The Radavist

The Road to Delcie’s Cup Cake
Words and Photos by Spencer Harding

This past summer I was lucky enough to meet to some truly amazing people in Minneapolis.  I noticed a common thread connecting these wonderful humans. It all culminated in getting to ride with Delcie on her über custom Cup Cake…

Peacock Groove

Erik Noren is a bit of mythical beast in the world of framebuilding. His bikes are outlandish, sparkly, and painstakingly detailed. With his newer venture, Cake Bikes, he seeks to build proportionally-sized, high-performance bikes for shorter riders. Cake partnered with Minneapolis Wheel masters HED cycling to offer fat-bikes built around a 24 x 4” platform and has since moved into building cross and gravel/adventure bikes built around a 650b platform, and some yet smaller wheeled bikes which we will get to at the end.  While the bikes’ geometries are focused on smaller humans regardless of gender, the cake race and adventure team is compromised entirely of women/trans/femme/non-binary riders.

Steamboat Springs is the birthplace of Moots, Eriksen, and other outdoor industry brands. Visit this ski town and you’ll see why. Located in the Northern Yampa Valley the city has thrived due to its proximity to the Routt National Forest and its plethora of trails. It doesn’t matter what your preferred form of recreation is, Steamboat has an abundance of resources for it.

One of the bike shops in Steamboat is in one of the most unique spaces I’ve ever visited. Period. When Jon from Moots took me to pick up some last minute supplies before embarking on our Steamboat Ramble Ride trip, my jaw was on the ground. While most of the outdoor shops in Steamboat are very clean and corporate, Orange Peel Bikes embraced its chaotic beauty. Much like something found in nature, there are no right angles in this bee-hive shaped space.

Bikes, Bags, and USA Made Tags: Bedrock Bags
Photos and words by Kyle Kelley

One of Liz and my stops along the great American Bike Shop Tour of 2017 was Bedrock Bags in Durango, Colorado. A larger than life operation, in a very small space, boasting that they “make the best bikepacking gear on the market.” And when I mean small…I mean small, at first I had no clue how everyone worked in this small space at the same time, but as Joey Ernst, one of the owners, and Tae Hillyer, the production manager, and I chatted about the business I began to understand. This space had been thought out in the same tailored, tight, and clean aesthetic as all of their bags. Just like you don’t want your knees rubbing your framebag, everyone at Bedrock Bags had created a very workable space with no elbow rubbing in a very small, but very efficient corridor.

So you know your knees aren’t going to be rubbing one of their framebags.

2017 Philly Bike Expo: 44 Bikes Titanium Marauder SSMTB
Photos by Jarrod Bunk, words by John Watson

Last year, we saw Kris from 44 Bikes‘ first super-boosted Ti Marauder SSMTB from our Philly Bike Expo coverage. This year, Kris brought a new Marauder to display, with some geometry tweaks, different components, and a slightly longer and slacker stance. The big difference this year is he used a super boost hub with a standard 73mm T47 bottom bracket mated with a custom 170mm i9 fatbike hub, built with a standard axle, wheras last year, he used a wider q-factor with a DH BB. Kris machined the bits needed to make this happen and the whole package results in a stiffer rear wheel.

Traditionally, single speed mountain bikes are heralded for their simplicity, yet this one has a lot going on!

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Follow Jarrod on Instagram, and 44 Bikes on Instagram

Beyond Mountain Bikes with the Rocky Mountain Solo 70 – Morgan Taylor
Photos and words by Morgan Taylor

When you think Rocky Mountain, you think mountain bikes. That’s where their focus lies and for that reason you may not even be aware that they’ve made a handful of drop bar bikes over their nearly 40 years in business.

The Solo has been in the BC-based brand’s lineup a long time – as both a cyclocross and a road race platform – but this most recent iteration skews more toward fat tires, cargo carrying, and, well, slotting a bike into the current hot niche in the drop bar world. It’s a step that, in my opinion, aligns this bike more with the others in the current Rocky Mountain lineup.

With companies like Moots, it’s not the branding, or legacy, or history, or name that makes the frames, it’s the people that work there. Both literally and figuratively. One of the job perks at Moots is the incredible employee purchase program, the details of which I’ll omit here, to save them from a flood of job applications. Joking aside, the company knows that the best product research and development can come from within and pride can often result from ownership. While the workers might not own Moots, each of them is part of the process. In today’s world, that means a lot, ATMO anyway.

The first thing that really struck me as I walked the floor of the production facilities was how many amazing employee bikes there were, of all makes and builds. From full on road bikes, to fatty all-road, mountain, commuter, and bikepacking setups. While my time was limited at Moots, I did my best to grab a few of these bikes and shoot details. The one that evaded my lens was Peter’s rim brake Psychlo X, which I don’t even want to describe here because it’ll make me cry! I suppose you’ve gotta leave something to look forward to on the next trip to Steamboat Springs. That and Taco Cabo!

I hope you enjoy this gallery, as much as these employees enjoy their commutes!

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Words by Tenzin Namdol, Molly Sugar, Sarah Swallow, Jocelyn Gaudi Quarrell, Whitney Ford-Terry, and Mary Lytle, Founders of WTF Bikexplorers

Summit Photos by Gritchelle Fallesgon
Illustrations by Tessa Hulls
Ride Series Photos by Rie Sawada (Instagram + Website)

A few weeks ago one hundred cyclists from all over the country identifying as women, transgender, femme, and non-binary gathered in Whitefish, Montana for the first ever WTF Bikexplorers Summit. The Summit was organized to support, celebrate, and connect the community of W/T/F/N-B  who use their bicycles to explore and a collective effort for a movement away from patriarchy and toward a liberatory cycling culture.

“This Summit is about bikes, but it is not really about bikes.”  -Tessa Hulls

DFL the Divide: A Friend Tour with Bikes
Photos by Brian Zglobicki, Ester Song, Collin Samaan, Tod Seelie and Spencer Harding
Words by Hannah Kirby, Adam and Serena Rio

It only felt right to do this post as a posse, there are far too many voices and perspectives for something as myopic as my lens alone. So, I present to you, our second #dflthedivide trip. The photos are all mashed together, in a collaborative edit by myself and Tod. Below are three written perspectives as well. Together they are far more eloquent and enjoyable than anything I could have done alone, a perfect allegory for the trip itself.  I Love all these ding dongs a whole whole lot…
<3 Spencer

Serena Rio:
The nascent days of cycling were drenched in money and bikes reigned street supreme in the absence of cars. Only the rich had the luxury of owning a bike and the luxury of time to ride the bike, but not nearly enough luxury to own two. Your singular bike had to race, it had to commute, and in a life yet without cars, it had to carry you long distance on vacay.

“I’m not tired, I’m just tired of the situation.”
Words by Cjell Monē and photos by Corbin Brady

Corbin’s family calls it ‘Going Nuclear’…It’s precisely the time when ol’ Hard Corbin stops enjoying the infinite riches of bikepacking and tells the world to ‘go, fuck itself.’ Two days of bike carrying and rationing food are a good recipe for a nuclear reaction.

Cass Gilbert over at bikepacking.com teamed up with a couple of nut-jobs living on an organic farm outside of Quito, the Dammer Brothers, to ride their bikes across Ecuador. I can’t tell you a lot about these guys other than between them they have 7 million bikepacking miles and their hobbies include lifting steel fatbikes over their heads.

With the rebirth of the Fat Chance brand, the success of the Yo Eddy’s Kickstarter reviving the brand, the team has worked on modernizing the vintage catalog. With the Yo Eddy 2.2, Chris and his team updated the hardtail model with clearances for plus tires, a new dropout design, and boost spacing. But what about people who want a rowdier stance in a bike? Well, for them, Chris and his team designed what they’re calling the Wicked Fat Chance Enduro, a bike that sports an aggressive geometry, designed to go downhill. This prototype sports a longer top tube, a 65º head angle, a boost rear spacing, internal dropper routing, and an even lower top tube, thanks to the braced seat tube cluster. The team at Fat Chance said this bike was designed for a 27.5″ tire, yet another version is on the way that will fit the popular 27.5+/29″ platform.

Head to Fat Chance now to place a pre-order for this frame, which is priced at $1,799 in the Yo Eddy colorways.

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Follow Fat Chance on Instagram.

Divas and Snakes Don’t Mix: Crust Bikes in Puerto Rico
Words by Angelica Casaverde, photos by Matt Whitehead

I am the tiniest diva on two wheels. When I say I’m a diva, I’m not trying to be cute, I am all capitals, in bold DIVA. I’m the one who gets someone to carry the heavy stuff and do all the physical work because I can’t be bothered. I love my lavender candle, my bed, and my Netflix chill time. I prioritize looking good and feeling 100. With all that being said you can see how bikes and bike touring don’t exactly fit into my idea of a good time. I didn’t choose a life of bikes, I fell in love with Matt and consequently married into this crazy shit. The morning we exchanged vows I inherited Crust Bikes as the loosest, most flamboyant adopted child I never anticipated having. Matt and bikes until I die.

The Beauty of Fatigue: Slow (SLO) Road to Eroica
Words by Tenzin Namdol, photos by Ultra Romance

Something happened to me while I was riding the 90-mile NOVA Coastal Route of Eroica California, I started loving the ride. A bit of a “duhhhh” moment, right? That may have had something to do with the skill and knowledge of the route-maker who has expertly joined some of the most stunning roads of San Luis Obispo County. From wineries to summits to the Oceans’ shore featuring some loosen-your-filling descents. I’m sure we could have easily found a dentist at Eroica to fix that last problem. So, not really a problem. It also helps to have beautifully cheerful people at rest stops handing you wine, chocolate-covered strawberries, and praising your athleticism. I felt so undeserving of such treatment, but that’s for me and my therapist to figure out together. Regardless, treatment like that could make a cyclist out of just about anyone.

If You Were Wondering, Frostbike’s Still the Best
Photos and words by Kyle Kelley

Especially for newcomers! It was really rad seeing Sean and Danny from Team Dream and the Cub House experience this unique event for the first time. It really got me thinking about a few of my first Frostbikes, and how a lot of my really good friends have actually spawned from this event. I’ve even seen other friendships flourish from introductions at Frostbike. Going to Minneapolis in the middle of winter as a cyclist probably seems like a bad idea, but when you actually think about it, it’s genius.

Kyle’s 650b Cosmic Stallion Road with Campagnolo Chorus 11
Photos by John Watson and words by Kyle Kelley

Editor’s intro. I love Kyle’s All-City Cosmic Stallion. For me, the interchangeability of these bikes from 700c to 650b open up a door for riders to experience the plush cush of a 47mm tubeless road tire on a readily-available, production frame. It’s my belief that these 650b / 27.5″ wheeled bikes will alter the “road” industry to a place that proves you don’t need 23mm tires and 110 PSI to enjoy “all the roads.”

A while back I found myself riding my road bike less and less and my cyclocross bike more and more. I just wanted to get further and further from the hustle and bustle of the big city and closer to the epicenter of the San Gabriel Mountains, but I also understood that I would always have at least 15 miles on pavement before reaching the service roads and single track found in the Angeles Forest. No matter how much riding I was doing in the mountains, I was guaranteed 30 miles on the actual road, and no matter how much dirt the middle of the ride promised, road geometry made the most sense for these longer rides.

Raise your hand if you have ridden an actual cyclocross bike over 100 miles in one sitting. It is not fun and I’m not talking about type 2 fun. A road bike just works better for on and off-road riding. Hence the gravel craze.

For me, it’s just a road bike, and that’s why it has road pedals. It’s ridden on roads, paved and dusty. It’s a road bike, and for me, no road bike should be built with anything but Campagnolo. Now, thanks to Paul Component Engineering and their Klampagnolo brakes, with a Campy-specific pull and Chorus‘ new, 32-tooth cassette, why would you use anything but Campy?

I know this build isn’t for everyone, but I guarantee it’s for way more of you disbelievers than you think. The bike rolls fast on the 47c slicks, doesn’t weigh much because of the carbon bits, and will go just about anywhere! Can’t argue with that, right? Well…of course, you can, and that’s OK because that’s your right to have an opinion. I’m just saying, someday give it a try and then let’s talk.

Fat bottomed bikes you make the ripping world go round!

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Follow Kyle on Instagram and follow Golden Saddle Cyclery on Instagram.