The Radavist

Belmars Bike Shop’s Beach Front BBQ Bash
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk

It was 2002 and Kyle was sitting inside of what was at the time DJs Bikes in Belmar, NJ, 16 bright-eyed and loving bikes. Ten years later Hurricane Sandy shook the eastern seaboard, in its wake not much made it through the winter, not even the bicycle shop Kyle worked at 10 years earlier.  With five grand a hell of a lot of heart, hard work, and surely ramen noodle meals, Kyle, friends, and family built Belmar Bike Shop in what was once his former employer’s space that winter, hibernation can sometimes be a great catalyst for change. Looking back to that first year, and all of the uncertainty Kyle said he’s stoked he took that first step, now in year 7 its been a wild ride and was even the original birthplace of Crust Bikes before moving down the street. My first interaction with Belmar Bike Shop was watching Kyle huck in Tahoe, so when I was invited to spend a few days checking out Belmar a few months ago cause I knew for sure I’d be in for a party.

Live in the Northeastern Atlantic states long enough and you will come to learn of the macro-scale extratropical cyclone known as a Nor’easter. These storms bring rain, wind, can cause severe erosion on the beaches and in general aren’t that fun, unless you’re a surfer. Coincidentally, that’s where Matt from Crust Bikes came from. The surfing world. If you can call it a world at this point, it’s more like a galaxy. Matt spends a majority of time in New Jersey, at his super sweet shop, and he still surfs, so when a Nor’easter hits, Matt paddles out… These storms inspired the latest from Crust Bikes. While at the Eroica California weekend, I took his Nor’easter ‘light tourer’ out for a sunrise photo session. It still had spider webs covered in dew draped from the salmon pink tubing.

The Crust Bikes Evasion is a production bike that set the bar for versatility in a production bike made overseas. Previously, this sort of frame was only tapped into by small, one-off framebuilding outfits, which can run a pretty penny and have long wait times. Wanting to address this market with affordable options, Matt from Crust Bikes has built his brand off of supporting the niche cycling world’s demands. Only thing is, what was once a small niche is now a substantial portion of the market’s interest and Crust Bikes has grown with it.

Take the Evasion for instance. A do-it-all dirt tourer, designed for the 26+ platform, but will also roll just as smooth on 27.5″ wheels and tires. As Matt from Crust describes the Evasion: “It’s a randonneur bike on steroids, “The Satanic Rando” if you will. Comfortable for the long haul, but fast and nimble, while still being ready for some pretty technical/rough riding; if that’s what the route throws your way.”

What a genius copywriter!

Hanson’s Evasion is raw steel, with a few coats of spraypaint clear, 27.5″ wheels, a 1x drivetrain, and loaded with his brand’s, Dark Realm, prototype bags. How else can you tell if your bags really work without putting them to the test? He races XC MTB races in Austin on this bike, does tours, dirt road rides, trail ripping, and straight up rips the rocky trails of Austin’s Greenbelt on this beast. An ex-pro BMX’r maybe he just feels more comfortable on a rigid bike?

As for the Dark Realm bags, keep an eye on their Webshop for new product drops, or hit him up on IG if you have a request.

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Follow Hanson on Instagram, Crust on Instagram, and follow Dark Realm on Instagram.

“The kinda danger I’m into is riding tubes in the desert”

“Any bike can be a mountain bike if you ride it in the mountains”

These are just a few quotes pulled from the freshly shaven mouth of Ultra Romance, the cycling sensation, turned Rivendell sponsored rider and mobile dealer. Bené, as I like to call him, is wintering in Tucson where I was spending my New Years with friends. Turned out, there were a lot of out of towner cyclists around, so we organized a ride at the 50 Year trails. More on that later…

The Road to Delcie’s Cup Cake
Words and Photos by Spencer Harding

This past summer I was lucky enough to meet to some truly amazing people in Minneapolis.  I noticed a common thread connecting these wonderful humans. It all culminated in getting to ride with Delcie on her über custom Cup Cake…

Peacock Groove

Erik Noren is a bit of mythical beast in the world of framebuilding. His bikes are outlandish, sparkly, and painstakingly detailed. With his newer venture, Cake Bikes, he seeks to build proportionally-sized, high-performance bikes for shorter riders. Cake partnered with Minneapolis Wheel masters HED cycling to offer fat-bikes built around a 24 x 4” platform and has since moved into building cross and gravel/adventure bikes built around a 650b platform, and some yet smaller wheeled bikes which we will get to at the end.  While the bikes’ geometries are focused on smaller humans regardless of gender, the cake race and adventure team is compromised entirely of women/trans/femme/non-binary riders.

2018 Philly Bike Expo: Sim Works Doppo Off Road Tourer
Photos by Jarrod Bunk, words by John Watson

At the Philly Bike Expo this year, Sim Works shared a booth space with Crust Bikes and Swift Industries. On display was this Doppo touring bike, set up for some lightweight off-road touring, thanks to the Swift Industries XPac Hinterland Ozette Randonneur Bag, Hinterland Zeitgeist Saddle Bag, and the Porcelain Rocket partial frame bag, made for Circles Japan. The Doppo is rolling on Thunder Burts, a White Industries R30 cranks, Chris King Hubs, Velocity rims, and Shimano drivetrain, with Sim Works Klampers. Shifting is provided by Gevenalle.

This bike is made from a healthy mix of US-made and Japan-made components, ready to tour all over the world!

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Follow Jarrod on Instagram, and Sim Works USA on Instagram

Just a few, short years back, when people shifted their nomenclature from “bicycle touring” to include the term “bikepacking,” there weren’t many brands or shops for that matter, that catered to outings such as overnighters all the way through extensive tours. At least not compared to today’s offerings. Just about every day I read about a new product that claims to make our time on a loaded bicycle easier, or more pleasant, and as you can imagine, there is a lot of filtering that has to happen in order to cull this seemingly endless parade of new products.

That’s where the local bike shop model comes into play. My favorite part about visiting any city are the shops that make these places tick and in Portland, Oregon, there are so many shops around that specificity is the name of the game for survival in the ever-struggling retail economy.

One of the ways shops – and brands for that matter – have found the key to survival is by carefully cultivating a selection of products that have been thoroughly vetted by either the shop’s staff or close friends of the shop. The only way to determine the feasibility of a product is to actually use it, right? I’ve noticed this happening a lot, the culling down of the bike shop. In many ways, this makes for an easier retail experience, from the customer’s perspective and the owner’s.

Where do I even begin here? A bunch of awesome brands working together on a unique concept, featuring unique products and a lot of uniqueness. Is that even a word? Sklar and Benedict, aka Ultra Romance teamed up to build the ultimate bicycle. It’s so ultimate that I don’t even know what to call it. Is it a road bike? A touring bike? A mtb? Who knows. Right now, the consensus seems to be just “Nutmegger,” so that’s what I’ll call it. Before I go any further here, I’ll just say this bike begs for more than the brevity associated with copywriting of my NAHBS galleries and maybe one day we’ll dive in deeper, until then, I’ll give you the gist.

This is a part fillet, part tig welded steel frame in a nickel finish, with a custom stem by Hubert from Madrian Fabrication. It’s got a long wheelbase, mid-trail and a truss fork design, along with a double top tube to support the massive head tube. When you ride this thing, you’re really IN it, not on it.

The 66.6cm wide Crust bars are mated with a custom Swift Industries bag and nestled in that top tube space is an Andrew the Maker Bag. Those perty Paul and White Industries bits are custom annodized brown. There’s even a Connecticut State Coin as the top cap! It was assembled in Benedict’s mom’s kitchen and is still kinda sorta being built up as I’m writing this. Yes, the derailleur cable is long, there are no brake cable crimps and I had to stop Poppi from shallacing the tape as I was photographing it.

So what is the Nutmegger? I honestly have no idea. It’s a bicycle that embodies Benedict and that’s all it needs to be. Will Adam from Sklar make you one? Helllll nahhhhhh.

Goat’s Crust Scapegoat: No Shoes, No Problem – Morgan Taylor
Photos and words by Morgan Taylor

Goat’s personal Scapegoat just oozes character. Not because it’s carefully curated, like many of the bikes we feature here, but because it’s the result of over 40,000 miles of off-road touring. There are so many things on this bike that have that result-through-iteration quality. From the custom made no-shoe pedals to the homebuilt frame bag to the home-brewed tubeless sealant that I obviously couldn’t photograph.

We are three prospectors and this is our creed:

For over a hundred years, Death Valley has had its minerals extracted by machine and mule. Not just for gold and silver, either. Prospectors scoured the mountains for borax, antimony, copper, lead, zinc, and tungsten, packing out their load by mule. We are modern day Prospectors, however, we are not seeking riches, yet experiences, of which will be beaten into our soul by miles of washboarded and rocky roads. Our mules are our bicycles and we’ll take only photos, leaving no trace, taking nothing from this land. It’s given enough over the decades and its scars are still visible on the surface.

There’s no death in this valley, but life, at a micro scale, so nuanced that without the pace of the bicycle, might be passed over, unnoticed.

Lady Crushers On Crustaceans: Amanda’s Team Rock Lobster CX
Words by Amanda Schaper, bicycle photos by Kyle Kelley, other photos noted.

“Alright ladies, this is the highest percentage turnout for women at a cyclocross race that we’ve ever seen! You represent 23% of the racers out here, and next year we’re shooting for 50%. Enjoy your race, watch out for the sketchy descent, and sorry about all the bumps. First wave starts in 10…”

The Australian Crust Van Tour
Photo and words by Jorja Creighton

Touring plans can be dismantled on the fly and made better, sure there is glory in the hard yakka, but when you are out for two weeks, just looking for the good times … Chase the rainbow and good trails. Turn off that path if it looks rosier, you’re on holidays! That’s what the #crustvantour did, and boy did we find the rainbow.

We set out to ride half of the east coast of Australia. From Brisbane to Sydney over the month that Kurt and Raymond were in town from America. Half the crew riding on Crust Bikes, it was a Crust Tour after all; a step through extra small hot-pink Evasion, an eXtra cycle converted Evasion, a Crust Romanceür, and a fresh burgundy Scapegoat that Kurt was riding. The other half of the crew riding a Surly, a custom Moustache build, a pub bike and Jones bike. We can’t all be Crust lucky.

Raymond wanted a bike. One that wasn’t available from any of the touring brands. He wanted a 29+ tourer with rack mounts and provisions for extra water carrying capacity. Sure, there were the Salsa and Surly offerings but they weren’t quite what he wanted. That prompted Raymond to contact Rich at Moustache Cycles, his local builder in Flagstaff, Arizona to build his dream tourer.

Moustache Cycles is located at the base of Mt. Elden in Flagstaff and is capable of designing and fabricating some truly unique bicycles. What Rich built Raymond is a very interesting rig. Complete with a custom bullmoose bar, a truss-supported rack and a plate chainstay yoke. For bags, he contacted local maker Rogue Panda. Raymond and this bike are heading to Australia today to tour with the boys from Crust Bikes and as you can tell, he’s stoked!

You boys be safe down there. Watch out for the drop bears and hoop snakes.

At the Rock Lobster Cup Strikes Back, there were so many flashy Rock Lobster ‘cross bikes rolling around the bumpy course but I wanted to shoot one in particular as an homage to everything Paul is doing with the team. Campbell Steers took a very impressive win home on Saturday, beating the highly competitive women’s field on her trusty Rock Lobster. In a world where disc brakes and 1x drivetrains dominate the field, Campbell’s on a v-brake bike with a 2x Ultegra drivetrain with Easton wheels and Dugast 33 tubulars.

It’s not the kit that makes this bike so interesting to me. Sure, the WTB test saddle is a nice touch, but this bike has some history. Campbell bought it from a Santa Cruz local. A woman who raced a bit, but ended up selling the frame after a few years. At that point, Campbell was just getting into racing, so she jumped on the deal. The fact that it was a Rock Lobster had to have been some strange premonition of the cycling gods. After a few impressive wins, Paul Sadoff asked Campbell to join the crustacean crushers, aka the Rock Lobster CX Team.

Every time Campbell asks Paul to build her a new frame, he scoffs and says “That one’s fine! Just keep racing…” As for Campbell, check out her artwork at Buda Burrito!