Some Bicycle Things I’m Stoked About On A Friday, January 23rd, 2026.
I’m still feeling a bit beaten from the Wednesday Night Lights ride. Beauty evening, excellent conditions, great crew, and a rocks-and-roots reminder that there’s too much of a good thing. Put another way, I love rigid forks, night riding, and janky trails, but I should probably only enjoy two of those things at a time. You know, like coffee, whiskey, and smoked salmon.
It’s just that much harder to ride smoothly at night. Unexpected forces through the bar, mis-timing rooty tendrils, and reduced distance for reaction make for a harsher riding experience. This is also where my Waltworks V1 is simply so much more of a Tech-C bike than my much longer and slacker V2 was. I’ve definitely been missing my V2 riding rigid-only these last couple weeks.
{Photo: MEATengines}
{V2 Photo: Hardtail.Life}
This week, I had some nice chats with awesome bike shop people I’ve known for ages. It’s tough right now in the bicycle industry. I know a fair few folks who are {hopefully temporarily} laid off, and I’m aware of multiple shops that are straddling the fence deciding if they’re staying open. Obviously, I’m not stoked about any of that, or, with hindsight, to have been one of the ardent positivists who truly thought the industry had turned the corner.
As someone who loves³ working on and talking about bicycles – humankind’s most beautiful invention – but is burned out on integrated cable routing adventurism, ‘must-have’ nano-improvements, and battery-powered anything, I’ll admit that I do take some pleasure in hearing {some} shop owners talk about growing customers with a heavy refocusing on basic, good-quality, commuter and mountain bicycles. The old way. Even if everyone is still all-in for luxury-eebs & MTeeBs on the record.
{Photo: MEATengines}
Sunday Morning Reverse Night Ride
I won’t rehash all the details, having just shared it, but I’ve been stoked all week about Sunday’s No-Lights Reverse Night Ride. I was even making bold claims that this exact format was going to become my jam all year round. Umm, that was, until I was reminded just how early one must arise in some months for a pedal & plunge to include dropping in at dawn.
{Photos: Crash Test Kevin}
About A Single Speed
I know that #JerryWillowsHatesMyBike, but how does he feel about a well-considered Haiku? It’s a question that I’m storing in the back of my brain for the next time I run into him.
Yeah, so. Thank you to everyone who submitted a haiku and a photo of their #1FG rig. I’ll be running ‘About A Single Speed‘ on TueSSdays for at least the next month and a half, and I’m so stoked about it. Whether it’s Bicycle Valentines or other submissions, more community participation is my MEATengines goal for 2026.
{Photo: The Clairebarian}
Pinner Headset
I’ve been lamenting all the dual 27″ wheeled rigs becoming MX bicycles. Especially in size small. Won’t someone think of all the grom-parents looking to buy a used hardtail?
Yes, it’s possible to balance out a pair of 27″ wheels on many mullets by adding an extended lower headset cup, tall crown race, and sticking with a 29″ fork, but here’s a much cleaner solution from the folks at Pinner Machine Shop.
The Heads Up headset cup is available in two versions. There’s a +12mm cup for folks wanting to under-fork their big-rig and a +18mm version for folks wanting to rock the double the 650b setup. Or, the +18mm would probably also be awesome for someone wanting to run a 140mm Manitou Mattoc on their 160/170mm-fork happy Arcturian Voyager?
{Photo: Pinner Machine Shop}
I’d feel remiss to mention Pinner and not also share my stoke on their raddest little Made-In-Pemby product. First up is their version of the long-discontinued Chris King Fun Bolts. The original King ones were called ‘Fun Bolts’ because they were not any fun to make, but they were an awesome product in practice.
If you have a classic/ISO King hub and you’re using thread-in QR inserts, Pinner’s bolts are a very worthy upgrade.
{Photo: Pinner Machine Shop}
Sherry @ Sateen
“She’s the loveliest.“
I’ve lived in North Vancouver for quite a while now, and aside from crossing the bridge to see my auto mechanic, I have a hard bent to spending locally for goods and services. As a by-product of that, I find myself referring plenty of friends to plenty of places.
Of all my regular haunts, no referrals draw more stoke than my friend Sherry at Sateen. She’s my desleever of future vests, my pant enshanter, and she’s been fixing my grom’s clothes since before The Clairebarian could walk.
Amongst Sherry’s many alteration and repair services, she’s also the go-to ‘Teddy Bear Hospital.’ Anywho, to quote more than one of my friends, “She’s the loveliest,” so if you’re North Shore adjacent and need some sewing drop in.
{Photo: Sateen Alterations}
“Exercise Bikes”
“Atherton says they’ve been working on this bike for years… they stuck with their industry-leading twelve-size range, as they do with their exercise bikes, allowing riders to choose a size with 10 mm reach increments.“
From the creators* of the cringeworthy ‘Down Country**’ category comes my new favourite terms for human-powered mountain bikes. Yep, it’s not “You, Only Faster,” it’s just you. No pedal-assisted-motoring here, it’s an ‘Exercise Bike.’
Now, I can foresee the obvious confusion; after all, ‘e’ is for exercise, but from a marketing perspective I think this has a much more inviting ring to it than ‘Meat Bike,’ ‘Muscle Bike,’ ‘Suffer Bike,’ or any of the other new nomenclature I’ve read or heard being attached, as differentiator, to the classic mountain bicycle sans motor.
*{Actually, in the comments on the article, Seb Stott did throw credit to Guy Kesteven.}
**{Not to be confused with Cooper Quinn’s equally amazing ‘Shore Country’.}
{Comments: Pinkbike}
Pair of Kings
I mean, umm, so, yeah… bicycles. Wow. Just, wow. This stunning pair of ‘cross steads was created by King Fabrications and, well, they’re beautiful. Beautiful. I’ve spent more time than I care to admit deciding whether I’m more drawn to pink fade purple fade pink or purple fade pink fade purple. My conclusion? Both.
I’m a sucker for fade paint jobs and any colour in the purple, lilac, pink, fuchsia, etc. universe, but these are my high-bar for bicycle beauty in 2026 thus far.
{Photo: King Fabrications}
Larry Talker Tunes: By Andrew
Alright, it’s my week for LTT. I’ve been doing a lot of bicycle wrenching at home this week, projects-on-projects, and one day, listening to the radio, I learned that Big Naked had a new album in 2024. Champion.
Model-T, I don’t know that anything is quite on the level of I Love Myself Today, or Spaceman, or her rad cover of Nothing Else Matters, but in the spirit of folks continuing to do their thing, it’s absolutely worth a run through.
For folks looking to just sample a couple of songs, Never No Never, the title track, Champion, Heavy, and Snowblinded all throw back hard and grow on me with every listen.
{Photo: Bif Naked}
Climbmax
The non-technical executive summary? I installed my casually crunched Shimano XT cranks and the SR Suntour Durlox RC+ onto my Honzo frame last night, so I’m stoked that by next Wednesday, I should have 170mm of magic eraser available for those technical wheel taggers that go unseen at night.
A reminder here that if you’re North Vancouver adjacent and fancy a late night pedal {“guilt-free rides” as Brett Tippie calls them for the parents among us}, you are invited. More details and the disclaimer/waiver.
I have a wheel to build, and some 182mm spokes to source, and all the other parts to hang, and then we’ll be talking something old, something new, something borrowed, something fresh commuter bike for Drew. Future stokeage.
Happy Trails,
Andrew
Blurb
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