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With the popularity of all-road, light tourers, and other drop bar bikes, it seems the design features once only found on bikes like Salsa and Surly, has trickled to the larger brands. The latest to throw their cap in the ring is BMC, with their Roadmachine X all-road. BMC’s distinguishable profile is applied to a do-it-all drop bar bike, with extra braze-ons for racks and fenders. See more at BMC!
What the Thunderhawk is proving is not necessarily a new concept; the idea that one frame can be mated with various wheel and tire combinations, depending on its intended use, but what it offers is a big bang for your buck ratio with a well-executed and planned titanium chassis.
The Thunderhawk is made from 3AL-2.5V double-butted titanium, with a 6AL-4V billet head tube, bb, dropouts, derailleur hanger, and chainstay yoke. It utilizes a 142x12mm thru-axle, fits up to a 700x46c (29×1.8) or 650x60c (27.5×2.4) tire, with 3 bottle cage mounts, rack and fender mounts, post mount 160mm brakes, with a hassle-free, full-external cable routing. With the plate yoke design, it will fit a maximum 53t 1x ring or a double with a 36/52t setup.
Call it a quiver killer, or whatever you’d like, the Thunderhawk checks a lot of boxes and comes complete with a Rival One kit for $3750 or a Force One kit for $5500.
See more at Bearclaw Bicycle Co.
The Allied story is one that has been touched on briefly here on the Radavist. A brand that was formed through the foresight of one man; Tony Karklins and his ability to acquire a Canadian brand Guru’s assets at auction. This included the machinery, technology, everything; down to the paint booth. Upon winning the bid, Tony then moved this equipment to Arkansas, hired a few key players and began cranking on this new brand, dubbed Allied Cycle Works, which operates under the umbrella of HIA Velo. I could go more into this story, but people like Patrick at Red Kite Prayer have done an exceptional job covering the beginnings of Allied, so if the story of the brand is what you’re here for, head to RKP for an exceptional write up.
Now, when Patrick wrote his piece about Allied, they had but one model; the Alfa road bike. Later, the brand developed this beauty, the Alfa All-Road. While the Alfa road has all the lines and functionality of a proper carbon, rim brake road bike, the Alfa All-Road opens up the door a little wider to the sorts of rides we really enjoy over here at the Radavist; dirty and dusty fun!
I last saw this kick-ass woman at the first Grinduro. That’s over three years ago and in that time, she’s continued to crush races with what always seems to be such finesse. Hell, even at the start of this year’s Land Run 100, I hooped and hollered at her in the first few miles, to which she returned a smile and pedaled off into the dusty abyss.
Dani‘s endeavors in the cycling industry are proudly supported by Tenspeed Hero and Firefly. This year, she’s upping the ante by starting a team of all-female dirt road racers. These ladies are looking to travel to events like Land Run 100 and others, in search of competition and glory. The team is dubbed Bitch ‘n’ Grit, and is sponsored by BitchStix, a company that makes lip balms and sunblock, while donating all net proceeds to organizations that raise awareness for domestic abuse and sexual assault prevention programs.
This is the bike Dani will pedal as she joins her teammates in races. It’s Firefly number three for her, hence the SHRED SL3D and is the bike that’s dedicated to dirt road racing. I could go on for a bit longer about the bike, its integrated seat post, and her perspective, but I’d rather send you to her blog to read all about it.
Oh, and she got third place in the women’s category on this bike… Dani, we’ll see you again soon – sooner than three years! – and good luck this season!
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With key details such as wheel size options, SASSY, Ninja and Das Boot, the Norco Search XR has packed a few surprises that are sure to impress. Head to Norco to see more and watch this video for all the details. Lookin’ good, guys!
Inspired by the Break-Away Carbon Road and Mount Cross, the new Outback Break-Away gives riders the stopping power of disc brakes, with clearances for larger tires and a road bike geometry, ideal for taking on long days on mixed terrain. These framesets are the epitome of Ritchey’s design ethos, in a modern, lightweight and practical package. I’ve seen one in person and the construction alone merits the pricepoint, which comes in around $3,150. You can see more details at Ritchey.
We’ve seen a lot of design gimmicks to make rough roads more pleasant on ‘cross or all-road bikes, mostly in the form of suspension forks, yet I personally feel like there’s more that could be done in terms of frame design. While I’m not an engineer, I feel like achieving comfort on rough roads can mostly be done in the frame itself. That with larger volume, lower pressure tires, a carbon fiber bicycle can really show its true potential when the going gets tough.
Granted, there have actually been a good number of attempts at this over the years, but mostly from the bigger brands with extensive engineering teams, with access to custom layups and large production numbers, but it wasn’t until I saw the Calfee Manta RS at NAHBS this year, that I really thought frame design and compliance had been approached in a different, honest design language.
I’m sure I enjoy posting forks like this as much as you enjoy seeing new options. Fyxation throws their hat into the ring of the carbon fork with rack mounts circuit, offering up a 1 1/8″, 12mm thru-axle, flat mount disc fork. The Sparta will be available in a tapered option later on in Fall of 2017, but for now, this 1 1/8″ option is available. See more at Fyxation.
I am very excited about these wheels. Made in house at Industry Nine’s Asheville, North Carolina facilities, the AR23 is designed for your disc road bike with a 25mm outer, 21.5mm inner width, various axle compatibility, 24h 2/1 lacing, and a 1460g total weight. The AR23 wheels are in stock now at Industry Nine, in various color configurations for $1,175.
A Stelbel Nina All-Road Bike for South Africa
Photos by Tino Pohlmann, cover photo by Stan Engelbrecht and words by John Watson
After yesterday’s gallery, I received a number of emails requesting more photos of this bike!
Within yesterday’s epic gallery by Stan Engelbrecht, you might have spotted this blue beauty, albeit covered in a bit of dirt, dust, mud and Apidura bikepacking bags. This Stelbel Nina is something special. Made in Italy from one of the oldest tig welding builders in the world, the Nina is at home on the ‘cross course with 33mm tires as much as it is in the backcountry, rolling on 40mm rubber and unlike many of the frames on the market today, this one comes from a legacy.
Stelbel has arguably brought more to the tig-welding alignment table than anyone else. When Stelio Belletti first founded the company in 1973, there weren’t a lot of builders out there experimenting with tig welding and not just with bicycle frames. Belletti was responsible for improving the chassis for the Grand Prix monster machine, the Honda 500 GP as well as a fuselage for the P19 Scricciolo, a small plane and the vehicle of choice for the Aero Club d’Italia. This knowledge spilled over onto the Stelbel name and to this day, the workshop is creating impeccable examples of tig-welded steel. See more of this beaut in the gallery and for more information on the Nina, head to Stelbel!
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Berlin’s 8Bar Bikes recently launched a Kickstarter for their new Mitte road bike. The Mitte is unlike anything offered before by the brand in that with a swap of the fork and adjustment of the slider dropouts, it can convert its head, seat angles and bb drop to essentially turn and tune itself from a road bike to an all-road bike. It’s an interesting approach to design, especially if you truly can only have one bike…
Bikepacking isn’t limited to mountain bikes and this W.H. Bradford has some tricks up its sleeves… For starters, there’s a Thomson dropper trigger under the SRAM shifter, extra bottle bosses on the Ruckus Composites-altered Whiskey fork and plenty of triangle space for that splinter camo Porcelain Rocket bag. With clearance for Bruce Gordon’s Rock N Road tires, this bike can go just about anywhere and when it’s time to stealth camp, it’ll blend right into the woods. Just don’t let that Profile Racing freehub spin or you’ll blow your cover.
Since relocating to Los Angeles, a land with endless dirt in both the fireroad and track variety, my preferences have shifted a lot in terms of what I want a bike to take on. Capabilities are often grown in the industry piecemeal, then once and a while, a bike comes along that asks a question: what if?
The Cannondale Slate is a what if bike. What if 650b or 27.5″ wheels with a 42mm tire makes more sense for “all-road” riding? What if a damn Lefty shock with just the right amount of travel can instill confidence in new riders while offering an added fun bonus to experienced athletes?
Last February, I got to take a prototype Slate out for a spin and recently, Cannondale sent me a production Slate Force CX1 build to try out. I’ve been spending the past week or so thrashin’ and crashin’ this machine. While many exceptional bikes pass through this website, both for review and for personal acquisition, I will say this is the most fun I’ve had on a bike review.
Remember this one? From NAHBS? It was one of my favorites in the show. Everything about it just looked right. First impressions are everything you see and these days, with the whole bigger is better mentality about tire clearances, it was nice to see something embrace a modest tire so elegantly.
Mosaic‘s GS1 disc all-road bike is a custom steel or titanium frameset, offered by the Colorado-based frame builders.
Let me reiterate that: this is not a production model with stock sizing. It’s made with 100% custom geometry. A custom geometry ensures this bike will fit you like a tailored suit.
The GS1 is a road bike with disc brakes and room for around a 38mm tire. It has a road bottom-bracket drop (72.5mm) and a slightly slacker head tube than your average road frame (72.5º). Side note: I like how those two numbers match up so perfectly. The 420mm stays and 1033.5mm wheelbase can be best interpreted as smooth sailin’ down your favorite road, be it dirt or sealed.
The brands within the umbrella of QBP have something for everyone and now, with the introduction of Teravail, their newly-launched, in-house tire brand, they deliver something for just about everyone in terms of tires for varying terrain.
The initial Teravail product line includes tires for three categories: all-road, gravel, and off-road, ranging in size from 28mm up to 2.2″. Check out the models below.
“Il Faut Toujours Souffrir.”
That’s what’s painted on the top tube of Barry’s Stinner disc all-road frame. Roughly translating to “we must always suffer,” this saying acts as not only a motivation for Barry on rides, but as a reminder as to what cycling means to him in relation to life. Nothing good comes easy.
Barry‘s an illustrator, a typographer, a graphic designer and in Los Angeles, that means freelance. It takes a certain soul to be a freelancer in LA. You’ve got to hustle, be on your game at all times and yes, sometimes suffer the ups and downs of the creative economy. That means some weeks, months, years, you’re on your game and others you’re not. It all takes sacrifice.
Mark’s Black Cat Gatto Disc All-Road
Photos by Derek Yarra, words by John Watson
Grinduro, the timed segment gravel race in the Sierra Nevada mountains approaches (10.10.2015) and for people like Mark Riedy, it’s the perfect opportunity to get a California builder to construct a dream bike for the event. An race like Grinduro will bring about polarizing opinions regarding what the ideal equipment might be. Some would say a hardtail or a rigid mountain bike, since the descents are technical and the last 12 miles of the course is singletrack.
Others would say a disc “all-road” or ‘cross bike because of the timed road segments and the 20-mile climb. Mark Riedy, Giro’s longtime PR guy, is clearly in the drop bar camp, so he looked to Santa Cruz’s Black Cat Bicycles to build him a bike.
Now, for those of you who know Mark, you can attest to his love of the Gios Torino road frames. They’re classics and Mark is always on the lookout for one in his size. Perhaps this was his motivation when contacting frame painter Keith Anderson, or perhaps he just wanted to have the word “Gato” on his head tube.
I reached out to Mark and asked him what he was trying to accomplish on Grinduro weekend. To which he replied, “I’m riding Grindruo just for fun and to be able to get in a weekend of camping with my family, so it doesn’t matter to me if I win or finish last, but I do want to have the most fun.”
SRAM 1x, Zipp and yes, white bar tape with a white saddle topped off this very modern bike inspired by an iconic classic. A guy who spends most days riding the dry, gravel fire roads of Marin County, Riedy wanted a bike that handled exactly like a performance road bike, but featured clearance for up to 38c tires and disc brakes. For most rides, Riedy runs Continental 28C Gatorskin Hardshell rubber, but for Grinduro he’ll definitely go with something bigger, like a Conti CycloXKing.
See you at Grinduro, Mark! I’ll be on my rigid…
Grinduro still has spots available, so head over to check it out.
Thanks to Above Category‘s Derek Yarra for the photos!
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We got the jump on our own brief review and photos early on with the Slate. Some people loved it, others hated it and for good reason. While I wouldn’t call the notion of a suspension fork on a road bike a new idea, with the old Team Gan and other Roubaix bikes having done something similar in the past, the Slate does offer a rather unique riding style and honestly, it just looks like a freaking beast. Granted a beast that was made in some genetic lab somewhere, but albeit, a beast.
The Slate will be landing at Cannondale dealers in October. Offered in three build options: a $2980 105 kit in OD green, a $3520 Ultegra kit in raw aluminum, and a $4260 CX-1 kit in black with purple accents. Check out build specs below.
