Bicycle framebuilding is one of the greatest achievements in human history. With your hands and some materials, you can build a completely sustainable form of transportation that can last for lifetimes. Cherishing this art and utilitarianism, many experienced builders open their workshops up to participants to learn this craft and the lastest we’ve come upon is Rob Quirk from Quick Cycles in the UK. Read on for more information!
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Like a Fine Wine: Wende Cragg’s Custom 1983 Breezer Series III
Wende Cragg’s contributions to cycling and her documentation of the sport over the years are unquantifiable. And here at The Radavist, we’ve been fortunate to have her sharing snapshots of that history, from her moving piece about the origins of mountain biking, to her return to Crested Butte last year for the Pearl Pass Tour after a forty-two-year hiatus.
Wende is back today to share another special story we think you’ll thoroughly enjoy. This time, Wende pens an ode to her custom 1983 Breezer Series III built for her after multiple ill-fitting predecessors (including one of the ten original Breezer Series I). To top it off, she enlisted Joe Breeze to share a few insights about her one-of-a-kind bike and the general evolution of early Breezers. Let’s get right to it below!
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Readers’ Rides: Jan from True Love Cycles’ Roadkill All Road
Sometimes our weekly Readers’ Rides posts are repurposed, vintage MTBs turned into commuters and other times, framebuilders showcase their latest personal bikes. Today we have Jan from True Love Cycles in Warsaw showcasing his “Roadkill” All-Road bike, which also happens to be for sale… This one’s a stunner so let’s get to it!
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MADE Australia 2024 Dates Announced
MADE, the world’s largest handmade bike show, announces the show’s expansion to Australia in 2024. MADE Australia will debut in conjunction with the 17th annual Melburn Roobaix at the Darebin International Sports Centre (DISC) on June 28th and 29th, 2024…
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Bikes of the 2023 GiRodeo: Rizzo, Repete, Scarab, Argonaut, ENVE, Belle, Stelbel, and Curve
More than just a long weekend of some of the finest people, food, and grav grav Europe has to offer, the ENVE and The Service Course GiRodeo is a small bike show hosted by Girona’s best bike shop. Originally made famous by its Gustave Eiffel bridge and later the TV series Game Of Thrones, Girona is arguably being made more famous as a cycling destination today.
If Gustave Eiffel’s Pont de les Peixateries Velles bridge was an architectural warmup, demonstrating the strength of steel before going full Eiffel Tower in Paris, then this year’s Ruben of Madrid-based Rizzo went full Eiffel Tower, with four super interesting bikes of their own. Petor continues his coverage of the 2023 GiRodeo by showcasing the huge leap forward in terms of skills, craftsmanship, and technique from the bikes he saw last year…
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Dispatches From GiRodeo 2023 Part One: Not My Girst GiRodeo
Our far-flung international correspondent Petor Georgallou returned to Girona, Spain last October for GiRodeo 2023, The Service Course‘s flagship end-of-season event. It was an action-packed weekend with great riding, wild parties, music, coffee, friends, and loads of beautiful custom and bespoke bicycles on display. In his first report from the event below, Petor details his time as a guiri in the Catalonian region, improvising after only half of his bike showed up, subsequently uber-underbiking for 155 km, attending a wild Correfoc for the second year in a row, and much, much more. And be sure to stay tuned tomorrow for Petor’s overview of eight stunning custom builds from the event!
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UNpaved Cycles Vertigo and Victor Steel Full Suspension MTBS
The number of builders and small companies offering steel full suspension bikes over the past few years has multiplied exponentially. John recently connected with UNpaved Cycles, a small company, over Instagram and asked them to share their Vertigo and new Victor frames. The following information is sparse but what we’ve see from UNpaved has our Pavlovian response kicking in. Let’s check out what UNpaved has been up to!
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When Labor Turns to Love: Build Your Own Bike With LaFraise Cycles
As part of their European tour this summer, Sam Rice and Bec Norman stopped off in Roubaix, France to spend a few days with Andreas Behrens of LaFraise Cycles. On the dawn of his 200th student, they share a shop visit that draws on Andreas’s mesmerizing past and his present-day mission to share the craft of framebuilding with people around the world.
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John’s Favorite Products of 2023 (… and Top 10 Albums!)
We’ve had a busy year over here at The Radavist. From the return to being 100% independent, launching our Group Ride subscription service, our Rad Bazaar marketplace, and adjusting to being a small business owner again, my free time has been limited. Yet, I can thank a few products for making my job and life easier this year, along with the albums that became the backdrop for my rides, so let’s check out my Favorite Products of 2023!
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Dirty Sundays’ Velo Cosmos Event Recap!
Back in November, Dirty Sundays hosted the first Velo Cosmos event at the Holbrooke Hotel in Grass Valley, CA. We are honored to host an event recap, written by Whit at Meriwether Cycles and documented professionally by Reel 23 Films and Jean Paul Rose. Let’s check it out below!
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Keepers of the Flame: Shop Visit and Interview With Smith Levi of RatKing Frames
Smith Levi, of RatKing Frames, has been dedicated to making frames and bicycle cargo accessories that merge fun and function for a decade. After getting started in Oakland, California in 2013, RatKing has since migrated north to Seattle, Washington and is a founding member of the creative collective Stunt Doubles. Andrew Johns recently had a chance to stop in the space for a chat with Smith and, below, shares a conversation that spans from the idea behind Stunt Doubles, to RatKing’s design inspiration and obsession with process, and Smith’s current offerings.
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Falconer Cycles Now Offers Titanium Frames: A Look at Cameron’s Hardtail Touring Bike and Rack
Falconer Cycles is now making titanium frames and last weekend, he unveiled a stunning titanium hardtail touring bike to John…
For creatives – be it sculptors or painters – expanding into other mediums is often fulfilling and cathartic. Learning new methodologies and processes keeps makers engaged with their work. Lots of bicycle fabricators start out TIG welding steel frames and, later, expand into working with titanium. This offers new horizons for not only the brand but also for loyal followers to access a superior material.
Cameron Falconer is the latest builder to be documented here expanding into titanium from steel. While in Southern Arizona last weekend, John caught up with Cam who showcased a titanium hardtail touring bike with a custom titanium rack. This was “John’s modern bike shoot of the year” as he put it excitedly and you can see why below…
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Readers’ Rides: Andrea from Cicli Barco’s Piovan Primitiva Kintsugi Gravel Bike
One of the reasons we love metal bikes is how they can get damaged in a wreck or even get hit by a car and be repaired. That’s what happened to Andrea from Cicli Barco. After a car hit him on a ride, resulting in a folded in the front end of his Piovan gravel bike, he decided to take a KINTSUGI approach to the repair. The final product is stunning, and we thought y’all would enjoy this one!
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Who’s Got Next? A Framebuilding Summit at Caletti Cycles
Last week, John Caletti of Caletti Cycles hosted five up-and-coming bicycle framebuilders at his shop in Santa Cruz, California. An event that had been on John’s to-do list for the past few years, his first Framebuilding Summit was intended to be an educational meeting of the minds–a time dedicated to sharing knowledge with a group of young bike builders.
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Radar Roundup: Ron’s CT Tool Wallet, State Death Metal, MADE 2024 Registration is Open, Timeless Trails, One Year Alaska to Mexico, and Badlands 2023
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
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Charlie Cunningham’s 2012 Personal 29er: So Many Details
The following post is a labor of love. Hours of tedious work went into not only documenting this bike but writing about it. It is by far the most ambitious story Tasshi Dennis from The Vintage MTB Workshop and John Watson have worked on. Charlie Cunningham was more important to the modern mountain and gravel bike movement than many know. His work spanned over four decades, and the bike you see here today was his personal bike.
Read on for a complete dissection of what has to be the most detailed bicycle ever to grace this humble corner of the internet. We hope you feel the love that was poured into this post…
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Radar Roundup: Starling Adds UDH Compatibility, Fern Illusion Grill Racks, Wilde and Yellow Bird Threadworks, Fizik Nanuq GTX Shoes, Bikepacking Roots and the BOLT Act, and Crust in Baja
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
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An Original MTB Saddle Gets Reissued: A Review of the Brooks B72
When Brooks England decided to resurrect the legendary B72 saddle ($190), the brand reached out to John to use his 1980 Ritchey as a model to showcase the saddle’s history of being mounted to some of the first mountain bikes. Then, to offer a modern comparison, they built up a stunning Stooge Cycles Speedbomb. The resulting builds are eerily similar in some ways and worlds apart in others, yet the Brooks B72 looks right at home on both bikes. Let’s check out the new B72, including John’s quick review, below.