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Time for a brew

I love a coffee and cake stop as much as the next man, but what if you are way off the beaten track? The chances are that you will be carrying a stove for those morale boosting cuppas and essential nutrition. The Alpkit BruKit could be all you need for that brew up. It is an all in one stove and pot combo that uses standard gas canisters. There are plenty of other stoves on the market but what we wanted to find out is whether this stove is one we would confidently take out on a big ride.

At first glance, the Alpkit BruKit looks remarkably similar to a Jetboil stove. As I own one of the original Jetboils, I was intrigued to see how the two compare.

Say Hey, Good Lookin’, whatcha got cookin?’

The BruKit comes complete with everything you need to get going.

There is a 1-Litre pot with inbuilt heat exchanger, neoprene pot sleeve, rubber lid and the all important gas burner. All of these come in a stuff-sac. You also get an adapter for standard cooking pans as well as a tripod that attaches to your gas cylinder.

You have to buy these last two items separately with the Jetboil, and you don’t get a stuff sac either!

The Brukit packs away neatly into its stuff-sac

There’s no replacement for displacement

My original Jetboil weighs 480gms, while the Brukit is 590gms. Having said that, it has twice the capacity (1 litre vs 500ml) so the weight gain is negligible. Despite the greater capacity, the Brukit is 15mm shorter and only 25mm wider than the Jetboil!

Cooking with gas

The beauty of these integrated stoves is ease of use. Screw on the gas canister, screw on the pot, fill it with water and use the integral igniter to get it going.

The BruKit pot has a built in heat-exchanger, which increases the surface area ensuring more efficient heat distribution. Consequently, you get the dual benefits of faster boiling and reduced fuel consumption. The heat-exchanger also acts as a wind-shield further preventing heat loss.

The tall pot is not ideal for cooking (as opposed to just boiling water) but the adapter makes it easy to use standard pots too.

The gas flow is easily adjusted so you can simmer rather than just go full blast!

The adapter included for standard pots

Standard pot in place

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The need for speed

If you want a quick cuppa you won’t want to wait forever for your water to boil. Nor do you want a gas-guzzler which means you have to take spare gas on every trip.

A simple test should demonstrate the relative efficiency of each stove. So I set up a head to head.

The task was to see which stove brought 500ml of water to boiling quickest and which one used the least fuel. ( 500ml is the Jetboil’s maximum capacity and is also roughly what you need for a dehydrated meal.) To calculate which stove used the least fuel, I weighed the gas canister before and after each test.

Stove tested	Boiling time for 500ml	Gas consumption
Standard Jetboil	3 mins 10 seconds	4gms
Alpkit BruKit	2 mins 52 seconds	3gms

As you can see the BruKit was both faster to boil and used less gas than the Jetboil!

Another advantage is that the Brukit takes a larger gas canister which can be stored in the stove during transit. If you remove the pot adapter and canister tripod, the BruKit will accommodate a 350gm canister.

With everything you need in the box (bar gas!) the BruKit is fantastic stove, fast, efficient, easy to use and lightweight. Lighter, more compact, stoves won’t be as user friendly nor will they have the same capacity. They will probably need a wind-shield too to remain efficient.

If you are riding in a group, sharing out kit, a BruKit would beat individual smaller stoves in most cases. I thoroughly recommend it!

Review: Backcountry Research Super-8 Top Tube Strap

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Simplify, then add lightness

The Back Country Research Super-8 falls into the Now why didn’t I think of that category. The concept is delightfully simple and incredibly effective. A rubber backed wide velcro strap attaches to your top tube, and two pairs of shock cord loops with rubber tubes are used to secure items. In practice it’s child’s play to operate.

Place the Super 8 in easy grabbing distance!

Keep it simple…stupid!

Weighing in at 35g the only lighter way realistically to attach something to your bike is a couple of wraps of electrical tape! The negligible weight and bulk of the Super 8 means you won’t notice it if you leave it on the bike and switching it to another takes seconds. Constructed from a synthetic rubber called Hypalon, the Super 8 is rot and UV resistant, so when it gets grubby it’ll survive a trip through the wash.

The Super 8 has really come into its own of late. Frosty starts have necessitated big gloves and warm layers but as soon as the sun pops over the treeline you start to overheat. The Super 8 keeps these shed layers secure and to hand if conditions take a turn for the worse again. Far better than cramming jersey pockets to bursting point!

The Backcountry range doesn’t stop at the Super 8 and Keep Pedalling also supply the Mutherload, Race and Camrat straps. These are designed primarily for puncture repair kit and varying sizes of spare tube.

The Super 8 retails for £21.95 in store or can be bought online from Keep Pedalling by clicking here.

 

Review: Passport Cycles Lug-Kage

 

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When you come to a fork in the road, load it!

Increasing numbers of bikes are being launched with “three pack mounts”. They look like bottle cage mounts but with a third bolt and are typically found on fork blades or down by the bottom bracket. So what are they all about?

Quite simply, these mounts provide additional opportunities to hang stuff on your bike.

The Lug-Kage is Passport’s version of the “anything cage”. Essentially these are oversized bottle cages that can swallow up items larger than your regular bidon.

What’s it made from?

The Lug-Kage is made of 6mm alloy rod, tig welded to a mounting plate. They are anodised to keep corrosion at bay, and are available in silver or black. The cages come with new bolts and a pair of velcro straps to hold your kit in position.

Load em up!

While this style is known as an “anything cage” there are limits. Passport rate the Lug-Kage up to 3kg and recommend using them in pairs. This is common sense really,  as hanging 3kg off one side will cause havoc with handling!

The velcro straps are long enough for anything that will fit in the cage.

The Lug-Kage is ideal for carrying lightweight but bulky items like sleeping bags, kip mats and down jackets. As a general rule of thumb, if it can fit in a 4-5 litre dry bag, you can probably carry it. It’s worth noting that the straps should compress the load directly and not around the cage itself otherwise you’ll bend it.

There are three slots in the base plate so you can adjust the strap location to suit your load. Fitting is as easy as undoing and tightening a few allen bolts. The bolt holes are slotted to allow a degree of adjustment.

Some forks (like those on the Specialized Sequoia) have two bolt mounts. These are likely to have the correct spacing but be sure to check the recommended load limits. Use isn’t restricted to fork blades, a number of bikes have suitable bosses on the downtube but then there are pedalling clearances and tyre spray to consider.

 

On the trail

With a suitable load the Lug-Kage has minimal effect on handling. You might find the looks a little challenging but that’s a small price to pay for  increased load capacity. I found that, as the cages don’t protrude beyond the width of your bars, you don’t snag the scenery as much as you might think.

The arrival of the Lug-Kages coincided with our test of the Alpkit Brukit stove. Carrying rigid items like the Brukit in a saddle pack is rarely satisfactory as you have to pack around it to keep the pack stable. Putting it in the Lug-Kage however was a breeze, and meant the stove was easily to hand for an impromptu brew up!

Obviously if aero-gains are high on your list of priorities the Lug-Kages aren’t going to appeal, but if you want to up your load lugging capacity you can’t go wrong.

Review: Surly 24-Pack Rack

 

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Bike packer or tourer?

Welcome to the arcane world of bicycle luggage. If you are a long or ultra distance rider going through an existentialist crisis in the small wee hours of the night, you might question whether you are a bikepacker or a tourer. This won’t happen to most of us but don’t mock, the distinction is important… apparently.

It doesn’t help, that to the casual onlooker there is little difference between the two. To most people, cyclist and non cyclist alike, luggage on a bike means “tourer”. Evidently,  this is not the case. If you are in any doubt which is which, the following definition will help you get extra ticks in your I-Spy book.

Tourers use racks and panniers, while bikepackers strap soft bags directly to their bikes. Is that clear?

Put like that, it all seems simple enough. But, to confuse the issue, the Surly 24-Pack Rack has created a middle ground. It is a rack, that you can strap your soft bags (or two dozen tins of beer) onto. I don’t know what the definition of a hybrid tourer/bikepacker is, but whatever it is, this seems tailor made for one of them!

What is it?

The 24-Pack is a large and sturdy rack that fits over your front wheel.

At 860g it is 500g lighter than Surly’s traditional style rack, but is still twice the weight of a nylon handlebar harness. It is ED coated inside and powder coated outside. It may seem like overkill but you can be confident it will last. Apparently it means that you can carry nearly 14 kilos so, if you really must bring the kitchen sink, crack on!

 

You won’t be alone thinking that fitting the 24-Pack gives your ride a “butcher’s bike” look. Surly themselves acknowledge the styling as the matching bag they produce is the ‘Porteur House’ bag.

What’s it like to use?

Fitting the rack isn’t difficult, all the hardware is included and it is easy to swap between bikes. Be aware, while it will fit a wide range of fork and tyre sizes, it does require the correct eyelets so check first before you buy one!

Canvas soft luggage has revolutionised bike travel as it is light, doesn’t hinder suspension and holds tight when the going gets rough. It can however be a faff to access your kit and often you need to pack it “just so” to keep it stable. Fouling cables and bar mounted tech can also be an issue. Not only that but drop bars will severely limit your carrying capacity.

The 24-pack neatly sidesteps all of these issues by occupying the space under your bars, avoiding cables and lights.  At 400mm wide, it is narrower than your bars and has a lower profile than regular panniers.

We used the rack with a generic drybag and bungee cords. Packing and repacking the drybag was a breeze, and unlike some handlebar harnesses, can be done off the bike. By using a dry-bag rucksack you can simply unhook it from the rack and carry it with you when leaving the bike unattended.

Another bonus of the 24-Pack is that you can still use ‘anything-style’ cages on the fork, keeping your options open. The rack also comes with eight M5 threaded eyelets (The same as bottle cage mounts) so you even bolt your luggage to the rack if needed! There are also a pair of forward facing M5 bosses that could be used to attach lights, for an uninterrupted beam.

Summary

If you have the necessary fittings on your fork, the 24-pack rack is a great way to carry kit on your bike. If you want to just load up and go at a moments notice, this is the way to do it! You can carry large, or rigid items more easily than when using soft luggage. All while keeping your bike’s skinny profile for the singletrack. The price and weight penalty are offset by the bomb-proof construction and you can use any basic drybag. Surly also produce an 8-Pack rack, essentially just the centre-section of its wider sibling. As well as the obvious weight saving, it removes the temptation to carry more than the essentials!

Specifications

• Colour: Black or Silver
• Weight Limit: 13.6 kg (30lb)
• Finish: ED coating + external powdercoat
• Rack Material:  Tubular 4130 Cromoly
• Platform Dimensions: 270 x 400mm

Fatbiking in Lapland with Roll Outdoors

 

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A Winter’s Tale

I last visited Rovaniemi in 2015, to take part in the eponymous fatbike race and had a fantastic time. Not least because I got to ride in ideal fatbike conditions, something we can so rarely do in the UK.

This Christmas I revisited Rovaniemi but, as I would only be there a few days, I had to leave my trusty Surly Moonlander at home. Hmmm.

A quick online search revealed that fatbikes have really taken off in Rovaniemi over the last few years. So hiring a bike would be a viable option. Now we’re talking!

You wouldn’t want to venture out here without the experience of a guide.

Now is the winter of our discontent…

If you’ve been following the Lapland weather patterns this year (as one does) you’ll have noticed the later than normal arrival of the usual snow and sub-zero temperatures.

The river that serves as the start, and first section of the race series, was frozen over but all over town, signs warned people to stay off the thin ice. As I only had limited time, and with all of the riding areas I know being off limits, I decided to enlist the help of some local experts.

Having seen some awful rental BSO fatbikes rolling around town, I decided to visit Roll Outdoors. Their website promised the latest Canyon and Cube fatbikes and a whole host of route options. This was more like it.

I hooked up with co-founder Johannes, to discuss important stuff such as the sort of terrain I wanted to ride, my riding ability and fitness level. Taking the prevailing conditions into account, he recommended a route around Ounasvarra, taking in the summit of Tottorakka. It had seen fresh snow and featured singletrack and technical sections….uh oh.

If fat is your thing, Roll Outdoors have no shortage of quality bikes to choose from.

Next came the most difficult decision, which bike to choose! While the promise of a techie descent made the Cube Nutrail with Blutos tempting, I opted for a Canyon Dude. The NX Eagle 12 speed gears, and an all carbon frameset, made this a truly lightweight ride – at least from a fatbike perspective.

As Johannes was nursing a nasty cold, his business partner and friend Heikki would be my guide.

Call of the Wild

Rovaniemi is right on the edge of the wilderness so we could ride to the forest from the Roll Outdoors bike garage. After crossing the iconic Lumberjack’s Candle Bridge (Jätkänkynttilä), within minutes we had reached the trailhead and were riding through fresh snow.

Unlike UK slush, the snow is dry and powdery and you can see all the individual flakes. Tyres might pick up a light dusting, but it doesn’t clump or stick.

Before long we reached a twisty section of single track through the trees. The Canyon seemed to wash out on every corner, as if the tyres were too hard. Heikki, a smooth and capable rider, let me catch up to see how I was getting on. After a while, it slowly dawned on me that in Finland, brakes are configured ‘Euro style’. Following this revelation, the Dude starts to hold its line on the bends. Now I’m not leaning on the front brake, things are much better.

Am I in Narnia?!

A prolonged climb criss-crossed through dense woodland. All the tree branches are heaving with snow. We stop at a trail fork and Heikki draws my attention to a bird call. It can’t be far from us. The snow dampens all sound and the forest is deathly quiet so it had to be close.

Heikki goes on to say this is his home trail and 5km further, along an alternate path, we had reached his house! Jealous? Me?

No chance of blending in to the background today.

The trails were practically empty. Apart from a couple of dog walkers, a cross country skier and a few nordic walkers ,we pretty much had the forest to ourselves.

We followed a swage of singletrack that contoured a steep slope before taking on a steep switchback. Then, popping out from the treeline, we reached the summit of Tottorakka. With the temperature comfortably below zero, we took advantage of the summit shelter to slurp down some hot lingonberry juice (what else?!) while Heikki pointed out the highlights of the scenery. Despite the cloud we could see for miles.

Nigel stands watch. Anticipating the sight of Imperial AT-AT Walkers on the horizon.

It’s not wise to hang about in these temperatures so, after a brief stop, we hit the trails again. Back into the trees we had the choice of two ways to the bottom. On the right was a rocky descent called The Rollercoaster. Heikki explained that there was just enough snow to hide obstacles, but not fully bury them so it was best avoided this time round – exactly the sort of local knowledge that makes a good ride into a great one.

The alternative trail was no poor relation though. The descent was both of us foot out, carving great roster tails as gravity did its thing.

It is almost impossible to get your bearings deep in the forest and without warning, we were at the river! I politely declined the offer of a winter swim as we pass the designated bathing area. Yes it had its own pontoon and a tempting hole punched through the ice but the prospect of coffee and cake was too great!

Woah, Canyon Dude.

Winter is not a season, it’s an occupation…

Ride over, we headed off to the Koti Café. Over a Kahvi and Kakku (Coffee & Cake natch!) I chatted to Johannes about Roll Outdoors.

How long have you run Roll Outdoors?

Roll outdoors made its appearance on Instagram early in 2016, we tested routes towards the end of the year and after good feedback on the rides we were up and running fully during 2017.

Has the Roll Outdoors team always lived around Rovaniemi?

Both Heikki and myself are Rovaniemi, born and raised. I moved south to study Industrial design, and that took me from Finland to Sweden and Norway. After many years away I was happy to return with my family to Rovaniemi. I was running the IT side remotely from my laptop but nothing beats joining the team full time on site! Kuutti, the newest member of the team hails from Helsinki but the lure of Rovaniemi was too much and he loves it here!

What do you enjoy most about guiding?

Of course being outside and riding bikes is great, but the best part is getting to meet so many amazing people from all over the world. The satisfaction felt when you’ve helped someone have a holiday they won’t forget, energises me and gives me a real buzz!

When did you discover fatbikes? Were you road or mountain bikers before?

Actually, back in the late 90’s Heikki and I met snowboarding! We enjoyed the back country lifestyle and hanging out in the trees and on the slopes. While we’d had mountain bikes as teenagers, it was only then we got serious. We needed something to do in the summer! We hit on the idea that we could offer mountain bike excursions in the off season. Heikki was the first to buy a fatbike. After riding his we both saw the potential for tourists visiting Rovaniemi and that we could offer year round biking tours.

Johannes and Heikki on their daily commute

Of all the amazing riding opportunities within Lapland, where is your favourite riding area outside of Rovaniemi?

Right now we are both really into riding the Urho Kekkonen National Park. It’s amazingly beautiful and has so much fun riding in the summer. For winter rides the trail network around Ylläs is hard to beat. With over 100km of groomed trails on hand and numerous cafés to fuel up in. It’s a one of a kind paradise!

How do other trail users react to fatbikes in Lapland?

Mostly they are just interested in them! Of course, it’s all trail etiquette and how we behave when we meet. We always slow down, smile and leave plenty of space. Skiers usually have their own trails marked out so we rarely encounter them.

Would you rent one of your bikes to someone entering the Rovaniemi 66/150/300 race in February?

Yes! In fact we have at least two racers using our bikes in the 150 in 2019.

What plans do you have for the future with Roll Outdoors?

Easy, to be the best MTB guides in Scandinavia! We have in place plans to expand into some super secret areas in Lapland. Further afield, we are looking to offer cross-border rides into Sweden and Russia. When the snow melts we have an extensive network of gravel forest roads, we’d like to become a hub for Fatbikers, MTB, Gravel, and even road riders!

I left Johannes and Heikki to get the bikes ready for their afternoon clients, a real shame for me as I could have talked bikes with them all day! It goes without saying that if you want to try fatbikes in Santa’s back yard, you really should call in on Roll Outdoors!