718 Outdoors can take you on the Bike Adventure of a lifetime
718 Outdoors is a 1-person operation that has remained small, local and independent by design since 2008. If this resonates with you, your support is welcome and greatly appreciated! If not, that's cool too. My goal isn't to disallow the truckers to keep on trucking, it's to open up space for folks with a few less horsepower. Sign the Change.org Petition In my previous example of trucks and…
Finally ready to make this big announcement…I got a new/another job as a Tour Manager for Wilderness Voyageurs. Since the close of our retail space at the end of 2024, I’ve been looking to supplement my bike touring gig with something related and meaningful. I will be remotely managing multiple departures of the following tours
We have run the GAP/C O Bike Tour in it's entirety (from Pittsburgh to Washington DC) for 6 seasons. It has become one of my favorite rider die to to accessibility for riders of all skill levels, as well as the history and scenery to take in along the way.
I get asked about bike weights all the time, and I've never really cared that much. "It is what it is", I would say. In 2025, 3 things caused me to want top actually take a look.
Part of my overhaul of my 2013 Salsa Vaya this offseason is getting my wheels rebuilt (with Tuned/Honey Wheels). After 2 season and about 9,000 miles, I was starting to develop cracks in the rear rim. This was due to all of those miles being loaded touring miles, as well as a packing system that had a disproportionate amount of weight over the rear wheel (that is getting solved in another blog…
718 Outdoors is a 1-person operation that has remained small, local and independent by design since 2008. If this resonates with you, your support is welcome and greatly appreciated! If not, that's cool too. My mileage Year-in-Review is completed. I know there are a few weeks left in the year, but I am beginning to take my bike apart to overhaul it over my offseason. (sorry, December) I use…
My 2 goals this off-season in terms of my packing for our 2026 season are to 1) reduce overall gear weight and volume, and 2) redistribute gear load from the rear of bike
2025 Year in Review
Free classes have been a part of the 718 DNA since our inception in 2008. For over a decade at our 3rd Ave location (2010-2019) we held free classes each Thursday no matter what, We also had additional programming like a Woman's Intensive Course as well as youth and other group programs.
I am redesigning my drivetrain this offseason. I am running what is referred to a 3x10 drivetrain (3 chainrings on the front derailleur and 10 cogs on the rear cassette) . The big picture here is that I have a drivetrain with 8,000+ miles on it that needs to be replaced this offseason. The changes I am looking to make are the shifters (more robust and reliable SunTour vintage bar-end shifters), a…
This is a developing blog post, and I will update it as I get further along in the process. 718 Outdoors is a 1-person operation that has remained small, local and independent by design. If this resonates with you, your support is welcome and greatly appreciated! If not, that's cool When I built up my 2013 Salsa Vaya , I decided to use 650b wheels instead of the Salsa-specified 700c wheels . My…
Packing up your gear on your bike for a bikepacking trip is on of the biggest challenges of your trip. Gaining a strategy, through multiple trips, puts you on the path to making things go more smoothly.
I know it's early, but I have stated the bike mock-up process on my 2013 Salsa Vaya in anticipation of our 2026 Tour and Micro-Tour Season.
This isnt a "Top 5" list, or a lest of the "Best of 202x", it's just some tips that are rattling around my head that I'd like to share after leading over 175 group bikepacking trips
718 Outdoors is a 1-person operation that has remained small, local and independent by design. If this resonates with you, your support is welcome and greatly appreciated! If not, that's cool 718 Outdoors Tours are like our Micro-Tours in many ways (If you are coming to this post first, please first have a look at our "What is a Micro-Tour" article), but with some key differences. I have led over…
I have given this some thought, and came up with 5 items for the bike camper (or regular camper, or regular person, or yourself) that I feel
Trying to figure out the whole bikepacking thing without braking the bank? Here is some bikepacking gear to consider
I've led over 175 trips since 2014, and I really wanted to challenge myself to see if I can truly describer what a Micro-Tour is.
2025 Micro-Tour 12 was a 58 mile (each way) self-supported bikepacking trip from NYC to Mountain Lakes in North Salem, NY on November 8-9, 2025
I led a lot of tours in 2025 (25 to be exact) and have taken hundreds of people thousands of miles. One of my favorite parts of this job is being exposed to so many types of bikepacking gear that folks bring on tour. Here is a list of the 5 best items I've used or seen on Tour.