Friday Debrief: Aluminum Bikes Survey, Chester Copperpot Krampus, Unicycling the EDT, 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…

Wizard Works Wiz Viz is Back

Made in England / £33+ at Wizard Works

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To mark the shorter days and clock fall back in the UK, Wizard Works reintroduced their Wiz Viz collection, a range of bags made with reflective fabrics for safety. This year their entire core range of bike bags have been Wiz Viz’d, allowing folks to match bags they may have bought in previous years.

Rogue Panda Blue Ridge Accessory Bar

Made in USA / $50 at Rogue Panda

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After countless requests, Rogue Panda created a bolt-on mount for their Blue Ridge Handlebar Harness, which adds a 22.2mm diameter bar to mount lights, a GPS, or a phone. The carbon accessory bar is 6.5″ (165mm) long and is secured by two aluminum clamps, which bolt directly on top of the Blue Ridge clamps using included longer bolts. The Accessory Bar is not approved for mounting aero bars, bar ends, or any other device which is intended to be used to steer your bicycle.

Updated Forager Cycles Top Caps

Made in USA / $22 at Forager Cycles

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Forager Cycles in Washington just updated its Brass Quill Stem Top Cap to be lighter and lower profile. It is now made from high strength 642 Bronze, a slightly less dull finish compared to the previous brass version, and it’s significantly smaller. It’s CNC-machined in Port Townsend to work for 22.2mm threaded/quill stems and weighs just 14 grams.

Outrider: A Tire Pressure Sensor For Bikes

Made in TBD / $39 at Kickstarter

The new Outrider TPMS is a low-cost, real-time tire pressure sensor that lives inside your tubeless tires to provide instant pressure readings and alerts to your Garmin device. The Outrider slips between your valve and rim (rims with internal width of 19mm or greater), and is powered by a standard CR1225 watch battery. It provides pressure readings with +/- 0.7% accuracy from 0-39 psi and +/- 1.4% from 40-85 psi with 0.1 psi precision. It has a two-year (830 hours of ride time) battery life, weighs just 3.5 grams, and is dust, water, and sealant proof. The best is that it installs on your existing tubeless valve and it can fit under a tire insert. Outrider just launched a Kickstarter with discounts starting at 50% off.

Surly Krampus in Blue Oyster Coat and Chester Copperpot

Made in Taiwan / $1,849+ at Surly

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Surly just added two fresh color options for their 29+ trail machine, the Krampus. “Blue Oyster Coat” is their latest suspension build color, kitted out with a RockShox 35 Gold RL 120mm fork, hydraulic Tektro brakes, and a Trans X dropper post. “Chester Copperpot” is their new rigid build color, which comes complete with a matching rigid fork, rigid seatpost, 1×12 drivetrain, and Surly Dirt Wizard 29 x 2.6″ tires.

Chris King Seatpost Collars

Made in USA / $48 at Chris King

After years of requests, Chris King just released a lineup of USA-made seatpost collars. Taking design cues from their headset bearing cap and cup, the collars are machined from aluminum, and finished with the King wordmark and their bee graphic etched on the barrel nut. They are available in four sizes: 30.0, 31.8, 34.9, 36.4, and 10 colors to match King components.

Updated 2025 Tarptent Rainbow Li

Made in China / $649 at Tarp Tent

The Rainbow Li is Tarptent’s lightest (729g/25.7 oz) arch pole-supported shelter. The hybrid double-wall Rainbow Li features a single-side entry with a vestibule, which can be free-standing with trekking poles. It was just updated for 2025 with a more compressible 15D 4000mm Nylon floor fabric, a two-way vestibule zipper, improved floor tensioning system, and an arch pole with shorter (16″ / 40.6cm) segments. Make sure to check out Cass’ review of the two-person Double Rainbow Li here.

In Conversation

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

Is Aluminum the New Steel?

Aluminum bikes have seeing a bit of a rennaissance lately, for a variety of reasons. For one, bikes are getting more expensive, and bikes like the Specialized Chisel we reviewed—and other such well-designed frames—echo the geometry and performance of their top-shelf carbon siblings at a fraction of the price. Then there are high-end small batch bikes like the new Ron’s Bikes 29er we wrote about yesterday—a post that has an energetic conversation unfolding, I might add. At over $2,000 for the frameset, it’s certainly not a budget option, but it’s made by a legendary framebuilder and has that throwback/timeless quality that captures the imagination. Plus, Ronnie Romance has certainly espoused about aluminum’s validity as a frame material for its weight, strength, and feel. With that, we’re curious to hear your take on aluminum bikes. Let us know in the survey below and we’ll share the results next week.

Around the Community

News from around the bikepacking world…

New Bikepacking Collective Discount: 20% Off Ornot!

Bikepacking Collective members will be happy to hear that Ornot is the latest brand to offer our supporters exclusive savings on their massive lineup of cycling apparel and accessories. All current Bikepacking Collective members can take advantage of 20% off all regular-priced items from Ornot, as well as discounts from over 30 other awesome brands.

If you enjoy browsing this website, please consider joining our Bikepacking Collective. We’re independent and member-supported. Membership is open to anyone, anywhere in the world, and members are given access to exclusive industry discounts like this one, automatically entered to win bi-monthly Collective Rewards, and have the option to receive The Bikepacking Journal in the mail. Already a member? You can find your full list of discount codes under “Membership Benefits” when you’re logged in to your member account. Thanks for supporting our work!

Seven Serpents: Quick Bite! 2024 Film

Quick Bite is a smoother and shorter version of the Seven Serpents route. Riders tackle fast gravel and mountain climbs, passing mystical caves and lakes in Slovenia, then cross two Croatian islands before heading north through the Istrian peninsula to Trieste, Italy.

Torino-Nice Bike Check

In addition to the feature video and story about his Torino-Nice ride earlier this week, Josh Ibbett also shared a bike check from that trip. Watch it above.

Bikes or Death x Tim Krueger, Esker Cycles CEO

In the latest Bikes or Death Podcast episode, host Patrick Farnsworth sits down with Esker Cycles CEO and Founder, Tim Krueger. Patrick recorded the entire interview on video, which you can watch above, and it’s well worth a listen if you’re curious about the Esker Cycles story and the bike’s they’ve brought to market. If listening is more your style, you can find the podcast here.

Unicycling the European Divide Trail

In 2023, Rebekka Wiedener unicycled 7,800 kilometers from the Cabo de San Vicente in Portugal to the Norwegian-Russian border following the European Divide Trail. It took her 101 days and she put together a quick edit from her trip that you can watch above. See more from Rebekka on Instagram.

Jaegher Hurricane FL.X Dream Build

Belgium-based Jaegher Cycles brought a stunning stainless steel all-road bike called the Hurricane FL.X to Bespoked earlier this month and just shared a lovely ASMR-style build video. Watch the video, and then find all of our Bespoked coverage and more amazing bikes here.

A 1,500-Mile Trail Across Texas is Coming: xTx

In its infancy, xTx is a long-distance multi-use trail that combines singletrack, gravel, and backroads meandering some 1,500 miles from Orange to El Paso. From sea level at the Gulf Coast to Texas’ highest point, Guadalupe Peak, the xTx gains 56,000 feet in elevation. There is still lots of work to be done to complete the route, but the group behind it is aiming for a spring 2025 completion. Learn more and make a donation if this is something you’d like to support at xTexas.org.

Events Starting Soon

What to watch this weekend and bikepacking events starting soon…

Central Texas Showdown

The Central Texas Showdown follows a similar format to the popular East Texas Showdown event, with three route options to choose from: the 472-mile Central Texas Showdown route, 296-mile SLOWdown route, or the 167-mile LOWdown. The 2024 grand depart started from Castell, Texas yesterday morning with just shy of 100 riders divided between the three routes. Follow their progress live here.

Further Elements: Scotland

Further Scotland carries on the spirit of the original Further in the Pyrénées, following a 700km mixed-terrain route in the Scottish Highlands. The 2024 grand depart started early this morning with nearly 40 brave riders registered for live tracking. Follow the event here.

Weekly Social

Some things we found around the ‘gram and elsewhere. This week, a handful of photos from The Goats, an unsupported bikepacking race in Portugal, from earlier this month…

Please keep the conversation civil, constructive, and inclusive, or your comment will be removed.