The Radavist

As a designer, sometimes you get a commission that really jives with your hobbies. Graphic artist Iancu met a Japanese Cyclist through the Rapha Cycle Club and designed him a dream bike with Firefly Cycles.

“One of the benefits of being part of an international club, the Rapha Cycling Club, is getting to know great people from all over the world. One of them is Haj, who lives in Miami, US, but was born in Tokyo, Japan.

We’ve been talking about our cycling and Japan interests over the years, and he’s always been very kind and appreciative of my work. He really liked the Quirk bike design I had done before, so he asked if I could help design a bike for him as well. The world-renowned Firefly Bicycles team from Boston were building it. This had all the markings of a dream project, so I said yes, of course.”

Head to Iancu’s Portfolio Site to see the full bike.

What a pleasure it is to see cycling on the cover of a magazine on the New Yorker. For this forthcoming October 26th issue, artist R. Kikuo Johnson normalizes cycling as a form of legitimate transportation, even with a child in tow. While it does create a bit of visual conflict with public transit, not automobiles, we can look past that as an unintended byproduct of the artist’s vision. Hopefully, there will be more pro-cycling and transportation advocacy articles within the pages of the New Yorker. Check out the full cover below…

Paul Component Engineering has a lifelong legacy of making parts you can rely on, for just about any bike. This legacy is only possible due to the fact that the team at Paul live, eat, dream, drink, sleep, and travel for all things bike! Part of their tradeshow and bike race fleet is this Sprinter van, which recently got a facelift thanks to Chris McNally. Let’s take a look at this van’s new vinyl wrap in detail below.

We’ve always got something fun cookin’ up over here at the Radavist and recently, Minneapolis-based artist Evan Weselmann reached out asking if we need any illustration work. Once seeing his portfolio, I knew exactly what we could task Evan with. I sent him our Death Valley bike tour photo gallery from 2019 and requested that he take inspiration from that. He delivered an insane graphics package and this illustration is but one tile in his multi-page package. With cooler temps on the way, I thought it’d make sense to ask y’all what you’d like to see from us this fall/winter season. Long sleeve t-shirts? More Nalgenes? You know what products we stock, so let us know what you want and we’ll do our best to deliver. You can ignore the background image, I just wanted to ground the drawing a bit.

We’re all looking forward to the ‘Desert Trip’ capsule collection! Drop us a note in the comments.

Lisa Congdon is an artist, who Velocio pinged to design a collection for them. Well, the whole project looks great but their interview and process images really bring it home. It’s always great to read about lesser-known artists in this industry.

There’s a natural connection between the process in cycling and in art. Can you speak about how one might inform the other? Related, you’ve built a successful business from being perseverant and thoughtful, hallmarks of any longtime rider. What drives you in your work?

I think the same drive, discipline and determination required for cycling and other sports are required for art making. I use a lot of sports analogies when I talk about the creative process, because there are so many similarities. You have to not only show up, but you also often have to move/create even when the conditions aren’t perfect or you feel like crap. Some days you feel in the flow, others are a struggle. Practice is at the heart of getting better. Athletics has taught me so much that has moved into my art practice. I get an enormous amount of personal, intrinsic satisfaction from making art, and I know that satisfaction is a result of a lot of hard work that was difficult. And that sense of personal satisfaction is where it begins for me. But there is another layer of sharing my work with an audience, and having other people engage with my work that is also hugely motivating to me.

Head to Velocio to see more!

Got extra wall space in your office or bike shop? Or perhaps you would like to gift your LBS/IBD one of these posters as a reminder to the community?

Get a limited edition screen printed poster of the WTF Bikexplorers Guiding Principles as a daily reminder for yourself, friends, family, coworkers, boss, or anyone else who might want to know what WTF is all about.

Proceeds directly support the Cycling Industry Pledge and WTF Bikexplorers programs

Shipping: United States only
Size: 11 x 17”
Material: 100# paper, screenprint
Screenprinted by: Seizure Palace
Printed in: Portland OR
Designer: Molly Sugar

Pick one up at the WTF Bikexplorers webshop today!

Cyclists make great subjects for portrait illustrations, especially when it’s with their bike. Artist Dean Liebau has illustrated many of the faces seen here on the Radavist, including this drawing of Ethan Goodwin. Check out the photo he based it on at our Ruta Del Jefe coverage from 2019. His whole Instagram account is filled with colorful portraiture, so head on over, give him a follow and enjoy!

Data-driven designers and developers will appreciate this chart, in which the author, Hobocross helps direct you to see which Crust Bikes model is right for you. Now, we’re not gonna post the whole thing, so head to their Instagram account, give them a follow and share this. It’s genius!

Photo by Brian Vernor

Caché, one of the Golden Saddle Cyclery homies, is a Guatemala native, who grew up in Los Angeles. In this Bike Mag online article, he goes over his past, present, and future of riding and painting. I highly recommend this piece as it points to the importance of accessibility of bikes for inner-city kids! As to why he paints chickens…

“I’d read a book by Carlos Castaneda called ‘The Teachings of Don Juan,’ and he talks about ‘energy vampires’ that feed off our human energy and awareness, saying we’re like chickens being reared for the consumption of others,” Caché explains. “When I first decided to paint the chickens, it was more of an observation of the human condition. We are in our own coops, controlled by worry and fear.”

Check out this article at Bike Mag!

100 Copies always embodies cycling through playful and creative prints, limited to a run of 100. Their latest print, entitled Wheee!, is an abstract representation of mountain biking. A print will set you back $90. See more information at 100 Copies.

Illustration by Dave Walker

The guardian has an amazing cartoon strip up on cycling in the city, down to some of the issues plaguing urban environments, a Jungian archetype illustration, as well as an interesting column on what would make cycling SAFER! Hint: it’s not helmets. Check the whole thing out at the Guardian!

If you like these illustrations, see more of Dave’s work at his website, Cycling Cartoons.

For brands, launching a new or a newly-designed bike is an exciting day, with various outlets talking about the model all at once and social media fluttering with anticipation. For viewers, it can be overwhelming for sure, but for me, when it comes to Ibis’ new launches, I always get stoked to see what watercolor artist Chris McNally comes up to coincide with these launches. Here’s the new Ripley, illustrated in watercolor and ink, on Mount Lemmon in Tucson, Arizona. Head over to Chris’ Instagram for more of his kick-ass work and to Ibis to see the new Ripley in the flesh.

Breakaway

You can fall behind. Give in. Break.
Or you can step up. Give it your all. And breakaway.
Biding your time, till you know it’s your time.
To leave all the other riders, all the crowds and all the doubt behind.
To leave all you’ve got on the track, with nothing left to give.
To bring cold strategy and fiery boldness together in one pure moment.
Anyone can break. But not everyone can breakaway.

That latest print from 100 Copies is now in stock.

This graphic from the Endurance Conspiracy has all the right vibes. Inspired by the ATOC, this image was created a couple years back but is being re-circulated for the brand’s journey to the Sea Otter Classic. Follow Endurance Conspiracy on Instagram. Thanks for sharing, Shane!