The Radavist

Who gets the reference? It’s from the following: “These go to 11” – the hilarious excerpt from Spinaltap? Why not just make ten louder?

When SRAM’s new Eagle drivetrain was announced, it received mixed impressions. 12 speed on a mountain bike seems excessive and the pricepoint is pretty alienating. Needless to say, “the internet’s” opinion was divided. Personally, I find new tech when it comes to drivetrains the most interesting and relevant. Anything that can bring more versatility to my current rides is ok by me and hopefully, as we’ve seen in SRAM’s other products over the years, the tech will trickle down into more affordable groups like GX and NX.

So what does it have to do with a Stinner Frameworks mountain bike?

These days, Stinners are everywhere, even all over the pages of this website and while it might feel like some kind of marketing conspiracy, with loads of money exchanged and bathtubs filled with gold coins, I can assure you it’s not. Since I moved to Los Angeles, I see more Stinners on the road and in the trails. Rightfully so, seeing as how their shop is located in Santa Barbara, just 90 miles north of LA and yeah, they make some pretty stellar bikes.

Devin is the machinist at Stinner Frameworks and like many of us, grew up worshipping the heros of skateboaring, the culture and inevitably, the iconography surrounding the sport. One of which being Mark Rogowski and his famous “Gator” pattern. While things inevitably went south for Rogowski, his graphics, particularly a spiraling razzle pattern lived on, inspiring graphic artists for years to come. James, the paint designer at Stinner, used the pattern on the inside of the fork blades and under the fat, oversized Columbus downtube. Then, a subtle ombre blue to green fade was clear coated with a sparkle pearl, resulting in one mean looking street machine.

Cue the speech from Independence Day, mashed up with Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA with a few fireworks and explosions, playing on a bluetooth speaker aboard a Ritchey from the 90’s (any one will do, just not those Lite Beam frames.) That was what inspired the newest from Stinner Frameworks and Golden Saddle Cyclery.

When I returned from Spain with that Monster Cross Crema Duo, rolling on 27.5 wheels and Maxxis tires, Kyle’s eyes opened wide, sparking a conversation. “Do you like those wheels?” Or something of that nature. After a few rides together, he called Aaron at Stinner, just as they were about to get started on his ‘cross bike and told them to hold off on design and construction. The following few days were spent problem solving how to fit that size tire and a traditional 1x crank. It ain’t easy and there isn’t Boost available for road / cross yet, making it difficult to get the chainstay clearance you need.

Why would you want those wheels anyway? See, Kyle and myself enjoy riding our ‘cross bikes on singletrack and dirt roads probably more than racing itself. What is essentially an XC tire fits in with this riding more, especially in LA, where the sandy and loose trails need as much rubber contact as possible. With a tubeless tire, you can run a low pressure and still have a large contact patch. So the 27.5 platform allows that, with some extra cushion too, but it’s nice to have an option to race. That’s what’s so versatile about a bike like this. It’ll fit a 700 wheel with up to a 45mm tire for racing ‘cross or it’ll fit a 27.5″ mtb wheel for thrashing trails and fire roads. The bottom bracket is designed to ride similarly with either wheel size. Coupled with the SRAM 1x system and its 10-42t cassette, you don’t spin out while you’re riding to the trail either. For wheels, I’ve been riding the WTB Horizon Road Plus system on my Firefly on and off, so I wanted to let Kyle get some time in on it too.

So what about that paint? Well, why not? That frame is made in the USA and today is the 4th of July! Stinner’s in-house design and paint team killed it with this one. My mind was blown when I saw this one…

Enjoy your 4th!

It has been scientifically proven that if you add a Death Spray Custom fork to any bike, it’s destined to get even more attention, even when it comes to a slick bike like this. Morgan’s Stinner Frameworks is brushed stainless, kitted with Jones wheels, PAUL Skewers, Chris King, Dura Ace and ENVE. A completely tricked out road bike by all accounts, yet he wanted to do something to spice up a completely mono-tone build so he contacted David at Death Spray Custom to do something special.

Visibility doesn’t have to end with your apparel, as evident by this 80’s geometric-inspired fluorescent disruptive pattern coated fork.

Suddenly this bike went from being a 10 to an 11! Nicely done fellas and great meeting you, Morgan!

Titanium makes for a great off-road material. The tubing diameters are oftentimes larger than steel resulting in a ride quality that’s unprecedented. For Santa Barbara’s Stinner Frameworks, titanium was the next logical material to learn how to tig weld. Their shop now offers titanium road, touring, road and mountain bikes, with Matt’s being one of the recent beasts to be born.

Keeping the Tunnel 29’r frame raw, it’s offset by the razzle-painted Rock Shox Pike fork, Jones wheels, SRAM 1x drivetrain, internally-routed Reverb dropper and a Thomson cockpit.

Matt grew up riding MTBs in Topanga and Calabasas as a kid but hadn’t touched one in over 14 years. This bike will be the catalyst to get him back on the trails in Santa Barbara and hopefully he’ll be shredding with us when he comes home to Los Angeles over the holidays.

For those of you unfamiliar with Matt’s work, he’s the photographer for Stinner Frameworks and goes by the handle @HazardousTaste on Instagram. I highly suggest you give him a follow!

Colin, like many of us, uses his ‘cross bike for racing only a fraction of the total time he spends riding it. When he grew tired of riding and racing production bikes that never quite fit him or his preferred style of shredding, he decided to go custom and began looking into Stinner Frameworks.

Since moving to Montana from Austin, TX, he’s been spending a lot of time exploring the many mountain roads neighboring Bozeman. He wanted a ‘cross bike with a slightly altered geometry that would still be able to hold its own at races, yet be fun and zippy on fireroads or singletrack. While a standard ‘cross bike might fit the bill, Colin’s been riding for so long that he’d developed a few particularities. First, he wanted to race the bike as a singlespeed but didn’t want to go with a slider dropout. He also wanted thru-axles. The simple fix for this is an eccentric bottom bracket which would give him the right chain tension, easily. Then once the race season was over, he could put a 1x group on the bike and take off into the woods. He raced it for a season as a singlespeed and then upgraded to a new group.

The problem is, while switching a group over from an older bike, his rear brake line was too short and no one in town, nor the neighboring towns, nor the damn mail order companies had the damn part in stock. Keep in mind, this switch-out was happening the day before he was leaving Montana for a bikepacking trip down the Pacific Coast. Way to wait ’til the last minute dude! So now, he has a brake line that even as a photographer, was painful to photograph, much less ride behind or next to. I kept thinking the damn thing was going to rip off the caliper and spray me with hydro fluid, yet it’s still in place.

While it’s not an ideal photo, or an ideal brake line setup, the bike made it down the coast to Los Angeles just fine, where we’ve been riding local dirt. Yesterday, I shot some photos of it in the early morning light. Don’t worry, the part is en route to Colin shortly, after a lengthy delay from the Holidays…

Looking past the brake lining, we see Industry Nine hubs laced to an eBay Chinese carbon rim, with a Hope cassette expander, TRP’s thru-axle disc ‘cross fork, SRAM X9 derailleur, ENVE parts throughout, WTB Nano 40mm tires and that sweet, sweet Stinner steel. My favorite detail? The paint! I absolutely love what Stinner is doing in-house and it almost distracts even me from the brake line.

Almost…

Colby has one of the best jobs in the cycling industry. He works for ENVE, where he’s the liaison for frame builders. Basically, if you’re a builder, he sets up your account and ensures that you’ve got everything you need to get your latest project or show bike rolling.

When it was time for a disc cyclocross bike, Colby reached out to Aaron Stinner in Santa Barbara for an OD green and orange race-paint-inspired shred sled that would pack a fat tire and blast the surrounding dirt roads of Ogden, Utah with ease.

Naturally, this bike was Colby’s go-to for Grinduro…

“Il Faut Toujours Souffrir.”

That’s what’s painted on the top tube of Barry’s Stinner disc all-road frame. Roughly translating to “we must always suffer,” this saying acts as not only a motivation for Barry on rides, but as a reminder as to what cycling means to him in relation to life. Nothing good comes easy.

Barry‘s an illustrator, a typographer, a graphic designer and in Los Angeles, that means freelance. It takes a certain soul to be a freelancer in LA. You’ve got to hustle, be on your game at all times and yes, sometimes suffer the ups and downs of the creative economy. That means some weeks, months, years, you’re on your game and others you’re not. It all takes sacrifice.

Pretty in Grimy Pink Stinner Roadie
Photos by Kyle Kelley, words by John Watson

Ride Jah Bike!

Custom frames aren’t to be babied, or coddled, no matter how pretty they may be. Pink bikes especially. Now, the common misconception about pink bikes is that they don’t get thrashed; they’re too delicate. Like a flower. Or an orchid. Or a rare flower orchid that only blooms once every 20 years like that one in Dennis the Menace. Andrew, (@Moon_Raccoon) doesn’t care about babying anything. He bought a custom road bike from Aaron Stinner because when the rowdiness is happening, he wants it to fit like a glove.

Built with the usual suspects round these parts: a casual mix of SRAM, Thomson, King, Brooks and some nice, hand built wheels. While you might think this bike is a fashion statement, I can assure you this one is all about thrashin.

Less fashion, more thrashin.

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Follow Kyle on Instagram and Andrew on Instagram.

In Los Angeles, a ‘cross bike’s limitations are self-prescribed. You can ride just about everything on one, as long as you’ve got the right equipment and the willpower. Bigger tires and appropriate gear range are paramount. Things like blinged-out componentry are just added bonuses to the spice of life. And in LA, the spice must flow.

Kelli‘s not necessarily new to cyclocross but this is her first legitimate ‘cross rig. Her husband Ty reached out to Aaron Stinner to make a bike that would embody race pedigree but still be at home in the hills and mountains of Los Angeles county and beyond. When she’s not running her women’s cycling team, LA Sweat, she’s trying to take on more off-road riding and this bike is more than enough motivation to do so.

PAUL Components, 3T, and a Luxe Wheelworks Chris King to H+Son Archtype wheel build all compliment the absolutely mind-fucking beautiful AirGlow paint job by Hill Clarke. If you like to geek out on painting procedure and process, make sure you check out Hill’s Instagram.

Before the comments open up, YES, technically the tires are on backwards here and yet the bike didn’t explode upon hitting the dirt. ;-)