The Radavist

The work of John Slawta is a lifelong pursuit of not only creating wild paint jobs but of bicycle design and engineering. Landshark is one of the most iconic custom framebuilders and even though they have moved away from steel frames, the spirit is still out there. One of the great things about Facebook – yes, I just said that – is the way in which communities come together to show support for others and in this case, appreciation for the work of Landshark. This Facebook group is all about Landsharks and is well worth the click-through to see some truly unique and well-used bicycles.

This has been an option for a while now, but Ritchey finally made it official at NAHBS this year. Their Heritage Paint deal is simple: for any of their steel framesets, Rick Stefani of D&D cycles will paint it one of four classic paint schemes. This includes the Team RWB, Sunset Fade, Urban and Commando Camo. See all the details at Ritchey!

Japanese painter Swamp did some incredible work on a Surly Pugsley for Above Bike Store. I love all these custom fatbikes in Japan!

Ucon and 8Bar Bikes got together recently to take the concept of creating a ‘featherlight’ track bike to the next level. Personally, I think this came out great! I really love the paint and the details down to the collaboration caps and straps. The video is a little long, but you get the idea.

Check out more photos of the bike and the process below!

From Beautiful Bicycle: Stanridge Speed x Death Spray Custom Highstreet Track

From Recent Roll: Garrett Chow and His FEA Specialized Venge

Social media has done a great deal for the cycling industry. One of which being a platform for people who are movers and shakers, who might have not had a readily-accessible forum before. The two parties involved with this post in particular have created some stellar work in their day and if anyone has the right to have their opinions heard, it’s them. I saw this on Garrett Chow’s Instagram and had to post it up:

“From the paint-booths of @deathspray and @garrett_chow:

Hey Cycling-Industry! With the trade-show season upon us, it’s our guess that a great many in your employ are feeling the annual, dread pall of humiliation and embarrassment with your ‘little problem’: Shit Colors and Graphics, and weak product-offering. That twinge of, “oh fuck, I donno know — just make everything black, red, or white”. And, the tiresome, nagging itch of, “put three stripes on it, and call it a day”, needn’t be suffered nor endured any longer. These ‘strategies’ never hide the fact that your bikes are inane, open-tooling, off-the-shelf death-traps, anyway. And, no amount of voice-conferences, consultants, or Power-Point presentations will ever change this, either.

Adding insult to injury, the small company two booths over, who invested 1/23rd the cost of your ‘clever’ marketing-budget on their talented, appreciated and fairly-compensated designer (and not a color-blind engineer moon-lighting as your ‘de-facto design team’–the one with an iMac and a dog-eared back-issue of IdN Magazine on his desk), is literally KILLING your 2014 line-plan with one hand tied behind its back. Your self-congratulatory back-slapping echoing throughout the exhibit-hall–like so many floundering, dying fish gasping their last breaths–belies the fact that the death of our beautiful industry is precisely where your pedestrian products are taking us.

So, here’s your escape plan for model year 2015: Please, put down the golf magazine just long enough to write an email to: info@deathspraycustom.com and, garrettchow@yahoo.com IT’S REALLY, /REALLY/ THAT EASY! We are here for you –and with love, D & GC”

As someone who also works freelance and constantly finds himself frustrated with the lack of creativity in cycling, I can commend these two…

I feel like today’s Beautiful Bicycles are sporting some of the most outrageous finishing jobs. First that Death Spray track bike and now this Firefly light-touring bike. Keep in mind, this is only one angle and you can’t even see all the insane detailing (masking hell!). In order to do that, you’ll have to go to the Firefly Flickr!

Speedvagen has a great piece up on their Speedbloggen showcasing the design process and procedures that produced the 2013 Surprise Me road paint scheme. Once you’re done reading, head over to the Speedvagen Flickr for more photos!

Death Spray Custom is no stranger to camouflage. Not in the least. His latest camo-creation is this ENVE cross fork for Kyle at GSC. It came out amazing. See more at the DSC Blog.

I don’t usually double dip on a post’s subject, but these two dudes are legit. Devon Tsuno and Ace for CBNC and the Unknown raffle that’s going down tonight in LA.

The final chapter in the Death Spray Custom Formula is not at all what I expected. I’ve been enjoying these shorts, see the rest of them here.

Photos by Simon Nieborak

File this one under complete radness. Tim from the North Race got David at Death Spray Custom to dress up his Low track bike with one of those bitchin’ forks. Check out more photos here.

Photo by Angus Sung

Man. This is so, so sick. Rudy from the 5th Floor has a custom Death Spray Custom fork on his track bike and I’m digging it a lot. See more at the Death Spray Custom blog.

I’ve been posting about Death Spray Custom for as long as David’s been putting his work online. He’s one of the most famous bicycle painters and it’s not because of his lug or box lining. David’s work is heavily inspired by automotive, motorbike, Razzle Dazzle and anything else that can be applied to a complex curvature. There’s a great interview up on CycleEXIF, so head over and check it out.