The Radavist

 The hardtail market is far from saturated, yet there are a lot of bikes that just blend together with similar angles, colors, details, and pricing. This isn’t a bad thing, but when buying an incredibly well-rounded frame that can be built up any number of ways, you’d be hard-pressed to find anything in the same realm as a Monē.

The La Roca is Cjell Monē’s production hardtail, made by hand in a small operation in Taiwan using a unique fillet brazing technique. What you’re looking at now is the V3 frame, and we have yet to feature a La Roca V3 here on The Radavist so when Bailey was building this up at Sincere Cycles last Friday, I had to take it out for photos! Let’s check out what’s new in V3 and more details on Kevin from Adventure Bikepacking‘s build below!

When the summer months roll through Santa Fe, my drop bar bikes tend to get hung on the wall in favor of my flat bar mountain and touring bikes. The main reason is that our “gravel” in town is exposed, hot, and windy. Rather than battle the elements on gravel roads, we escape from town into tree cover and savor our luscious singletrack. 

So when we released The Radavist edition Mosaic bikes, both in the GT-2X and GT-2 45 models, I had my friends at The Pro’s Closet hold onto a size 58cm GT-2 45 mechanical bike for me to ride this winter. In the interim, I did my best to “soften the ride” by incorporating Cane Creek‘s popular eeSilk components.

Well, I’ve spent some time riding the bike, both in Santa Fe and down in Southern Arizona, and am ready to spew my thoughts in a fully-detailed review, so let’s get to it!

We’re big fans of rigid bikes over here at the Radavist, especially made with titanium. Chris Corona, aka Dirt Drops, has one slick custom Caletti titanium MTB frame, best served neat with Chris King Bourbon.

2018 Philly Bike Expo: Engin Cycles All Road Rocket
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk

Drew over at Engin is a bit of a problem solver, he also happens to be a machinist as well as a frame builder creating solutions such as a 5bolt CNC Spider allows for easy access to ring swaps that the stock configuration didn’t allow, a CNC two-piece yoke that is welded together to add clearance for both 700x47c tires and a 34/50 double crank, even though this bike is built as a 1x.  

The left shifter is converted to actuate the dropper post, something that Engin thinks is going to be the next big thing to bridge the gap between an all-road bike and the MTB.  With a build of Whisky Parts Co No9 rims and fork, White Industries hubs, and a full SRAM Force 1x kit, this bike surely blurs the lines of a fast road bike that still rips off road.

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This NAHBS I learned two things about 44 Bikes. The first being Kris and I are the exact same size – which comes in handy for any planned trips to New Hampshire I might have to make. Second, Kris doesn’t build anything that he can’t or wouldn’t ride himself. Although, I suppose if someone really wanted a road bike, he’d make an exception.

Regionally, the roads surrounding Kris’ shop and home are quite shitty. Rutted, washboarded, washed-out and rocky, the tracks and trails take quite the beating throughout the winter, so his bikes are tailored to this terrain. For NAHBS this year, Kris brought all three of his own bikes to show off, because, well. It just makes sense.

Here’s the show favorite from his booth: a murdered out singlespeed 29’r with a nice, fat Whisky Parts fork, Industry 9 wheels and a rear end so tight that it’d be hard to… No, wait, it’s so black metal that… Anyway, I digress.

Check out more in the Gallery!

Being the brand manager for a company like All-City certainly has its perks. One of which being you get to cook up ideas for new bikes, ride said bikes and have your buddies Instagram and photograph these bikes. My job, although the later is already understood, was to make said bike plenty dirty for the photo shoot.

Since Jeff from All-City got into town for the Keep Cross Weird race, we’ve been riding everyday and aside from one MTB session, it’s all been on the local roads, trails and tracks here in Austin. Rocks, mud, river crossings, sand, limestone and more, the whole time Jeff was so stoked to be riding this bike. Why? Because it’s unlike anything All-City has cooked up before.

Hydraulic disc brakes, courtesy of SRAM, a disc Whisky parts fork, Reynolds 853 tubing and a mix of other spare parts Jeff had lying around, certainly put this bike in the well used category. When I asked if Jeff wanted to wait for his new cranks, seatpost and saddle to come in prior to shooting the bike, he replied “this is how I ride my bikes!”. Honesty that matters.

The All City 853 Macho King is a prototype and whether it goes to production or not, depends on the people’s demands. If you like this bike and want to see it go to production, holler at Jeff in the comments!

Check out more #lightbro shots in the Gallery!

The Fulton Brewery Racing Team is a Minneapolis-based cross team that All-City sponsors and this year, Jeff decided to do something extra special for them. He took a batch of Nature Boy Zonas (before they all sold out) and painted them in the Fulton Brewery livery. That means they fly under the green, black and white colors (and get discounted beer). Win / win.

Then, Jeff did something very un-Jeff. He put a carbon fork on a bike that wasn’t engineered for one. Oh noes! Joking aside, Jeff and I always get into this debate. Personally, I think it looks rad! The Whisky Parts No7 forks are something to desire, especially when painted to match the rest of the bike.

I love what All-City is doing with the Fulton Brewery Racing Team and it makes me want to drink a Lonely Blonde right now. Check out more photos in the Gallery, including a shot of the new All-City Crossing Guard and rings.

Back in March, as part of the Kolektif Bike Fair in Berlin, the team behind Rad Race put on the 9th annual Last Wo/Man Standing fixed gear race at the winding indoor Mobikart go-kart circuit track. Additionally, the bike fair featured a handful of stunning custom builds on display from an array of framebuilders including Drust, Omnium, Rossman, Morassi, Trout, ten:07, and Vetra. Petor Georgallou was there for it all and shares a full report and massive image gallery below.

Over the past few months of riding Otso’s titanium version of their previously-released stainless steel Fenrir, I’ve strayed further into the morass of bike categorization than I ever thought I would, along the way asking myself such snake-eating-its-tail questions as: What is a gravel bike, what is a mountain bike, do modern ATBs even exist?

Longtime readers of this site are likely very familiar with Megan Dean and her frame building operation Moth Attack. Her builds span the typology gamut – track, ‘cross, road, mountain, etc. – and she’s been doing it for quite some time now. Check out John’s visit to her space in LA back in 2012! Over the years she’s sponsored a cyclocross team, taught frame building, and has assumed ownership of Handlebar Mustache apparel company with her partner Wade. After moving around the western US, Megan and Wade recently settled in Tuscon, AZ. While I was in town for some riding earlier this year, I caught up with Megan in her home studio while she brazed and formed tubes for the gravel/adventure frame she’s building for Wade. Continue reading for an interview with Megan and a detailed look at two bikes in her personal collection: a 90s Klein Attitude commuter and Team Moth Attack CX…

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.