The Radavist

Last weekend, I made the short flight up to Portland, Oregon to attend the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While there, I was greeted with that I found to be a really pleasant and easy to digest show. There was just about anything a bike nerd could hope for: around 20-30 vendors, food, cheap beer, entertainment and lovely weather. Part of the draw for me to attend this show was to see builders who might not go to NAHBS and might not be right inside the Portland Metro area. We’ve already seen many of the bikes on display, so lets check out the show itself in a quick gallery…

Don’t worry, there’s more to come!

I’m here in Portland, Oregon attending the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While I’ll be documenting many of the frames, I’ll also be capturing the general vibes. For now, let’s just check out some bikes!

The new shop on the block at the Bike and Beer Festival were Norther Cycles, a shop in Portland that is making in-house frames from road to randonneur. With competitive pricing, classic aesthetics and the option to build out the frame from their in-house parts and accessories, Norther Cycles is your new one-stop shop for randonneuring in the Rose City.

Since everyone’s a fan of raw bikes with silver components, I couldn’t help myself from geeking out over this beauty. With 10-speed Dura Ace, TA, Gran Bois, Mafac, Berthoud and Nitto, this bike would easily cause any serious or enthusiastic randonneur rider to salivate. Just don’t drip too much on that frame… don’t want it to rust!

If you’re in Portland, swing by and see the guys at Norther Cycles. Next time I’m in town, I’ll be doing exactly that! Or if you’d like to know more about pricing, head to their pricing list.

I’m here in Portland, Oregon attending the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While I’ll be documenting many of the frames, I’ll also be capturing the general vibes. For now, let’s just check out some bikes!

During the Bike and Beer Festival, I was looking for a fun, steel hardtail in either 29″ or 27.5″ to photograph. Then I came across the Magic Cycle Werks Cadeyrn. The Cadeyrn looks like it’d be a great XC bike, without being too steep on the front, making it squirrely on technical descents. A 27.5 wheel, 120mm travel, fillet brazed, steel hardtail with a 70º head tube angle, a 73º seat tube angle and glistening powdercoat, executed by Spectrum Powder Works. Built from OX Platinum tubing and running around $2,600 for a frame, these production bikes will be open for pre-order soon….

Contact Magic for more info.

I’m here in Portland, Oregon attending the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While I’ll be documenting many of the frames, I’ll also be capturing the general vibes. For now, let’s just check out some bikes!

Chris King’s in-house brand Cielo has done its best to stay inline with the current state of cycling. They offer both rim brake and disc in their road or cross frames, Di2 integration, lightweight tubing and clearance for bigger tires.

With more and more people looking to pack a fatter tire into their road bikes, their newest offering picks up the torch and does just that. This new all-road bike uses 12mm thru-axles, the ENVE GRD fork, disc R45 hubs, a Solid Bikes tapered head tube and clearances for a 38mm tire.

Tires aren’t the only necessary clearance concerns for an “all-road” bike however. This size XL Cielo has improved standover to ensure an easy dismount if the road gets too steep… Stay tuned for more at Cielo.

I’m here in Portland, Oregon attending the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While I’ll be documenting many of the frames, I’ll also be capturing the general vibes. For now, let’s just check out some bikes!

“There are so many different ways to make shit look awesome on a bike…”
– Rudi from Black Magic Paint

When Megan Dean from Moth Attack was approached by a group of ladies from San Francisco, to build team frames for this season’s ‘cross races, she knew it’d be an undertaking. Sure enough, as making batches of anything at this scale, it wasn’t easy but the fruits of her labor paid off, especially after Rudi from Black Magic Paint got ahold of these frames for paint.

There were a lot of unique frames and paint jobs at the Bike and Beer Festival, yet I kept gravitating towards this one in particular. I wonder why? Look out for these bikes at local Bay Area ‘cross races this season.

Follow @BlackMagicPaint, @MothAttack and @MothAttackCX on Instagram.

I’m here in Portland, Oregon attending the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While I’ll be documenting many of the frames, I’ll also be capturing the general vibes. For now, let’s just check out some bikes!

You’re a long way from home, partna’…

Konga Frames has been spending the past few months in the Pacific Northwest, soaking in the Oregonian sunlight and bicycle culture that, at this point, is world-renown and worth the trip.

So who and what is Konga?

Konga’s frames are made individually by hand in Mäntyharju, Finland and his latest work is something completely unexpected (for me anyway.) This bright yellow 29+ SS MTB features a painted to match Salsa fork with ENVE riser bars, Maxxis Chronicle tires, Hope hubs, White Industry ONE cranks and Formula Racing disc brakes. Pretty cush, right?

Even though Konga wasn’t officially displaying at the show, I couldn’t pass this beauty up…

I’m here in Portland, Oregon attending the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While I’ll be documenting many of the frames, I’ll also be capturing the general vibes. For now, let’s just check out some bikes!

When I first saw this bike, two things came to mind: Cannondale’s track bikes from the 90’s and Makino’s NJS bikes. This thing is a rocket with tight clearances and just the right amount of nuances you’d expect from a custom build. AJ from Muirandessi has a great eye and his client Gavin knew exactly what he wanted: a track bike that he could race and also spin around Portland on.

I know I don’t say this often, but keep that rubber side DOWN, dude. That is one nice machine!

I’m here in Portland, Oregon attending the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While I’ll be documenting many of the frames, I’ll also be capturing the general vibes. For now, let’s just check out some bikes!

Mark Dinucci is the man. He’s been building frames for over 40 years, has been the go-to consultant for numerous other builders and still to this day epitomizes the craft of bicycle frame building. For this year’s Bike and Beer Festival he displayed a classic road frame, fit for a Dura Ace 25th anniversary group and elegant Joe Bell paint. While the bike wasn’t a complete, I still wanted to get a few photos of this masterpiece. Oh and some portraits of Mark himself…

I’m here in Portland, Oregon attending the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While I’ll be documenting many of the frames, I’ll also be capturing the general vibes. For now, let’s just check out some bikes!

For Breadwinner Cycles, it may appear their bikes are designed for racing and ripping. That’s not the case for their Arbor Lodge porteur bike. These do-it-all city commuters are designed to pack versatility in a nimble steel frame while still holding true to that Breadwinner aesthetic. My personal favorite detail is the custom porteur rack and the use of the White Industries VBC cranks.

I’m here in Portland, Oregon attending the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While I’ll be documenting many of the frames, I’ll also be capturing the general vibes. For now, let’s just check out some bikes!

Some would argue that one’s best work is done for their partner. In this case, Chris Igleheart‘s latest bike may not be his best in your eyes, but if you pay attention to the detailing, you can see his heart not only went into this creation, it poured over it.

Fran’s bike has everything considered.

A SON Hub, Edelux lamp, beautiful hand-shaped chain guard, Alfine internal hub, nice cushy tires, excellent fit, stem-mounted bell, beautiful stem, segmented fork crown and many other details make it unique. My favorite details are the heart brazed into the top tube split and the fender’s unique coating with a 3M paint, which if I had a flash I would have tried to document more clearly.

Look, Igleheart’s legacy extends well beyond this bike for his wife. He’s built frames for some of the most renown builders, but you see something else in this bike. You see a special love…

I’m here in Portland, Oregon attending the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While I’ll be documenting many of the frames, I’ll also be capturing the general vibes. For now, let’s just check out some bikes!

For the past five and a half years, AJ Lu of Muirandessi Cycles has been working on frames, one by one. After attending UBI framebuilding school, then getting his certification, AJ spent his free time researching the art and history of building a bicycle by hand.

When it comes to new framebuilders, it’s tough to make a leap out into the world and grow your brand or clientele. In the brief time I spoke with AJ, I didn’t get the sense that he was eager to be the next big thing, he just wants to perfect his art and build bicycle frames for people with a purpose.

This Muirandessi Cycles has an interesting story. It was built to be the owner, Lucas’ daily work bike at his company Cascadian Courier Collective. Earlier this summer, Lucas and his buddy Alexander decided to make the trip from Eugene, Oregon to Portland. A tour that most people would plan to undertake with panniers and a touring bike, yet they decided to make it a bit interesting and ate 99 Doughnuts along the way…

Recently it was powdercoated with a metallic flake clear and as the morning sunlight caught each individual flake, the bike illuminated itself in the most flamboyant way. Personally? I freaking love it!

The mountain biking in Sedona is exceptional. Full stop. Seemingly endless trail systems spiderweb right out from the center of town, winding in, out, and around the uniquely hematite-hued geologic formations at the base of the massive Mogollon Rim escarpment. Like other mountain bike destinations along the Colorado Plateau, Sedona trails take advantage of slickrock sandstone slabs and porous dirt that becomes tacky with precipitation long before it gets muddy.

You might remember John’s musings on Sedona’s legendary Red Velcro. Sedona also benefits from ideal riding temperatures in late fall and early spring, when many other locales remain unridable during shoulder seasons. It’s close to Phoenix and Flagstaff (which makes travel fairly easy), features a picturesque perennially flowing stream, and some stellar dining options. If you can get past the limits on dispersed camping and ever-increasing cost of resort town lodging, Sedona is tough to beat.

I met Norther Cycles owner StarMichael back in 2015 here in Portland at the Bike and Beer festival where I shot one of his creations, a beautiful randonneuring frame. As with most of 2015’s content, when our server crashed, we lost the images. Bummer! So when Rie and the Sim Works crew said they were going to a few shops to deliver tires and racks, I tagged along, especially once I heard they were going to Norther Cycles.

2015 was life-changing for not only myself but for the Radavist, its authors and content. For the most part, the year felt like a giant ping-pong game as various stories brought me and the contributors of this website all over the globe. Luckily, the first major story unfolded in Austin, Texas so no traveling was necessary! Check out the Radavist’s 2015 Year in Review below!

These frames. These freaking frames. Godzilla doesn’t have a chance against Moth Attack. With a little help from Black Magic Paint, Megan Dean’s new ‘cross team’s bikes are some of the most beautiful team bikes I’ve had the pleasure of documenting. We saw a frameset at the Portland Bike and Beer Festival, but this is the first complete I’ve seen in person and I’m glad it’s Erica Schwanke‘s! She’s a super rad woman and has been enjoying racing ‘cross in the Bay Area this season on this bike.

I caught up with Erica last week in Los Angeles, prior to the UCI race in Long Beach and stole her bike for a few minutes for photos. I love seeing people’s reactions to custom bikes like this! Enjoy…

This year’s edition of Grinduro California had been delayed twice. Once in 2020 because of increasing COVID infection rates, and again last year due to the Northern California fire conditions. After this many-year delay, Giro’s Grinduro event emerged into a new, and very different, world.