Friday Debrief: Safety Donut V2, Mini Floor Pump, Ornot Boxers, The Jura Traverse, 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…

Fairlight Secan 2.5 in Monochrome

Made in Taiwan / £1,399 at FairlightCycles.com

The Fairlight Secan 2.5 is a Reynolds 853 steel gravel bike designed to handle the transition between road and rougher terrain confidently and quickly. The Secan 2.5 has a matching carbon fork, loads of mounting points, clearance for 700 x 50mm or 27.5 x 2.4″ tires, lots of clever little details, and as of today is available in their new Monochrome colorway. Framesets start at £1,399 for UK buyers and complete builds start at £2,499. Pricing in the EU and the rest of the world starts at around £1,165 (€1,360/$1,530) for framesets and £2,235 (€2,610/$2,930) for completes.

Made to Order This Is Farewell Atalaya Plus Plus

Made in USA / $180 at ThisIsFarewell.com

After several requests for a custom version of their Atalaya Plus Plus handlebar bag, New Mexico-based This Is Farewell has added a made-to-order version to their web store. This allows you to choose from three main body colors and five front pocket accent colors to make it your own. Check out the Atalaya and more on their Instagram page.

Safety Donuts Launches Web Store

Made in Canada / $25 at Safety Donut

The newest Safety Donut is almost here! Everyone’s favourite mid-ride snack has been revised with a 10″ shock cord and lock attachment, a brighter pink glaze, and flush sprinkles. Our friend Taryn is releasing a small batch of 50 donuts today (July 14th at 11 a.m. MDT) with 10% of proceeds being donated to the Indigenous Youth Mountain Bike Program (IYMBP). Small batches will continue to be released each month via Instagram.

PDW Rattlesnek Kej

Made in Taiwan / $25 at RidePDW.com

The new PDW Rattlesnek Kej is made from a single sheet of lightweight 5052 alloy, has a side-entry design that’s great for full-suspension bikes or anyone running a wedge-style frame bag, and comes in right or left-sided access. The Rattlesnek Kej comes in Black or Desert Gold, weighs 54 grams, and comes with their Lifetime PDWarranty.

Mountain Laurel Designs Ultra X Double End Handlebar Dry Bags

Made in USA / $75-$85 at MountainLaurelDesigns.com

Virginia-based Mountain Laurel Designs continues to expand their bikepacking lineup with their Ultra X Double End Handlebar Dry Bags. The bags are made from Ultra X 100 Fabric with UHMWPE, have roll-top closure at both ends, are 100% waterproof and seam taped, and have daisy chain along the front for better handlebar harness strap retention. They come in three sizes ranging from 6-20L of capacity, depending on how much you roll the ends.

New Ornot Boxer Briefs

Made in USA / $36-$44 at Ornot Merino Synthetic

We wouldn’t normally share new underwear, but Miles has been raving about his Ornot Lightweight Mission Shorts, which still look brand new after riding 2,000-kilometers around Australia, so we figured it was worth it. Ornot just released men’s merino wool boxer briefs and a recycled synthetic version that are both made in the USA, designed specially to ride in, and have a full gusset. Miles has been wearing them alongside his shorts for a few weeks now and says they are some of the most comfortable boxer briefs he owns. They are soft, lightweight, and have a longer inseam than most boxer briefs, which has proven to be perfect for riding.

Crankbrothers Klic HV Mini Floor Pump

Made in China / $69 at Crankbrothers.com

The new Crankbrothers Klic HV Mini Floor Pump is designed for convenience with its fold-out foothold and easy-to-use head. It uses a magnetic quick-connect hose that stashes away inside the pump when not in use, high-volume air flow, an interchangeable valve for both Presta and Schrader valves, and weighs just 171 grams. We’re hoping to test one out soon, so stay tuned for a review.

Wolf Tooth Chainrings for SRAM Transmission T-Type

Made in USA / $77 at Wolf Tooth

Wolf Tooth recently expanded their line of chainrings to include various SRAM Transmission T-Type compatible rings, allowing folks looking to switch to a Transmission drivetrain to continue using their cranks. This is an exciting addition to their already impressive collection of components. Learn all about SRAM’s Eagle Transmission drivetrain here.

In Conversation

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

Rohloff vs. Pinion

In our Rohloff visit, a reader asked what are the main differences between the Rohloff 14-speed internally geared hub and the Pinion drivetrain. Obviously weight distribution is a huge differentiator; the most significant benefit for Pinion is the centralization of weight. The Rohloff has its own benefits, such as its legendary reliability and the fact that it isn’t frame specific. As for performance, it’s been a while since we’ve ridden either, but Logan remembers that the Rohloff has quicker hub engagement, the Pinion being a little smoother/easier to shift, and the Rohloff hub being louder, particularly in gear seven. If anyone has any experience with the two, let us know what you think in the conversation below…

Around the Community

News from around the bikepacking world…

Sofiane Sehili Wins The Bright Midnight

Sofiane Sehili was first to finish the inaugural Bright Midnight event earlier this week, tackling the 1,000-kilometer route around Norway. He crushed the event in just 2 days, 3 hours, and 50 minutes, and according to his sponsor, Hunt Wheels, he only stopped for 16 minutes the entire time. Congrats, Sofiane!

Pedals and Feathers: A bikepacking and birding Film

In the latest video from the Queer Cyclist YouTube channel, Hannah Griggs (@queercyclist) accompanies RAR ATL on a bikepacking and birding trip to Panola Mountain outside of Atlanta, Georgia. This outing was a collaboration between Radical Adventure Riders Atlanta, Feminist Bird Club of Atlanta, and Nocs Provisions, who provided monoculars and binoculars for the trip. Along the way, they saw tree swallows, northern roughwinged swallows, purple martins, indigo buntings, an eastern kingbird, eastern bluebirds, blue grosbeak, scarlet tanager, a great blue heron, great egrets, an American kestrel, black vultures, red-winged blackbirds, northern cardinals, a red-bellied woodpecker, tufted titmice, Canadian geese, yellow-rumped warblers, grey catbirds, Carolina chickadees, barn swallows, and chipping sparrows… just to name a few!

The Jura Traverse (Video)

The Jura Traverse (Grande Traversée du Jura) is a classic French long-distance mountain bike route through a region known for its mountain scenery, quaint villages, and excellent cheese. Photographer Jeanne Lepoix was out riding the route earlier this year and put together a lovely two-minute video on the ride. Watch it above.

Events Starting Soon

What to watch this weekend and bikepacking events starting soon…

Panhandle Ramble 2023

The Panhandle Ramble (PanRam) showcases just what makes north Idaho so special. Small, friendly towns, majestic high mountains, endless expanses of timeless forest, fascinating culture and history, and of course, fantastic riding! The 320-mile grand depart takes off tomorrow morning from Coeur d’Alene, and around 12 riders are expected to participate. There isn’t a live tracking map this year but you can find updates on their Facebook page here.

Wish We Were Here

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

Lucas Winzenburg: Thailand

I’ve been eager to return to South East Asia ever since I lived there in 2018-19, and riding the Lanna Kingdom route from Sam Rice and Nu Chaijinda strikes me as the perfect excuse to finally make it to Northern Thailand. The roughly 250-mile route winds along ridges past tropical flora and fauna and surely offers countless opportunities to taste delicious local cuisine and meet some of the friendly people who call the region home. My bucket list of routes to ride seems to be growing much faster than I can actually get out and ride them, but this one is right near the top of the list.

Further Reading

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

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