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Bikepacking Peru’s Valle de los Volcanes
Photos and words by Ryan Wilson
After dealing with a dead Garmin and a bricked iPhone (my only GPS devices) for a while during my last stint in Perú, I decided to put the trip on hold for a few months and head back to the States. It was a nice break to sort a few things out, skip a little bit of Peru’s rainy season, and take it easy for the holidays.
This sounds rad!
“We have teamed up with the leading handmade bike builders of our time to create a contest that will not only decide the ENVE Builder of the Year, but also give you, the voter, a chance to win a custom built dream bike of your own. These frame builders have come from around the globe to showcase their works of art at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show and at ENVE HQ for our grand opening celebration. By voting for your favorite bike from the entrants below, you will be entered into the giveaway.
All you have to do is peruse the bikes below and cast your vote.
Prize: One Custom Built Bicycle By One of the Contest Builders of Your Choice Completely ENVE’d Out and Ready to Ride
WINNER ANNOUNCED: April 30th 2017”
Head over to ENVE to enter!
Ok, maybe you can call it a ‘cross bike, because that’s truly what it is at its roots. Before we get ahead of ourselves here, let’s take a step back. There are stigmas attached with the words “commuter” “city” “townie” and even “cross” bike. There are certain checklists that apply to each of those permutations. The most notable being fender and rack provisions. Even with the latter, “cross” purists want drop bars and 32mm tires for a bike to be true to its UCI roots. This bike has no provisions for racks or fenders, is sold with a 40mm tire, flat bars and a bell. It’s not as much as it is. It is whatever you want it to be.
Yesterday we took a look inside Second Spin Cycles and Martin’s stock of vintage mountain frames and accessories. Today, we’re going to look at four of his bikes in detail, all of which I felt were very unique. I’ve done my best to include Martin’s synopsis for each bike, along with some details which surprised even me. As with everything in this gallery, you can head to Second Spin Cycles’ blog for more information.
I am very excited about this project. While there are other US-made carbon road frames on the market, the scope and scale of Allied Cycle Works, under the HIA Velo umbrella, is very promising. Their first road frame is the ALFA, and it’s made in their Arkansas facilities from start to finish. There’s more on this to come, but for now, you can read the press-release below.
A few months back, the guys at Team Dream Team came up with the idea of doing a bicycle show during their next swap meet. The call went out to all of Los Angeles for cyclists to bring in their best bicycle for display. Coinciding with a swap meet, people would be able to haggle for new parts, BBQ, and ogle the many noble steeds that would parade their way to South Pasadena for the show.
On Saturday, the event went down, bringing in some serious beauts. Including, but not limited to Tinker Juarez’s old Klein, a resurrected De Rosa Joe Bell restoration, a 1993 Chris Carmichael Motorola Merckx TT bike from the Tour, road bikes, all-road bikes, vintage road and kooky, one-of-a-kind show stoppers.
Many thanks to the folks at the Cub House for throwing this shindig and to everyone who made it happen!
A Look at the Bikes from the Chris King 40th Open House
Photos by Billy Sinkford, words by John Watson
Portland was a buzz in December. With the SSCXWC bringing hordes of cycling fanatics to the area, Chris King decided to throw an open house in celebration of their 40th anniversary. After a few months of calling out to select framebuilders, the team at Chris King displayed a wide variety of bicycles all built with select King 40th components. Then, to round-off the display, a few “vintage” bicycles made their way on display, including the matching bike to Chris King’s own classic Cielo. Since I can’t be everywhere at once, many thanks to Billy for taking a few photos of these bikes.
If you’re bummed that you missed out on the 40th collection, they’ve still got some of the Chris King wheels for sale. I bought a set of the Hed Belgiums for my Speedvagen!
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The history of Derby is riddled with ups and downs. In 1874, it began as a tin mining outpost, on the East Coast of Tasmania, employing lots of Chinese immigrants who began building mines and excavating land in search of this precious mineral. Prosperity came with a booming tin industry and in the late 19th century, the population of Derby topped 3,000. That might not sound like a huge number, but keep in mind the people living in Derby were served by and worked for the tin industry.
In early April 1929, heavy rains caused the tin mine’s dam to burst. Consequently, the Cascade River flooded the town, killing a dozen or so people and wiping out most of the buildings. Eventually, the mine re-opened, but never reached the same output, forcing it to close in 1948. For almost 70 years, Derby was a sleepy town, offering no real appeal for tourists, Tasmania’s 1.3 billion dollar a year industry. Then, in 2015 the Blue Derby mountain bike park opened and suddenly, things began to change for this sleepy town.
Custom bikes are often the result of a person’s opinions formed by their lifelong experiences. Oftentimes, a custom bicycle does its best to address many problems or functions, resulting in a Swiss Army Knife of vehicles, aka jack of all trades, master of none. Personally, I’ve always tried to work with a builder to design a bike specific to one job, rather than fit in a slew of other functions. Over the years, I’ve relied on scalpels, versus cluttered, do-it-all devices to take on whatever kind of riding I’m interested in and while I’ve got a few mountain bikes, none of them were ideal for the kind of off-road touring I enjoy.
Got a fancy custom bike? Bring it on down to Velo Cult in Portland this weekend for the Velo Cirque: Modern & Vintage Bike Show. The show will go on Saturday, which features vintage custom bikes before 1990 and Sunday, which feature any custom bike from 3pm – 8pm with a 10am vintage ride on Saturday before the show. It’ll cost you $5 to attend the show, unless you’re bringing a bike to display. Along with vintage bikes, featured builders will include Breadwinner, Belladonna, Littleford, Ti Cycles, Norther, and many more!
*Participants that will be showcasing their bike may only bring one bike and must bring a bike stand. Displaying for the Modern Frame Show must be built by a custom frame builder; no production or semi-production frame. Otherwise, all types of bikes are acceptable. Classic Frame Show displays must be made by custom frame builder before 1990.
Anna’s Peacock Groove: People’s Choice Philly Bike Expo 2016
Words and photos by Jarrod Bunk
There’s something extra special about this bicycle. I guess you could say it’s the deep custom approach that Eric from Peacock Groove takes. Apparently others felt the same, as this bike wasn’t on the official list for People’s Choice for the Philly Bike Expo, but managed to get enough write in votes to take home The People’s Choice award. Anna had been wanting a Peacock Groove for quite some time,this bike was in planning long before the legend was lost. From the logo braze ons, S & S couplers, one off Paul Klampers, right down the the Peacock Groove Headset, everything has been given an extra touch. Eric even polished up a Paul Comp QR! You might notice the lack of cables on the brakes, this bike has already been assembled and ridden a few months ago, Eric had been battling Pneumonia and got this bike painted and together in just two days for the show.
In addition to all of the custom made braze ons, and one off parts the bike is built to a set of HED rims laced to Chris King hubs, with some memorable lyrics, and even a custom Trash Space Junk bag. It was fantastic listening to Anna talk about how excited she was on this bike, stoke is real. Congrats Eric, and enjoy your (now painted) bike Anna!
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Follow Jarrod on Instagram, Peacock Groove on Instagram and Anna on Instagram.
Since this bike first showed up at my door here in Los Angeles, I’ve really enjoyed riding it. While the kit that Kris from 44 Bikes delivered for the review interim was more than acceptable, it felt good putting both my old parts on it and new wheels, which made a world of difference. Wheels are like that though. You think everything is peachy-keen one day and the next you’re rolling on new wheels, having your mind blown. Call me naive but I didn’t think a wide rim like the Ibis 941 would make that big of a difference on a hardtail. Truthfully, it didn’t feel like it until I seat the WTB Trail Boss 2.4″ tire on the 41mm outer, 35mm inner width rims.
To say it was like a whole new bike might be over-doing it, or perhaps it captures my enthrallment or excitement. Either way, I do not want to take them, or these tires off my 44 Bikes Marauder anytime soon.
Made here built here is Hia Velo’s mantra and as this video shows, it’s something the framebuilding brand takes seriously. Check out their flagship carbon road bike, the Founder at Hia Velo.
Just Say Yes to Bikepacking
Words by Jen Abercrombie, photos by Brian Vernor (unless otherwise noted)
“Why do I keep saying yes?” That’s the thought I had, sitting in the San Jose airport heading to Las Vegas to meet up with the folks at Blackburn to embark on a two-day “InterbikePacking” trip in the desert, organized to coincide with Interbike, the giant annual American bike trade show that attracts, in decreasing numbers it seems, exhibitors, retailers and cycling enthusiasts from all over the world. I hadn’t looked at a map and knew only the vaguest details about the trip, one of the most concerning being that there might be a kayak involved. I wouldn’t say I’m exactly an expert on the bike, but compared to my proficiency in the water I’m Greg LeMond. I also heard there would be sand…a LOT of sand. None of this was making me excited, but when asked if I wanted to go, I just said “yes”.
There’s a bigger story to be told here, mostly surrounding Black Mountain Cycles’ owner Mike Varley and his history not only regarding bicycle design, but also his impact on the Point Reyes community as a whole. I figured this Beautiful Bicycle gallery would serve as a segue to that in the future. For now, let’s chat about this bike…
Point Reyes is a beautiful coastal town in Northern California on the Adventure Cycling Association’s Pacific Coast route and is a bastion of bicycle-friendly roads, trails and tracks. Because of its plentiful offerings in terms of riding routes, Black Mountain Cycles emerged, catering to not only the wayward bicycle tourist, but also locals and SF weekend warriors looking to get their feet dusty.
Black Mountain caters to all forms of roads, but enjoys riding dirt the most, which is why their in-house frame company will always fit a bit bigger of a tire, even when it comes to their “road” frameset. Their Road V3 frame fits a 33mm tire with ease, while offering up the option for either downtube mounted barrel adjusters with road shifters or retro downtube shifters. These frames are made overseas but are affordable, meant for everything from dirt road rides to centuries and even, as evident by Bob’s build here, commuter setups.
Bob’s Black Mountain tackles all the necessities: a SON generator hub, a Wald basket for transporting work clothes, a nice, supple tire and a comfortable riding position. While the frame itself might be production, Bob’s custom build shows character and utilitarianism we all can identify with. For those wanting a little more cushion for their rides, Black Mountain also offers a Cross V5 frameset, as well as the Cameron Falconer-made MUSA frames!
As I said before, hopefully this isn’t the last you hear of Black Mountain on the site, because this story needs to be told!
Photos and intro by Morgan Taylor, words by Mark Reimer.
Does bike travel in the backcountry have to look a particular way? No, of course not. As you can see by the range of bikes being ridden in Spencer’s gallery, the #DFLtheDivide crew was a group that largely did not fit the mold of bike touring or bikepacking. That ride was all about doing things differently, living on the fringe and pushing the ideas of what traveling by bike looks like.
The Crust Bikes DFL occupies that space: not quite a touring bike, not quite a mountain bike – simply a bike built for traveling over whatever terrain you want to cover. John looked at Matt’s early version of this bike – at the time called the Evasion – and over a year later the DFL remains an intriguing idea that gets people asking questions and thinking about how they might build their own adventure bike.
Mark’s DFL hosts a great mix of domestically produced hard and soft goods, with a parts bin build kit carefully collected and selected over the years. The 9-speed XTR derailleur is hooked up to an indexed 10-speed Dura-Ace bar end shifter, using a Wolf Tooth road link to help the derailleur wrap around the SunRace 11-42 cassette. The Schmidt dynamo and Nitto racks and Carradice bags, so many details to pore over…
I’ll leave the rest to Mark because he captured the essence of this bike so well…
At first glance, this might seem like just another carbon fiber “all road” bike, but look closely and you’ll see Diamondback made some really clever and practical decisions on their newest touring model, the Haanjo EXP Carbon. First off, the 3×9 drivetrain. While it might not be as light as a 1x SRAM setup, it has the gear range you’ll need for extended dirt tours on steep roads. Next, the wheels. 27.5″ x 2.1 wheels offer plenty of ride-dampening for long days in the saddle. While the Haanjo EXP sports thru axles, it relies on cable-actuated disc brakes and barend shifters for both ease of repair and reliability. I’m liking what I see here. All for $2,300 complete as shown. Check out more at Diamondback.
The Vanilla Workshop has multiple tiers in terms of frameset design and production. At the highest tier is a Vanilla. These are 100% custom, lugged beauties made entirely by Sacha White. Their wait list is so long, it’s not even worth mentioning. Then on the more readily-available tier is a Speedvagen frameset. These used to be only available as a 100% custom geometry with multiple options from paint, ranging from a simple, single color with detail hits to complex, “Surprise Me” paint jobs that are so wild, they’ve inspired how other builders tackle paint design.
Now, Speedvagen has a third option in its pricing catalog: the OG1 road frameset. These are stock frames, already painted and in stock now, ready to ship to you in days or weeks, not months. The OG1 also carries a pricetag that won’t make you choke on your morning breakfast, when it comes to a made in the USA frame anyway.
The OG1 is still made 100% by hand in the Vanilla Workshop and it’s painted in house with a custom Speedvagen design, usually two per year with the first year’s designs being limited to a matte lavender or a burly-looking matte olive drab! It’s obvious which color you’re seeing here.
These frames are a deal, but there’s a catch…
