For nearly ten years, La Chouette Bike Shop has been serving Paris, France – and an ever-growing online customer base – with a finely curated selection of bikes, components, and products from some of our favorite brands. In a continuation of Reportage from his time visiting Paris earlier this month, Josh checks in with La Chouette owners Pierre, João, and Jacob, who are on a mission to add a bit of international color to the streets of their fine city…
“The Mid South”
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Radar
Grayl GeoPress Ti Purifier Review: Water Filtering ≠ Purifying
Water filtration does not equal water purification: there are different levels to the process of creating safe, clean drinking water. In a review of Grayl’s GeoPress titanium travel purifier, Hailey Moore explains what gets missed by filters alone and why you might consider carrying a purifying system.
Reportage
Spot Bikes Ryve 115 Review: Downcountry Takes Flight
Today Spencer is digging into the downcountry offering from Spot Bikes, the Ryve. Spot Bikes had a major makeover some years ago and since then have brought to market a number of full-suspension mountain bikes that utilize their intriguing Living Link suspension design. Living Link incorporates a small titanium leaf spring into the lower linkage, imbuing some rather enjoyable riding attributes. To sum it up succinctly, the Spot Ryve has pop – lotsa pop. Combine that with lightweight construction and thoughtful details, and you get one hell of a trail bike, even at only 115 mm travel. Let’s take a closer look…
Reportage
A Look at the Crust Bikes Australia Wheelhouse: Stupid Tourist Break-Away Bike, Lugged Lightning Bolt, and More!
John and Cari were in Australia earlier this month, and since they were on the same continent as Matt and Cheech from Crust Bikes, they had to visit them at their home in New South Wales. While there, John documented a selection of bikes from their shed, including some prototypes and soon-to-be-released future cult classics. Let’s check it all out!
Radar
Travis’s Summer 2024 Product Picks
Summer means something different for mountain bikers in Los Angeles. Unless you’re in Malibu, it’s not a great time of year to ride. Travis is not in Malibu, but he’s got ten products that will make the season more palatable.
Reportage
Norco Optic C1 Review: The Un-High Pivot
For our second-ever high-pivot bike review, Travis tests the third-generation Norco Optic. Turns out short travel and short chainstays pair pretty well with high pivots and high speed, both downhill and uphill.
Radar
Spencer’s Summer 2024 Product Picks
Summer has arrived in Tucson, Arizona, which means it’s Spencer‘s surface-of-the-sun season. As such, it’s no surprise that he is shifting his focus inside. Here are some summer products keeping him busy while he waits for the sun to set so he can finally ride in sub-100-degree heat.
Radar
What I Learned at the Rowdy Gowdy Women’s MTB Camp
During her review period with the Ibis Cycles Ripley, Hailey Moore attended the 2024 Rowdy Gowdy women’s mountain bike camp outside of Laramie, Wyoming, with hopes of gaining a better understanding of full-suspension fundamentals. In the age of internet tutorials and DIY culture, read on for a recap of what she learned in this directed and supportive setting.
Radar
Existential Safety: Leatt at 20 – A Conversation with Dain Zaffke
We’re trying something new here at The Radavist. We have been exploring various ways to keep providing free, top-notch photography, reviews, news, and Reportage to our audience, and sponsored content is one way to keep the lights on and the bills paid. We’re unwilling to compromise your trust, so we pledge to always operate with the utmost integrity and be fully transparent about any spon-con on the site.
Full disclosure: this article was supported by Leatt. If you’d like to keep the Radavist independent, please consider joining the Group Ride today – a monthly or yearly subscription is the best way to support the longest-running alternative cycling website.
Whew! Now that that’s out of the way… Our newly-minted Copy Editor, regular Radavist contributor Nicholas Haig-Arack, recently caught up with Leatt’s Dain Zaffke to learn about the brand’s history and discuss matters of safety, both physical and existential. Let’s begin with an intro to Leatt…
Reportage
Continental Divide Trail Q&A Part One: What Did I Pack For My Toughest Bike Trip Yet?
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.
Reportage
Ibis Cycles Ripley Review: A First-Timer’s Crash Course in Riding Full Suspension
Before getting to test ride an Ibis Cycles Ripley, Hailey Moore was pretty sure she’d never own a full-suspension bike. Now her feelings are, well, a little squishier. Read on for Hailey’s reflections on how riding a full-suspension mountain bike for the first time challenged her identity as a cyclist and furthered her mountain biking progression.
Reportage
On the Trail of Ancient Civilizations in the Peruvian Andes
As Ryan Wilson continues his bike tour south from Colombia to Chile, he runs into the beginning of Peru’s infamous storm season. Follow along as Ryan has a few close calls in a region that was home to one of the earliest civilizations in the Peruvian Andes.
Radar
Hannah Builds Her Chumba Cycles Race Bike
Chumba Cycles sent over a rad video showcasing its Chumba Ultra Race Team athlete Hannah Simon as she builds her bike for the 2024 gravel and bikepacking racing season.
In late December of 2023, Hannah joined Chumba’s production staff as a production assistant. She quickly grew her framebuilding skillset. This year she fabricated her Sendero Titanium MTB and Terlingua Steel gravel bikes.
First, she took on the AMR (Atlas MTN Race) in Morocco with the Sendero, coming in 3rd place over the 1300km race. Next up was Midsouth (3rd SS), the East TX Showdown 400 (1st place), DOOM 400 (2nd), and the inaugural Rule of Three 200. Later this year Hannah will be traveling to Kyrgyzstan to race the 1938km Silk Road Mountain Race!
Special thanks to Chumba ambassador Kody Gibson for editing and producing this video!
Hi, Hannah!
Reportage
Salsa Cycles Tributary E-Bike Review: A Great Documentary Tool
Two of our contributors, Spencer Harding and Jarrod Bunk, spent some time on the new Salsa Cycles Tributary gravel e-bike earlier this spring. Each used the bike to help transport themselves and camera gear while photographing various cycling events where a car would have otherwise been used. Today, we look at their first impressions and some details from Salsa‘s lineup of new 2024 e-bikes.
Reportage
Crust Bikes Shop Visit: The Cost of Living the F*cking Dream
Late this Spring, Nic Morales hit the road for an impromptu tour of the Southeast. Originally set on covering spring break in Nutmeg Country, uncertainties around weather-related cancellations diverted his path southward. Through that fortuitous turn of events came a shop visit with the fine folks at Crust Bikes HQ in Richmond, Virginia. Through his time with Garrett and Latané, he reflected on his own relationship with the outfit, what it means to be a bike brand, and much more.
Reportage
2024 Rocky Mountain Instinct Review: A Cosmic Trigger
John likes to review a carbon full-suspension bike at least once a year to challenge his opinions on his preference of chassis material, and this summer’s bike is the 2024 Rocky Mountain Instinct. Thanks to new geometry, details, and a simplified RIDE-4 adjustment, the Instinct proved to be a very capable 140/150 trail bike. Perhaps the bigger picture of this review is John’s ever-questioning of his quasi-religious, cult-like zealotry for metal bikes…
Radar
Bike Hacks: Tips for Cyclists With Small Homes and No Garage
When you have too many bikes and too little space, simply living your life feels like one big bike hack. It’s something Travis knows all too well, juggling multiple cycling disciplines, piles of gear, and a smattering of trail-work tools. With the help of a very forgiving spouse, he fits it all in (and around) a rental unit that’s about the size of a two-car garage. Oh, and he doesn’t have a garage.
Reportage
Otso Cycles Hoot Ti Review: Titanium Hardtail Gets the Last Laugh
Launching today, the Hoot Ti from Otso Cycles is the brand’s first foray into designing a truly modern and progressive hardtail mountain bike. Built around 140 mm of front suspension with short 425mm chainstays across all sizes, the Hoot is meant for demanding trail riding yet is playful enough for riders who like to get airborne. It’s an evolution of where the brand, which has been innovating since day one, is going while also showcasing its ability to deploy new technologies to solve challenging design problems.
Josh has put considerable mileage on the new Hoot over the past few weeks, both in his usual testing grounds of southern Arizona and a big week in the steep mountains of northern New Mexico. Continue reading below for Josh’s review of the Hoot and a peek inside Otso’s Minneapolis, MN-based operations.