The Radavist

Velo Orange has put a ton of time in designing their Pass Hunter frame, which we’d call a sportif or endurance road bike but don’t let that limit its possibilities. You could ride a randonneuring event with it, take it on some light touring, or a club ride.

The Pass Hunter is a DIY project, offering up a utilitarian frameset with details galore.

They’re currently running a pre-order for these frames for only $695.00, with an arrival of November 2020, so head to Velo Orange to familiarize yourself with this versatile frameset.

Specs:
-Frameset material: 4130 double butted chromoly steel
-Fork: 1 1/8″ -> 1 1/2″ tapered threadless, 4130 double-butted chromoly steel
-Wheel Size: 650b or 700c
-Tire Clearance: 650Bx47mm or 700x32mm w/ fenders
-Rear Spacing: 12x142mm thru-axle
-Front Spacing: 12x100mm thru-axle
-BB: English threaded 68mm
-Brakes: Flat Mount disc, 140mm rotor compatible
-Seatpost size: 27.2mm, non-integrated seat collar (not included)
-Front Derailleur Size: 28.6mm
-Water bottle mounts: Double on top of downtube, under downtube, and on seattube
-Fender bosses: seat stay bridge, chainstay bridge, under fork crown
-Rear Dropouts: Vertical with aluminium alloy replaceable hanger
-Frame Eyelets: Single eyelets on rear dropouts for fenders, internal eyelets on seat stays
-Fork Eyelets: Double eyelets on fork dropouts for racks and fenders, triple thru-bosses on the blades for cargo cages, hourglass braze-on for Randonneur Rack
-Rear Brake Routing: Easy internal routing for rear brake cable housing/hydraulic tubing
-Paint: Cool Blue or Burgundy Red with metallic VeloORANGE logo

Back in November of 2019, an Instagram message popped up from Mark Scott.

“Me, Krunk Shox [Alex McGuinnis] and Santa Cruz are planning a little road bike trip to Belgium in January. We thought it’s something that you’d be interested in being part of.”

The answer was simple: “[Expletive deleted] yes.”

Back in the ‘80s, before Mark, Krunk, and Santa Cruz bikes were even born, a 19-year-old me went to Belgium to become a bike racer.

Back then, if you were an aspiring North American bike racer of any note, you went to Europe to hone your craft. You could absolutely race bikes in places other than Europe, but it was most definitely the world center of cycling.”

Check out this full story at Santa Cruz Bicycles.

While we’ve been working chronologically on these Readers’ Rides submissions, when I saw Samuel’s email, titled “What about shaved faces and skinny slicks?” I had to peek inside. What I found was a truly unique Readers’ Rides submission, so we bumped it to the front of the queue with words and photos by Samuel. Enjoy!

LONGCHAMP follows a cyclist living in Paris, prior to the pandemic, as he navigates the city, its traffic, en route to his favorite riding circuit just outside of the congestion.

OPEN’s latest bike isn’t an all-road or gravel bike with massive clearances. It’s an ultralight road bike with a few clever details. This bike has a lot going on but the most notable design features include a 25mm integrated seat mast, which offers more give and flex in what is normally one of the stiffest components in carbon bikes. This, combined with the ultra-thin stays give the MIN.D some flex where it counts.

Then there’s the MIN.D’s fork:

“The OPEN U-Turn was the first fork truly optimized for flatmount brakes by deleting the standard adaptor to switch between 140mm and 160mm disc rotors. The adaptor is a feature without a benefit at the expense of weight, stiffness and complexity.

The R-Turn uses the same Smartmount direct-mount design with thru-bolts without adaptors, just like the rear brake. Together with new shaping and a new layup optimized for road, the R-Turn is the lightest disc brake road fork available.”

The MIN.D fits a 32mm tire, comes in four sizes, and retails for $3,600 at Open.

Speedvagen is still full-speed ahead with its 2020 Guidebook, offering up a distraction from the current pandemic, with a selection of mouth-watering paint schemes and builds. The biggest news for 2020 is they have brought back the Ichico paint scheme and their titanium bikes are finally fully up to speed and leaving the shop on a regular basis.

Speedvagen are doing free upgrades to Horizon paint on the first 11 deposits on the public release and they’re offering a free Silca upgrade as well. That means you get a painted to match frame pump, 2 Silca Ti Bottle Cages, and a Silca Tourqe.

The Ichico paint scheme is -hands down- my favorite paint job Speedvagen has ever developed. Originally released as the 2015 Surprise Me scheme for one year only, Ichico was then put in the vault and now its back and available as an upgrade for all custom Speedvagens.

Check out the Guidebook at Speedvagen.

Stainless steel is real and the new Affinity Cycles Anthem road bike expands on that. This is the latest platform from the Brooklyn-based brand and it’s full of details. These new frames comes with a 1 1/8th to 1.5 inch tapered head tube, a carbon fork, internal cable routing, T47 bottom bracket, and premium sandblasted finish with polished graphics.

To enhance the buyer experience, 3 levels of complete builds are available via Affinity Cycles with customizable options including a premium weight weenie edition, tricked out the most insane parts in the industry.

The Affinity Anthem is also sold as a stand-alone frame set, headset included.

Other details include:
-Custom drawn 2205 stainless steel butted tubing with ovalized seat stays for strength and comfort.
-Removable set screw cable guides and plates for mechanical, Di2 and Etap builds. The devil’s in the details, this clever design feature ensures a clean and tidy build.
-Race-ready geometry available in 4 sizes, the Affinity Anthem covers a full spectrum of riders from 5’2” to 6’3”.
-Standardized 27.2 seat post diameter, removable der hanger, 100/130 spaced, 68mm bb shell, 43mm carbon fork with built in crown race, fits 28c tires

Check out more photos and pricing information below!

Read the comments here enough and any time we post a new bike from a brand, someone will complain that the largest size won’t fit them. It sucks. Being really tall, and being really short for that matter means it’s hard to find a bike that will fit you. As such, those two polarizing ends of the spectrum are a real challenge for framebuilders. Lyle Wiens is a relatively new builder. He calls himself a “hobby builder”, who is based in Manitoba, Canada. He’s built about 30 frames and he got into it because he couldn’t find a bike that fit him properly at 6’8″ and 235 lbs… Sound familiar? Check out this super rad Readers’ Rides below!

If you enjoyed our story by Jack and Sami today, then check out this video Jack worked on before the pandemic lockdown. 3 Everestings, 3 Countries, 3 Days…

-Stelvio – Italy (5.6 Ascents)
-Col de la Bonette – France (5.8 Ascents)
-Port D’envalira – Andorra (6.5 Ascents)

How big of a sale? So big that this Pure Road frame, which usually retails for $2,600 is now on sale for $1,300. That’s half off. The sale applies to complete bikes as well, which have thousands off. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to add titanium to your bike stable, and to help out a small brand keep their lights on during these hard times. To top it off, Why is offering free shipping worldwide. Head to Why Cycles for more.