Garbaruk Enduro Crankset is Two-Piece and Weighs 461 grams

Radar

Garbaruk Enduro Crankset is Two-Piece and Weighs 461 grams

Garbaruk, manufacturers of drivetrain components, just unveiled a two-piece, 461-gram Enduro crankset. To cut down on weight, these cranks are thick where they need to be and light where they can be. Thanks to the hollow body design the engineers were able to make it stronger in the most important areas while keeping it light. These cranks are customizable with eight color options for the crankarm, eight color options for the self-extractor nut and bolts, and eight color options for the chainring creating 512 possible color combinations.

Check out more at Garbaruk.

Gideon’s Rivendell Atlantis: You Had Me at Pineapple Bob

Reportage

Gideon’s Rivendell Atlantis: You Had Me at Pineapple Bob

Gideon Tsang has spent the better part of his life admiring and collecting bicycles designed by Grant Petersen. From early Bridgestones to current Rivendells, the bicycles designed around Grant’s ethos of moving mindfully and enjoying the ride have always resonated with Gideon. Enjoy this firsthand account about a bicycle collection that came and went, and the story behind Gideon’s dream bike: a rare 26″ Rivendell Atlantis 2.

The Synergistic Combination: The Bridgestone Stable

The story starts in 2007 – a full decade since I had last touched my Bontrager Race Lite. My friend Lee handed me an old Bridgestone catalog.

The first page I turned to featured Pineapple Bob eating a banana, wearing a cycling cap, riding his Bridgestone RB-T with a musette over his shoulder. In the same catalog, I found Bob tucked into an aero position on an orange XO-1 with mustache bars. I was smitten at first sight.

Over the next few years, I amassed an impressive Bridgestone collection, starting with an XO-1, which led to an RB-1, an MB-Zip, and, the hardest to hunt down at the time, Bob’s RB-T. By 2010 I had a solid Bridgestone stable. It was time to take the pilgrimage to visit Bridgestone’s offspring, Rivendell Bicycle Works.

The Wizard of Riv

I flew from Austin to California and hopped on a train from San Francisco to Walnut Creek, where I took my MB-Zip off the bike hook. As I mounted my Zip, a beautiful blue bike with a front basket and a large saddlebag zoomed past me. It was the wizard himself, Grant Petersen.

I finally caught up with the wizard as he arrived at his warehouse. Grant was kind and generous with his time. They were building a darkroom in the back of the Rivendell warehouse and he showed me around. He recognized my name from Flickr and gave me my first in-person photography critique: “I can’t tell if you’re a really good photographer or a really bad one.” Fair enough – like anyone starting out, my photography ratio was more bad than good.

He set me up on a Bombadil with a map secured to the stem with a magnet and told me to come back before they closed.

A couple of hours later, I returned with a big smile on my face, told him I loved his work, and proudly relayed that I owned four Bridgestones. With a mischievous smirk, he said, “Why? One Rivendell is better than four Bridgestones.”

I hopped back on my MB-Zip and headed to the train station. Am I a bad photographer or a good one? Is one Rivendell better than four Bridgestones?

Grant’s Greatest Hits

Later that year, I bought my first Rivendell frameset – a custom-painted Rambouillet with S & S couplers.

That Rambouillet is the only bike I regret letting go of. I’ve been trying to find those Spécialités TA Carmina Cranks for the last five years.

In 2014, my Sam Hillborne was born. That was my gateway to the fine pairing of the legendary Campy 10-speed Ergopower with 8-speed Shimano hack.

In 2016 I acquired a Hunqapillar. I had desired such a bike since I felt the magic of the Bombadil six years earlier. My Hunq became my go-to touring and bikepacking horse.

Finding Atlantis

In 2022, I sold my entire stable (gasp!) to travel the world. Upon returning, it was a no-brainer that if I had just one bike, it would be an Atlantis. I prefer the shorter chainstays of the earlier models and, in particular, wanted the 26” Atlantis 2 with the larger clearance. After quite a bit of searching, I finally found one in New Haven, CT.

As much as I love the Atlantis, the greenish-blue color of the inside of a Russian submarine wasn’t part of my earth-toned palette preference. I got in touch with Rick Stefani, a painter and friend of Rivendell in San Francisco, and had it painted a dark metallic brown. Sorry, Grant!

I worked with David Ross of Meteor Bikes in Austin to craft a build around a 1X Shimano XTR 950 crankset, which required a custom chainring made in Poland by Garbaruk, along with a NOS XTR HP-M900 headset that David magically sourced.

Ladies and gentlemen, I may not know if I’m a good or bad photographer, but I do know this: one Rivendell beats four Bridgestones any day. This is my Atlantis, photographed by Alex Roszko.

Build Spec:

  • Frame and fork: Rivendell Atlantis 2
  • Crankset: Shimano XTR M950
  • Chainring: Garbaruk XTR M950, 36T
  • Rear Derailleur: Shimano XTR RD-M9000
  • Cassette: Shimano XTR M9001 11-Speed 11-40t
  • Headset: Shimano XTR HP-M900
  • Levers: Paul Love Lever
  • Brakes: Paul Motolite
  • Wheels: Crust 26” All Nighter
  • Tires: Ultradynamico Mars Race, 26” x 2.2”
  • Bars: Nitto Albatross
  • Grips: Brooks Ergonomic Rubber Grip
  • Saddle: Brooks Cambium Saddle
  • Pedals: White Industries urban platform pedals
  • Seatpost: Nitto S65 Seatpost
  • Stem: Nitto Crystem 3 Stem, 120 mm
  • Quick release skewers: Paul Components
  • Bottle Cages: Nitto R

 

A lovely build for a lovely human. Learn more about Rivendell at their website, and be sure to read Grant’s Blahg.

2024 Bespoked Dresden: A Special Fern Bicycles Chuck Gravel Touring Bike

Reportage

2024 Bespoked Dresden: A Special Fern Bicycles Chuck Gravel Touring Bike

Amid our ongoing coverage of the Bespoked Dresden framebuilder and maker showcase, today we are featuring a very special bicycle made by Berlin-based Fern Bicycles equipped with Allygn racks and custom bags from Gramm Tourpacking. With design language referencing a late-1980s Toyota Pickup and mountain bikes of the same vintage, the build features both old and new elements with components from a long list of artisan fabricators like Cyber Cycles, Garbaruk, Tune, Velocity, SON, Gevenalle, Btchn’, and many more. We think this bike might be peak Fern. Continue reading below for the complete breakdown of this special Fern Bicycles Chuck gravel touring bike.

If you’re at Bespoked this weekend, make sure to swing by the Fern booth to check this out!

2023 MADE Bike Show Coverage Part 6: Digit, Framework, Monē, Moots, Page Street, PAUL, Scarab, Scharen, Sycip, and Watts

Reportage

2023 MADE Bike Show Coverage Part 6: Digit, Framework, Monē, Moots, Page Street, PAUL, Scarab, Scharen, Sycip, and Watts

We’re here in Portland, covering the 2023 MADE Bike Show, looking for bikes that we thought you, the readers of The Radavist would appreciate. Josh and John have been scouring the halls of the show for bikes to document, and we’ve got Part 6 of our coverage for you to enjoy…

Thanks to 1-Up USA for sponsoring our continued 2023 MADE Bike Show coverage!

Omnium Cargo Bike Review: Finding Your Super Power

Reportage

Omnium Cargo Bike Review: Finding Your Super Power

Cargo bikes are inherently super cool. Something about a unique, purpose-built, human-powered machine doing tasks usually associated with cars and trucks gets the wondering wheels turning in peoples’ brains. The simple act of riding a cargo bike turns heads and gets people asking questions: living your day to day on a bike is indeed a super power.

The focus of this review is an Omnium Cargo bike that absolutely gets those wheels turning. Whether it’s a pumptracks-and-playgrounds adventure with our three-year-old, transporting complete bikes without removing the wheels, or making a big run down to the recycling depot, this bike enables errands and experiences beyond our usual two-wheeled expectations. Which of these tasks would prove to be the Omnium’s super power?

Bicycle Touring from Lake to Coast on New England’s Lost Railroads

Reportage

Bicycle Touring from Lake to Coast on New England’s Lost Railroads

There’s this truly magical culture of bike touring in Europe. You can go town to town and point to point on B roads and double tracks, stopping in at the local pub for a cold beer and a place to lay your head. The same culture doesn’t exist in the same way in the US — towns are too far apart, lots of paved roads, busy traffic thanks to decades of car-centric infrastructure and culture, among other reasons.

But there’s a little-known exception to that rule — northern New England. I moved here from New York in early 2020, along with the rest of Brooklyn, and was instantly taken by what locals call Vermont pavé, or miles and miles of dirt roads and unmaintained town highways that dot the state. It didn’t take long before I was plotting long-distance routes and multi-day bikepacking trips that captured as many of these roads as possible and adding them to the bucket list.

2021 Philly Bike Expo: Swood Cycles Endurance Road+

Reportage

2021 Philly Bike Expo: Swood Cycles Endurance Road+

Stephen Wood, of Swood Cycles, has been making custom steel frames and racks in Richmond, VA for a couple of years now. At this year’s Philly Bike Expo, Jarrod Bunk linked up with Stephen to photograph his eleventh Swood frame, the “Irie” Road+. Below, Stephen offers a few insights into his trajectory of becoming a framebuilder and, paired with Jarrod’s photos, walks us through this stunningly detailed machine.

The Service Course’s Bikes of Oslo Showcase Features OPEN, Legor, Bella, English, Stribe, and Speedvagen

Reportage

The Service Course’s Bikes of Oslo Showcase Features OPEN, Legor, Bella, English, Stribe, and Speedvagen

The Norwegian city of Oslo recently played host to the Service Course Oslo‘s Bikes of Oslo Showcase, featuring a plethora of custom bikes during a weekend of riding and soaking in the summer sun. We’re honored to host the report here, at the Radavist, featuring the bicycle photography of Magnus Nordstrand and the riding/lifestyle shots from Herman Ottesen. Check out the bikes along with an interview with the Service Course’s Jonas Strømberg below…