Some Bicycle Things I’m Stoked About On A Friday, January 30th, 2026
After a couple, or few, weeks of only riding my rigid mountain bicycle, I’ve been enjoying my recently built-up Honzo ST. It’s a, for now, last-gen 2023 model. I didn’t love the gold colour on the website. And, I’m the only person chez MEAT who didn’t love the green colour out of the box. But I’m stoked to say that the greenish-goldish looks awesome in the forest.
I have grand plans for the frame. For the time being, it’s filling in for my Arcturian Voyager, and once that’s back in action, I’ll be using Honzo in chasing after my oft-mentioned idea of a Unit ESD. Now that there’s Unit, Unit-X, and the unconfirmed, Unit-Y, this big-braked double-hardtail Funduro* rig could be the Unit-Z?!
Just imagine the Zee vs. Zed marketing campaign for the all-Cascadian cross-border bike brand! Basically, it writes itself.
* {Extended lower cup and a 29×3.0″ Maxxis DHRII front / 29×2.6″ DHRII rear for the Honzo’ed up Unit or Unit-badged Honzo?!}
{Photos: MEATengines}
[Warning: Politics]
Ride Together
“‘A bike shop shouldn’t be political‘… Maybe not, but this isn’t political anymore…” – Brave New Wheel {Bicycle People / Bicycle Culture / Service & Repair}
My pops and I used to regularly have, usually, friendly political debates. We spent all of our years, from my first election to his last, cancelling out each other’s votes. In fact, I think the only provincial or federal leader we ever agreed on was PM². Socially more liberal, fiscally more cautious, we concurred on significantly more things than we didn’t. Truth told, once you shred through the rhetoric, I’d say that extends to most of the folks I’ve known. Our arguments were usually more about the journey than the destination.
Alas, there’s no perfect platform, and so all voting is about ranking priorities. We may not agree on what services should be delivered by what levels of government, who should pay for them, how the benefits of resource extraction, or the economy at large, should be divided, and how tax revenue is focused between defense, education, healthcare, targeted tax breaks, etc. But if we can move past the branding, polling regularly demonstrates more plurality of opinion than we’d be encouraged to believe by folks whose first goal is getting (re)elected.
{Photo: MEATengines}
I bring it up because readers have told me many times over the past decade to stick to writing about bicycles and leave my politics aside. It’s always been easy enough for me to ignore this pressure; I don’t really have anything to lose in voicing my shock over the Israeli state’s child-murdering interpretation of ‘Never Again‘; or sharing my distain for the global reluctance to properly support Ukraine as they bulwark against a return to might-makes-right territorial grabs; or lamenting the American state’s return to colonialist goals and slave catching.
But, there are a lot of bicycle businesses, particularly in the USA, that are having to choose between risking a loss of some customers vs. taking a real stand for their employees, neighbours, and other customers. Ignoring the threat to their short & long term sales at a time when the whole industry, from mom-and-pops to massive manufacturers, is creaking, squeaking, groaning, and grinding along through the worst downturn in my career.
A specific shoutout here to Minneapolis, MN, bicycle culture cultivators Angry Catfish Bicycle & Coffee for kicking things off, but at the time I’m writing this, there are some 200+ Unity Rides launching tomorrow. Many of those are hosted by local shops that I’m stoked to say, and, honestly, disquieted to say, are taking a risk.
{Photo: Angry Catfish Cycles}
What’s even more invigorating, to me, than all the local shops taking a stand for their neighbours, including their neighbours across the country, are the global brands that are stepping up to side with the people, despite receiving ample criticism from customers telling them to stick to bikes, or to leave politics* out of bicycling, and threatening boycotts. It’s a lot easier for a local shop to hedge on the sentiments of their customers, and to have follow-up conversations with said customers, than it is for a brand with a multi-national dealer network.
Anywho, by no means even an attempt at an exhaustive list, but off the top of my head I saw the Q brands (e.g. Surly, Salsa) standing up, as well as the good folks at Wolf Tooth Components, so shoutout to them in addition to everyone else pedaling change & community.
*{I mean, I figured we all knew that bicycles, humankind’s most beautiful invention, are synonymous with freedom, and therefore all pedaling is political on some level?}
[/Warning: Politics]
{Photo: MEATengines}
Two Lights in the Night
It’s all about that joie de nuit. Part of running a weekly group ride is always being prepared to ride alone, and part of accepting that is learning to love it. I genuinely love being in the forest by myself at night, but it’s a taste I’ve acquired over years and years of trying to convince other folks to come ride with me after hours.
But some nights are more pleasant than others. Stood there, sheltering as best I could under the thick branch of a tree, already well dampened from the ride to my ride, I’ll admit that seeing Chris Gnarker’s two lights in the distance warmed me up at least as much as my fresh pair of gloves.
I’m always stoked to ride my bike, but I’m at least a teensy bit more stoked when I am sharing the adventure. We’ve had a great run with the Wednesday Night Lights ride. It’s a guilt-free no-drop ride*, and you’re going to be tired Thursday morning anyway, so if you’re North Van adjacent, you should come along.
*{Click the link or fire me an e-mail for more details.}
{Photos: MEATengines}
Endless Custom Cogs
Shanna at Endless Bike Co has all kinds of great sayings available in sticker format. My favourite remains “There Are No Boring Trails, Just Boring People,” but a close second is “I’d Rather Be Rad Than Fast.”
In any event, “Fuck Yeah Bikes!” is also an awesome option, and for a limited time {pre-order closes March 1st}, in addition to being available as a sticker, it’s available on an Endless Kick Ass Cog of your colour and tooth-count choice.
But wait! There’s more! By popular demand, custom “Fuck Ice” cogs are also now available. Is this a missed opportunity to help educate folks in the many uses of the ‘F’ word by making combined “Fuck Ice & Fuck Yeah Bikes!” cogs? Never hurts to grab one of each and swap them depending on your mood?!
[Photo: Endless Bike Co]
PNW Warranty Axles
In my years in the bicycle industry, I’ve seen few mass warranties or recalls handled as forthrightly as PNW Components’ Loam 2 Pedals axle issue. Magura Durin fork lowers, first-gen Cane Creek DB Inline shock assembly issues, no, I think PNW takes the cake.
- They took no chances. After seeing a couple of broken axles, they stopped selling the pedals, issued a full recall, and asked their customers to stop riding them.
- They sent out a pair of their composite Range pedals to Loam 2 purchasers, at no charge, to keep them riding while they sorted replacement axles.
- As of this week, customers are receiving their replacement axles in the mail. It’s a super quick switch – check out my teardown – and feel encouraged to hit me up if you have any questions.
PNW has replaced the entire two-piece axle assembly, including the guts, and the pedal threads of the new setups are silver, rather than black, so it’s easy to distinguish old from new.
[Photos: MEATengines]
Wolf Tooth -2° Angleset
I’ve lost count of how many frames I’ve pressed this -2° WTC GeoShift headset into, but with the Honzo ST being the latest victim, it’s top of my mind.
The GeoShift headsets come with Wolf Tooth’s lower-end ‘Performance’ black-oxide coated cartridge bearing, and the one in this headset was finally feeling tired even after a clean & grease. No worries, I replaced it with a stainless steel Enduro bearing, à la WTC Premium headsets.
I often say that good geometry is free, but that assumes bike brands are on that bandwagon. If your rig would be more perfect with the front wheel kicked out, or in*, a degree or two, this is a great choice of product.
*{As an example, I lament having not tried the Devinci Chainsaw with a +1° headset.}
{Photos: MEATengines}
Pedaling Shop Philosophies
Concepts of a sign. I’ve been hearing about this essential sign, and its partner, “Is Bike Mechanics Hard?” for years upon years. Now it exists. I love it. Yeah, so. That’s all I had to say about that.
Alright, a couple more words. If I were going to hang one philosophy above my own work bench, I would R&D* it straight from Brixton-Jim: “No Manners, No Spanners.” But Nice Guy’s scissors sign is rad too.
*{Ripoff & Duplicate}
{Photo: MEATengines}
Larry Talker Tunes: By Terry
Last week’s Bif Naked selection was a great listen. Thanks, Andrew.
On that note, we’re staying local with a recommendation from an In-law: a band from Squamish, British Columbia. Apparently, the band’s inspiration has a lot to do with hanging out in Tofino, BC.
Go figure.
I had not heard of this band and went with the newest release. Their two other albums are worth a play as well.
Surf Hat – Modern World Blues (2025)
If you’re in the ‘surf twang mood’, this is worth a listen.
{Photo: Surf Hat}
Climbmax
The non-technical executive summary? I love this week’s Larry Talker Tunes album. I’d never heard of Surf Hat, but their song Chasing Your Tail makes me want to rewatch* The Big Lebowski while dancing on a rug, and that can only be a good thing.
There’s a bunch of MEAT on the way this week. Sunday, we have a lovely Bicycle Valentine, and then it’s a Tuesday double-header with a fresh haikutastic About A Single Speed and a first-look/teardown review piece.
In the meantime, happy trails!
Andrew
*{re-re-re-re-rewatch?!}
Blurb
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