$25 at Veloci Cycles

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Veloci Cycle in Taiwan just launched a sub-brand called Cycle Jewel, and their first product is a flashy machined seatpost clamp that takes inspiration from jewelry. The clamps are made from AL-6061 aluminum alloy, feature laser-engraved finishes, and are available in 11 colors and four diameters: 29.8, 31.8, 33.1, and 34.9mm.

Around the Community

News from around the bikepacking world…

Kona’s Long Sweet Ride

Kona has been building bikes for 36 years, always forging its own path—every type of bike and pretty much every style of riding from bikepacking to XC racing to commuting. In their latest video, they provide a peek into their long history and invite riders to join them on the Long Sweet Ride.

Out of Office on the Brompton G-line

When the folks at Outsiders heard about Brompton’s new folding “city to off-road” bike, they thought it was the perfect “Outsiders” bike and made this fun film. Check it out above.

Tailfin: There’s a New Bag in Town

To commemorate the launch of their long in the works Bar Bag System, Tailfin produced this fun short video featuring sponsored athlete Quinda Verheul.

Events Starting Soon

What to watch this weekend and bikepacking events starting soon…

Graval Extreme (Spain)

GRAVAL EXTREME is an 800-kilometer off-road event through the Mediterranean forests, the central plateau, and the Teruel Mountains. Riders have 130 hours to finish the route and must be completely self-sufficient. There are over 30 rider registered for tomorrow’s grand depart, and you can follow their progress live here.

Wish We Were Here

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

Logan: Normalcy

I can’t really put into words my state of mind since the morning of September 27th. It had already rained some 15 inches here in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, and then Helene came. The wind started blowing around 6:30 a.m. A couple of friends were up and texted that they were scared this might be the worst thing ever to happen to this region. At 7:09, I lost services, including data and cellular. It would be six days before I got any connectivity again. To learn what was going on, we talked to neighbors, biked over to friends houses unannounced, and sat in our car to listen to the radio. A couple of local stations were running a 24-hour emergency recovery broadcast, reporting utter chaos, destruction, death, and the devastation of places throughout the North Carolina Appalachians I’ve spent the better part of my life getting to know. Entire towns and communities were wiped away by flooding unlike anything western North Carolina had never seen. There was a major flood in 1916, but this eclipsed it.

I spent the next six days glued to the radio, listening to the selfless individuals running the radio broadcast. They would break into tears every five minutes. People would call in and tell stories, report on roads, towns, families, houses, animals, rivers, and mountainsides that were completely destroyed. It’s heartwrenching, to say the least. The Sunday after the storm, we rode bikes into the national forest and clamoured over at least 37 fallen trees and several landslides. Eventually, we made it up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, where we caught a view the ocean of water that was once the French Broad River. I managed to get about one bar of 5G service for five minutes from that vantage and sent as many texts as possible, letting friends and family know we were okay. The next day, I pedaled to the Pisgah Horse Stables. A friend of mine heard that the six mules and horses were abandoned there. We crossed the washout shown above and fed them several wheelbarrows of hay. I didn’t take any other photos. I couldn’t, really.

The area immediately around my home was generally okay. One neighbor had a quarter of their home smashed by a massive oak tree. Fortunately, it crushed the side of their house where they weren’t. We got lucky and just had a couple of branches spear through our shop roof. Any other time that would have sucked, but I’m not complaining at all. So many people have it far worse… far worse. Asheville was decimated by Helene, our friends at Rockgeist were under feet of water, and there’s no telling when it will be normal again. Anywhere low-lying near a river in western North Carolina was completely fucked. Apparently, Mitchell County to the north lost 60 percent of its total infrastructure. Sixty percent of its roads, powerlines and water/sewer. Livelihoods are destroyed, homes completely floated away, and countless tragedies unfolded and are still unfolding.

I’m still in a daze, and amazed that the mainstream media isn’t covering this more. We did see Biden fly over our house in an entourage of two Chinooks, two Ospreys, and a couple of prop planes that I didn’t recognize. A couple days later, the news cycle snapped back to all the other things, despite the fact that there are still ongoing rescue operations happening and people without food and water. Our internet and cell data was out for a week. I have nothing to complain about. But I wish for normalcy, for normal heavenly October mountain biking in these hills. Just yesterday, I ran into a friend on the greenway. He just got back into town from Idaho and said he sobbed when he crossed the Green River on his way home and asked if I knew when the national forest would be open again. I don’t. This is how it’s going to be for a long while.

If you’d like to help, find a list of ways to do so here.

Weekly Social

Some things we found around the ‘gram and elsewhere. This week, a handful of posts from our friends in Asheville who have seen the worst of the Helene disaster first-hand…

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