Friday Debrief: Revelate Pannier Pods, Spork 3.2, Supercaliber V2, and Much 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…

Revelate Designs Pannier Pods

Made in USA / $45 at Revelate Designs

Designed to work in conjunction with their new Nano Panniers that we reviewed, the Revelate Designs Pannier Pod is a lightweight Dyneema Composite bag with a simple zippered clamshell opening that can be used to help organize food and smaller items. They are sized to be able to stack two within each Nano Pannier but look like they could be useful in other bags as well. Each weighs 60 grams and measures 10.5 x 9.0 x 3.75″.

Trek Supercaliber V2 Announced

Made in Taiwan / $4,199+ at Trek Bikes

The Trek Supercaliber is a cross-country race machine at heart, but ever since it’s release back in 2019 we can’t help but think it could make a decent ultra-endurance bikepacking bike as well. I mean, look at the size of the main triangle. The Supercaliber was just updated with more travel (110mm up front and 80mm in the rear), longer reach, and a slacker 67.5° headtube to make it better suited for steeper, and rougher XC riding.

New Search And State Field Shirts

Made in NYC / $159 at Search And State

Our friends at Search and State in New York City released a couple new Field Shirts, one of our favorite lightweight button-downs for riding, camping, and living in. The Field Shirt is made from puckered Japanese cotton that breathes well and doesn’t sit against your skin. With the new Clay and Almond options, there’s now a total of seven different colors available in four sizes.

Rodeo Labs Spork 3.2

$535 at Rodeo Labs

The Rodeo Labs Spork just got an upgrade to version 3.2. The main change is the offset options. The Spork has had a 45mm offset for years but is now available as a 50mm offset version that supports internal steerer tube cable routing in addition to standard internal fork leg routing. It has clearance for 650 x 2.4″ or 700 x 2.2″ tires and works with 12mm or 15mm axles. With a full monocoque carbon construction, the Spork 3.2 weighs just 495 grams.

Marin DSX 1

Made in Taiwan / $1,099 at Marin Bikes

The new Marin DSX 1 features a handful of promising upgrades over the base DSX models. It has a higher-spec Series 3 aluminum frame, thru-axles, a carbon fork with three-pack mounts, a 1×11 drivetrain, 700 x 45mm WTB Riddler tires, and Tektro hydraulic brakes. It’s priced at $1,099 USD and comes in four sizes.

Starling Cycles Roost Pre-orders Open

Made in Taiwan / £1,220 at Starling Cycles

UK framebuilders Starling Cycles just opened up pre-orders for their Roost hardtail mountain bike. The next batch lands in September and is expected to sell out fast. The Roost is a rowdy stainless steel hardtail designed for mullet wheels, 2.8″ tire clearance, and room for 120mm to 160mm forks. They have sizes medium and large available and can be ordered as just a frame, with a frame kit, or as a complete bike.

Wolf Tooth Morse Cages and Tools are 25% off

Made in USA 25% Off Morse Cage 25% Off Multi-tools

Wolf Tooth Components is having a sale on their special edition titanium Morse Cages as well as their full range of multi-tools. Hit the links above for details…

In Conversation

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

Records are [Eventually] Broken

After Timon Fish’s incredible record-setting ride on the Colorado Trail last week, several reader’s were discussing how long his new record might stand. Timon rode the route in 3 days, 16 hours, and 13 minutes (3d:16h:13m), beating Neil Beltchenko’s time (3d:19h:50h) by about three hours. Neil set that record way back in 2016 during an individual time trial and it stood for seven years, which is quite impressive. Perhaps the most well-known record is the late Mike Hall’s Tour Divide time of 13 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes, which was also set in 2016. It was almost as if fate kept that record intact this year, but most folks say it’s only a matter of time before it goes into the history books. What do you think, are records going to start turning over faster now that there are more athletes taking interest in bikepacking, or will these 5-7 year records continue?

Around the Community

News from around the bikepacking world…

Bikepacking the Munda Biddi Ultra in Western Australia

After posting this lovely video by Cathy Young the other week, we stumbled on a video she made after her and two friends finished the Munda Biddi Ultra Cycling Event in 5 days and 22 hours. Learn more about the 1,000-kilometer Munda Biddi trail here.

2023 Pisgah Project Bike up for Grabs

Every year, Cane Creek organizes the Pisgah Project Bike, built and curated to raffle off and raise funds for the Pisgah Conservancy, an organization that helps protect the land that’s home to some of our local trails. This year’s bike is a REEB Steezl, a steel full-suspension machine with an impressive build kit and an MSRP value of over $11,500! “Since the Pisgah Project Bike’s Inception in 2017, Cane Creek has raised over $209,000 for the Pisgah Conservancy, whose mission is to protect Pisgah’s natural resources and support the fantastic recreation that our forest and community fosters.” Raffle Tickets are $30 each and are on sale now. Learn more about the bike and raffle at thepisgahproject.com.

PedalPower Adventures Heads on the Wilson’s Ramble

Speaking of Pisgah, the folks at the PedalPower Adventures YouTube channel set out on our Wilson’s Ramble route at the end of July. Along the way they captured a bunch of footage and ultimately put together this video documenting the ride. If you’re interested in riding this route in October with a group, be sure to check out the second annual grand depart.

Bikes or Death Hits One Million Downloads

Launched back in 2018 by Patrick Farnsworth, the Bikes or Death Podcast started off with conversations between Patrick and people he admired. In the beginning it was all about learning their “secrets” and sharing them with the community. Five years later and the podcast is still chugging along, bringing on a mix of interesting guests from well-known ultra-endurance athletes to lesser known folks who are just along for the ride. This week the podcast reached one million total downloads and we just wanted to congratulate Patrick on this huge milestone.

‘Tesekkür, Turkey’ – A Cycling Film by Restrap (Trailer)

Tesekkür, Turkey is the latest film in Restrap’s “Thank You” series documenting tours around the world where they put themselves and their equipment to the test. The film shares the story of six friends on a bikepacking expedition crossing Turkey along its western coastline. Watch the trailer above and stay tuned for the full film, which should be coming mid to late September.

Events Starting Soon

What to watch this weekend and bikepacking events starting soon…

Dark Divide 300

The Dark Divide 300 is a challenging mixed-terrain cycling route that traverses the expansive ancestral lands of the Squaxin Island Tribe, Nisqually Tribe of Indians, Cowlitz Indian Tribe, and Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, through what is known commonly as southern Cascade Mountain Range in Washington State. The grand depart took off from Olympia Thursday morning with nearly 30 riders registered on Trackleaders. Check in our their progress here.

2023 Silk Road Mountain Race

The Silk Road Mountain Race is a fixed route, unsupported, single-stage bikepacking race through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. The fifth edition of the event takes off from Karakol, in southern Kyrgyzstan, on Saturday at midnight local time. There are over 140 riders registered for live tracking and you can follow their progress live on our Tracker here.

2023 Colorado Trail Race

The Colorado Trail features 500 miles and 70,000 feet of elevation gain winding through the Colorado Rocky Mountains between Durango and Denver. Approximately 300+ miles of the route are on singletrack at elevations ranging from 5500 feet to a hypoxic 13,200. The 2023 Colorado Trail Race runs from Durango to Denver, following the entire CTR route. Follow along live as riders take off this Sunday at 4:00 a.m.

And Many More…

There are loads of other bikepacking events going on this weekend, including Bones To Blue in California, the Alberta Rockies 700, the Carpatia Divide in Poland, Grenzsteintrophy in Germany, Alaska Divide, and many more. Check out the full events calendar here.

Wish We Were Here

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

Logan Watts: Southern Spain

With fall just around the corner, I’ve been dreaming of getting back to southern Spain to scout a new reroute for the Altravesur that’s been on my list for the past year. The beautiful countryside, rugged roads, lovely people, and delicious olives are calling my name. Fingers crossed!

Further Reading

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

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