The Radavist

The 2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show just wrapped after three action-packed days of talks, parties, and drooling over the heaps of amazing craftsmanship on display. Josh was on the ground at the Dresden, Germany airport where this year’s event took place, and, below, shares his final gallery of bikes and a couple of interesting components. Let’s get right into it!

Happenstance saw Hailey Moore traveling through Knoxville, Tennessee over the weekend of the second annual Southeastern Appalachian Bike Swap (SABS), hosted by the local shop, non-profit and community hub, Two Bikes. Scroll on for her photo-heavy recap of the gear swap, Goldsprint roller-bike race bracket, and bike show good times that went down last weekend at YeeHaw Brewing Co.—good things comin’ out of the Southeast right now!

We’re back today with Josh’s second installment of coverage from the Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show! Let’s jump right in below with more recapping and a gallery of beautiful builds from Prova Cycles, Clandestine, Black Sheep Bikes, Etoile Cycles, Dawley Bikes, Avalanche Cycles, Coal Bikes with Black Cat Custom Paint, Fahrradbau Stolz, and Sour Bicycles…

Colorado has long been known for custom bicycles and talented framebuilders throughout the state. It’s also not a secret that our state has a high density of said talented builders within a short distance of each other. On Wednesday evening, a small group of custom bicycle brands gathered at New Terrain Brewing in Golden, Colorado.

Updated for 2024, our Santa Cruz Chameleon review was originally posted in 2022.

Back in 2018, I reviewed the Santa Cruz Chameleon in the 27.5+ platform with a tricked-out build spec thanks to Hope Tech. Much like its namesake, the Chameleon really stood out from the crowd of other production hardtails on the market, making it a proper icon in the world of hardtail mountain bikes. Fast forward three years and I’ve had the new and improved 2022 Chameleon model under my butt for a few weeks now, have taken it on similar terrain as I did in Los Angeles with its predecessor, and have a few thoughts about the two models. Which one is worth your money? Read on below to find out…

Over the years, having had the chance to ride a lot of different bikes, I’ve whittled my personal preferences down to a few assumptions about geometry and materials. Based on these preconceptions, I wasn’t sure I’d be into the Ritchey Outback.

Gravel bikes with carbon forks are pretty predictable in my experience: more capable and adaptable than the ‘cross bikes they evolved from, but too stiff to be enjoyable on rough terrain or long days in the saddle. Gravel bikes have also evolved to have longer rear ends than ‘cross bikes, and yet the Outback has the longest rear end of any performance-oriented drop-bar bike I’ve ridden.

I will also say that I’ve learned to keep an open mind about this stuff, and in the past couple of years I’m finding myself excited to ride bikes that don’t fit into neat and predictable categories. The chance to review oddball bikes helps me expand my experience and therefore become a better bike reviewer. I’m open to being surprised!

Well, there must be exceptions to rules and there must be challenges to preconceptions, and the Ritchey Outback fits into both of those categories for me.

John took a Chumba Slackr hardtail home from the 2024 MADE Bike Show to review. Since then, he’s squeezed every bit of riding potential on the bike before winter set in early in Santa Fe, putting it and himself through a multitude of rides in the Southern Rockies. Find out what epiphanies he’s had while riding this Austin, Texas-welded titanium hardtail below…

John and Cari were in Melbourne for a few days following the 2024 MADE Australia showcase, which gave them some free time to visit a couple of shops, one of which was Prova Cycles.

Nestled inside this compact factory, siblings Mark and Kelly Hester build some of the most advanced bikes in the world. This two-person team has optimized production over the past four years, and it’s something to behold…

Every year on the day before Halloween, a special kind of madness descends on the Folsom Pro Rodeo grounds. Ex and current pros, local racers, cycling community members, and local families don costumes and take part in the biggest cyclocross event in California: The Folsom Rodeocross Halloween Race. Come along for the ride with an event report by photographer Erik Mathy!

Having fallen in love with cycling as a teenager while living in Namibia for a stint in the 90s, Capetonian Stan Engelbrecht has been dreaming about spending more and more time riding through the desolate desert terrain and finding creative ways to make it happen. Join Engelbrecht and a cast of characters for a bike overlanding trip through the austere Namibian landscape…