The Radavist

Hell yes. If you’re looking for a way to lighten up your hardtail for expedition-style riding, check out the ENVE rigid 29’r fork. When my hardtail shows up, I’ll be trying one of these out for sure.

I love the removable mud fender and adjustable rake.

Wheel size: 29″
Weight: 711g w/fender, 686g w/clasps
Adjustable rake: 44, 52
Axle to crown: 470mm (44 rake), 472mm (52 rake)
Tire clearance: 88mm (3.46
Steerer: 1.125″ to 1.5″ tapered
Steerer length: 300mm
Rotor size: 160 or 180mm
Axle: ENVE 15mm thru

Order now at your local ENVE dealer and see more information at ENVE.

With the success of the Bikes and Faces of the Oregon Outback post, I figured diving a little deeper into one bike couldn’t hurt. As I said before, a lot of people were on hardtail or rigid MTBs. While the top two finishers (Ira and Jan) were on drop-bar touring / road bikes, a majority of the field chose the stability and control of a full-on 29r, 27.5 and even 26″.

Shawn from Ruckus took the Oregon Outback as an opportunity to create a bike, specifically for this bikepacking outing and the resulting design is pretty bad ass, not to mention, featherlite!

Read up more below!

This year at NAHBS, Breadwinner took home the best MTB award for their Bad Otis 27.5″ hardtail. It was also one of my favorites in the show and now you can order one at Breadwinner. Just be prepared to have this bike want to smash nonstop!

I love what Festka is doing. They have been cranking out some gorgeous bikes with incredible finishes over the past few months, the latest being the Festka Hunter 29’r hardtail. Gates carbon belt drive, a Rohloff hub and Columbus tubing. Not bad! Make sure you follow @Festka on Instagram for daily photos and see more of this Festka Hunter below!

Photo by Margus Riga

New found confidence? Or just summoning the Necronomicog? Finally, some photos of me riding gear in a review!

I think this goes without saying, but I’d like to thank everyone involved with last weekend’s trip, including Margus and Adrian for shooting such rad photos of the riding. One of the reasons why we were there was to test out the new Guide Brakes from SRAM.

I’ll be pretty honest here, I have never really liked Avid brakes. My bikes all have Shimano systems on them, from SLX to XTR. In the past, I’ve said that I’d never ride anything else. Coming off a weekend like this, it’d be easy to say that SRAM put us in this rad location, threw new products at us and expected some positive feedback but that wasn’t the case at all. They really were interested in what we thought and were open to critique.

Unfortunately, the only feedback I had to offer up was: “I didn’t even have to think about the brakes”. Period. Riding new terrain, on a new bike, the last thing you want to do is worry about if your brakes are going to feel good and perform up to par. They felt so amazing, even compared to XTR.

We all know I’m not a king of technical garble, but I think it’s safe to say that these exceeded mine and everyone else’s expectations. I didn’t hear a single squeal from the rotor, or person the whole trip.

These new Guide Brakes from SRAM are like night and day compared to Avid…

Check out more below.

Yep. Everyone thought this project was shelved, but it’s alive and ready to roll out in Summer of 2014. The Thomson Elite Dropper Post will ship with both a cable and switch mechanism or this handy, under rail switch. Run it on your hardtail, rigid, or even *shudder* your cross bike.

Yesterday Hubert D’Autremont rolled into town, after spending a month in Arizona. As he was unloading his road bike (more on that later), I looked in his truck and saw this singlespeed 27.5 hardtail. The first words out of my mouth were “oh shit! we’re gonna go shreddddddding tomorrow!”.

Shred is exactly what we did and post sess, I shot some photos of this incredibly simple, yet elegant bike.

Expect more soon!

As much as I love SRAM’s XX1, Shimano is just so smooth, so when I see someone building a bike with the latest XTR group, I get warm fuzzies. Especially with one of those snazzy Wolf Tooth rings and Di2. Leave it to Firefly to build and photograph every bike like it’s a show bike. See more at the Firefly Flickr!

To answer any questions: yes, I’m building my new hardtail with XX1.

When I first met Marty at Geekhouse, he told me the very same thing: “Mountain biking is what first got me into cycling way back.” Here’s the second hardtail I’ve been looking at over the weekend and it just so happens that this one, like that Firefly is also from Boston.

He’s working on a batch of five, so put your order in. The Wormtown 29’r features 410mm stays, 142×12 axle, cut out seat tube and yes, those bright Geekhouse powder coats. Check out more at Geekhouse!

Where do I even begin with 2013? If I can say anything about PiNP, it’s that the site is ever-evolving, much like cycling and my own experiences with it. As my own habits change, so does the content. Looking back over the past twelve months, I still can’t wrap my head around how much I traveled. It was overwhelming at times, but in the end, worth it.

So where do we begin? How about with the first Photoset: a new camera.

Check out the PiNP 2013: A Year in Photos below!

[FRAME] Chapter Four from FLWRIDER tv on Vimeo.

I’m really digging these [FRAME] series that the Flwrder team are putting together. For Chapter Four, they interviewed Dan from Portland Design Works. I’ve spoken with these guys on numerous occasions and their personalities are reflected in their products. Truly great people!

Check out all the information below:

Here’s an exclusive look at the new Identiti Persona frameset. I have to say, for the pricepoint, this is another contender for a good beginner’s bike. It comes in orange and gray as a complete or as a frameset. I like the thumbprint headbadge and decal.

The Persona’s final specs for the full build is still to be determined, but it will include Halo wheels and the FFX fork. Full specs and price below.