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Well, we’re here in Los Angeles, after four days of pedal to the metal driving down Highway 1 from Portland to Los Angeles. The Pacific Coast Highway is one of the nation’s most popular bicycle touring routes and unfortunately, that also means it’s one of the most popular RV / Camper / no-clue how to drive windy road tourist destinations.
Bicycle touring really is surreal. My group of friends and I have been talking about doing a little Texas tour for a few weeks now and I can’t explain to them what makes touring different than just going out and doing a century on your road bike. Maybe this video by Sindre Ulvik Péladeau tells the tale? Everything looks correct to me.
Note from the road: water bottle squirt stops 90% of dogs in their tracks. For the other 10%, just throw food items.
Having fallen in love with cycling as a teenager while living in Namibia for a stint in the 90s, Capetonian Stan Engelbrecht has been dreaming about spending more and more time riding through the desolate desert terrain and finding creative ways to make it happen. Join Engelbrecht and a cast of characters for a bike overlanding trip through the austere Namibian landscape…
Kicking off 2025 with a wonderful entry into our Vintage Bicycles category, Tasshi Dennis from the Vintage MTB Workshop pens a historical look at a 1986 Cunningham Expedition (#003) and asks a question that’s long been on everyone’s mind: What is a gravel bike, anyway? Read on for Tasshi’s hot take and some beautiful photos by John of a stunning Beautiful Bicycle…
London’s oldest bike shop, Condor Cycles, just announced an all-new, all-metal, all-rounder, normal bike called the Bivio + and our UK correspondent, Petor Georgallou, brings us a spirited and succinct review of the bike. But first, cheese…
To wrap up our Year in Review posts, here are the picks for the 2024 Radavist Product Awards.
Radical Atavism is all about telling stories, and we love to tell stories about the people who bring unique color and character to the world of cycling. Reportage is where our passion lies – but sometimes along the way, we get to try out and test a lot of innovative bikes and bike-related products. We pour our creative energy into our reviews and over the years, we’ve established a reputation for publishing thoughtful and well-researched opinions on products.
This year, we found flaws, offered our unvarnished takes, and fell in love with a lot of products, all while deciphering the world of bikes we know and love. Some of these products deserve some extra recognition as we bid adieu to 2024.
Let’s check out ten cool things that made it to The 2024 Radavist Product Awards, marked by our Mauve Sandstone Toad below!
The Radavist’s 2024 Photographic Year in Review is how we celebrate this year’s visual achievements. In compiling this massive gallery it helps us reflect on our team’s hard work from the past twelve months, while acting as motivation for the year ahead.
Read on for The Radavist’s Top Ten Articles of 2024, ranked in ascending order and based on views. We’re more than just Beautiful Bicycles over here; year after year, the articles that our authors publish draw the biggest crowds. From our Dust-Up op-eds to the first look at brands’ future showcases, clever hacks, and new this year, our Radavist Documentary brought in the page views. As we look back across twelve months of content, ten articles in particular stand out.
It’s the last Friday of the year, and that means it’s time for our annual Top Ten Readers’ Rides list! Started in 2011, Readers’ Rides showcases the unique bikes owned by the readership of The Radavist. Like our Top Ten Bike Reviews list we posted yesterday, we compiled data from views and comments to distill down ten prime examples. This year’s list has some wild ones, so let’s get to it!
The totally redesigned Surly Moonlander shocked fatbikers with its 24 x 6.2” tires, long wheelbase, and a Pinion gearbox. Surly Bikes had finally returned to their roots, designing a wholly innovative and ridiculous fat bike for equally crazy cyclists. There is a lot to unpack with the new Moonlander fat bike and its paradigm-shifting capabilities. See Spencer’s thoughts and his bucket list adventure with the new Moonlander below…
The updated Singular Cycles Kite Titanium is an evolution of the original steel Kite, one of the first gravel bikes to accommodate large tires. Like, really large tires. While the titanium frameset has remained a popular option in Singular’s catalog, the UK-based brand just launched a revised version that features an entirely new titanium fork with 3D-printed crown and UDH-compatible rear dropouts.
Josh, who is consistently interested in testing chubby tire gravel bikes in his home turf of southern Arizona, spotted a prototype Kite Titanium earlier this year at the MADE show. That particular Kite happened to be Singular owner Sam Alison’s personal build, and he let Josh keep it in the U.S. for a couple of months before sending it back across the Atlantic. Read on below for Josh’s impressions of the quick and capable Singular Kite.
Last but not least and perhaps maybe the best for last is Petor‘s Favourite Products, Rides, and More From 2024. Read on as our intrepid Gonzo journalist, and owner of BESPOKED reflects on his year one clever quip at a time…
Next up in our year-end recaps, Josh shares a list of his favorite products that span an eclectic range from cycling components and apparel to car camping creature comforts and even laundry detergent. He also reflects on a career-defining project, his approach to reigniting creative sparks in response to waning social media interest, and shares some pivotal music and books that inspired him along the way. Read on below for Josh’s favorites…
At the end of each year, The Radavist contributor network compiles a list of their favorite products. This year, we’ve upped the ante to include our favorite products, rides, experiences, and more. Read on for John’s list from 2024…
Sean T. Randolph takes a close look at the Tout Terrain Outback Xplore II hardtail ($6,279), a rugged gearbox- and belt-drive-equipped bicycle featuring the Pinion C1.12 system. If you’re gearbox-curious (and we know you are), read on to find out if this touring mountain bike from Tout Terrain is the derailleur-killer…
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…
Teased in the Campandgoslow Shop Visit and Trout Tape post, John got to shoot Casey’s delicious rigid 29er klunker Manzanita Cycles mountain bike while visiting Great Basin Pottery in the foothills of the Easter Sierra. This bike is a perfect mix of vintage throwback and modern mixed-terrain sensibilities. Check out a detailed photo gallery below with words from the bar tape/potter Hemmingway, Casey himself, along with a Q&A with Nick from Manzanita…
While John was in NorCal, working with Whit from Meriwether Cycles on the Ponderosa project and Shop Visit article, he managed to document Jay from Nevada City-based You Bet! Bicycle Sales and Service‘s custom steel 140 mm hardtail 29er. We reached out to Jay to see if he’d be willing to pen the story of how this bike came about and he delivered one great write-up. Let’s check it out, along with some stunning photos below…
