This week’s Debrief features fresh bikes, a tool from Patagonia, limited edition Bedrock sandals, a discussion of 32-inch wheels, tall stems, a new bag brand, three events to follow live, and a whole lot more. Find it all here…

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…

Discord Fiddlehead Stems

Made in Taiwan / $195 at Analog Cycles

The new Discord Fiddlehead Stem is short and tall, which is perfect for raising your handlebars without adding extra reach. It fits a 1 1/8″ steel or aluminum steerer tube and has a 31.8mm handlebar clamp. You need at least 50mm of steerer, and can bury up to 80mm of steerer in the stem. It’s suitable for bikepacking and light trail riding, but not for 140mm travel enduro bikes. It’s 115mm tall, with a 95mm center-to-bar height from the bottom of the stem stack and a 50mm reach.

Süfur Tee

Made in New Zealand / $50 NZD at Sufur.co.nz

Earlier this year, Rufus Wenlock of Christchurch, New Zealand, formally launched his framebuilding business, Süfur Cycles. He’s still finalizing some details before taking orders, but in the meantime, you can purchase a nice T-shirt to show your support. According to Rufus, the “Vehicles for Natural Immersion” shirt is for those who disappear often. It features a high-quality 100% organic cotton blank and is printed locally in Aotearoa.

Primus Micron III Stove

Made in Estonia / $89.95 CAD at Primus

The 58-gram Primus Micron III is an ultralight, foldable canister stove in a pocket-sized format, perfect for or or two people. It’s easy to pack, quick to set up, and powerful enough to boil a liter of water in under four minutes. The latest update makes the Micron III Primus’ lightest stove yet, and it’s still available with or without a Piezo ignitor. Find our review of the previous version here.

Pa’lante Packs x Bedrock Sandals

Made in USA / $130 at Bedrock Sandals

California’s Pa’lante Packs teamed up with Bedrock Sandals on a funky limited edition run of their Cairn Evo and 3D Evo sandals. Both feature an exclusive mauve purple colorway, custom branding, and the run is limited to 500 pairs. You can purchase the sandals through Bedrock Sandals, Windthrow Seattle (USA), Outsiders Store (UK), and Coffee Outdoors (NZ).

Arcade x Realtree Camo Belts

Made in China / $44+ at Arcade Belts

Arcade Belts are some of our favorite low-profile, stretchy belts for riding bikes. One of their latest drops is a collaboration with Realtree Camo, using their most iconic camo patterns and Arcade’s best-selling belts. There are three variations available: A2 Adventure in Realtree Original, Hardware in Realtree APX, and Hardware Alu in Realtree APX.

Bike Friday Frame Kits now Available

Made in USA / $1,900+ at Bike Friday

This week, Bike Friday announced that you can now order the New World Tourist, Diamond Llama, Pocket Rocket, and All-Packa as frame kits. This is a great option for anyone who has parts hanging around or if you want to build it up exactly how you want it. If you live outside the USA, importing a frame kit from the US is also less expensive in customs fees, since it’s classified as “bike parts” rather than a full bicycle.

Rewd Tool Rholls

Made in USA / $30 at Rewd Bags

Greeley, Colorado’s Rewd Bags just sewed a limited batch of camo Tool Rholls, and 100 percent of the profits will go to support the work of Trans Continental Pipeline, a queer relocation non-profit in Denver. The rolls feature a high-vis pink linking and several inner pockets for organization. Find out how to scoop one of five in the Instagram post linked above.

REEB Cycles x Industry Nine Bronze Project Bikes

Made in USA / $8,995 at Reeb Cycles

REEB Cycles and Industry Nine are offering limited edition Bronze Project builds available on the award winning SST and STEEZL models for the month of August only. The Bronze collaboration features REEB Cycles’ American made rockers, hardware, and seat clamp anodized in-house at Industry Nine to pair perfectly with their bronze wheelset, headset, and stem.

Patagonia Expedition Sewing Awl

34 grams / Made in Taiwan / $29 at Patagonia

Like a lightweight version of the classic Speedy Stitcher, the new Patagonia Expedition Sewing Awl is made for on-the-go repairs, ensuring that a broken bag, boot, or tent doesn’t end your trip early. Designed for heavy-duty gear fixes, it features an ergonomic handle, two #23 industrial needles, and pre-wound recycled polyester thread. It’s made in a Fair Trade Certified factory.

2025 Bombtrack Beyond+ ADV

Made in Taiwan / Details at Bombtrack

The latest Beyond+ ADV is built with 29 x 3” WTB Rangers, Jones Loop handlebar, SRAM GX drivetrain, and Magura Trail Sport brakes. It comes in matte black with the same steel frame and carbon fork featuring triple mounts and internal dynamo routing. It certainly looks ready for anything.

The Brother Cycles Pinecone Pre-Order is Open!

Made in Taiwan / £850 at Brother Cycles

Brother Cycles’ Pinecone, a ’90s MTB-inspired steel bike that features attachments for both disc and caliper brakes, is finally available for pre-order. At £850 including VAT, you get the frame and fork made of heat-treated 4130 chromoly double-butted steel. There is some price variability for customers outside the UK, with £707.50 listed as the pre-order price excluding any local import taxes, and frames are set to ship by late September of this year.

Swift Industries x Ayiyi Vest

Made in the USA / $120 at Swift Industires

Swift Industries is collaborating with maker André Gruber aka Ayiyi to make some cool MADE bike show-specific vests. Featuring the brand colors, these handmade vests will be available for pre-order at the MADE bike show in late August and feature utility pockets, a bespoke Swift patch, metal buttons, and bike-oriented yet fashion-forward design. These jackets will not be available online or outside of the show, so if you’re going to MADE, be sure to put in your order with the Swift team.

In Conversation

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

32-Inch Wheels: Yay or Nay?

This spring, DirtySixer launched the first production 32-inch mountain bike. This week, Neuhaus shared a 32-inch version of their Hummingbird hardtail, and Walt Works mocked up a 32-inch hardtail for a 5’7″ rider. For a wheel size that once seemed too ridiculous to be true, brands sure seem to be taking it seriously. What do you think? Are 32-inch wheels the next big thing? Would you ride them? Share your thoughts in the conversation below!

Around the Community

News from around the bikepacking world…

Walt Works 32″ Hardtail Mockup

As mentioned just above, it turns out Neuhaus isn’t the only framebuilder thinking about 32″ wheels. Walt Works had a bunch of people asking about 32″ wheels, so he put together a drawing of what a frame designed for his 5’7″ wife might look like. According to Walt, she’s probably at the lower limit of making 32″ wheels work with a suspension fork. Read up on Instagram.

Meriwether is Shutting Down

Last month, Whit Johnson at Meriwether Cycles announced that he’ll be shutting down operations after 15 years of framebuilding. Whit has been building custom bikes since 2013, and he attempted to keep things moving forward last year with his first production model, the Ponderosa, but it wasn’t enough.

“I’m happy to end on a high note with happy customers and friends that love their adventure buddies (bikes). If success can be measured without dollar signs i’m happy that i’ve had a successful framebuilding career. Thanks for the support and trust from all you that have bought bikes! If you ever need a repair on your bike i’m here to help. I’ll still be building my own creations but downsizing the shop a bunch.” See more from Whit here.

Building a Custom Bikepacking Rack

This week on the WZRD YouTube channel, framebuilder Emma goes through the full process of building a custom rack. Watch the complete fabrication from A to Z above!

Katrina Hase on the MinneIoWisco

The MinneIoWisco route is a 273-mile bikepacking journey through the Driftless Area of Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin, typically completed in four or five days. In June 2024, Katrina Hase tackled the route over four days, adapting to wet conditions with a few detours. She rode a Moots Routt 45 equipped with 48mm Rene Herse Oracle tires, which proved ideal for the route. Watch the video Katrina made long the way above.

Save 40% on Otso Fenrir Stainless

Through September 5th, or while they last, Otso Cycles is offering 40 percent of all Fenrir Stainless frames and completes. They have all sizes in stock, and these are their lowest prices ever. If you missed it, read our in-depth review here, then head over to OtsoCycles.com to learn more.

Robin Gemperle Speaks on his Tour Divide Win

On the latest episode of professional gravel racer Payson McElveen’s podcast, With Pace, Robin Gemperle breaks down his preparation and mindset for his 2025 Tour Divide win. Giving some background on his time as a professional racer, racing Red Bull Red Hook crits, and so much more, it’s an insightful dive into what it takes to win one of the biggest ultra-distance races on the planet.

Introducing Canyon Sewing

Andrew Wracher of Bedrock Bags has branched off with Jackie Bierie to start Canyon Sewing. Here’s a short intro from them: “We’ve always enjoyed designing innovative products and we did that for almost 13 years with Bedrock. We think we brought some interesting products to the bikepacking market, and that was a great ride while it lasted. We have always enjoyed traveling through open spaces in a variety of different ways whether it’s on bicycles, by foot, boat, kayak, raft, motorcycles, or any number of things. Now, with Canyon, we have a little bit more flexibility to bring some of that same innovation to different platforms. While we still make custom frame bags, going forward, we are excited to also design and build unique and aesthetic products that suit a variety of ways to explore the outdoors.”

Events Starting Soon

What to watch this weekend and bikepacking events starting soon…

UAR700

The UAR700, or unofficial Alberta Rockies 700, is a 700-kilometer bikepacking event that starts and finishes in Canmore, Alberta. This year’s grand depart starts from Rebound Cycles in Canmore at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning. Follow along live here.

GBDURO

GBDURO is a 2,000-kilometer self-supported bikepacking enduro from Land’s End to John O’Groats on road, gravel, singletrack, and everything in between.​ The 2025 event has over 20 riders registered for live tracking, and you can follow along here after they start tomorrow morning.

Colorado Trail Race

The Colorado Trail features 500 miles and 70,000′ 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 5,500 feet to a hypoxic 13,200 feet. The 2025 grand depart starts from Durango first thing Sunday morning, and there are over 70 riders registered. Follow along live here.

Weekly Social

Some things we found around the ‘gram and elsewhere. This week, some photos of a stunning Surly Preamble build from John Wood’s Cycle Repair in Bristol, UK. Check out that custom DIY splatter paint job! See more photos here.

Further Reading

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

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