Some Bicycle Things I’m Stoked About On A Friday, May 1st, 2026
I used to laugh at the persnickety pedanticism of it all. My friend Phteven {“Stephen with a ‘ph’“}, AKA Stephen Seagull, AKA Stevel Knievel, would take a deep breath and retort that the sacred sport surface we mountain bikers reverently call ‘loam’ is actually, be ready for it, duff. Yes, that’s right, when you’re thinking of that luxurious carpet of needles and other decomposing plant particulars, that’s so wonderful to shred in dry conditions, you’re actually dreaming of duff, not lusting for loam. You’re doing the Duff Dancer’s Delight, not the Loam Lambada. It’s a duff dash, not a loam lope. It’s a… I’m… I’m just going to leave it there.
It came seriously to mind this week when I saw an advertisement from a sporting goods outfitter of significance about gearing up to ride “loamy bike paths.” Even in the misused sense of the word, what is a loamy bike path? I mean, it’s not something that should bother me, but my right eye twitched for a few minutes after I saw it. Does anyone actually talk that way about trails? After a bit of thought, I’m fairly certain that loamy bike paths are where A.I. goes to pedal those big-box-bikes with the forks on backward? Yep, loam has officially jumped the shark, and it didn’t even do any good tricks.
Anyway, in honour of Steve, I’m banning the word loam from the MEATengines nomenclature going forward. That is, for any usage other than its actual meaning, a plant-happy, nutrient-rich mix of sand, silt, and clay with a seasoned sprinkling of organic matter to taste. Loam is great for gardening, but shit for mountain biking. Duff makes for the perfect dry-day trail type for ripping your super-stapler, sag-wagon, double-hardtail, etc. in the forest.
{Photo: MEATengines}
Knowing Where ‘The Soul’ Comes From
Before I say anything else, I want to take a second to shout out SRAM for long understanding this reality. It’s marketing in part, yes, maybe even the big part. But they’ve done a lot over the years to support small frame builders with componentry for show bikes and to launch new product not just on the big players’ rigs but in a way that showcases the craft and creativity of one-builder bespoke outfits and micro-production brands with a highly localized following. Thanks, SRAM.
Now I’m not saying our production bicycles, or bicycle products even, have no souls, they simply come out of the box with a blank slate and grow through the stories we experience with them. I own a well battered rear derailleur that has tons of personality and I’ve been on a first name basis with a number of frames out of Taiwan that weren’t even mine, but none of that is driving the still striving grassroots culture of mountain bicycling.
A custom bicycle, a small batch bicycle bent and built with one person’s filed hands and hand files. A one-of-one pack or bike bag. You know what I mean, there’s something special already imbued into those items that stems from the small shop, or shed, doing their own thing circumstances.
{Photos: Mark Lawson}
As per usual, I wasn’t in attendance at Sea Otter this year, but I asked a few folks who I know were going to fire me some photos of cool non-MTeeB stuff they saw, or even the cool stuff happening in their own booths for a piece I’ve half finished about stuff I didn’t see at Sea Otter this year. Because, again, I wasn’t there. Thanks to Dumpster Bear for making the time between brand visits and eating a {single} burrito larger than a small child to take a few snaps and I promise I will use them.
In the meantime, on theme, here are a couple shots of sweet rigs from small concerns that Mark from SR Suntour fired over. What better way to showcase their new Raidon and Axon 32″ forks than on the front of some sweet rigs of record? The Raidon is mounted to the Alder from FEA-forward Wisconsin concern Quarry Cycling Co. On theme, I’d never heard of Jim Day’s in-house designed, machined, welded and painted frames but it is very much worth a visit to their website to check out the cast pewter headtube badges and machined dropouts and yokes. The stainless steel Wisconsin stem caps are nifty too.
The Axon is fronting a shared Spooky Cycle Works & Rodeo Adventure Labs prototype project and I-spy-with-my-nerdy-eyes those fresh looking Lockjaw 2 UDH-compatible sliding dropouts with 30mm of adjustment range*. I’ve written about the re-launched Spooky before with a shoutout to their aluminum-is-actual Slacker model in SBTISAOAF for November 21st, 2025: Those About To Try, We Salute You.
*{Thirty millimeters of adjustment range! And they sell the Lockjaw 2 slider system separately but, “It is only offered to low volume / small batch frame builders that we consider peers, friends, or collaborators in the industry.” How on message is that?! It’s available in steel or titanium but sadly only in pfft… pfffffffffttttt… flat mount… the flat mount caliper mounting standard makes me cry, so I haven’t included a close-up photo lest my tears blind me for the rest of this endeavour.}
{Photo: Mark Lawson}
[Aside]
Mark’s photo of the Rodeo x Spooky reminded me of a funny anecdote from our ride on Saturday. One of the fellows we were riding with asked Claire about the purpose of the lever on her bar. She looked at him incredulously, then at her dropper post, and then at him again. He knew that she was on a single-speed, so it’s not a shifter, and assumed that her silver seat post was fixed in place {triple hardtail!}. And, it turns out he wasn’t alone in his assumption.
Anyway, PNW Loam dropper, gen 2, the stealthiest of stealth routed dropper posts?!
[/Aside]
{Photo: MEATengines}
Show & Shine
Mark your calendars, Vancouver-adjacent folks, the annual Show-and-Shine strikes again on June 6th. Last year I spent more time chatting with Tay, Larry Talker, and Wendy than actually looking at rigs but I’m super excited that this year there’s an emphasis on show casing Resto-Mod rigs instead of just the poor show ponies that never had a chance to be properly ridden.
I know, I’m forever grouchy about any ‘museum’ bike that’s still ready to ride. Sure, hang it up and display it, but wait until it’s had all the fun ridden out of it. Especially those old NORBA hardtails that are all hungry for a rigid fork and a second life ATBing the days away.
Yeah, so. Enough ‘Mean Guy Mandrew’ griefing about bicycle life, rocking the trash can next to Oscar, this is going to be a great community event, which is another place ‘The Soul’ of cycling is birthed from. This year my favourite community builder, Thomas, is sharing the torch with Matt from HMPL Design. I’m going to balance my bull shitting with taking some photos by bringing The Clairebarian along. Presumably to take over photography duties, but honestly, she’s developing some solid BS’ing skills as well.
See you there?
{Photo: Mount Pleasant BIA}
The Clairebarian and Mr. Lungtastic
What a great name for a cartoon! Right? The best part is that these two characters would be the two characters so the writing would mostly take care of itself. It’s funny, when Claire was tiny, then wee, then little, then small, we used to manage to schedule fairly frequent coffee hangouts, after a walk down to the see the ducks, of course, but as traffic has become ever worse and life ever busier this week was the first time that two of my favourite single speeders have actually turned wheels together. And we did it twice!
Yesterday, sorry, that’s years ago, the Clairebarian loved to sit in Bri’s van and pretend to drive “Brian’s Bus*” while we nerded out about this and that in the meat-powered bicycle galaxy. This week she was setting the pace. Time rolls on regardless of what wheel size it’s on. At the end of the day, two stoked riders, two big smiles, two rad hardtails, two sweet cogs, if that isn’t the heart of what we’re up to, I don’t know.
*{On the subject of buses, Claire’s small Samurai isn’t that far of Bri’s Big Unit when it comes to wheelbase?}
{We all said goodbye to Dear Mischa some five years ago now, but she comes up in conversations regularly.}
{Photos: MEATengines}
Sentient Cargo Sag-Wagon
Pedaling my Omnium to work today I entered a drag race with some young punk {meant in the nicest way} on a fat-tired Specialized Globe e-cargo bike. I managed to pass him once and catch him a couple other times before I burnt myself out. Totally worth it. I also had a pedestrian on their cellphone walk obliviously into my path on the bike lane necessitating the most aggressive curb drop I’ve pulled off to date. Loving that Billy Bonkers and the custom 20″ CushCore Commuter insert.
I bring it up because, while I’m superbly stoked on my ATB-long Omnium Mini-Max, it’s old news to the suspension nerds at work. Far be it for me to complain about how much cargo-bike chit-chat is happening at the shop, but Sentient’s sag-wagon isn’t that cool. I mean, it’s cool, but, okay, fine, it’s beyond nifty. And yes, that’s a brilliant use for a Manitou Junit Pro grom fork.
Pope Jimmy was beyond stoked about Sentient Works, the Wales based brand “…busy blurring the line between mountain and cargo bikes.” With 120mm of fork travel and up to 150mm in the rear, a Reynolds 631 steel frame, and a curved downtube that’s even more 1999 Stab Deluxe than the new Unity, well, it’s straight-up rad. Not a bike I can imagine owning, my Omnium is comfortable enough for gravel and light trail and the single-track is way too tight, but in a sea of belly button bikes this is not that and I’m stoked for it.
If you’re hungry for more information, The Radavist spilled some words about the Sherpa in their 2026 Bespoke UK coverage and have written about other Sentient projects in the past.
{Photo: Sentient Works}
{Photo: John @ The Radavist}
Smiles Per Hour
The number one metric in measuring the success of any mountain bicycle ride. They can be smiles of sweat-faced suffering, or smiles of singletrack shedding joy, or smiles from witnessing your grom salting it up with a bunch of crusty trail veterans. Whatever grinds up your stresses for easier digestion and grounds you in the forest.
I have a few friends who are having a hard time firing up the two wheeled spark and before I can even open my mouth with some commiserations I’m instantly shot down with “Yes, Andrew, I know, ‘Have you considered single speeding? What about a rigid fork? Both?’. Blah, blah, blah.” And, I mean, if you’re already armed with the solution, then what’s stopping you?
Okay, in all seriousness, a less optimized bike isn’t a path to single track nirvana, or gnarvana, but it can be a tool to arriving there. Chasing seconds, millimeters, grams, features, has a tendency to leave us hungry for more, unsated. It’s not guaranteed {what truly is?}, but if you’re finding you’re less stoked on riding mountain bicycles and would like to be more stoked about riding bicycles maybe ask your hardtail loving, or single-speed loving, or double-hardtail-single-speed loving friend if you can take a spin on their rig.
{Photo: MEATengines}
The Builders
Frame builders, community builders, and lets not forget the trail builders. Mountain bicycling sits on strong foundations passed down from folks who’ve learned to toil the soil of their specific locals. Whether it’s clearing drains, wielding a rake, some other relatively simple task, or building monuments to the craft from wood, dirt, or stone, that’s part of the fabric of the soul of this activity and I’m stoked that you’re digging to ride.
Thank you,
{Photo: MEATengines}
Larry Talker Tunes: By Andrew
No notes from Model-T about last week’s Pokey Lafarge recommendation but it turns out there are some Pokey fans {old, new, and renewed} in the extended MEATengines reader-ridership and that’s pretty awesome. Terry Walker’s been under the weather so I figured we’d throw him some comfort tunes. I was thinking some Surf Hat but I only know who they are because of his recommendation in SBTISAOAF.
Anyway, take 2:40 to listen to Run Your Mouth by The Marías. Smooth, yes? Next check out Ay No Puedo. If those two tracks are your jam then it’s time to spin their whole 2024 album Submarine. I think it’s the optimum atmosphere for cruising through some bicycle maintenance or, in my case, a little rebuild project of one of the cooler ATB-MTB-Plus rigs I’ve put hands on {that’s a teaser for next week}. It may not create any urgency but when it comes to wrenching, like riding, smooth is fast.
{Photo: The Marías}
Climbmax
I’ll begin the end with the most recent MEATengines SBTISAOAF tradition of apologizing to folks I haven’t replied to about their About a Single Speed entries. I’m going to catch up this weekend for certain! Probably. Sorry. What else exciting is going on? Claire is going to have her first experience splitting cedar rungs this weekend and rather than hacking it out with papa she’ll be learning the right way {and I’ll be relearning the right way}. There’s technique to master in everything from putting Slickoleum on an air piston to eating noodles.
We also have the most beautiful new-to-Claire early-run anodized blue NSBillet Overlord stem going on her commuter bike. Which reminds me, I have had a few messages asking if I know when NSB will have 31.8 Overlord stems in stock and all I’ve heard is “soon”. It’s my favourite, so when they are released I’ll share the stoke.
Happy Trails,
Andrew
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