The Radavist

One of the best qualities of steel is its ability to be resurrected from disaster.

In-home or in-workshop bicycle storage is essential and while many of the systems we use to hang our bikes might be bomb-proof, sometimes the building itself is a little janky. Last year, Garrett from Strawfoot‘s bike rack fell off the wall at his shop, crushing his beloved Hunter ‘Cross bike.

Devastated, he called up Rick Hunter and put the bike in queue for repair. A few weeks later (he and Garrett are best buds, hence the fast turnaround,) Garrett’s bike was ready for powder. The color he chose was fitting for this resurrected zombie bike: matte black.

This will be Garrett’s Grinduro bike, but with a 40mm WTB Nano setup tubeless, which coincidentally is what I rode and will be riding this weekend in Quincy.

If you’re rolling through this weekend, swing through the Strawfoot booth and say hey to Garrett!

Last weekend, I made the short flight up to Portland, Oregon to attend the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While there, I was greeted with that I found to be a really pleasant and easy to digest show. There was just about anything a bike nerd could hope for: around 20-30 vendors, food, cheap beer, entertainment and lovely weather. Part of the draw for me to attend this show was to see builders who might not go to NAHBS and might not be right inside the Portland Metro area. We’ve already seen many of the bikes on display, so lets check out the show itself in a quick gallery…

Don’t worry, there’s more to come!

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!

The new shop on the block at the Bike and Beer Festival were Norther Cycles, a shop in Portland that is making in-house frames from road to randonneur. With competitive pricing, classic aesthetics and the option to build out the frame from their in-house parts and accessories, Norther Cycles is your new one-stop shop for randonneuring in the Rose City.

Since everyone’s a fan of raw bikes with silver components, I couldn’t help myself from geeking out over this beauty. With 10-speed Dura Ace, TA, Gran Bois, Mafac, Berthoud and Nitto, this bike would easily cause any serious or enthusiastic randonneur rider to salivate. Just don’t drip too much on that frame… don’t want it to rust!

If you’re in Portland, swing by and see the guys at Norther Cycles. Next time I’m in town, I’ll be doing exactly that! Or if you’d like to know more about pricing, head to their pricing list.

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!

During the Bike and Beer Festival, I was looking for a fun, steel hardtail in either 29″ or 27.5″ to photograph. Then I came across the Magic Cycle Werks Cadeyrn. The Cadeyrn looks like it’d be a great XC bike, without being too steep on the front, making it squirrely on technical descents. A 27.5 wheel, 120mm travel, fillet brazed, steel hardtail with a 70º head tube angle, a 73º seat tube angle and glistening powdercoat, executed by Spectrum Powder Works. Built from OX Platinum tubing and running around $2,600 for a frame, these production bikes will be open for pre-order soon….

Contact Magic for more info.

This was an interesting experience. It wasn’t part of the festival and it didn’t look like anything special at first. Matt’s commuter has the #4 serial from Kris at 44 Bikes. It’s a singlespeed made for zipping around town with three unique details: a Mike Flanigan fork with a custom 44 Bikes rack and a special cable hanger Kris machined and mounted to the Thomson stem.

My favorite thing about bikes like this is the amount of use it has seen…

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.

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!

“There are so many different ways to make shit look awesome on a bike…”
– Rudi from Black Magic Paint

When Megan Dean from Moth Attack was approached by a group of ladies from San Francisco, to build team frames for this season’s ‘cross races, she knew it’d be an undertaking. Sure enough, as making batches of anything at this scale, it wasn’t easy but the fruits of her labor paid off, especially after Rudi from Black Magic Paint got ahold of these frames for paint.

There were a lot of unique frames and paint jobs at the Bike and Beer Festival, yet I kept gravitating towards this one in particular. I wonder why? Look out for these bikes at local Bay Area ‘cross races this season.

Follow @BlackMagicPaint, @MothAttack and @MothAttackCX on Instagram.

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!

You’re a long way from home, partna’…

Konga Frames has been spending the past few months in the Pacific Northwest, soaking in the Oregonian sunlight and bicycle culture that, at this point, is world-renown and worth the trip.

So who and what is Konga?

Konga’s frames are made individually by hand in Mäntyharju, Finland and his latest work is something completely unexpected (for me anyway.) This bright yellow 29+ SS MTB features a painted to match Salsa fork with ENVE riser bars, Maxxis Chronicle tires, Hope hubs, White Industry ONE cranks and Formula Racing disc brakes. Pretty cush, right?

Even though Konga wasn’t officially displaying at the show, I couldn’t pass this beauty up…

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!

Mark Dinucci is the man. He’s been building frames for over 40 years, has been the go-to consultant for numerous other builders and still to this day epitomizes the craft of bicycle frame building. For this year’s Bike and Beer Festival he displayed a classic road frame, fit for a Dura Ace 25th anniversary group and elegant Joe Bell paint. While the bike wasn’t a complete, I still wanted to get a few photos of this masterpiece. Oh and some portraits of Mark himself…

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 Breadwinner Cycles, it may appear their bikes are designed for racing and ripping. That’s not the case for their Arbor Lodge porteur bike. These do-it-all city commuters are designed to pack versatility in a nimble steel frame while still holding true to that Breadwinner aesthetic. My personal favorite detail is the custom porteur rack and the use of the White Industries VBC cranks.

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!