Reid Rider of the Month - October

Reid Rider of the Month - October

Dane Bergman (@danethomasbergman) is our REID Rider of the Month for October!

Dane from Australia has become our REID Rider of the Month for October on his Vice 1.0 after catching our eye on Instagram with some awesome shots!  We caught up with Dane, to find out a little bit more about him and his bike...

Introduce yourself... (A bit about yourself, where you're from etc)
 
Hi, my name is Dane Bergman, I'm 31 and from the land down under - Australia. I have just moved back to Aus after 9 years living overseas and backpacking through different countries. I'm currently living on the East Coast of Aus in Lennox Head because the lifestyle is great and there are plenty of adventures to be had by bike and in the ocean. I was living in Canada for 6 years and knew I would miss the beautiful wilderness of British Colombia, so it was important for me to come to a fun and outdoors-orientated place when I moved back home at the beginning of 2018. I'm a lifestyle coach and living on the east coast of Australia really allows me to practice what I preach as well as go surfing, spearfishing, skydiving, bike packing and other great adventures, so I am pretty happy where I have ended up after a decade of jet-setting around. That's not to say that the travel bug has stopped biting though haha.
 
When and how did you get into bike riding? 
 
I've loved the freedom and possibility that a bike offers ever since I got my first one as a child. I used to love riding through the bush to fishing spots, going to see friends and racing each other to school each day. It wasn't until 2016 that I really started to view it as an expedition vehicle though and that culminated in a huge trip circumnavigating Iceland by bike. It was 1700kms of pure arduous adventure that was so rewarding, yet so hard. My friend Che and I both didn't quite know what to expect as it was our first bike packing adventure and we were certainly under prepared and over confident, like we are with most things haha. Our motto throughout the trip was "laugh or cry" and it came to that point a few times. We spent 31 days cycling around the island and were treated to some of the most picturesque landscapes on the planet. Huge waterfalls, rolling hills, glaciers and beautiful mountains and clifftops. The nature of Iceland certainly handed it to us a few times when we got stuck in storms for 7 or 8 hours with nowhere to escape, battling crazy head winds, piercing rain and long uphill climbs. We called these the Iceland Trifecta when they all happened at the same time and it was usually another "laugh or cry" moment haha. Then the clouds would clear out and we were treated to untouched lands and it seemed as if we had stepped into the image of a postcard. It was an amazing trip and one that really started my love for bike packing.
 
 
 

 
 
You caught our eye on Instagram with this amazing picture after a bike packing adventure, tell us about it...
 
 
That photo was from a little overnight bike packing trip I did here in Australia from Lennox Head to Evan's Head. It is a 120km round trip with about 40kms of beach riding so you need to time it right to hit the beach on low tide, otherwise you find yourself hiking the bike through the soft sand. I set off mid-morning with just my tent strapped to the bars and a backpack on with enough food and water for 24 hours. I found a good spot in the dunes to camp, built a little fire and then got settled in for the night. It was a full moon and also a time that Mars was as close to the planet as it has been in decades, so it made for some fantastic stargazing. After a quick swim in the morning, I set off on the return journey and had the sun rising over the ocean to my right. That picture was taken just at sunrise on the sands flats of low tide. It was an epic little trip.

So what made you choose REID and why the Vice 1.0? 

We made the mistake of hiring bikes to ride around Iceland and had a lot of problems with them as we went so I didn't want to have to deal with that on my next trip. Also, after the Iceland trip I was totally addicted to bike packing and wanted my own set up to start adventuring a lot more. When I got back to Australia I started looking for suitable bikes and happened across the REID bikes and loved what I saw. The bikes were loaded with features, built really strong which suited what I planned to do and were great value. The Vice 1.0 stood out to me straight away because of the Plus tyres and the black and white colour design. It looked amazing and with the rigid forks, 27.5" tyres and disc brakes it meant I would be able to take it long distances on bike packing adventures, let the tyres down and ride it on the beaches and also throw it into some single tracks. It's a great all-rounder which suits me perfectly.

How was the Vice 1.0 treated you?

It's been brilliant so far. Strong, durable, eye-catching and it has handled everything I've thrown at it this far.

What and where have you been with it?

So far I have taken it down single track, highways, beaches, over-nighter trips and everything in between. I love the fact that I can ride anywhere with it and just adjust the inflation of the tyres to suit. The front forks feel bomb-proof so I have no worries hitting some steeper single tracks with it and it's just as comfortable when riding long distances. I am excited to take it out on an extended trip in the next few months.

Do you have any other future adventures planned?

There are always future adventures planned haha. I will be doing another few smaller trips this year and then early next year my brother and I are planning a 4 week bike packing trip from the Easternmost point of mainland Australia - Byron Bay, to the Southernmost point of Wilson's Promontory in Victoria. The exact route isn't set yet but it's looking to be around the 2000km mark. We will be camping out the whole way and trying to do it as light weight as possible. He also rides a REID Vice 1.0 but has front shocks, so it will be a great test for the bikes and also for us. We plan to raise money for a charity and donate it all after finishing so we are both excited to get the details fine-tuned and get it underway.

Also on the cards for next year is a bike packing trip through Mongolia, so 2019 is going to be a fantastic year if all goes to plan.

Finally, what advice would you give to those who have never been on a biking adventure or even a bike?

I would say that the most important thing is just getting out there and getting in to it. You don't need the best bike with all the latest gadgets and best equipment. They certainly make things a little more comfortable but at the end of the day you will be riding the same path no matter what bike your on and you are still going to make it to the end of the journey. When we cycled around Iceland neither of us trained (Che had actually never cycled more than 10kms haha), we hired bikes and we figured it out as we went. It was tough and didn't always go to plan but we made it, had an amazing adventure and that is all that matters in the end. So take whatever bike you have available (borrow one if needed), throw a backpack on your shoulders with the essentials and set off to have some fun.

 

Key Features 

  • Dialled performance trail geometry on a lightweight alloy frame. Tapered headtube and front/rear rack mounts for those bike packing adventures.
  • Suntour XCR suspension forks with 15mm thru axle for extra rigidity on the front end to inspire confidence on the trails.
  • Features a slack 68 degree head angle, 760mm wide bars and short 60mm stem for hitting technical sections at pace.
  • Shimano Altus 2×9 gearing (11-34T cassette) and a Prowheel double chainset with 28/40T chainring sizes.
  • The big rubber on a 27+ lets you tweak your setup to largely compensate for the loss of suspension in the front when hitting the rough stuff. The frame is suspension corrected though making the addition of suspension forks an easy upgrade down the track.
  • Tektro Mechanical Disc brakes (180mm front, 160mm rear) for strong, reliable control and stopping power.
  • Big traction from 2.8” wide Kenda Havoc Sport tyres mounted to double walled 27.5+ specific 40mm wide rims.
  • Lifetime frame warranty for your peace of mind, and one year on non-consumable parts.
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