The Radavist

Porcelain Rocket’s Moots Fatty with Hunter Fork
Words and photos by Morgan Taylor

Our recent trip through the Rockies to visit Porcelain Rocket’s shop was months in the making. The plan was to start with the shop visit in Calgary and then backtrack for a ride with Kevin Tweed in Banff the following day. I was excited to experience first hand the majestic Canadian Rockies, and to ride with Kevin on his home turf – but we were skunked.

In the days approaching our visit, massive wildfires burning south of the border combined with stagnant weather patterns to send a blanket of smoke over much of southern BC and Alberta. I had imagined shooting Scott’s Moots with a breathtaking Banff backdrop that I knew Kevin could lead us to, but that idea was out the window. Fortunately, Scott’s Moots holds its own. The haze lifted just enough to let an orange sun bring out the depth in the titanium, and we made some magic.

In Los Angeles, if you don’t have a cross bike, you’re fuckin’ up. Seriously. There are so many dirt roads and tracks to explore, all within the city limits that you’ll quickly realize your road bike or mountain bike’s limitations.

For Yanco, he wanted a frame from a California pedigree. He had put a deposit down with Hunter Cycles a while back, way before the second year of Mudfoot Stinners popped up. So when his spot in the Hunter queue finally came up, he contacted Geoff McFetridge and Aaron about setting him up with a Mudfoot-painted ENVE fork for his Hunter.

At first, no one was sure how it’d look, but after Rick posted a photo of the grey frame with blue logos, we all knew it’d look incredible. Matched with mango Chris King, some Paul skewers and a little sumpin’ sumpin’ locked into the downtube bottle bosses, this bike has some real style…

Then it fell over and I felt horrible! Sorry Yanco! Hopefully it’s not the last time this bike goes #RubberSideUp…

In 2009, Rick from Hunter Cycles introduced an affordable, production-level bicycle brand called Pajaro. Named after the Pajaro River, where Rick’s old shop was located, these bikes used lower-end steel and came in stock sizes. They ran around $700 for a frameset, yet still featured some of what I would consider to be “Hunter-esque” details like wishbone stays, segmented forks and elegant braces – check out the fork crown!

On our last morning of the Speedvagen Fit Tour in SF at Mission Workshop, a customer named Jason rolled up on this Pajaro cyclocross bike, which he had set up as a commuter. I love bikes like this for a few reasons: they’re simple, functional and yet still stylish with choice components where they matter… The twisted Oury grips are a nice touch.

Check out more in the Gallery and if you’re interested in a custom Hunter, holler at Rick!

Ride Along: Garrett Kautz from Strawfoot
Words and photos by John Watson

Strawfoot is one of those companies that has gained a lot of momentum over the past year in the cycling industry because of social media and word of mouth. While Strawfoot is a bag company, they’re most known for their socks. I was first introduced to Garrett from Brian Vernor last year, when I visited his small shop in Santa Cruz.

Over the past few months, Strawfoot has grown. They’ve moved to a bigger shop, are sponsoring a cross team and yes, he’s continued making socks, which sell out almost immediately…

Santa Cruz, I think I’m in love and while it may be an infatuation with the trails, the wood or just the people, every time I go there, my heart palpitates. On Wednesday, Vernor scooped me up and we headed south from SF, along the coastal roads. We met up with Garrett from Strawfoot and it was a pleasant surprise.

Strawfoot is one of those companies that I never would have known about if it weren’t for Vernor, so to finally see the operation and bags in person, solidified my expectations. More on that to come but for now, a little on Garrett’s new Hunter disc cross bike.

Bicycle camping in Santa Cruz is something I’ve yet to experience but with its endless amount of fire, frontage and park roads, any weekend can turn into some solitary time in the ‘wood. When Garrett approached Rick Hunter about a bike, Rick wanted to try something a little different.

Discs, a rather unique cable routing style and Sim Works by Nitto components are simply accents to Rick’s excellent craftsmanship and engineering prowess. Ok, I’m done sugar coating the work of Mr. Hunter. This bike rules. It’s going to look better with age, after chips and dings but right now, it’s so easy on the eyes…

These days, I rarely put up A Day in 10 Photos posts anymore and to be completely honest, it’s not intentional. The way I choose to document for the site has changed in the past few years, focusing more on Shop Visits, Beautiful Bicycles and other randomness. Today however just fit right in perfectly with the old ADi10P format.

The stage: a fraction of the many trails in Santa Cruz. With the idea of an early start out the window, we settled for an early afternoon shred fest. The people, Ibis Cycles, Strawfoot and Brian Vernor. Check out 10 narrated photos below and don’t worry, I shot plenty of photos of that Hunter…