The Radavist

The Specialized Sequoia was first designed by Tim Neenan in the early 1980’s. Later, Jim Merz improved upon the design of this versatile bicycle. While the 1980’s steel Sequoia had a certain panache, the aluminum models of the 2000’s somehow lost their sex appeal. Maybe it was the industry at the time, or maybe it was the “hybrid-looking” silhouette of the bike, but whatever the reason, the Sequoia died out in the 2000’s. In its time however, the steel Sequoia from the 1980’s received a cult-like following.

“In the early 2000’s, Bicycling Magazine asked several industry luminaries what they thought the best bike ever built was. Grant Petersen, founder of Rivendell Bicycles, nominated the 1983 Specialized Sequoia.” Adventure Cycling, August 2003.

Fast forward to modern times. The cycling industry is enamored with the outdoors. Bikepacking, touring, bicycle camping and S24 rides are all the rage. Hell, even Adventure Cycling is celebrating the Bikecentennial this year! All the brands have taken a stab at designing the best-suited bike for the aforementioned activities. While Specialized wasn’t by any means the first to the party in terms of “adventure bicycles,” they have staked their claim to the movement.

This bike, upon first glance, might just seem like a cross bike with some flashy paint and while that is mostly true, the thing that struck me the most about Parker’s A-Train all road is the drivetrain. Well, the drivetrain and that killer paint!

Knowing that he wanted to ride this bike on more dirt than sealed road and being a fan of Shimano, Parker mixed his Di2 with XTR and Dura Ace, relying on not only the clutch of the XTR rear mech, but its cage length, allowing him to wrap a big cassette around his chain. You don’t see this a whole lot, but it makes total sense, especially if you like the idea of SRAM’s 1x system but the feel or ergonomics of Shimano. Is it working out for Parker? You bet. While he was visiting Los Angeles from Minneapolis, where he works at Angry Catfish, he took full advantage of steep frontage and fire roads…

Taking a more “mountain bike” approach to fitting in terms of reach and fit has been a successful design characteristic of bikes like the AWOL. Shorter stems mean the top tube can be longer, giving the rider less overlap and the sensation of sitting “in” the bike, rather than “on” it. When Peter first contacted Geekhouse, he wanted a straight up ‘cross bike. Then he talked to a few people and he realized he wouldn’t be racing a whole lot. Rather, he wanted to take this bike up into the mountains of Los Angeles and disappear for hours on end. The triangle would be big to fit a frame bag and the bottom bracket a little lower to make it more predictable on descents.

It’s funny how the desire for a custom race bike is quickly quelled by the necessity for a vehicle to inspire escapism.

Fast forward to the bike’s completion. It just took a leap across the country to follow its owner as he relocated from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas. Essentially he and I swapped places… His relocation came at such a moment that the frame was shipped to Los Angeles first, before being packed back up and delivered to Mellow Johnny’s, where I photographed it this afternoon on a brief visit.

It’s great seeing a bike like this alive and well in a new and exciting city for its owner to explore. Enjoy this thing, Peter!

When in Berlin, photograph German frame builders, right? Troica Cycles is a Berlin-based builder, specializing in tig-welded, steel cyclocross and road bikes. While their website’s offerings look beautiful, Florian‘s bike is a little different. This all-road, light tourer, randonneur, or what have you, features a beautiful segmented fork with a custom rack to boot. Its paint job is accented by the sour apple Chris King, ENVE M50 wheels and a bright turquoise Chris King headset. This bike is colorful, yet subdued at the same time…

Today I got to spend four hours with Florian and his Troica, admiring its subtle style and capabilities. Check out more for yourself in the Gallery!

Over the years, NAHBS has become the launching platform for companies to release new products, utilizing custom frames as the backdrop. One of those new projects are the WTB Road Plus wheels and tires, finding themselves on this Hunter Cycles Disc All Road.

The concept is simple. Generally speaking, a 47mm 650b wheel has the diameter as 700 x 30mm tire. The tire they’re using for this system is the new Horizon Road Plus Tire. These new tires accompany WTB’s new 650b disc wheels.

Back to the bike. This Hunter Cycles really pops, with a wishbone rear, Shimano flat mount disc mount design and that elegant fork crown. The build is topped off with Praxis cranks and Sim Works cockpit. Enjou!

What’s this? Rim brakes? Yep. Steve Rex‘s submission to the Grinduro expo was the only bike that used traditional rim brakes and you know what? I like that. A lot. Especially when it comes to the stopping power of PAUL Minimotos. Steve chose White Industries T11 hubs to Pacenti rims, SRAM CX1 and even had some slick pinstriping added to the otherwise sleek and minimal frameset.

Void of ostentation, classic, timeless and ready to rip. Rex surely is king here…

Remember this one? From NAHBS? It was one of my favorites in the show. Everything about it just looked right. First impressions are everything you see and these days, with the whole bigger is better mentality about tire clearances, it was nice to see something embrace a modest tire so elegantly.

Mosaic‘s GS1 disc all-road bike is a custom steel or titanium frameset, offered by the Colorado-based frame builders.

Let me reiterate that: this is not a production model with stock sizing. It’s made with 100% custom geometry. A custom geometry ensures this bike will fit you like a tailored suit.

The GS1 is a road bike with disc brakes and room for around a 38mm tire. It has a road bottom-bracket drop (72.5mm) and a slightly slacker head tube than your average road frame (72.5º). Side note: I like how those two numbers match up so perfectly. The 420mm stays and 1033.5mm wheelbase can be best interpreted as smooth sailin’ down your favorite road, be it dirt or sealed.

Blue Collar Bicycles‘ Robert Ives knows a thing or two about metal. Both the tig-welded and guitar-wielded variety. For Grinduro, Giro’s Eric Richter commissioned both Robert and Paul Price of Paul Component Engineering to assemble a sparkle blue disc all road.

This bike stole the attention span of Grinduro Expo attendees with its intense finish and array of orange anodized Paul components, topped off with SRAM’s 1x technology… All hail the trail Eric and Robert. All hail. Take that puppy to dirt church already!

Cycling is an experience that should continue to mature overtime. I’m weary of people who stand firm in their ideologies, rest on laurels and refuse to embrace the “new,” especially when it comes to riding bikes. Look, it’s not that hard to have fun. Opinions can change with experience, its normal. Embrace it.

For the past two years, I’ve been planning both financially and functionally for this bike. Something I’d encourage everyone to do with a custom machine. Don’t just jump in head first without doing research and saving your money. The last thing you want to do is to take a financial hit once the final invoice comes in.

You see, I knew I wanted a Firefly. I kind of felt like that brand and my own brand have grown together over the years. When Jamie, Tyler and Kevin started the company, it had a breath of energy, creativity and their final products all expressed experimentation. Those guys can make anyone a dream bike but deciding what kind of bike is a challenge. Part of my apprehension was not only where I felt like cycling’s technology was heading, but where my own riding would be taking me over the next few years.

Yeah, you read that right. Schnozola. Two Jewish guys get together to build frames and they use the slang word for a giant nose as their moniker. Brilliant huh? I thought so.

Paul Sadoff from Rock Lobster and Bruce Gordon from Bruce Gordon was a Dude to Me Interbike 2015 pins got together and started making tig-welded frames. There’s not a lot to be known about this brand other than they chose OX Platinum and Columbus Spirit for the tubeset, SRAM Rival 1, Paragon tidbits, the ENVE GRD fork, a Hebrew inspired typeface and yes, one giant Schnoz for the head tube logo…

I gotta say, out of all the expo bikes at Grinduro, Todd from Black Cat‘s creation is most up my alley. Black bikes look mean, but then you add in a custom-machined lower headset cup, a beautiful stem, custom in-house gold paint details, those ENVE M‘s with RockNRoad tires and SRAM’s 10-42 rear cluster, resulting in one very dialed machine.

There’s nothing else to say, other than enjoy!

I also wanted to thank Todd from Black Cat for organizing the builder’s expo at Grinduro!

The Soulcraft Dirtbomb is an incredibly versatile bike and a worthy tool to tackle an event like Grinduro. It’ll eat up dirt roads, singletrack and pavement alike but most importantly, it’s strong enough to withstand the after party. Which at events like last weekend, tend to go on ’til dawn.

Sean from Soulcraft knows a thing or two about handmade bikes. He learned the trade from legends like Bruce Gordon and Salsa Cycles, so it’s fitting to see his framesets carrying on many of these ideologies, just in an updated, modern form.

This bike in particular clears the Bruce Gordon RockNRoad tires, features PAUL Klampers, Chris King and WTB wheels and SRAM’s CX1 group, with a 10-42 cluster.

Like I said, it’ll take on anything you throw at it and still party ’til dawn.

I’m here in Portland, Oregon attending the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While I’ll be documenting many of the frames, I’ll also be capturing the general vibes. For now, let’s just check out some bikes!

Chris King’s in-house brand Cielo has done its best to stay inline with the current state of cycling. They offer both rim brake and disc in their road or cross frames, Di2 integration, lightweight tubing and clearance for bigger tires.

With more and more people looking to pack a fatter tire into their road bikes, their newest offering picks up the torch and does just that. This new all-road bike uses 12mm thru-axles, the ENVE GRD fork, disc R45 hubs, a Solid Bikes tapered head tube and clearances for a 38mm tire.

Tires aren’t the only necessary clearance concerns for an “all-road” bike however. This size XL Cielo has improved standover to ensure an easy dismount if the road gets too steep… Stay tuned for more at Cielo.

In recent years, bikes of all kinds have been segregated into smaller and smaller categories, marketed to more and more specific uses. Meanwhile, riders are looking for a performance machine that allows them to enjoy a wide range of riding. Splitting the difference between categories can make for a confusing experience while looking for a bike. The Brodie Wolff is one such bike, with DNA from a variety of places. I’ve spent the past few months ripping the Wolff on roads, trails, and everywhere in between.

“Il Faut Toujours Souffrir.”

That’s what’s painted on the top tube of Barry’s Stinner disc all-road frame. Roughly translating to “we must always suffer,” this saying acts as not only a motivation for Barry on rides, but as a reminder as to what cycling means to him in relation to life. Nothing good comes easy.

Barry‘s an illustrator, a typographer, a graphic designer and in Los Angeles, that means freelance. It takes a certain soul to be a freelancer in LA. You’ve got to hustle, be on your game at all times and yes, sometimes suffer the ups and downs of the creative economy. That means some weeks, months, years, you’re on your game and others you’re not. It all takes sacrifice.

Mark’s Black Cat Gatto Disc All-Road
Photos by Derek Yarra, words by John Watson

Grinduro, the timed segment gravel race in the Sierra Nevada mountains approaches (10.10.2015) and for people like Mark Riedy, it’s the perfect opportunity to get a California builder to construct a dream bike for the event. An race like Grinduro will bring about polarizing opinions regarding what the ideal equipment might be. Some would say a hardtail or a rigid mountain bike, since the descents are technical and the last 12 miles of the course is singletrack.

Others would say a disc “all-road” or ‘cross bike because of the timed road segments and the 20-mile climb. Mark Riedy, Giro’s longtime PR guy, is clearly in the drop bar camp, so he looked to Santa Cruz’s Black Cat Bicycles to build him a bike.

Now, for those of you who know Mark, you can attest to his love of the Gios Torino road frames. They’re classics and Mark is always on the lookout for one in his size. Perhaps this was his motivation when contacting frame painter Keith Anderson, or perhaps he just wanted to have the word “Gato” on his head tube.

I reached out to Mark and asked him what he was trying to accomplish on Grinduro weekend. To which he replied, “I’m riding Grindruo just for fun and to be able to get in a weekend of camping with my family, so it doesn’t matter to me if I win or finish last, but I do want to have the most fun.”

SRAM 1x, Zipp and yes, white bar tape with a white saddle topped off this very modern bike inspired by an iconic classic. A guy who spends most days riding the dry, gravel fire roads of Marin County, Riedy wanted a bike that handled exactly like a performance road bike, but featured clearance for up to 38c tires and disc brakes. For most rides, Riedy runs Continental 28C Gatorskin Hardshell rubber, but for Grinduro he’ll definitely go with something bigger, like a Conti CycloXKing.

See you at Grinduro, Mark! I’ll be on my rigid…

Grinduro still has spots available, so head over to check it out.

Thanks to Above Category‘s Derek Yarra for the photos!

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