Although well known, highly respected and widely used in the US, Porcelain Rocket luggage is quite a rarity in the UK. The main reason for this obscurity, is the somewhat random approach HM Customs and Excise take to things arriving on our shores from the other side of the Atlantic. Sometimes, luck’s on your side […]
As a bikepacker or even, a would be bikepacker, the issue of weight can’t have escaped you. Anyone who’s ever puffed and wheezed their way up a one in four or required assistance to lift their two wheeled behemoth over an unweieldly gate, will testify to the fact that weight and its reduction, is a […]
Bearstock? As with so many things in life, it all started with a flash of electricity between someone’s ears. That electrical impulse was converted into the medium of speech and before you’d considered that Robert might be a relation, the idea of a ‘party’ had been born. It was scheduled to coincide with the Bear […]
Double-ended dry bags? It’s a concept I fully understand in theory but I’ve always found that when theory becomes practice, there’s no real world benefit to having a hole at each end. If we were playing dry bag Top Trumps, I’d fail to see how ‘ooh I can get my stuff out of either end’ […]
In part 2 of this epic saga, we were finally introduced to the cuddly bear, a friendly, approachable and perhaps slightly childish fella, who’s character traits epitomise those of nearly every bikepacker I’ve ever met. Flying under his flag were a website, a forum and this very outlet for my observations and ramblings … but […]
Admit it, we all like that new bike feeling but it’s a habit that can be expensive to feed. Sure, there’s cheap bikes out there and a hundred of your British pounds will buy you a bicycle … or at least something resembling a bicycle. It’s unlikely to last very long and will probably eat […]
Perhaps, before we depart on the second leg of our journey down memory lane, I should apologise a little for part one. Given the title, many of you were probably expecting a retrospective look at the first five years of Bear Bones and instead, you got the three years prior to the first five years […]
If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again, it might be a worthy motto to live by but it’s one that can be hard to live with. When you’ve given something your all, used every last ounce of resolve, fought tooth and nail and still ended up on the wrong side of success […]
Long, long ago, in a land not far from here, there existed a network of roads that criss-crossed the countryside joining farm to hamlet and village to town. They conveyed the righteous toward salvation, eased the passage of animals and goods, kept the news and gossip flowing and transported the bodies of the deceased from […]
Do you ever have a wobble, a moment of self doubt, the feeling that you’ve mistaken your intentions with your abilities or that the world is conspiring to make your next hour on earth feel like an eternity in Hell? Do you find yourself sulking and sullen as you trudge up the fourth hill of […]