The Radavist

Europe is blessed with ripping trails, from the seas to the tops of the alps. Many of these trails began as footpaths, or cattle trails, or even military roads, traversing mountains, connecting towns or other trade routes. New Zealand, however, had very little need for such intricate trail networking. Being an island, it was easier to go around the mountains, than over them, even in colonial times.

However, if anything can motivate man, it’s gold.

Which is why and how some of the first mountain trails were made in this country. The path we rode on the Stigmata the day before, the Charming Creek Trail, was the beginning of a network of mining rail lines, which stopped just before our home base for the remainder of the trip, the Rough and Tumble Bush Lodge.

Yes, that says “dirt droop”, rather than “dirt drop.” You see, there are magical and medicinal qualities to the fabled “LD” stem – pardon the acronym, we don’t need to spell it out for you.

Benedict, aka Poppi, aka @UltraRomance is a wild one. One that cannot be tamed by modern ideologies, or technologies for that matter. His Clockwork Bikes frame is a time capsule of the old days of yore when men would gather or hunt for their food in the woods. Even when something appears to be modern, it’s executed in a way that harkens back to the early days of klunking. Disc brakes? He slices fresh mushrooms on them and truthfully, he only uses them to stop for a tanning session. The throwback version of the narrow wide chaingrings is just a “narrow narrow” ring. An outer “bash guard” ring pressed up against an inner ring with a spare “rabbit” personal massager holding it in place. Even his “marsh mud” tubeless setup is pulled from nature. Literally…

Chiwawan Wakk Trak Chimichanga
Photos by Jared Kerst words by Ultra Romance

Survival fires, spandex spoon trains, pee tea sipping, mutiny, abandoned bikes, lost and found, etc… Chances are every outdoorsman has experienced one or another or all. 3 years ago Lorde Gaubert brought a group of “Pomeranian city slickers” out to the Chiwawan desert to explore the seemingly endless network of mining and smuggling trails left over from the Republic of Texas days. It was meant to just be a Lycra paced long day ride. Things didn’t turn out so well. Apparently it was Garmin’s fault, or the game trail that could have been a trail, trail, or the empty water bottles with boiling temperatures and tempers….. Either way, they got wicked lost, ditched their bikes, spoon train man piled round a survival fire all night, and found their truck the next day hours before an iconic Texas blue norther elbow dropped the temps into the 30s. It was a harrowing tale, a spandex spectacle all our brüs had heard and laughed about several times. But deep inside, all of us were eager to get shreddy on the 1-trakk monarchy hidden within the 2nd largest desert in North America, and furthermore, to find out if Lorde Gaubert’s curse was merely situational. He does have a reputation, after all…

The Trust Performance Message linkage fork was an expensive, extravagant, and flawed attempt to change how we think about mountain bike design. The brand ceased operations in the early days of the pandemic, but Travis had high hopes for Trust. He also still has the Message fork he reviewed in 2019. A recent bikepacking trip inspired him to give it a second life with some new bolts, washers, and tiny, tiny bearings.

To help support us in covering the 2024 MADE Bike Show, wheel manufacturer We Are One sponsored a special gallery featuring some of the showcase’s builders who displayed the brand’s handmade carbon wheels. This includes some yet-to-be-released off-road touring/bikepacking-specific models. Read on for an in-depth look at bikes from Apogee, Chumba, Landyachtz, Moots, Pine, Sage, Significant Other, Six Mile, Sour, and Wolf Tooth/Otso!

Our 2024 MADE Bike Show coverage from Portland, Oregon continues with Part 02. Click on through below for selects from Apogee, Amigo, Baum, Btchn’, Good Grief, Goodday + Curiosity, Ira Ryan, Lost Workshop, Mone, and Retrotec…

 Last summer, Kurt Refsnider rode the length of the Continental Divide Trail (the bike-legal sections, that is) over the course of three months and documented the journey in a series of articles here on The Radavist. You can find those here. This article is the first of a two-part Q&A series about Kurt’s gear choices and bike setup. The subsequent second part will be all about food planning and eating on a 3,000-mile singletrack adventure. 

Falconer Cycles is now making titanium frames and last weekend, he unveiled a stunning titanium hardtail touring bike to John…

For creatives – be it sculptors or painters – expanding into other mediums is often fulfilling and cathartic. Learning new methodologies and processes keeps makers engaged with their work. Lots of bicycle fabricators start out TIG welding steel frames and, later, expand into working with titanium. This offers new horizons for not only the brand but also for loyal followers to access a superior material.

Cameron Falconer is the latest builder to be documented here expanding into titanium from steel. While in Southern Arizona last weekend, John caught up with Cam who showcased a titanium hardtail touring bike with a custom titanium rack. This was “John’s modern bike shoot of the year” as he put it excitedly and you can see why below…

Announced at this year’s Moab Outerbike, the Esker Cycles Hayduke LVS –available as a frame ($2,950) or a complete ($4,950)–is a hardtail mountain bike with 600-millimeter chainstays and touring accouterments aplenty. Esker even developed a specialty rack for this bike, dubbed the Molle Rackwald ($300.) Needless to say, it’s a unique offering from the brand.

John was able to ride one for a bit, including on an overnighter with the Esker Cycles team and Sincere Cycles in Santa Fe, so read on for an in-depth look at this rare and funky bike!