The Radavist

During my last trip in SF, I was asked by Bike Mag to document Mission Workshop‘s newest “Ask a Founder” event. The guest? Keith Bontrager, one of the forefathers of American mountain biking. I really enjoy shooting events like this and it’s not everyday that I become a gun for hire, so I had fun with it.

Listening to a guy like Keith speak about the early days of mountain biking and the inevitable sale of his name to Trek was extremely insightful. Back then, knowledge was gained through experience and that experience was a powerful tool. No one was sitting on Keith’s shoulder telling him what to do. He went with what he knew and that was the motorcycle.

An ex-motocross racer, Keith was the first to reappropriate many technologies to cycling. He designed the first Rock Shox fork, something that still, to this day is not a well-known fact. Keith also developed one of the, if not the first full-suspension bikes with Kestrel, which also used one of the first v-brakes. All derived from motocross technologies.

At some point during the talk, Keith said something along the lines of “if it worked for moto, it’ll work for a bicycle” and it’s true. While the engineering of each component was a new challenge, Keith always worked with what he knew. From dumpster diving 700c rims, to chop and re-roll them to a new MTB standard, to building tig-welded frames with gussets in his shed down in Santa Cruz, Keith’s entrepreneurship paved the way for cycling in the US and beyond.

He continues to work for Bontrager, mostly developing wheels and saddles and spends all of his free time either riding the trails in Santa Cruz, or cooking fresh food from his garden. The Ask a Founder event once again exceeded everyone’s expectations… See more in the Gallery!

Santa Cruz, I think I’m in love and while it may be an infatuation with the trails, the wood or just the people, every time I go there, my heart palpitates. On Wednesday, Vernor scooped me up and we headed south from SF, along the coastal roads. We met up with Garrett from Strawfoot and it was a pleasant surprise.

Strawfoot is one of those companies that I never would have known about if it weren’t for Vernor, so to finally see the operation and bags in person, solidified my expectations. More on that to come but for now, a little on Garrett’s new Hunter disc cross bike.

Bicycle camping in Santa Cruz is something I’ve yet to experience but with its endless amount of fire, frontage and park roads, any weekend can turn into some solitary time in the ‘wood. When Garrett approached Rick Hunter about a bike, Rick wanted to try something a little different.

Discs, a rather unique cable routing style and Sim Works by Nitto components are simply accents to Rick’s excellent craftsmanship and engineering prowess. Ok, I’m done sugar coating the work of Mr. Hunter. This bike rules. It’s going to look better with age, after chips and dings but right now, it’s so easy on the eyes…

The wood is a magical place. It turns fat bloggers into slightly less fat raconteurs. It clears your head, makes your chest pound, legs throb and palms sweat. You bond with your mates and let the beauty of nature envelop you. The first day of Shifter Dan’s 40th Birthday Bush Bash set the stage for the second…

After a much-needed 12-hours of sleeping, I awoke in my Courthouse Hotel bunk bed to the call of the Magpie and the ruckus of Cockatoos around 7am. We showered, packed and went over our bikes. Which, after the rutted, bumpy and dusty descent into Jamieson, were in disrepair. A little bit of lube and a quick tightening of the bolts and we were ready to take on the second day of Dan’s 40th Birthday Bush Bash.

The course this year was the reverse of last year. We left climbing over the Great Dividing Range and ended up on the very track that caused so many flats on the previous ride, but this time we were climbing up, rather than flying down. Our spirits were bright, our legs were loose and all we could do was soak in the sights and sounds of the bush.

We finished the day at 76 miles and over 14,500′ of elevation gain. There was only one thing, wait, a few things that I wanted after the ride: a bottle of ginger beer, a coffee and a pair of mushroom and steak pies!

Enclosed is the ride report for the first leg of this 19.33 MP/C* ride.

Check out a bunch of narrated photos in the Gallery!

Everyone that reads this website has had a moment in their life where cycling became something more than just pedaling around. They found a bike, or had a moment out riding that changed their perspective forever. For me, it was a mountain bike in college. Sure, I had bikes growing up, but they were always used for transportation, or hitting a kicker ramp and some trails once and a while. It wasn’t until college that I found something I vibed with. The trails became an exit from architecture school. I sucked and was slow but loved going fast and mostly avoiding the occasional wreck.

That was over 10 years ago and since moving to Austin, I’ve wanted to get a new MTB but never really had the opportunity arise. I didn’t necessarily want a modern machine and preferred steel. This year at NAHBS, when I walked up to the Independent Fabrication booth, this blue beauty caught my eye. I walked over, checked it out and quickly realized that THIS is what I was looking for. Rigid, modern components, throwback Somerville geometry and an Igleheart fork. It looked like a modern day Fat Chance.

Gary walked up and told me how the Deluxe Redux came about. Last year, when Chris Chance came to NAHBS, he was asked what he thought of modern day MTBs and his reply was something along the lines of “things got really complicated”. The Deluxe Redux is IF’s answer to that. They hired Chris Igleheart, ex employee of Chris Chance to make 20 forks and IF would make the frames. They were each painted either electronic blue, hot lime or lavender.

Decked out with Shimano XT, which uses arguably some of the best hydraulic disc brakes in the industry, Chris King throughout, with Crank Brothers Cobalt bars, stem and post. The Deluxe Redux is topped it off with hand-laced Luxe Wheelworks Stans Tubeless wheels and some Racing Ralphs. It was even Mudfoot blue!

Knowing that I had to have it, Gary and I struck a deal. For me, the parties involved in this bike are so special and so Somerville that it was a worthy MTB choice. Here in central Texas, things can get rocky, fast but since I’m used to pulling lines on the cross bike, I’ve found this bike just eats that shit alive. I have a general rule about posting my bikes: don’t post about them til you’ve had a moment with them and this week, I’ve had a few. Last night when I shot these photos, I had one of the best rides on it yet.

This bike and I have clicked real hard this week. I’ve crashed a few times, finding the pocket on a sharp turn but have been able to pump and thrash through some technical sections with ease. It just jams through my favorite trails. As shown here, it’s all stock, even with the XTR pedals. I wanted to give everything a chance before swapping parts out. In the end, I’ll probably go ENVE cockpick and post. I’m not a fan of the Crank Brothers Cobalt post but the bars and stem are growing on me. I’ll switch to tubeless when I’m back from China as well.

What about suspension options? Well, Igleheart told me it’ll be tricky but possible, only because of the rake. This bike has a trail of 73mm. A rake of 50mm and a heat tube angle of 71 degrees. I could lock out a 100mm Fox at 80mm and achieve roughly the same HTA but I don’t think that’s what this bike deserves. At some point, I’ll go full suspension but right now, this is a great machine for how I’m riding.

If this is something you like, there are still a small and a medium Deluxe Redux for sale at IF for $4,500, which considering the parts alone, is a steal for steel. Contact IF for more information.

I feel like this goes without saying but Pearl Velo, Berkeley Supply Co and Avery County Cycles really left a great impression on me and just about everyone else who was visiting for this year’s NAHBS. These three shops have created a really admirable energy through their spaces and the shop owner’s faces.

Pearl Velo would fall into what I’d like to call a neo bike shop. While it is full-service, Tyler won’t hesitate to send work down the street to the larger shop. You walk in the doors and everything is merchandised with thought. Its surfaces are clean and orderly, so much so that you almost don’t want to touch anything, but you do anyway. Tyler sells everyday accessories from brands you trust, he carries complete bikes and frames from the manufacturers you probably ride and as previously stated, his own branded products are worthy souvenirs.

To top it off, Tyler’s father hand-painted each of the wooden signs outside the shop. They’re so beautiful that I had to shoot the first couple of photos in the Gallery with my Mamiya 7ii to capture the color and light just right. Check out more photos in the Gallery and shop info below!

So there I was, looking at the Jack Brown tires, thinking I wanted some gumwall action on my Geekhouse Woodville touring bike. Because, you know, nothing’s classier on a purple touring bike than gumwalls. The only problem is, I have this bike, with all this clearance for tires and fenders, so I wanted to go bigger than 33c. I looked over in the corner of my office and there were the two Resist Nomad skin tires I had on my Bruiser. 45c, big, fat, round, gumwall tires. I couldn’t Resist.

Check out more by clicking the photo above or here to open in a new tab.

Out of all the bikes I saw while I was Down Under, this one was hands down my favorite. Maybe it’s because I love 29’r / 700c bikes with big, fat tires or the fact that it’s built up with American-made products. Whatever the reason, when Dan finally got around to overhauling and building up his design for a Gellie Custom-built, fillet brazed, single-speed Monster Cross again, I had to take it for a spin around the block.

The second generation Sibex titanium fork, chopped-down, stainless faced Surly track ends and lightweight Columbus Life tubeset, paired with the massive tire clearance makes this every off-roader’s dream bike. But it doesn’t end there. Dan machined the canti bosses so the Paul brakes sit as close to the stays as possible, matched the Phil Wood ‘kidney bean’ cut out to the BB-shell, curved the brake bridge to match the stays and sized the bike around a spacer-less head tube. We like to call this “slammed” nowadays. He did all this, years ago.

The White Industries drive train means he never has to worry about the bike breaking down while out in Woods Point. As one would expect by now with Shifter Bikes, no detail was overlooked here. With 42c tires, it sits right at 8kg, or around 17lbs. But see for yourself below. Just try not to drool on your lunch ok?

Click the image above to launch the Gallery.