Fall as we know it has arrived to the North Shore with an aggressive certainty. Better late than weather, I suppose. This Friday the damp-cold is positively ghoulish in how it’s crawling under my layers. A perfect day to punch pedals, single-speeding under the tree canopy on builder-approved wet-weather lines, but instead all I accomplished was drinking coffee, signing up for some casual non-bicycle-industry work {weird to say, but that’s the state of things}, and running a few errands on foot.

It’s a busy week in the land of SBTISAOAF and, chez-MEAT, the Clairebarian and I are continuing our Can vs. Should debate regarding MEATmag’s {sometimes} humongous headlines. My contention is that if Geof, the marquess of MEAT migration, thought titanic titles were troubling he would have limited my access to characters. Claire, on the other hand, feels this is an oversight and my roving rubrics are an absolute abuse of power.

Right or wrong, guess what? I have fever! And the only prescription is longer streamers.

Wonder Wheels

Thanks to our friends at Obsession: Bikes for the reminder, it’s that time of year again when Family Services North Shore is seeking donations of pre-loved bikes and monetary support for their amazing Wonder Wheels program. This program was previously Bike For Tykes, but the new name recognizes the program often helps teens experience two-wheeled freedom as well.

Last year, Wonder Wheels gifted over 200 families in need with a bicycle tuned by Obsession and a brand new bike helmet and I can only imagine that demand is ever growing.

Whether you’re North Vancouver adjacent with a superfluous bicycle that has, or could have, miles left in the tank or you’d like to help out a great idea with a few bucks, please hit the link above.

Riser Stems & Alt-Bars on Pinkbike

Jessie-May’s ‘5 Things I Learned About Bikepacking at Le Tour de Farce 2026‘ is one of the most enjoyable pieces to grace Pinkbike in, well, ever, but in addition to adding it to my list of recommended reads it’s actually the partner ‘Staff Rides’ piece I wanted to follow up on.

MEATengines is a longtime card-carrying member of team pro-more-Stack and team pro-uncut-steerers, and managing discomfort over cool-factor has had me mainly running alt-bars {handlebars with more backsweep} on my mountain bikes & ATB rigs for a full-decade come next summer. As part of this journey, I’m always keeping one eye open for folks running massive spacer stacks, riser stems, super-rise bars, and backswept setups.

Here’s the quote from Jessie-May’s Canyon Lux WC piece:

“I switched out the posh handlebar for a somewhat more traditional two-piece stem and handlebar combination. I couldn’t raise the stack height in the usual way by stuffing spacers under the stem as the steerer was cut short, so I went for a high-rise stem in the form of the Ergotec High Bass 45-degree. I am also pretty fussy about riding a 16-degree backsweep handlebar, so a proper riser bar was out of the question.“

I too love the 16° back SQlab 30X {and wish there were taller versions} and I’ll agree that nothing I’ve tried is an exact match*. Usually for folks who want a taller bar I recommend the excellent 15°, 75mm rise, Hunter Smooth Move, but it is a different animal, as are the plethora of custom steel and Ti options on the market. Riser stems are mountain a resurgence as well, and that’s a great choice too.

Anywho, I just love seeing folks giving more-backsweep a chance {it might not be for you} and that’s especially true of folks suffering from some particular disruption to comfortable-enough bike fit. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m at the point that I swap an alt-bar onto any rig I borrow to try.

*{Though lately my go-to is a Stooge Moto bar with 38mm rise / -17° sweep.}

There are two ‘A’s but no ‘I’ in Corey Brennan Art

“When I grow up I want to create cool, creepy and science fiction / fantasy worlds, landscapes and creatures.” – Corey Brennan

There’s something about properly artistic folks who ride mountain bicycles in that they seem to all be very kind people as well. Almost like there’s some correlation between creative expression and human connection. Go figure.

Anywho, as with, I’m sure, every awesome mountain bicycle community anywhere, the Shore-to-Sky is home to some truly talented & thoughtful folks with pens, pencils, paints, etc. Joanne Hastie, Nigel Quarless, Heidi Manicke, Cy Whitling {honorary}, John ‘Pappa Stained-Glass’ Kearns, and I probably don’t know a hundredth of the local artists that I should.

Anywho, add to that list Corey Brennan, an interstellar {and also just ‘plain’ stellar} illustrator, long involved in the local mountain cycling community. I only know Corey and his expressive dog Barnacle {the Dingus} to say hello, but I was perusing his portfolio this week and figured I’d share a link.

Corey Brennan – Art

66 & Single

It’s a MEATy few days for our friend from the near-east {Alberta} Garry Ogletree. His wicked new one-speed will be featured in Tuesday’s About a Single Speed entry, and today I’m stoked to share this video that he put together with his friend Neil for the 2026 Edmonton Mountain Bike Film Fest.

The hilarious ‘silent movie’ styling had me thinking about a lot of my riding friends sporting a decade or two on me. I hope you’re equally stoked on their effort: 66 & Single. Awesome work Neil & Garry.

Jank & Flow Donation Matching

On the subject of appreciated works of art, the NSMBA has a neat donation-matching fundraiser going on, with the end goal being to put money into both the no-boring-trails-just-boring-people lines and the classic North Shore make-your-own-flow trails.

Every donation is matched {up to 10K}, every donation over CA$20 scores a tax-receipt, and every donation over CA$50 scores a water bottle featuring Cy Whitling’s ‘Doe riding Flow’ and ‘Hank riding Jank’ and a couple of stickers. Who doesn’t love stickers?

More information at the NSMBA.

About a Single Speed – Update

Out of somewhere this week I received three fresh additions to the haikuniverse, so thank you to Garry, Colin, and Paul for covering the next three Tuesdays. It’s my favourite MEATengines feature and I really appreciate everyone who has contributed to it, and plans to contribute to it.

If you didn’t have a chance, check out this week’s A.a.S.S., Duke’s RSD Middlechild. It’s rad.

Climbmax

With the {relative} cold and wet having hit, I realized this week that I’m behind in a number of projects, perhaps most importantly coming up with some insulation for the aluminium levers on the M6220 Deore brakes I’ve been testing. No shitty weather, just shitty attitudes. But, I mean, good gear can really set the mood, right?

Beyond A.a.S.S. & SBTISAOAF, tune in next week for some chain talk {11spd, of course}, and ophefully some forking suspension conversation.

Happy Trails,

Andrew

Building a Bicycle Soundtrack

Starting this week we’re changing up the musical component of SBTISAOAF towards a goal of building a bicycle-related soundtrack. Loose qualifications: a song needs to mention bicycle components, pedaling, or cycling culture in some other way {not just songs that are great to listen to while cycling}.

I’ll dig them up, or, if you have a suggestion fire me an e-mail. and either a very brief explanation if it’s obvious, or a couple lines if bicycle-relativity may be a bit more interpretive.

This week’s song his Joel Plaskett’s Alright/OK:

“…My sneakers wore out, my guitar broke
Sometimes life puts a stick in your spokes
Everybody thinks that I’m making a joke
But I’m telling it like it is
I’ll be hanging from the branches of my family tree
You know I look like my daddy, Daddy looks like me
Halifax, Nova Scotia is the land of the free
I don’t care what the anthem says…”

Ask a Bear Mechanic

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Hello and welcome to MEATengines, a cycling journal of sorts that’s slowly pedaling itself into a community. If you’re interested in supporting the site, please consider submitting an About a Single Speed or Bicycle Valentines piece. Or, if there’s some other ATB or mountain bicycling topic you’re passionate to write about, fire in an e-mail. I’m interested. You can also engage with a comment below, join our crew at r/MEATengines, or, if you have a couple spare bucks {ha!}, I always appreciate a coffee. Thank you.