The Radavist

There are some benefits to dating a “bike blogger” but there are more benefits to being friends with Andy from Fyxomatosis and Dan from Shifter Bikes. When we were in Melbourne, Andy had this beautiful Casati Ellisse road frame hanging up. I took one look at it and knew it had to be Lauren’s. We haggled, arm wrestled and played a few games of hangman over the cost and eventually came to an agreement. What went from a Chorus build turned to a C-Record build and then, to top it off, Dan offered to build it up, prior to shipping it out.

Weeks passed and Lauren’s bike showed up on a Saturday morning. I put it together and made sure it fit. After a quick test ride, she was ecstatic. Tomorrow we’re going to go get her fit for some road shoes and Sunday will be its first ride in Austin. I think it’s safe to say, we’re both thrilled with this bike. How could you not be? Ti Grammo Art stem, C-Record, Ambrosia wheels? Life’s too short to ride shit bikes.

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Over the past year, the LA-based cycling apparel designers and manufacturers, Endo Customs have gotten a lot of recognition. Personally, I first heard of them via the Golden Saddle Cyclery team. Kyle was adamant about using a local manufacturer to make their kits and they were a perfect match.

While I was in LA, I swung through their shop to check it out with Kelli, who is working on a women’s bib short. Being able to design and manufacture in house by-passes the annoying lead-times you get with overseas manufacturing. Their fabric is sourced from Italy and assembled in house, after graphics are heat-transfered on.

Endo has continued to reach out to the community, sponsoring races, teams and shops. With each new client, they gain more knowledge and through the process, they have established great PR&D relationships, which will lead to new products down the road. I was amazed at how much they packed into their 1,500′ square foot facilities… and yes, I have a kit coming down the pipeline, just in time for cross season.

Also, check out TRACKO’s photos here!

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I went on a lot of rad rides while in LA and this one in particular I had always wanted to do. It’s a ride through the hills, over some dirt running trails and up the backside of the Hollywood sign. Save a pinch on the dirt, it ended up being a blast. 30 miles and 2,600′ feet was the perfect amount of riding that morning.

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It’s surprising to me how many people have the misconception that “Texas is flat”. While most of the eastern part of the state is indeed, very flat, in Austin, we’re smack dab in the middle of Texas Hill Country. Granted, the highest elevation we have is around 1,500′, there are plenty of good rides with 1:1 ratios of miles to elevation. When Brad and Marty from Geekhouse came into town a few weeks back, they said something to the extent of, “Austin’s pretty flat, right?”.

So, like any good host, I took them on a little hill loop. The weather was just right and not wanting to kill Marty, we took it easy, meandering through ranges and stopping at swimming holes. We ended up doing 40 miles and over 3,000′ before the allure of tacos took over…

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The last time I visited the Los Angeles-based cycling apparel brand SWRVE‘s shop, they had just relocated and had big plans to expand their floorplan to include a storefront. Last week, before skipping town, I headed over to check out their newly-opened retail space. For a brand like SWRVE, most of their sales are online, so a retail space wasn’t of the highest priority. But they wanted the city of Los Angeles to have a place where customers could come try on the clothing and actually touch the product before committing to buy.

I don’t need to explain any further the merits of buying from a store, versus buying online, so I’ll let the photos do the talking…

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When Neil walked through the doors of GSC one afternoon with this bike, I couldn’t help but be intrigued. There were so many little details that drew me to scope it out. It had a substantially higher bottom-bracket than you’d normally see on a MTB, especially a Cannondale. There was a Death Spray Custom sticker on the downtube, and a rare one at that. And it was covered with team sponsorship logos.

While some would say it’s not a MTB if there are road tires on it, I would disagree. It’s the frame and the frame’s geometry that decide the nomenclature and this is most definitely a mountain bike, albeit with its flip flops on…

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