Featured Posts

Implementation: Custom T-Lab X3 #dropbarbraap

The final piece in a series of deep-dives into my titanium dream bike, T-Lab’s X3. Fully custom designed and built to thrive across a broad range of riding conditions, my build biases toward reliability under heavy and frequent use in harsh environments.

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MATTER: Columbus Futura Cross, Adjustable Rake, and Steering Stability

Tire construction influences steering dynamics more ‘strongly’ as volume increases. You WON’T see this jump out from the numbers, and this phenomenon, which has pushed folks away from 650b wheels/tires, is not widely understood.

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Mountain bike, MTB, Guide, Footwear, Winter, Lake, Matter Matt Surch Mountain bike, MTB, Guide, Footwear, Winter, Lake, Matter Matt Surch

LAKE MZX304 Winter Boots: Long-term Review

Lake, the first company to build winter cycling boots, remains dedicated to building options that prioritize function, which drives their approach to fit. Lake delivers solutions that enable riders to enjoy their time riding bikes outside, even when they don’t have years of experience riding in the winter.

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Core Pieces for Spring: Castelli in Focus

For those with ample supplies of motivation and zeal, but insufficient kit for spring riding, this is a short guide to a selection of key pieces from Castelli. Quality cycling kit is expensive, so I hope this helps inform decisions that lead to many hours of happy riding, not regrets.

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Matter, Winter, Castelli, How-to, Featured, Praxis, Spring, Fall Matt Surch Matter, Winter, Castelli, How-to, Featured, Praxis, Spring, Fall Matt Surch

MATTER: Castelli Alpha RoS 2 Jacket

The devil is in the details, right‽ A garbage bag is wind and waterproof. A wool sweater underneath is warm. Poke some holes in strategic locations and the whole shebang is ‘breathable.’ There are metrics used to define each of these parameters, but that’s a rabbit hole I don’t want to go down. There is too much going on with the Alpha RoS 2’s design, materials, and construction to reduce its discussion to metrics that might be worth focusing on in the case of a shell. Instead, I discuss the elements that comprise a system that is very effective in the use-range its intended to perform within.

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