The Radavist

As I sat down to scroll through all of the Beautiful Bicycles I photographed this year, I quickly realized how diverse PiNP has become. Previous year’s lists never had a MTB, much less two and even though the site has begun to embrace dirt riding more and more, there are still three track bikes in the rankings. Most of these bicycles were made in the USA by small frame builders, but two overseas-manufactured bikes made the cut.

This year for the Top 10 list, I looked at site metrics, social media ‘chatter’ and my own favorites (which were remarkably in-line). All of these bikes got at least 100 Facebook likes and over 20,000 visits within the first week of posting. The latter two requisites were necessary to bring it down to ten bikes, from the dozens of my personal favorites. Also, I omitted my own bikes from this list.

I like to think of PiNP as a showcase for Beautiful Bicycles and how they get put to use. See the full Prolly is Not Probably’s Top 10 Beautiful Bicycles of 2013, in no particular order, in the Gallery!

The Mudfoot Cyclocross Racing Team began years back as artist Geoff McFetridge found himself racing cross (solo) in Los Angeles. He started winning races and eventually thought it’d be rad to form a team that wasn’t really like other teams in the area.

People take racing very seriously and Mudfoot was about having fun while still kicking ass. Soon Mudfoot grew to a small group of like-minded individuals in the Los Angeles area. Some raced, some didn’t but they all enjoyed cycling. Go to a cross race in SoCal and see for yourself just how ridiculous these dudes act. I know this seems sort of cheesy to read, hell, it sounds cheesy to type but it’s mostly the truth.

Mudfoot has grown to be one of the most coveted “brands” and each year, the team kits get radder and radder. I can’t tell you how many times these guys get hit up to sell shirts, stickers, kits, whatever. People go nuts over it! This year however, Geoff and the Mudfoot elite did something a little different. They teamed up with Santa Barbara’s Stinner Frameworks to design a small fleet of team bikes.

With Geoff’s hand-drawn graphics, paint by Kelli Samuelson of Ritte Cycles and a list of American-made components (PAUL, Chris King) as well as Vittoria, Giro and ENVE, they’re by far the nicest team bikes I’ve ever seen. In fact, I’d go ahead and say that this is my favorite bike of 2013. Kyle‘s bike in particular has some great details.

Details include: Mini Moto front brake, Touring canti rear, Salsa mis-matched skewers and a blue and orange Chris King bottom bracket. While we didn’t get the sunrise light we wanted that morning, the photos came out pretty rad!

I can’t think of a better way to end a year of Beautiful Bicycles… See more in the Gallery!

I have to admit, it was a little weird traveling with my Santa Cruz Tallboy LTC instead of a cross bike this last trip to Los Angeles. Riding mountain takes it out of you. There isn’t the same kind of physical recovery or relaxation that you get on a road bike. No zoning out. You’ve gotta be there 100% of the time, or there are consequences and I knew we’d be hitting it hard every day.

Apprehension aside, the first ride we took on was Upper Chilao in the Angeles Forest, off the 2. I’d been up in this neck of the woods before on my road and cross bikes, but never on a mountain bike. I knew what to expect for the most part: upper altitude desert / arid riding. There would be no mud, but rather rocks, sandy switchbacks and fast, technical descents.

On the ride was Brandon, Sean from Team Dream, Kyle, Ty from GSC and Lyle from Mission Workshop. That’s three cross country bikes, a fatbike and two Tallboy LTCs. We were prepared, already hitting the flask and ready to roll, but first, a small climb up to the Rosenita Saddle…

Check out more in the Gallery!

I shot photos of this bike back at Crossvegas but first, Ryan wasn’t pumped on the build and I wasn’t that stoked on my photos. So last weekend at SoCalCross, I stole it yet again to shot more photos. This time around, I think we’re both stoked.

Paul Mini Motos, Thomson, Chris King and that bright orange-red frame make this Stoemper one of my favorite SSCX bikes I’ve shot this year! And Ryan is living the (team) dream. That is, until he fell and lost a bar plug during the race.

At any rate, see more of this beauty in the Gallery!

When I found out that London’s Tokyo Fixed Gear reached out to Death Spray Custom to design the paint job on one of their new track frames, dubbed the Ono, I couldn’t wait to see what the outcome would be. It wasn’t until seeing Kyle’s built up in person earlier this year that I could finally geek out on all the little details.

This bike slays and not just in the ride, but the overall presentation. The paint just pops! Kyle’s build ain’t too shabby either. The purple Chris King headset and that AARN track ring really set it off for me. Mixed in with the vintage Shimano post and Cinelli Unicanitor…

Kyle says this is his favorite track bike to date and I can see why! See more photos in the Gallery…

Year after year, one race promises a good time and delivers. The SSCXWC is often riddled with controversy and inclement weather, luckily this year, the latter only applied. After a successful qualifier at the Bilenky Junkyard Cross course, the racers took to the main event at another location. This year’s course was part taped, part off-road through hobo trails and singletrack. To top it off, it started snowing at the onset of the chaos. Out came the kegs, the grills and the party hats. When the dust settled, two champions reigned supreme, Adam Craig and Vicki Barclay. That’s two in a row for Craig…

Chris King’s Dylan VanWeelden is quite handy with his camera. From shooting for the Chris King blog and various products, to covering events, Dylan has his lens tuned into the Buzz. Check out a selection of his photos in the Gallery!

Year after year, Bilenky‘s Junkyard Cross brings in a varying crowd of cyclists from the party-racers to the pros. This year however, Steve and the gang played their cards a little differently, embracing the SSCXWC in Philly and throwing Junkyard Cross as the qualifier for the main event. Things got weird for sure…

Photographer Chris Lee was on the scene with his 35mm SLR and DSLR to catch all the action. Check out some selects in the Gallery!

Portland’s Amanda Sundvor knows how to throw a party almost as much as she knows how to throw a race. Especially an outdoor race. In the middle of winter. In Portland! I think it’s amazing that people actually showed up, threw down $5 and raced around a freezing cold pump track and had a blast doing it. If anything, it’s a testament to how people just want to get rad year round. That’s a race party!

When I found out about the event (sorry I forgot to post the flier), I asked Brenton Salo to get out and shoot some photos. At this point, Brenton is like my Portland connection when it comes to events. If you see that man around town, buy him a coffee or a glass of whiskey!

Check out more from the Dirty Doubles Pumpish Track Race below!

Over the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of sampling the MTB industry’s best 29r’s on the market. All of which, I might add, are exceptional machines and with the right parts and group, can easily be tailored to your riding style and home terrain. While my Indy Fab rigid has proven to be more than fun on my local trails here in Austin, it’s still a rigid bike, limiting not only the lines you can take, but the speed at which you can take them. The latter being one thing I’ve found out the hard way: the faster you thrash, the harder you crash.

One might argue that riding a new bike on unfamiliar trails is a true test of the bike’s performance and the rider’s ability. While I’ll surely agree with that, seeing as how my experiences with many 29r’s have been on new trails, I will say that ripping your local trails on a new bike is the true test. Especially a more than capable ride like Santa Cruz’s Tallboy LTC. Add a Sram XX1 group and ENVE‘s tubeless-ready wheels and you’ve got more than enough reason to thrash fast.

At this point, I’ve spent enough time on a Tallboy to back my bold claims and even with this bike’s accumulated accolades since its inception, I don’t think anyone will disagree with me.

Check out more of my Trail Tested review of the Santa Cruz Tallboy LTC below!