The Radavist

This bike has a long, jaded history, beginning with the early days of the Rapha Continental. I’ll let the story be told by others, because I’ll surely miss some important detail. The short of it is, this frame sat in two separate basements for over 10 years before finally being powder-coated and built up to be ridden on the last Brovet here in Austin (literally, he built it up the day before).

650B, tubeless-ready, Shimano 105, single speed convertible, off-road geometry and a bright orange paint make this Rossman a very unique and strange machine. Is it a “gravel grinder”, a tourer, or a cross bike? Who knows.

Hahn Rossman‘s builds have past the rigorous testings of Bicycle Quarterly and I have to say, this is my favorite bike of Hahn’s to date! Catch it at the Seattle cross races as Hahn thrashes it in the single speed division!

See more in the Gallery!

Now, I won’t say the following tidbit of information was all that surprising to me. I’m not really a numbers person when it comes to running the site, but I do like to pay attention to what you, the readers, respond to. Not necessarily traffic, per say, or comments, or trackbacks, or whatever but when a bike gets as much love as Seth’s 650B MTB did, I take notice and as I said, I wasn’t surprised. This thing has pizzaz in a world of mediocrity.

While the serenity of a solo bike photo shoot is nice, sometimes I like to get the builder to hold their work of art and pose for a few photos. Case in point: Seth and his Rosko 650B MTB! Check out more in the Gallery!

Tools of the trade:
Mamiya 7ii / 80mm / expired Kodak Portra 400

The problem with going to New York City is that I spend more time photographing bikes, then I do actually riding them. Which, in this most recent trip, wasn’t as much as I’d like. Being behind a lens, staring down a unique beaut like this does have its merits. Especially when you’re so familiar with its builder and owner.

Seth Rosko was one of the first builders in Brooklyn that I spent a good amount of time profiling years back. We first met at Brooklyn Machine Works, where he was a designer and fabricator. He and Joe worked extensively on the Gangsta track back in the day, before setting out on his own.

Rosko builds unique, yet utilitarian, yet lightweight bicycles made for racing. Each year, more and more fledgling racers find themselves on a Rosko and that means that Seth has less and less time to work on his own bikes. Case in point: this 650B single speed MTB. It took Seth years to finish this bike but he managed to complete it in time for this year’s season.

Using the ultralight True Temper Supertherm tubing, Black Cat dropouts and Stan’s tubeless wheels, this thing is light. It comes in at 20 lbs with XT pedals.

From a company whose name resonates in the NYC downhill and street scene comes a new bike model, suitable for the modern rider. If steel is real then Brooklyn Machine Works are as authentic as they come. BMW’s history lies heavily in tried and true mountain bikes, so it should be as no surprise that when Joe decided it was time to develop a few new models, one of the first on the agenda would be a 27″ or 650B.

This bike is literally 10 days fresh and it’s already been put through the works. Fresh off the mountain, I was able to not only photograph this beauty, but take it for a spin around the block. I’m a sworn 29’r rider, through and through but even I was impressed at the zippiness and tight, responsiveness of this Made in Brooklyn masterpiece.

Don’t let the mix of parts distract you, Joe wanted to ride it as soon as he could get it built up. With the tapered fork, even with the smaller diameter wheel size, the 650B comes in 9 ounces heavier than the 29’r. It’s still a prototype, so some specs are to be tweaked but I think it’s safe to say “so far so good”… Check out more in the Gallery.

I’ve already featured this Beautiful Bicycle once, but it was fully decked out in “city mode” during my Shop Visit to Hufnagel Cycles.

When Giro began making their selections for who would get to preview and review their New Road line, I was surprised to see Hufnagel‘s name on the list. He’s a huge advocate of environmentally responsible construction and sustainability. Sure enough though, the merino in the New Road line is from New Zealand, not China and it’s made in San Francisco… Sounds like a perfect match.

But what would Jordan ride? His city bike of course. Stripped of the porteur accoutrement, it became a lively gravel machine. Even the 420mm chainstays with 650b wheels didn’t hold Mr. Hufnagel back from getting rad on this bike. Here I was, thinking a cross bike was the ideal travel bike and yet, this thing looked pretty freaking rad.