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You’ll never know who you’ll meet while on the road, and sometimes, the characters floating around campsites within our National Forests are as colorful as the natural surroundings. While John and Cari were cashing in on some long overdue R&R last week in the mountains of New Mexico, they met a fella with a Ritchey Annapurna and quite the story to tell…
As an anchor for the NorCal cyclocross scene, the Rock Lobster team and their eclectic band of racers, builders, horn players, writers, photographers, and dreamers take you a journey into the heart of Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships 2023. From riding the tiger to fording the pool of plunder, this story captures cyclocross glory and heartbreak at its finest. From the desk of the award winning SSCXWCTV investigative news team, please enjoy “You can’t buy money with happiness”.
As an anchor for the NorCal cyclocross scene, the Rock Lobster team and their eclectic band of racers, builders, horn players, writers, photographers, and dreamers are here to take you on a journey into the heart of Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships 2023. From riding the tiger to fording the pool of plunder, this story captures cyclocross glory and heartbreak at its finest. From the desk of the award winning SSCXWCTV investigative news team, please enjoy “You Can’t Buy Money With Happiness,” a mixed-media Reportage with weekend narration from Matt Miller, along with photos and video from Josh Becker and Mike Thomas.
Last year Mitchell Connell fell in love with a custom road bike he saw at a bike show. After missing an opportunity to test ride the bike, he took a road trip to Raleigh, North Carolina to find it and its creator, Charles Thompson of Fine Bikes. Along the way, Mitchell got to pay a visit to the iconic local shop, Oak City Cycling, and get the tour of Raleigh’s mixed-surface riding.
Petor is the director of Bespoked, and this year, he moved the showcase from the UK to Dresden, Germany. Through regular visits to Germany, meeting builders and small independent manufacturers, he was extremely fortunate to meet some incredible people who gave me a glimpse into the bicycle manufacturing community.
Inevitably, the name Diamant would crop up over and over, in the way that Raleigh would in the UK or Schwinn in the states. There were crumbs pointing to the former GDR everywhere, and in trying to learn a bit more about the cultural landscape of framebuilding in the former GDR all roads eventually led back to Diamant…
Germany is an epicenter of cycling innovation and production. Home to a lengthy list of big brands including Canyon, Diamant, Focus, Bosch, and so many more, the central European nation is also inhabited by an ever-growing community of smaller bicycle and gear fabricators, builders, and makers.
While we saw many examples of cycling-related German craftsmanship on display in our Bespoked coverage last month, those examples just scratched the surface. On his way to Dresden for the show, Josh stopped over in Berlin and spent his brief amount of free time learning about the city’s special place within the larger German—and global—cycling industry context.
Read on below for a primer on Fern Fahrraeder/Allygn, Gramm Tourpacking, Drust/Akinn Cycles, Velociao Paint, and Velo Saloon!
When it comes to vintage mountain bikes of the mid-1990s, it’s hard to not mention the 1995 Kona Cinder Cone. It had one of the most unique stances at the time and the painted to match fork and stem were straight from the playbook of something small time framebuilders were and are still doing today. Thomas sent in his Cinder Cone and the final product included some clever metalwork. Read on to find out and for some of Thomas’ delicious photos!
Announced at this year’s Moab Outerbike, the Esker Cycles Hayduke LVS –available as a frame ($2,950) or a complete ($4,950)–is a hardtail mountain bike with 600-millimeter chainstays and touring accouterments aplenty. Esker even developed a specialty rack for this bike, dubbed the Molle Rackwald ($300.) Needless to say, it’s a unique offering from the brand.
John was able to ride one for a bit, including on an overnighter with the Esker Cycles team and Sincere Cycles in Santa Fe, so read on for an in-depth look at this rare and funky bike!
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
Held in Omaruru, Namibia this past July, the Onguza Loskop Local is a weekend festival with “great food, drinks & friends, with a wee bit of cycling thrown in for good measure.” After deciding the event looked really lekker Cape Town locals Stan Engelbrecht and Donnet Dumas made the trip out and each rode the event in divergent fashions—Donnet on a borrowed too-small Giant, and Stan on his ill-advised fixed-gear with skinny tires—and share a joint account of their adventure…
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
While Curtis Inglis from Retrotec Cycles was in Santa Fe, John took along a camera for some of their rides and documented Curtis’ new twin top tube Funduro. This 140mm-travel hardtail 29er is one that Curtis built for himself to display at the 2023 MADE bike show and was the perfect choice for sampling Santa Fe’s side country riding.
Curtis and his bike undertook one of the more technical rides in the Southern Rockies, and John was there to document it all. Check out a stunning gallery of the bike and the singletrack that makes Santa Fe such a great MTB destination below!
With this year’s Chris King Open House coming right after the 2023 MADE Bike Show, the event decided to shift gears and focus on the Portland area’s outdoor brands. Chris King opened its doors to the public, unveiling the process that goes into machining bike parts in the USA, while inviting the broader outdoor industry to display their products. It was a full day of bikes and more! Check out our Reportage, sent in by Chris King and let us know your favorite bike in the comments!
We joke sometimes that fixed gears were the gateway drug for cyclists, leading them to geared bikes like road, gravel, mountain, and touring bikes. David shares with us his journey from fixed riding to his latest bike, a Fairlight Strael 3.0 All-Road. Let’s check it out below!
The 2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show just wrapped after three action-packed days of talks, parties, and drooling over the heaps of amazing craftsmanship on display. Josh was on the ground at the Dresden, Germany airport where this year’s event took place, and, below, shares his final gallery of bikes and a couple of interesting components. Let’s get right into it!
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
The 2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show just wrapped after three action-packed days of talks, parties, and drooling over heaps of amazing craftsmanship on display. Josh was on the ground at the Dresden, Germany airport where this year’s event took place, and, below, shares his second gallery of bikes and a couple of interesting components. Let’s get right into it!
The 2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show just wrapped after three action-packed days of talks, parties, and drooling over heaps of amazing craftsmanship on display. Josh was on the ground at the Dresden, Germany airport where this year’s event took place, and, below, shares his first gallery of bikes and a couple of very interesting components that will be launching soon. Let’s get right into it!
