The Radavist

If we won the lottery, there would be signs! A customer commissioned Firefly to make a coupled titanium mini bike to fit inside a Rimowa case for easy travel with a bike. This sort of bike is peak custom, so we had to get a closer look…

Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…

The second video in our Beautiful Builds series showcases John Watson, the founder of The Radavist’s “Rad Rod” Firefly gravel/all-road bike. Back in 2014, he commissioned Firefly to make him a “gravel” bike before there were gravel bikes. This bike has a road geometry with ‘cross bike clearances and cable routing.

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Music: Bongripper – Endless

This project has all the feels:

“Velocio Ambassador, Gregg Deal, found cycling first as a mountain bike racer growing up in Park City, Utah during the mountain bike boom of the 1990s. Today, the 46 year old father, husband, artist and activist lives in Colorado Springs and uses riding to inform and infuse his professional life.

To that end, we’re proud to collaborate with Gregg on a custom benefit jersey bearing his art and benefiting The Sovereign Bodies Institute for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2 Spirit and Illuminative, which aims to increase Indigenous representation in media. 100% of the profits from this jersey will be donated to these organizations.

We followed Gregg on a ride from Truckee, California to the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation, a 742 square mile plot roughly 35 miles northeast of Reno, Nevada. What we saw was the unique connection to place, an intimate look at Indigenous culture and a tie to bike that is rarely seen.”

Check out the limited edition jersey and more photos from Greg’s ride at Velocio!

Wow. The titanium anodizing wizards at Firefly Bicycles just popped this beautiful ti and carbon road bike on their Tumblr and we had to share a glimpse. See much, much, more at the Firefly Tumblr.

As a designer, sometimes you get a commission that really jives with your hobbies. Graphic artist Iancu met a Japanese Cyclist through the Rapha Cycle Club and designed him a dream bike with Firefly Cycles.

“One of the benefits of being part of an international club, the Rapha Cycling Club, is getting to know great people from all over the world. One of them is Haj, who lives in Miami, US, but was born in Tokyo, Japan.

We’ve been talking about our cycling and Japan interests over the years, and he’s always been very kind and appreciative of my work. He really liked the Quirk bike design I had done before, so he asked if I could help design a bike for him as well. The world-renowned Firefly Bicycles team from Boston were building it. This had all the markings of a dream project, so I said yes, of course.”

Head to Iancu’s Portfolio Site to see the full bike.

Firefly has really lead the way in terms of anodizing designs on their frames and in the past, we’ve seen many examples of their topography anodizing but never as expansive as this one! If you’d like to see more details of this wild piece of work, head to the Firefly Tumblr.

It’s been a while since we’ve done a feature like this but what Firefly is doing with their anodizing labs never ceases to amaze! See their full documentation at their Tumblr.

Do you think the Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian would have ever expected to see his unique form of Neoplasticism art used so wildly in pop culture? To the point where a bicycle frame – hell, multiple bicycle frames! – would be adorned with his unique form of abstract art? Firefly Bicycles is working on documenting a beauty of a frame. See more at their Tumblr.

This behind the scenes video clip is from Bicycle Quarterly’s latest issue, which could be their most popular edition yet.

It might not look like much in its raw form with no context but to Firefly and their future customers who’d like to increase their tire size, while running a double crankset and maintaining correct chainline, this is the only way to do it. Above is Tyler from Firefly’s personal bike. This all-road was sent off to test their new yoke design, which will clear either a 700x42mm or 27.5x53mm tire with a compact road crankset. The team at Firefly have been working on this for some time now and it’s finally an option for those looking to optimize their drivetrain. Check out the technology section at their website for more information and see more photos of Tyler’s bike at the Firefly Flickr.

Anodizing titanium with advanced patterns and ombré fades is just the icing on the meticulously-welded Firefly cake. These new designs I’ve seen on their social media platforms are certainly pushing the brand’s abilities. Follow Firefly on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.

… and I can’t stop eyeing it on their Flickr. Seriously, this is amazing. Everything about this build is wild. Discuss…

For some people, commuting by bicycle to work each day is the only time they’re assured time on the bike, so making those rides as enjoyable as possible is an added bonus. When it comes to Firefly, I can’t think of a better ride experience, so starting your day on something like this must be an extra special treat. Check out more at the Firefly Tumblr.