The Radavist

If you need scientific data to support tire purchasing, you need not continue reading. Just look at the pretty photos and move on. This is not a controlled test on rolling resistance, aerodynamics or puncture protection. I don’t do that kind of product review. What I do is actually use something until I feel like I can sign off on its quality, before I choose to write anything.

Let’s look at this tire’s history before we go any further. Bruce Gordon was arguably one of the first builders in the USA to support “gravel grinding”. His bikes were straight-forward, utilitarian beasts that sometimes were painted like an 80’s hotrod, or even adorned with animal print. They are wild. In fact, one of the first BG bikes I ever saw was a flat bar cross bike, with these tires and tiger stripes that was well before any 29’r hit the market. A lot of bikes back in the 80’s couldn’t even fit these tires. There weren’t exactly stock framesets that fit a 700c x 43c wheel, so these stood out from other offerings of the time.

Bruce’s Rock N Road tires are iconic, much like his bikes. Originally designed by Joe Murray, a well-known figure in the MTB community. These 43mm (1.72″) tires were designed to be high-volume, fast rolling and rip through gravel like I rip through a Frito Pie. Are they slow on the road? Of course. They have decent tread. Are they good for loose and sandy conditions? Mostly, yes. They move as fast as you pedal them.

The Rock N Road tire is one that’s at home on chip seal, paved, gravel, rock, sand and just about everything else you can throw at it on a ride. It’ll handle great at 60psi on asphalt and excel at 40psi in gravel. I had a great time ripping through the cedar-topped trails here in Austin, as well as a few gravel roads and even rocky terrain. All save for one flat (snake bite in a rock garden), I’ve yet to have any issues. Let me add however that if all you do is ride sealed roads on your rig, I would go for something else, mostly because you’ll probably wear through the tread too fast.

Puncture protection? It’s not thorn season here in Austin, so I’ve yet to tackle anything like that but I’d say they’re pretty resilient to the normal road and trail debris. Some tire liners would help and I read somewhere that people have been successful at running these on a tubeless wheel. If anyone has insight to that, share in the comments!

If you want a big, fat tire for your cross, touring or even MTB with 700c or 29’r wheels, look no further. $50 a piece is a great deal for anything coming out of the Panaracer facilities in Japan I might add! For the weight-conscious, they’re 540g each. One major note. They’re BIG and wouldn’t come close to fitting on my cross bike, so MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CLEARANCE!

Pick up a pair at Bruce Gordon’s online shop in skinwall or blackwall.

I know I’ve plugged the Giro Privateer shoes numerous times on the site before and yet I continue to get emails from people asking what shoes I wear on my cross and mountain bike. These days, I travel exclusively with my Mudville cross bike. For road rides, I bring Jack Brown tires, for dirt, I bring Grifos. Spending serious saddle time in shoes will either make or break your relationship with them but spending a lot of time on the road in MTB shoes is sure to test their comfort.

In dirt, you tend to move around a lot more, stop, hike and the time you spend actually sitting and climbing is limited. At least in my experience anyway. Especially when I come to California, I find myself climbing mountains on my cross bike, in these shoes. People often comment on how they hate riding road in mountain shoes and I used to hate it as well but then I got the Giro Privateers. I’ve been amazed at how comfortable they are, at such an affordable pricepoint. They also come in HV, or “high volume” for wider feet.

This isn’t a “paid advert”, this is just me sharing with you something that I use a lot more than I anticipated…

Cinelli’s Bootleg Hobo site just got a new addition:

“Hobo is a totally new steel frame bicycle, engineered and equipped for off-road rides on long distances, already proving itself along the adventurous 12.000 kilometres of the 2013 Tour d’Afrique. TdA is a world renowned endurance-race, now in its 11th edition. What better way for the hobo to announce itself to the world than with 3 distinguished Cinelli riders blazing across the African terrain.

Chas Christiansen, 100% pure San Francisco and one of the top riders of the Cinelli Mash Team, an iconic figure of the fixed-gear culture, always on the highest steps of Criteriums, Alleycats and Cyclo-Cross Single-Speed races podiums.

Lucas Brunelle, native of Boston, is an established filmmaker who introduced a unique first-person filming technique in cycling races thanks to his great riding skills and the innovative helmet-integrated camera-system. Lucas is responsible for filming and reporting the most extreme race contests all over the globe for more than ten years.

Dario Toso couldn’t miss out, designer and explorer of the contemporary and long-time ambassador of the “Bootleg State of Mind”.”

Expect some photos of this bike soon!

There are few builders out there who have mastered the art of documenting their process. Need examples? Click on the Frame Builders tag… Cycles d’Autremont is one of those builders and while there isn’t a whole lot from this Burlington, Vermont craftsman on the site, I hope to swing by their shop when I’m in Burlington for the JDRF ride in July.

It doesn’t take much to sell a client on your product. A few photos of your work environment, some macro shots of your in-process lugs, or even a full-blown phototorial on why you prefer to make and modify your own lugs can do wonders for your client base.

If you flip through Cycles d’Autremont’s Flickr, you’ll find everything from a clean cross bike, to a rigid MTB fresh from paint, to a porteur to a dirty cross bike. With all this eye candy, it’s still hard for me to not fixate on their killer headbadge.

Hell, I don’t even think my shop visit photos would come close to Hubert’s own! We’ll see I suppose…

I like videos like this because they highlight an everyday commuter and how they spend their days. Check out Phil from Urb-Orbis as he talks about his work life and riding his Charge Freezer in London.

UGHHHHHHHHHHH…. I want to get out there again. It’s been too long! Most importantly, I’m stoked for friends of mine who actually are getting out there this summer. I know Ty’s getting stoked on the Great Divide. Check out the latest campaign from Blackburn.

“What’s Out There?

Designed with Blackburn’s founding principle in mind – the spirit of adventure – the Out There program tells the story of two iconic cycling routes, the people who ride them and the uncommon adventures they have along the way. These routes, the Pacific Coast Highway and the Great Divide, serve as the blank pages that the Blackburn ambassadors, nicknamed “Rangers”, will craft their stories of adventure upon.

Watch the video for a glimpse into the people, the places and the uncommon adventures that make up the Out There program.
Visit blackburndesign.com/outthere in late July to hear the rest of the story.”

The guys at Speedvagen have pulled together a nice lookbook for their 2013 ‘Cross offerings. Head over to Speedvagen for ordering information and download the lookbook by clicking here.

I had to swing by Icarus Frames ( @IcarusFrames ) today to pick up a few things and while I was there, I got to see some of his latest handywork. This 1×10 commuter cross frame is heading up to Boston and while the customer didn’t want anything too fancy, Ian added some clean detailing. The fork will be an ENVE cross and it’ll be heading out to paint shortly. Part of me really loves seeing a frame in this state but a good coat of paint always brings out the details.

Check out a few more shots below.

In addition to all the new track frame offerings Dosnoventa has been serving up recently, today they released the Helsinki SSCX. Tapered fork, oversized aluminum tubing and those fat stays outta make for one stiff ride. Check out more details at Dosnoventa.

Photos by John Daniel Reiss

As previously-stated, yesterday I rode with Chas in Golden Gate Park. Which if I lived in SF, would be a daily staple in my riding routine. There’s something completely ironic about a camo cycling kit but it works exceptionally well on the new Endo Customs-made TCB Courier kits and yes, they look completely rad in person too.

Check out more photos below…

I love riding in California and today was my first time riding in Golden Gate Park. I crashed with Chas last night and this morning, we headed out to Trouble coffee for some of their excellent coffee and toast. There’s nothing like the #lightbro in early SF mornings.

It’s been a while since I’ve heard anything from Traitor Cycles but this is nice return! Introducing the Crusade disc:

“For 2013 the Crusade is going to disc only for braking options and features a new custom dropout system we designed to run gears or singlespeed. We will have two sets of dropouts available, one set with a derailler mount and one without for a cleaner singlespeed look. The nice thing about the new dropout system is that singlespeed racers can now run a rear wheel with a QR and can pop their wheel in and out without having to re-tension the wheel.

The Crusade continues to have internal full length cable routing for the rear brake for a clean look and ease of shouldering the bike. The framesets will be available mid to late summer and will retail for $599 for the frame and fork. The frame will feature a Race Butted Founderland Seamless Chromoly for the frame material.”

See more detail photos below.