It’s Travis‘s turn to join the Radavist edit crew in sharing his favorites for 2024. His list includes a few products, a few podcasts, the adoption of a new habit, and the return of an old one.
“The Mid South”
Search Term – Change
Reportage
Wolf Tooth Components and Otso Cycles Factory Visit
Wolf Tooth Components and Otso Cycles have been making innovative bicycles and parts for over a decade. Starting in 2013 with aftermarket chainrings and cogs for nascent 1x drivetrains, their offerings have grown considerably to include an expanded catalog of machined aluminum parts, complex tools, dropper posts, and a full-blown sibling bike brand, Otso Cycles. Josh spent a day at Wolf Tooth‘s Minneapolis HQ earlier this year and reports on what he learned about the brand’s history and where they’re headed…
Reportage
Chumba Slackr Hardtail Review: Re-Centering Hardtail Geometry
John took a Chumba Slackr hardtail home from the 2024 MADE Bike Show to review. Since then, he’s squeezed every bit of riding potential on the bike before winter set in early in Santa Fe, putting it and himself through a multitude of rides in the Southern Rockies. Find out what epiphanies he’s had while riding this Austin, Texas-welded titanium hardtail below…
Radar
Readers’ Rides: Dylan’s Meriwether Touring Longtail Fatbike
Custom bikes aren’t always about the bling; they’re about designing form for specific functions. For Dylan, his love of touring through the Australian outback pushed him to get a custom Meriwether Cycles longtail fat bike for touring. Read on for a dusty Readers’ Rides…
Reportage
Vedangi Kulkarni: Cycling Around the World (Twice) Isn’t About Being The Fastest
In 2024, Vedangi Kulkarni made her second attempt to break the record for being the fastest woman to ride around the world. But in the middle of Kulkarni’s 18,000 mile ride, Lael Wilcox broke the Guinness World Record. In this piece, Caroline Dezendorf writes a story of one young woman’s journey of perseverance and self-discovery on a bike ride around the world.
Reportage
The Radavist Cycling Guide to Flagstaff
With two members of our Radavist editorial team living in Arizona, it only made sense to head to Flagstaff for our second Cycling Guide. With its recent spike in new singletrack development, legendary dark skies, and accessible location as a hub for other Northern Arizona destinations, there’s a lot to talk about. Read on for a look at The City of Seven Wonders…
Reportage
The Legend of DAMN: 240 Miles and 24 Hours Across Minnesota
Returning triumphantly after a brief hiatus, DAMN brings 24-hour gravel racing to the North Star State. Renee Hoffmann reports alongside Abigail Wark’s photos from the grassroots event that sees riders rally across the entire state of Minnesota.
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!
Reportage
Bespoked X SRAM Inclusivity Scholarship 2024: King Fabrications
Our European correspondent Petor Georgallou recently visited four North American framebuilders who have been awarded SRAM’s Inclusivity Scholarship to attend Bespoked in Dresden, Germany, on October 18–20. In the fourth chapter of this series, Petor joins Li King of Berkeley, Ca of King Fabrications. Petor chats with Li about their lifetime dream to become a welder and NorCal’s specific style as they prepare to head to Germany.
Reportage
Bespoked X SRAM Inclusivity Scholarship 2024: Memento Cycles
Our European correspondent Petor Georgallou recently visited four North American framebuilders who have been awarded SRAM’s Inclusivity Scholarship to attend Bespoked in Dresden, Germany, on October 18–20. In the first installment of this series, Petor joins Memento Cycles of Montreal, Québec. Take a look behind the collective at Memento Cycles…
Reportage
Ozarks Odyssey Fayetteville: Riding the Rise of a New Adventure Cycling Capital
Ian Graber-Stiehl explores the current state of cycling in Northwest Arkansas, where Bikepacking Roots is working with the growing destination city of Fayetteville to establish six adventure routes that provide 750 miles of trails and pathways in the Ozarks. Does Oz live up to the marketing hype? Read on…
Reportage
Coros Dura Solar GPS Review: An Unpolished Gem
The Coros Dura GPS unit grabbed headlines this summer with its claims of a 120-hour battery life. In theory, that could even be extended indefinitely thanks to the integrated solar panel. But Travis dove deep into the drop-down menus and found the stuff below those headlines to be just as interesting.
Reportage
Paso Agua Negra: Cycling Up Chile’s Longest Climb
As Ryan Wilson makes his way from Colombia to Santiago de Chile by bike, he tackles one of the longest climbs in the world, on a road that straddles the Chile and Argentina border. Follow along as he explores the stunning desert landscapes and night skies of the region while crossing Paso Agua Negra.
Radar
Obscura: Erik Mathy’s Handmade 4 x 5″ Film Camera Review
Photographer Erik Mathy has a problem: he has a hard time doing the same thing twice. For every project he takes on, he wants to use some new combination of camera, lens and film. When Bobby Wintle announced the Mega Mid South ultra endurance race, Erik decided to build his own camera to bring with him to Stillwater, OK. In this latest edition of Obscura, Erik shows us his latest handbuilt large format camera and explains how he went about putting it together.
Reportage
The Radavist Cycling Guide to Santa Fe
Santa Fe is where The Radavist calls home, so what better location to look at in our first Cycling Guide? Read on for a look at The City Different…
Radar
Ride with GPS and Sarah Swallow Update Baja Divide Route
Since its publication in 2016, the Baja Divide route has beckoned mid-winter adventurers to ramble south through its alluring shrub-steppe mountains and vast stretches of undeveloped coastline. Thanks to the vision, time and immense resources dedicated by route creators Nicholas Carman and Lael Wilcox, the Baja Divide has steadily earned its reputation as the venerable winter touring standard. This sprawling 1736-mile bikepacking route connects the Pacific Ocean with the Sea of Cortez, traversing every major Baja California mountain range along the way. The Baja Divide links historic Spanish mission sites rich in water and shade with remote ranchos, rural fishing villages and bustling highway towns via miles and miles of beautifully rugged backcountry desert tracks.
Reportage
Readers’ Rides: Jason Reviews His UNpaved Vertigo Steel Full Suspension
We’ve got a wonderful Readers’ Rides today, that doubles as a review, sent in from our buddy Jason Fitzgibbon, who submitted his UNpaved Cycles Vertigo single pivot steel full suspension. Read on as he supplies a beautifully documented review of this bike…
Reportage
A Visit to the Mason Cycles Barn: Celebrating 10 Years of Progress
It’s been 10 years since Mason Cycles first caused a splash in the UK cycling market with the release of their original Definition and Resolution road bikes. They have since built a reputation for blending progressive riding technologies with classically beautiful aesthetics, now offering a full range of bikes designed for the whole spectrum of on- and off-road terrain. Joe Sasada sat down with founder and designer Dom Mason to discuss the journey so far, design philosophy, and what’s coming next for the brand. Read on for an extended interview and a photo gallery from Mason HQ.