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I shoot as many bikes as I could at the ENVE Builder Round Up in a relatively small timeframe and while I wish I could have gotten to them all, there’s only so much one can do in ten hours. Still, I feel like these last five builders represent the kinds of bikes the readership here at the Radavist enjoys. There are some real gems in this last gallery. Without further adieu, here’s an in-depth look at Weiss, Breadwinner, Moots, a new brand called Pine, and Mosaic…
Bikepacking bags are great and all but nothing beats a rigid support system when it comes to traveling, touring, and camping by bike. The problem is, not all road or gravel bikes have rack support bosses on their carbon forks. Jack the Bike Rack clamps to your bars and can be fitted to just about any bike without any frame or fork modification. This project is launching on Kickstarter soon but you can check it out in detail at Jack the Bike Rack where you can sign up for the Kickstarter campaign notification…
Continuing on with our 2021 ENVE Builder Round Up coverage – we posted the first Gallery on Friday – today we’re featuring the show-stopping work of Prova Cycles, Naked Bicycles, 44 Bikes, Spooky, Retrotec, and Argonaut Cycles. Each of these builders brought something special to the showcase and a few raised the bar considerably in various ways. There’s a lot to go over here so let’s get to it!
This is dedicated to Flinders Island local, passionate cyclist and an inspiration for this story. Guy Ireland suffered a terrible accident this week that has placed him in hospital with severe spinal injuries. Get well soon Mate.
Fairlight’s frames are well detailed and designed for the task at hand. The new Strael 3.0 is their “all season” road bike, made from Reynolds tubing and with clearance for a 36mm tire. The Strael comes in three colors now, with color-matched forks and plenty of provisions to keep you rolling on your long rides.
Here is what is new on the Strael 3.0:
-Clearance for 36mm (width as measured) tyres.
-New Reynolds 853 downtube with revised butting profile.
-New Reynolds 725 chainstays with custom forming and shaping that is unlike anything you’ve seen on a steel frame.
-New size specific top tube and seat stays for sizes 61R and 61T. Designed for bigger, stronger riders.
-New Bentley x Fairlight Mk.2 dropouts.
-New Anraed 3.0 fork with internal dynamo routing and improved tyre clearance.
-3rd bottle mount for endurance riding and full frame bags.
-New full dynamo integration for running rear lights.
-New solar pattern graphics.
-Colour matched fork as standard.
See the full design notes for the Strael 3.0and see pricing options at Fairlight.
These days, chances are you’ve got a local bag maker in your state. In my area here in New Mexico, there are a few, and just down the hill from Santa Fe in Albuquerque is Buckhorn Bags, a small company run by Sam Lutz. Sam makes custom framebags, both full and half, as well as a plethora of other accessory bags. I’ve got two bikes that have been begging for framebags, so when Sam announced he was going to start offering them, I sent him some money, a few photos, and waited for a few weeks. Well, I’ve been using these bags for a while now and would like to share the process and product with you so check out more below…
We’ve seen dozens if not near a hundred videos showcasing a pro mountain biker shredding a gravel bike but GCN might have just taken the KOM with this video…
SAGE Titanium is happy to share a little film made in collaboration with Volkl skis — Means to Ascend follows pro cyclist Maxx Chance and pro skier Johnny Egan as they strap touring skis to their SAGE Titanium gravel bikes and attempt to summit Mount Blackmore on a 100% human-powered mission.
Blackmore is a peak whose northside can be viewed from just about anywhere in the city limits of Bozeman, MT, and is a renowned mountain for backcountry enthusiasts. During the mud season in April to May the canyon road that leads to the trailhead is closed to motor vehicles. So, the only way to access the area is by bike and the Made in the USA SAGE Storm King makes for a fast and fun option!
This week’s Readers’ Rides comes from Austin, Texas. Emilio’s Tomii Cycles Sunset Chaser gravel bike caught our eye on Instagram, so we reached out to Emilio to see if he’d be willing to share his thoughts about the bike. Read on below for more…
Coming off their new MTB frame, the Hooch, Thomson just announced their new titanium gravel bike, the Piedmont. Like the Hooch, the Piedmont comes in a base model comes with Thomson Elite series stem, post, clamp alloy bar, and carbon fork…or enjoy a sweet discount on their premium components (Ti, Carbon, Masterpiece, Dropper) for the ultimate Thomson package deal.
Specs:
-3al 2.5v aircraft grade custom drawn Titanium frame set
-70º head tube angle
-44mm tire clearance
-tapered 1 1/8th to 1.5 internal headset
-internal routing
-142×12 through axle
-27.2 post
-brushed finish with Sandblasted logos and a custom headtube badge
See more at Thomson.
Designed for a 33-55mm tire, on a 24.5 alloy rim, the new Industry Nine 1/1 GRCX wheels might be what you’re looking for to get your new build rolling or to give an existing build some sprucing up for summer rides. These new wheels use I9’s new 1/1 Road series hubs which offer 90 points of engagement on a 6 pawl freehub body, use J-bend spokes for ease of maintenance, and are backed by a 2-year warranty. Best of all, they retail at $765. Check out more at Industry Nine.
The current state of the world supply chain is messy. The bicycle industry, as you may know, is really feeling it. In the past year, we have seen a tidal wave of people dusting off their old 90’s mountain bikes, or going to their local bike shop to snag that 2021 model, and heading out into the world to see what this two-wheeled miracle has to offer. While it is exciting to see the surge in support towards the bicycle world, the industry frankly wasn’t exactly equipped for the demand that has become the new norm for the time being. This has component lead times reading in years as opposed to their usual months, shipping costs rising to astronomical amounts, and brands (especially smaller ones) attempting to carefully navigate these obstacles and adapt.
With the scrambled supply chain, it was unexpected and exciting for us at Crust to have the opportunity to team up with ENVE to work on making something special. Having already been big fans of ENVE’s Adventure Fork for its versatility and aesthetic, the idea of offering a Crust frame paired up with it started getting tossed around. Inspired by Hailey Moore (@hailey.m.moore) and her Bombora that she put a paint-matched carbon fork on, it seemed the match was already made. A few changes were made to the existing Bombora to accommodate the Adventure fork and freshen the frame up a bit. Once the design changes were made, the plans were signed off, and a long wait ensued.
It’s pretty common these days to see professional roadies make the transition into gravel. The racing and even the bikes are pretty similar, so it’s not a big stretch to make the leap. But what about coming to gravel from downhill? Now we’re talking about switching from races that are about 2-miles long with zero elevation gain to races that are 200-miles long with 10’000-feet of climbing. Race times go from a few minutes to hours…lots of hours. And that’s not even getting into how different the bikes are. The switch from downhill to gravel is way less common and a lot harder to wrap your head around…but let me introduce you to Kathy Pruitt.
This first episode of the ‘On Gravel’ features Bart Houben, from Leuven, Belgium, who started building his own bike wheels a few years ago…
“Gravel bikes are just XC bikes from the 80s/90s with drop bars.” You hear that over and over again, ad infinitum on the internet. While that might be true to some degree, I think this statement does XC bikes from the 80s/90s a disservice. Back when the big companies were slow to pivot towards innovation, smaller builders were the ones tinkering in their shops, fabricating step-up cassettes, designing bikes with boost spacing, 1x drivetrains, quick-release seatpost collars, and more. It took people like Charlie Cunningham and Jacquie Phelan to really push the paradigm until it broke.
Take, for example, this tribute of Jacquie’s 1983 “Otto” Cunningham, which was built in June of 1983 for a customer in Marin…
Over the next few weeks, Kona will be rolling out their drop bar adventure bikes, beginning with the Rove DL and Roce LTD models today. The DL is a 650b do-it-all, no-nonsense fully-steel bike, filled with all the cargo and extra bottle bosses you’d need in a neat, tight, 1x drivetrain kit. The DL’s fork has cargo bosses and this year, it comes in a bright blue. While the Rove LTD is a 2x, 650b machine with a carbon fork, also equipped with cargo bosses on the fork. Check out the full spread at Kona! If you’d like a full review, check out our Related column below the fold.
The 8Bar Mitte V3 is an aluminum frame that can transform from a gravel bike to a road bike and back with the simple adjustment of their Twist dropouts. If your road wheels have a 140mm discs and your gravel bike has 160mm discs, then there’s no need to adjust the brakes either. Best of all, the Mitte V3 retails for only 599,90€ and is available at 8Bar today. See more information at 8Bar Bikes.
It’s not often that I have to buy a fishing permit to do a Shop Visit but when Why Cycles and Revel Bikes offered up a good time riding and fishing in and around the Western Slope city of Carbondale, Colorado, I couldn’t resist the offer. The collision of outdoor activities is my favorite and knowing a whole weekend of mountain biking and fly fishing awaited me, I was eager to see how it would play out, all while learning about the brands the entire bike industry seemed to be talking about…
