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.

Kudos and all much appreciated.

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.]

Breezer Lightning back in the day.

The Lightning Team is a state-of-the-art steel hardtail with inimitable Breeze tweaks. On a historical note, the Breezer Lightning is a hallowed model in mountain biking lore. Joe designed and built the first from-scratch mountain bikes as custom frames for friends in Marin County under the shadow of Mount Tamalpais. As a nod to Tom Ritchey, the other pioneering frame builder, Breeze’s Lightning Team build uses a Ritchey headset, stem, handlebars and seat post.

Although most of our riding these days is on full suspension bikes, our Ibis Mojo and Pivot Firebird, we still hack around town on a slightly street-modified Titus titanium HCR hardtail we’ve had for nearly a decade. We decided to line up the Lightning with the HCR for visual comparison of what Joe has done to adapt convention to the 21st Century.

Today and yesterday, in racing hardtail tech.

The first thing you’ll notice is the Breezer’s arched down tube (for fork clearance, but also strength). Then there’s the shorter top tube. Lower standover height. More relaxed angles. Bottom bracket height and seat-stay length are comparable — a testament to both frames’ racing heritage. You can’t see it from the side-by-side, but the Breezer also has a clever inset rear disc caliper and unique dropout setup. [Full specs here.]

Testing the Breezer, we decided to trade off riding with our other bikes to really clarify its different feel. What jumped out at us most was the Lightning’s trigger-quick handling, its responsiveness to terrain, and its cat-like climbing ability. There were times the Lightning just kind of melded with the ride to the point we felt really at one with the frame. It reacts so fast to what you want it to do, the bike seems almost psychic.

Tucking in the caliper for stability and power.

As its name suggests, the Lightning is made to go fast. It felt so demonstrably quicker we decided to do a couple of tests against our other bikes. We rode both hardtails around a hilly loop near our home on dirt trails through Lower Woodland Park. The first test we rode the Lightning first and then the HCR. The second test we switched the order. In both cases the Lightning was faster.

We did a similar test up a long singletrack climb at Grand Ridge near Issaquah, switching off between the Breezer and our Mojo. The results were the same. According to the stopwatch, the Lightning won. The margin on all four tests averaged out to under 1 percent. That doesn’t sound big, but even a fraction of a second can mean a lot in a racing context. Just ask Davis Phinney.

Now to be clear, these tests were subject to so many variables as to render them meaningful only for casual observation. It should be noted that the Lightning is super light — 24.5 lbs. compared to 26.2 lbs. for the HCR and 25.5 for the Mojo. And although we tried to compensate for fatigue, etc., in the end our endeavor was hardly what you would call scientific.

A head badge steeped in MTB lore.

Still, we found it interesting that the Lightning, in addition to feeling faster, actually was faster, as far as our admittedly unrigorous testing could determine.

Light as it is, the Breezer seemed capable of taking a pounding. We couldn’t resist taking it over some of Lower Woodland’s doubles, and even off a small lip jump. While the landings didn’t quite compare to, say, our Firebird, we were impressed at how stable the Lightning felt on touch-down. It’s a finely balanced, springy frame that airs and sticks well, hugging any surface. Even over urban fun stuff, going down stairs, jumping curbs, etc., the Lightning sucked up hits with grace and aplomb.

Although far more compliant than aluminum, steel (Breezer D’fusion custom-butted Reynolds 525 CroMoly) does not typically have the damping of ti. But we were impressed with the Lightning. It fell a bit short of the Titus in soaking up vibration, but its more sophisticated geometry gave it a precision that helped compensate for surface jar.

We came to like the lockout.

The large frame fit perfectly despite the shorter top tube. At first we thought the remote lockout on the Fox 32 F100-RL fork was overkill but came to really like it, the only trick being remembering to click back to travel mode after the climb! The Lightning’s Schwalbe Rocket Rons were grippier than we expected, with an open tread pattern that accentuated the bike’s speed. The Shimano XT drive train (rear XTR derailleur) was crisp and quick but we still prefer SRAM. The one thing we’d definitely change on the Lightning is the narrow (23-inch) flat handlebar. It felt too twitchy, especially after riding our 27-inch Mojo bars (the HCR has 25-inchers; both are 1-inch risers as well).

What really struck home for us was the fun factor. It’s been years since we’ve ridden trails on a hardtail and we’d forgotten what a different set of pluses it can bring to the singletrack experience. This is a great all-around bike, especially for prowling the hills around Mount Tam, Breeze’s stomping grounds. Joe has 29ers on the way and undoubtedly a few more tricks up his sleeve. Watch for more quality innovation from the fertile and creative mind of Joe Breeze.

[Note: While BikeIntelligencer policy is to review only stuff we've purchased, in this case we will return the Lightning to Breezer. We've got enough bikes.]

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.

It was time to do a little paring down.

We took our steed to Adam at the Downhill Zone in Seattle. After going over the state of the art that the industry has to offer, here’s what we came up with to get our bike diet under way.

1. The Bike Diet explained, step by step, component by component. Bike porn at its most tantalizing!

2. The results of a week of Adam’s magic.

3. We sneak a peek at what our prospects are for our target weight by swapping out our wheels in expectation of the Easton carbon Havens, due out this fall.

I took the bike home and slapped on the XC wheels — Chris King, Mavics, tubed Nevies — for a basis of comparison. The wheels themselves are probably a pound and a half heavier than my target wheels — the forthcoming Easton carbon Havens (1450 grams rated). I figure I can get in the neighborhood of the tire weights with 2.3 Conti or Maxxis “lite” UST models. And the ti XTR cassette on my XC bike (an Ibis Mojo) is of course heavier than the hogged-out SRAM (although not by a huge amount).

With a pound and three quarters to lose, it’s gonna be close once I get the Eastons. But see what you think …