Hvala Croatia - A Cycling Film by Restrap

In September 2021 , four friends embark on an epic bikepacking tour through northern Croatia, taking in huge mountain passes, narrow cliffside roads and winding forest descents while battling with the infamous Bora winds, soaring temperatures and relentless climbing.
The film is the latest in a series documenting Restrap's tours around the world where we put ourselves and our kit to the test, experiencing the joys of bikepacking and cycle touring while hunting for the best cycling roads across the world.
To see a full kit breakdown of this tour, head to our blog:
restrap.com/bl...
You can also read a full write-up from the trip here:
restrap.com/bl...
You can view our previous films here:
'Arigatou' (Japan)
• Arigatou - A Cycling F...
'North Coast' (Scotland)
• NORTH COAST - A Cyclin...
The kit used in this video:
restrap.com/co...
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About Restrap:
Restrap is a family-run company with one simple aim: to produce the best bike packing gear for every kind of bicycle. We’re a close-knit team of keen cyclists with an eye for adventure and are in our eleventh year of business.
Restrap is keen to look after the precious environments our customers ride in. For that reason, we do our best to minimise our carbon footprint. We source many of our materials within the UK, which are sewn by hand in our Yorkshire workshop.
Follow us on social media:
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#restrap #croatia

[@x2blade1]

As Croatian i can say who ever choose the music give that man a medal.Great video!

[@mivancic123]

As a Croatian too, I must say the choice of cycling routes and videos are phenomenal, but the choice of music is equally disastrous and has nothing to do with the region you cycled through :-) Nevertheless, regardless of the choice of music - a fantastic video even for those of us who know those roads. You should come next seasson to Dalmatia and Split !!!

[@viktorvolaric-horvat5190]

@@mivancic123 Restrap, massive respect for the trip and all, I am only one-third into the video, and was quite moved by the scenery you guys witnessed, but the music was indeed completely off the mark. Think bagpipes for a vlog on a trip through Cornwall xD Now, I will also say kudos for putting the effort in sourcing the music, you got half-way there! A way to certainly improve quality of this kind of reporting is to pay respect to the cultural details of the places you visit. But I reckon your trip was such great fun poor Gideon couldn't stay on top of eeeverything including taking notes on the folkloric traditions of the regions you visited, lol! And now back to watching the rest of it, I feel like I'm in for a treat!

[@edezambo7918]

​@@mivancic123 can you tell me the name of the song please? :)

[@edezambo7918]

@@viktorvolaric-horvat5190 can you tell me the name of the song please? :)

[@ivanperak285]

As a Croatian cyclist, thanks for visiting and praising my country. I'm glad you had a nice time and hope to see you again sometime 🙂

[@chrisfenet]

Everything about this is so cool. From the storytelling to the humour, the music...thanks guys 🙂

[@dog-so1vj]

Croatia is beautiful. I've been there once, but not cycling. I visited Dubrovnik. Thanks for sharing the beautiful interior areas of the country that I didn't get to see.

[@BikepackingAdventures]

TCR this year took us through Croatia and I must say it was absolutely stunning and I wanna go back for sure. Recognised a few of the places names which brought back memories.

[@federicob74]

Nice but I can't see you guys ride without helments. No one in 4: very surprised. I hope Restrap , of which I am a fan, will be more safety-conscious in the future

[@thomasmuller986]

Its not your head, Bro. Do what you feel or think is right.

[@amylase1584]

Another fantastic video! Thanks lads! Croatia looks absolutely beautiful - and the route looks pretty good too. Can you share the GPX files with us please? :D

[@amylase1584]

Nevermind, I've just located the komoot page :D

[@lkbfreak]

Beautiful biking trip through my homeland. 👍

[@VeloObscura]

Well, add another country to the list..... Croatia looks epic!

[@umbertogardini1675]

Fantastic trip and fantastic gang !

[@ilovenature9822]

Awesome video, I loved your down to earth goofiness and remarks about Cro from foreigner viewoount. But next time hit me up and an gonna be your local All Croatia bike adventure guide. P.s. its not all rocky boylders, hehe; there's tone of lil secret getaway's to wild camp for a night or two.

[@romanokrastek77]

❤❤❤🇭🇷🇭🇷🇭🇷

[@manwithouthat391]

Verry clever, congratulation!

[@robmartin1792]

What an excellent adventure!!! Thanks for sharing!!! Another fantastic video. 👍🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@richarddavies1592]

Excellent video! My type of cycling trip. Look forward to the next one for some more inspiration 🙌

[@unknownentity524]

Awesome 🙌

[@Restrapltd]

🙌

[@ascot1049]

Ace.

[@jimlondon]

Another great tour, another great video. Cheers for sharing!

[@donttouchthisatall]

Amazing film as usual. Loved watching it. Your kit is great and hasn't dissappointed once. (Toptube bag, large Framebag and Bar pack are currently in use). Likely will get a matching saddlebag soon, to complete the look. You guys are awesome and your company is great! keep it up!

[@tobieallen2791]

great vid thank you

[@michaelorhan1842]

We just did a trip from Ljubljana down to the coast and through Istria for two weeks. Amazing. We had a very similar experience with the hills and gravel “routes” that were definitely more suited to the local sheep than our gravel bikes. I wish I’d seen this video ages ago but that’s algorithms for you. Curious what the first song is on the video - unlike some on here I greatly enjoyed the soundtrack 😉 Great video! Looking forward to rest of them.

[@Restrapltd]

Thank you for the kind words. Be sure to subscribe as our latest film will be online this week. ;)

[@davidsaxby5400]

Great film guys. Thanks. I’ve been to Croatia a few times to the cities and resorts and love it. Now you’ve opened my eyes to another tempting element. Like other comments I’m disappointed in your rejection of the basic safety of helmets. I was also surprised at the dislike of gravel routes. So many of your customers ride gravel bikes, use your gear and ride on gravel. You must embrace it in the interest of “research”😉 Oh, and I love the music.

[@Restrapltd]

Hi David, thanks for the kind words! It's only Jon that doesn't like riding gravel. Don't worry - we make fun of him constantly about it (because riding gravel is great). Our next tour is set to have significantly more gravel riding, which should convince him ;)

[@blazwinkler108]

Senj and its sorroundings is like the world capital of Bora wind, you will find a lot of tent-friendly camps in Croatia, just not there for obvious reasons :D

[@LastOfTheLookers1]

Well this video has ruined my Scotland tour plans for next year... I'm cancelling it and taking the bike to Croatia instead I reckon 😍 Any tips on getting £8 flights?!

[@Restrapltd]

Book it during a pandemic *just* before it's announced you can fly there haha

[@maciesienna]

Good Video. Too cool to wear cycling Helmets though?

[@thomasmuller986]

Its not your head, Bro. Do what you feel or think is right.

[@tonycombat]

Well fuck, adding it to the list

[@vorsichtmal]

What a funny video. Enjoyed it. You unfortunately missed the Krusicko Jerezo at the Velebit National Park at the top, a reservoir with turquoise green water.

[@vorsichtmal]

"and no one died". That`s a succes obviously. 😀

[@ronsmith8038]

Good fun. I was surprised by how jarring I found the lack of helmets!

[@thomasmuller986]

Its not your head, Bro. Do what you feel or think is right.

[@_________4292]

Nice trip and movie but why ride without helments?

[@thomasmuller986]

Its not your head, Bro. Do what you feel or think is right.

[@eatmykwad]

so good, love to see a bit of suffering haha

[@thomasmuller986]

Great style of riding, humor, documentation, choice of country. People in the comments with helmet requests show the crazy world or society we live in nowadays. Just mind your own business, nobody else gets hurt if someone descides not to wear a helmet. Its not even like Smoking cigarettes. This behaviour sucks! Its not your head or the head of your children.

[@timmunke1461]

Does anyone know what the camera strap John is using is called?

[@Restrapltd]

Hi Tim, Jon here. I used the stock strap that came with our Sony A6500 camera. Alex is using a different camera strap, which was made specifically for this trip. Hope that helps!

[@mikelee8407]

May i ask ....who did you fly with and how much extra to load the bikes?

[@Restrapltd]

Hi, We flew with Ryanair on this trip. The cost of bikes was £80ish each way.

[@mikelee8407]

@@Restrapltd ok cheers

[@thestirlingadventures]

This looks amazing… Croatia is in my list and I’m tempted… but all that climbing man 😳 😂 were the climbs all gradual?

[@Restrapltd]

Most of them were - between 3% and 6% for the most part. There were a couple that kicked up to about 15% in places, but were fairly gradual for the most part

[@thestirlingadventures]

@@Restrapltd that sounds very doable, thanks!

[@janha219]

Done a similar trip this year in April around Split. Short version: stunning landscape, shitty weather, cold hotel rooms, angry drivers (especially in the cities)

[@Greg.Sutton]

Nope i am with Jon - Credit Card bikepacking is where its at and Hike a Bike is rubbish......lol. That said the climbing looks fantastic.

[@c.w.7656]

Nice video. But please wear a helmet.

[@johnnymarr2575]

Mind your own business with the helmet BS. You do you and let the others do them.

[@thomasmuller986]

Its not your head, Bro. Do what you feel or think is right.

[@thomasmuller986]

@@johnnymarr2575 👍

[@povijestpovijest9569]

Where helmet?

[@thomasmuller986]

Its not your head, Bro. Do what you feel or think is right.

[@crobackpacker]

Great video and choice of trails. Amazing work... just as a Croatian i must notice you made absolutely horrible job with music. Those traditional songs are from completely another parts of Croatia and locals in areas you were traveling would not even understand dialect in songs. Something like making videos about London with traditional Irish or Scottish music

[@okmei]

Great adventure! But plllllssssss use a fcking helmet

[@thomasmuller986]

Its not your head, Bro. Do what you feel or think is right.