This year brought about the return of the Handmade Bicycle Show Australia, and we had our mate Andy White from FYXO on the ground documenting some of Australia’s finest handmade bikes. Part 02 of our coverage showcases 12 unique builds from the show, so read on for more!
“Ritchey”
Search Term – Change
Reportage
Fast Patrick’s Crust Bikes Romanceür with 11-Speed Campagnolo Centaur
The Romanceür has gotten a lot of love over here at The Radavist since its inception in both the disc and rim brake versions. While we just posted Ronnie’s build a few months back, this weekend at the LA Invitational, John caught up with Patrick, the other “Rubber Baron” in Ultradynamico, who had just picked up a new frame from Crust Bikes. After a shakedown ride for the Invitational, he spent some time in a San Marino alleyway shooting photos of it, so let’s check it out below!
Reportage
The Alt-Bike Met Gala and Bike Swap at Two Bikes Knoxville
The Southeastern Appalachians are filled with a lot of my favorite things. It’s considered the salamander capital of the world. There are more than 160 native tree species (there are only 50 in the state of Colorado), but above all else, my favorite thing in these hills are my friends. Over the winter a few of us came together and reflected on last year. What could we do to help grow our casual cycling community? We figured that these hills have a lot going for them, but there wasn’t a good swap meet, and that’s a problem worth solving.
Reportage
Vintage Bicycles: Steve Cook’s 1980 Cook Brothers Racing Cruiser
We’ve all heard the term “Klunker” before, but as a modern misnomer in cycling, it’s been used to refer to coaster-brake actuated cruiser bikes. This, my friends, is a true-to-form klunker, using gears and brakes, but it was built upon a cruiser chassis. For today’s Vintage Bicycles tory, we have Tasshi from Vintage MTB Workshop sharing the story of Steve Cook’s personal Cook Brothers Racing Cruiser, so read on for all the nitty-gritty on what makes this wild bike so unique and how it would shape the future of mountain biking…
Radar
Then and Now: Suntour XCii Vs. MKS XCiii Pedals
With the pandemic driving up prices of vintage mountain and road components, many people are turning to modern recreations of these staple parts to finish out their build projects. Whether it’s a Salsa Pro Moto stem or in this case, Suntour’s legendary XC “bear trap” pedals, there are modern components inspired by these classic components but how close are they to the original? In this post, John looks at what makes the XCii so unique and how close the XCiii comes to the original…
Reportage
David Figueroa’s Custom Condor Cycles Stainless Super Acciaio Road
I’ve owned and sold a lot of very nice bikes, but my custom Condor Cycles Super Acciaio was my all-time favorite. My ride or die. Literally, and it did. It died when a car did an illegal left turn in front of me. The top tube and down tube folded like a paper solo cup.
Reportage
Vintage Bicycles: 1992 Slingshot Team Issue
Today, we’re continuing our Vintage Bicycles stories with a 1992 Slingshot Team Issue bike, build period correct in all its glory. If you recall, last year we featured a unique Slingshot build complete with a basket and high-rise cruiser bars. While we’re all about repurposing vintage bikes, it’s nice to see one built up to a pro-level spec! Check this out below with words by Mike Wilk and photos by John Watson…
Reportage
Bikes We Liked from the 2022 Sea Otter Classic
The good ol’ Sea Otter Classic can be an overwhelming experience with its plethora of products and bikes. Here at The Radavist, we try to sift through the dirt to find the chunks of gold, which is what we did this year, profiling a selection of bikes from vintage, to new, including some randoms we found meandering the wind-blown aisles of this lovely event. Check out some beauts below!
Radar
Readers’ Rides: Adam’s Self-Built Metal Guru Framebuilding Workshop Road Bike
Anytime a reader sends in their self-built frame to our Readers’ Rides email box, we drop everything and check it out. So far we haven’t been disappointed! Adam sent in this gorgeous road bike that he built at the Metal Guru Framebuilding Workshop, along with a story and parts breakdown, so let’s get to it!
Radar
Radar Roundup: BTCHN Bars, Tundra Tires, Under Pressure, and NOS MB-1
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
Radar
Readers’ Rides: Jakob’s 1990s Marin Sausalito Gravel Bike
Bikes from the 80s and 90s can be repurposed for modern use with some smart parts speccing. Take Jakob from Austria‘s 1994 Marin Sausalito. Let’s see this beaut in full detail below!
Radar
Radar Roundup: Endura Footwear, a New Hope, Contessa 22, Who Uses Frame Pumps?, and The FIRST Gravel Bikes?
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
Radar
Toby’s 1993 Specialized Rockhopper Expert: Readers’ Rides
The early 90s offered a plethora of bikes that would last for ages and Toby’s 1993 Specialized Rockhopper Expert is just another example of a bike that will probably last another 30 years. Let’s take a look in today’s edition of Readers’ Rides!
Reportage
Review: Moots Routt ESC
The Baxter was a blip in a long line of adventure bikes to grace Moots’ 40 years of building frames in the Rockies. Personally, I really liked the Baxter. It held its own in the Steamboat Ramble Ride and tackled our “Disconnected” project in the Inyo Mountains with SRAM but the Baxter had some quirks that needed to be addressed. With the Routt ESC, Moots did just that, abandoning the Baxter model altogether.
In an era where adventure, gravel, touring, and bikepacking bikes are seeing lots of permutation, there’s no time for nostalgia. Brands need to address their bike’s quirks and redesign as needed. That’s where the Routt ESC comes in. It’s like the Baxter and the Routt gravel line had a lovechild, which resulted in a completely new paradigm within the Moots catalog. Let’s check out this new Routt ESC bike in more detail below!
Radar
The Radavist’s Top 10 Readers’ Rides of 2021
2021 was an exceptional year for our Readers’ Rides series, which we first began posting back in 2011. Last year’s readership-submitted bikes ran the gamut, much like our Top 10 Beautiful Bicycles, but Readers’ Rides is 100% audience-submitted. We love receiving submissions each week so if you were on the fence about submitting your ride, perhaps this list will motivate you to break out the camera. This list was compiled by web traffic and comments. Let’s check out the Top Ten Readers’ Rides of 2021 below, in no particular order…
Reportage
2021 Philly Bike Expo: Junkyard Cats Tracklocross
Junkyard cats are notoriously difficult to wrangle, which is why we don’t have any portraits of Casey Sussman or Stephen Bilenky from this year’s Philly Bike Expo. What we do have, however, is a photoset documenting the duo’s new Tracklocross bikes from their collective endeavor Junkyard Cats. Paying homage to Junkyard Cross races of yesteryear, bikes that Sussman (Mars Cycles) and Bilenky (Bilenky Cycle Works) build together will feature the Junkyard Cats name, including a five-size, five-color run of handmade, lightweight steel, raw, un-filed fillet brazed Tracklocross bikes. Jarrod Bunk pulled one of these Tracklocross builds aside to photograph at this year’s Philly Bike Expo, which we’re looking at in detail below.
Radar
Ben Frederick’s “Love your Brain” Fundraiser and Jersey Pre-Order
Earlier this fall we featured Fergus Tanaka’s touching story about Ben Frederick‘s fundraiser with Love your Brain, a non-profit organization that advocates for traumatic brain injury relief and recovery. Ben is also raffling off one of his custom Ritchey Swiss Cross frames. We’re bumping this today in hopes of elevating Ben’s raffle and getting more eyes on this project. The raffle runs through the end of this year and tickets for the frame and other prizes can be purchased from Ben’s website. Check out some more photos below!
Radar
Readers’ Rides: Marco’s “Lockdown” Gorilla Monsoon
We’ve all been tinkering while staying at home during the pandemic. Marco chose the All-City Gorilla Monsoon as the chassis for his newest build project and over the past 18 months, he’s been perfecting the build. Let’s see it in detail below…