Watches, Stories & Gear: A 3-D Printed Road Bike, the Battle Over Paraguay’s Mickey, and the Latest iPhone Gets Reviewed

“Watches, Stories, and Gear” is a roundup of our favorite content, watch or otherwise, from around the internet. Here, we support other creators, explore interesting content that inspires us, and put a spotlight on causes we believe in. Oh, and any gear we happen to be digging on this week. We love gear.

Share your story ideas or interesting finds with us by emailing [email protected].

The World’s First 3-D Printed Titanium Road Bike 

We’ve seen 3-D printing become more commonplace in the world of cycling over the years, with 3-D printed handlebars, stems, and frame components hitting the market. But this week saw the unveiling of a first: the first 3-D printed titanium road bike. The Reactor Aero still needs to go through wind tunnel testing before going into production, but it’s a pretty major advancement in bike manufacturing. Made by the No. 22 Bicycle Company in upstate New York, the Reactor Aero is said to represent a 30-40% reduction in drag compared to the existing Reactor model. The prototype is particularly impressive in that nearly the entire bike was printed in a single piece (only the carbon seat tube was not part of the print). You can read more about the Reactor Aero here.

Patagonia Enters the Waxed Cotton Arena

We’re pretty big fans of waxed cotton jackets around here. They have a certain timeless style and their overall utility is unmatched. If you’re similarly inclined, you’re probably pretty familiar with some of the big players in the waxed world: Barbour, Filson, and Flint & Tinder, among others, are some of our favorites. Recently, Patagonia, a huge name in the apparel space, announced their first waxed cotton products. The Lightweight Waxed Cotton Jacket comes in four colors and would appear to have a more contemporary look than some of the other jackets mentioned above. That said, it’s also fits in nicely with the existing Patagonia aesthetic, so we wouldn’t expect anything less. 

The iPhone 16 Reviews Start Pouring In

It’s that time of year again: your favorite tech websites are filled with articles asking whether or not now is the time to upgrade to the latest iPhone. It’s an annual question and the usual answer is “no, unless you need to” or something along those lines, but we still love reading the in-depth reviews of the new Apple devices. This one from Wired is particularly in-depth and provides some helpful analysis of what Apple Intelligence might bring to the iPhone in the future, as well as a nice survey of the new camera features. 

Mickey 17 Gets a Trailer 

For cinephiles, few bits of news over the course of the last year were more disappointing than hearing that Mickey 17, the follow up to Parasite from director Bong Joon-ho, was being delayed from its original March 2024 release to an unnamed date in 2025. We eventually learned that it would appear in January 2025, which also seemed quite strange, considering that month is typically a dumping ground for movies that studios don’t deem worthy of an Oscar run. Well, the date has stuck, and we finally got a trailer this week, and we have to say, we’re pretty excited. Not much is known about the film, but it would appear to be a (fairly broad) comedy starring Robert Pattinson as an astronaut who has entered into some kind of cloning program to test the limits of the human body in space. It looks and sounds deeply weird, which if you’re a Bong Joon-ho fan should be a pretty exciting development. 

The Other Mickey

In other Mickey news, the New York Times has this fascinating story on a Paraguayan mouse character that just happens to look exactly like an iconic Disney mouse, and the prolonged legal battle waged by the entertainment giant to protect their intellectual property. Paraguay’s Mickey is the mascot of a large food-packaging company, now in its 90th year, and somehow has survived challenge after challenge from Disney. It’s a truly interesting peek into a long simmering feud, and for those of us who are only familiar with Disney’s Mickey, it’s also quite surreal.