It’s important to be able to see where you’re going no matter where you are – but especially when you’re riding down a trail during dusk or at night. Not only do these lights help you see the path in front of you, but it also makes it easier for others to spot you – making the chances of a painful collision much less likely. The Bontrager ION Pro RT/Flare RT Light Set takes care of both of these issues.

Bontrager:  Website | Instagram | Facebook

Consisting of two different types of lights, the Ion Pro RT and the Flare RT, the set attaches to two different parts of the bike in order to keep you safe. The Ion Pro RT fits on the handlebars, where it illuminates the path in front of you with a wide enough light to cover the width of just about every path and trail. The Flare RT, designed to go on the back of the bike, fits below the seat and flashes behind you so that anyone coming up from the rear realizes that you’re there. However, both can be mounted on a helmet as well, giving you the flexibility to arrange them as needed. A lot of night riding mountain bikers swear by having a powerful light on their bars, and their helmets for an even greater/brighter night ride.

Both lights are easy to recharge, thanks to handy included USB cable. Just remove the lights from their mounts, and bring them inside. The mounting system is easy to use, and holds the lights in place no matter how many bumps you encounter on your ride, while at the same time, they slide out easily so that you can recharge them as necessary. The batteries are a sturdy, rechargeable 4800 Li-Ion that provide up to six hours of power when the lights are set to low. On high, they last for an hour and a half, while when set to flashing they last for 26 hours.

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When it comes to visibility, the Pro RT and the Flare RT contain LED bulbs that produce enough light to make them visible up to 2 kilometers during the daytime, and they can be set to flash in an array of patterns that you can set to provide the ultimate protection based on your exact circumstances. Their maximum light output is 1300 lumens, which is pretty powerful. You can control the lights, as well as monitor their battery life, with your Bontrager ANT+ or Garmin device. This makes it easy to switch their flash pattern while you’re in the middle of a ride, without having to get off of your bike.

We’ve used our Bontrager Ion Pro RT/Flare RT Light Set quite a few times and they’ve been great. Use them in the daylight as well for additional visibility. Be sure to keep them in your hydration pack or hip bag in case your ride goes longer than expected. We even used the Ion Pro when setting up camp when a traditional headlight has not been handy. When riding on trail behind our youngest, the red flashing tail light was so bright, it was distracting and we had to turn it off. This not only makes this light set great for mountain biking, but it’s also optimal for road biking and commuting. Your experience and age don’t matter when it comes to fun and safety. Be sure to include the Bontrager Ion Pro RT/Flare RT Light Set as one of your essentials.

Nearly every part of a mountain bike can be customized to suit your preferences, including the grips. Not only do they serve an essential contact point on the bike – giving the rider a comfortable place to hold the handlebars and stay under control – they’re one of these easiest components to upgrade and customize. PNW Components Loam Grips are designed to be comfy – so they feel great.

PNW Components:  Website | Instagram | Facebook

The trick with the Loam Grips is to put them on the bike so that they face the proper direction. On the outside end of the grip, just align the “PNW” letters so they are horizontally aligned and legible. Each pair has a mountain pattern that’s supposed to be mounted facing upwards. This section is thicker than the other parts of the grip, using ergonomics as part of the design, allowing for plenty of comfort when you hold on it. The remaining parts contain thin textured strips that provide grip traction as well as structure in the outer zone that helps the grip absorb some of the bumps on the trail before they reach the hands and arms.

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The PNW Components Loam Grips are available in different colors, including: Safety Orange, Blackout Black, Seafoam Teal, Cement Gray, and Really Red. This allows you to choose the pair that will work best on your bike, as far as color-coordinating is concerned. Also, the pattern on the grips, which incorporates all of the design and usage features described above, is attractive and stands out a bit. Even if you choose a color that completely blends in with your handlebars.

Installing the grips is almost as easy as removing your current pair. After removing your yucky old, worn out grips, do some light cleaning to remove any grime that was under them on the bars. Then, push the new grips into the place; rotate them so the mountain design is facing the correct direction – and tighten them down using a 3mm hex wrench. Be careful to tighten the grips to the proper specs with carbon bars.

How To Install Your PNW Components Loam Grips

The single clamps have a closed-end, helping them stay put. Once the correct side is up – the mountains that have extra padding – you just need to fasten them in place to prevent any slippage while riding. Since the Loam Grips are lightweight, coming in at a mere 90 grams for the entire pair, they won’t add much additional weight to the bike itself. In addition, they are 133.5 millimeters wide and 30 millimeters in diameter, making them fit onto a variety of mountain bikes.

Both Traci and Tyge have been using the PNW Components Loam Grips this year. Wear-and-tear is obvious on Tyge’s set, but the grips aren’t dead yet. They’re still functional and safe. Every few rides, we’re sure to check that they are tight and secure so they will not rotate and slip due to abrupt or steady force.

Overall, the grips have performed as designed. The thicker sections of the grip – where the bulk of your hand wraps, are still comfy and have plenty of life left. The only parts that have broken away are due to not so carefully laying the a bike down on concrete or pavement. The colors have not faded and there are no cracks or tears. When you’re ready to upgrade or replace your grips, give the PNW Components Loam grips a shot. Your hands, fingers, and forearms will thank you.

Our family has been camping together for over 15 years. When the boys reached the ages where we could introduce bikes, new experiences and fun produced a synergistic effect that was second-to-none whenever we hit the road. In this article, we’re going to let you know about some of our camp gear essentials when we load up the van instead of booking a room.

Marmot Limestone Tent: 6-Person, 3-Season

Our old tent had a few tears, a couple of busted zippers and bent poles. Instead of getting all these things repaired we opted for the Marmot Limestone 6-person 3-season tent. Even though there’s only four of us, we really like the extra available space for storing additional gear in the tent. We’ve used it well over a dozen times over the the last couple of months and it has held up very well. We can easily transport it in our roof rack on the van (shown below) and it sheds the rain very well. Working it into the stuff sack can be a bit of a challenge so you have to make sure you compress and roll it tight.

Coleman Even-Temp Propane Stove, 3-Burner

What does one do when you forget the stove for a 3-day car camping trip with the kid’s mtb team over a holiday weekend? You hustle your butt back to the closest town and buy whatever they have available. We lucked out and got the last stove in the store. The surface area for this Coleman camp stove is big enough for our small griddle as well as a medium-sized saucepan. If you have safe-cracking sensitive fingers, you can carefully dial the burner knobs to control the flame to a nice simmer. This Coleman stove is easy to clean and store, too.

Coleman griddle:  Amazon

Marmot Trestles 15 Sleeping Bag

A good night’s sleep is an important part of a successful mtb camping trip. That’s why our kids have the Marmot Trestles 15 sleeping bags. As the name implies, they’re rated down to 15º F for comfort. The sleeping bags feature durable zippers and the mummy-style design helps keep the heat in on chilly nights. We’ve washed ours several times and the insulation and color has remained good as new. Mom has the women’s version of this sleeping bag.

Eureka Super Cush Sleeping Pads

This season we replaced our old 4-inch thick foam sleeping mattresses with these Eureka! sleeping pads. You inflate them by pumping them up using a valve system in the built-in pillows and applying your body weight until the pad with built-in pillow is fully inflated. They are space-saving additions to our gear because the old rolled up foam pads took about 6x the space. The Eureka! Super Cush Sleeping Pads are comfortable, too.

Goal Zero Yeti 400 Battery And Nomad 50 Solar Panel

The Goal Zero Yeti 400 allows us to power the family’s laptops and phones on the road without hotel/condo stays. A useful tip is to pick up the Goal Zero 12v car charging cable and you can charge/use the battery while you’re driving. The battery allows us to get about 3 full charges on a laptop and over 20 smartphone charges. To test it out prior to our last big trip, I powered our flat screen TV and DVD player for over an hour. Do the research and make sure the battery you choose can power the item you want to use.

We paired our Yeti 400 with the Nomad 50 Solar Panel to harness the power of the sun to supplement charging when we weren’t using the mini-van’s power port. For solar panels, the bigger the better. Our foldable, easy to store/transport Nomad 50 has pulled close to 40 watts in direct sunlight. Multiple panels can be daisy-chained together to charge a battery faster.

Goal Zero Nomad 50 Solar Panel:  Amazon
Goal Zero 12v Car Charger:  Amazon

Black Diamond Moji Lantern

We picked up a dozen of these during a Black Friday sale a couple of years ago. The kids use them for last-minute birthday gifts for friends. The soft glow of the light is perfect for using while cooking or evening tent games. They run on three AAA batteries and come in multiple colors.

Helinox Chairs

We always get asked about our Helinox chairs and we love-love-love them. They’re comfortable, durable, lightweight, easy to transport/store, and easy to assemble. They come in several colors so a lot of families can choose a separate color or pattern for each family member.

Jumbo Insulated Cooler Bag

This is just a basic item we like to use for transporting soft goods, bags of ice, food and beverages, laundry, whatever. When not in use, you can easily compress them and tuck them away in your vehicle to save space.

Kryptonite Bike Lock

When camping, we lock our mountain bikes up next to the tent at night. We will either stack them by laying them down on each other, or use a nearby tree as an anchor. A Kryptonite chain lock is just one of the locks we use. We also use a cable lock and u-lock to wad up our bikes in a big ball of mtb love.

Thule Roof Storage Box

Our lockable Thule roof box increases our storage space dramatically. We can store our 10×10 canopy shade, 4 sleeping bags, 4 sleeping pads, tent, and hydration packs on the roof of the mini-van. There’s no way we would be able to do a proper mtb car camping road trip with our family of four without one of these.