Kea Kit Mini: the smallest version of Kea's survival system — worth carrying?

Kea built its name on the original Kea Kit, a proper modular survival system covering the five usual pillars, water, shelter, fire, tools, and first aid. Built by a bloke, Matt Butler, who came at the problem from actually guiding people in the backcountry rather than designing gear from behind

Kea Stash System: does it actually stop your pack smelling like a bin truck?

Anyone who's unzipped a pack three days into a backcountry trip and been hit by the ripe smell of old gel wrappers, a banana skin, meat cans and whatever's leaking out of last night's dinner scraps knows the problem the Stash is trying to

The UCI Killed Enduro. Honestly? Good.

So the UCI's pulled the pin on the Enduro World Cup after 2026. Fourteen years, done. World Champs sticks around, apparently, but the actual world series — the thing that made enduro enduro is getting put down like a lame horse behind the woolshed. And look, I know I&

Destination Queenstown

Some places do mountain biking. Queenstown does mountain biking like it's trying to prove a point. You've heard the marketing. Adventure capital, bungy birthplace, scenery so good it's basically cheating. All true. But underneath the cliche tourist-brochure gloss sits one of the most committed,

ORBEA WILD M-TEAM 26 — RIDE REVIEW

ORBEA WILD M-TEAM 26 — RIDE REVIEW Let me be upfront. I've been a vocal sceptic of eMTBs. The extra weight, the motor dependency, the fact that your mates are now technically cheating. All of it. I said I'd never really adopt one. Anyway, enough about that,

review

Destination: Hanmer

Hanmer, one of New Zealand’s true, quaint semi alpine towns home to loads of adventure.

OCCAM LT 24 - RIDE REVIEW

For 2023, I made a promise to myself. No new bikes this year. Just be happy…. Anyway, enough about that. For 2024. Orbea released an effective ground up remodel of the now 6 year old occam chassis. On top of that ground up rebuild, they made it available in two

MET Parachute - Ride review

I gave up wearing a fullface helmet a few years ago for 2 reasons. 1. They were relatively hardcore back then. As in, you’d only wear one while racing because if you weren’t “racing”, you’d look a prized pillock going the speeds I do. 2. I did

Opinion

State of it!

It’s been quite a while since the bike industry was in quite the state. Covid times to be fair but more so in the boom scenario. But has that boom and the greed of the boardroom seen the potential demise of their very industry? Possibly.

Destination - Derby

If I could write a feasibility study on the successful implementation of converting an area known for tin mining in the old days to a thriving MTB trail network, I could simply write, “do what they did in Derby”. It’s really that simple. Derby, a small Tasmanian town with

A Norcal Flow Expedition

I can hand on heart rate Marcels service as a 5 out of 5. After mere minutes you feel like you're riding with a long lost MTB bud that curates a days (or multi days) rides that suit exactly what you're looking for. Marcel's time to sound

Bike Review

Orbea Alma M50 - Ride Review

Diggin deep back into the XC realms was something I took with a heavy grain of salt. The last few year's I'd grown partial to the ways of the modern gravel bike but that was mainly because I knew that style of bike had definitive limits

Occam LT - Ride Review

Like all good craft beers, a good one has a base recipe that is often around for a few seasons. But like bikes, beers often need subtle tweaks like a bit more punch, a little more sweetness or a subtle blurring between styles and that's exactly what the

Opinion

Re-motivating in a Post Covid world

So you’ve had the spicy cough and are struggling to find that motivation or mojo to get back out there? Couple this to the near two years of disruptions that we’ve finally been given some freedoms from and the want to ride has faded. With that now evident

5 quick products Reviewed

We get given, leant and purchase hundreds of products from all sorts of amazing suppliers. Here's what we have to say this month with our top 5 picks. MTX Red label brake pads Hailing out of Salt lake City Utah, MTX braking are a small aftermarket brake pad

E-Zing into the Wild

"E-bike's are for old people. They're for lazy riders! They're so people can cheat on climbs! It's not real riding on an E-bike"..... **Insert yawn emoji here** These are often the voiced opinions of people who are either A. self

Industry fallout

As I write this I find myself sitting in my lounge during another nationwide lockdown and stay at home orders. It's been 482 days since we were last in a hard lockdown, so we can consider ourselves pretty lucky in comparison to the rest of the world. Over

Pumped up

At near 40, I’ve managed to discover a new riding style and bike that I feel has refreshed my enthusiasm for riding like I was 16 again. Most 40 year olds these days seem to be loudly proclaiming the comments “I’ve just bought an e-bike and can’t

Trail Builder Diaries - Round 1

As promised, this series showcases the talents of our many trail builders around New Zealand and as you'll see too, the world. Unlike the latest Youtube trends with failing ratings on MTB channels who, have resorted to buying vans then small blocks of land and are now building

Finding things out, the hard way

As unsponsored, weekend Mountain bikers, we've all googled how good is the quality of Chinese carbon products?. As a result, we've learn't about many a "mountain biker's" response in the internet forums describing their experience as positive and couldn'

Trail Builder Diaries: Why do we build?

To many a MTB'er, a trail is an avenue to explore a park, express their riding style and get that good shred buzz. It's a given, we all ride for the release of something, adrenaline, stress or just a simple touch of exercise. But why do

Stanton switch9er - long term ride review.

Fact is, this bike is Rad! seriously Rad! From the moment you first sling a leg to the moment you hang it back in the stable, I guarantee you will enjoy your ride.

Protection is key - IXS Trigger AM - Review

Our noggins don't seem so important, until we tend to hurt them and end up in a crumpled mess trail side. Ironically, they put us there. 90% of the time, we get up, we dust the arms and legs off, have a quick look of the skid lid

Covid-19 and the bike industry

Who'd have thought that in 2020, with all our technology, medical advancements and knowledge, human kind would be backhanded by a global pandemic and told to sit our asses down. The disease that's sweeping the globe is horrendous, in many ways and my heart is with

Parallel universe - Orbea Occam M10 Ride Review

For 2020 the Occam, received a rather drastic overhaul in both Geo and platform which, in a nutshell, Orbea scrapped the split platform of wheel sizes, a massive change in chassis design (yes, some similarities with the stumpy), an upgrade in kinematics and a modern