The Radavist

Hello dear readers. Are you ready?

Buckle your seatbelts, put on your out-of-office. Be sure to prepare a too-carefully-constructed pour-over coffee, or maybe a glass of tap water, and settle in. We are about to embark on a journey together, an unbiased, at times fanciful, long-term review of the GMX+ adventure bike from Curve Cycling.

Looking at an Oddity Cycles-designed frame, handlebar, or fork, you might think that it was welded in a circus sideshow tent by a depraved, frazzle-haired, torch-wielding, radical. That these wildly bent steel and titanium tubes, contorted and bonded into freakishly beautiful forms, could only have originated in the darkest corners of a PT Barnum exhibition. And that’s exactly what Sean Burns, founder, designer, and fabricator wants you to think. So, on this eve of All Hallows, let’s pull back the curtain on this iconic framebuilder, and his assistant “Spooky,” along with a close look at a couple of Sean’s personal two-wheeled creations…

It’s that time of year again! The Chris King Open House returned to Portland this past weekend and, with it, a showcase of seventeen custom bikes. Let’s check them out in detail below!

Featuring five inches of suspension travel courtesy of flexy titanium and a wild, never-before realized linkage fork, the Ibis Bow Ti was an iconic “full suspension” bike of the 90s. Today we feature this bike with a deep dive into what makes it so unique with words by Tasshi Dennis of The Vintage MTB Workshop. Let’s check it out below!

Today, we’re elated to announce a project that has been in the works for some time: our own special and limited edition Radavist Mosaic GT-2X complete bikes. There’s a lot going on with these bikes, so let’s jump right in!

We already looked at Moots’ new adventure platform, the Routt ESC a while back, in a photo review and as a Beautiful Builds video, but having never seen the Neo-Retro build spec in person, I had to take the build Moots brought to Mid South outside of District Bicycles for some photos. This build kit looks amazing, with mostly silver parts, a bead-blasted ti Moots stem/seatpost, and yeah, that’s a barcon shifter. Let’s check it out below.

Those of you that have been to the Mid South‘s host shop, District Bicycles, are well aware of how much eye candy is on display there. Yet when I walked in the door this year, I was immediately drawn to one bike: Tyler’s Stooge CK Flyer. It just jumped right out at me with all its throwback, raw ti, gumwall, plus tire glory on full display. I spent some time documenting it that day, so you could spend some time ogling it from your desk this morning. Let’s jump right in…

Today we’re continuing our week of Ruta Del Jefe stories with a story about new friends, bike events, and how John stays engaged with this job over the years… Oh yeah, there’s a sweet Ti Fargo awaiting you below!

Slug Bicycles is based in the Bay Area and designs custom titanium frames that are built overseas in China, while also building upon, and growing, their community through supporting organizations including Outride nationally and locally with Trips for Kids Marin. Today we’re featuring Alex‘s custom 29er that he rode last year in Santa Fe. John met up with Alex to shoot this custom Gasser mountain bike and we’re stoked to share it in its bead-blasted glory! Read on below for some words by Alex, along with the full build kit breakdown…

The Baxter was a blip in a long line of adventure bikes to grace Moots’ 40 years of building frames in the Rockies. Personally, I really liked the Baxter. It held its own in the Steamboat Ramble Ride and tackled our “Disconnected” project in the Inyo Mountains with SRAM but the Baxter had some quirks that needed to be addressed. With the Routt ESC, Moots did just that, abandoning the Baxter model altogether.

In an era where adventure, gravel, touring, and bikepacking bikes are seeing lots of permutation, there’s no time for nostalgia. Brands need to address their bike’s quirks and redesign as needed. That’s where the Routt ESC comes in. It’s like the Baxter and the Routt gravel line had a lovechild, which resulted in a completely new paradigm within the Moots catalog. Let’s check out this new Routt ESC bike in more detail below!