The Radavist

Look, I’m not going to sit here and say that the 44RN is the best track chainring ever but I will say that they look damn nice. Someone should convince Aaron to make more of these 144bcd 47t rings. I love mine and Chas has been riding his since he won it at Stupor Bowl. It looks damn fine on his Cinelli Mash low pro.

Click the above photo to launch the gallery, or here to open in a new tab.

Kinfolk Studios is a space that change every time I visit Brooklyn. I remember when Maceo and Ryan ambitiously signed a lease to the space and began the lengthy process of construction. They busted their asses for a year, getting the space ready. With the Kinfolk Studios bar and restaurant open and cracking, the design offices upstairs are bustling with new creative projects.

While most of the space was a bit cluttered with work, the stairwell and Maceo’s Kinfolk track provided more than enough inspiration to get some lens love. I still love that Kinfolk Brooks saddle…

Click the above photo to launch the gallery, or here to open in a new tab.

I’ve been a long time fanboy of Dan Chabanov, in case you can’t tell. He rode through the alleycat rankings in NYC, raced at Kissena and then moved rapidly up through the road racing circuit. Last year, he even raced for Richard Sachs. Before the Red Hook Crit, he and his Foundation teammates went to Arizona to train and race.

While Dan was there, he shot some disposable cameras for me and when I was in NYC last month, he dropped them off on me. These four rolls follow Dan on solo rides through Oro Valley to Oracle,  on training rides with his team, in hotels, back porch haircuts and finally, a 75-minute long crit.

The thing that’s most interesting to me about the subject is that Dan’s a bike racer with a photography background. His playful and whimsical photographs really paint a portrait of what it’s like to travel, train and race. For me, this was a very compelling Guest Gallery. I love that they disassemble their bikes completely and fit them in suitcases. Brilliant.

Click the above photo to launch the gallery, or here to open in a new tab.

I think every cyclist goes through ups and downs when it comes to what they want in a bike. When I began talking to Ian at Icarus last year about my ViKING track bike, I wanted something more relaxed to ride on. We kept the geometry of the frame true track and went with a fork with a little more rake than normal, to make the ride more road-like. That way, I could just drop a 32mm track fork on the bike and have that “aggressive” ride associated with a track bike.

Well, after having the urge to ride a fast, nimble track bike on the streets, I contacted Ian about making a 32mm rake fork. Initially, we couldn’t find a Columbus MAX fork crown in 1 1/8″ so we went with a unicrown. At NAHBS, Chris Bishop told me he had a stainless 1 1/8″ MAX fork crown, so I bought it from him and sent the materials to Ian at his newly-located facilities in Ashville, NC.

A few weeks later and this baby arrived. I held off on painting it for now because I can’t afford to drop the cash at the moment and I want to work out the paint scheme. But with the Chris King polished stainless headset, I plan on polishing the crown to really set the bike off. Because Ian knew I’d be riding it raw, he torched it a bit, giving it a hippie tie-dye finish and then coated it with furniture polish to keep it from rusting.

The feather on the blade lets you know this bike means business. Beware of impostors, there is only one feather to rule them all.

Check out the Gallery by clicking the photo above, or click here to open a new tab.

AJ and I are probably the only two people who have the 29’r Bruiser prototypes set up as legit fixed freestyle rides. Others are floating around but are currently being ridden as rigid MTBs and gravel grinders. This bike has seen a beating since AJ built it up last year, around this time. While the future of the Bruiser is unknown, I can attest to the fact that this bike is a lot of fun and more than capable at thrashing some street. AJ’s put in work on this beast and it shows.

Check out the Gallery by clicking the photo above, or click here to open a new tab.

Andy from FYXO and I were joking about product reviews when we finished up our walkabout. He said something to the extent of “if that bag survived our ride, then it’s worth a review”. There’s nothing pretty about a saddle bag on a road or cross bike but sometimes you need some extra cargo room. Since I was carrying my camera gear and food in my backpack, I wanted to be able to throw my clothes and other gear on the bike somewhere.

Blakey had this Carradice Barley Saddle Bag and Bagman Sport Support quick-release rack in Melbourne, so I borrowed it. Initially skeptical, Andy and Dan looked at the bag and implied that I’d know how secure it was after the first day… But alas, all weathered fine.

Check out the Gallery by clicking the photo above, or click here to open a new tab.