The Radavist

In a lot of ways, my first Geekhouse Woodville touring bike served as a catalyst for me taking cycling more seriously. It was my first custom bike and provided me with ample motivation to just get out there and ride. The first major tour being Portland to SF and from there, I took it on numerous other trips here in Austin. When it was stolen last year, I began planning out a replacement with Geekhouse. There were some things I wanted to change, but mostly I just missed having a touring bike to ride around on.

As it sat en queue, I couldn’t decide on how I wanted it to function. Initially, I wanted a dirt-drop 29’r pack-bike tourer for riding the MTB trails here in town, but then my Independent Fabrication took over that role, so I revisited what I loved the most about my first touring bike. The riding position is what I would consider traditional but having acquired the Bruce Gordon Rock n Road tires, I wanted to make sure it would roll at least a 50c. I also opted for external cable routing and passed on the S&S couplers.

I’ve had great luck with the SRAM XO rear derailleur and its 11-36 range matched with a compact crank. This time I went with White Industries VBC system and a Force front derailleur, converted to a top-pull. With a 50 outer ring and 32, inner, I’ll have a wider range than I would with a triple. Chris King classic hub on the rear and a SON hub with matching Edelux lamp on the front for light.

Paul components throughout: Tall and Handsome post, Touring Cantis. Other components include a Thomson seat post collar, Brooks Swift saddle, Salsa Cowbell 2 with SRAM barcons, TRP levers and MKS Lambda pedals. With all the Made in the USA bling, I got Marty and Brad at Geekhouse to fabricate a one-off custom stem as well as front and rear racks. The beauty of the front racks lie in their low-rider detachable hangers on the front…

I always load front and low on trips. The bike rides a lot better since the handling isn’t compromised as it would with a rear load and these low-riders are low. My large panniers sit about 6″ off the ground, which is perfect on a 43c tire. On top of just looking amazing, these racks weighed a lot less than the Tubus system I had been using previously. The fork is another highlight: internal cable routing for the Edelux lamp and the segmented shoulders have rack attachments.

Even with all those details and that component list, a build can still go south with a bad powder job. Brad really knocked this one out of the park. Olive Drab green with a matte clear adds to the utilitarian / military aesthetic I wanted. I’ve been scooting around town a lot on this beaut and took it on a few trail rides last week and am in love. Even the ride out to shoot these photos was super dreamy…

I still need to dial it in though. The derailleur cables are now routed under the tape, mostly to make it easier to mount a Swift Industries Ozette randonneur bag. I’ll also need to splice some more chain so I can use the 50t with more of the cassette but for now, it’s riding really well.

That said, it’s not a touring bike until you’ve at least camped on it and summertime in Texas will provide ample opportunities. Right now, I’m just pumped that it came together so well. Many thanks to PAUL, Bens Cycle, Chris at Mellow Johnny’s and the Geekhouse crew for making yet another dream come true.

… also, buy renter’s insurance! Most plans will cover your bikes when they’re stolen!

I’ll admit. When I first saw Jon from Two Tone ATL‘s bike sitting in the Six Eleven booth at NAHBS, I didn’t know what to think. First, I looked at the bottom bracket, which looked like a drop track, then the angles were pretty damn close to parallel, with a cross fork rake and S&S couplers. Rando? Tourer? Cross? Travel, disc road with fender clearance? Honestly, it looked kinda like a track bike, too.

Initially, I was reminded of the Homer Car, which might seem like an insult but it’s not. One of the merits of a custom build is that no matter what you think you may want, a builder can and usually will make it. Jon’s a self-described “trackie”. He likes the feel of a track bike. Aggressive angles, nimble handling, higher bb and yes, Speedplay pedals. The seat tube and head tube angles float in around 73.5 degrees with a BB drop of 55mm (most cross bikes float around 65mm – 68mm) and 420mm chainstay.

If I had to categorize it as anything, it’d be a cross bike but it’s more than that. Maybe a “Rock and Road”, a la Bruce Gordon? Jon describes the bike as “versatile” and I feel like a lot of builders get requests for bikes like this. A jack of all trades, master of none. Mechanical discs, Chris King Iso Disc R45, ENVE tapered cross fork and yes, it has Retroshift, which I actually like on this bike. I always use barcons on my touring rigs and I can appreciate the simplicity and reliability of shifting with barcons.

Look, this is an odd duck. Not an ugly duckling, but a strange fowl. It is not a production bike, however, so don’t get your feathers in a ruff. For Jon, this is exactly what he wanted and I’m sure people are still going to insist that they know best here – read Bike Snob‘s commentary yesterday? Jon knew exactly what he wanted. He’s a well seasoned cyclist and this is his dream machine. Maybe one day you can chat about it with Jon on a ride but chances are, he’ll be waiting for you at the top of even the steepest climb (not joking, dude is a hoss).

This year, I traveled more than any year before, which allowed me to photograph Beautiful Bicycles from all over the world. When I began compiling this list, I wanted to pull in from my own personal favorites, meaning bikes that I remembered more than others. Ranking based on traffic and comments has been done before, making it too easy, so I started at the first posts this year and went through my favorites, narrowing it down to a sharp top 10 list. While many of these bikes are from the past few months, some of my favorites came in early on. A few are just iconic and others are classic, but they were all a blast to photograph.

See for yourself, in no particular order in the Gallery and notations are below.

Jon, Ross and I have been planning a weekend getaway to Colorado Bend State Park for some time now. Texas has a lot of rich, lush campsites, all within riding distance of Austin. Bend, TX was an obvious choice, due to the distance and route it would require us to do in a day. I knew it would be about 120 miles each way and depending on our route, between 5,000′ and 8,000′ in climbing. In the end, we opted out of the extra 3,000′ of climbing, which was a smart move.

We left first thing Friday morning, around 6am and headed out through the neighborhoods to Bee Caves, where we split off on 71. From there, we hit 281 and finally, CR 580, all the way into Bend. While some of the roads were peaceful country roads, a lot of the day was spent on highway shoulders. I brought my Woodville, Ross was on his Sachs and Jon, his Icarus. Since I was the only one who had a touring bike, I carried the food, my supplies, tent and Jon’s tarps, which he planned on making a shelter out of.

The guys carefully selected their goods and we set off. I shot 4 rolls of color film (Portra 800 and 400), as well as a waterproof, disposable camera. The following image gallery is from the entire weekend of camping, swimming and the rides to and from the park. The ride out came in at 117 miles and 4,500′, the ride back was 116 and 4,100′.

This gallery is massive, with over 100 photos and each have a brief description, so don’t forget to read the captions.

Check out the Gallery by clicking the photo above, or click here to open a new tab.

Mitch from Map Bicycles‘ work was some of the nicest at the 2012 NAHBS. Every last detail on all of his bikes was well thought out and constructed with care. My favorite was his French-fendered, triple triangle, porteur city bike. I could spend all day with out outdoors, giving it lens love but unfortunately, every time I went by the booth, it was being swarmed with people. Other bikes in the booth included a full-loaded touring bike and a gorgeous road frame, complete with barcons and Mafac-brakes. It was great to finally put a face to a name and a company. Next time I see Mitch, hopefully it’ll be on his home turf. Till then, be sure to check out the gallery.

Gallery

Back to the 2012 NAHBS coverage here on the site. These three builders really killed it this year.

611 Bicycle Co displayed some very original bikes as well. Aaron’s cross bike, with its brazen mud splatters won best cross bike in show and his commuter with its almost zenomorphic lugwork was stunning. And for everyone who loves track bikes, he delivered a delicately-curved race machine. The thing to note here is that the seat tube mimics the curve of the fork: it bends almost right from the seat tube cluster. 611 always has the best merch and this year, they delivered on that front. Patches! EVERY BUILDER SHOULD HAVE PATCHES.

Anderson‘s stainless road bike and touring bike were, as always, top notch but the booth favorite was his orange grass track bike. It was one of my favorites in the show (I keep saying that, don’t worry, there’s more). A customer races grass track and got Anderson to make one, just in time for the show. The 73 head tube angle, 74.5 seat tube angle enables the bike to achieve stability while still being able to sprint like a track bike. So sick.

Finally, Naked really stole the show with their bikes. While some people put show bikes on a pedestal, Naked, um, ride theirs. They rode the bikes hundreds of miles to the show from their facilities in Heriot Bay, BC, Canada. The long-reach caliper road bike and off-road dirt cruiser were dialed in every definition of the word. Integrated lighting, internal wiring and just plain style. These bikes were beautiful in their birthday suit.

See the Gallery below.