The Radavist

These days, with bicycles being so specified in their usage and design, it’s easy to forget that literally any bike can become a touring bike. Now bear with me, I’m not insinuating that your carbon race bike will suddenly sprout rack or fender braze-ons and grow in its tire clearance, or your 6″ enduro mtb will grow calcium deposits, rendering its suspension moot, but every bike has capabilities for multiple day, long distance riding. It’s just a matter of what you’re willing to compromise or cope with.

Aaron wanted a Rosko ‘cross bike. He was living in Brooklyn at the time and was enamored with the idea of a dude making bikes in his garage. Much like the surfing world he grew up in, Aaron liked makers and the idea that a person can make a vehicle for fun, by hand, really resonated with him. So he placed an order for a ‘cross bike from Seth Rosko and waited for the frame.

Slack and low, with bigger tire clearances this time. That’s the main difference between this bike and its predecessor. As noted in the previous bike’s gallery, the first version of this bike wasn’t what I wanted. Luckily, Seth Rosko is a good friend of mine and a very capable frame builder. He’s also human and humans make mistakes. What makes a human a great human and a great framebuilder is their ability to rectify those mistakes.

We had a miscommunication, and there was a fabrication error that resulted in a frame with clearance for 2.0 29’r tire in the rear. It’s something that happens from time to time. Framebuilders make mistakes. Chainring clearances, missing or incorrect cable stops, off-square rear triangles. You’re getting a functional piece of art and art has character. Right? Maybe not so much. It needs to function, above all.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s move onto what I’m calling my “Agave Slapper” hardtail. This version clears a 2.4 Ardent on the rear, has a 69º head tube angle, a mid-range BB drop and an option for a 2x or 3x front ring. It’s easy to get it low through corners and in Texas, that means the occasional run in with the blue agave plant, where its color was inspired.

In the world of custom hardtail mountain bikes, there exist a few key factors that determine shredability. The most important, at least in my opinion, being the head tube angle. Next, is the rear chainstay length and both of which, affect wheelbase and thus how flickable the bike is. I knew I wanted Seth Rosko to build it…

Follow the key measurements, or increments with a solid build kit and you’ve got a hardtail that can behave like a trail bike, under the right rider of course…

If you watched the first stage of the 2014 Amgen Tour of California, then hopefully you watched the women’s circuit race. Zipping through the corners, tight in the front group there were a grouping of red and white jerseys: the girls of Stan’s NoTubes p/b enduranceWERX.

One of these ladies, I’ve known for years and watched her grow in the sport. BrittLee Bowman races road for Stan’s and crushes cross for Richard Sachs. She’s a total babe and is one of the most humble, friendly people you’ll meet on a bike.

Right after the women finished their race, I shot some quick photos of BrittLee and her Rosko steel road bike… I love the “muscle” photo!

Now, I won’t say the following tidbit of information was all that surprising to me. I’m not really a numbers person when it comes to running the site, but I do like to pay attention to what you, the readers, respond to. Not necessarily traffic, per say, or comments, or trackbacks, or whatever but when a bike gets as much love as Seth’s 650B MTB did, I take notice and as I said, I wasn’t surprised. This thing has pizzaz in a world of mediocrity.

While the serenity of a solo bike photo shoot is nice, sometimes I like to get the builder to hold their work of art and pose for a few photos. Case in point: Seth and his Rosko 650B MTB! Check out more in the Gallery!

Tools of the trade:
Mamiya 7ii / 80mm / expired Kodak Portra 400

A visit to New York wouldn’t be complete without me bugging Seth Rosko for at least an afternoon. In the past, I’ve tried to document his workspace but have never been 100% satisfied with the outcome, until this visit. The thing about Seth’s workshop is that it’s most likely smaller than your bedroom…

His shop measures roughly a four meter cube, barely big enough for two grown men to move about, much less a Bridgeport, jigs, tubes, component boxes and bikes. Every time I come back to see Seth, the shop is more dialed in and this time, I am confident with the documentation.

Seth’s been working a lot of keeping up with his grassroots racing support. A lot of up and coming racers in NYC are riding his steel bikes and that’s something he’s very passionate about. Cross, MTB, road, it doesn’t matter. If you pedal it fast in circles, he can build it.

Check out a few photos from my Shop Visit to Rosko Cycles in the Gallery!

The problem with going to New York City is that I spend more time photographing bikes, then I do actually riding them. Which, in this most recent trip, wasn’t as much as I’d like. Being behind a lens, staring down a unique beaut like this does have its merits. Especially when you’re so familiar with its builder and owner.

Seth Rosko was one of the first builders in Brooklyn that I spent a good amount of time profiling years back. We first met at Brooklyn Machine Works, where he was a designer and fabricator. He and Joe worked extensively on the Gangsta track back in the day, before setting out on his own.

Rosko builds unique, yet utilitarian, yet lightweight bicycles made for racing. Each year, more and more fledgling racers find themselves on a Rosko and that means that Seth has less and less time to work on his own bikes. Case in point: this 650B single speed MTB. It took Seth years to finish this bike but he managed to complete it in time for this year’s season.

Using the ultralight True Temper Supertherm tubing, Black Cat dropouts and Stan’s tubeless wheels, this thing is light. It comes in at 20 lbs with XT pedals.

Ok, ok. I’m playing hookie right now from the interwebs and am probably staring down the rear brake yolk on this beaut, ripping through the limestone and singletrack of Austin. There’s something to be said about a bike that’s usually seen from the rear during a race, which is what a lot of Wilis‘ race companions had the pleasure of admiring. Cross bikes aren’t meant to be dainty, precious objects that you wipe down every day. They’re meant to be dirty, muddy and fast.

Wilis showed up to Austin with his Rosko cross bike and it was too clean to shoot photos. We’ve been riding a lot, #corndogging and just having a blast hitting the local trails and hills. After a couple days of that, his bike looked good and happy, i.e. primed to shoot photos. I love Seth Rosko’s work and was very pumped on his grassroots support for King Kog during this year’s cross season. The team did well and the bikes did exceptionally well, even Wilis’ Campagnolo beast saw the podium on more than one occasion.

There’s something very metal about a black bike and this one’s got battle scars just about everywhere, save for the Cadence bar tape. Oh and the Pearl Velo bottle was my touch! We’re both fans of H.G. Wells.

Seth Rosko is much more than a frame builder to me. He’s a good friend and someone that I just enjoy being around. Seeing him build bikes is just an added bonus. Everyone claims to be a New Yorker, but Seth is one of those guys who was around when it all began. A huge advocate in the local skate scene and ex-Brooklyn Machine Works builder, he’s seen the cycling scene in NYC change over the years.

For the past few months, he’s been pushing grassroots racing in NYC. Building road and cross racing frames for fledgling teams and local racers. Most notably, the King Kog cross bikes, a bike for Matthew of Cicli Devotion and a few other road bikes for some local female racers.

During my short stay in NYC, I swung by Rosko Cycles to see how Seth makes use of his small, cramped work space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

You might recognize this bike from the profile I did on Seth Rosko and Johnny Coast a few years back. The Atavistic Urge was a video Sara Kinney and I worked on, showcasing the two Brooklyn framebuilders. At the time, Seth had just gotten this bike back from paint and was anxious to build it up. Now, almost two years later, Seth’s been putting in miles on his bike. This simple street fixed setup is one to drool over, especially when it comes to that paint!

Check out more by clicking the photo above or here to open in a new tab and if you haven’t seen the Atavistic Urge, I embedded it below.