The Radavist

Confidence with the Wraith Fabrication Paycheck
Words by Andre Chelliah, photos by John Watson

This is a continuation of a series of reviews, beginning with the Initial Reaction to the Wraith Fabrication Paycheck…

Now, I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not the best off-road rider, but the Wraith Fabrication Paycheck had me feeling steezy. John says “Confidence is everything” when it comes to riding off-road, and I can now attest to that. Riding a bike you’re comfortable on, brings confidence. That makes it easy to go fast and take chances.

Iowa’s Mt. Krumpit and Jingle Cross
Photos and words by Andy Bokanev

“And they told you Iowa was flat,” it was before noon and I’m pretty sure the beer the dude was holding was not his first. His geographically themed heckle was aimed at a random backmarker struggling his way up Mt. Krumpit with the “why I am doing this?” look painted all over his face. This was just one of many similar experiences this weekend at Jingle Cross hosted in Iowa City, Iowa.

The three day race kicked off under the lights on Friday evening in freezing conditions with the temperatures hovering in the mid teens. Saturday brought about more cold and snow just in time for the UCI C1 race. It continued snowing through the night so when everyone showed up for a the last day of racing the ground was completely covered in the white stuff eventually giving way to a thin layer of mud.

Some observations:

-Caroline Mani from not wearing any leg warmers. There is no amount of vaseline and embro in the world that would convince me to do the same.
-The race is extremely well organized featuring one of the best (if not THEE best) cyclocross course in the United States. If there is one race that deserves World Cup status, this is it
-Just like bottled water on hot and humid days there is a tariff on hot chocolate on extremely cold days. The going price for a cup of hot chocolate on Sunday was $6
-It not as cold when it’s snowing
-The course layout was different all three days which kept things interesting and challenging
-People in Iowa love pizza

So do not let the weather scare you, Jingle Cross is absolutely worth the travel.

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Wednesday Night ‘Cross Practice on Randall’s Island, New York City
Photos and interview by Chris Lee

Ride over to soccer field 70 on Randall’s Island in New York City around 7 pm on a Wednesday and you’ll be met with bikes rolling around in grass and dirt, someone yelling “come on you can do it!” and a group of 15 or so racers running drills around cones and trees. This is the home of the weekly ‘cross practices in New York City.

Evan Murphy, a cat 2 cyclocross racer, runs these weekly practices with his teammate, Kyle Murphy, a cat 1 racer, every Wednesday on Randall’s Island. The Murphy “Brothers” bring cones and homemade barriers to run drills and mock races. These practices not only build the skills needed to become a better racer but also helps build a community of racers in a city and in a sport where stepping out of your comfort zone is the name of the game.

“Cross is coming” “Cross is coming”.

All year, we wait for cross reason. Truthfully, it’s the only racing I actively seek out. Sure, if there’s a MTB race nearby, I’m not going to say no, but cross is the only form of racing I truly love.

David, or as many refer to him as “the Wilcox”, is a bit of a legend in the Boston-area, much like Mike Zanconato, the builder of his trusty cross bike. Since 1998, Zanconato has been building custom bicycles in Massachusetts, which is where David got this matte-black beauty.

While Tim and David were in town this week with the Rapha mobile cycle club Tillie – after a grueling drive straight from Louisville – I shot photos of his race bike, still caked with Kentucky mud. His build is steller with Chris King, CX1, Wolf Tooth and yes, a Quarq power meter.

See more in the Gallery!

There’s something special happening right now within the US framebuilding industry. Something that ought not to be overlooked, no matter how too good to be true it might seem. Before we go any further however, I must make one note: a production frame is not a custom frame. There’s a misconception that everything made by a framebuilder is custom. A production run is a series of sizes, made in an assembly-line process, which drastically reduces cost on both the builder’s end and the consumer’s end.

With that come a few issues: one of which being fit and others include – often times – paint choice, or adding extras like braze-ons, pump pegs, chain holders, etc. The most important factor however is fit. Many people are driven to a framebuilder due to fit issues, but a majority of the population can be fit on a stock geometry with a series of tweaks. That said, the geometry for these stock sizes has to be able to accommodate.

Enter Wraith Fabrication, one of these new US-made production companies, headed by an existing framebuilder, Adam Eldridge of Stanridge Speed. Now, why would a framebuilder make another brand to sell bikes? Because of their construction: Wraith is tig-welded, Stanridge is fillet brazed. Adam isn’t the first fillet-braze builder to move onto a brand reliant on tig welding, either.

There exist a series of tig-only framebuilders who build production bikes for various brands, including Wraith Fabrication. Wraith now offers a disc cyclocross bike, the Paycheck and a road bike, the Hustle. These frames are built from Columbus Life tubing, with Ohio-manufactured head tube cups in Oregon and then painted or powder coated in Ohio.

Adam designed the geometries, specs and brought the project to life… using magic? Nope. Just a solid production. I got to take one of these bikes, the Paycheck disc cross bike for a series of rides over the past week. Check out an initial reaction below…