This week’s Readers’ Rides comes from Dan, who pedals this bike all over the Northeast. It’s a Crust Bike Nor’Easter and Dan calls it his Party Bike. Follow along with Dan on Instagram and check out more photos and a parts breakdown below…
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Radar
Donate to ActBlue and Win a Crust Lightning Bolt Breakaway
Crust Bikes and RonsBikes.com have a fundraising raffle going on to benefit families separated and detained at the Southern Border. All you have to do is donate what you can to ActBlue and email your receipt to RonsBikesRaffle@gmail.com to enter the raffle.
This raffle will end at 7pm EST on December 7th.
Thanks to:
@velocityusa @paulcomponent @whiteind @ultradynamico and @brooksengland
for pitching in parts for the build.
Radar
Crust Chapter II: Wild Wild Nutmeg
We posted the latest from Crust Bikes and videographer Tin in our Reportage today but here it is in Radar for your easy viewing pleasure…
Reportage
Cool Breeze in Nutmeg Country: Crust Chapter II
Sometime back in late February the event calendar for Team Brooks Cool Breeze looked like any stadium tour you’d expect for such a glamorous gaggle of athletes. Grav’l, touring, MTB, hang gliding, street luging…. you name it, we were gonna do it. Times were fast, relaxing, and exciting, but little did we know that even lifestyle celebrity “athletes” would have little fun in the months to come.
Radar
Readers’ Rides: Casey from Campandgoslow’s ‘Great Basin’ Crust Evasion
Today’s Readers’ Rides features Casey from Campandgoslow‘s Crust Evasion with words by Casey and photos by Sarah Lillegard…
The Great Basin region of the western US stretches from the Sierra Nevada mountains to the Wasatch range, and from the Columbia Plateau all the way down to the Mojave Desert. This expansive, high elevation desert has a nickname, the Sagebrush Sea, and I live right on the beach. I’m tucked away in a rural area at the northern end of the Eastern Sierra.
Reportage
Two Years and a Few Falls on the Ron’s Bikes Dirt Tourer
I had been holding back on these notes for about a year now because I felt that calling it a “review” sounded like too much. The audience here is used to deep comprehension reviews and it’s very intimidating to put it in the same category when my experience with bicycles is reduced to the five I’ve owned in my adult life, this one included. So instead this is more of a short story about a bicycle, with hints of technical information where it feels required.
Reportage
Crust Clydesdale Fork-Equipped Fuji Sundance: by Spencer Harding
Ya ever wondered if you could keep only one of your bikes, which would it be? At this point in my life I’d have to say my Fuji Sundance with a Crust Bikes Clydesdale fork up front. This is my “daily driver” that serves for commuting, errand running, Costco runs, carrying coworkers home, or just taking the dog out for a spin. Vintage 26” rigid bikes are the bikes that just wont die and continue to show themselves as being so damn useful, and nothing compliments that better than the Clydesdale fork.
Reportage
JP Weigle Bikes: The Impeccable Randonneur Bike
Next week, we’re going to peer into the workshop of JP Weigle, but we’re going to share his bike first, as an introduction to those who might not be aware of who the hell Mr. Weigle is, what he’s known for, and just how stunning his bikes are. Take some time and really mull over these photos because the work of Peter Weigle is second to none!
There were so many bikes at Peter’s worthy of being shot, but there was something about this particular bike that I just kept going back to. It was the cleanest, but for some reason felt like it was the most loved. I could’ve shot the bike that Jan Heine reviewed in 2017 for Bicycle Quarterly, but there was just something about this very blue bike that had me going crazy.
Reportage
John’s Crust Dreamer 2.0
“Where’s your Dreamer?” “What happened to the green Dreamer?” “Do you ever ride your Dreamer?”
Since posting up the gallery of my Crust Bikes Dreamer, it’s been the bike people email me about the most. I get various questions, ranging from the ones I listed above, to questions on the Microshift and how I like the Dreamer platform. When I first got the bike, Crust Bikes and Darren Larkin, the builder of the Dreamer frames, were working on a few details. What I ended up with was a bike that was in-between versions and a few things weren’t working out so well. This prompted me and Darren to talk about the bike in detail and him offering to take it back to update and fix a few things. Read on below to find out what happened between these two models.
Radar
Width Without the Waves: A Few Rides in on the 560mm Wide Crust x Nitto Shaka Bar
Crust Bikes gives the people what they want and that ranges from frames, to complete bikes, accessories, parts, and yeah, handlebars. Their small-time operation allows them to pivot easily to follow trends and in a lot of ways, set the trends themselves. With road bikes permuting into even more capable off-road machines, a lot of the ideologies of mountain bike design and technology have found its way onto drop-bar bicycles. Sure, the obvious moves are those shorter-travel suspension forks but something that not many people have touched on is bar width.
That’s where Crust Bikes and Ultra Romance have really influenced and inspired the question: what is the appropriate width for a drop-bar bicycle? We already looked at my Sklar with the Towel Rack Bars but after much demand – and my own curiosity – I decided to try out the Made in Japan by Nitto Shaka Bar.
Reportage
Ultra Romance’s Crust Lightning Bolt is Lighter than a Soft Whisper
18 lbs? 17 lbs? 16 lbs? What is weight anyway? Weight doesn’t matter but it doesn’t hurt either. Especially when your golden locks and bronze tan lines float effortlessly across white gravel roads, coating the roadside flora in a light layer of sedimentary seasoning. Dust, baby. It’s good for you. Yes, Ronnie Romance knows how to build a bike from a fine assortment of vintage components, exotic, supple rubber, and a bit of suntan oil. Case in point, his Crust Bikes Lightning Bolt is lighter than a soft whisper.
Reportage
LACK OF FOCUS AND ORGANIZATION: BFFs, Bikes, and the Alps
The following trip report is also available on Amazon Kindle, for ease of bookmarking…
Day 1: Wienerwald or bust!
JEN: Good decisions can be made on a whim. That’s how I found myself on this spontaneous bike trip in Europe. It all started in Vienna, Austria. My friend Bun Daniel, also from Los Angeles, was there, visiting and working with BBUC (short for Brilli Brilliant Unicorn Club), and had offered for me to stay with him. I had plans to go to Spain 3 weeks later but the space in between was yet to be determined. That space in-between turned out to be a great adventure. My bike partner in crime and fellow California Girl, Erin Lamb, flew out from Santa Barbara to meet me. We had one mission – to satisfy our appetites for some asphalt spaghetti draped on the Alps.
Reportage
Portland’s Rivelo: Pedal bikes, Shoot film, and Listen to Bob Dylan… Must I Say More?
This is the unofficial mantra of Rivelo in Portland, Oregon, the only Rivendell bike shop in Portland. Crazy, right!?! That’s what I thought too! Rivelo is also the only bike shop in the world that only carries Rivendell. There are no All-City, Crust, Rawland, Velo Orange, Soma, or any other bikes but Rivendells. While many bike shops carry brands that have all been inspired by Rivendell or maybe even wouldn’t exist without Rivendell. Rivelo makes it a point to just carry Rivendell. They aren’t scared of 1″ threaded headsets and rim brakes, that’s for damn sure!
Reportage
Mick from 100 Tacos’ Crust Nor’Easter Dirty Tourer
A bike that’s perfect for its one imperfection. Mick hasn’t ever owned a new bike. Not new, new. Like pulling a brand new frame out of a box, new. It’s not that he was opposed to new bikes, he just never really found a company or a frame that fit his ideologies. Over the past few months however, Crust Bikes‘ offerings have really piqued his interest. He works at Golden Saddle Cyclery, a shop that churns out balleur Crust builds all the time. When he saw the new Nor’Easter, it strummed his heartstrings.
Reportage
John’s Manzanita Sklar 27.5 All Road Is Meaner Now with Crust Towel Rack Bars
This bike. This freaking bike. When I first built up my Sklar, it was built on the 700c wheel platform. At Lost & Found last year, I swapped out the i9 wheels for the new ENVE G27 650b gravel wheels and haven’t missed the 700c wheels one bit. From there, the bike slowly went under transformations but it wasn’t until I put the Crust Towel Rack Bars on it that I feel like this bike has finally come into its own.
Reportage
Matt’s Crust Nor’easter Blew Me Away
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.
Reportage
Super Stoke 2019: Hanson’s Rusty Crusty Evasion with Dark Realm Bags
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.
Reportage
Philly Bike Expo 2018: Crust Nor’Easter with MicroSHIFT 12-Speed Eagle
A cross between Evasion and Romancer, the Crust Bikes Nor’Easter is a low-trail bike, with a slightly shorter rear end than the Romeo. It’s a 1-1/8″, 1x specific bike, with internal routing. The Nor’Easter comes in 4 sizes, with the two largest rolling on either 27.5+ or 29, and 26+ or 27.5 on smaller two sizes. This beautiful color pictured is not the final color unless you all express just how much you love it.