Exit Through The Gifuto Shoppu

I have always been fascinated with the way English words get incorporated into other languages, and had for much of my early life considered the way English was influencing those other languages as an evolutionary tit-for-tat, given that English itself is a mashup of French, Danish, Dutch and whatever the local Picts and Celts and Gaels contributed to the party. I had never really thought of it as an act of linguistic imperialism until I found myself riding past the gift shop at the Golden Gate Bridge several times a week. There, among the snow globes with a red bridge inside them, smiling whale keychains, harbor seal plush toys, along with hats and t-shirts that alluded a lot more to cable cars and crab cooking than they did to the wild old days of the Barbary Coast, the exhortation to come buy some shit was writ large in all the languages of the world. And that was when I learned that Japanese was becoming overrun with hacked up portmanteaus of English origin. Like, Gifuto Shoppu.

So, welcome to the holidays. Instead of poisoning the beloved but impossible to shop for cyclist in your family with meaningless tat plucked from the mindless plunder of Black Friday, here are a few gifutos sourced from good people who are not hell bent on destroying our society through greed based capitalism. Ho Ho Ho…

Campandglslow Handlebar Tape

Casey Clark is a potter based in the eastern shadow of the northern Sierra Nevada, and his beautiful pottery alone is worth a look for any savvy “hey, how about something made by a real human being” gifuto shopper. Except it is all sold out. But he has a side gig, making high-style, high function bike accessories. Case in point: this incredible handlebar tape. It’s available in three patterns; Western Rattler as seen here, Eastern Rattler, and Trout. The underlayment is similar to most padded road bar tape, about par for thickness with Cinelli cork ribbon. The outer surface is woven nylon that is just textured enough to feel good under bare hands. It is incredibly tough, and this tape can be stretched real hard, harder than almost any other tape I have ever wrapped around a bar, which makes me suspect it can take a good amount of riding abuse as well.

There’s enough material for the wiiiidest bars on the planet. I had about two feet of wrap per side leftover after wrapping over the existing wrap on a pair of 48cm Ritchey VentureMax bars, and I am pretty sure I can get away with rewrapping this tape if the existing setup feels bulkier than I want. And it makes my bike look classy. 44 USD. Comes in neat little nylon baggie sewn by elves in Seattle, but you’ve gotta go fish for your own bar plugs and finishing tape. Oh, and, thanks to a postal strike north of the border, shipping to Canada is currently not available. I just found that out today. Bugger. Sorry for upending the lede.

Lost Summers and Half Forgotten Afternoons

If you ever spent any time riding mountain bikes in the UK, or read MBUK magazine at any point in your life, you probably encountered Mint Sauce. If you didn’t, and haven’t, you probably should get to know this mountain biking ovine icon. Mint Sauce sprang fully formed from the pen of Jo Burt, his creator and possible human alter-ego, back in 1991, and has been filling the pages of MBUK with densely packed illustrations, barely disguised cultural commentary, seasonal aspiration and desperation in equal order, and enough marginalia to make a whole abbey full of monks feel like slackers. Jo’s compiled a book of Mint Sauce strips. It is beyond coffee table worthy, a complete arc of mountain biking over the span of three decades as seen through the eyes of a sheep who has a thing for Pace mountain bikes. The whole book is packed with color and so much detail and minutiae that it’s impossible not to get pulled in, maybe for hours at a time. Might be a good idea to get a magnifying glass for some of it. 35 pounds, or whatever that is in money that doesn't have pictures of the queen on it. (Or money that does? Maybe even the King? - Ed.)

Spot/Lithe Goods TiSlide Tool

Ryan Palmer dropped this little gem on me about the time that Spot’s new Mayhem 140 was being unveiled. Palmer is a grade-A tool nerd, and has some very firm opinions about the kind of tool that he chooses, and this little piece of kit reflects his own long affinity for Fix-It Sticks, with a Lithe Goods tool that utilizes a similar modular approach, in this case modified specifically to work with Spot bikes. Lithe Goods is a two-human operation based out of Georgia, and their tool is a minimalist titanium wrench that fits most modern hex bits and also makes a great fidget spinner for people with fidgety hands. The Spot TiSlide variation adds an extra-long T30 bit to fit Spot pivot hardware, and the tool comes in a svelte hand sewn pouch that is barely bigger than a credit card. It’s compact and narrow enough to stash in almost any pocket, and the entire thing including bag weighs about 100 grams. If the Spot decal and T30 bit don’t appeal to you, the OG Lithe Goods tool can be found for fewer freedom units here.

World Ride Pivot Giveaway

Empower women! Win a Pivot! World Ride has been pushing to expose women to mountain biking, working on growing awareness of female mountain bikers and advancing their skills, as well as hosting trips to some incredibly remote and exotic locales for a number of years now. As part of their push to raise awareness and funding for their cause, they’ve teamed up with Pivot to give away a Trail 429. Consider this a stocking stuffer with a purpose. Buy the ticket, take the ride?