The Radavist

I’ve got this bike. It’s a touring bike. So when it’s loaded down with gear, it can get quite heavy. To remedy this, I built it up with an Eagle GX rear derailleur and cassette, giving me a whopping 10-50t range (the new GX goes to 52t even). To shift this range, I used a barcon shifter from Microshift because as you are well aware, SRAM doesn’t make a cable-actuated road shifter that’s compatible with their MTB mech lineup.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with the Microshift barcon. I was and have been more than pleased with this option but then Ratio, a small startup out of the UK announced a 11-speed road to 12-speed mountain upgrade kit.

I think this is one time when we can ignore that old Eddy Merckx adage “Don’t buy upgrades, ride up grades…” Sorry Eddy, Johnnie’s bike needs this.

We posted about Ratio’s kit back in October. I ordered a kit the day the post went up but didn’t get motivated to do the install until I felt like I had a reason to. A few friends here in Santa Fe are taking on an all-road tour in April, and I wanted to get this bike dialed in before that trip, so last week, I swung by Sincere Cycles with the Dreamer and Ratio’s kit with hopes of rolling around on an 11-speed road shifter working with a 12-speed mountain…

Most cyclists, and even non-cyclists, who enjoy the type of bike racing that involves going up and down hills know the name Eddy Merckx and of course The Tour de France. Road racing, and the companies associated with it, do a great job of embracing its European heritage and consistently reminding us of how the sport evolved into what it is today. This makes it easy easy to get pulled into the romanticized parts of road racing when companies like Campagnolo, Colnago, and Bianchi do such a great job of celebrating their places in what makes the sport special.

Continuing our coverage from the third annual Cub House Bike Show and Swap…

Chuck is a lifelong cyclist. He runs and owns Velo-Retro but spent his life as a graphic designer who worked on many classic cycling logos, including the Eddy Merckx logo and others. That’s a whole different story altogether, hopefully, to be told another time. Right now let’s focus on this beautiful example of a pristine 1960’s Cinelli Super Corsa.

Chuck from Velo Retro’s Vitus Kas Team Bike Built with Mavic
Words and photos by Sean Talkington, with fact-checking by Chuck of Velo Retro

This Vitus Kas Team bike belongs to Chuck Schmidt from Velo Retro. I first met Chuck when we opened the doors to the original Cub House a few years back and am pretty sure we have seen him every day since. He is a graphic designer/lettering artist by trade and quickly became a shop legend when we discovered that Chuck created the coolest Eddy Merckx logo ever. The guy is also responsible for the lettering on some of the most iconic album covers and posters spanning across multiple generations of the world’s best stuff. Take your pick: Star Wars summer release poster, re-design of Hot Wheels logo, re-design of Road & Track logo, Parliament/Funkadelic, John Denver, Donna Summer, Sports Illustrated 25th Anni cover, fonts for ABC and CBS… It’s wild!

On top of his talents with a pencil, Chuck also happens to have quite a wild collection of bicycles that he slowly trickles into the shop for all of us to drool over. He likes to dangle the fancy bike carrots to keep us chomping at the bit (and it works). The most recent to roll through is this Kas Team bike from the late 80’s. The bike was produced in France by Vitus. Kas was a Spanish-based professional cycling team which was active from 1958 until 1979 and again for three years 1986-8 and they have been sponsoring pro teams since the late 1950’s.

There are bike shops and there are bike show rooms, with the latter focusing on merchandising and the former on service. While there are permutations on the two, I really enjoy walking through the doors of a service shop. It’s something about the aromatic experience of chain lube and tires that makes me feel at ease, especially when it’s not my local shop. All it takes is a smiling face to make the environment welcoming. Luckily, at Black Mountain Cycles, that’s exactly what they’re selling: a welcoming and service-minded environment. In a place like Point Reyes, with a population of around 400, there are very few actual locals, so the owner of Black Mountain Cycles, Mike Varley prides himself in making everyone feel at home.

Trade shows aren’t the easiest to digest, especially coming off of NAHBS, where I got to photograph the literal cream of the crop in terms of custom framebuilders. So when I was invited to attend the Berliner Fahrradschau, I had no idea what to expect. Well, that’s not entirely true. I knew a few things about the European market. First off, professional cycling pedigree. Racing made its roots in Europe. Infrastructure’s another huge plus. Cities were laid out, in the most part anyway, for the bicycle. A lot of the European brands reflect that in their offerings.

Back to that first point: pro cycling pedigree. While the US has a lot of builders who have supplied Olympic and professional athletes frames for various occasions, it’s hard to come close to Europe. Case in point: Jaegher.

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.

Pink is the New Mr. Pink
Photos by Kyle Kelley and words by John Watson

With another successful Saddledrive under their belt, the team at All-City have unveiled their new paint designs for 2016 on their popular platforms with the favorite (in terms of social media clatter) being the new Mr. Pink road bike. Now with an English threaded bottom bracket, a replaceable derailleur hanger, still designed to fit a nice plump tire, fenders and other essential accoutrement, the Mr. Pink is a great all-rounder road bike

Its new paint is reminiscent of the old Eddy Merckx Telekom paint scheme, giving the bike an attitude like the racing frames from the early 90’s. Fit with Sram Rival, built from Columbus Zona and either race or ride-ready, the Mr. Pink is one of All-City’s most popular bikes for good reason.

Available now for pre-order at your local All-City dealer and read up more at All-City!

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The Tour is in full swing and as with any great stage race, there are legends. Riders who have not only conquered the countryside and mountains once, but five or more times. It began in 1962 with Jacques Anquetil, then in 1972, Eddy Merckx, 1982, Bernard Hinault, 1992, Miguel Indurain and in 2002, Lance Armstrong. Rapha’s 5 Decades t-shirts celebrate these men and their accomplishments.

These high quality cotton tees celebrate 50 years, or 5 decades, of trade teams returning to the Tour. Each of the 5 colorways play tribute to the respected team liveries. These shirts are cut slim, with side panels and a dropped tail for a better cycling fit. While they are not jerseys, per se, they do have a back pocket and are quite comfortable.

Each shirt has a unique printed emblem, dates and other details representing each legend. You know, the kind of thing that Rapha is known for… They cost $60 each or $240.00 for all 5 shirts bundled in a limited edition mussette.

Click on the above photo to launch the gallery, or here to open in a new tab.

I’ve got a few friends here in Austin with impeccable taste in bikes. Chris is one of them. His Eddy Merckx Pista and matching Eddy Merckx road have been featured here before and today I’ve got a gorgeous Joe Bell-restored blue Nagasawa. When Chris got the frame, it had surface rust and the paint was all chipped up. He’d always wanted a Joe Bell-painted bike, so he contact Joe and set up a restoration. When Joe finished his work, Chris built it up and the end result is stunning. The blue just popped in the late afternoon sun and the freshly-paved asphalt alleyway was the perfect backdrop. This bike is a beauty. See for yourself below.

Click the above photo to launch the gallery, or here to open in a new tab.