The Radavist

Just because ‘cross is over, doesn’t mean you can’t ride a cross bike year round. Blue Lug’s latest build from Massachusettes-based Geekhouse Bikes is easy on the eyes, and on maintenance. Check out more photos at the Blue Lug Flickr.

If you live in Los Angeles, please keep a look out for my Geekhouse touring bike. It was stolen this morning between the hours of 5 – 6:30am from my house. It doesn’t have fenders now and has a basket bag, but is very distinguishable. If you see it, throw a u-lock on it or call Golden Saddle Cyclery (323-661-1174). Leave a comment if you have any questions.

Boston is no stranger to titanium. Back in the day, Merlin ruled that market, and later, Indy Fab. These days Firefly and Seven are cranking out beautiful ti frames and now, Geekhouse can be added to that material roster. We’ve seen Geekhouse work with titanium before, with that flashy, painted frame, but here’s a look at what the new Geekhouse Ti bikes look like raw, leaving the welds exposed. Geekhouse works exclusively with USA 3AL2.5V tubing and the Mudvilles feature thru-axles, and a Loco Machine head tube. These bikes look great and you can see for yourself below. If you’re interested in a Ti Geekhouse, wait time is around 3-4 months.

Sometimes you need a reboot and for the team at Geekhouse, that includes not only a new logo (designed by the Boston-based Monica Hargrove,) but a new material. Marty Walsh has been building with steel for what probably feels like an eternity for him and in that time, he’s made the point to express an interest in titanium frames to me. Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised when this bike rolled through my inbox yesterday…

This disc road was built for the New England Sram rep, Andy Ewas. Which is probably the reason for the extensive SRAM and Zipp kit. On this build, you’ll spot the new Sram Red eTap and Zipp 303 Wheels with a Zipp cockpit.

Paint design on the frame is from the one and only Jordan Low at Hot Tubes. It features a Metallic Graphite Grey to Raw Ti fade. This is overlapped with a Candy Red to Blue over Raw Ti, revealing the welds underneath the paint. I.e. it’s fire!

See more of this beautiful bicycle below and hopefully, we see more titanium coming out of Geekhouse in the near future!

Photos by Heather McGrath

Being a returning Geekhouse customer myself, I can identify with this bike. Deb wanted the ultimate city/touring bike, sparing no details. She already has a Geekhouse Mudville ‘cross bike, but wanted a dedicated tourer for the long haul and around town commuting.

This one’s got it all. Racks, fenders, generator lamps and a mean parts list. Not to mention paint designed by Adria Klora, and then painted by Rudi at Gold Coast Cycles. It’s one of the most complicated bikes I’ve ever seen come from the Geekhouse shop.

Check out the full build kit and more photos below.

The Geekhouse Woodville is the Boston-based framebuilding outfit’s touring model. Designed for long-hauls on the road or even around-town commuting, these frames are guaranteed to see their share of miles. This pair in particular was built for Bryn and Katie in Colorado, who have been more than psyched on their new bikes.

I’ve had some of my favorite moments on a bicycle on mine and still to this day find myself tweaking little details. More on that to come next week. For now, here are a few unique specimens, documented by Heather McGrath. Check out more photos below and read up at the Geekhouse website!

The team at Geekhouse are looking to expand their operations with a new position. If you meet the criteria and want to start off at a framebuilder’s operations in the Boston-area, now’s your chance. Head over to Geekhouse for more information.

A few people have requested photos of the lighting setup on my Geekhouse Woodville tourer. My view on lighting is pretty simple: throw a big beam where you illuminate not just your bike but the road around you. The Portland Design Works Aether Demon USB light is mounting via the included seatpost clip, but I removed the ring and just attached the clip straight to the rack mount on my bike. Most all lights come with a seatpost mount. I’ve found this method to not only be more secure than a seat stay mount, but much more successful at lighting the surface of the road, increasing visibility.

This position puts the light low and to the inside of the road, assuming cars are driving on the right of the road. If I were in Australia or UK, the light would be on the reverse. The same goes for my Edelux front lamp, which is under my Wald basket.

The team over at Geekhouse have been working hard on a new website and all that diligence has paid off. Head on over to check out more photos by Heather McGrath, as well as bikes Marty has built around the globe!

Photo by Nobuhiko Tanabe

That’s a great looking cyclocross bike. Nobuhiko has been racing on this beauty over in Japan and finally took some photos of it. Head over to Blue Lug’s Flickr for the full set.

Photos by Eric Baumann

Ya know, I was going to paraphrase Marty’s copy from his email to me, but he does such a good job describing his bike, I thought I’d just paste it in. This is by far, one of the best Mudvilles I’ve seen, and you know I love some rain camo on a cross bike!

“The frame paint was done by Rudi Jung. Rudi also came up with the design. When Rudi told me about the idea, I was really excited, as it’s been a few years since I’ve had a new bike. The theme is Rain Camo, mixed with the new 2014 Geekhouse Team Colors, fading from dark teal in the front to bright orange in the rear.

At the last second we got worried it looked a little bit like your fork from Death Spray. We reached out to Death Spray, and his response was “It ain’t no thing, I copied it from the Germans.”

Components on the bike feature Sram’s new CX-1 with Hydro brakes. Enve Rims/Fork, Thomson Stem/Bars Post, and King Headset/Hubs. Wheels we custom built by Luxe Wheelworks. And tires were provided by Challenge.”

See more below!

Everyone is overdosing on ‘cross right now. It’s like we’re all sitting at our desks, gyrating, awaiting the cowbells and handups. Fueling the fire is Crafted Magazine, as they interview Adam from Stanridge and Marty from Geekhouse at KMC Providence Cyclocross…

Three things can make all the difference on your ride: tires, bar tape and your saddle. This bike in particular is about as dialed as they get, both in aesthetics and comfort. Out of all my bikes, I gotta say, the Woodville has the most character and I’ve been enjoying each of the three aforementioned choices so far.

Easton’s bar tape, Bruce Gordon Rock n Road tires and the Brooks Cambium C15.

As a side note, I’m not sure what spawned this, other than I’m trying out a makeshift studio in my office. If anyone has experiences mixing a B1 500 TTL strobe with speedlights, I’d love to hear from you! I’m using the Air remote.

Once I get these photos dialed in, maybe I’ll post a photoset. For now, here are three detailed shots I’m stoked on.

Thanks for letting me go on another overnighter ride in the Aussie bush. It’s exactly what I (and my bike) needed. What a perfect 48 hours… oh and happy 4th of July!