The Radavist

Compared to the early 2000’s, the NJS track frame market has had its bottom fall out. Now you can pick up a like new frame for a couple hundred bucks, versus a couple grand and there’s plenty to choose from, in various sizes. Hype has died out on these frames, which is perfect for guys like Josh who still love to ride a fixed gear on the street for a living. He works for Chicken Hawk Courier and makes various deliveries around town here in Los Angeles on this Watanabe frame. Aside from the fluoro paint, I was immediately drawn to the build: all black Nitto, Dura Ace hubs, Sugino Zen, ATAC pedals and a Spurcycle bell to top it off.

Say what you will about fixed gears and track bikes on the street but you’ll be hard pressed to find beausage like this elsewhere. Much less shorelines like that on the lugwork. Dang!

Paul Sadoff from Rock Lobster and Bruce Gordon from, well, Bruce Gordon Cycles brought a few more models of the Grinduro-unveiled brand Schnozola this year to NAHBS. A steel ‘cross, an aluminum ‘cross, a tourer and this fixed gear. Why build a fixed gear for NAHBS? Because Paul Sadoff wanted to!

Nick’s Hub and Spoke Cycleworks Track
Photos by Kyle Kelley, words by John Watson

Just as news of the Southern California framebuilder and painter Brian Baylis’ passing made its way to Los Angeles, this bike rolled in through the doors of Golden Saddle Cyclery, immediately grabbing Kyle’s attention. Its owner, Nick Brock races for team Dos Llantas in the San Diego-area. When he wanted a custom frame to fit his obviously very tall stance, he contacted Hub and Spoke Cycleworks in National City who took the important measurements and got to work.

Once the frame was complete, it was painted by Brian Powell, an owner of Hub and Spoke who also paints at Joe Bell’s paint shop. From there, Nick built it up with a Chub hubset on H+Son rims, with a Sugino crankset, FSA cockpit, seatpost and a Fizik Antares saddle.

With NAHBS coming up this week, a bike like this truly embodies what small-time frame and paint shops embody: creativity and customization. You can have all the flash without burning all your cash. Even though we lost Brian Baylis, his legacy lives on with every new builder or painter that pops up in Southern California. If you ever get the chance to see a Baylis in person, take some extra time examining it and you’ll see what I mean.

If you live in the National City area, make sure you swing through Hub and Spoke Cycleworks to check out their shop!

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Follow Kyle on Instagram, Nick on Instagram and Hub and Spoke Cycle Works on Instagram.

Wolfpack Hustle: Austin Finale Crit
Words and photos by Chris Lee

A group of 30 or so men straddled their bikes as they looked around for their teammates in coordinating outfits. All of the sudden a voice rang out over the large amplifiers near the opening of the smoothly paved racing track.

“Men’s track please come to the staging area!”

This was the beginning of the last race that would close out the Unified Title Series, hosted by Wolfpack Hustle, and the season for fixed gear criterium racing around the world.

Austin, Texas hosted the finale race at The Driveway, a paved race track normally used for cars and kart racing, this past weekend. While it’s usually used for motor sports, The Driveway does see it’s fair share of bicycles as Holland Racing, an Austin based business that organizes and facilitates bicycle races, hosts a weekly crit series every Thursday during road season. So with the Unified Title prize on the line, this crit drew racers from all over the US and it’s territories, from New York and California to Puerto Rico.

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!

When I first saw this bike, two things came to mind: Cannondale’s track bikes from the 90’s and Makino’s NJS bikes. This thing is a rocket with tight clearances and just the right amount of nuances you’d expect from a custom build. AJ from Muirandessi has a great eye and his client Gavin knew exactly what he wanted: a track bike that he could race and also spin around Portland on.

I know I don’t say this often, but keep that rubber side DOWN, dude. That is one nice machine!

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!

For the past five and a half years, AJ Lu of Muirandessi Cycles has been working on frames, one by one. After attending UBI framebuilding school, then getting his certification, AJ spent his free time researching the art and history of building a bicycle by hand.

When it comes to new framebuilders, it’s tough to make a leap out into the world and grow your brand or clientele. In the brief time I spoke with AJ, I didn’t get the sense that he was eager to be the next big thing, he just wants to perfect his art and build bicycle frames for people with a purpose.

This Muirandessi Cycles has an interesting story. It was built to be the owner, Lucas’ daily work bike at his company Cascadian Courier Collective. Earlier this summer, Lucas and his buddy Alexander decided to make the trip from Eugene, Oregon to Portland. A tour that most people would plan to undertake with panniers and a touring bike, yet they decided to make it a bit interesting and ate 99 Doughnuts along the way…

Recently it was powdercoated with a metallic flake clear and as the morning sunlight caught each individual flake, the bike illuminated itself in the most flamboyant way. Personally? I freaking love it!