Friday Debrief: Tour de Frankie Video, Wheels MFG Hootin Hauler, Cinelli x OMNIUM Cargo, 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…

Wheels Manufacturing Hootin Hauler Modular Accessory

Made in the USA / $15 at Wheels MFG

Wheels Manufacturing has launched a modular component kit that allows users to add to their new bolt-on accessory. Designed to give riders a customizable base for tools, storage, and trail-side problem-solving, the Hootin Hauler is a bolt-on accessory that lets users combine different widgets and create whatever tool suits them best. The base tool includes the bolt-on platform and a trail scraper for $15. Customers can add to this platform with free, downloadable files that provide spots for tire levers and Dynaplugs, with the caveat that they’ll need access to a 3D printer.

Ombraz Azzurro Sunglasses

Made in Italy / $195 at Ombraz

The newest Ombraz model is the brand’s first full-wrap performance frame designed for guides and professionals in harsh water environments. The armless Azzurro brings expanded coverage and peripheral protection, revamped rubber nose pads, and all-new polarized mirrored ZEISS optics. It’s available in Charcoal or Tortoise with a variety of lens options.

The New Lazer Blade KinetiCore

$99 at Lazer

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Lazer’s new Blade KinetiCore helmet is engineered with the brand’s rotational impact technology, which allows crumple zones to redirect impact energy away from the head. KinetiCore is built directly into the helmet’s internal structure, which Lazer says reduces material use, making the helmet lighter and improving ventilation.

Ultradynamico BRUT Cap

Made in Italy / $25 at Ultradynamico

Brought on by the release of their new tire, Ultradynamico has released a fresh cycling cap. Featuring the BRUT’s small-knob tread pattern on the inside of the visor and the rear of the cap, this black cap is made in Italy and has a soft green accent contrasting its black body.

MINTY FRESH and HYPER LICHEN PNW Loam Grips

Made in Taiwan / $29 at PNW Components

PNW Components just released two new limited-edition colors for its budget-friendly Loam grips. Although they might not match anything else on your bike, the Minty Fresh and Hyper Lichen colors bring some fresh summer vibes to any bike. They are available in regular and extra-large diameters and have a closed-end, single-clamp design.

Cinelli x OMNIUM Cargo

Made in Taiwan / €3,500 at OMNIUM

In an unexpected collaboration, Cinelli and OMNIUM recently teamed up to launch a limited run of Cargo framesets and completes in a lovely Azzurro Laser colorway, built from a mix of Columbus and OMNIUM tubing. At the time of posting, from the total batch of 120, only mediums are left.

In Conversation

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

Your Route Requests

Earlier this week, we announced our new Routes Director, Daniel Jessee. He’s taking the helm on bikepacking routes efforts and managing our extensive and first-of-its-kind routes network. We want to hear from our readers on places or regions where you’d like to see more development on our routes map. Where would you like to see more routes, and what’s missing? Let us know in the Conversation below.

Around the Community

News from around the bikepacking world…

Last Call for a Free Surly Karate Monkey

Heads up! The deadline to enter our Karate Monkey giveaway with Wheels Manufacturing and Surly Bikes is this Sunday, May 31st. One lucky winner will take home a single-speed Surly Karate Monkey with Wheels Manufacturing parts sprinkled throughout. No purchase is necessary, and the drawing is open to the public. Head to WheelsMFG.com to enter. Good luck!

Peru: From the Andes to the Coast

Clotaire Mandel’s latest video from his ongoing journey around the world highlights a spectacular ride from Peru’s soaring heights of 4,500 meters (14,750 feet) down to the coast. Watch the 11-minute release above.

Josh Hicks’ Colorado Trail ASMR

Josh Hicks raced the Colorado Trail last year and made some great content about his experience. In the video above, he treats viewers to an unadulterated experience of the same race by stringing together raw footage and the trail’s natural soundtrack for some bikepacking ASMR.

Poli Berber’s Tour De Frankie

Paola Berber made a video on her third time completing the Tour De Frankie, one of Mexico’s hardest ultracycling events. It’s entirely in Spanish, but there are English captions for those interested in her experience, as well as a fascinating story about what has continued to draw her back to this challenging bikepacking race.

New Mountain Laurel Designs Ordering System

Starting this summer, Mountain Laurel Designs is moving to a new ordering system that opens orders on the first of each month, and if too many orders are received, ordering will close. They currently have a massive backlog of orders they are trying to catch up on, so the hope is to offer a clear, fair, and uncomplicated system to limit huge backorders and wait times.

Firsthand Framebuilding School Registration Opens on Monday

The new framebuilding and design classes at Firsthand Framebuilding in Portland open for registration on Monday, June 1st. There are monthly brazing and welding clinics, framebuilding courses in several flavors, a couple of manual machining seminars, and more. Their instructors include Joseph Ahearne, Mike DeSalvo, Tony Pereira, Bob Kamzelski, Tony Batcheller, and Oscar Camarena. Combined with their in-house leads, Tom La Marche and B Vivit, they’ve lined up some seriously talented folks to learn from. Check back at Firsthand.Bike on Monday morning.

Salsa Cycles Presents: Gravel Since The Beginning

How did gravel riding start? It’s been a long, dusty road to get where it is today. In Salsa’s latest film, narrated by our friend Mike Riemer, the brand looks back through earlier eras of gravel riding, the turns that have led us here, and Salsa’s place in all of it.

Events Starting Soon

What to watch this weekend and bikepacking events starting soon…

Grand Loop

The Grand Loop Race was the first ultra-endurance bikepacking race in the US back in the late 1990s, inspiring the likes of the Tour Divide, CTR, and AZTR. The Grand Depart of this classic event now starts in Nucla, Colorado, along the Paradox Trail. The 2026 grand depart starts this morning at 8 a.m. local time, and you can follow along here.

Trans Balkan Race

The Trans Balkan Race is a 1,400-kilometer bikepacking race across the Balkans. The route traces an unforgettable journey across karst deserts, glacial valleys, and high mountain passes, linking the most stunning national parks of the Dinaric Alps and crossing four countries of the former Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. The 2026 grand depart started earlier this morning with nearly 200 riders registered for live tracking. Follow along live here.

North 2 Peak

North 2 Peak is a self-supported bikepacking adventure covering up to 1,000 kilometers through Northern Germany, the Harz Mountains, and the Lüneburg Heath. This year’s grand depart starts tomorrow morning, with nearly 200 riders split between the two routes. Follow along live here.

Weekly Social

Some things we found around the ‘gram and elsewhere. This week, the latest edition of Fenderfest and Natalie’s bikepacking trip through Chile…

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