The Radavist

Man oh man. Tony from Breadwinner Cycles found this Yamaha in a junk yard years ago and has been tinkering with it ever since. Working on his café racer is a hobby of his. Everyone needs a break from bikes once and a while, so for him, working on this machine brings a much-needed distraction from working on Breadwinner.

A while ago, he built a rack for his Bad Otis, enabling him to drive his moto to the trails, versus his pickup. The rack is completely secure and while in transport, the rear wheel of the MTB comes off and is strapped on the side but for NAHBS, he left it on for display purposes. Then, to top it off, he resprayed his Bad Otis to match!

Paul Sadoff from Rock Lobster and Bruce Gordon from, well, Bruce Gordon Cycles brought a few more models of the Grinduro-unveiled brand Schnozola this year to NAHBS. A steel ‘cross, an aluminum ‘cross, a tourer and this fixed gear. Why build a fixed gear for NAHBS? Because Paul Sadoff wanted to!

Mitch from Map Biycles in Chico, California has always been one of my favorite builders. The dude just oozes a cool, confidence that always shows in his work. From customer builds to his own, Map never ceases to impress. Even when his bikes have digi camo on them. The Rambonneur has popped up on this site before, but it was nice seeing it in person for the first time…

Carl Strong makes beautifully-simple, understated bikes, void of any flashiness or ostentation and I’ve always been a fan. This disc road is a shining example of precision framebuilding.

In my opinion, Demon Frameworks is doing something few other builders achieve: a unique, almost signature lug pattern. You can spot his bikes a mile away thanks to those meticulously carved, almost buttress-inspired designs. This year at NAHBS, this nickel-plated road accompanied him and people couldn’t get enough of it!

What can I possibly say about LOW‘s track bikes that hasn’t already been said? They’re sleek, made in San Francisco race machines with plenty of both street and track experience, a clean profile and killer, almost race car-inspired graphics. Hell, even as I’m typing this, you’ve probably already moved onto the photos!

Instagram has been good to Bicycle Crumbs, an illustrator who leapt onto the scene just recently but has already gained a steady flow of commissioned work from brands, many of which are at NAHBS. Recently, Bicycle Crumbs, or Mr. Crumbs for short designed the newly re-branded Philosophy Cycles. If you recall Lovebaum Cycles from last year, the guys decided to change their names to Philosophy after a bit of internet controversy.

Once the branding had been dialed in, Mr. Crumbs hollered at Philosophy to design and fabricate him an all-road bike, designed to take on long days over gravel in the saddle, as well as sporting a flashy half matte, half gloss paint job. Details abound on this one…

John Caletti‘s custom titanium machines are always a pleasure to shoot and this road bike is the prize of his booth at NAHBS. He reached out to Jeremiah Kille to hand draw all over the frame, fork, stem, and even commissioned him to design matching bar tape. It didn’t end there. If you check out the Caletti Instagram, you’ll see the matching Giro shoes and helmet too!

At a show where over the top paint jobs reign supreme, it’s nice seeing someone take this approach to frame embellishment…

For those of you who read the CommUTAH story late last summer here on the Radavist, this is the bike that photographer James Adamson was riding, with a little bit of an update. James’ bike utilized a chainstay yoke to ensure the big, fat 27.5+ tires would fit without rub. After a bit of PR&D at the Breadwinner Cycles shop, they determined they could keep the cost down by using stock stays and still get ample clearances. After a few other geometry tweaks, and the Goodwater was ready for release at the 2016 NAHBS…

When Mark DiNucci brings a complete bicycle to NAHBS, you better photograph it. Especially when it features such a bright paint job and SRAM Red eTap!

When Ritchey comes to NAHBS, they bring Tom Ritchey-built bikes, including this Swiss Cross. This one’s painted by Rick at D&D Cycles, just like the classic Commandos were and was born in California, inside Tom’s shop. I’d say that’s a pretty fitting bike for NAHBS!

Aaron Barcheck and his team at Mosaic never cease to amaze and impress at NAHBS. For them, they don’t need to go over the top on show bikes because their work is just that: over the top. It’s the “every bike is a show bike” mentality. This minty green RS-1 road bike, with painted to match Silca frame pump is for Velo Smith in Chicago.

While you’ll see a lot of custom mountain bikes at NAHBS, most of them will be hardtails or rigids. You very rarely see a full suspension steel beast like this in the aisles. After meeting Matter Cycles last year at NAHBS, I was looking forward to seeing what he’d bring this year and was not disappointed by this Two Stroke full sus. Just look at it! Made in Colorado and ready to rip. I almost felt bad taking it back to its stand. Its like seeing an animal caged at the zoo…

Argonaut has had so many extensive features on this website, so I’ll spare you the introductions. What I will say though is that shooting a white bike with this setup is a godsend. That and the Argonaut-branded t47 BB standard… I still get goosebumps when I shoot these bikes and with good reason. Wow.

Continuing with the domination of the 27.5+ wheel platform, this Retrotec hardtail brings everything in we’re accustomed to from Curtis Inglis, and then some. This year, Curtis has switched that new White Industries Narrow Wide 1x crankset on most of his mountain bikes at the show. There’s something special coming (for me) to the site later on, but for now let’s drool over this big, fat and beautiful hardtail.

Save the track bike! Year after year, the bicycle that used to over-populate NAHBS has a dwindling presence. That said, there are always a few on display that are customer’s bikes for racing at the velodrome and since they’re NAHBS bikes, they carry the slightest bit of ostentation. This Shamrock Cycles will catch your eye, as it did mine. That bright fascia paint with a printed Zipp disc helps without a doubt. Since this bike was built for a 130lb track racer, the tubes were kept classy and the fork steel, something you don’t see everyday…

Slumber killed by rays of the new red sun arising
Dreamer wakens to spectral gaze of light rays shining
Black steed carries him across the astral sand
Rides alone is the man from the magic caravan…

Leave it to Todd at Black Cat to name his new mountain bike model after Sleep’s magnum opus, Holy Mountain. Then, to top it off, he rendered his logo in the Dopesmoker typeface. As I stated earlier, this year at NAHBS, the 27.5+ hardtail is reigning supreme.

Todd built this bike up with Shimano XTR, RaceFace cranks and a Fox Fork. Oh and check out the dropper lever! You’ll have to mind the mis-matched wheels on this one, Todd must have been riding the dragon toward the crimson eye…