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Seeing in 3D Violet at the 2023 Chris King Guest House

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Seeing in 3D Violet at the 2023 Chris King Guest House

This past week, in the lead-up to the annual Sea Otter Classic event in Monterey, CA, Chris King Components held their second Guest House event across Monterey Bay in Santa Cruz. The festive event showcased a variety of unique builds – all featuring Chris King components – many of which were the recently re-released vibrant 3D Violet color. Below, let’s take a look at this eclectic mix of bikes that spans categories across road, gravel, touring, and MTB!

From The Pro’s Closet: You Can Own This Mash Santa Cruz Stigmata

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From The Pro’s Closet: You Can Own This Mash Santa Cruz Stigmata

From time to time, we’ll be sharing some bikes that come into The Pro’s Closet stock that are 100% aligned with the readership at The Radavist. MASH is an iconic brand that was one of the first to mesh design, photography, and products quite well, and this MASH edition Stigmata is an embodiment of the brand’s efforts to create limited-edition goods that you can use. That means race, thrash, crash, and put through the wringer. We absolutely love the Stigmata and when Mike and the team at MASH released these bikes back in 2016, they were all the rage.

The Pro’s Closet has this 56cm complete bike bike, as shown, in stock and ready for bell laps – and gravel rides – today for $4,599.99.

Improving on a Icon: A Review of the New 2022 Santa Cruz Chameleon 29er Hardtail Mountain Bike

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Improving on a Icon: A Review of the New 2022 Santa Cruz Chameleon 29er Hardtail Mountain Bike

Back in 2018, I reviewed the Santa Cruz Chameleon in the 27.5+ platform with a tricked-out build spec thanks to Hope Tech. Much like its namesake, the Chameleon really stood out from the crowd of other production hardtails on the market, making it a proper icon in the world of hardtail mountain bikes. Fast forward three years and I’ve had the new and improved 2022 Chameleon model under my butt for a few weeks now, have taken it on similar terrain as I did in Los Angeles with its predecessor, and have a few thoughts about the two models. Which one is worth your money? Read on below to find out…

The New and Improved Santa Cruz Chameleon

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The New and Improved Santa Cruz Chameleon

The new Chameleon is here from Santa Cruz Bicycles and yes, we got our grubby paws on an early press-release build we’re currently reviewing – look for that next week – but today we’re hoping you’ll check out the amazing stories Santa Cruz pulled together for the launch. There are tales from Indigenous women, framebuilders, bar owners, and an employee who works at Santa Cruz Bicycles. It takes a lot of effort to pull together stories like this, so head to Santa Cruz Bicycles to check them and this new dang beautiful bike out!

Look for our review next week and check out our review of the old Chameleon in our Related Archives below.

The Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship’s $5 a Foot Fundraiser is Back and Benefits Connected Communities

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The Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship’s $5 a Foot Fundraiser is Back and Benefits Connected Communities

Do you like what you see here? Well, you could win this fully decked out, dream Hightower build from Santa Cruz Bicycles by partaking in the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship’s $5 a Foot fundraiser:

“Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship’s 5 Bucks a Foot fundraiser is back with a customized, Santa Cruz Hightower up for grabs! Sure, there’s a bike shortage, and yes, it’s nearly impossible just to get some bike parts these days. Yet, we got lucky enough to assemble this bling’ed masterpiece: a one-of-a-kind Hightower (size Large) decked out with parts you can’t even get your hands on these days. And if you want to come pick it up in-person*, you can receive complimentary lodging at The Lure Resort in Downieville, CA for the weekend. Come out and ride the Downieville Downhill on your brand-new bike!

We are building a legacy trail – the 300+ mile Lost Sierra Route – through our Connected Communities Project. The building and maintenance of “A Trail for Everyone” will employ local residents and help our small businesses thrive. For every $5 you donate to 5 Bucks a Foot between Tuesday, June 8 to Friday, July 9, 2021, you can directly contribute to this project and possibly win this sweet ride.”

Hop on over to Sierra Trails to enter to win and help out the Connected Communities initiative.

Fresh Builds and New Colors: Santa Cruz Stigmata and Chameleon

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Fresh Builds and New Colors: Santa Cruz Stigmata and Chameleon

Santa Cruz Bicycles’ entire lineup got color and build kit updates, including our two favorite bikes in their catalog, the Stigmata and Chameleon.

The Stiggy has five build kits, ranging from Rival 1 to Force AXS 2x and a new forest green and mint color option, starting at $3499. Over on the mountain side, the Chameleon has NX and SX build kits in 29er or 27.5+ wheels, starting at $1949.

See the full refresh at Santa Cruz Bicycles.

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Creepy Fatigue

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.

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Into ‘Im, Chile

Prior to the pandemic, Santa Cruz Bicycles sent Josh “Loosedog” Lewis, Iago Garay, Mitch Ropelato and Romain Paulhan down to Chile to find dusty, loose, and rugged trails. This video is the result and is highly worth your time to watch!

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Santa Cruz Bicycles Unlocks Downieville and Race Registration is Monday at 8pm PST!

After covering the Downieville Classic for three years now, I can honestly say if it’s the only MTB race I cover each year, then I’m a-ok with that! The Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship is the feature in Santa Cruz’s new video, featuring their eMTB the Heckler. If you want to race Downieville this year, I highly suggest it, just don’t miss race registration on MONDAY, February 17th at 8pm PST!

Wanna see our coverage? Hop on over to the archives

A Little Bit (Cross) Country, a Little Bit Rock and Roll: Testing Out the New Juliana Joplin CC 29er

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A Little Bit (Cross) Country, a Little Bit Rock and Roll: Testing Out the New Juliana Joplin CC 29er

I don’t know what to title it. But the bike is really fun, so this is worth the read. I like to think that the writing is also fun, making it double worth the read.

The bottom line at the top: The new Juliana Joplin ups the “raucous trail ability” of its predecessor a few ticks with the new build: feeling right at home pointing down chunky and steep serpentine terrain, while somehow maintaining that xc pedal-ability we sometimes care about. While the positioning of the historic Juliana Joplin, which launched with the brand in 2013, pointed towards super-capable cross country, this bike and its lineage have always pushed the boundaries of the technical ability of a bike that can still pedal fast.