The Radavist

Reviewing bikes like the Cielo Road Racer is easy. Well, sort of. Isn’t the whole idea about a bike review to critically assess its potential for the market? That means looking and discussing honestly the strengths and the weaknesses.

Luckily, for Cielo, these were apparent after the first ride and continued to hold strong throughout the several weeks that the Road Racer Di2 was in my possession. Some of my critiques are merely aesthetic or tied in with the build kit on this particular bike.

Whatever my thoughts are, I can tell you, it’s gonna be tough to send her home.

What I said yesterday about Austin seeping with cross bikes stands true and I haven’t even begun to cover them. Mark from Majaco recently built up this sick singlespeed cross bike from True Temper OX Plat, specifically for the forthcoming Philly Bike Expo. His component choice is well thought out, putting the extra money where it counts and maintaining the aesthetics throughout.

Case in point: White Industries cranks and freewheel with Surly hubs. He then went with Paul and Thomson, resulting in a frame that by my judgement, weighs in around 16 or 17 lbs. It’s incredibly light!

I love the classic red to white livery and stainless head badge. For those interested in a similar frame, expect a pricepoint around $1400 for standard geometry or $1750 for fully custom.

Pushwacking the Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route
Photos and words by Gabe Tiller

Last fall when Adventure Cycling hinted at a new mountain bike route linking up hot springs in central Idaho, some close friends and I immediately began scheming. Here I was fresh from scouting Oregon Outback and knew I wanted something bigger and with more singletrack. Tougher but with more hot springs. Well we got it.

It’s almost cross season here in Austin, with the first race of the season coming this weekend, everyone’s dialing in their race rigs. So it goes without saying that everywhere you ride these days, you’re being bombarded with balleur bike builds. Take for example, Peter from Mellow Johnny’s new (to him) Richard Sachs team cross bike.

While I’m not sure of the exact year, knowing Richard’s internet presence, I’m sure he’ll be able to chime in – especially with that fork crown detail.

Peter went with Campagnolo Chorus 11 speed on this bike, with matching Zipp bar, stem and post, topping it off with Chris King R45 hubs, laced to HED Belgiums. When you photograph a Richard Sachs, you end up just hitting all of his logos and lug work, both of which were given meticulous presence by none other than Joe Bell himself.

I gotta say, riding bikes to shoot them is fun, but this was a pleasure…

The Road to the 2014 NACCC
Words and Photos by John Daniel Reiss

The Road to NACCCs was not paved in gold. It was mostly laid out with cheap beer and great friends. For the 2014 North American Cycle Courier Championship organizers in Minneapolis and Chicago concocted an elaborate plan that spanned several hundred miles and two weekends. Starting with the Cuttin’ Crew Classic, an annual race that celebrates the local hustle of the Chicago messenger, many out-of-towners showed up for a piece of the action. Still hanging on to summer, we were blessed by the cool water of Lake Michigan and soaked by afternoon showers. My compatriots at TCB Courier and myself found ourselves taking it all in, from the beautiful stone buildings to cutty alleys, the city was a great motivator the challenges ahead.

The 2014 Langtown “Cross Race”
Photos by Matt Irwin, words by Sean Talkington

What is Langtown? This is Langtown! This backyard venue was made famous when it used to facilitate motocross races in the late 90’s. If you like to party, then Langtown is easily Southern California’s best race.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to take part this year because of a stupid wedding (just kidding Jesse/Ariel and congratulations!) so I asked Matt Irwin to shoot “a few” images for the Team Dream Tumblr page. The gallery he created looked so fun and was larger then a Tumblr can facilatate so we thought it would be better suited here on The Radavist. Primarily because Matt’s images are awesome and realistically only my mother views the Team Dream site (I know this because I now have Google analytics).

Anyway, it’s a party. Or it’s a race. Actually, it’s both. It’s Langtown….
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Follow Sean on Instagram and Matt on Instagram.

This bike is pretty damn old and you’d think that the stem and fork were too, but they’re not. Anybody wanna try and guess who built them?

Everything else on the bike is very period correct, my favorite part is the NOS Onza Racing Porcs though. Those guys are probably the best looking tires ever made!

The owner of this bike is probably one of the funnest customers to work with here at Golden Saddle Cyclery, because all the bikes we build for him are BANGERS!

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Follow Kyle on Instagram and visit Golden Saddle Cyclery in Silverlake, Los Angeles.

The desert is a destination for many, who seek its healing potential and spiritual homeostasis. For us, we just wanted the red sands of Sedona, Arizona to cleanse us from Las Vegas and Interbike.

When I mentioned to Ty that Sean and I were driving back to Texas after the tradeshow, he was stoked for us. Then, when I said “yeah, I’m thinking we’ll head through Sedona for a quick ride”, he immediately wanted in.

That’s why I love Ty so much. Hell, that’s why I love my friends so much. They’re willing to go 7 hours out of their way to ride bikes for 3 hours. Ok, ride bikes for 2 hours and shoot photos, fuck off, play with snakes for an hour.

We rolled into town and couldn’t find an open camp site, so we set up at a hotel next to the Bike and Bean, a local MTB establishment at the trailhead. The guys were super friendly and then, out of the blue, a local named Duff asked us if he could join us. Uh, sure!

It turned out to be a short, but sweet trek through the desert and I’ll definitely be returning!

The Sequoias. If you’ve ever been to the Redwoods, then you know how humbling of a sensation it is, walking, driving or riding through them. Now, imagine trees of that size, growing at 8,000′ elevation.

On our ride to Interbike with Acre and Mission Workshop, we found ourselves in proximity to Camp Nelson, smack in the midst of the Sequoia Nat’l Forest. Ty had ridden a few trails here before, so he pushed for us to spend the afternoon picking lines in the pine needles.

MTB mileage is nothing to note, but Bear Creek is a great climb!

It was insane. Insanely steep, insanely loose and insanely fun. I don’t think I’ve had that much fun on a MTB in a long, long, time. Until Kyle hurt himself…

This is it, the final day of Interbike. My shutter finger is sated for the time being, my feet are sore and It’s been a busy week. I think I’ve hit all the booths I wanted to, along with some requests… Vegas is rad and all, but I’m ready to roll on home to Texas. Thanks to everyone who hung out and chatted this week. It was a pleasure to meet you.

Enjoy the largest gallery to ever grace this site and again, feel free to ask any questions in the comments!