Velo Transit makes tough, durable but stylish packs for cyclists. They’re big-mouthed and yet nicely tapered for better stability and feel on the back (also sight clearance for cyclists checking over their shoulder). They’re also light, despite having a completely waterproof liner and ballistics-grade materials.

Velo Transit's Paul and Bobby Larson, bathed in reflective glow at SF Bike Expo.

These are big pluses to inveterate cyclo-packers like us. We have a Sultan — Chrome’s biggest, baddest pack (apparently no longer available) — that we use around town and that will eat entire grocery carts for breakfast. But it’s quite heavy, bulky and unwieldy even when empty. We like the way Velo Transit’s packs slip effortlessly on and off as a t-shirt. A lot of ergonomic thinking went into the design of these packs.

Larson explained that the weight savings comes not just from tapering but also from using a lighter weight liner than conventional polyvinyl. Plus there’s no stitching with Velo Transit — seams are RF (radio frequency) welded — which also creates a more waterproof bond.

Gender-specific harnesses add to Velo Transit’s versatility, as well as the option of longer packs for taller or long-torsoed riders (we’re guilty on that count too).

Velo Transit pack: Eats big, rides light

Some other nice touches we like:

Reflective stripes. Packs cover up reflective triangles and clothing, so it makes eminent sense for the packs themselves to carry striping.

Blinker mount, side stash pockets and front triple-pouch pocket. We like pockets. Too many packs either go way overboard or lack enough. Velo Transit gets it right.

Stability straps for side and shoulder compression. Especially important when you ride a lot in traffic and don’t want your pack shifting all over.

Padded straps and back molding. They keep the pack comfortable and permit ventilation for your back.

Laptop pouch. It comes with a nice Velcro setup to keep the computer from flopping around. It’s also completely removable for carry-along in other packs, and has padding as well.

We also like the color options Velo Transit offers, including cheery orange, yellow and red as well as the muted options like sand, gray and blue.

The packs aren’t cheap, running in the $150 to $180 range. But aimed at commuters, bike couriers and core riders, they’re priced competitively given the quality of workmanship and lifetime warranty.

Finally, VT packs are MADE IN THE USA (Seattle, actually). It’s great to see a local company using local supplies to put out a superior product.

You can order VT packs off the Web but if you’re in Seattle, drop by their shop at 815 Airport Way S. You can see all the packs, get properly fitted, and have a great chat with Paul and Bobby. Although Larson is an industry veteran, Velo Transit has only been around since last spring. But its attention to detail and innovative design touches promise a lasting niche in the pack market.

Esmeralda Peaks ride on MotionX-GPS.

At any point on the mountain, you’re able to Twitter or Facebook or text your friends, providing your exact location pegged to an online map. This is assuming cell service, which can be a big if. But even that is expanding every year.

We first considered the Garmin Edge 705, retailing at $595, a powerful and handy dedicated device. It has the advantages of being bike-specific, offering info like cadence, heart rate, riding time (separated from lunch, for example), elevation and even grade. And it can work with a variety of downloadable maps. But it can’t do real-time updates to the Web. Garmin is scrambling to leverage its brand name and user base with things like Garmin Connect, but in the age of Twitter and Facebook it may be a losing battle.

There’s a bunch of GPS apps out for the iPhone. We settled on the $2.99 MotionX-GPS and have been testing it in recent weeks. (A leading freebie, Google’s My Tracks, lacks the feature set and sparkling user interface of MotionX.)

Using MotionX is somewhat of a moveable feast. The app has upgraded three times in the past couple of months and keeps adding to its versatility. We’re still feeling our way but are impressed with the huge convenience factor.

It also helps to have a certifiable tech genius behind the product — Philippe Kahn, co-founder of Fullpower Technologies, which produces MotionX. We’ve known Philippe since his PC software days doing battle with Bill Gates, and he’s always light years ahead of the game.

With MotionX we can track real-time elevation gain, distance, time, elevation profile and instantly have the totals at the end of the ride. We can tweet or Facebook on the ride as well. A photo taken with the iPhone camera can be mapped and shared right from the trail.

There’s something spooky about all this, but at the same time, wow: I can provide as-I-ride updates of my progress to my always-worried spouse and next time simply send the route map to her for reference. Real-time depends on cell service of course, and that’s not always available on the big epics. But Galbraith has good coverage, so does Whistler and many of the lowland mtb haunts. Plus you can get cell service in unlikely and increasingly widespread places as the logging companies and the feds seek to communicate, as well as assist Homeland Security in keeping track of your and my every move.

That’s the wilderness tradeoff: Safety for privacy. Little Brother Is Watching You.

For a glimpse of where this is headed, check out Philippe’s in-the-middle-of-the-ocean video, in real time on the iPhone using satellite technology.

A couple of noteable caveats here: In a canopied forest, you can lose the GPS signal. In most cases we found MotionX would fill in the gaps, but one time the iPhone lost GPS and didn’t get it back for quite a while. That left the last leg of our ride unmapped, a real annoyance.

Also, beware the power suck of GPS mapping! Long epics (6 to 8 hours) killed our iPhone 3. Anything beyond 4 hours can put it into the red zone.

A nice new iPhone 4 should take care of the problem, but in any case you have to watch the battery level when using GPS tracking.

Topping our wish list for the future is custom map downloadability. MotionX offers Bing and Google as standards, and will accept marine maps as well as its own custom maps. You can do topo views as well as satellite. But what we need is for it to recognize trail maps like, for instance, Washington’s Green Trails, so you can see right where you are on a ride, right there on the trail. (It doesn’t help that Green Trails’ collection is not available interactively online, although you can download printable maps.)

It’s our belief that whoever starts offering custom trail maps for download onto smart phones will provide a crucial missing link here. OpenCycleMap offers an opportunity here but will take some time to gain critical mass.

From our experience, MotionX is the sweet spot for following your rides. The Garmin Edge is more bike-specific but lacks real-time interactivity and is pricey. My Tracks is free but not as smart. Just $2.99 turns your smart phone into an all-mountain trip log and statistical powerhouse.

[Note: In accordance with BikeIntelligencer policy, which stipulates that we pay for what we review, we managed to come up with the $2.99 to download MotionX.]

Kuat wound up sending us a unit for review. The occasion of this week’s Interbike gave us the opportunity to present a “one year later” look at Kuat’s flagship rack. We’ve also been told to expect a big announcement at this year’s Interbike from Kuat as well.

Higher off the ground, and solid.

We put our rack through the ringer. We logged more than 2,000 miles on it in less than a month. We took it across three states, up eroded 9-mile fire roads, over ungraded dirt access roads, across boggy meadows. We drove over brutal water bars at 8,000 feet elevation. We hit potholes the size of wading pools. We banged over rock gardens laced with boulders resembling cannonballs.

We whacked it, slammed it, used it and abused it. Through it all, the NV barely blinked. Bouncing over gullies and washouts, getting tossed around like an kayak in rapids, we would check in the rear view mirror to see how the bikes were doing. Based on experiences with Softride and Saris and Thule T2 racks, we expected to see some movement. Some shaking or wiggling or swaying.

Nada. The NV held solid. Kuat (the name comes from the first two initials of the co-founders last names) rode our buckin’ broncos — a Honda CR-V and Volkswagen Eurovan — all over the corral, barely even breaking a sweat.

[After we finished our testing, news came that some NVs were being recalled for an issue with the wheel cups. We checked and were not surprised to find our rack a later iteration than the suspect units. If there were a flaw in our rack, we think we would have noticed. Kuat addressed the issue some time ago but decided on the recall to be on the safe side. We wish Thule, whose T2 we own but feel has some dangerous albeit easily fixable design issues, were as proactive in its recall policy.]

The NV arrived unassembled. Assembly tools and hardware are included. It took us a little more than an hour from unpacking to final kit, which would’ve gone much faster with a ratchet wrench that fit the mounting bolts (8mm head).

The Kuat NV represents a laudable step up in platform hitch rack technology. The first thing you notice is its beefier and safer construction. The trays bolt (rather than slide) onto the hitch spar. They’re nicely molded, painted and polished. The rack weighs 8 pounds more than the T2 (45 v. 37 lbs.), but in this case the extra weight is worth it. The thing feels solid.

Angled down for rear access.

The rack uses an expansion cam to snug into the hitch, an approach we wondered about at first but came to really appreciate. After lining up the mount with the hitch hole, you slip in a steel pin and sleeve, securing the pin with a supplied cover lock. Then you turn a knurled knob on the outer end of the spar to engage the expansion mechanism. A supplied Allen wrench completes the procedure.

We originally thought the cam meant no 4-bike configuration (2 additional trays) for the NV. But Kuat has begun offering a 2-bike add-on option.

The cam provides far less slop than the conventional screw-in bolt used by other racks. With the bolt you simply can’t get the same purchase as Kuat’s innovative expansion technology. The “Kuat grip” helps explain why this rack moves so much less than others under duress.

We liked a number of other things.

The rack’s configuration puts it 2-plus inches higher off the road than the T2. This kept us from whacking the rack even on gnarly dirt ascents at speed.

The 'Trail Doc' bike stand saved our bacon.

The support arms have a broader, rubberized top hook (clamp) that more fully engages the front tire. The NV comes with attachments enabling the arms to accept 20-inch wheels. The rear-wheel straps have slip-through fasteners that can be threaded and pulled tight with just one hand (most racks have buckles requiring two hands). Overall, mounting bikes on the NV is the quickest and easiest we’ve encountered.

There’s no rear wheel cup, just the scooped surface of the tray. We wondered if this were less secure until we forgot to strap one of the bikes in. Hours (and miles) later we discovered our error, but the unstrapped wheel hadn’t budged from the middle of the tray.

The ratchet mechanism on the support arms was a bit sticky but held like a vise. It’s released with a plastic button that didn’t always release easily and seemed like the only cheap part on the rack (tip: for easier release, push the hook down as you engage the button). The arms themselves are burly and tight — again, giving the feeling of a secure, stable fit.

Our only other minor gotcha had to do with the rack position release. It’s a bit difficult to reach and tricky to engage (we kept expecting it to break in and it may very well with more use, but it was kind of balky). Other racks we’ve used, including Thule’s, make changing rack position a lot easier.

You can also lower the NV (like the T2) at an angle away from the vehicle for access to rear window and hatches. It worked like a charm on the CR-V and a Subaru; the Eurovan’s rear door is too big and low. (But aside from the Softride, that’s been true of other racks we’ve used.)

There are two particularly tasty bits on the NV. It has a built-in locking cable we really loved. The cables emerge from opposite tray ends and secure through the bikes’ rear triangles with an attached lock. They’re probably not enough to protect bikes overnight, say, or in a big unguarded parking lot. But for everyday use they’re wonderful. When not in use they slide into recessed slots out of sight. A nice touch: Magnets hold the cable ends in place so they don’t pop out and drag on the pavement.

Then there’s the built-in bike repair stand, which Kuat calls its “Trail Doc.” For our 10-day Idaho sojourn this was a life-saver. You simply close the rack (upright), extend a post with quick-release and use the seat-post clamp to secure your bike. You can do everything from simple maintenance like chain lubing or cable adjustment to wheel removal, bottom bracket overhaul, whatever. The pedals don’t catch on the rack, there’s plenty of room to work, and the bike is high enough that you don’t have to do the entire job bending over.

We wondered about a couple of things even though we encountered no problems. When the rack is not in use and placed upright (against the rear), the knurled tightening knob is rear-most exposed. We wondered how it would hold up being whacked by the bumper of another car. (MTBR.com’s reviewer broke off the knob driving off a curb.) The same thing goes for when the rack is loaded, only in that case the Trail Doc hardware is exposed. In any case, the rack comes with a lifetime warranty. We ran into a longtime Kuat customer at Galbraith Mountain who said Kuat had replaced his rack (not an NV) twice with no questions asked.

Retailing at $495, the NV is a bit pricier than other racks. But you’re getting more features, better construction, more stability, safer operation and an overall better product. When you’re out on the road or doing a trailhead repair with the NV, you won’t miss those Andrew Jacksons one bit.

Bottom line: This is the best platform rack out there. The detail work, thoughtful construction and cool features make it more than just a bike carrier. It’s like an all-around bike butler, capable of attending to your bike’s every need.

Kuat NV comparison with Thule T2

[Note: T2s have recently become unavailable from some leading outlets, prompting speculation that Thule will offer an upgraded model to be unveiled at the upcoming Interbike show in Las Vegas. We'll keep readers posted.]

• Design: Kuat’s arm hooks are broader and more curved, offering more contact with tires. Thule’s more pronounced hooks have a tighter angle, less tire contact. Kuat’s design is more stable, we feel.
• Adjustability: Thule’s trays slide along main spar, offering more options for bike-to-bike clearance. But we’ve also reported a number of catastrophic failures with the T2 due to this feature. BikeIntelligencer supports a recall of the rack to address this flaw in the T2. Kuat’s trays are fixed.
• Construction: Kuat is a significant 8 lbs. heavier. The tradeoff is greater strength and stability, particularly noticeable in the trays.
• Rack release: Kuat’s side release was a bit balky and harder to reach. Thule’s top-release lever is smoother and more accessible.
• Positioning: Kuat rides 2-plus inches higher off the ground, offering better clearance. Kuat’s overall length is six inches shorter. Both contribute to its added stability.
• Finish: Kuat’s distinctive orange and gray, in addition to paint and clear coat, give it the nod over Thule in the looks department.
• Features: Kuat offers a bike maintenance stand and built-in locking cable. (The latter feature is rumored to be included in a forthcoming update of the T2.) Thule offers locking support arms, but this feature is easily defeated by deflating the front tire.

[NOTE: With few exceptions as noted, our policy at BikeIntelligencer is to pay for what we review. In this case, Kuat offered us a rack for review that we liked so much we asked if we could buy it. Kuat asked us to donate the equivalent funds to a worthy cause of our liking, which we will split between the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance in Seattle and IMBA.]

Team Garmin-Transitions likes it, and that’s saying something. It means Tyler Farrar, the Wenatchee world-class sprint icon, will use it. So will David Millar, Christian Vande Velde, Ryder Hesjedal, Robbie Hunter and Julian Dean — the guys you saw vying for the stage winners’ podium in the Tour de France (before injury forced some of them out).

The Legend on his new trainer.

You mount your bike on the Revolution in place of your rear wheel, so it’s a snap to get going. We haven’t tested it so we’re going on spec, but some things we like about the Revolution:

You can use your own bike.

It emulates wind resistance for a more progressive pedal-through.

It’s really stable — you don’t feel like you’re going to tip the thing over when you put down the hammer.

It can go on both road and mountain bikes.

Its wireless power meter gives you all the right info (watts, cadence, distance, speed, heart rate and calories), and has USB downloadability for your long-term record-keeping.

It’s easy to store: 2 feet long, a foot high, 22 inches wide. Weight: 35 pounds.

Dude it’s the bomb. Specs here. The Legend Himself talks about the Revolution.

As we’ve documented repeatedly in our campaign for a recall of the T2, numerous customers have had issues, including catastrophic failures, with the rack. Heck, we’re customers ourselves, and we’ve complained.

Our links are below. Bottom line remains that Thule is a good company with a faulty and potentially hazardous product that with a couple of fixes could be far safer.

[Coda: Noting that Thule now includes core locks on the ratchet arms, we've also pointed out that all you have to do to defeat this "safety feature" is deflate the front tire!]

Video of catastrophic failure.

Customer concerns recorded and full review.

Goes good with oatmeal

The iPad continues to grow on us. A new use popped up when we went to read the newspaper.

You set the iPad on the breakfast table, and you can both read the same article at the same time. Not possible with print, of course.

But the cool thing is as you read together, you discuss the story. Also not possible with print, unless one person is reading the story aloud to the other, which was our modus back in the day.

The New York Times looks pretty good on the iPad, and you can blow up or shrink down the page size using Apple’s touchscreen technology. Which means, in practice, you get the “browsable” benefits of a newspaper in digital form.

The iPhone is just too small for this kind of stuff.

Previously on BikeIntelligencer


First Post

MyPad is YourPad

The blogging cyclist’s dream machine

Ibis Mojo HD, the MacBook of MTB

Ibis has responded to Bike Intelligencer’s query about why the new Mojo HD won’t come with a coil shock option. With any bike of nearly six and a half inches in rear travel, a lot of riders lean toward a coil for increased consistency, reliability, durability and tuneability. But Hans over at Ibis says coil’s advantages are waning with vastly improved air shock technology — e.g. the Fox RP23, stock on the HD. Here’s what Hans had to say when we pointed out that Brian Lopes, America’s winningest male mountain bike competitor ever, runs coil shocks on his Mojos:

“Brian has his own custom tuner and has shocks for different purposes so he runs shocks that are super firm, soft or lower his bike or whatever he feels is the hot set up for the course.

Most of the shortcomings of air shocks have been overcome in the last few years and if you want to make a lightweight frame or bike, they save a lot of weight. The spring curve is different than a coil, so the suspension on the HD is designed with that air spring curve in mind.”

Even as recent as a year ago I would’ve begged to differ with Hans. Virtually all the long travel trail bikes I’ve owned and ridden — Ventana, Turner, Intense, Santa Cruz, Specialized — have benefitted hugely from coil. So it’s something to think about when buying a bike, because replacing an OEM air shock with a coil after purchase can be a pricey proposition.

Now if air shocks only came in gold...

But here’s the deal. For the past year I’ve been riding a 6.5-inch Pivot Firebird all over the place, from Galbraith Mountain to Whistler to Leavenworth to Ashland to NorCal, including UC Santa Cruz and the Soquel Demo Forest. And I’ve been waiting for the slightest excuse to go coil, especially since the Cane Creek Double Barrel comes with a gold shaft that would match nicely the Firebird’s gold pivot and the Chris King gold bottom bracket. Bling! But drat it all, the stock shock, the same Fox RP23 that goes on the Mojo, has been just too rock solid to think about replacing. In fact, it’s been a set-it-and-forget-it thing with the RP23. (Now if Fox only made one with a gold shaft.)

Granted, Dave Weagle (the DW-Link inventor) was in on the Firebird’s design, along with the Man himself of course, Chris Cocalis. So you have to figure hand-in-glove relationship between the technology and the design. The Cane Creek has gotten raves on MTBR.com and elsewhere, but my experience is never change a winning game — or bike setup, for that matter.

Plus that same relationship with Weagle applies to Ibis and the Man himself, Scot Nicol. So no quarrel from me this time. I’ll look forward to not worrying about a shock upgrade with the new HD. (That white is the bomb btw!)

Ibis Mojo: The industrial design equivalent of Apple Macintosh

The thing looks really spectacular. When it comes to industrial design, Ibis is the Apple Computer of the cycling world. Specs look dynamite, my only question being, why no coil shock option?

Brian Lopes' Mojo, fitted with coil

The press release says linkage rates were incompatible with coil, yet Lopes himself rides coil on his Mojos all the time. So what gives? I have a query over at MTBR.com to Hans, we’ll see what he says. In the meantime, your official Eye Candy for 2010 is here.

Ibis site.

MTBR forum.

MTBR announcement.

My other DW-Link bike, the Pivot Firebird, which I am NOT gonna give up for the HD, which also does NOT mean I won’t GET an HD as an upgrade from my current Mojo, will be part of the Pivot Demo Days lineup just released. Funny how these things work. The HD is the closest thing out there to the Firebird, and the Ibis and Pivot lines appeal to the same DW-Link crowd, so whaddya know? Both companies announce on the same day. Coincidence? You decide…

“The exact same thing happened to my Thule T2,” wrote Tim Cook in a comment posted on Bike Intelligencer. He referred to the issue we’ve chronicled whereby the rear rail on the rack slides off the center post, dumping the bike onto the pavement behind.

“Unfortunately, I was in heavy traffic, my $6k bike was destroyed, and the mess sent another motorist in to the ditch.  She and her passenger both left the scene on gurneys and were transported to hospital.”

After we followed up in email to Cook, he informed us that he has filed an insurance claim and contacted Thule’s customer service. Because of the holidays, he does not expect a response from the company till after the New Year.

Cook also plans to post a YouTube video on the incident.

We also have put a call in to Thule, which in the past has proven responsive to similar situations. We’ll keep our readers posted.

And we continue to believe Thule should issue a recall notice on the T2 with a free retrofit aimed at preventing future accidents like these.

Previous posts:

Warning! Thule T2 Rack Failure Exposed

Company Responds Helpfully

Six Six One is looking for a blowout year in 2010 and they’ve got the reviews to prove it. On MTBR.com, Brian Mullin (Pastajet) deconstructs the x4 series of “soft” armor (we call ‘em pads). And I Hate Bikes (but LOVE body armor) takes a look at Six Six One body suit and upper body armor.

Now the eagle-eyed among you faithful readers will undoubtedly ask, “Why does Bike Intelligencer insist on Six Six One when the other reviewers call the company 661?” Good question. The reason is that the company refers to itself as Six Six One. Its Website is SixSixOne.com. It never uses the numbers. There are undoubtedly a host of reasons why, but for accuracy’s sake it’s Six Six One, dudes and dudettes.

As bold as Pastajet looks in body armor, I wish this mountain biker had modeled for his post.

More holiday warm & mushies: Bixby, OK church gives 160 bikes to kids. And in Worcester MA 500 bikes are given away in below freezing weather.

IMBA posts 10 Things IMBA did for Mountain Biking in 2009. Only 10? I can think of triple that off the top of my head. But the biggies are covered here.

The SacBee updates the age-old saga of trail conflicts. I wrote this story for The Seattle Times’ Sunday magazine Pacific a decade and a half ago. And so it goes…

Charges finally filed in the Lonesome Death of Bicycle Bob. RIP and Merry Christmas Bob wherever you are.