The Radavist

We’re in a seemingly new era of bicycle framebuilding with the proliferation of 3D-printed components. While this movement might feel “unprecedented,” a similar thing happened with framebuilders in the mid-1980s and into the 1990s with technology borrowed from the Beretta gun manufacturer in Italy.

In what has to be one of our most intriguing Vintage Bicycles articles to date, John hops on a phone call with Tom Ritchey to discuss a rare 1990 Eisentraut mountain bike that Tom had recently acquired and the technology that made it possible.

Stacked on a foundation of building strong minds, bodies, characters, and communities, The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) has been getting more kids on bikes through mountain bike racing, adventure riding, trail building, community outreach, and scholarship programs since being officially established in 2009.

Katie Sox spills the beans on her experience photographing for the Oregon League and how NICA continues to expand its offerings while cultivating a healthier and more equitable approach to youth sports.

We talk a lot about the early klunkers, from Breezers to Cunninghams and Ritcheys, but what about the very first MTBs in the US, the coaster cruisers, aka mountain cruisers? These esoteric singlespeeds rely on a coaster brake hub to control their speed and were adapted from old Schwinn newspaper bikes.

Read on as John reviews his coaster cruiser, a Monē Bikes Small Batch Straight Bar, aka the SB2. These bikes are the simplest mountain bike you can ride: No hand brakes. No gears. Big bars. Balloon tires. This is peak coaster cruiser!

After thirty-five days spent bikepacking from Bolivia to Peru across three sub mountain ranges of the Cordillera de los Andes, Leo Brasil finds himself with the unique opportunity to explore a completely different part of South America with a much lighter bike. Read on for his race reflections from the 2023 Across Andes 

Nearly three years ago this week, Josh picked up a custom titanium singlespeed Oddity hardtail that was originally Burnsey‘s show bike for the 2021 Philly Bike Expo. It’s become his most-ridden bike and has been subject to plenty of component swaps over the years, yet it hasn’t been fully documented with a dedicated article here on this site. Josh recently outfitted the bike with Ignite Components and (finally) shares a review and breakdown of the build below, including an interview with Ian Colquhoun of Ignite…

Continuing our Obscura series, where editors and contributors from The Radavist review their favorite cameras, John discusses the one he’ll never let go: his Mamiya 7ii. Read on for a look into this well-loved and well-used camera!

It’s been a few years since we first covered Chariot Bike when it was a mobile-based shop!Katie Sox drops into the mobile-repair van turned full-service bike shop and café to chat with Chariot Bike‘s owner and founder, Julia Sparks, about what the shop has brewing for the future. There’s a good story behind the name and exciting news for the Sour Bicycles fans out there! 

This past winter, Hailey Moore got a primer in fat biking while test riding Panorama Cycles’s Torngat Ti. Her review assesses both the bike and the challenge of finding ideal fat biking conditions.