It actually took longer to find my collection of AF spanners than it took to turn a 42 year old Raleigh shopper into a pile of scrap. I say ‘scrap’ because I had 2 boxes, 1 for bits that would be getting re-used and a second for everything that wouldn’t … nothing except the frame […]
I’m sure most of us try and ride something suitable for the terrain we’re hoping to cover but sometimes it isn’t that easy. I still ride downhills but no longer own a downhill bike, I ride on tarmac but don’t possess a road bike … so perhaps it follows that someone might want to go […]
The third Bear Bones ‘Winter Event’ took place last weekend. The imaginatively titled There ‘n back included the usual ingredients … big hills, boggy bits, getting lost, getting cold, smiling, laughing and swearing were all present to varying degrees depending how well your initial route planning had gone. If just going out to ride wasn’t […]
The Ocelot from Wildcat Gear is a semi-universal, partial frame bag. I say ‘semi-universal’ because it’s available in 4 different sizes … simply pick the one who’s dimensions best match those of your frame. The one in the pictures is a medium and the bike is a 16″ On-One Inbred, the Ocelot’s a near perfect […]
I introduced the Travers Rudy Fat 29+ here a few weeks ago. Since then I’ve been on various trips and rides in its company, some were loaded and some weren’t, some were dry and sunny and others … most certainly weren’t. If you’ve bothered to read part 1 then you’ll know that I had reservations about […]
In part 1 we looked at trying to minimise heat loss through conduction by improving our ground insulation … now it’s time for convection.Convection happens in response to the movement of a fluid or gas. We can pretty much forget about fluid and concentrate on gas and for our purposes that gas is air. The […]
The MLD Trailstar is a 5 sided tarp, all 5 panels are the same size / shape and there’s no zippers, vents, flaps or door. It’s a unique design that produces a shelter unmistakable from anything else. The Trailstar can be erected with 6 pegs and a single pole as a minimum. There’s 5 additional […]
If you spend your nights outside then at some point you’ll be requiring some sort of light. The Fenix MC10 (and the latest MC11 version) isn’t the usual headtorch. It can be used as a headtorch when combined with the additional strap but even without, it’s a versatile bit of kit. The light has a […]
If you hadn’t already twigged, Hexamid is short for Hexangonal Pyramid. It’s not an uncommon shape for a shelter (the BPWD Lair has been mentioned on numerous occasions here) but this offering from ZPacks must one of the lightest available. Plenty of room for Billy no mates. There’s a few different models of Hexamid, this […]
I once read that ‘bivouac’ was the native American word for ‘mistake’ … now, while that’s not actually true it did get me thinking about peoples perception of a bivvy. In the company of like-minded souls, saying you’re going to spend the night outside at this time of year is fine, it’ll usually be met […]