Tenere 700: Tie-down bracket on passenger foot pegs for soft luggage

The set of Enduristan Blizzard XL soft saddlebags I'm fitting to my Tenere require a tie-down point at the passenger foot pegs. Since I'm not using and have removed the passenger foot pegs, I need a place to loop the lower bag straps since I don't want them wrapping directly around the frame (that'll wear through the finish). R&G Racing offers a nice pair aluminum tie-downs like the one below, which bolt into the foot peg holes. Nice design, but also about CAD$130 and overkill for my needs.

I opted to make my own brackets.  

The bolt holes for the foot pegs are on 70mm centres. I figured that one bolt alone (I'm using the original foot peg bolts) should provide plenty of mechanical strength for a 1" nylon baggage strap. But to ensure the strap stays in place, I needed to make a simple bracket from 3mm T6061 scrap aluminum I had lying around. The bracket bridges the two mounting bolts, providing some additional mechanical strength. A few minutes with a hacksaw, file, and drill press had two nice brackets fabricated. I used some aluminum tubing (1/2" dia.) cut to 14mm length as bolt spacers. Total cost about $0 and an hour of effort, since I had the scraps lying around. But if you had to buy the aluminum, tubing, and paint, you're still looking at <$20 with lots of material left over.

The tubing takes the bulk of the load from the webbing loop which pulls up to the rear, in line with the frame tube. Some light sanding, rounding of edges, and coats of Krylon had the end product looking pretty good. 

I though about sliding some plastic tubing over the brackets to provide additional protection for the straps, but this is probably unnecessary. 

Since the Enduristan Blizzard bags are a rackless design, they are meant to press against the rear body panels. While the bags have some nice padding on the inside, I opted to apply some 3M film to the lower section of the paint to protect again inevitable wear from grit. Not the neatest application job, but this was my first time trying a wet application. I'll post the template I used in case you want to cut your own film. 

Next up is fitting the bags. An Adventure Spec top rack is also on its way, which may change my mounting method slightly. Will post on how it all comes together.

More mountain biking trails in Lanark County

If you're looking for new places to mountain bike in the Ottawa area, happily there are several more options today than even five years ago. However, for a region that's chock-full of beautiful forests, rocky Canadian Shield, rivers, and parks--all the raw material to become a world-class mountain biking destination--it's still somewhat incredible and disappointing there isn't more single track available to the public. Nevertheless, the Ottawa Mountain Biking Association (OMBA) has worked tirelessly with the National Capital Commission to slowly ease open some trail access in Gatineau Park. Larose Forest has seen the recent and rapid development of a well-regarded trail network for summer and winter riding. Further up the Ottawa River Valley, BORCA and others continue to improve networks at Forest Lea and along the Ottawa River near Beachburg. 

Just 30 minutes west of Ottawa in Almonte, I'm happy to report that the Mississippi Valley Trails (MVT) network I started with a small group of volunteers ten years ago is now enjoying rapid expansion and improvements for summer and winter riding as well. I've now passed over stewardship of the trail network to the Lanark County Mountain Biking Association (LCMBA) which is run by the same group of volunteers. Originally we had the trail insured and organized under the auspices of OMBA, but with the growth of local activity it made sense to form a new, separate trail management organization with its own liability insurance. 

As with any trail network, maintaining access depends on users respecting the landowners and trail rules. This spring we lost access to one section of private lands connecting the MVT section to the Mill of Kintail and Bennies Corners sections. This was unfortunate, because it meant splitting what used to be an almost 30km out-and-back ride into two separate areas with no good connection between them. However, it's understandable why the landowner closed access: a small minority of riders and dog-walkers consistently ignored requests to stay on the trail (or stay off it altogether when the entry was barricaded) and trespassed onto actively farmed lands. 

On a personal note, after ten years of grubbing out single track and wrangling land access, I need a break to deal with other life events and to spend more time actually riding. LCMBA has a good handle on taking the network to the next level. I'm thankful for LCMBA's efforts, and the growing popularity of the trails is proof that things are headed in the right direction for year-round riding. Ten years ago I knew everyone who rode; now it's rare if I run into someone I know. If you haven't checked out the LCMBA network, it's well worth a day trip. Almonte also offers many excellent options for food and drink before or after your ride. You can even jump into the river to cool off at Rock Bottom, the historic swimming hole just downstream of the town along the MVT section. 

As always, please respect the core trail rules: stay on the trail, ensure your pets are leashed, and do not leave litter or poop bags. If you're considerate of the landowners, there will be more opportunities to grow and maintain the network for many more years to come.

Review: Motorcycling with a DJI Mavic Mini drone

Bringing a drone along for the ride opens up some interesting possibilities for exploring beyond the trail and capturing great shots of your adventure. After spending far too many hours researching drone options online, I bought a DJI Mavic Mini from Dr. Drone (excellent service and pricing!). A key reason for choosing the Mini was that at 249g, it's just under Canada's 250g limit before a drone pilot license is required. While I plan to get certified some day, for now I figured it'd be smart to learn with something relatively cheap before splurging on more expensive gear (e.g. a Mavic Air 2). 

DJI makes high quality products and the Mavic Mini is no exception. It packs a decent camera with gimbal stabilization, high quality components, and up to 30 mins of flight time per charge into a package that folds up neatly and fits into the palm of your hand. This makes it ideal for carrying along on hikes and rides. However--and as with any gadget--if you don't make it easy to access, you're unlikely to use it and then it just becomes aspirational deadweight. So the challenge was how to make the drone readily accessible on the Tenere 700 while riding solo, so I could get some interesting shots while actually riding with gloves and helmet on. 

Like most of DJI's drones, you need some kind of screen (mobile phone or tablet) to view and control the camera while in flight. It's important that you check the compatibility of the phone or tablet you plan to use, because not all options will work (or work reliably) with DJI's flight apps (for the Mavic Mini, it's DJI Fly). DJI has put most of their effort into being compatible with Apple devices, so if you're using Android it can be a bit of a compatibility crap-shoot. I originally used an iPhone 8+ for flying, but since that's my company phone and short on storage, it wasn't a long-term option. The DJI Fly app and the video it record during flight can quickly fill several gigs of storage. 

At the same time, I wanted a screen for two other purposes on my bike. One is navigation, hopefully to replace the outdated and clunky functionality of my Garmin Montana GPS. (More on this in another post, but for now I'll say that the OsmAnd+ and Locus Maps Pro apps are solid options.) The other reason for a dedicated second screen is to control my GoPro Hero 8 camera. The GoPro app provides a camera preview mode, remote control, and other features that become essential when your camera is mounted where you can't easily see or access it with a helmet and gloves on. Between the DJI, navigation, and GoPro apps, a dedicated screen and mounting solution compatible with gloves was essential. 

Initially I looked for a small tablet since the larger screen size would aid visibility when flying or navigating. Samsung's ruggedized Galaxy Tab Active 2 tablet seemed perfect, but its hardware is now outdates and slow, and I could find no information to confirm its compatibility with DJI Fly. Next I considered an iPad Mini, since there are lots of good used options. However, it has questionable durability and an unknown IPX rating against dust and moisture ingress, and apparently it doesn't support the DJI Fly app at native high resolution, defeating the whole purpose of a larger screen. Eventually I settled on a used, unlocked Samsung Galaxy 8 Active in pristine new condition. This is a ruggedized version of the regular Galaxy 8 and has a similar screen size to the iPhone 8+. Even better, it has an SD card expansion slot which is perfect for caching video images, map files, GPX files, etc. and the touch screen works with gloves on. No fingerprint reader to obey! Without a SIM card and stripped of unnecessary software, it's performed well in controlling the Mavic Mini. I've also paired it with my Packtalk Bold helmet comms so I can hear important notifications from the DJI Fly app. The question then was how to get everything set up on the bike.

Recently I bought two Mosko Moto tanks bags in the hopes their ready access to gear outweighs my dislike of how tank bags interfere with standing on the pegs. The larger of the two, the Hood model (5L capacity) provides a nice flat top with Molle straps for attaching gear. The other bag is the Pico. Here you can see the two bags side-by-side. 

At 1L capacity, the Pico is just large enough to hold the drone and two extra batteries (giving a total of 90 mins flight time). It too has a flat top with Molle straps, so this is what I decided to work with. In practice, the Pico has far less than 1L of capacity because of the internal frame design. It should be called the Femto since it barely fits my iPhone 8+ or eyeglasses case.

After looking at various gadgets to connect DJI controllers to larger phones and tablets, I decided that Velcro would likely suffice and got some of the 10lb-rated self-adhesive patches. These have a thicker, heavier hook pattern than regular Velcro. 

I cut and stuck small patches to a phone case for the Galaxy, and to the DJI controller. The result is a reasonably solid connection to Mosko Moto's Velcro pad which attaches to the Molle straps. The Velcro pad will flop around a bit unless you offset it to the Molle straps and then weave it into place using the pair of Velcro straps it comes with. The result is a surprisingly stiff yet sufficiently flexible base to attach the controller and phone. The pad can be affixed to either the Pico or Hood tank bag the same way.

The Mavic Mini kit includes a cable to connect the controller to the phone, but it's too short for my setup. After much searching online, I eventually found a slightly longer Micro USB to USB C cable. A quick test confirms this cable supports the video data rate transmitted from the controller (some cables only support charging, not high-speed data). 

Having experimented with this setup, I can say it works very well for quickly setting up the drone, launching, and positioning a shot--even with gloves on and while sitting on the bike. Now I'm able to start filming within a couple of minutes, and once the drone is in place, I can ride through the scene to get some action footage with little risk of bumping the controller and moving the drone. For multi-day trips, I'd use the larger tank-bag so I can include the various chargers needed to keep the drone and GoPro running. Their proximity to the USB port I installed in the dash make them easy to plug in with a standard cord.  

While the Mavic Mini is a great starter drone, it has three significant constraints which aren't deal-breakers, but do limit what and where you can film:

• The camera, while generally excellent at this price point, has limited ability for manual exposure control. There are some excellent videos on YouTube about how to work around this and improve image quality. It's worth spending some time to figure it out before you try to ride and shoot. Note: DJI has now issued a firmware update (V01.00.0500) to enable manual exposure control. It requires DJI Fly v1.0.8 or later and includes some other valuable video and control improvements. (Update: Combined with a set of neutral density filters--I'm using the Freewell set--the new manual camera settings produce great image results.)   
• There's no "follow" mode, which means unless you're an incredibly talented pilot, you're pretty much limited to static shots that you ride through. The Mini has three built-in dynamic shots, but setting them up for effective use while riding requires significant practice. It's understandable why DJI didn't include follow-mode in an entry-level, low-cost drone since it requires additional sensors. Still, if they offer this capability in a future Mini model, it would be a category killer and yet unlikely to cannibalize sales of their larger drones because of the next point. 
• Being so light, the Mini struggles to fly in breezy conditions. I've found this generally limits flying to mornings and evenings, before the heat of the day stirs up wind. You need to be mindful of potentially strong winds up high, even if things seem calm at ground level. Otherwise the drone could simply blow away, and there you are in a helmet and riding gear wondering how or even if you can retrieve it.

Technology aside, the real fun is in finding creative ways to get interesting shots with what you've got. Moreover, none of these gadgets are useful if you don't do something with the footage. That means developing your photography and film-making skills, learning how to use video-editing software, and becoming disciplined enough to edit down hours of probably dull content to show off just the bits that tell an interesting story. For software, I started off using iMovie because it was already installed on my computer, but I quickly found it to be too limited in capabilities. Final Cut Pro was a reasonably priced upgrade and has powerful editing features that are easy to use. Still, lots to learn before I have any results I'll feel comfortable sharing!

Tenere 700: Review at 3800km

Everyone wants to check out my bike and asks me how I like it. I love it. Now that some of the lustre has dulled and it's covered in dirt (as it properly should be) after 3800km of mostly gravel and forest roads, here's my update on how the love affair continues. For reference, I'm coming from a modified WR250R (which I still have) and a 2019 Africa Twin (which I bought new and sold after only two weeks of riding because it just didn't click with me). 

Isn't is top heavy? 

Nope. Even with a full tank, it carries its weight surprisingly well. Cornering and low-speed handling is precise and controlled, even on dirt. There isn't that feeling of "oh sh*t!" when leaning too far; the bike just turns and sticks. Even on dirt at speed, it doesn't have that feeling of running away from you if you hit a corner too hard and risk going into the rhubarb. For comparison, my Africa Twin felt ponderous, like a container ship plowing through heavy seas. The Tenere feels like a speed boat going over the waves. It feels about as top-heavy as my WR250R which is taller and has an aftermarket tank with the volume as the Tenere's. 

Yeah, but my 790 Adventure R / Modified DR650 is way lighter!

So what? There's always going to be some other bike that does something else better or worse, or has better specs on paper. What really matters is how your bike feels for you. Does it let you ride what you want and have fun? The Tenere does that for me: it feels just like my WR250R but with 2.5X more power, which really puts a smile on my face. It has way better traction control because of that smoooooth CP2 engine. My riding skills are absolutely the limiting factor in what the Tenere can do; not the extra weight. Pol Tarrés is proof of that!

How's the suspension?

Now that I've got it mostly sorted out, it's pretty decent. Most reviewers agree that the rear spring is too soft if you're over 65kg (I'm 87kg buck nekkid). I upgraded to an 80N-mm spring from Rally Raid and, with the preload at zero, the rider sag is now -60mm (which will go down to the target -70mm or 30% with my usual gear on, since ridin' nekkid is generally frowned upon). For the forks, I kept the stock springs but installed the Rally Raid preload fork caps with 5mm spacer and three turns of the pre-load adjustment. This gives me -64mm of rider sag (30%). After fiddling with compression and rebound I found a decent compromise between street and dirt. Traction in dirt--even with the stock tires--is surprisingly good even at speed, so I figure the settings are good. However, I'm considering some re-valving this winter to improve high-speed compression/rebound performance. Overall though, the suspension is fine. I'll be loading up the bike with soft luggage soon and then will have a chance to see how it performs under load. 

Isn't the tank too small? Aren't you worried about running out of gas?

Nope. The gas gauge is a little wonky though: It doesn't move for the first 100km, then it drops a bar, then it starts racing towards empty. The Low Fuel light comes on when there's about 1/4 tank (3-4 litres) left! There's a solid 300km range, and probably 350km if you aren't hard on the throttle. I'll carry a 1-gallon RotoPax for longer trips because I don't like to plan more than 300km between fill-ups to allow for the inevitable extra distance from wrong turns, etc. Overall I've been seeing about 3.6-4.6 l/100km fuel economy under spirited riding, and I'm probably averaging about 4.3-4.5l/100km on longer, steady stretches.

How's the wind protection?

I'm just over 6' or 183cm and I wear a peaked helmet (Shoei Hornet). There is almost zero buffeting of the helmet, quite unlike my experience on the Africa Twin. If I duck down about 2", there's a quiet pocket of air and the wind noise is substantially reduced. Anyone shorter than me is going to have a great experience with the wind protection. I don't find the wind noise too bad though; I ride with ear plugs anyways. It's not so loud that I can't enjoy music on my Packtalk Bold headset. Overall I find the protection pretty good and I don't plan to change anything. It's a motorcycle, not a luxury car. 

What would you change?

These are the mods I've made, and all of them have proven worthwhile:

• Rally Raid fork preload caps
• Rally Raid shock spring (80 N-mm)
• Rally Raid stainless steel from hub spacers
• CamelADV anti-bobble brace for tower
• Outback Motortek skid plate (essential; the stock guard is pretty flimsy)
• Outback Motortek lower engine guards
• B&B Offroad tail tidy
• Eastern Beaver PC-8 switched power bus
• Oxford heated grips
• USB port
• R&G Racing case covers (protects the water pump and more)
• Barkbuster Storms
• Doubletake Mirrors
• AdventureSpec rear rack (on order; not installed yet)
• Rally Raid GPS mount
• Yamaha chain guide (essential)
• Yamaha radiator guard (essential)
• Wider pegs (to come)

I didn't mind spending a couple grand on the above farkles because it got me the bike I wanted and all bikes need some customizing anyway. I didn't spring for the adventure seat because I'm waiting to see what Seat Concepts comes up with. The stock seat isn't too bad for me anyway. It's a more compact riding position than on my WR250R, but somehow not as uncomfortable as I initially expected. 

I plan to install a set of Cyclops LED lights because the stock lights, while not bad, don't provide as much coverage as I'd like for our gloomy fall riding.

The stock tires, Pirelli Scorpion STRs, handle very well on gravel and pavement. Kudos to Yamaha for putting on decent rubber. I have a Motoz Tractionator Adventure rear and Shinko 804 front waiting to go on next. 

But don't you miss all the electronics and traction control?

Nope. Had that on the Africa Twin and found it got in the way of just enjoying the ride. I wish the Tenere's ABS off-switch stayed off when the ignition is on but the engine is killed, because that would eliminate a lot of button-pushing during frequent stops. Overall the display works fine. I spend most of my time watching the scenery anyway.

If there's one thing I would change, it's Yamaha's location for the selector switch on the right side. It's almost impossible for me to push it with my right thumb while riding. A thumb switch on the left side would probably work much better. This winter I may see what I can rig in parallel to the OEM switch. 

How is it to service?

Yamaha has put a lot of thought into how this bike is assembled and as a result it's extremely simple to strip down for access to things like the oil filter, air filter, etc. Changing tires is a bit fiddly with the twin front rotor, but entirely doable. By comparison, the Africa Twin was a nightmare in all respects.

The engine is only 72 HP! Every KTM since 1973 is at least twice as powerful!!1!1! 

Yeah, I don't feel like I'm missing out on power except maybe when I'm passing at top highway speed in a headwind going up a steep hill. But that's a tiny percentage of my riding time. Most of the time I'm on rural roads, gravel, dirt, rough terrain. The 72 or however many ponies are more than enough to spin the tire and have a blast. What that number doesn't tell you is how electric-motor-smooth the engine is, and how torquey it is at low RPMs. You can crawl along in 2nd or 3rd, give it some gas, and spin up to speed in no time. The engine is a beautiful work of tractable power. Easy to ride all day long at any speed, standing or sitting. 

Does it need bar risers?

No. At 6' tall, I find the riding position nicely balanced in stock form. I did rotate the bars forward a touch though. 

Conclusions

If you like the WR250R, you'll probably love the Tenere 700. It's just a big WRR, with all the power that the little 250 could never deliver, and at only a small perceptible weight penalty. If you prefer the edgy, full-concentration, high-strung power and handling of a KTM, you'd probably find the Tenere to be a little boring perhaps. If you're riding an 800GS or similar BMW, you'd probably find the Tenere to be just as much bike but slimmer and lighter-feeling in your hands.

This summer I'm doing a longer tour with luggage, and we'll see how the Tenere performs under load. 

Ibis Hakka MX gravel bike: Review

With all the hype around gravel bikes recently, it's perfectly understandable why you may be rolling your eyes at the thought of adding yet another miracle-bike to your quiver. So let's cut to the chase: If for some horrible reason I had to choose to keep just one bike in my own quiver (which includes high-end versions of a road bike, XC mountain bike, fat bike, single-speed, and now a gravel bike), it'd be the gravel bike without question. It's like buying a dual-sport motorcycle and I consider it my Tenere 700 of bicycles: not the fastest on the pavement or most capable in the extreme technical, but a perfect compromise for adventures and exploration.

I'm late to the gravel-bike craze but not new to riding gravel, having gotten into the dirty side of cycling back in 1987 when I first tried mountain biking in France, of all places. (At the time, road-riding was king and mountain biking was still only gaining a foothold in North America.) Of course, there was cycle-cross, and die-hard roadies were also no stranger to cobbled roads in the European race scene. But bikes for the rough stuff at the time were mostly steel or aluminum-framed, wheels were skinny and so was the rubber, and frame geometry was dominated by the hunched-over aero posture of the roadie world. Compared with today's purpose-built and finely-tuned machines, yesterday's bikes offer little in terms of comfort, handling, and performance on rough surfaces. Good riddance as far as I'm concerned! 

Enter Ibis Bicycles out of Santa Cruz, California. Unlike industry giants such as Trek and Specialized, Ibis and its mere dozen or so employees are well down into the boutique-brand category. But their pedigree reaches back to the very origins of mountain biking and they've justly earned a reputation for creating ground-breaking designs that encapsulate passion, and perform as exquisitely well as they look. At Ibis, innovation is incremental and thoughtful. They meticulously refine their designs and details to truly enhance the enjoyment of riding, rather than follow the latest flashy trends.

The Hakka MX carbon frame with the matching Enve carbon fork is Ibis's only gravel offering and the only one they need to offer since it is capable of bike-packing as well. In choosing this frame I'd also considered options from Norco, Cervelo, and a few other brands. I ruled those out because I wanted a threaded bottom bracket, and many of the other brands have recently moved to press-fit because it's easier to manufacturer. For my purposes, I don't see practical benefits to a press-fit bottom bracket, and in fact it's more of a detriment in terms of maintainability. Choosing a threaded design reduced my options considerably, but fortunately the Hakka MX is a solid choice by any measure. 

While it's not the lightest frame set available (mine runs just over 1000 g in 58 cm), it's extremely solid and that's what I wanted given I'm 87 kg and tend to ride hard. Ibis offers a decent build kit around Shimano's new GRX group, but I worked with a local bike shop (Phat Moose - thanks guys!) to create a my own custom build which actually ended up being cheaper and lighter (the complete bike weighs 9.15kg or 20.1 lbs, which is quite respectable): 

• Easton EA90 Cinch crankset, 1 x 11 with 40T chainring  
• Wheels Manufacturing T47 bottom bracket
• Shimano GRX RD-RX812 rear derailleur with CS-M8000 11 speed 11-40T cassette
• Shimano GRX RX810 hydraulic disc brakes and levers
• Easton EX70 bar stem (80mm, 7º) and EC70 AX carbon bar (46cm)
• Race Face Next carbon seat post and WTB Volt saddle
• DT Swiss 350 MTB hubs with XM401 700cc x 22.5mm rims and DT Competition spokes
• Panaracer Gravel King SK 700x43mm tubeless tires

Although this is my first experience with 11-speed, I've been running 1x on my fat bike and mountain bike (Santa Cruz Tallboy) for years and have not felt the need to reinstall a front derailleur. Unless your consistently tackling extremely steep terrain, I've found modern cassettes to offer plenty of range for a 1x setup. If anything, I could use higher gearing for speed, and on the Hakka I indeed ended up swapping the 40T front ring for a 44T, since that was cheaper than replacing the cassette. This allowed me to run the chain one cog lower on the cassette, keeping the chainline more centered for the bulk of my riding at 30-35km/hr. With the 40T, I was usually running in 9th and 10th on the cassette, and I was concerned about accelerated wearing those positions.

The GRX shifts far lighter and smoother than the 1998-era, 9-speed DuraAce on my road bike. The levers have a broad, flat surface on the side which is easy to press for one-finger shifting when you're hands are slippery with sweat. No shifting issues whatsoever under load or extreme chain lines, and even though it's a narrower chain, no issues with grit or mud yet, either. All the cabling is fully internal, so no risk of crap getting in to affect shifting. When building the bike, I routed the rear brake line and derailleur housing after installing the bottom bracket. It was a little tight, but relatively easy to fish the ends around the bottom bracket shell by using a dental pick through the lower frame port.

The wheels may seem like an ususual choice. In fact, they're a set of 29er mountain bike wheels I'd built up under my Rugged Wheels business but never sold. Most people don't seem to understand that 29er rims are equivalent to 700cc road rims, and the older (100/142mm, non-boost) hub spacing is now a common standard for CX/road/gravel bikes with thru-axles. DT Swiss uses an ingenious design that lets you swap hub end caps to give you 15mm, 12mm, or QR fitment. I happened to have a set of 12mm QR caps so was able to convert the front wheel from 15mm to 12mm thru-axle in seconds. The Panaracer tires sealed up beautifully and the whole package handles really well on pavement and gravel.

While the Hakka fits the 42mm tires no problem, they tread leaves barely two millimeters of clearance under the nifty fender holder in the rear. This isn't a problem for me since I'm not running fenders, but I'd have to choose a smaller tire if I change my mind. The 42mm tires are fantastic for the roads I ride, which are often potholed or washboarded, or have a layer of fresh, loose gravel on them, requiring some floatation to ride safely. The wider tires complement the stiffer frame and carbon seatpost to offer the benefits of good tracking and pedaling efficiency, as well as long-term comfort. Similarly, I could've chosen to build up some carbon wheels, but I wanted aluminum for some compliance. (I run a similar wheel in carbon on my XC mountain bike, but in that case a stiff wheel is desirable for better tracking, given there's suspension to deal with the bumps plus additional flex from pivots, etc.)

Overall the Hakka bits me beautifully - I got lucky with the initial setup and have only needed to make minor tweaks to fit my 183cm height. Some riders report that the frame feels overly stiff, but for my weight it's been extremely comfortable and I've been continually surprised by how far I've ridden this bike before feeling the need for a short break. The combination of clutch derailleur and internal routing for brake and derailleur makes it an absolutely silent ride even on rocky descents. No creaking or irritating vibrations - just the sweet sound of file-tread tires zinging along. The bars are super comfortable to ride on the tops or hoods, although the shape of the drop grip will take some getting used to after my road bike. Spacing between the front tire and my size 11-feet is tight but so far I haven't hit the tread with my toes. The bike feels stable on the straights and is nimble on technical trails. I ran out of gearing on a 15% loose, technical uphill--but that's more of a rider flaw than bike; I would've struggled on my mountain bike as well. 

In the past month I've ridden almost 900km of gravel and trails on the Hakka. From the first time I swung a leg over it I can honestly say it's rekindled my passion for cycling. A good gravel bike opens up so many new route options to explore and avoid traffic, that I can't imagine why any avid cyclist wouldn't want to give one a try. Makes me feel like a kid again!