Some Bicycle Things I’m Stoked About On A Friday, January 9th, 2026.
Welcome to the second SBTISAOAF of 2026. Twenty-twenty-six. I’m still trying to roll over my brain to the annual change and even surrounding myself with the sort of friends & family that are happy to correct me, well, suffice it to say my skull is thick.
I want to open with a quick note that my favourite design, ‘Winter Rites‘, over at Ride Ritual is back in print on short & long sleeve Tech-T’s and post ride hugs, I mean hoodies.
Now, I’ve mentioned Ride Ritual a handful of times in SBTISAOAF, including Dec 5th, and the bikernet being what it is, I just want to note plain and clear there’s no affiliation here. Nigel is a talented artist and a nice fellow, making cool sh*t. MEATengines reviews are partisan, partial, & predisposed, but I’m straight up about it. No kickbacks.
{Photo: Ride Ritual}
Snow Rides
The snow ride season on the North Shore tends to be short and, while there’s always lots of giggles, much of it is fairly treacherous. Sometimes the snow is so tacky and sweet. Other times it’s slippery as… That’s especially true, as I reminded myself last night, in the transitions between snow & go where cold rubber hits icy rock. I paid a very small price in flesh and a tiny Toxik-Harald paint chip for the reminder.
All that extra effort pedaling or pushing through snow is so worthwhile for the downhill experience, and the local pedal-and-plunge trails lend themselves well to the experience. Then, add in some nighttime first tracks with good people, and it’s the best sort of shenanigans.
{Photo: Chris GNARker}
It’s easy to overdress and under-pack for the conditions, so here’s my big dad moment reminder to pack extra gloves, food, water, and clothes, or a great big bag of HTFU. But, preferably the former. I’ve been in the forest for a long time helping folks out when sh*t happens, and my goal when waiting for someone is not to create a situation where someone else is waiting for me.
Anywho, snow rides. In the right conditions, so much fun. In the wrong conditions, usually also so much fun. The latter is especially true when you bring a fun crew.
And, when you hit that slushy bit in the transition, and you’re the only one with a fender, and you hear the “my taint is quite moist” lamentations of your ride group. Well, that’s what Viktory [sic] sounds like!
{Photos: MEATengines}
I’ll add a reminder here for Shore-adjacent night owls that we’ve been riding most every Wednesday. The bike bus leaves my place around 8:30pm, meanders up to Fromme for a 9:05pm-ish pick-up at the final stop, and then does the reverse on the way home. I’m usually hitting my pillow a little bit into tomorrow.
If you’re keen, you need a light {or, preferably, two} and to read the waiver (scroll down). And then, drop me an e-mail to be added to the list.
{Photo: TQM-Ben}
V1 Veritas
Riding my Waltworks V1*, the Super Unit, as a mountain bike for the first time in years has been an awesome experience. It has nowhere near the hang-with-your-friends factor that my much longer rigid V2 (RIP) sported, but as a ride-to-your-ride double-hardtail, it’s a beautifully balanced bicycle.
I’m slow{er even compared to usual} on the downhills, but some of that is down to the hard rubber tires and the current conditions. But I’m also faster uphill pushing a bigger gear, and this bike loves to be cruised around town, not just ridden on trails.
To the confusion of more than a few of my collaborators, my intention has always been for my perspective V3 to more closely resemble this bike than the none-meaner Truculent V2. That’s even down to the longer fork offset of V1, which has a much nimbler feel without being too sketchy.
*{Here’s more on the V1 being pressed back into double-hardtail mountain bicycle action.}
{Photo: MEATengines}
The Return of Afterschool Rides
I suppose it goes without saying that there has to be school to be after-school rides. But further to the point, after-school rides are different than afternoon rides. Even if they start at exactly the same time in the day.
There’s something special about watching The Clairebarian start out with an open throttle, punching whatever pent-up energy into her pedals, and then regulating the effort back enough that she has juice for whichever one of our shorter laps we’re hitting.
Rise & grind. Single speeds are for the kids. There are lots of angles, but whether it’s a single-speed or multi-speed, hardtail or sag-wagon, in this case, it’s all secondary to being in the trees. There’s no greater privilege of choice in my life than the amount of time I spend in the forest with my grom.
{Photo: MEATengines}
Transition Bandit Kids Bike
Oof, it ain’t cheap. And, I’m still an advocate for rigid forks with any 20″ wheeled mountain bike, moving to a hardtail for 24″. But for those who don’t agree, Transition has put out an impressive package with their new Bandit.
The Shimano CUES LinkGlide drivetrain* should last multiple groms, the Shimano short-reach brake levers are excellent, it has Maxxis Minion tires, and a 100mm travel Manitou Junit fork. Oh, and it comes in RAW**. The ultimate multi-grom finish.
There’s a notable lack of a dropper post, but that’s understandable considering the length and stack height of even the shortest budget-friendlier options. Even then, the value per dollar lines up decently against adult-size bikes, which is impressive compared to the ‘grom tax’ that’s often paid in components or costs.
*{With an LG500 chain even, which would have been an easy place to cheap out bigly.}
**{And, also Black or Blue}
{Photo: Transition Bike Co}
I can’t help but compare the Bandit to Marin’s SQ20″, with both bikes featuring awesome geo {good geometry is free, after all} and nice feeling, high-quality, grom-specific suspension forks. The Marin comes in for CA$400 fewer bucks thanks to, amongst other items, Tektro brakes, MicroShift-shifting, Delium rubber, and a fixed chain ring.
The chain ring is a narrow-wide steel option that will last ‘forever,’ but it is nice to have the option of re-gearing a bike for local terrain. It’s all relative in speclandia, though. I wish that Marin chose this narrow-wide-ring-equipped crankset instead of a chain-guard arrangement for their Bear Valley. The BV20″ has a ton of budget-friendlier 20″ double-hardtail shredding potential.
{Photo: Marin Bikes}
One more thing about grom bikes I wanted to mention is that Transition clearly sees the Bandit as a, well, transition to a full suspension rig. Their other grom mountain bikes are sag wagons, and I’d guess that comes down to perception and demand.
With Marin, ye olde hardtail holdouts’ progeny can ride the San Quentin series from 20″ through XL-29’er, with various price points happening once they hit 27″ wheels. And, yes, Claire and I will have an update posted soon on our SQ27 project.
{Photo: MEATengines}
Junit & TOW
The Old Way (TOW) is a common theme here at MEATengines. It’s my friend Matt over at Obsession: Bikes, doing a proper basic fit on every road bike he sells. It’s {thank you, Grant} not having the most expensive bikes you sell front and center when customers walk into your shop. Trust me, they’ll find them, and broadcasting your budget-friendlier options is more inviting for everyone else. And, it’s folks having a buying experience that has them returning for their next rig, and the one after that, and for their kids, and for their grandkids.
I feel that Hayes-Manitou has truly bought into TOW with their Junit suspension lineup. High-quality, fully serviceable 32mm and 34mm chassis suspension forks (20″, 24″, or 26″) with an air system and damper optimized for grom rippers. I’m not a kid, but the forks do feel gromtastic to me.
Particularly, the suspension feel is comparatively excellent at whatever bicycle price point they’re arriving at, and, in my mind, that’s the key to selling more Manitou forks to adults in the future and future adults.
{Photos: Hayes-Manitou}
Larry Talker Tunes: By Andrew
It’s my week for LTT, and do I ever have an album for Terry Walker. With a strong flavouring of Supertramp, some Jethro Tull-esque transitions, some Queen-inspired power vocals? A true song-writing sommelier could probably go on for days.
It would be an understatement to say that I’ve been mildly obsessed with Spock’s Beard since I stumbled across them. Now, my favourite song is probably The Emperor’s Clothes, but, being from 2010, it’s a rule breaker for Larry Talker Tunes one decade maximum.
That’s alright though, because their 2025 album The Archaeoptimist is so awesome from the lead-in to the first track (Invisible) to the last whining guitar notes of the piano-heavy final song (Next Step).
There are only six songs, but if you want to just commit to one, then either of those is a solid choice, even though my favourite is the totally indulgent {twenty-minute-long!} title track, Archaeoptimist.
{Photo: Spock’s Beard}
Outro
I have a bunch of stuff going on right now, bike-wise. I’m waiting on a special-order Velocity rim, and then I’m one wheel build, one front derailleur, choosing rubber, and a bike build away from having my much-teased commuter rig ready to roll. I’m never hungry for ATB-commuter action like I am for jumping on a fresh, or refreshed, mountain bike, but it’s going to be nifty.
Nothing else is written in stone yet. Bikes, work, etc., it’s a month full of irons in fires. I will hit some of my yearly low-hanging fruit in the next couple of weeks here, though. Push-on grips, fast rubber, alt-bars, and HG-freehub drivers have been front-of-cortex lately. I’m also putting together a Bicycle Valentine about Crash Test’s GGS as a template for shorter entries.
Happy Trails,
Andrew
Blurb
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