This week’s Debrief features ultralight hand fishing, e-Overlanding, Rufus Stone pre-orders, a slick new rack by Fine Bikes, multiple events to follow live, and more. Find it all here…

The weekly Debrief highlights small but important bits of news, products, and things that caught our attention on the website, in the conversation, and elsewhere around the community. These include upcoming events and interesting items our readers shared in the comments. Check out this week’s findings below.

Bits & Bobs

New products that are worth highlighting but didn’t make the Dispatch…

Rune Rufus Stone Pre-Order

Made in Taiwan / £625 at Rune Bicycles

Rune Bicycles in the UK just opened pre-orders for the latest batch of the Rufus Stone, a 4130 Chromoly steel light-duty touring rig and everyday get-arounder. The frame itself remains unchanged, but the fork has a new crown, there’s a pump peg on the back of the headtube (except for the size small), and it has an additional mounting point on the lower seat stay. A £625 deposit secures your frame, and it’s available in two color options: Marine Teal or Deep Purple. Read more about the V1 Rufus Stone here.

Mountain Flow x King Cage Bottles

$14 at King Cage

King Cage has released some new, Miller High Life-inspired bottles made by Mountain Flow. Much like the BIKEPACKING.com bottles, these are made from sustainable sugarcane and are carbon-negative.

Updated Wolf Tooth V2 Grips

Made in USA / $24.95+ at Wolf Tooth

Wolf Tooth just updated their Fat Paw and Karv grips with a high-durability silicone foam compound that’s “designed to shed weight without sacrificing longevity.” Key upgrades include a soft-touch “suede” texture for enhanced wet-weather traction and an optimized foam density that delivers class-leading vibration damping. Both grips are available in black, red, blue, and orange.

Arkel XP Top Tube Bags

$99+ at Arkel

Arkel’s new XP collection features two top tube bags, a front and a rear, made from 420D waterproof fabric with welded seams. The front top tube bag accommodates both bolt-on and strap-on setups, weighs 156 grams, and has a USB port. The rear bag has adjustable straps, weighs 120 grams, and has a 0.75L capacity.

GoReel Ultralight Fishing Kit

Made in USA / $45 at Garage Grown Gear

The Crystal Creek Gear GoReel Hand Fishing Kits come with everything you need to go fishing anywhere at a moment’s notice. Each kit comes with your choice of river-, pond-, or lake-specific gear and is compact enough to carry in your pocket or pack, all under 200 grams.

Shredly Cadence Collection

$128+ at SHREDLY

After 13 years of designing women’s mountain bike apparel, SHREDLY has entered the gravel and road markets. Their new Cadence collection features premium Italian fabrics, a signature aesthetic, and a limited-edition athlete collaboration with Marley Blonsky.

The Thörsmörk has Finally Arrived

$2,315 at Pelago

Originally announced in 2022, Pelago’s Thórsmörk is an adventure-ready, do-anything, rigid MTB with clearance for 29 x 2.6″ or 27.5 x 3.0″ tires. Made from double-butted chromoly steel, the bike features a steel fork and plenty of frame mounts for bags, racks, and fenders. Some good news is that the bike’s delayed availability doesn’t mean the bike’s standards are antiquated. UDH compatible and ready for modern drivetrains, the Thörsmörk is available directly from Pelago today.

In Conversation

Exchanges and ideas that caught our attention in the site’s conversation section…

e-Overlanding?

Earlier this week, Specialized released the Levo 4 X, claiming the Electric Overlanding category in the process. The Levo 4 X is effectively a decked-out version of their popular Levo e-MTB with patent-pending racks that are suspended and offer 22 kilograms of storage.

The Levo 4 X is powered by the S-Works 3.1 Motor, delivering 850 watts and 111 Nm of torque. Specialized makes some big claims about this bike, including that it can replace a car, with the power, control, range, and ride quality to ride singletrack trails, plus the carrying capacity to make bigger adventures possible. The Levo 4 X has a pretty significant price tag, but Specialized is also offering the racks, which work on other Levo e-bikes. E-bikepacking is already happening in Europe, but it seems like a pretty interesting move for the US-centric brand. What do you think, is e-overlanding the next chapter in bikepacking? Should there be e-bikepacking-specific routes? Let us know in the Conversation below.

Around the Community

News from around the bikepacking world…

One Big Loop (Vancouver to Pemberton)

Rayne Schwinghammer and Chris J Newton recently recreated Jordan Ross’ big Vancouver to Pemberton, British Columbia trip, linking rugged gravel roads inland to Harrison Lake and back to Vancouver. The 500-kilometer loop took the pair three and a half days, and they put together a great video from their trip that you can watch above. See their route here.

Tails, Ales, and Trails Talks to Paul of Paul Components

YouTube channel Tails, Ales, and Trails sat down for a long talk with Paul Price of Paul Components. Covering everything from Paul’s battle with cancer to his impact on the city of Chico, it’s a nice, relaxed, extended conversation with an industry legend finally getting back on two wheels.

Bay Area Maker Farm Show: June 13th

On Saturday, June 13th at 6 p.m., Bike Bike Oakland is hosting a fundraiser show at Bay Area Maker Farm on Alameda Island, 2700 Barbers Point Rd, Alameda, California. Entry is $7-$20, and all funds go toward food and the local artists. Learn more via Instagram.

Bikepacking 5 days Across Scotland via The Badger Divide

Elliot of the SENTIMENTAL PEDAL YouTube channel put together an entertaining video from his time riding across Scotland on the Badger Divide route. Here’s how he describes the trip: “8 oafs go on the journey of a lifetime through the Scottish Highlands, looking for mystical beings, spiritual enlightenment, and what it means to move like a badger. Is the meaning of life hidden inside a 29″ wheel? Is it possible to eat 44 square sausages? Can you remove a tick from a testicle? How many midges does it take to nerf a fully grown bloke?”

Circles Japan Visits Wilde Bikes

In Circles Japan’s latest video, they get a tour of Wilde Bikes’ owner Jeffrey Frane’s workshop. As you might imagine, it’s brimming with interesting bikes and parts, including lots of steel bikes, a motorcycle, a dirt bike, some of his favorite records, and much more.

Viral Wanderer 32″

Viral Bikes posted a teaser of a 32-inch version of their Wanderer platform this week, which might be the world’s first drop-bar 32-inch Pinion bike. Although this is just a prototype, it looks like a great bike for 32-inch wheels. We’re loving all of the mounting points, the dropper post, the Pinion Smart.Shift transmission, and the “renewable and recycled” Vittoria Peyote tires we spotted at Sea Otter. Let Viral know on Instagram if you’d like to see this produced.

Congrats, BT700 Finishers!

The BT700 wanders along a mixed surface of gravel roads, rail trail, rowdy, unmaintained roads, and forested singletrack for a nearly 800-kilometer loop involving some of Ontario’s most amazing bikepacking terrain. The 2026 grand depart took off on Sunday, with nearly 30 riders participating. Riley Alvarez took first place (42 hours and 17 minutes), Stuart Mackey landed in second (49 hours and 29 minutes), and Ainsley Gondar was the first woman finisher (70 hours and 40 minutes). Congrats to all the riders!

Events Starting Soon

What to watch this weekend and bikepacking events starting soon…

Tour Divide

The 2026 Tour Divide kicked off this morning from Banff, Alberta, in Canada, following a 2,700-mile route south along the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route to the US/Mexico border in Antelope Wells, New Mexico. We have plenty of exciting coverage planned, including on-the-ground photos from Eddie Clark and written updates from Jill Homer. Follow their progress and find all of our coverage via our Tracker page.

Hope 1000

The Hope-1000 is a bikepacking race that begins in Romanshorn on Lake Constance and ends at the statue of Freddie Mercury in Montreux on Lake Geneva. Spanning 1,000 kilometers across Switzerland and nearly 100,000 feet of climbing, the Hope-1000 follows mostly singletrack through meadows, crystal clear lakes, abbeys with courtyards, and, of course, stunning views. This year’s grand depart starts tomorrow morning, with nearly 100 riders registered for live tracking. Follow them along live here.

Midnight Sun Gravel

Midnight Sun Gravel is an unforgettable journey from Helsinki to Turku, traversing enchanting forests, picturesque coastal roads, and serene lakesides. There are three routes, ranging from 640 to 2,000 kilometers, and the 2026 grand depart kicks off tomorrow morning. Follow their progress here.

El Piri

El Piri is a self-supported bikepacking adventure, from the ancient city of Girona to the wild natural parks of the Catalan Pyrenees, and back again. The 2026 event follows an 800-kilometer route, with over 130 riders participating in Sunday’s grand depart. Follow along live here.

Taunus Bikepacking No.9

Taunus Bikepacking is a self-supported bikepacking adventure in the Taunus hills north of Frankfurt, taking in a mix of surfaces from paved lanes, gravel roads, cobblestone alleys, dirt trails, and everything in between. The challenging 1,000-kilometer route takes riders over unbeaten paths along numerous sights of a remote region in the heart of Germany. There are over 100 riders participating in Sunday’s grand depart. Track their progress live here.

Wish We Were Here

Shedding a little light on a route one of us is dreaming about riding at the moment…

Miles Arbour: Albania

I don’t know if it’s because it’s spring or the excitement of the Tour Divide has me inspired to ride my bike, but I’m eager to take a few weeks next year to get out on a proper international bikepacking trip and experience somewhere new (to me). I think I’ve already roped Lucas in on my plan, and he suggested Albania, as one of his favorite countries and somewhere that might wreak less havoc on my Crohn’s-riddled gut. The Raki Roads route looks stunning, but I’m eager to scout something new.

Weekly Social

Some things we found around the ‘gram and elsewhere. This week, a sweet set of custom bags from Moga and a custom rack from Fine Bikes …

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