Bikepacking.com Best in Show, Gear of the Year 2024
2024 has been a gnarly year for me, both personally and professionally with Clandestine. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling the struggle right now. I don’t know if it’s just the UK, but there’s this sort of all-pervading sense of inevitable, inexorable decline and financial precarity at the moment. But there are reasons for me to be thankful.
Last week Bikepacking.com published their Gear of the Year article. I was really honoured to have my work included, in their Best of Show section that highlights their favourite bikes from the various handmade bike shows they visited during the year. They chose the two Carriers I displayed at Bespoked in Manchester. They highlighted the derailleur geared bike I had on display on the Wizard Works stand. It means a great deal to me, and I know to all makers, to have our work recognised and appreciated more broadly. It’s easy to exist in a little tiny cocoon, ensconced in the workshop and somewhat isolated. Feeling part of something larger and having the work validated by others is hugely rewarding.
I designed and built the Carrier because it’s the bike I wanted to exist in the world. It’s what I want to ride more than anything else, and if I could only have one bike I would chose a Carrier with no hesitation. In many ways, the desire for that bike was what led me to experiment with fabricating racks, and later, making frames. It’s why I am a frame builder. With the global economy so precarious, and the climate apocalypse encroaching, I believe more than ever that having one really nice handmade bike is better than having multiple corporate ones, and the Carrier is my approach to that idea.
So thank you Logan and Bikepacking.com, and here’s to the backside of tough year. May 2025 suck a lot less.
You can read the whole piece on bikepacking.com here.