This week’s Readers’ Rides comes from Austin, Texas. Emilio’s Tomii Cycles Sunset Chaser gravel bike caught our eye on Instagram, so we reached out to Emilio to see if he’d be willing to share his thoughts about the bike. Read on below for more…
#Texas
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David Ross’ Gunnar Hyper-X
Texas isn’t the flat, dusty desert that many believe it is. Well, some areas are exactly that, but there’s massive diversity here. Deep in the Heart of Texas, sandwiched between the Spring Breaker beaches and the deserted desert montañas, sits the Texas Hill Country. Austin perches itself right at the verge of the boundary between the stinging hills to the west and rolling farmland to the east. You’re darn tootin’, it’s one helluva place to be a cyclist. This motley of landscapes calls for a capable bike – fast, light, sturdy, comfy, and most importantly, right at home on all terrains. Enter David Ross’ Gunnar Hyper-X…
Radar
The Wolfpack is #StrongerWithSports
Wednesday, February 3rd is National Girls & Women in Sports Day. As a woman-founded and run company, Robert Axle Project wanted to give a voice to the riders on a women’s road team they sponsor and hopefully give a boost of encouragement to other girls and women out there. Below and attached are a few words from the RAP founder, Katy Bryce. Enjoy this youtube video with five of the riders on the team giving words of encouragement to other cyclists!
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Wahoo Frontiers: Colin Strickland
Wahoo looks at Austin, Texas’ Colin Strickland in their latest Frontiers video. Watch as Colin explains what motivates him to race bikes: “World tour racing is the dream for some and may even be the dream for most cyclists but it was not my dream.”
Radar
Chumba’s Updated 2020 Terlingua Titanium Gravel Bike
With new pricing beginning at $2,250.00, the Chumba titanium Terlingua gravel bike is closer to reality than you might expect. Of course, as with any frame made by Chumba, you can select various options like pump pegs, Di2 routing, rack mounts, fender eyelets, and so on. These frames use oversized Aerospace Titanium 3/2.5 tubing, 6/4 on the yoke, and dropouts with Paragon Sliding Inserts. Singlespeed, geared, whatever. It just works. With post-mount, flat-mount options, cerakote finishing, and color customizations, you can literally get your dream bike made for less than you’d think, all on a chassis that clears up to a 700c x 50mm or 650b x 2.1” wheel/tire combo.
Specs:
-Made in USA quality
-Oversized Aerospace Titanium 3/2.5 Grade Tubing, 6/4 on the yoke and dropouts w/ Paragon Sliding Inserts
-Clean thoughtful cable routing
-Maximum tire and drivetrain clearances for a wide range of options and mud clearance
-All tubes are heat sunk and argon purged when welded to prevent distortion and material thinning
2020 Terlingua Titanium Model Refinements:
-removed Di2 ports standard (why pay for it unless you need it, we can add this on request.)
-removed lower rack mounts standard (why pay for it unless you need it, we can add this on request.)
-Lowered MSRP
-No other changes, this bike is dialed!
See more at Chumba.
While we’re on the subject, Mark from Chumba wrote a blog piece about framebuilding on their website, don’t miss this one!
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Readers’ Rides: Hanson’s Crust Bikes Evasion Lite Review
This week’s Readers’ Rides photos are so sharp, we decided to share it as a full gallery. Hanson Little is an ex-pro BMX shredder and the hands behind Dark Realm Cycling, a brand that operates alongside his partner Vanessa’s Shop Realm. These two put out exceptional bags from their Austin, TX home. We’re featuring Hanson’s Crust Bikes Evasion Lite, a less-burly, lighter Evasion. This stripped-back version is quite the frame! Let’s look at it in detail below.
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Tomii Cycles Showcase: Elvin’s Sportif Pass Hunter
This year was to be the first year Nao Tomii of Tomii Cycles was going to attend NAHBS. For a small builder like Nao, spending the kind of money it takes to pull a seat up to the table of the USA’s largest hand made bicycle show takes a lot of financial planning, so when NAHBS was postponed this year, Tomii Cycles wouldn’t be able to attend. Most builders display customer’s bikes at NAHBS and asking his clients to wait four more months for their bikes, especially during a pandemic was out of the question. I reached out to Nao and asked if we could display his bikes here at the Radavist, so we’re doing just that…
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Tomii Cycles Showcase: Blake’s Gravel Hunter
This year was to be the first year Nao Tomii of Tomii Cycles was going to attend NAHBS. For a small builder like Nao, spending the kind of money it takes to pull a seat up to the table of the USA’s largest hand made bicycle show takes a lot of financial planning, so when NAHBS was postponed this year, Tomii Cycles wouldn’t be able to attend. Most builders display customer’s bikes at NAHBS and asking his clients to wait four more months for their bikes, especially during a pandemic was out of the question. I reached out to Nao and asked if we could display his bikes here at the Radavist, so this week, we’re doing just that, beginning with Blake’s Gravel Hunter, complete with custom Andrew the Maker bags and a stunning paint job by Jordan Low. Sit back and enjoy clicking through these beautiful photos of an equally as beautiful bicycle…
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Austin’s CyclEast and Flat Track Coffee Continue the Bikes and Coffee Tradition
Wow! It feels like yesterday I was still calling Austin my home, riding the rolling hills and ripping around on the limestone and cedar tree-lined singletrack. Those were some magical years for me, filled with a lot of amazing memories, solid friendships, and watching my friends open their own businesses, only to have them bloom and grow when I left town.
I’ve been back through Austin a few times since leaving in 2015 but never really had enough time to settle in and document the spaces of these businesses. This past trip, we had all the time in the world, so I got to work documenting my favorite of the Austin scene: the space at Cycleast and Flat Track Coffee…
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Tigged in Texas: Checking in with Austin Framebuilders Chumba Cycles
My friends at Chumba Cycles have had a truly inspirational story since re-launching the brand in early 2014. While the name Chumba Cycles has been around for some time in the mountain bike world, this is an entirely different company when compared to the brand that launched in California during the early ’90s. Without going into the details too much, Vince and Mark purchased the brand a few years back and began making their tig-welded steel bikes in-house in Austin, TX. Around that same time, they moved shops, and on a recent trip to the Lonestar State, I swung through to check out their new digs and see some of the bikes they were building up for customers.
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A Look Inside the Austin, Texas Workshop of Tomii Cycles + An Interview with Nao Tomii
My first experience with Nao Tomii from Tomii Cycles was via his old brand, 3RRR, which focused on small components like chainrings, developed in part with industrial design office 44RN. While in Boston, he learned to build bikes under the instruction of Ian Sutton, from Icarus Frames. When he moved to Austin shortly after, I began seeing his bikes pop up all over town, each beautifully constructed and specced, with color palettes so unique to the cycling industry’s normal flashy vibrancy. Nao has an eye for design, proportions, and a willingness to strive for perfection. His work is wildly underappreciated in the saturated market of handmade frames.
Radar
Vice Looks at the Most Dangerous US Cities to Ride a Bicycle and WTF, Iowa?
In news that no one has to be surprised at, Vice takes a look at the top 10 most dangerous cities for cycling in an interesting, yet terrifying article. As someone who calls Los Angeles home, I must say I’m not surprised, but like the article notes, cycling is the answer to helping save the environment we’re all aware of, yet we’ve got a long way to go to make streets safer…
“In 2019, more and more cities across America are encouraging their residents to commute by bicycle. Cycling, of course, is good for the environment in terms of reducing pollution from car-dominant streets, and it’s a healthier way to travel.
But cities gaining new cyclists are quickly, tragically finding that they do not have the proper infrastructure to keep them safe. Cyclist fatalities have gone up 25 percent across the U.S. since 2010, and up 10 percent in 2018 itself, while all other traffic fatalities have decreased.”
Read on at Vice.
Radar
Gettin’ Rowdy in Texas Hill Country with Jeff Kendall-Weed
I lived in Texas for five years and since moving away, there has been an explosion of MTB trail building in Hill Country. Jeff Kendall-Weed takes us on a ride through the Longhorn State and its new ripping trails…
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Superstoke Sunday 2018
Superstoke Sunday 2018
Photos by Gideon Tsang, words by Josh Cates
Superstoke 2018 rolled out of the Hill Country State Natural Area at a cloudy and cool nine o’clock Saturday morning, one hour behind schedule. Past rides had departed closer to dawn, typically routed through more than one hundred miles of variable Central Texas roadway. This year’s route topped out at ninety, however- less mileage and group’s need for caffeine overcame any concerns about being caught out after dark.
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The Super Stoke Weekend Seattle-Austin Exchange Program
The Super Stoke Weekend Seattle-Austin Exchange Program
Photos by Gideon Tsang, Jordan Gomez, Jonathan Kneve and Alex Gui, words by Jordan Gomez
Editor’s Note: When I lived in Austin, Texas, I wanted to bring my friends who were accustomed to racing a training on a weekend outing of camping and riding dirt roads. Since this time of year in Texas, the parks are often crowded, I decided that Super Bowl Weekend would be ideal, since everyone in Texas would be glued to their televisions and not driving their RVs to campsites around the state. Over the past few years, the ride has continued, further morphing into this year’s Seattle-Austin exchange program… Check out the first Super Bro Weekend photoset in our archives.
Part I: Central Texas Excursion (Code name: Vitamin D)
In the past few years, a tradition has formed in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, where the adventurous souls of Beat The Clock Cycling go out to explore the far edges of the cycling universe. This year’s edition brought with it a special layer of stoke. Through a conversation between delegates from Seattle-based Swift Industries and Austin-based Beat The Clock, an idea began to percolate. The delegates were discussing a future trip up to Washington when the idea of a cycling exchange program was born. For the Northwesterners, the pull of the warm Texas winter was too much to resist, and it was decided that the Cascadia contingent would join forces with the Texans. This idea turned into Super Stoke Weekend, where the visitors could experience firsthand what the Texas Hill Country had to offer. Anticipating a sprightly and somewhat daunting 300 miles of mixed surface riding for the weekend, the Seattle crew began an intense training regimen of weekly randos/taco cleanses.
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The Speedvagen Fit Tour is Going to Texas!
Howdy! The folks at Speedvagen will be hosting two Texas rides as preparation for their forthcoming fit tour in March. They’d like to invite Houston and Austin riders to check out the bikes and enjoy some beer.
Tuesday 2/21/17 – HOUSTON morning ride
Start: Bicycle Speed Shop
End: Catalina
Time: 7:30am – 9:30am
Coffee on Speedvagen after!
Thursday 2/23/17 – AUSTIN evening ride
Start/End: Cycleast
Time: 6:00pm (25miles)
Come test ride an Urban Racer and enjoy a round of beers on Speedvagen after!
Check out more information at Speedvagen and sign up for the event by emailing them.
Reportage
Buck Macho and Chet Bearclaw’s Adventure Cycling Team – Ty Hathaway and Jesse Scarantino
Buck Macho and Chet Bearclaw’s Adventure Cycling Team
Photos by Ty Hathaway and Jesse Scarantino, words by Buck Macho
Buck Macho checking in. You won’t find any pictures of me here, because one of the conditions of me bringing outsiders to Central Texas was no photographs of me on bike websites. I was there, though, and I’m probably in the best position to tell the story, since it’s obvious my guests– Jason, Ty and Jesse – have a hard time handling their liquor.
Jason, Ty and Jesse are members of “Chet Bearclaw’s Adventure Cycling Team”, and I’m a longtime friend of the team’s owner/founder, Chet Bearclaw. My friendship with Chet started in 1998, when he crash-landed his hot air balloon in a field of my ranch. He had intended to circumnavigate the globe, but that’s a story for another time.
From what I was told, the last time Jason, Ty and Jesse had ridden bikes together was on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, in the winter. Seemed like a dumb as dog shit idea to me, but to each their own. It’s not that I don’t like winter, but if I’m gonna be freezing my dick off, I’d rather be on a snowmobile going 75mph.
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Big Bend Bike Camping – Jolene Holland
Big Bend Bike Camping
Words by Jolene Holland, photos by Tyler Nutter, Spencer Brown and Jonathan Neve
Big Bend National Park may be one of the last remaining corners of the untouched West. While booming city sprawl or flat oil country paints most of the modern Texas landscape, Big Bend is nestled in the far southwestern corner of the state within the beautiful Chihuahuan Desert and the Chisos Mountain range.