Trail work is tough and that is a massive understatement. For the crew that runs Trans Cascadia each year, it means loading up chainsaws, fuel, and other tools, usually on their back, as they pedal into the great unknown that is the wild Oregon backcountry. Usually, the singletrack is overgrown, with felled trees, and other obstacles the crew needs to clear. In years past, the team has utilized motos when possible, but they can be large and cumbersome, so this year, the team at Trans Cascadia worked with Jeremy at Sycip Designs to make something extra special, just in time for Sea Otter…
“builders for builders”
Search Term – Change
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Curtis’ Rigid Retrotec 29+ Trail Cruiser
Before we jump into the world of Retrotec Bikes and Curtis Inglis, let’s look at one of Curtis’ personal rigs; this 29+ rigid mountain bike, what I like to call the “Trail Cruiser.” Now, calling this a cruiser has nothing to do with the speed at which Curtis rides trails while on this rig and has everything to do with the history of Retrotec; a company that began modifying actual cruisers into off-road machines.
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Jonny’s Azuki Pro with Joe Bell Paint is Ready for Eroica California
When Jonny first rolled through the doors at Golden Saddle on this bike, I honed in on it. There was something familiar about the bike, yet I had never heard of the brand painted on the downtube. For some reason, it reminded me of an Eisentraut, or a Sachs. After talking to Jonny, he told me he works for Joe Bell, a literal living legend in the framebuilding world. Joe Bell, or JB as Jonny calls him, paints and has painted the frames of some of the most outstanding builders over the years.
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Starling Cycles’ Murmur Factory 29’r
You may or may not have heard of Starling Cycles before. They’re UK frame builders of mountain bikes, including the Murmur 29’r, a full suspension, steel, made in the UK frame. Well, the UK brand has now offered a Taiwan-built version of the Murmur, called the Murmur Factory 29’r and it’s currently available to order. There isn’t much difference between the Murmur and the Factory, except cost. So if Made in the UK isn’t as important to the consumer, they can save some money. Head to Starling to see more information on the Murmur Factory 29’r.
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The Sierra Shredder: a Project by Squid Bikes, Paul Component and Sierra Nevada!
This entire project is so rad, from the concept, to the Squid Bikes frame, to the build and Travis from PAUL‘s press-release, which you can read in full below!
“The bike is done, and you can have it!
Wow, remember when we sent out that last teaser press release about the sweet custom bike we were building for Sierra Nevada Brewery to show off at this year’s Sea Otter Classic?”
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Adam’s Prototype Sklar Rover Single Pivot Steel Full Suspension
Bikes. People love seeing bikes. Especially ones made by this feller, Adam Sklar. I’m going with my gut here, which is telling me to share this bike, before the story of how we got to where this unique shred sled was photographed. I’m assuming you’ve probably figured out that we spent last week in the Moab, Utah area, which is where we linked up with some people from Bozeman, Minneapolis, Tuscon, Philly and Los Angeles.
We initially rolled through Fruita, then out to Klondike Bluff, a singletrack area between Moab and Green River, to ride trails, check out dinosaur tracks, rock hound, and enjoy all that Utah has to offer. It was here, that I shot one of the wildest Sklars to date – sorry Benedict!
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Whisky Parts Co’s Private Stock: Ben’s Rock Lobster and Steve Potts
Whisky Part’s Private Stock: Ben’s Rock Lobster and Steve Potts
Photos by Kyle Kelley, words by John Watson
Private Stock. A term reserved the best of the best when it comes to distilling American whiskey, Scotch whisky, and bourbon. For Whisky Parts Co, a brand within the umbrella that is Quality Bicycle Products, their aim is to design the best parts possible and get the most people using those parts as possible. Part of that comes from OE sales and the other brands within QBP using Whisky Parts when it makes sense, yet there is a growing demand from Domestic and International frame builders, to create products specifically for niche market requests. We’ve seen Whisky do so with their road, cross and mountain forks, as well as their wheels and components over the years.
For Ben Witt, Whisky’s marketing and sales director, he felt the need to not only embrace the niche market of frame building, but to use the parts for two of his own bikes; a Rock Lobster all-road and Steve Potts dirt drop mtb. We’ve seen a number of Private Stock builds from the Whisky team here on the Radavist over the years, but these two are some of the best.
Thanks to Ben for taking the time to let us showcase these bikes and Kyle for the great photos! My fingers are cold just typing this up!
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A NAHBS Epilogue
Photo by Brad Quartuccio
I don’t know about you, but at this point every year, I’m pretty burnt out on NAHBS. It’s a lot of work for all involved from the builders to the painters and everyone that is a part of this traveling showcase. Over the years, the show itself has changed drastically and it might not be completely apparent from this website’s coverage – which essentially blacks out all context, allowing the bikes themselves to be the subject, rather than the show. That’s what this convention is about; bringing builders under one roof to give them exposure. Yes, NAHBS is far from perfect, but I’d like to address some key issues, some of which are faults but most of which are positive notes to keep NAHBS relevant.
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2018 NAHBS Drive Side Gallery and the First Ever Radavist Awards
Every year, I find myself staring down the barrel of my telephoto lens in a convention center, documenting some of the year’s finest bikes, yet there is very little time for reflection of these bikes on my end. At some point, I jokingly said “I should do a Radavist Awards for NAHBS this year…” to which whoever was on the receiving end agreed. While I commend the judging panel at NAHBS on their choices, what goes on behind the scenes there might not necessarily reflect this website’s subjective perspective towards bikes. In a lot of ways, the selection of bikes chosen for documentation have already made it through an initial “judging” process. I usually walk into a booth and pick my favorite bike to shoot. Even then, I have no idea what the scope of NAHBS will show me and it isn’t until it’s all said and done where I can finally reflect on what I saw. So, all I ask of you is to flip through this gallery of drive-side bikes before reading any further.
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2018 NAHBS: TORESVELO OD Green Rigid MTB with Hope
Last year at NAHBS, I documented a rigid mountain bike from the Russian framebuilder TORESVELO. This year, Anton from TORESVELO couldn’t make it to the show himself, due to visa issues, but his friends brought this rigid mountain bike for him. It was commissioned by someone who saw last year’s bike and wanted one just like it. I love little stories like that because ultimately, that’s what NAHBS is for – showcasing bikes for builders to grow their audience – and it’s why I love documenting NAHBS.
This frame has a beautiful olive drab finish with orange Hope parts, and a Bjorn, handmade in Russia carbon saddle. I’m really glad the Russian contingency showed up this year and brought such great bikes!
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2018 NAHBS: DeSalvo Dirt Drop Dream MTB with a Fox AX Fork
Remember that DeSalvo dream bike NAHBS contest? Well, here’s the winning bike concept. Mike’s offerings each year are usually clean, minimal road bikes but this year, it was a special treat seeing a bike like this in the DeSalvo booth. This dirt drop frame features the Fox AX “gravel” fork, a KS LEV dropper, Sim Works To Smile dirt drops, color-matched PAUL and White Industries. A few builders brought bikes like this to the show and personally, I’m into it.
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2018 NAHBS: Copper on Copper Northern Frameworks Hardtail Single Speed MTB
I say this a lot at NAHBS, but when I saw this big and beautiful Northern Frameworks single speed MTB in their booth, I exclaimed “HOT DAMN!” This bike is for a tall rider and I love seeing how builders balance the proportions of large bikes with modern MTB geometry. The client spec’d all brown anodized PAUL and White Industries, to complement the rich, copper paint.
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Saja’s Bodacious Brown Breadwinners
When you’ve got a good thing going, why change it? For Saja, he loved his Breadwinner Holeshot singlespeed ‘cross bike so much that when it came to buying a hardtail mountain bike, he looked to the Portland-based framebuilders yet again. Breadwinner has two mountain models, the Goodwater and the Bad Otis, with the latter being a more trail-ready and rowdy big brother to the slimmer, while still shreddy, cross country-oriented Goodwater. The difference between the two mountain models come down to head angles and fork travel. The Goodwater touts a 140mm fork and a 67.5º head angle, which delivers a more than capable bike, suitable for our mountains here in Los Angeles.
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We’ve Re-Upped a Few Inside / Out Galleries
As noted last year, we lost our 2015 Image bucket do a server swap error. It was a huge bummer when I found this out and have been slowing re-uploading the files. Since NAHBS is right around the corner, I wanted to re-up a few from my favorite frame builders and makers. Included in this re-up are:
An Afternoon with Paul Component in Chico
Inside / Out at the Vanilla Workshop
Inside / Out at Black Cat Bicycles
Todd’s Black Cat Steel and Carbon Road Has 8 Lives Left
Inside / Out at Hunter Cycles
Watch out for the Hunter Cycles Bushmaster!
Inside / Out at Strawfoot Handmade
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The Handmade Bicycle Show Australia is Coming!
Photos by Andy White
There are many, talented framebuilders in Australia and the Handmade Bicycle Show Australia looks to expose their best work to the masses. The show returns this year, on April 27th-29th, showcasing the builders and products born in Australia. As an example, FYXO recently showcased this Prova Cycles Molti all-road bike, which in itself, has many details, but I can’t get over how good King Cages look in black and that Busyman saddle treatment! See the full gallery at FYXO and more details on the show at HBSA.
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Cake and Cuyuna with Brenda – Spencer Harding
Sending it Safely in Cuyuna with Brenda
Words by Brenda Croell and photos by Spencer Harding
Edit note: It came to my attention quickly that the original wording of this article, in my attempt to be playful and transparent with the fact that this was a weekend with my partner whom I adore, I undermined the hard work that Brenda and other Minneapolis WTFs have put in for their community. I asked John to take down the article in that form. Brenda has rewritten the article to better respect their community and women in cycling at large. – Spencer
Cuyuna is everything I love about the Midwest packed into 300 acres. What we lack in elevation we make up for with flowy singletrack through aspens, pines, and descents towards crystal clear lakes. The trails are so immaculately maintained you would have never guessed this place was used for anything else except mountain biking.
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The Radavist’s Lucky 13 Beautiful Bicycles of 2017
For many, a New Year means time for reflection, and time for prospectives. For cyclists, this often includes planning out a build for a planned ride or perhaps updating your favorite bike with new gear. Perhaps that’s the motivation for many of you to visit this site. For us at the Radavist, we look at all the data from the past year’s content and begin to understand more what you, the readers, love to see here on the site.
Every bicycle on this list should come as no surprise. It was one of the most difficult selections in the history of this site, as almost all of these Beautiful Bicycles delivered similar metrics. We pulled these from the archives based on traffic, social media chatter and commentary. They’re displayed in no particular order. Omitted are bicycle reviews and completely bone stock production models – like the Jim Merz Sequoia and All-City Cosmic Stallion.
Thrown in, making it a baker’s dozen, is our top 2017 NAHBS pick as well. Without further adieu, here’ the Lucky 13 Beautiful Bicycles of 2017!
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420.69th annual Nutmeg Nor’easter – Ultra Romance
420.69th annual Nutmeg Nor’easter
Words by Ultra Romance, photos by Erin @erinmarie.gordon, Jon Weekes @gungywump, Jamie M @jamiemurrett, and “Big Janet”
I’ve lived in the same area of shoreline Connecticut my entire life. My home is a garage artist’s studio that I just so happen to share with my mom’s gardening tools. Paris, Milan, Clinton, CT. As weather permits, I return home about 4 months out of the year; always being sure not to miss the splendor of autumn; the beauty of death as the colors fall, ushering in the grim shadows of wintär.