Buffalo Bags in Thailand just released their latest limited edition bag line. This time, they're printed by pressing and rolling various types of leaves into the fabric, making each bag one-of-a-kind. Learn more here...The post Buffaloride Limited Edition Ecoprint by Buffalo Bags appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

Mathieu van der Poel will be beginning his latest quest for Olympic Gold this coming weekend, when on Saturday, August 3rd, the world champion takes to the roads of Paris for the men's elite road race.Whilst the 2024 Paris Olympic Games are well underway, with a number of those with gold medal drea...

Originally produced by Porcelain Rocket, the Rockgeist Mr. Fusion combines a mini rack with a harness and removable dry bag for an incredibly stable and functional seat pack system. Rockgeist is now offering a non-marking collar for use with dropper posts, further improving its versatility. Learn more here...The post Rockgeist Mr. Fusion for Dropper Posts appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

Subtle top that wears the benefits of a merino mix fabric well and helps justify the price 7/10

On Saturday, August 3rd, the men's peloton will fight for an Olympic gold medal successor to Ecuador's Richard Carapaz. A number of the biggest names in the sport will be in action on the roads of the French capital, Paris, but what is the course like and who could it potentially best suit?Dutch ex...

Best known for its lineup of beautifully designed bells, Spurcycle is entering the mirror game with options for both flat-bar and drop-bar bikes and two size options for each. Learn all about the new Spurcycle Mirrors here...The post Spurcycle Mirrors are Here! appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

One of my favorite things to look for at Crankworx Whistler is all of the unique bikes on display. Often there are a few retro builds, some custom paint jobs, and possibly some prototypes to be found. In the retro department, Devinci stole the show with their Big Bang DH bike.There werent as many custom paint jobs as usual this year, but Trek had one of Cam McCauls bikes at their booth. Devinci also had a brightly colored Spartan and full-face helmet that were custom-painted to make a pretty awesome giveaway prize.Trek Slash+ Prototype and Cam McCauls 20th Anniversary Bike:If youre trying to keep a prototype on the down low, it gets a plain paint job that wont attract attention well, maybe. This unmarked white eMTB is in fact a prototype of the just-released Slash+. It belongs to one of the engineers who was instrumental in the Slash+s design.Also hanging up at Treks booth was this custom Fuel EX, made to celebrate Cam McCauls 20th year as a Trek rider. The chrome was inspired by one of McCauls favorite bikes from his past, and its joined by a textured green paint effect on the frames front end. I was also told a certain very famous slopestyle legend has his 20th anniversary bike coming next year Ill be looking for it!Devinci Big Bang:Devinci Cycles had this retro Big Bang downhill bike at their booth. The bike is owned by Devincis Sea-To-Sky Sales Rep Steve Mitchell, who owns a museum-worthy collection of bikes. Mitchell recently raced this Big Bang at the Psychosis DH race, in a special class for retro bikes. While every part of this bike is a throwback to earlier times, Id say the Shimano Airlines air-powered shifting system is the icing on the cake!The title shot shows a custom-painted Devinci Spartan and ABUS full-face helmet. The paint jobs on both were done by Fresh Paints of Whistler, B.C. The bike features a pink and blue palette with happy faces and bubbly logos, and the helmet features matching text and logos on a white shell. One lucky contest entrant will win this killer combo!Norco VPS-1:It was just announced that the family of Norco Bicycles Founder Bert Lewis just assumed ownership of the company. For the past 60 years, Live to Play Sports Group has been independently owned and operated in a partnership of the Lewis and the Zalkow families. As of July 1, the Lewis family has assumed full ownership of LTP Sports Group Inc.To celebrate a bit of their history, Norco had a VPS-1 at their booth, showing the best freeride/North Shore technology we had in the late 1990s. Downhill bikes were in the primitive stages of full-suspension designs, with the VPS-1 offering what was then considered tons of rear travel at 5.5-6.5. I cant decide if I hate the giant saddle or the double telescoping seat post more! Thank goodness for advances in bike technology!The post Crankworx Whistler: Custom, Retro and Prototype Bikes appeared first on Bikerumor.

Vincent Leygonie said the beds at the Paris Games are 'super comfortable - or it might just be that my bed at home is really bad'

After the comments ofKristian Blummenfelt's coach over recent days, the men's Olympic triathlon event will have had a number of extra views from intrigued cycling fans on Wednesday morning, keen to see if the reigning Olympic champion could retain his title and impress on the bike, given his lofty...

Comment & Analysis: The coverage might lead you to believe that the All Ireland Rail Review is now the official policy in both the North and South of Ireland. But the first giveaway is that the logo of the consultant firm that wrote the report, Arup, is in the corner of every page not official logos from the institutions on both sides of the border.Only a few pages into the report, it is spelt out: The Review has developed recommendations for policymakers that, together, provide a route to achieving the Reviews Goals and Objectives. These recommendations do not represent official policy for either jurisdiction but aim to provide a constructive, evidence-based approach for delivering the Goals and Objectives of this Review.The reports main map (see below) the draft of which people examined in detail has the health warning: Please note: This is an indicative artistic interpretation of the recommendations presented within this document. The pathways delineated on this illustration are conceptual in nature and should not be interpreted as a precise or literal depiction of potential routes or route corridors.Obviously, from the report, the consultants and others involved put a hell of a load of work into it. So, I feel sorry to have to say this report is somewhat undermined by the way its presented with so many political caveats.Of course, notes should be included saying routes may not be exact, etc, but the warning in the report goes a bit further than that. Its also hard not to be cynical when so many reports and studies have sat on shelves and are often never looked at by the people who say no research has been done. The Department of Transports press release on the report outlined that This ground-breaking Report, approved for publication by the Irish Government and DfI Minister, sets out a strategic vision for the development of the rail system across the island of Ireland over the coming decades.But with all of the caveats in the report, it hardly can even be called an official vision.The world of investing in public infrastructure has been captured by the pseudoscience of meeting requirements set by people in Government finance ministries around the world that has no bearing on reality. For example, roads in urban areas are often approved for their benefits, including cutting congestion, when it has been proven that such roads increase congestion repeatedly. Rail projects which have examples of benefiting society often rank lower than major road projects that result in major harm and dont address transport in the best way possable. This is completely against the scientific method.Something that we need to face is that the decision to build or cancel mega projects basically larger projects such as metros, higher-speed railways, motorways, large hospitals, etc is not made because some cost-benefit analysis says it makes sense or not.For example, the Torys decision to cancel High Speed 2 in the UK was based on lies. These are political decisions. Often dressed up as something else, but ultimately political decisions.Thats not to say that the State should have a blank cheque or not care much for value for money quite the opposite: We need to focus more on these things after we make a clear decision about whether something should be built or not.The lack of wide political decision-making is one of the flaws of this process (and Im talking wider than the railway review). That feeds into the reports vision. For example, the excellent concept of segregation of mainline intercity rail and local/regional services like Dart is a key part of the review. But there are signs that it has been considered too much from the perspective of doing it in terms of being realistic in terms of making Departments of Finance happy. For example, in engineering terms, theres nothing stopping the suggested addition of extra tracks on the Northern Line between Clongriffin and Dublin City Centre.I mean, in engineering terms, reducing peoples back gardens is possible. So is even knocking houses, Knocking a good few trees and building the aliment into what is currently a golf course is also possible (desirable even). Changing bridges and roads is no problem.But the realpolitik of the situation is youd have built a few tunnels with the same political capital it would take to widen the alignment south of Clongriffin. Of course, we already have many shades of anti-rail people horrified with this plan, actually campaigning against it in national newspapers. Theyd be worse if it was beefed up. Thats where the political vision is needed: To face down the nonsense.The map below is also supposed to represent the rail network after 2040. But theres no solution still for Dublin to Bray and the whole way to Wexford is still single track, and theres still sections of single track between Dublin and Galway.The electrification programme might be solid transport thinking (electricity where the frequency justifies it, etc), but it doesnt really fit into our climate commitments. If rail is to play a larger part in decarbonising the future, 16 years from now, more of the network should be getting beyond stop-gap measures such as battery electric. And hydrogen trains are so-far a non-runner. Railways in Ireland have been underinvested since the independence of the South. Some people really underestimate this and focus way too much on the old railway maps when the rail network was built to transport a huge percentage of national cargo traffic (then food for export). Much of the older network was not really a passenger network.Beyond the report, we also need a collective vision of where we want rail to goPartly due to this kind of nostalgic thinking of looking at old maps, mixed with many peoples just being focused on their own areas or routes rather than the wider picture, we sometimes have genuine railway supporters nearly arguing against investment in Dublin or on lines towards Dublin.We need a collective vision where lines like Cork-Belfast/Derry and Galway to Dublin offer a backbone of the intercity network, and much-needed improvements to those lines are seen as key. Then, people would also see that the Dart+ plan for Dublin is an improvement in the national rail service in terms of allowing for fast and frequent connections once passengers get to Dublin and also, especially with Dart+ South West, allowing for the separation of local and intercity services that use the Kildare line, given the line more capacity and reliability.There needs to be some understanding that people who support rail should not be looking for villages and smaller towns to be connected before projects that should have been built decades ago. For example, Navan, with a population of nearly 35,000 people, should be connected to the rail network that towns with a fraction of that population.Navan is relatively close to Dublin, which makes it a good match for a Dart-like rail link. That case becomes all the more stronger when you have the cluster of Dunshaughlin (~6k people) along the old line and both Ratoath and Ashbourne (nearly 30k people) beside it.It would be overkill to try to serve the three towns, but a station closer to the middle of the cluster of towns, at least on the west side of Dunshaughlin or even closer to Ratoath, could mean that a cluster of 36k people would be within a 5-6 minutes cycle or easy bus transfer from the station. This is why we need more of a collective vision and fewer debates pushed by anti-rail forces and also people who support rail in very limited ways