The Yo Eddy is perhaps one of the most iconic mountain bikes. With its Chris Igleheart-designed segmented fork, big tires, and yeah, bright colors, the Yo Eddy left its mark across generations. Today we’ve got a super clean 1990 Fat Chance Grello Yo Eddy for our Vintage Bicycles feature with words by the wonderful Mike Wilk and photos by the ever-talented Joey Schusler…
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Sklar Sweet Spot Review: Josh’s Mash-Up Sweet Jammer
The Sweet Spot from Bozeman, MT-based Sklar Bikes is a steel hardtail mountain bike designed to be a venerable quiver-killer. Built around 150mm of front suspension, with clearance for up to 29 x 2.8 tires, its geometry embraces builder Adam Sklar’s mantra of “fast is fun, but fun is fun-er.” Sweet Spots were Adam’s first foray into offering a small batch frame design and sizing, which he hopes will make his bikes more accessible and faster to produce.
I picked up a Sweet Spot of my own earlier this spring after many years of searching for the perfect hardtail. Due to a few requests I had to make it even sweeter, it turned into a custom project that retained the established Sweet Spot geometry and material selection. Below, let’s take a closer look at my build in addition to a brief interview with Adam about these bikes and his design/build process!
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Longer, Higher, Calmer: Kyle’s Longterm Review of the Myth Zodiac Steel Full Suspension 29er
We were catching our breath after the short climb from Warner Lake up to the top of Hazzard County. Burro Pass was a riot–we yipped and hollered the entire way down. After a quick sip of our drinks and admiring the view, we got back on the pedals and began the broad, fast winding trail down the open scrub of this famous section of The Whole Enchilada. Popping and jibbing, sliding, and tucking, we were fully in ‘the flow’…until…THWACK! I slowed down and found a spot to pull off and investigate the source of the racket. My wheels were true, the tires firm, fork and shock yet sprung, when the problem revealed itself: I had impacted a loose chunk of sandstone that penetrated the downtube on my carbon frame…
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Handmade Bicycle Show Australia 2022 Part 02
This year brought about the return of the Handmade Bicycle Show Australia, and we had our mate Andy White from FYXO on the ground documenting some of Australia’s finest handmade bikes. Part 02 of our coverage showcases 12 unique builds from the show, so read on for more!
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Handmade Bicycle Show Australia 2022 Part 01
This year brought about the return of the Handmade Bicycle Show Australia and we had our mate Andy White from FYXO on the ground documenting some of Australia’s finest handmade bikes. Part 01 of our coverage showcases the opening night of the 2022 Handmade Bicycle Show Australia so check out Andy’s wonderful photos below!
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You’ve Got a Friend in Middle Tennessee: A Shop Visit with Amigo Frameworks
When I started working here at The Radavist full-time last fall, one of my first projects was collaborating with Jarrod Bunk on the builder galleries he photographed at the 2021 Philly Bike Expo. It was a great project for me at the time, as I got to interview many of the builders about the bikes they showcased and, more generally, their individual framebuilding ethos. Designing and building bicycle frames is, for the most part, an individualistic pursuit and I always enjoy learning about how builders’ personal backgrounds and experiences become physically manifested in their craft. As alphabetical order would have it, the file folder labeled Amigo Bug Out was the first I opened and I instantly fell in love with the bike I found inside. The Bug Out had everything I’d been looking for: shreddy geo, setup versatility, innovative design solutions, beefy tire clearance, and badass artwork from my buddy Casey Robertson.
After a few emails and brief phone calls with builder Zach Small of Nashville-based Amigo Frameworks, I was more than stoked to put my name on the list for the initial run of Bug Outs. Zach and I ended up talking even more over the following weeks and when we determined the bike would be built and painted in time for the annual Gosh Darn Gravel Gathering, we hatched a ridiculous plan for me to travel to Nashville, build up my bike in his shop, and then ride GDGG together. Ergo, from the coverage we’ve already shared, I had a great and productive time with Zach and I not only returned home with a hellova fresh bike, but also a new friend… or I should say amigo.
Continue reading below for an immersive look inside Amigo Frameworks and to hear more about Zach’s path toward becoming a full-time framebuilder!
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Precision at Scale: A Baum Cycles Factory Visit
Editing the photos from my visit to Baum Cycles this February, an eerie feeling came over me. I knew it’d been some time since I last took photos with the ‘big camera’ at 7 Seabright St, North Shore. For some reason, it felt like a precise period of time. My suspicion was confirmed. 10 years.
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Shimano Showcases Ten Custom Bikes With Stunning Silver GRX Limited
At this year’s Unbound, Shimano will be unveiling its new GRX Limited group, which offers silver components for drop bar and flat bar GRX kits. It’s been a while since a big brand offered up a brand new, high-end group in silver, so as you might have guessed, we’re stoked to share this news with you.
To commemorate this special moment, Shimano pinged ten framebuilders to showcase this new kit, so let’s look at each of the builders’ creations below…
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Sean’s Beach Club Discless Road
Beach Club. What is it? Are they serious? Rim brakes in 2022? Hot pink and white? Wut in tarnation are those Los Angeles city slickers at The Cub House doing? They’re doing what they want, and to be honest, we dig it. Beach Club began as the side project hustle of Danny Heeley and Sean Talkington from Team Dream and The Cub House. They wanted to make production bikes in the USA for people who still care about rim brakes, steel tubing, and lookin’ good. We already looked at the flagship livery a little while ago, and at the LA Invitational this weekend, John photographed Sean’s build. We think you’ll all agree deserves a full-n-fat gallery on this lovely Monday. Check out more below!
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The Alt-Bike Met Gala and Bike Swap at Two Bikes Knoxville
The Southeastern Appalachians are filled with a lot of my favorite things. It’s considered the salamander capital of the world. There are more than 160 native tree species (there are only 50 in the state of Colorado), but above all else, my favorite thing in these hills are my friends. Over the winter a few of us came together and reflected on last year. What could we do to help grow our casual cycling community? We figured that these hills have a lot going for them, but there wasn’t a good swap meet, and that’s a problem worth solving.
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Inside Caletti Cycles: Bikes Made In Santa Cruz From Ti and Steel
Santa Cruz, California, is home to many wonderful framebuilders and many of which we’ve documented here on The Radavist over the years. From Rock Lobster to Black Cat, and Hunter Cycles, there’s no shortage of Shop Visits from the area to browse. However, one shop I’ve long wanted to document is Caletti Cycles, so when the Chris King Guest House event happened earlier this month, based out of the Caletti Cycles shop, I made sure to photograph this wonderful space along with one of John Caletti’s recent personal builds.
Let’s check out what goes on Inside Caletti Cycles below!
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Introducing the 2022 Bespoked SRAM Inclusivity Scholarship
Having been a regular exhibitor since 2014, I’m super excited to be running Bespoked for the first time this year. Bespoked is arguably one of the most fun and interesting bike shows on the planet because it centers on handmade bikes and their builders. Bikes designed and built around an individual and their use case scenario as they see it are always going to be fertile ground for discourse, throw in a huge number of capable and dedicated individuals ready to make that magic happen over and over again and you have yourself the makings of a fun weekend.
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Rock Lobster Has a New Cobble and a Look at The Chris King SSMTB 29er!
Lobsters don’t have a home, per se. Rather, they move across the rocky ocean floors searching for a cobble or den. In many ways, Paul Sadoff of Rock Lobster Cycles has been looking for a new cobble for the past few years, bouncing to and fro various shop spaces, all within a mile of each other. His new space, however, might just be the best yet.
On my recent trip out to Sea Otter, I swung through to catch up with Paul. It’d been over two years since the last time I saw him and as he’s one of my favorite builders to hang out with, I was looking forward to spending some time talkin’ tubes with him. Read on below for a Shop Visit as well as a look at the Rock Lobster singlespeed 29er from the Chris King Guest House event…
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Bikes and Hangs From The 2022 Chris King Guest House Event at Caletti Cycles
We’re here en route to the 2022 Sea Otter Classic after what feels like eons, and on our way to the event, we have been hanging out in Santa Cruz, California, at Caletti Cycles and the Chris King Guest House. This unique showcase features several framebuilders’ creations, all donning the new Chris King Wheelsets in road, gravel, and MTB. There’s a great mix of bikes from steel full suspensions, road bikes, a few tasty 29ers and a few surprises, so let’s check out the offerings below and a hefty gallery of the bikes and the hangs from the event…
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Riding in Remembrance: New Zealand’s Paparoa and Pike29 Memorial Track
With ancient podocarp forest blanketing the trail beneath me, I stand, perched on the escarpment about halfway through the Paparoa Trail. The mountain wind forces tears from my eyes and between the momentary breaks in the cloud, I catch a glimpse into the deep channels of Pike River valley, which once held the Pike River Mine.
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World of Bikes: Gravel Hall of Fame
Today, coinciding with another episode of The Pro’s Closet’s World of Bikes series, we offer up an article Daniel Wakefield Pasley wrote to the head of the gravel (evil) empire, aka the overlords in control of the Gravel Hall of Fame, nominating skateboarding. Daniel has had more to do with the popularity of gravel than you might think and so let’s hear him out below. Please note, take this stuff with a grain (gravel) of (gravel) salt. It’s all in good fun!
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Readers’ Rides: Matt and His Viner Super Rat
Today’s Readers’ Rides comes from Knoxville, TN and is from Matt who shared his Viner Super Rad…
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Moth Attack Moves to Tucson: A Shop Visit and Interview with Framebuilder Megan Dean
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…