The Radavist

cold lurkin’ in the bushes

Now, I know you’re all aware that I don’t usually post photos of scantly-clad girls on bikes on this blog. It’s mostly out of respect for the female readership and besides, you’re on the internet. If seeing naked girls is your thing, open a new tab and well… you know. All that aside, today I shot the lovely Jess Versus ( @JessVersus ) on her new Gran Royale Lurker. It’s her first single speed and she’s in love with it. Here’s a little sample to hold you over until I put the set up on Friday.

Shooting girls on the bikes they ride and in the clothes they normally wear is the jam!

I took the opportunity recently to photograph this neon yellow Ciöcc after seeing it all over town. While it’s not Locked Up, it’s certainly “leaned up”. Even though, in my experiences, Ciöcc bikes rode like a big “meh”, this one’s quite the head-turner. Coated in neon-yellow paint and adorned with Super Record, there’s not much I’d change on the build. To top it off, the owner has a MASH Histogram water bottle. Not bad!

Check out some more photos below.

Damn. Steven and Alex Royal slaying the skatepark in Seattle. Disaster bars are so rad on a fixed gear. Don’t miss that legit 540 cab either!

I get so many emails from readers and from now on, when I get a re-occurring question, I’m going to address it in a post. In recent weeks, I must have answered this one question countless times:

“What’s a good beginner sfixed freestyle bike? I need a bike that can take a little bit of tricking and not break the bank.”

To which I’ve replied, each time to check out the Gran Royale Lurker, pictured above…

and the Subrosa Malum (pictured here) for complete street fixed builds under $600. If you’re looking to spend a little more, there’s also the Bens Cycle Bruiser economy builds for $900. All three offer super solid rides and can handle beginner-tricking. There’s no sense in dropping over a grand on a bike designed to withstand BMX tricks unless you’re sure that’s what you want. I always recommend people try something out first before investing a ton of money. For the longest time, my bike of choice for beginners was the Surly Steamroller. Now, with unicrown forks more common, it makes more sense to go with one of the three aforementioned builds.

Edit: A reader brought to my attention the Redline Urbis as another bike in the under $600 pricepoint. Solid build for sure. Disk-brake front too. Can you think of other options? Send them my way!

Hopefully this answers a few questions. Got something else you’d like to ask me? Feel free to email me!

Previously:
Gran Royale Lurker
Subrosa Fixed?

Traveling with your bike can sometimes be a royal pain in the ass. The day before I left to come to LA, I flat-spotted a rim, casing it on a ledge, cracked a bolt in my stem in half, rendering it useless and found out that after a long life, my bottom bracket spindle was shot. Knowing that I was flying to LA for the Summer Fix event, I packed up my bruised Bruiser and hoped for the best.

Check out more photos below!

click for full-resolution

Chris just got his Bruiser back from the painters. It looks amazing. I gotta say it man, that’s some Phoenician royalty right there. Here’s a side story on that. The Phoenician’s were the first to create the purple, or violet dye. All of their kings were adorned in it and it became a sign of royalty. In fact, the word Phoenician, derived from phoinikèia, literally means “purple”. Now I’m not implying that Chris is royalty, but I love his art and this bike is molten lava.

Pista de Tierra Mixed Terrain Alleycat from David Polka on Vimeo.

Cranks 505 is throwing the Pista de Tierra – Mixed Terrain Alleycat Sunday November 15th in Albuquerque, New Mexico. David threw together this promotional video for the race, which looks like a blast. Check out the flier after the jump…

The Architect’s Journal has a nice article on a new book entitled Crap Cycle Lanes.

Description below:

Architects come up against short-sighted planning on a daily basis – not least when they get on their bikes

This charming book provides pictures of dozens of half-hearted, incompetent and dangerous cycle lanes. Crap Cycle Lanes is available from the Eye Books website, Amazon or any good bookshop. The book was inspired by the Warrington Cycle Campaign and all royalties go to the Cyclists Defence Fund.

Looks pretty good. Anyone got similar stories or pictures? Post them in the comments!

OPEN will be opening in Boston relatively soon. More information to follow, but Zach and his friends are throwing a proper event this weekend in Boston to kick off the Winter.

If you’re in Boston and you’re hankering for some Boldsprints (Boston’s Goldsprints), check out their 10-race series. They’ll be releasing a flier Sunday with all the appropriate information.