After an eleven-year hiatus, Ira Ryan is back building bicycles under his namesake moniker, Ira Ryan Cycles, in Portland, Oregon. While Josh was visiting the City of Roses earlier this year, he stopped by Ira’s to catch up and check out some new projects. Continue reading below to look inside Ira’s workshop and drool over some of his exquisite recently built bicycles.
“builders for builders”
Search Term – Change
Radar
Lael Rides Around the World Podcast – Episode 01
This summer, ultra-endurance athlete Lael Wilcox will be riding around the world to try and break the women’s Guinness World Record (currently held by Jenny Graham at 124 days).
In order to accomplish this feat, Lael will have to ride a minimum of 18,000 miles (29,000km). As part of her documentation of this feat, she launched a podcast called Lael Rides Around the World Podcast and episode 01 is embedded below…
Reportage
Nick and His Titanium Sycip Hardtail 29er
Nick’s titanium Sycip hardtail has been on our list to document for some time. On his April road trip to Sea Otter, John crashed in the driveway at his buddy Nick‘s house while he visited shops and builders in the area. After a particularly epic afternoon of riding in Annadel State Park, he grabbed Nick’s beautiful Sycip for some photos. This bike isn’t your ordinary Sycip and Nick ain’t your ordinary guy. Let’s see why below…
Reportage
History of Mountain Bike Evolution Show: Bicycle Taxonomy
John spent last weekend in Santa Cruz catching up with friends, riding some tacky dirt and checking out the History of Mountain Bike Evolution Show at Santa Cruz Bicycles, put on by Doug Hatfield, Velo Cosmos with Team Old Soil. The show spanned the evolution of the mountain bike from the 1940s through the Syndicate Racing Team’s World Cup DH machines.
Below, John hones in on the evolution of cruiser bikes to klunkers and the genesis of the Marin County “Mountain Bike” and shares a jam-packed gallery of bikes and hangs…
Reportage
藝術 (Art), 手工藝 (Craftsmanship), 製造 (Manufacture): Taichung Taiwan is a Bicycling Manufacturing Mecca
Coming off our Dust-Up article on (Most) All Bikes are Handmade is a deeper dive… It is easy to take for granted how products from around the globe end up in our hands. When it comes to bicycles, many of us have no idea how they are made. Our Instagram feeds are filled with romanticized images of artisans building intricate frames one at a time, but what about the production bicycles that the vast majority ride? Much less information is available, leaving our imaginations to conjure up images of robotic welders and dirty, fast-paced production. This often leads to uninformed debates on where, who, and how products are made.
The authors of this article offer a unique perspective on bicycle manufacturing. Daniel Yang, a talented engineer working with Neuhaus Metalworks and his own brand ARTEFACT, is changing how artisan framebuilders build bikes through 3D printing and 3D modeling innovations. Adam Sklar has over a decade of experience building high-end custom bikes by hand. He recently brought his production to Taiwan, working together with factories to produce his signature designs. The factories and people you see in this article produce Sklar Bikes, which is why we were given the opportunity to share this experience with you all.
Reportage
Pre-Sea Otter Ritchey Preview: All-New Montebello Randonneuring Bike, Redesigned Outback, P-29er Frames, and More!
The Radavist thanks 1-Up USA for sponsoring our Sea Otter Classic 2024 coverage!
While on the road to Sea Otter, John swung through the Ritchey HQ in the South Bay and got to check out some new models that are coming out tomorrow. Check out a sneak peek of the all-new Montebello randonneuring bike, the redesigned Outback, and P29er, along with the Superlogic Butano Ridge integrated handlebars and some shop ephemera below!
Reportage
Southern Oregon’s Coastal Treasures: Riding Whiskey Run Singletrack
Last summer, a group of friends experienced a broad sampling of some of Southern Oregon Coast’s natural wonders and recreational outlets; in hopes of spreading the word to enthusiasts (from near and far) who are on the hunt for that next off-the-beaten-path destination.
Coastal Southern Oregon is quickly becoming a popular destination, with ample access to the outdoors, engaging community experience, and ever-expanding singletrack, like the Whiskey Run Trail Network. Continue reading below for an overview from Steven Smith, accompanied by Chris Hornbecker‘s excellent photography, of what this region offers…
Radar
Chris King AeroSet Integrated Headset
With more builders, manufacturers, and riders asking for full internal routing of cables and brake lines, Chris King has released two more headsets to bring this option to a much wider array of frames. AeroSet™ 1 (Patent Pending) fits headtubes with IS52/IS52 upper and lower and 45° x45° bearing sizes. AeroSet™ 2 (Patent Pending) is the same but with a lower bearing spec of 36°x45° degree…
Reportage
Monē Bikes SB2 Review: Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’
We talk a lot about the early klunkers, from Breezers to Cunninghams and Ritcheys, but what about the very first MTBs in the US, the coaster cruisers, aka mountain cruisers? These esoteric singlespeeds rely on a coaster brake hub to control their speed and were adapted from old Schwinn newspaper bikes.
Read on as John reviews his coaster cruiser, a Monē Bikes Small Batch Straight Bar, aka the SB2. These bikes are the simplest mountain bike you can ride: No hand brakes. No gears. Big bars. Balloon tires. This is peak coaster cruiser!
Radar
Readers’ Rides: Mike From Brave New Wheel and His Integrated Bender Gravel Bike
This week, we’ve got a well-documented and thorough account from Mike at Brave New Wheel in Fort Collins, Colorado about his new integrated Bender Bicycle Company Gravel Bike. Let’s check it out!
Reportage
Forever Bike: Josh’s Custom Oddity Singlespeed With Ignite Components
Nearly three years ago this week, Josh picked up a custom titanium singlespeed Oddity hardtail that was originally Burnsey‘s show bike for the 2021 Philly Bike Expo. It’s become his most-ridden bike and has been subject to plenty of component swaps over the years, yet it hasn’t been fully documented with a dedicated article here on this site. Josh recently outfitted the bike with Ignite Components and (finally) shares a review and breakdown of the build below, including an interview with Ian Colquhoun of Ignite…
Reportage
2024 Philly Bike Expo: Artefact, Básica Estudio, Shovel Research, and Significant Other
Rounding out our 2024 2024 Philly Bike Expo coverage by Brad Quartuccio, we have four phenomenal bikes from the Diversity Scholarship winners, ARTEFACT, Básica Estudio, Shovel Research, and Significant Other, all of which brought very unique and awe-inspiring work. We’re elated to feature some high res images of these on the web! Let’s check them out.
Radar
Sklar Bikes Tall Tale MTB Frame Pre-Order
If you’re looking for a new 29er this spring, check out the Sklar Tall Tale, which is opening for pre-order ($1,199) this morning…
Radar
Boneshaker MTB Mountain Bike Club Vintage Show
We’re big vintage bike nuts over here and have dedicated immeasurable energy to documenting these innovative designs and telling their stories. Up in Toronto, BoneshakerMTB hosted a vintage MTB show earlier this month, and you might recognize one of the bikes in the mix. The club wrote up a quick recap of the event for us to share. Let’s take a look!
Radar
Rad Bazaar Alert: Josh’s Custom Sklar Hardtail is For Sale
Josh is letting his custom Sklar go on our Rad Bazaar…
Radar
Two Bikes Chattanooga Grand Opening
Mitchell Connell and the team at Two Bikes Knoxville are excited to announce that they’re opening a second nonprofit to expand their work to provide free and affordable bikes, community bike rides, and youth workforce development to their community. Find out all the information on the opening party here…
Radar
Website Update: We Now Have Our Entire Image Catalog Dating Back to 2008
John here with an exciting announcement!
The Radavist has great content dating all the way back to 2008 (there are even our 2006-2008 archives floating around on the ‘net still!), and now, our once-missing 2010-2015 image bucket has been uploaded again! Back in 2018, we lost it in a website server migration, and while doing some digging through our convoluted image bank, web lord Ian Register uncovered our lost image server!
All 150+ GB of images are back, including some of my personal favorites like a 2012 Fuji XPro-1 Review, Robin’s Dirt Drop Highball, Erik from Peacock Groove’s Evil Dead Tribute Bike, NYC Shop Visits, Austin, TX, shenanigans, a lot of Austin, TX shenanigans!, Blackburn Ranger rides, Ryan Wilson’s road bike rides, Bandit camping on Diablo, Peacock Nük, the original Oregon Outback Reportage, Aussie Bush Rides, and the Head Shots and Head Tubes NAHBS article!
I’ve been covering bike touring, framebuilders, and maker culture for 18 years now and in that time, each of these sub-genres has grown more and more. It’s nice having a deep catalog of this content on The Radavist!
Many thanks to Ian for kicking ass on our refresh, which includes a lot of backend maintenance.
One note: when you search through the archives, if the title image is still missing, don’t fret, the entire gallery is back up and running, we’re working on the title image break fix.
Reportage
2024 Philly Bike Expo: Chapman Cycles, Chumba Cycles, and Doom Bars
Continuing our 2024 Philly Bike Expo coverage with more Reportage with words and photos by Brad Quartuccio, featuring Chapman Cycles, Chumba Cycles, and Doom Bars. Let’s get to it!