Journal

Update 5/13/22: This review was updated to include some details on the Orbea Rise H bike, which is in stock now and ready to ship. Technology is only as good as it is intuitive to use. The new Orbea Rise, with it's unique Shimano EP8 RS drive unit, promises to...

In a lot of ways, Northern California can lay claim to being the spiritual home of the gravel bike. Sure, that spirituality started in the 1970s with the advent of mountain bikes in the Marin Headlands among other places, but what modern gravel bike has become today - inching ever...

Imagine your ideal bike ride. For us, the scenery has flora in full bloom, the sky is clear, and perhaps most importantly, the perfect temperature is probably around 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Finding conditions like that this time of year requires heading toward the equator and away from the...

SCOTT Bikes has long prided itself on leading-edge innovation and pushing the boundaries of what has typically been considered possible with bike technology. Whether it’s the introduction of clip-on aero bars that helped Greg LeMond win the Tour de France or the revolutionary TwinLoc suspension system for mountain bikes, SCOTT...

Gravel bikes have rocketed to the forefront of bikes most asked about in the shop. There are myriad reasons for this, but one of the most common uses for us in these parts is to connect road with gravel, gravel with singletrack, and singletrack with chunk. Sometimes, a gravel bike...

There is a certain allure to building up a bicycle all your own. Building a custom bicycle gives riders the opportunity to build a bike that reflects individual tastes, needs, and wants. Above all else, it requires a caring eye to ensure that the overall package is cohesive and meets...

OPEN is no stranger to collaborations, having even done them in the past with ENVE for, SRAM, or Ultradynamico for collaboration frames. But the OPEN WIDE ENVE Edition took it a step further, featuring the ENVE Adventure fork and unique topo-inspired paint. With the popularity of the first 100 ENVE Edition frames,...

Lazer isn't usually the first name people think of when considering a mountain bike helmet, having been a major player in the road and cyclocross market for years. Recent mountain bike helmets from the Belgian company have changed that lately, culminating in an impressive range of MTB-centric helmets. The latest...

The original 3T Exploro, first released in 2016, not positioned the stalwart 3T as a nascent bike brand, but it also was the release of the first aero gravel bike. And amongst all the aerodynamics on a gravel bike talk, the fact of the matter is that the Exploro was...

Campagnolo, the Italian company known for their jewelry-like components flare for design, has entered the gravel bike market. They’ve done so with Campagnolo Ekar 13, a 1×13 mechanical groupset designed for gravel riding in mind. And while we at Contender are often skeptical about the efficacy of some gravel bike-specific parts,...

Fizik may have started in 1996, but ask around and it wasn’t until the release of the Fizik Arione in 2002 that the Fizik name began to really proliferate. The Arione was a revelation in saddle design: long, narrow, flat, and decidedly svelte in shape. Fizik's newest saddle line, the...