The Radavist

When Sean from Team Dream found out what the route was for this year’s Tour of California stop in LA, he began scheming about how we could welcome the race with a KOM party… The thing about partying on top of a mountain is it takes a bit of planning. Sure, you could pull a grill, a cooler and food up a 5,500′ climb in a Bob Trailer but you’d end up being too pooped to party at the end of it. This left Sean with a decent plan: he’d shuttle his VW van, dubbed “the Brick” up to the top of Upper Big T at HWY 2, filled with all the necessary goods to throw down one hell of a hangout on the course. We’d wait for the peloton, grill hot dogs, drink beer and when the race came through, erupt with unrivaled support for the racers. Sounds like a good time, right?

As I was herding people from Golden Saddle, Sean was shuttling his van up to the KOM, barely arriving back to South Pasadena in time to begin the group ride. We went up Highway 2, one of the most scenic road rides in California. All 40 of us. With bikepacking bags loaded with food, water and camera equipment, I took off with the group on my rigid 29’r and sneakers. Believe me, doing a “road ride” on a loaded down MTB isn’t all that fun, but I was stoked to see Adam doing the same… and yeah, it made for some playful jibs along the way.

Check out the story in the Gallery!

As cyclists, very few of us make a living riding bikes. In fact, I’d say probably 3% of the readers of this site fall within that category. This is all merely speculation of course, but I will say with great certainty that almost all of you have a job of some sort that you spend time performing. Sure, we all find time to squeeze in bike rides when we can, but unfortunately we spend a great deal of our lives working.

So when you have the opportunity to mix business and pleasure, you probably take it. That’s where Brian Dunsmoor of Culver City’s Hatchet Hall comes into the story. Brian is the head chef of the ‘Hall and a dedicated cyclist. He’s been training for the past few months for a benefit ride called Chefs Cycle, a P2P fundraiser working to raise awareness and funds for No Kid Hungry. Brian, along with other chefs are riding from Carmel to Santa Barbara in an attempt to help put a stop to child hunger.

Being nestled in between the Pacific Ocean and giant mountains is the only reason why Los Angeles isn’t a complete desert. The moisture that rolls in off the water gets trapped by the San Gabriel mountains and that’s where the predictability ends. Those mountains, in their old age, have developed a bit of a temperament when it comes to weather. It’ll be warm and sunny at sea level, only to be completely socked in at elevation. As we’ve seen numerous times in the past, this makes for really interesting photographs as those of us who inhabit Southern California rarely get to witness weather patterns, usually native to North California.

A few weeks back, just about everyday the ANF was encased in a foreboding sky, with big, thick, black clouds looking like they were going to descend upon us all, delivering much-needed water. But they didn’t. They just sat there, keeping us from riding our bikes up to them for fear of being literally washed down the mountain, alongside chunks of decomposed granite. Been there, done that, it’s not fun. Just ask Sean and Hans!

However, Sean asked me to shoot Team Dream’s new kit which as we’ve seen is high vis yellow. I put logic aside, grabbed my camera and a model willing to brave the weather (hey, Californians don’t bide well in cold.)

On days like this, you end up with a lot of shots, but these 12 were my favorite, omitting the obvious product detail shots. Enjoy!

Working at a shop like Bicycles of Ojai can lend itself certain opportunities. With its walls covered in vintage components, frames and memorabilia, you can spend hours digging through this veritable treasure chest, assembling one unique build. Now, imagine working at that shop, constantly bombarded with literal bicycle porn and I’m not even going to talk about the basement!

Tyler used to work at Bicycles of Ojai. In his time there, he was always on the hunt for something that would fit him. He’s a tall lad, of about 7’8″ and he rides a tall bike, making it hard to score vintage frames usually, especially in the middle of nowhere like Ojai. Yet, the owner of the shop has long ties to Southern California racing and amidst all the crashed 62cm frames, laid this beauty, rumored to be a custom Paramount for a local track and crit racer.

Now, this “Paramount” has been drilled for both brakes and has had what appears to be a derailleur hanger cut off on the track end, at least proving that yes, maybe this bike was indeed raced in local road crits. Who knows? Who cares? It’s a mystery machine and it’s Tyler’s get around town bike when he’s in Los Angeles.

A porteur rack, Specialized Globe cruiser bars and a handful of vintage Italian components make this bike not only one of the more interesting shoots, but classy enough to sway anyone who’d scoff at the rack and bars. I mean Ofmega pista headset and a 135mm 3TTT stem? Why not!

Follow Tyler on Instagram @GothBrooks and check out his sick Etsy store.

Martin from Second Spin has quite the vintage MTB stable and at last weekend’s MWBA Pancake Breakfast, he brought out his grail. Growing up worshipping Klein, Yeti and Mantis, Martin was able to own various Yetis and Kleins, but never a Mantis in his size. When a trade presented itself, he jumped on the deal for this Valkyrie.

The build spec is period correct, down to the Campagnolo skewers, which many mountain bikers used on their builds. The Cook Brothers crank and Ti bottom bracket have Specialized chainrings bolted on. Martin went with a WTB theme on this particular build with WTB roller cams front and rear, with WTB classic Grease Guard hubs. A Cunningham stem with internal cable routing holds Cook Brothers bars, M730 shifters and four finger calipers.

Even with this nice mix of parts, nothing takes away from this bike’s stance. It’s confident in its funkiness yet still elegant in its form. Having never seen a Mantis in person before, I now understand why Martin was so attracted to these frames.

Vintage mountain bike collectors will swoon over this one, but that goes without saying.

Kinfolk Bicycles began making track frames in the mid-2000’s. They tapped into the Japanese Keirin community and began working with Kusaka-san to make frames for the US market. Years passed and rider’s interests grew to road and finally ‘cross bikes. Now Kinfolk primarily works with geared bikes and in Japan, they employ Akira, who finds himself in LA usually once a year during Japan’s “Golden Week.”

This year, Akira brought this super slick Kinfolk ‘cross race bike. As you flip through this Gallery, don’t miss that Shimano crank beausage photo. I think that, along with the Paul skewers are my favorite details on this bike.

It’s been fun having Akira in town and I look forward to seeing him in Japan soon!

Riding With Ringtail and Stinner Frameworks on Mt. Lukens
Photos and words by Kyle Kelley

A while back the boys at Stinner asked Sean from Team Dream / Ringtail if he’d host a ride beginning at Los Angeles’ hub for the discerning cyclist, The Cub House. For those of you who don’t know, The Cub House is the Team Dream Team and Ringtail headquarters. It is located just below Mt. Lukens, the highest point in the city of Los Angeles. With an elevation of 5,075 feet it makes Los Angeles the largest city with the highest and lowest elevations in North America. So, why not take everyone up there? Well… maybe because it has a steep, rocky and rutted 7 mile fire road climb with a 4.5 mile single track descent back down to Highway 2. And this was supposed to be a road ride after all. No matter, good sense shouldn’t get in the way of a good time.

We gathered at The Cub House at 8:30am and filled up on Nitro Cold Brew. Everyone was there, from racers to randos. Tires ranged from 25c to 40c. Some people bought vests and jackets because it looked cold up in the mountains, but I just stole a patch for a photo at the top!

The Bridgestone X0-1 should need no introduction. These 26″ touring bikes carry a cult-like following all over the world, sometimes fetching a pretty penny on eBay, especially when it comes to this livery. When you think Bridgestone and Grant Petersen, this bike usually comes to mind first. At least it does with me and my favorite part of the history of this particular model of Japan-built Bridgestones is how evident its DNA is in the Rivendell lineage. There’s something magical about this bike and when I saw Nathan wheel this bike in through the doors at Golden Saddle Cyclery, with his shit-eating grin, I actually hated him for a split second.

But you can’t hate Nathan and I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather see with this bike. Especially once you hear what he paid for it. Sheesh. Since this is a special machine, I took some extra time with the photoshoot. I hope you enjoy!

Each year, the Mt Wilson Bicycling Association throws a Pancake Breakfast early in the spring on a Sunday morning. Its intent is to bring the mountain bike community together for a fundraiser, raffle and of course, gorge on pancakes! This year, it coincided with the re-opening of the Ken Burton trail, which happens to end right at the campground where the breakfast took place. Last night, the guys at Golden Saddle Cyclery organized an easy bikepacking trip out to camp at the grounds where the event would take place the following morning. This made for an easy wake up as volunteers arrived to set up the grills and pack in all the supplies for the afternoon.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t join in the festivities until this morning, but I arrived just in time for some hotcakes, coffee and camaraderie… and to see the park fill up with mountain bikers of all kinds!

Many, many thanks to the volunteers of the MWBA for throwing such a great event and for everyone who helped in the re-opening of Ken Burton! Enjoy the slide show and stay tuned for a few bike Galleries!

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!