The Radavist

For decades, the design of the bicycle has stayed relatively the same: two wheels, a mechanism to propel said wheels and a steering column to navigate its path. While this description is very vague, the design and refinement of the bicycle has become very specialized over time. Road bikes, cross bikes and touring bikes all have specific design qualities: nuances that make them different. So where do you start when you’re working on a project with Toyota Prius Projects and Parlee Cycles? Both are known for their use of proprietary technology and innovation but how does that that translate into a frame design? Much less, an entire bicycle? Two weeks ago, I visited Parlee Cycles to document the design process of the concept bike build inspired by Prius innovations.

Check out more below!

Every once and a while, I make an investment. Well, not literally, it’s more of a long-term bicycle component commitment. When I was researching generator hubs, I was drawn to the low-cost of many models but after talking to enough people, they all pointed me in one direction: the products of the German company Schmidt SON. The name SON will send goosebumps up the arms of rando and touring freaks and with good reason. Shortly after NAHBS, Bens Cycle started to carry Schmidt SON products so I sold some spare parts and put a deposit down. I’ve been using the SON Schmidt Delux hub with the Edelux LED head lamp for a week now and I am blown away at its performance.

Check out more of my Initial Reaction to the Schmidt SON Delux Hub and Edelux LED lamp below.

This week I’m doing a little something special for Reader’s Rides. First up is a super straight forward bike check of Honor Forte’s Velo Orange Polyvalent touring bike. I met Honor at the Philly Bike Expo where he was riding a yellow RB-1. Since then, he’s put together a rather unique Polyvalent build:

“I wanted to send you my new build since I haven’t seen many of them built up this way on the web. It’s a Velo Orange Polyvalent touring setup. I’ve spent a few years reading over Rivendell literature and have always been attracted to the way they approach what a bicycle should be used for, so I wanted to build something that would be at home on city streets, fire trails, bike camping trips, long tours, etc. An everything bike. I already had a 650B wheelset and a full touring parts group I was moving around between frames, but they’ve all found their home and best fit on this frame. It truly is a multipurpose bike. Something interesting I decided to try out though was the new VO Integrated Decaleur with the Ostrich handlebar bag.

It’s great. You’ll see in the pictures that the decaleur is bolted through the leather of the bag, and attaches directly to the rack, low to the wheel instead of high up on the bar. Combined with the low-trail fork, the bike handles as if nothing’s on it even with a full heavy load in the bag; I find that I can lean back on a long ride with no hands on the bar and it still glides straight as an arrow with no wobble. Last thing worth noting is my rear fender-line method, just because I havent seen this done elsewhere. I wanted the fender close enough to the tire to maintain consistent fender spacing, but need to move it forward when taking the rear wheel out (horizontal dropouts). My solution was to cut a thin strip of a used intertube, weave it around the fender and chainstay, and tie it off with a knot on the non-drive side chainstay. It’s a small detail but it solved a big problem for me.”

If you’re into this kinda stuff, check out a full parts list below.

Man. What a whirlwind of a weekend. No, wait. What a whirlwind of a process. Ever since I was in Boston, I mean Allston getting fit for my custom Geekhouse Woodville, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the 2011 NAHBS. Take all the excitement of getting a custom bicycle tailored especially for you and pack that into a crazy weekend like NAHBS and you’ll know how I felt. For the 2011 NAHBS, the Boston-based Geekhouse Bikes brought out their classiest collection yet. Each for people with special ties to the brand and each custom-tailored to fit their needs.

Check out more photos and a slideshow from my coverage of the 2011 NAHBS Geekhouse Bikes booth below.

Herbie Helm had one of the more ornate bicycles at the 2011 NAHBS. This touring rig had hand-carved lugs all over and despite it’s delicate appearance, is meant to truck across the country.

Check out a slideshow from my coverage of the 2011 NAHBS Herbie Helm booth below.

So I know yesterday’s 2011 NAHBS Recon: Geekhouse Teaser wasn’t funny. I owe you guys a few photos right?

Check out a Teaser of Geekhouse’s 2011 NAHBS offerings below!

Greg, Marty and Brad from Geekhouse have been burning the midnight oil getting all their bikes together and let me tell you, their work this year for the 2011 NAHBS is AMAZING.

Check out a Teaser of Geekhouse’s 2011 NAHBS offerings below!

Dan commutes on a rather rare bird. For those of you who weren’t aware, Grant Peterson, of Rivendell, used to design bicycles for Bridgestone. His most famous models were the RB-1 and XO-1 frame. In 1993, the XO-1s sported a burnt orange color and could fit either 26″ or 700c wheels. They became the essential touring bikes of choice for many and have accumulated a rather cult-like following. Dan’s Bridgestone is a 1991 and was the only XO-1 to ever come with standard calipers, not cantis and it was designed for 26″ wheels, not 650b or 700c. This was also the only year that the XO-1 came in a purple or “tusk” paint color.

Bottom line is, Dan’s got an awesome commuter and you can check out more photos below.

Touring bikes come in all shapes and sizes. Some of the more die-hard tourers will ride 26″ wheels because of their availability when traveling to remote lands. Others swear by the Rivendell 650b size and still others stick to 700c. Sean from Rawland Cycles recently hit me up to tell me that they moved to Austin. Their bicycles are some of the gnarliest production touring bikes I’ve seen. That thing just looks like it’d be a blast to thrash some off-road trails on!

Check out more photos and info at the Rawland blog!

Lately I’ve been having really vivid dreams. You know, the kind of dreams where every detail is a reflection of some event you’ve had that day. Well, last night I went to bed thinking about how much fun NAHBS is going to be. I just paid the crew at Geekhouse for my SRAM group yesterday and the bike’s been on my mind a lot the past few weeks. So I went to sleep only to wake up this morning with some really weird memories.

The NAHBS was outdoors in Austin, under a highway overpass. There were tents everywhere and all the photographers were complaining about the lack of light. I was stuck in the Cyclops tent (heh) trying to get my lens working correctly when Chris Bishop got on the PA system and announced “I’m over making really, really sweet bikes”. He went on to say that “From now on, I’ll be making firearms”.

Everyone was shocked. Why would Bishop Bikes close down? While I was sitting there, scratching my head, it began to rain. People huddled under the tents when Marty from Geekhouse came running over saying “You haven’t seen your bike yet!”. Randomly, someone turned around and yelled “MY LITTLE PONY” at me. Confused, I headed over to the Geekhouse tent (which was covered in muddy cross bikes, a beer basket cruiser and a 20″ fixed bike (because, you know, no company has made one of those before).

In the back, on a shelf was my Woodville touring bike. It was lavender and black with glitter couplers, a sparkle Brooks saddle, a suspension fork, tassles and pink Deep V’s. Now my dream had turned into a nightmare. Marty gave it to me and told me to go get them pretzels and beer. I got on it and music came out of the wheels. Then I ran over a pothole and a dancehall airhorn erupted from the fork. As I was riding away, everyone chanted “MY LITTLE PONY” over and over again. Before leaving the NAHBS area, I woke up.

I Tweeted part of this story earlier and someone commented that Marty told them that he and I snuggled at the NAHBS in one of his dreams. Strange indeed!

Back in November I mentioned that Marty and the Geekhouse crew are designing and building me a Woodville (huh huh he said wood) touring bike for this year’s NAHBS. Today we had a little Skype conference call and all the major decisions were made. Since it’s a show bike, we want it to be extra special so we took a bunch of old amulets and melted them down to form the tubing and stole the saddle from Eddy Merckx’s hour record bike.

This thing is going to be sick! Unfortunately, that’s all the news I have for you. But stay tuned for future updates as events warrant.

The first stop I made during my Boston trip was Geekhouse bikes. Known mostly for their curvy-tubed, triple triangle Rockcity track bikes, Geekhouse has come a long way since Marty first learned to build bikes. Now the brand offers a wide-variety of bicycles. From 26″ dirt jumpers, to touring bikes, to cross, to road and track bikes.

Step inside the shop as I show what goes on behind the scenes at Geekhouse!

For some reason, fall makes me start to look at touring and randonneuring bikes. Maybe it’s all the rain or the leaves on the ground but like clockwork, every year around this time, I start to scour Flickr for my one-day dream bike. That’s why having friends like Sasha rules. I get to live vicariously through him and his bicycle exploits. His newest, a French Blue Ahearne Randonneur is to die for! This is a pristine build. Check out some more photos on his Flickr.

Circle A hails from Providence, Rhode Island and while their custom bicycle frames are to die for, their paint jobs are also about as dreamy as they come on the east coast. Their offerings at the 2010 Philly Bike Expo ranged from touring bikes to BMX frames and a whole lot in between.

Head over to my Flickr to check out some more photos from their booth.

Sometimes It’s easy to forget that many framebuilders call Brooklyn home. Even in my neighborhood. Thomas Callahan runs Horse Cycles, a small company on N3rd street in Williamsburg. While Thomas enjoys fillet brazing, he’s also familiar with the fine art that is working with lugs. From the mean street machines to the refined touring bikes, Horse Cycles creates some beautiful bicycles.

Check out my shop visit below!

Believe me, I know what you’re thinking and no, it’s not Photoshop, just a wacky Merckx Mondays brought to you by those little nuanced moments in cycling and Tears for Gears. If you’re as confused as I was when I first saw this photo, you’ve gotta check out the rest of the post!

Edi Merukusu Mondays!

Last Saturday was the 10th Annual Bicycle Film Festival street party in NYC. The vendors were out, cyclists were out and the BMX / Big Bike / Fixed scene was present in full force. All the locals were there, along with some of the countries biggest riders.

It was too much to cover in 10 photos, but I did my best! Check out the rest below!

Joshua Kampa from Open Bicycle and Aaron Panone from Aarn Works Design have joined forces in Sommerville, Massachusetts under the guise of Union Foundry. They believe that elegant design serves as its own Raison d’être, or reason for being. This ideology is exemplified by their first project, the Rotafixer T0001-0A.

When I first received this painstakingly-designed packaging in the mail, I thought it was some sort of proprietary cog. After a minute, I figured it out and man, I’m impressed!

Check out some more information below!