The Radavist

Cool Stuff at Frostbike
Photos by Kyle Kelley and words by John Watson

Frostbike. It’s part party, part bike industry tradeshow and all fun. Each year, Quality Bicycle Products, the largest distributor for bike shops in the US, invites a handful of media and tons of shop owners to its facilities in Bloomington, just outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Once within its walls, attendees get a sneak peek at many of the brands QBP carries’ newest offerings.

This year, we didn’t line anyone up to cover the event, but Kyle was there for his shop, Golden Saddle Cyclery. Because he is a shop owner and a regular contributor to the Radavist, Kyle’s eye for what is “cool” really resonates. You’ll see a lot from the brands commonly featured here on the site and if you’ve got any questions, just drop them in the comments.

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Follow Kyle on Instagram, Golden Saddle Cyclery on Instagram and QBP on Instagram.

A while back, Kyle reviewed the mostly stock complete Log Lady before sending it back to All-City so they could use the bike in their demo fleet. Truthfully, I, like many of the readers who commented on that post, were bummed to see that bike go. As a photographer, I love shooting with Kyle when he’s stoked on something and that bike was perfect on our local trails, for him especially.

In an industry where many people want more travel, not less and even more gears, not one, the Log Lady stands out as an archaic, living fossil of the mountain bike evolutionary timeline. For some people, riding a bike like this down technical trails would be a nightmare, but for dudes like Kyle, it’s a buckin’ good time.

Parker from Angry Catfish’s Amazing All-City Log Lady
Photos by Kyle Kelley, words by Parker Roenfanz.

BEHOLD: THE LOG JAM!

It’s the Midwest; trails here often ‘require’ neither suspension nor gears. Having been born and bred in an area where the White-Tails carved much of the early singletrack, the folks at All-City created a capable ripper, with tight angles, classic lines, and a few touches of modern flair.

I had the chance to first ride the Log Lady down in Los Angeles before All-City announced it to the masses, and I fell in love with it almost immediately. Having grown up on rigid 26″ single-speeds, the LL really appealed to me.

When the frameset first showed up, I had to make a couple changes to it to make it mine. First, the color had to go; no offense to the wonderful folks over at All-City, but the Red/Black/White fade was not my jam. After that, I jammed the biggest rubbers I could between the stays: Derby’s AM rims with a 35mm internal width and Panaracer’s FBN tire, which measures out roughly 2.7. And finally, I did what any good human should do these days and put dropper on it! Just a little frame modification and the Fox Transfer post was good to go.

Obviously, this setup is a far cry from All-City’s stock build, but it should help showcase what the bike is capable of, and how well one can make it their own.
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Follow Kyle on Instagram, Angry Catfish on Instagram and Parker on Instagram.

Photos by Jarrod Bunk, words by John Watson.

While at Saddle Drive, Jarrod met up with Patrick and Nate, two All-City owners to shoot their bikes. Versatility is the name of the game here, with Patrick’s All-City Mr. Pink built on Zipps with Onyx Racing hubs and 32mm dirt tires. He’s built this “road” bike up with Force 1×11 as well. Meanwhile, Nate Choma’s All-City Spacehorse is a straight forward light tourer build with Hplus son TB14s, a Swift bag, Paul Mini Motos, Brooks Cambium and a SON Edelux lamp powered by a Shimano dyno hub.

These two bikes are ready for a fun weekend of dirt riding in California’s most excellent Sierra mountains.

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Follow Jarrod on Instagram.

Editor’s note: Jarrod recently attended Saddle Drive, Quality Bicycle Product’s outdoor showcase for their forthcoming products. This included components, accessories and complete bicycles from brands like Salsa, Surly and All City. Jarrod spent two days there, photographing new components on day one and on day two, complete bikes. Here’s that gallery.

The New Bike Models from Saddle Drive
Words and photos by Jarrod Bunk

Northstar at Tahoe is the perfect venue to showcase product, for day two I set aside most of my day between seminars to shoot some of the new bikes from Salsa, Surly and All City, Including the new BigBlock, Warbird Carbon/Alloy and Woodsmoke 27.5+. If I could I would’ve stayed the rest of the week just to be able to swing a leg over all of the other bikes. Check out the gallery for some of my favorites.

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Follow Jarrod on Instagram.

You’d be surprised how big of a tire you can squeeze into some of the older road bikes. My Merckx fits a plumb 28mm tire with ease and those Campagnolo NR mid-reach brakes can wrap their arms around, reaching the braking surface. Now what happened between the 1980’s and modern bike design is up to anyone to debate. Clearances got tighter, more aero, stiffer and a mentality that a smaller tire is faster took over the pro peloton. Like it always has, the trickle down effect hit store shelves and consumers did what they do best: consume. I know this is a bleak picture of tire clearance on road bikes, but it’s mostly unexaggerated. Mostly…

It seems that now with the whole “adventure / gravel grind / blah blah” trend, companies are designing bikes that fit big tires with the aid of disc brakes. Now we’ve got “all road, road plus” and various other terms to describe these machines, designed for riding off-road.

But what about the classic steel race bikes from back “in the day?”

Enter the All-City Mr. Pink. We’ve reviewed one before here on the site and while I stuck with a moderate 28mm tire, I could clearly see this bike was made for more rubber. With a caveat though. Putting bigger tires on the Mr. Pink means you’ve gotta go for a mid-reach brake, like the Paul Racer, or in this case, the Velo Orange Grand Cru long reach brakes. With those, you can fit a 30mm tire, with ease, making this one capable chubby road bike.

Emilio Santoyo-Illustrated Team Dream All City Macho King Disc
Words and process photos by Sean Talkington, bike photos by John Watson

Custom bikes are one of the coolest traditions continued within modern cycling (IMO).  The idea of having a bicycle custom tailored to your specific needs is pretty amazing and being able to (sometimes) participate in the finished aesthetic is the big fat cherry on top.  I have always been drawn to the idea of having a bike that looks nothing like the ones my friends are riding.  Its the reason why people like all of us visit sites like The Radavist. We come here to see cool bikes (generally speaking of course).

The All-City Log Lady: Sometimes Bikes, Like Men, Jump Up and Say ‘HELLO’
Words by Kyle Kelley, photos by John Watson

From the beginning All-City has been ahead of the curve. They are dedicated contributors to the current evolution of cycling, pushing their own boundaries and those of the industry around them, making bikes that are actually fun to ride. They began making high quality, affordable track cranks and hubs when there was nothing but Campagnolo and Sugino to choose from. Next they introduced the world to the 32c production road “race” bike. After that, they took the cyclocross world by storm and produced a NAHBS quality production single speed cyclocross bike. And during the vintage MTB craze of 2014-2015 they made a modern day, old-timey MTB equally equipped for ripping down the trails as through the streets to the bar.