The Radavist

This year at Grinduro, eight frame builders presented bikes in partnership with Maxxis, Sram/Zipp, Columbus, and Hope Tech. The theme? What is your ideal Grinduro bike? We’re continuing today with Steve Rex’s gravel bike.

This year at Grinduro, eight frame builders presented bikes in partnership with Maxxis, Sram/Zipp, Columbus, and Hope Tech. The theme? What is your ideal Grinduro bike? For each gravel bike in the morning, we’ll present a mountain bike in the afternoon. This round, we’re matching the BTCHN’ gravel bike with this Sklar Rigid 29+.

This year at Grinduro, eight frame builders presented bikes in partnership with Maxxis, Sram/Zipp, Columbus, and Hope Tech. The theme? What is your ideal Grinduro bike? In the first post, we’ll look at BTCHN Bikes’ gravel bike.

When you think of the mountain bike brand Evil, chances are you think of the three pillars of modern mountain bike design, long, slack, and low. So when the brand began developing a gravel bike, they tapped into that design DNA. I got an in-person look at this new bike at Grinduro so read on for the details.

With yesterday’s post, we looked at the Ultradynamico Rosé and prototype Cava tires on Benedict’s Crust Lightning Bolt randoneé bike and today, we’re looking at Patrick, the other half of the fledgling tire company’s bike, an OPEN UP.

Words by Jack Watney, photos by Adam Gasson

Grinduro Frame Builder Event Format

The Bicycle Academy (TBA) put the Grinduro Scotland frame builder competition format together 3 years ago as a way of creating a platform for frame builders to showcase what they do. It’s an opportunity for builders to work to a tight brief, but at the same time to be playful and creative with bike design. They get to make their own idea of a perfect bike, to keep for themselves, something that doesn’t happen as often as you might think.

Words by Jack Watney, photos by Adam Gasson

And now here they are! The most daredevil group of daffy frame builders to ever whirl their wheels in the WACKY RACES. Competing for the title of Grinduro’s wackiest frame builder. The bikes are approaching the starting line.

First, is the TBA GXC driven by Tom Sturdy. Next is paratrooper Will Barcode on the TBA Splat Grav. Flying through the air is the Rad Roamer piloted by Ted James. Maneuvering for position is Andy Carr on the Spoon Customs Fat Tracker and right on his tail is Pi Manson on his Caledonian Carrier.

Sneaking along last is the unmistakable Petor of Dear Susan Bicycles riding his award-winning ‘Mike Rotch’…

“Grav, Grav. And double Grav!”

Without showing any favoritism, out of all the bikes at Grinduro, this bike made by W.H. Bradford Designs was one of the most unique and the only hardtail in the whole grouping, discounting the Southpark ‘rigid’ with the Lauf fork. When I first saw this bike, I was partially blinded by the fluoro front end on it. But then the brushed purple rear triangle and the little angry mountain – a symbol from Grinduro, angry Mount Hough – caught my eye, all carefully executed by Eric from Color Works Paint. It’s those little details that make bikes fun and that’s what Grinduro is all about right, fun?

With matching Yanco Bags, a SRAM MTB kit, Industry Nine wheels, and its mean and rowdy stance, I might not be showing favoritism, but I feel like I saved the best for last. What was your favorite bike from Grinduro this year? See them all in our search string.

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Wow. Just wow. Robert from Blue Collar Bikes brought my favorite bike to the 2018 Grinduro Town Hall. Painted to match his iconic van, this Nigel 650G featured components from PAUL, 3T, WTB, White Industries, SRAM, and a Fabric saddle. There are so many NorCal brands on this bike, all within a short trip from Sacramento where Blue Collar is based.

There’s not much else to note about this bike, as it’s a prime example of a bike that tells its own story. My only regret was not taking this photo as well!

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Technology. Sometimes it gets a bad rep but when you consider the possibilities for makers, it can be a powerful tool to wield. Take Taylorsville’s Dana Fenimore and his brand Southpark. 10 years ago and he would have spent painstaking hours carving these lugs, or paying top dollar for a laser cutter to cut out these elaborate logos and designs. Now he just runs the lugs through a CNC machine and Voila! a work of art.

Dana’s handwork stopped the show at the 2018 Grinduro Town Hall, with curious enthusiasts querying how he was able to deliver such fine lugwork on this Lauf fork-equipped mountain bike. Did I mention that Dana built the CNC machine too? Yeah, he’s got some skills!

What do you think? Does the fact that a CNC machine made these lugs undermine the craft, or enhance it? Unfortunately, I cannot find Dana’s website or social media links, so if you have those, drop them in the comments.

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One bike that I was very stoked to see on display at this year’s Grinduro Town Hall was this beautiful aluminum Rock Lobster All Road. Built with SRAM Red eTap as a 1x, Zipp wheels, and a beautiful purple and green paint job, this bike grabbed the attention of many attendees of this equally fun as challenging event. Part of that has to do with the paint, which was laid down by Black Magic in Portland!

Sometimes simplicity is the name of the game and that’s one game Rock Lobster knows how to win! Check out Spokesman’s website or Instagram.

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Another super clean flat bar all-road, or “hybrid” bike on display at Grinduro was this steel Caletti Scrambler, painted in a beautiful silver, adorned with the California Grizzly geometric graphic, topped off with purple anodized bits. Bikes like this really make sense for an event like Grinduro, where the washboarded roads can provide a challenging grip for drop bars, which are prone to slipping. It might be a matter of preference, but flat bar ‘cross and all-road bikes really look mean!

If you’d like to know more about the Caletti Scrambler, check out our review from last year!

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Man! What a year for the Town Hall bikes at Grinduro. There were nine bikes from builders on display, all the result of their ideal Grinduro rigs, and many of the brands took it as an opportunity to release some balleur builds. Take for instance this Breadwinner Cycles B Road, blinged out with custom Andrew the Maker bags made from Burberry fabric.

The result is one of my favorite Breadwinners to date, especially when you look at the complete build from a distance. It has panache!

E D D Y M E R K I N!

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