The manual transmission is dying. Pick your reason: improved technology in automatic gearboxes, (lazy) driver preferences, cost-cutting or the onset of electric and (potentially) self-driving cars. But the result is the same: the manual transmission has never been less relevant than it is today. Things look so bleak that an uptick to 1.7 percent of all car purchases being manual gearbox models in 2023 was viewed as a sign of optimism.

There were some important wins for manuals in 2023. Acura kept one in the Integra Type S. Toyota added one for the Supra, and BMW added a stick option for its Z4 counterpart. The all-new 2024 Toyota Tacoma kept its manual for the new generation (although after driving both versions, I’d say you should probably select the automatic).

But the string of crushing losses for the stick shift still continued unabated. Here are the manual transmission options buyers lost this year.

Chevrolet Camaro

Chevrolet

The Camaro no longer offers a manual because Chevy no longer offers a Camaro. Production of the sixth-generation model ended in December 2023.

READ ABOUT OUR MUSCLE CAR ROAD TRIP

Dodge Challenger

FCA US LLC

Dodge ended production of the Challenger, which had been in production in its present iteration since 2008, in late 2023. It may return with an inline-six, though no word yet on a manual.

READ ABOUT DODGE KILLING THE CHALLENGER

Dodge Charger

FCA US LLC

Dodge ended production of the four-door Charger along with the Challenger. Dodge has previewed the electric Charger Daytona SRT concept, which did have a manual of sorts.

READ ABOUT THE ELECTRIC DODGE CHARGER

Ford Mustang EcoBoost

Ford

Ford overhauled the Mustang — lightly — for 2024. The Mustang kept its six-speed manual for the GT model, but the four-cylinder EcoBoost model no longer offers it.

READ OUR FORD MUSTANG REVIEW

Subaru Crosstrek

Photo by Tyler Duffy for Gear Patrol

Subaru revamped the Crosstrek for 2024. It now gets an off-road capable Wilderness trim, but it loses its manual transmission option.

READ OUR SUBARU CROSSTREK REVIEW

Subaru Impreza

Subaru

Subaru made some big changes to the Impreza for the 2024 model year. One of the biggest was dropping the manual transmission. All models now come with a CVT.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 2024 IMPREZA

Wool has a long list of benefits that makes it ideal for your go-to winter sweater. Its fibers are naturally crimped, so tiny air pockets are created when the fibers are stacked together. This is what makes wool fabrics warm, breathable and naturally elastic. Additionally, wool fabrics have a high regain.

This means that the fiber’s natural structure is able to absorb a large amount of moisture (up to 35 percent) before feeling damp. This moisture-retaining ability also means wool fabrics are odor-resistant and static-resistant. Counterintuitively, while wool naturally retains moisture, many wools also possess a natural layer of lanolin which makes them somewhat water-repellent and stain-resistant.

Humans have been wearing wool as far back as 6000 BC, but breeding animals for their wool for even longer. And though wool offers many benefits, not every type is the same. The versatile fiber comes from a variety of animals, each of which imparts a unique set of characteristics. So, it’s unsurprising that there are more than a few options. Though there are dozens of varieties of wools, these are the 10 you should know.

1. Lambswool

Lambswool comes from the first shearing of a young sheep (lamb) which is shorn around seven months. It’s sometimes referred to as virgin wool, though that term also refers to wool that hasn’t yet been processed. The shearing of the lamb at this stage yields extremely smooth, soft and fine wool which also has hypoallergenic properties.

2. Merino Wool

Merino wool comes from the merino breed of sheep which have their origins in Spain, though much of today’s merino wool is exported from Australia. Merino wool is known for its fine fibers which offer a supremely soft hand and make it a great material for garments like base layers that have direct contact with the wearer’s skin.

Merino wool also has a lower yield compared to other wools because of the scouring process which is required in order to remove the fatty greases inherent to the material. Scouring washes the wool in chemicals to remove the natural lanolin layer, but the process yields only about half of the initial wool. This laborious process makes merino wool pricier than other wools. Uniqlo makes a marvelous merino wool sweater — and it’s super-cheap.

3. Shetland Wool

Shetland sheep, from the Shetland Islands of Scotland, produce this type of wool. It’s thicker and coarser than other wools like merino — a direct result of the cold climate of the region. This material makes for super-sturdy crewneck sweaters. One of our favorites is this crew neck from Jamieson’s of Shetland.

4. Mohair

Mohair comes from the Angora goat and is distinct from other wools for several reasons. The guard hairs from the topcoat of the goat are often included with the undercoat in the shearing process. Though the fibers are thicker, the mild climate in which Angora goats are grown means it’s not as coarse as other wools — its longer length gives the fiber its smoothness and results in a uniquely fuzzy fabric.

5. Cashmere

Cashmere is shorn from the undercoat of cashmere (Kashmir) goats when they enter the molting season. Because cashmere is shorn from the undercoat, the yield per goat is small, requiring two cashmere goats to produce a single sweater. The wool produced by these special goats results in an extremely fine fiber with about the same thickness of ultrafine merino and a considerable jump in price.

6. Angora

Not to be confused with the Angora goat from which mohair wool is made, Angora wool comes from Angora rabbits and is the lightest, finest and warmest of the natural fibers. Angora fibers, like alpaca, are hollow and smooth giving it unrivaled warmth and loft. The fibers are extremely soft, but also very delicate. For this reason, angora is often mixed with other fibers to increase its durability.

The extreme fineness of angora makes it prone to matting and felting — another reason why it’s mixed with other fibers — but also requires angora breeders to comb the rabbits every day. This intensive process and low yield add up to a hefty price.

7. Camel Hair

Most camel hair comes from Bactrian camels, which are bred in frigid regions like Mongolia, China and Russia, and is collected when the camel molts in spring. Camel hair is hollow like mohair and is finer and longer than sheep’s wool. The result is a fiber that’s lighter and more lustrous than sheep’s wool and about as soft as cashmere. Though camel hair takes dye well, it is often kept in its natural color, a light, golden brown, and is used synonymously to refer to the color itself.

8. Alpaca

Alpacas are native to South America and produce hairs that are hollow. This unique property not only makes alpaca lightweight but also adds greater insulation. It is both lighter and warmer than sheep’s wool. Compared to cashmere, alpaca is similarly soft, but notably stronger. Alpaca hair is naturally hypoallergenic as well, making it ideal for those with sensitive skin.

9. Vicuña

The rarest wool comes from the vicuña, an animal related to the alpaca and llama, originating in the Andes. The vicuña was sacred to the ancient Incas, who prized the wool for its softness and warmth and reserved it for royalty. The wool is finer than cashmere and extremely warm. Because it’s sensitive to chemicals, it’s often left in a natural state, without involving dyes.

The Peruvian government goes to great lengths to preserve the vicuña population ever since their numbers dropped to just 5,000 in 1960. Because of this, the harvesting and exportation of vicuña wool is heavily regulated. Vicuñas must be caught in the wild and can only be shorn every two years and no more than five times in their lifetime. The long and strict production process makes it the most expensive and rarest wool in the world, costing up to $3,000 per yard.

10. Qiviut

Qiviut is wool that comes from the undercoat of the arctic muskox, which is bred in Canada and Alaska. During the muskox’s molting season, the undercoat is shed and breeders either collect the wool through combing or plucking the wool from the ground. Qiviut is finer than superfine sheep’s wool, is softer, stronger and approximately eight times warmer. It also does not shrink in water.

A number of brands have flagship products: the designs, whether they’re the Apple iPhone or the Levi’s 501, that pushed them to the next level — into the fold, to the mainstream. For outdoor brand L.L. Bean, despite the popularity of its Boat and Tote bag, it’s the Bean Boot.

L.L. Bean Boot: Quick Verdict

It’s one of the most famous products of all time — and one of the easiest to spot, too, despite there being myriad remakes available now. With its rubber sole, leather upper and duck boot toe box design, you can see someone splashing through puddles in a pair of these a mile away.

But, do the boots, which originally launched in 1912, still stand up today? And, if so, are they worth the $149 L.L. Bean charges now? I found out.

L.L.Bean

L.L. Bean Bean Boots

Pros

• Definitely waterproof
• Timeless look

Cons

• Heeled outsole is a little wobbly

• $109 at L.L.Bean
  $149 (27% off)

Tried, true and still Maine-made, L.L. Bean’s eponymous Bean Boots feature a rubber sole with a steel shank for foot support and a weather-resistant leather upper. All in all, this makes them the ideal footwear for rainy or snowy days, but they aren’t designed to stay submerged in water — no soaking wet worksites, please.

As for how they feel, I found they were comfortable and still well constructed, thanks to the aforementioned sole and lifted heel, but they’re slightly unstable because of the latter, which meant slight rolls of my ankle until I got used to them. The malleable shafts don’t help here, but they do prioritize comfort, which means you won’t suffer through a harsh break-in period. I did find, though, that they rubbed at my heel, which was likely a product of me ordering the wrong size — something that’s easy to do because of the semi-strange sizing scale.

An iconic product with a timeless look

First built in 1912, L.L. Bean’s iconic Bean Boots were then called the Maine Hunting Shoe, but have since adopted more colloquial catch-alls: Bean Boots or Duck Boots, for short. (They’re really just rain boots, though.) The brand’s founder, Leon Leonwood Bean, first stitched them together for his own journeys, but eventually sold 100 pairs to close friends and family members — as well as others in Maine. He grew tired of traditional boots that’d get soggy in the sole, therefore combining the comfortability of rubber-soled shoes with the durability promised by leather uppers.

Photo by Evan Malachosky for Gear Patrol

As the story famously goes, though, 90 of the first 100 boots sold were returned. As early prototypes, they came without Bean’s now-famous triple-line stitching finish, which secures the rubber outsole to the leather upper. Those early pairs came apart, but this incident spurred perhaps the brand’s most popular design feature — maybe behind the duckbill toe, though.

Finding the correct size is a game of trial and error

Finding the right size is a complex riddle: “With light or mid-weight socks,” the brand says, “Whole sizes, order one size down. Half sizes, order 1.5 size down. Example: 9 or 9.5, order a size 8. With heavyweight socks: Whole sizes, order your normal size. Half sizes, order one size down. Example: 9 or 9.5, order a size 9.”

I, for one, went with my usual size: a US 12. I figured I’d only wear these with thick socks, or, so what I thought constituted as thick socks. (Maybe I should’ve stayed in-brand.) Even with my thicker boot socks, these felt a little big, cementing my statement that even with brand guidance, you might end up with boots that are a little big.

If the size is off, they tend to slip at the heel, creating friction

Photo by Evan Malachosky for Gear Patrol

With sizing issues comes shifting, which causes blisters. During the first half-dozen wears, my heel consistently lifted out of the cup and rubbed on the rear spine, causing red spot that came just short of becoming a painful blister. Again, this is partly my own doing by suffering through what I’d assume is the wrong size, but I’m sure I’m not alone — hence this warning.

They’re definitely waterproof

Pittsburgh, where I live, and where I tested these boots, gets a lot of rain. More than Seattle, in fact. Over the years, I’ve had ample opportunities to test these: through light springtime mists, end-of-summer rain storms, dewy, early-fall mornings and mid-winter downpours, which I got in lieu of snow.

These boots worked well in every situation, thus confirming their ability to keep your feet dry no matter how much (or which kind) of precipitation you get. Plus, given the raised heel and 8-inch shaft, you’re guaranteed to keep dry even if the water level rises past puddle-height.

Photo by Evan Malachosky for Gear Patrol

If the size is off, they’re a little wobbly to walk in

I’m fairly used to the flat leather outsoles on traditional boots, or the grooved rubber ones on some of my favorite work boots. But, the outsole on the L.L. Bean Bean Boots is quite different, especially given the rear heel. The rubber’s fairly soft — it is rubber, after all — which means there’s a fair bit of bounce.

As someone with flat feet that somehow still supinate, I felt a little off balance in these, even though I never went as far as rolling my ankle or falling over. On muddy grass, I got better footing, but walking on city sidewalks, I felt a little… weird in these.

L.L.Bean

L.L. Bean Bean Boots

Pros

• Definitely waterproof
• Timeless look

Cons

• Heeled outsole is a little wobbly

• $109 at L.L.Bean
  $149 (27% off)

Names like Rolex, Patek, Audemars Piguet and Omega dominate the headspace of vintage watch collectors not only due to their exceptional quality but also because of their historical significance. These brands that have been around for decades, and in some cases, for centuries; they’ve come to help define what the watch industry is today.

But these legacy brands aren’t the exclusive purveyors of significant, lust-worthy vintage watches. Before the quartz crisis of the 1970s and ’80s, there were many other watchmakers out there producing exceptional timepieces. Though most of them were victims of a seismic shift in timekeeping technology, their vintage watches are worth collecting.

Some of these brands we’re calling “forgotten” indeed disappeared completely and are barely known today, even to many collectors. Others might have survived quietly or in name only — perhaps acquired by a corporate group and relegated to producing low-quality watches that don’t do their historic names justice and which watch enthusiasts ignore completely. The popularity of vintage watches has even seen some brands return from obscurity, from Nivada and Airain to Ollech & Wajs and others.

Vintage watches from each of the following brands present opportunities for discovery and, at times, great values.

1. Cortébert

Cortébert’s roots go back all the way to 1790, when watchmaker Abraham-Louis Juillard opened up his watch store in Cortébert, Switzerland. However, the name wasn’t used until the mid-19th century.

Not much is known about Cortébert (its records were lost in a fire in the ’50s), but it was considered a high-end brand in its day. It is perhaps best known today for accurate railway watches supplied to the Turkish and Italian railway systems (the latter of which were sold under the Perseo brand name).

Cortébert also produced one of the world’s first jumping hour watches in the 1890s when it acquired the rights to use a jumping hour movement made by watchmaker Josef Pallweber (the movement was more famously used by IWC).

Cortébert eventually produced a jumping hour wristwatch in the 1920s. Supposedly, it even built the movement that formed the basis for the Rolex 618, which was used in old Panerai watches. Despite this watchmaking legacy, Cortébert eventually became a victim of the so-called Quartz Crisis and shuttered.

The remnants of Cortébert continue as Perseo today, though it’s an entirely different company than the former juggernaut it once was.

2. Elgin

Based outside Chicago in the town of Elgin, Illinois, and founded in the 1860s, the Elgin National Watch Company was one of the earliest watchmakers to set up shop in America. It was also the biggest.

Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, its factory complex was the largest dedicated watchmaking facility in the world, and over the course of 100 years, the brand made around 60 million timepieces. Elgin was able to achieve such incredible production numbers by being an early adopter of mass production methods, using interchangeable, machine-made parts.

Much like other American watch companies, Elgin had a hard time keeping up with competition from Swiss watchmakers, who had been bolstered by Swiss neutrality during WWII, in the ’50s and ’60s, and eventually shuttered production in 1968. The Elgin name has been bought and sold numerous times since; any modern watches bearing the Elgin name are in no way related to the once-historic American watchmaking powerhouse.

Elgin made lots of pocket watches (as many American watchmakers during their heyday), but the brand was an early producer of wristwatches and made some excellent time-only pieces. It also made watches for the US Military (notably the iconic A-11) as well as some unique and innovative designs, like the Direct Read (which displayed time on discs long before it became a trend).

Given their ubiquity in America, vintage Elgin watches are relatively cheap to acquire and service, with most models selling for just a few hundred dollars on the vintage market.

3. Enicar

Enicar was founded in 1914 in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland, by Ariste Racine (whose last name, you might notice, is Enicar when spelled backward). What started out as a relatively humble operation quickly grew as the brand distributed timepieces to Eastern markets like Russia and China (where the brand became exceedingly popular).

Following WWII, the watchmaker upped the ante, producing its own movements in-house (as opposed to relying on supplied movements) and building tool watches that were, by most accounts, exceptionally reliable and affordable. It even touted its watch movements as being ultrasonically cleaned.

Enicar

Enicar’s peak seemed to be in the 1950s and ’60s. In 1954, it produced its first movement with chronometer certification from the Neuchatel Observatory. Around the same time, the brand supplied its diver, the Seapearl 600, to mountain climbers, most notably a group of Swiss mountaineers who scaled to the top of both Mount Lhotse and Everest in 1956.

A few years later, the US Navy evaluated and used the Seapearl, which it compared favorably to the Rolex Submariner and Blancpain Fifty-Fathoms, considering its performance and low cost.

Enicar, like many watchmakers, faced its downfall amidst the so-called Quartz Crisis of the ’70s and ’80s despite the fact that the watchmaker was part of the Swiss consortium to develop the Beta 21, one of the world’s first quartz movements.

By the late 1980s, the company went into insolvency and was purchased by a Wah Ming Hong, a Hong Kong-based watch and jewelry company. Today, Enicar still makes watches, though the brand is mostly distributed in Asia where it remains a strong seller.

4. Gruen

Like Elgin, Gruen used to be one of the biggest watch manufacturers in the US. Founded in Cincinnati in the 1870s by German-born watchmaker Dietrich Grün (he would later change the name to Gruen), the company went through several name changes until it just became the Gruen Watch Company in the early 20th century.

It was notable for being an American company that produced its own movements in Switzerland — the company maintained a movement production facility in Biel — but its watches were still adjusted, dialed and cased in the US.

Gruen introduced many innovations and watches. Grün himself invented the safety pinion, which prevented damage to the movement if the mainspring broke and was incorporated into Gruen movements. Gruen also experimented with watches using super-thin movements (known as the Veri-Thin), and its boldest design — the Curvex — put a curved movement design in a curved rectangular case.

Curved rectangular watches, meant to conform with the wearer’s wrist, were popular at the time but used flat movements. Using a curved caliber allowed the inner workings to be larger and more robust, but the watch itself remained thin. Its “doctor’s watch” was also notable.

In 1953, the Gruen family sold their interests in the company, and by 1958 the company had been broken up. The US facilities moved from Ohio to New York while the Swiss operations eventually closed in 1977.

5. Lemania

Founded in 1884, Lemania produced ébauches movements that were primarily used by other watchmakers. From the beginning, the brand specialized in chronographs. In fact, its know-how with the complication led to some legendary chronograph movements, including the Caliber 1873, used in the original Omega Speedmaster and the simple Caliber 5100 used in a number of watches from Sinn, Tutima, Porsche Design and Omega that became a mainstay in some militaries.

Though Lemania mainly focused on building movements, there were a number of Lemania-branded watches produced during the 20th century.

Like many forgotten watch brands from the previous century, Lemania fell with the rise of the quartz watch in the 1970s. The brand was resurrected in the ’80s as Nouvelle Lemania, then acquired by Swatch Group in 1999 along with Breguet.

Today the Lemania name is no longer in use, but the company still makes calibers for Breguet and Swatch Group. Lemanias, like many of their tool watch contemporaries from the 20th century, are in vogue with collectors today. While some time-only models can go for under $1,000, chronographs, especially in good shape, will usually set you back considerably more.

6. Nivada Grenchen

Like most other watchmakers on this list, Nivada Grenchen has a history that stretches back to the 19th century, but the brand really came into its own following World War II when it took making seriously rugged sports watches. Perhaps the best example of this was the “Antarctic,” a simple three-hand watch deemed anti-magnetic and water-proof that was built for and worn during Operation Deep Freeze by members of the US Navy during the International Geophysical Year.

It survived the unrelenting cold, an impressive feat, yet it remains relatively unknown compared to other exploration watches from the era like the Rolex Explorer and the Jaeger-LeCoultre Geophysic.

Nivada Grenchen

Nivada would continue to build other rugged watches into the next decade. There was the Chronomaster, a chronograph meant for both diving and aviation use that was water resistant to 600 feet and used a Valjoux column-wheel chronograph movement. There was also the Depthmaster, a big chunky diver that was rated water-resistant to a 1,000m — an impressive figure today, let alone back in 1965 when it was introduced. Around the same time, the brand released the Depthomatic, considered the first dive watch with a depth gauge.

Interestingly, Nivada faced legal issues in the US because the name was phonetically similar to Movado Watches, so Nivada watches were often distributed in the US with the brand name “Nivada Grenchen” or distributed as Croton watches.

The brand would continue to build tool watches until it shuttered in the midst of the Quartz Crisis. Now in the 2020s, Nivada Grenchen has been resurrected as a modern brand to produce many of its classics (so check carefully when shopping whether it’s an actual vintage or modern remake you’re looking at), but you can still also find vintage pieces worth collecting.

7. Smiths

Smiths (today Smiths Group) started as S. Smith & Sons, a jewelry shop and clockmaker in South London. Founded in 1851, the business evolved over the years; by the turn of the century, Smiths was making instruments for cars and aircraft (in fact, Smiths instruments were fitted on the first trans-Atlantic flight in 1919 and the first commercial jet in 1952). While the brand was famous for its instruments, its clock production accounted for half of the UK market at the onset of WWII.

It wasn’t until after WWII that Smiths started making wristwatches in England. Its watches were relatively simple, but the watchmaker’s biggest moment came in 1953 when Sir Edmond Hillary took a Smiths Deluxe to the top of Everest (along with a Rolex Explorer). By Hillary’s account, the watch worked perfectly.

Smiths’ popularity grew, but with the introduction of quartz watches, Smiths decided to stop producing watches to focus on aerospace and medical industries. Today, Timefactors produces a handful of watches under the Smiths name, but they are in no way related to Smiths watches of the mid-20th century. Vintage Smiths watches, despite their historical significance, are fairly cheap today, save for the military-spec W10, which typically sells for well over $1,000.

8. Universal Genève

Founded in Le Locle in 1894, Universal Genéve is perhaps one of the most influential Swiss watchmakers to nearly disappear from the face of the earth.

In 1917, during World War I, Universal Genéve was the first watchmaker to create a chronograph wristwatch. By the 1930s, chronographs became a main focus for Universal, and the brand produced its now-iconic series of Compax chronographs.

Universal Genève

After World War II, Universal Genéve was one of the first watchmakers to experiment with micro-rotor automatic watches, releasing its first micro-rotor watch, the Gérald Genta-designed Polarouter, in 1954.

During the late ’60s and early 1970s, Universal Genéve was owned by Bulova, and, in the thick of the Quartz Crisis, it was one of the few Swiss watchmakers to attempt to make and sell its own quartz movement.

In 1989, the brand was sold to Stelux, a Hong Kong-based investment firm. While the brand has released some micro-rotor watches since the acquisition, the modern brand appears not to have released a new watch since 2009. Still, vintage Universals (or UGs) are some of the hottest vintage watches today, with prices (especially for Compax chronographs) having steadily increased in recent years.

Late in 2023, the investment group owners of Breitling, Partners Group, acquired Universal Genève for around CHF 60 million (~$70.5 million) and are set to relaunch the brand as the true successor to the company vintage watch enthusiasts have come to adore.

9. Wittnauer

Wittnauer was founded in New York in the 1880s by a Swiss immigrant named Albert Wittnauer, who initially worked for his brother-in-law’s fine watch importing business. Wittnauer saw a need for Swiss-made watches tailored for the US market and began using Swiss-sourced movements (from a variety of suppliers) to produce a more affordable alternative to other Swiss imports. One of the brand’s first big innovations in wristwatches was the AllProof of the 1920s, which claimed to be the first watch in the world that was shockproof, waterproof and antimagnetic.

Wittnauer’s timepieces and flight instruments were adopted by the military early on. During WWI, many Wittnauer wristwatches replaced bulky pocket watches for infantrymen, and the brand’s flight instruments were used in many American aircraft during the first World War. Wittnauer instruments were even featured in Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Vega-5B when she made her solo flight across the Atlantic in 1932. Wittnauer would also produce many clocks, timers, compasses and watches for the US Military during WWII.

Unlike many other watchmakers, Wittnauer was not steamrolled by the introduction of the quartz watch. It produced its first electronic watch in 1957, and, in 1969, was acquired by Westinghouse. The brand would build both quartz and mechanical watches (including chronographs and perpetual calendars and other complications) during the ’70s, though in the ’80s and ’90s the brand began to fall into obscurity. In 2001, Wittnauer was purchased by Bulova, and today serves as a sub-brand.

As an espresso lover, I was so incredibly amped when I finally bought my first espresso machine. I had the best coffee beans, I perfected my ratios and I nailed the preparation. But only after I pulled my first shot did I realize my setup was missing something essential.

When I went to throw away the puck — the spent espresso grounds left in the portafilter — in my trash can, I left a trail of coffee on the floor. It didn’t take me long to realize I needed a knock box, and ever since I got one, I haven’t had to scurry to the trash can after every shot I pulled.

A knock box is a little box you set next to your espresso machine so that you can easily (and cleanly) throw away your pucks after every time you pull a shot. What makes a knock box a knock box is a bar that runs horizontally across the box for you to bang your portafilter to expel the puck.

Food52

Editor's Pick

Dreamfarm Espresso Knock Box

Made of solid steel, this compact knock box can take a decent beating but the rubber sleeve will keep the noise to a minimum. It’s available in two colors, and the price is not too bad for a high-quality espresso accessory. Plus, it’s easy to clean and even safe to throw in the dishwasher.

Pros

• Compact enough to fit in most drip trays
• Solid steel and rubber make it sturdy and quiet
• Available in two sizes

Cons

• One side is shorter than the other, limiting storage space

• $25 at Food52

After you pull a shot, the puck is wet and hot. The moisture of the puck makes it get stuck inside the filter, and the puck is way too hot to go jamming your finger in there. Knocking the portafilter against the bar helps to get you a clean filter in almost no time at all.

Added convenience

Instead of running back and forth between your espresso machine and your trash can, the knock box becomes a trash can. (Just don’t throw anything that’s not a coffee puck in there.)

Also, if you’re pulling a lot of shots, cleaning out your portafilter over and over becomes as easy as knocking on a door, er, knock box.

A cleaner coffee station

You already heard me whine about dripping coffee on the floor, but since I got a knock box, you won’t find any coffee drips on my floor. And because your knock box is probably just a couple of inches from your espresso machine, there won’t be any coffee drips on your countertop either.

Just remember to empty the knock box regularly. Because the pucks are so wet and densely packed, they’re prone to developing mold. It happened to me. Don’t be like me.

Not all knock boxes are equal

Not all knock boxes are the same, and that helps with finding one that’s right for you. Here’s what to consider when shopping for a knock box.

You’re probably not pulling shots at the same capacity as a cafe, so find a knock box that has enough space to hold a few pucks so you don’t have to constantly empty it.

Also, your espresso machine probably takes up a lot of prime countertop real estate so you might not be able to make space for an extra-large knock box.

Since you’re going to be beating the crap out of your knock box, you’ll want to find one that’ll hold up against constant poundings. Metal and rubber are both good materials.

Metal, on one hand, will be strong and hold up for a long time, but they will be a little pricier. Rubber knock boxes are affordable but that rubber won’t last very long.

Food52

Editor's Pick

Dreamfarm Espresso Knock Box

Made of solid steel, this compact knock box can take a decent beating but the rubber sleeve will keep the noise to a minimum. It’s available in two colors, and the price is not too bad for a high-quality espresso accessory. Plus, it’s easy to clean and even safe to throw in the dishwasher.

Pros

• Compact enough to fit in most drip trays
• Solid steel and rubber make it sturdy and quiet
• Available in two sizes

Cons

• One side is shorter than the other, limiting storage space

• $25 at Food52

The toothpick doesn’t need explanation. It’s one of those items that’s so simple, so ubiquitous that recognition of what it is and what you’re supposed to use it for seems like innate knowledge. Even its name serves as an abridged instruction manual — use this to pick your teeth.

But toothpicks aren’t as dull as that; there are many stories to be told about them, including one regarding toothpicks with grooves that offer a somewhat secret function.

Hiding in plain sight

Grooved toothpicks, which are sometimes known as Japanese toothpicks, are not the most common type available. You probably won’t find them in a dish at the host’s station near the entryway of a restaurant — those are typically reserved for individually wrapped round variants. Another common type is the flat toothpick, and then there are plastic toothpicks, toothpicks for oral care and toothpicks with little umbrellas attached to their tops.

Photo by Henry Phillips for Gear Patrol

The most common example of the grooved Japanese toothpick, which is characterized by its blunt notched end, might be the flavored picks from Tea Tree Therapy. The grooves, which give this type of toothpick a decorative look, also act as a weak point — break off the end, and you have a small stand that you can use to prop up the pointy end so it doesn’t contact the tabletop. (That means whether the pick or the table is dirty, sanitation remains.)

It’s a simple, handy trick, just like the toothpick itself, and a fitting feature for flavored toothpicks designed for enjoyment as much as extracting popcorn kernels from your gums. You might pop one in while reading a book — such as The Toothpick: Technology and Culture, by Henry Petroski, which details the history of these little wooden skewers over more than 450 pages.

Before there were synthetic fabrics, before Gore-Tex and “weatherproof breathability,” there was thick cotton and a can of wax. Early sailors realized that wet sails caught the wind better than dry sails, but wet sails were too heavy and slowed the ships down.

The solution was rubbing oil into the sailcloths, making them more efficient and also water repellent so they stayed light in the rain. The sailors started cutting jackets out of the oiled sailcloth for themselves, wearing early editions of the rain jacket, but these primitive designs, made with linseed oil, became stiff in the cold and faded in color.

Then, in the early 20th century, manufacturers developed a process for impregnating cotton with paraffin wax. The new material made for flexible, warm, durable and waterproof clothing that was quickly adopted by soldiers, outdoorsmen and sailors.

Since then a slew of synthetic, breathable and waterproof fabrics have been developed — and used in those lightweight The North Face jackets everybody wears. But a few companies have stuck with waxed cotton, which remains much more suited to workwear and carries the look and history of a real outdoorsman; don’t expect the paper-thin liner of your standard synthetic zip-up to survive a stray edge when you’re cutting down a tree.

Huckberry has become well-known for its Flint and Tinder line, a selection of rugged apparel that includes a waxed jacket made from Martexin sailcloth sourced from New Jersey. Flint and Tinder’s jacket boasts custom hardware and is lined with blanket flannel (and there’s also an unlined version).

Huckberry

Editor's Pick

Flint and Tinder Flannel-lined Waxed Trucker Jacket

• $268.00 at Huckberry

And if Huckberry customer reviews are any indication, the jacket (which tends to sell out at some point every season) lives up to its rugged good looks with plenty of utility. Flint and Tinder jackets, according to our tester, tend to develop a handsome patina over time, as well (never a bad option to have in your wardrobe, either).

We talked to Nick Kemp, design manager at Huckberry, to pick his brain on how best to take care of your waxed jacket, so it can serve you like a sailor.

According to Kemp, “the true draw of waxed jackets come out as they are worn, age and mold to the wearer.”

Of course, you’ll have to re-wax them once or twice to keep them around that long. Here’s how the pros recommend that you do it.

A step-by-step guide

1. Hose your jacket or wipe it down with cold water.
2. Remove and brush off any debris or dirt, again with water and a cloth as needed. Huckberry notes that if soap is needed for particularly pesky debris or dirt, opt for something more mild.
3. Air-dry the jacket.
4. Cover your working surface with a protective layer, like multiple towels – and of course, go through this process in a place like your garage or workshop.
5. Heat your jacket with a hairdryer, which allows it to absorb more wax.
6. Apply your wax of choice (at room temperature) with either a rag or your hands, wearing latex gloves – apply a thin coat to the entire jacket, especially in areas where the wax has worn off. Huckberry recommends using something like Filson Oil Finish Wax.
7. Use your hairdryer to reheat your jacket, allowing the wax to absorb deep into the fabric, all the while wiping away excess wax.
8. Leave your jacket out overnight before wiping off any final excess wax the next morning.

How to tell if when your jacket needs a touchup

You’ll know when your jacket needs a re-wax using a simple test, Kemp says. If your jacket appears lighter in some areas than others, as the wax wears off over time, spray the jacket with water to test its water resistance. If, after five minutes, the water has beaded and rolled off, your wax is still going strong.

“How often to rewax your waxed jacket really depends on how much the owner is wearing the garment and how much abuse the garment is taking,” Kemp says. “I have seen guys own waxed jackets for years and years, and not need to rewax them because they wear them infrequently and the wear is very light.”

On the other hand, Kemp adds that he’s seen wearers that “need to rewax their jackets every year or two, but this is an individual who is wearing the jacket very regularly, probably working outdoors in the jacket and giving the jacket a lot of wear.”

Kemp also recommends a nifty trick: You can heat your jacket up with a hairdryer (yes, seriously) in an attempt to rub out scratches and bends where the wax has faded. That process can redistribute the wax, but it also shows you areas where re-waxing is especially needed.

How to care for your waxed canvas jacket

Kemp notes that, first and foremost, a waxed jacket takes on a personality and life of its own.

“One of my favorite things about a waxed jacket is the care. It is one of the easiest garments to care for,” he tells Gear Patrol. “If the jacket gets dirt or soil on it, it usually can be brushed off with your hands or a soft bristle brush relatively easily. The only other care is to re-wax when needed.”

Kemp recommends using a bristle brush or your hands as needed to remove debris and dirt from your jacket, as well as wiping down with water to determine when it’s time for a re-wax.

“You can start to see where the wax will start to rub off of the jacket,” Kemp says. “Usually, these areas lose their waxy outlook, and you can really start to see the base of the fabric.”

It’s ultimately about the journey of wearing and caring for a waxed jacket, Kemp says.

“A great waxed jacket not only has a great rugged look to it, but the functionality of being wind and water-resistant is really a winner for me,” he says. “Also, (there’s) the fact that waxed jackets, like a good pair of denim, ages and grows with you over time, and it really does get better each time you wear it.”

Everything you’ll need

Shop a selection of waxed jackets, wax and heat sources (including the same heat gun Skauge uses) below.

Filson

Filson Tin Cloth Field Jacket

• $325.00 at Filson
  $425.00 (24% off)

My cousin’s husband used to be a test pilot in the US Air Force. In fact, at one point he ran the test pilot office at Edwards Air Force Base. He retired a full bird colonel.

Why am I mentioning this? Because when he was asked about the prominent Breitling on his wrist, he replied, “I need a Navitimer so I can do my calculations!”

That brief anecdote may tell you something about how the Breitling Navitimer is viewed by the guys who fly jets for a living. That bit about calculations would be in reference to the Navitimer’s most recognizable feature: the so-called “navigation computer.”

This circular slide rule located on the rotating bezel that a pilot can use to handle all the calculations they need to make when planning a flight — airspeed, rate/time of climb/descent, flight time, distance and fuel consumption functions, plus kilometer-nautical mile and gallon-liter fuel conversion functions.

This slide rule bezel has been present on almost every Navitimer that Breitling has ever produced and is typically considered at the heart of this tool watch’s incredible popularity.

What’s in a name?

The Navitimer — the name is an assemblage of “navigation” and “timer” — was not the first slide rule watch. That honor belongs to Breitling’s Chronomat, released in 1942.

The Chronomat was a worthy forerunner to the Navitimer, and the uninitiated can perhaps be forgiven for believing it’s an early version. To be sure, the circular slide rules of the Chronomat and the Navitimer helped make Breitling recognizable to the public as the pilot watch company.

Breitling

Sensing a need for a self-contained wrist instrument for pilots, Breitling and the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (the AOPA) jointly developed the Navitimer chronograph in the early 1950s. It debuted to the public in 1954. (Much of the literature out there says 1952, but there is healthy debate — and a more than reasonable doubt — about that.) The AOPA immediately adopted the watch as its official timepiece, and this combination of endorsement and the watch’s innate functionality quickly made the Navitimer a favorite of pilots around the world.

The generations of the Navitimer produced through the 1950s and 1960s were given the Reference 806 designation, and the movement in the earliest versions was the Valjoux 72. This famous motor powered the watch for a year and a half before giving way to the Venus 178 in late 1955.

Some late 1960s watches had Valjoux 7736 movements, possibly due to intermittent shortages of the Venus. These were marked 806-36 or 806E. In 1968 the so-called “Big Case” Navitimers — Ref. 816 and 1806 — appeared, some returning to the Valjoux 72 powerplant. All of these early movements were hand-wound calibres, being of the era before the advent of the self-winding chronograph.

In 1969 Breitling released the Navitimer Chrono-matic Ref. 1806, one of a family of self-winding chronographs developed by a consortium of companies, including Breitling, Heuer, Hamilton and Buren.

The now-famous race to build the first automatic chronograph produced multiple winners.

Though the Chrono-matic beat out Zenith’s El Primero by a few days, the feat gets an asterisk for being a modular movement with a micro-rotor, as opposed to Zenith’s full rotor integrated movement. Seiko may have beat them all to market … but that’s another story.

The Navitimer evolves

The first Navitimer with a date window (tucked away at 4:30) was released in the early 1970s. For many aficionados this marked the end of the true Navitimers.

Breitling

Indeed, in the mid-1970s, the Navitimer debuted a series of quartz versions, first with LED displays and followed later by LCD displays. However, the trademark slide rule bezel was there throughout, keeping the watch true to form as an instrument for pilots.

There were countless dial versions. The earliest were all black, produced both with and without the AOPA winged logo (both signed and unsigned versions). Later dials of this era were signed with the Breitling imprint, and some had “Geneve,” “Navitimer,” and “Cosmonaute” imprints. Silvery white sub-dials first appeared in 1963. Breitling’s own logo — stylized twin jets flying in close formation — first appeared in 1964.

The AOPA logo disappeared from most models of the Navitimer in 1965, while remaining on AOPA-exclusive Navitimers until 1969 and on the Cosmonaute until 1979. Frankly, you need a detailed scorecard to tell what appeared where, and when.

A crises in quartz

In 1978, Breitling fell on hard times due to a combination of factors. Owner Willy Breitling had fallen ill, the Swiss franc had inflated, and the quartz crisis was in full bloom. Willy, grandson of founder Leon Breitling, found a buyer in Ernst Schneider and the Sicura watch firm.

The transaction was completed in April of 1979. Adding a seeming insult to the fate of the century-old company, Willy Breitling passed away a month later and his namesake company officially closed its doors three months after.

Out of the ashes of the old company a new Breitling was born: Breitling Montres S.A. Ernst Schneider, an engineer and amateur pilot, had big ideas for transforming the company with the electronic revolution and he quickly put them into practice.

New quartz watches appeared under the Breitling banner, but soon, mechanical timepieces followed. The Navitimer reappeared in 1986 in the guise of the ref. 81600 with a manual-wind Lemania 1872 movement. In 1988, the Navitimer was again equipped with an automatic movement.

It’s interesting to note that the right to manufacture the existing Cosmonaute and Navitimer models, but not to use the names, passed to Mr. Helmut Sinn when the Breitling assets were sold off in 1979. The firm Sinn, founded in 1961, manufactures a chronograph very similar to the Navitimer to this day.

On the move

The 1990s saw the Navitimer powered by Valjoux 7750 and ETA 2892 variants while the Cosmonaute was driven by Lemania engines. By and large the look was the same, however, with the familiar slide rule bezel and sub-dials at 3:00, 6:00, and 9:00 — although some models, especially in the 1990s, had the 7750’s more typical 6-9-12 layout.

The year 1993 saw a drastic increase in water resistance from effectively none to 3 bar. Minor updates occurred through the 2000s, but the Navitimer was still fitted with the modified Valjoux 7750.

In 2009 Breitling released the B01 movement, their first in-house movement and the heart of the current Navitimer. While Breitling has backed off their early hyperbolic claims that the B01 is the “best chronograph movement in the world,” its development is a significant return to glory for the company who pioneered the first independent pusher chronograph and then the separate reset pusher chronograph. The calibre B01 is the perfect movement for the most iconic of Breitlings.

The Navitimer today

At any given point in time over the years, there have been multiple versions of the Navitimer: optional dial colors, straps, bracelets, case material (steel and gold), special and commemorative editions, etc.

The current collection includes designs that broaden the traditional notion of what a Navitimer should be, including non-chronograph, time-only models.

Brietling

The modern Navitimer 01 is reminiscent of the early 806s, but 2019 saw the release of a historically faithful recreation of the 806 that is accurate down to many details, from its case size to the number of “beads” on its bezel.

The current lineup features myriad options, but for true Navitimer aficionados and pilots, the original vintage 806s are what really scratch the itch, whether one’s flying an airplane or a desk.

That said, it’s hard to discount almost any version of the watch that spawned the wrist-instrument genre and contributed to one or two more (the pilot’s watch and the tool watch). In a world where some argue that all wristwatches are anachronisms, this particular watch flips the bird at that notion and keeps getting better and better.

Omega has been the official timekeeper of the Olympics since 1932, and the brand seems to increase its presence at every iteration of the games.

During the Paris 2024 Olympics, Omega has been omnipresent. The brand’s name and red branding appear on nearly every piece of equipment, from starting blocks to scoreboards, and every result on your TV is accompanied by the Omega logo.

Less obvious to the general public is the number of Omega watches on the wrists of Omega’s athlete ambassadors at the games. While other watches have popped up on some prominent athletes — a Richard Mille on Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, a TAG Heuer on Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone — Omega’s watches are far and away the most prevalent in Paris.

Some Omega athletes seem to have gone in a more personal rather than practical direction for their competition wristwear, like Noah Lyles with his Speedmaster or Gabby Thomas’s gold Constellation, but I’ve noticed one Omega watch in particular that seems to be on the wrist of practically every other prominent athlete.

Omega

A Different Type of Gold Watch

Like much of the world, I’ve been glued to my TV watching the Paris Olympics for the past week and a half.

Given my affliction as a watch enthusiast, I can’t help but try and pick out what watches athletes are wearing while competing. The first week was bleak in this regard, as competitors in the marquee events of swimming and gymnastics don’t wear anything on their wrists.

But as the action shifted to track & field this past week, the floodgates suddenly opened up, with athletes showing off their fancy watches while accomplishing seemingly impossible feats.

A funny thing happened as I watched. I began to notice the same Omega watch on the wrist of several winning athletes on the track and in the field. Over, and over, and over again.

Omega

When Dutch runner Femke Bol chased down American Kaylyn Brown in the final leg of the Mixed 4x400m relay, this watch was on her wrist. It was also worn by her teammate in the race, Lieke Klaver.

The watch showed up again on the wrist of British runner Keely Hodgkinson when she won gold in the Women’s 800m. And there it was again winning gold on the wrists of Ukrainian Yaroslava Mahuchikh in the Women’s high jump and American Rai Benjamin in the men’s 400m hurdles.

Italian men’s high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi has been wearing the watch throughout the competition and will surely don it tomorrow when he goes for gold in the final. India’s Neeraj Chopra wore it while nabbing the silver medal in the men’s javelin throw, a rare second-place finish for the watch.

Then there’s Swedish-American pole vaulting superstar Mondo Duplantis, who not only wore this watch while winning gold and smashing his own world record but also slyly launched a new yellow and blue colorway for Omega while doing so.

The watch in question is the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Ultra Light, and while it’s been around for five years, it just now seems to have finally found its purpose.

Omega

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Ultra Light “Mondo”

Specs

Case Size	41mm
Movement	Omega Cal. 8928 Ti manual wind
Water Resistance	150m

• $51,300 at Omega

A $50,000 Aqua Terra?

The Aqua Terra Ultra Light has been an anomaly in Omega’s catalog for as long as it has existed.

The regular steel Aqua Terra is Omega’s most versatile watch. It’s sporty, it’s dressy, it’s robust … it’s maybe the best everyday watch you can buy. And that’s the thing, you can buy an Aqua Terra. They retail for around six grand, which is right around the average SRP for the brand as a whole.

The Ultra Light is a different beast altogether. A showcase for Omega’s technical prowess, the mechanical watch weighs a scant 55 grams on a fabric strap. That’s thanks to the insane amount of titanium utilized for the watch.

Most titanium watches will make a case from the stuff and call it quits, but not the Ultra Light. Not only is the case made from Gamma Titanium — a particularly resilient form of the alloy used in aircraft — but the dial is also fashioned from Grade 5 titanium. What’s more, the hand-wound movement was Omega’s first to be crafted from titanium, making nearly every component on the watch titanium.

Omega

Another first for Omega that debuted on the Ultra Light is the unique telescoping crown that can be pushed into the case when not in use. This makes it so the crown isn’t jutting into your wrist, something I’m sure the athletes wearing this watch greatly appreciate.

The Aqua Terra Ultra Light debuted back in 2019 with an astronomical price tag of $50,000. The pricing, so out of line with the rest of the Aqua Terra line, has long perplexed many enthusiasts. Granted, the innovation was impressive, but who would buy it at that price? Who was this quirky sports watch for?

To me, the Olympics have given us an answer. With the Ultra Light prominently displayed on the wrists of so many winning athletes, it is truly living up to Omega’s billing of it being the “ultimate athlete’s watch.”

Omega

The Halo Watch

The Ultra Light is a halo watch. Just like how car brands use halo cars to sell the rest of their lineup, Omega is using this watch to pitch itself as a performance luxury brand to a wider audience.

It’s not a watch Omega expects the average consumer to stroll into a boutique and purchase. It’s the watch that the average consumer sees winning a gold medal on the wrist of their favorite athlete, which in turn convinces them to go to their local authorized dealer and pick up an Aqua Terra in stainless steel. Or a Seamaster Diver. Or a Speedmaster.

The Ultra Light costs $50,000 because that’s what it costs. It’s not a normal Aqua Terra; it’s a watch that’s designed to perform for serious athletes.

And while I don’t think the Ultra Light is actually helping anyone at the Olympics win their events — the more logical explanation for the watch’s success rate is that Omega tends to pick the best athletes to be its ambassadors — the effect it has on the public remains the same.

“A dynamic collection of riders that creates the world’s best carbon fiber products.” Those words, from an ENVE Composites promo video, sum up the company pretty well.

I came to appreciate that description first-hand a few years ago, during an eye-opening Arizona gravel camp that unveiled Evil’s controversial gravel bike, the Chamois Hagar.

The version we got to test ride was outfitted with lightweight, high-performance ENVE gravel handlebars and wheelsets (carbon, of course) that enabled this neophyte writer to survive a couple of up-and-down days under a blazing desert sun.

But having seemingly mastered the construction of wheels and components for everything from road to mountain and everywhere in between, the Ogden, Utah-based company has graduated to a more … comprehensive ambition: full bikes.

After successfully entering the market on smoother surfaces (via the Custom Road and Melee), the brand had a twofold reason for the project that followed, explains Jake Pantone, vice president of product and consumer experience.

“We’re transitioning from a component manufacturer to a complete bike brand,” he says. “So there’s just sort of that logical business decision, if you wanna be a relevant player in this industry, you have to make a gravel bike. But then on the other side of it, we’re gravel riders. With all of the ENVE products, we generally try to just make things that we wanna ride ourselves.”

From that combination of passion and logic emerged the aptly named MOG (Mother of Gravel), a full-carbon off-road bike clearly designed and engineered by hardcore riders. After putting in a bunch of miles on this rig over rocks and dirt and sand, I’ve got some (mostly positive) thoughts.

ENVE MOG: What We Think

Let’s be honest, a lot of companies have been launching a lot of gravel bikes over the past few years, and it takes something extra to stand out in a crowded marketplace. So what gives ENVE an edge?

ENVE

ENVE MOG (Frameset Only)

• $4,450 at The Pro's Closet

“The cool thing we were able to do with the MOG is that, because we 100-percent manufacture the Custom Road bike here in Ogden, we were able to use the custom road tubing and take our gravel forks and things like that and build prototypes,” says Pantone. “So we tried a range of head tube angles, fork rakes, offsets to achieve a geometry that allows it to be a stable and easy-to-ride bike for big long days in the saddle, to riding gnarly single track. We were able to strike a really good balance.”

ENVE

ENVE MOG (Complete Bike)

• $7,900 at ENVE

That balance is definitely one standout feature. Others I came to appreciate are that it’s pretty freakin’ light, it can accommodate bomber tires and it boasts a host of rider-friendly little touches that boost convenience and versatility.

The result is a fast, fun bike on paved roads and light trails that can also tackle technical terrain or load up for a weekend bikepacking adventure. There’s a lot to like … and just a little to not.

The MOG’s geometry and weight are fast friends

Steve Mazzucchi

As noted above, ENVE put a lot of research and development into the MOG’s geometry, optimizing it to tackle a variety of terrain. The frame itself is available in six sizes, and you can work with an ENVE retailer to select your handlebars, stem and seatpost, ensuring it fits you just right. ENVE also sells a complete MOG with a Campagnolo Ekar AG25 groupset (the same build I tested) to dealers if you want something ready to go.

ENVE’s command of carbon fiber means the material is ever-present throughout the bike — and that translates to a final product that is incredibly light. Weighing it without pedals with a bike scale, my test MOG (size 54) came in at a svelte 17 pounds, 10 ounces, making it the lightest gravel bike I’ve ever tested.

Those two factors together — along with streamlined internally routed cables and a 1×13 drivetrain — make for one speedy ride. On paved roads in the hardest gear, I could really hammer, and once I got off-road — taking on the Cold Spring Gravel Grinder — the bike really came to life, eating up trails without hesitation, enabling me to fly on flat sections.

Of course, these qualities are not exactly unique to the MOG. The area it really establishes its point of difference — and even its point of view on gravel riding — is literally where the rubber meets the road.

Tire volume trumps suspension

Steve Mazzucchi

“The number one thing for us was tire clearance,” says Pantone. “One of the unique things about the MOG is it’s technically a 700c-only bike. What we found in our own riding is that in 100 percent of the instances where you could have a high-volume 700c tire, that outperformed the same-volume 650b tire.”

Without getting too in the weeds, 650b wheels typically accommodate wider tires, enabling a cushier gravel ride but sacrificing velocity. Meanwhile, higher-diameter 700c wheels are speed demons with a smaller margin of error.

That’s part of the reason many bikes offer a flip chip that lets you switch between two different wheelsets. Some bikes also feature a suspension fork, further smoothing out the ride. Not so the MOG, however.

“What we said is, OK, right now 650b can run like a 47mm tire in most of these bikes,” says Pantone. “But if we could run 700x50mm, it really eliminates the want to have a 650b. So we did a lot of work to ensure that if you want to have that really fun, comfortable, capable, plush gravel riding machine, the way you get there is with a 50mm tire, not necessarily with a suspension fork. Suspension is heavy, and most gravel races have quite a bit of vert and climbing in them.”

I wasn’t personally racing, but I did appreciate the overall effect, particularly going uphill, which was not the slog it is with some other bikes. I never felt like I needed more gears — rather, I was confident that the MOG could surmount the steep stuff if I simply continued to pedal.

The Gravel Grinder features about 1,100 feet of climbing every 10 miles, enough to get a feel for a bike’s ability to compensate for its rider’s lack of fitness climbing capability, and the MOG delivered.

That said, I sweated some tricky descents, thanks in part to recent rainfall leaving a bunch of gnarly little gulleys running diagonally across the trail. I had to stay alert and focused to pick my way through dicier sections, but I did find the Campy Ekar 160mm CL disc brakes to be reassuringly responsive.

To be fair, I was also running 42mm Specialized Tracer Pro 2Bliss Tires. If I dared ride this rig into serious single-track, I would likely swap in some fat 50mm tires and a dropper post (yes, it’s dropper compatible) to keep the shiny side up.

They thought of (damn near) everything

Steve Mazzucchi

Steve Mazzucchi

A few touches on this bike clearly signal that its creators really ride — and managed to pretty seamlessly add a lot of features that will accommodate both the racer and the weekend bikepacker without being obtrusive to either end of the spectrum.

On the racer-friendly side, one example is the integrated bike computer mount protruding from the stem, which just so happens to fit my Wahoo Elemnt Bolt perfectly. Another is Campagnolo’s unique shifting system, which lets you trigger the fastest gear with your thumb, even in a full tuck. (Its ultimate utility is debatable, but it’s kinda fun.)

Steve Mazzucchi

Steve Mazzucchi

The bike’s adventure-friendly elements are even more notable. This thing is absolutely loaded with mounting options, including a top tube bag mount, fork accessory mounts and a mount for a third bottle cage under the downtube.

The coup de grâce, however, is the “Cargo Bay,” a spacious storage area within the downtube itself. Removing a small cover (where one bottle cage mounts) reveals 36 cubic inches of storage, enough for tools, a windbreaker, snacks and more. In testing, I found that I could basically stash everything I needed in my jersey, shorts and the Cargo Bay, without needing to bring my typical frame pack, which tends to get in the way of my downtube bottle. Easy peezy.

The downsides are kinda shallow

Steve Mazzucchi

My hangups with the MOG are so nit-picky, they almost aren’t worth mentioning. First off is the fact that for the most part, you aren’t really a couple clicks from having a brand-new bike show up at your door. You can order the frame, but as stated earlier, ENVE directs you to visit your local dealer to either procure a ready-made Campy Ekar build or get a more curated bike set up properly for you.

(For what it’s worth, the options for purchase have expanded a bit of late. Some online retailers, including Pro Bike Supply, now carry this exact same build for the same price ENVE suggests, $7,900. You can find it here.)

Additionally, I don’t personally love the Sand colorway I tested. Pantone — whose very name suggests we should trust him on hues — tells me they were going for a desert vibe, and I respect that. But it tends to blend into its surroundings rather than pop, making it better for guerrilla warfare than, say, Instagram.

ENVE has since released two additional options, Slate Blue and Terracotta, which you can see near the top of this page, as well as at the bottom.

Steve Mazzucchi

ENVE MOG: Alternatives

If you dig the Sand color, or the race-ready vibe, or that Campy thumb lever, consider another fast-ass bike, the Pinarello Grevil F Ekar. If the Cargo Bay gets the bulk of your attention, peep the “Glovebox” on the Santa Cruz Stigmata.

And if you delight in the MOG’s outspoken embrace of fat 700c tires over 650b or suspension, hell, check out another pretty opinionated ride, the 50mm-rockin’, dropper post-havin’ Evil Chamois Hagar. As much as it drives people nuts, that bike cracked the GP100 a few years back. Not exactly bad company.