Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
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It Takes Two: John’s 1985 Steve Potts Signature
Marin County was a bustling time for the early mountain bike scene from the late 70s and well into the 80s. Names like Tom Ritchey/Gary Fisher/Charlie Kelly at the MountainBikes store, and Joe Breeze, Charlie Cunningham, and Steve Potts psychically and physically shaping the future of the then-fledgling sport with their fire-road ripping designs, torches and tig welders.
We’ve reported on Cunningham and Potts’ involvement in Wilderness Trail Bikes (known widely as WTB) over the past few years along with Mark Slate. In 1983, Cunningham, Potts, and Mark Slate founded WTB, and the trio began developing components in Marin, leaning on both builder’s fondness for innovation and exquisitely unique craft. While Steve loved to shape tubes with brass fillets, focusing on the form regardless of weight, Charlie would tig aluminum and shave grams anywhere he could. The two made for a dynamic duo of constructeurs.
By the time 1985 rolled around, mountain bikes were a legitimate tour de force within the bike industry. Even though they gravitated towards completely different frame materials and processes, Cunningham and Potts were credited with crafting some of the most iconic bikes of the era and still found the time to collaborate and share ideas.
As with many of the influential characters and pivotal moments in the early days of the almighty mountain bike, collaboration was key, and sometimes, it took two talented individuals to make a single bike…
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The Sunburnt Desert: A Solo Bikepacking Journey Across Australia
Crossing any foreign country alone is a daunting quest. In shaky moments I turn to my heroes, the women who boil their fears until they evaporate into courage. Legends like Robyn Davidson, who famously walked her camels across the empty Australian outback to the Indian Ocean and wrote about it in her book “Tracks,” whose pages revealed the mayhem and mystique of solo desert expeditions. Upon reading her account, I envisioned my own voyage across the country. Where Davidson chose camels, I chose a bicycle.
Heatwave induced mirages are nothing outside of the norm in one of Earth’s harshest desert environments. Many times while cycling Australia I caught my thoughts drifting back to Africa, on my first monumental bike voyage from Cairo to Cape Town. The similarities of the two lands were palpable: Australia’s outback terrain akin to sand dunes of the Saharan Desert, and Down Under roadhouses seemed close cousins of remote Sudanese cafeterias. In both places the feeling of complete surrender to mother nature’s extreme weather arsenal was nearly identical, and total. Nevertheless, an unmistakable boundary separated how I approached the two journeys: a traditional touring outfit in Africa versus a lighter bikepacking setup in Australia.
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Fork Yeah: John’s 1991 Team Fat Chance Yo Eddy!
Before we jump in, let’s take a look back: This has been such a fun process to undertake over the course of the past nine months. For those who are just tuning in, I bought a frame from Martin, owner of Second Spin Cycles, last year after he had acquired a substantial Fat City Cycles collection. Among his lucky haul was this Yo Eddy! in the team lavender livery with rack mounts, a pump peg, and some frame damage.
While the bike was in Rick’s care at D&D for some repairs and a paint respray, I began collecting period-correct parts from various sources. After re-finishing some of them and getting the bike back, I just finished the build this week. Monday night was the maiden voyage of the new and improved Yo Eddy! and I took some glamour shots here in Santa Fe, so let’s check this beaut out below!
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Radar Roundup: Merman Bicycles Launch, Mowmow Bars, Crumbworks Prototype Frame, Ibex Indie Hoodies, Minoura Camp Stove Cage, Mitch Ropelato in NYC, and Adaptive Shredding
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
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Mike From Black Mountain Cycles’ Cunningham #E5 GH Road
While in Marin for a few photoshoots, John swung by to see Mike at Black Mountain Cycles in Point Reyes Station. It had been several years (maybe you recall his Shop Visit post) since he’d been in the area and was long overdue for some catching up.
Mike is an industry veteran, having raced bikes and worked for various brands over the years before launching his own in-house brand of bikes under the banner of Black Mountain Cycles. We’ve featured several Black Mountain builds over the years and are big fans of what Mike designs. Mike owns several unique vintage bikes that have helped inform his own designs, yet the crème de la crème is his personal Cunningham road.
We pinged Mike to write about this rare machine, showcasing its origins and unique details found only on a Cunningham, so read on for more!
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Don’t Tell Me You Like It: An Extended Review of The Argonaut GR3 Gravel Bike
Argonaut’s GR3 gravel bike combines the trademarked GravelFirst geometry with a custom rider-specific carbon layup to create what the Bend, Oregon-based frame and component builder claim to be a “rip-capable gravel bike unlike any other.” So, what does Petor Georgallou‘s time as a high schooler working at a video rental shop have to do with the Argonaut GR3? And, if he tells you he likes the bike, will you even believe him? Read on to find out…
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Restoring a Classic MTB Part 02: Tutorial – How to Remove Anodizing and Polish Bicycle Components the Easy Way
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be working on my Yo Eddy! restoration project I began last year. If you recall, I bought an early Yo Eddy! frame from my friend Martin at Second Spin Cycles and sent it off to Rick at D&D Cycles for a new paint job and a few minor repairs. Well, the frame is back in my hands, so it’s time to get crackin’ on this restoration project.
My vision for the build includes polishing a Syncros 29.4⌀ seatpost, as this build kit will have a mix of black and silver components. Most of these seat posts are pretty faded and scratched, so I thought polishing one up would be nice.
Back in 2009, I made a post on this website about polishing vintage seat posts. At the time, I was restoring various Merckx frames and had scored a few unique seat posts. But what if your seatpost, or other bike components, has a colored anodizing finish you’re just not into? Well, read on below for the full tutorial.
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Readers’ Rides: Andrew’s Freewheelin’ Crust Bikes Florida Man Singlespeed
Say what you will about social media and its adverse effects on society but we’ve been served some stunning bikes through our Instagram Explore page over the years and as a result have connected with some genuinely amazing individuals. So maybe it’s not all that bad? Today’s Readers’ Ride is case in point: Andrew‘s Crust Bikes Florida Man looks like something we’d document in our Philly Bike Expo Reportage. Andrew went to town with this one and boy oh boy is it a looker! Without further adieu…
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Radar Roundup: Globe Haul ST, Backcountry MTB/Gravel Apparel, BTCHN Weird Ass Bars, LOOK X-Track Bronze, Ergon GXR Grips, Support Trails Win an Ibis, and Bike Across America 1965
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
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Brave New Wheel Builds: Johnny’s Monē El Pebblito with Oddity Squidfork
Brave New Wheel bike shop is a Fort Collins, CO staple and community hub that has been around since the 1980s. Co-owned by Johnny Daggett and Mike Woodard, the shop focuses on service and repair, wheel-building, and suspension work. Johnny recently finished building a Monē Bikes El Pebblito gravel rocketship with custom Squidfork from local builders Oddity Cycles. Continue reading below for Johnny’s full rundown with a chilly photoset from Aaron LaVanchy…
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Vintage Bicycles: A Merlin Made Ti/Carbon 1991 Raleigh John Tomac Signature
Post a photo of drop bars on a mountain bike, and chances are, someone will reference the American rider John Tomac. In the late 1980s, this BMX racer turned full-on MTB superstar and became known for sporting a style never before seen in the growing sport. Drop bars, Tension Disc, and tabletops, Tomac had it all. In 1991, Merlin Titanium crafted this Raleigh John Tomac Signature frame from titanium and carbon fiber.
The bike made its debut at the XC World Championships in Il Ciccio, Italy before a limited run of frames was produced for public consumption, and today, we’re debuting it on The Radavist for your consumption. Check out the full history by Eric Rumpf and photos by Elizabeth Wilcox below!
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A FoCo Collabo: Josh’s Bender 29+ Touring MTB with Oddity Squid Fork
Will Bender is a bicycle frame builder based in Fort Collins, CO. His custom frames run the gamut from all-road to gravel, touring, and modern hardtails. Last summer, Josh paid Will a visit to document his shop and learn about his background and approach to building bikes. While he was there, he enlisted Will to build the touring MTB of his dreams — a comfortable 29+ rig capable of carrying heavy loads and designed to harmonize with the Oddity Squid Fork made concurrently by another Fort Collins frame builder, Sean Burns. Continue reading below for the full rundown on this build…
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Radar Roundup: Cycles Manivelle Unirack, MAAPxPAM, X11 Cotton Ron’s, Drinking and Cycling, Salsa Recall, Migration Gravel Race, and Made in New England
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
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The Radavist’s Top Ten Readers’ Rides of 2022
We first began featuring Reader’s Rides back in 2011; since then these part-review, part-vignette reader submissions have become a beloved weekly fixture here on The Radavist. This year’s Top Ten Readers’ Rides feature both brand new builds and older frames full of stories that have been given new life. As always they are 100% audience-submitted and the builds highlighted here were chosen based on web traffic and engagement. We love receiving submissions each week so if you have been on the fence about submitting your ride, perhaps this list will motivate you to break out the camera and show off your rig. Read on for some choice submissions from 2022…
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Category Purgatory: Turning the YT Industries Szepter Into a Mountain Biker’s Gravel Bike
The Szepter is YT Industries‘ first foray into designing a gravel bike. But unlike other gravel frame designs that are subtly-tweaked road bikes, the Szepter shares more DNA with the German company’s line-up of trail bikes. After putting—and pushing—the Szepter through its paces on his local Los Angeles-area trails, below Travis Engel shares his review alongside some suggested adjustments to the stock build to get the most out of this gravity-focused gravel bike.
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Radar Roundup: Ribble Gravel 725, Sam Hillborne Pre-Order, Rogue Panda Happy Jack Snack Sack, Mythos MTB Stem, 20th Annual Bicycle Quarterly, Restrap Solstice Century, NYC Velo and Alpine Luddites, and Making Marks
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
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Soften the Ride: A Review of the Mosaic GT-2 45 with Cane Creek eeSilk Components
With the release of our Radavist edition Mosaic bikes, both in the GT-2X and GT-2 45 models, our friends at Mosaic sent over a 58cm GT-2 45 mechanical bike for review. Adding to the compliance of the titanium frame, John looked to Cane Creek‘s popular eeSilk components…