The Radavist

The trails we ride often have stories that long pre-date mountain biking. On a road trip from Los Angeles, to Mammoth, and finally Downieville, Eric Arce takes time to understand some of the troubled history behind these popular riding destinations in the Sierra Nevada.

While we love our share of vintage mountain bike builds, dressed with period-correct components, and embrace the patina that has been rubbed in over the decades, there’s something to the resto-mod style of vintage builds. Baskets, racks, modern bars, and the like all add to a bike’s longevity and encourage its use. Plus, a vintage mountain bike just oozes cool and generally is cheaper to build up from a parts bin than buying something brand new. On my last trip to Los Angeles, I was hanging out at The Cub House, avoiding the rain, when Simon, their mechanic, showed me a customer’s bike that rolled in for some TLC, and I had to document it…

Los Angeles’ cycling culture is full of people who value California-made bicycles. During a week hanging out at The Cub House, I ogled a few bikes that were just too good not too show off as in-depth feature galleries here. My favorite of the bunch was very likely this custom Sycip disc road, built with Campagnolo Ekar, the Italian brand’s official “gravel” groupset. Sycips are super clean bikes, and this one has a beautifully scalloped, segmented seat stay, so let’s check it out in detail below…

Beach Club, the fun, not-so-serious bicycle brand started by Sean and Danny from Team Dream Team, seems to be getting more serious. An indicator is the new bike models coming out over the next few months, with the latest being the Gravioli disc gravel bike…

Beach Club is the bicycle brand of Danny Heeley and Sean Talkington, who also run Team Dream Bicycling Team and The Cub House in San Marino, CA. Danny and Sean launched the brand with the Discless Road model earlier this year and followed up with a disc-equipped gravel bike called the Gravioli. While Josh was in town for Team Dream’s 10th-Anniversary Party, he pulled aside an objectively stellar Gravioli build that had just been completed for Jared, rode over to one of San Marino’s most photogenic alleyways, and documented it as you see here. There’s a lot to enjoy about this bike, so let’s check it out in detail below!

Team Dream is officially a decade old. What a trip. To celebrate our big birthday we threw a little party (that quickly became a really big party) at The Cub House here in Los Angeles. Hundreds of people showed up for what turned out to be one of the most amazing weekends in our history. To say it was overwhelming would be an understatement. And when I say overwhelming, I mean it in the best way possible. I’ve never been married but I think the day had big wedding energy. There was so much love and the entire Team Dream team felt like the belles of the ball!

Brette Hite is half of the American pop duo, FRENSHIP, and when he’s not making music there’s a good chance you’ll find him on a bike. The short film series, “The Distance I’ve Travelled,” shares artfully captured moments of introspection from Brett, over the course of a year, as he navigates the difficulties of the pandemic, the death of a friend, and a devastating break-up. Throughout it all, he finds solace through riding where the simple act of turning the pedals reminds him that, despite all, you can keep moving forward. 

The Szepter is YT Industries‘ first foray into designing a gravel bike. But unlike other gravel frame designs that are subtly-tweaked road bikes, the Szepter shares more DNA with the German company’s line-up of trail bikes. After putting—and pushing—the Szepter through its paces on his local Los Angeles-area trails, below Travis Engel shares his review alongside some suggested adjustments to the stock build to get the most out of this gravity-focused gravel bike. 

Los Angeles is home to one of the most diverse and eclectic cycling communities in the world. People from all walks of life have found that the bicycle is by far the best way to traverse this sprawling urban mass, nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the San Gabriel mountains. Catering to this community are a number of bike shops, but one of our favs is The Cub House, which over the years has played host to a number of fun events, most notably the bike and car shows! To up the ante this year, Sean, Carla, Danny, and the team at The Cub House hosted the LA Invitational, a Euro spin on the weekend which included big rides on Saturday and the bike and car show on Sunday. John and Josh made it out to the City of Angels to document the people, bikes, rides, and more, so check out a chubby gallery and some words from John below!

Whenever I stop riding for a while because of work, or life, or hurting myself (usually while sleeping, etc, etc), I obsess over these big rides that I am going to do once back on the bike. Like many of you, I can easily spend hours looking at maps trying to piece together the “perfect” route. But cycling, like most fitness-based activities, can be fickle. It doesn’t care that you used to do it a lot.

That certainly doesn’t stop a brain like mine from dreaming. So when I saw my 43rd birthday on the calendar, a group text started with some friends. In the past, we’d done some really ambitious rides for my special day, like the ‘Clouds to Cacti’ ride, for example, featured here a few years back.

In an ongoing series of beautiful bicycle builds coming out of The Cub House in San Marino, CA, Abbie Bender walks us through her custom Stinner Frameworks Gibraltar road bike build with supporting photography from Sean Talkington…

When Maverick Cycles opened its doors in my neighborhood last April, it took me a minute to get over my disbelief that such a place had sprung into existence here on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County.

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be an “Ultra”. Ultraromance and Ultratradition really have it all: the looks, the tan lines, the grey tires, the lycra, then the wool and the HAIR (don’t get me started on the hair!). Like most of you, I grew up watching these guys on TV and at the age of 15 I REALLY aspired to be the next Ultraromance when I grew up. I used to travel out to all their road races and got to see Ronnie COOL Romance win 8 road races in a single season wearing his stunning Team Wooly Mammoth colors. His category was called Cat 5, which he assured me was high up in the pecking order of athletic accomplishments.