The Radavist

Wolfpack Hustle: Austin Finale Crit
Words and photos by Chris Lee

A group of 30 or so men straddled their bikes as they looked around for their teammates in coordinating outfits. All of the sudden a voice rang out over the large amplifiers near the opening of the smoothly paved racing track.

“Men’s track please come to the staging area!”

This was the beginning of the last race that would close out the Unified Title Series, hosted by Wolfpack Hustle, and the season for fixed gear criterium racing around the world.

Austin, Texas hosted the finale race at The Driveway, a paved race track normally used for cars and kart racing, this past weekend. While it’s usually used for motor sports, The Driveway does see it’s fair share of bicycles as Holland Racing, an Austin based business that organizes and facilitates bicycle races, hosts a weekly crit series every Thursday during road season. So with the Unified Title prize on the line, this crit drew racers from all over the US and it’s territories, from New York and California to Puerto Rico.

I’m here in Portland, Oregon attending the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While I’ll be documenting many of the frames, I’ll also be capturing the general vibes. For now, let’s just check out some bikes!

When I first saw this bike, two things came to mind: Cannondale’s track bikes from the 90’s and Makino’s NJS bikes. This thing is a rocket with tight clearances and just the right amount of nuances you’d expect from a custom build. AJ from Muirandessi has a great eye and his client Gavin knew exactly what he wanted: a track bike that he could race and also spin around Portland on.

I know I don’t say this often, but keep that rubber side DOWN, dude. That is one nice machine!

I’m here in Portland, Oregon attending the Bike and Beer festival at HopWorks Urban Brewery. While I’ll be documenting many of the frames, I’ll also be capturing the general vibes. For now, let’s just check out some bikes!

For the past five and a half years, AJ Lu of Muirandessi Cycles has been working on frames, one by one. After attending UBI framebuilding school, then getting his certification, AJ spent his free time researching the art and history of building a bicycle by hand.

When it comes to new framebuilders, it’s tough to make a leap out into the world and grow your brand or clientele. In the brief time I spoke with AJ, I didn’t get the sense that he was eager to be the next big thing, he just wants to perfect his art and build bicycle frames for people with a purpose.

This Muirandessi Cycles has an interesting story. It was built to be the owner, Lucas’ daily work bike at his company Cascadian Courier Collective. Earlier this summer, Lucas and his buddy Alexander decided to make the trip from Eugene, Oregon to Portland. A tour that most people would plan to undertake with panniers and a touring bike, yet they decided to make it a bit interesting and ate 99 Doughnuts along the way…

Recently it was powdercoated with a metallic flake clear and as the morning sunlight caught each individual flake, the bike illuminated itself in the most flamboyant way. Personally? I freaking love it!

Chas’ Zipp Firecrest 404 Track Wheels
Photos by Kyle Kelley, words by John Watson

When Zipp announced their Firecrest track wheels in both the 404 (58mm deep) and an 808 (82mm deep) model, it was very apparent they were making wheels specific to the track criterium crowd, not the velodrome crowd. Track racers who invest in a set of Zipp’s would opt for the Firecrest 404 or 808 tubulars. The clincher Firecrests are clearly designed for the street use.

These new 404 Firecrest track wheels come in a 28h front / rear 2x lacing pattern, use a single-sided fixed asymmetric rear hub with a non-proprietary lock ring and rather than go for a 15mm bolt, Zipp chose a 6mm allen.

Chas has been racing on these wheels, which found their way onto the Cinelli Work frameset. A steel singlespeed frame that can be ran as a fixed crit bike, work bike or even a singlespeed ‘cross machine. Kyle caught up with Chas at the Wolf Pack Hustle Civic Center crit a few weeks back and loved the look of these wheels.

With the Red Hook Crit Barcelona underway this weekend, Chas, his bike and those wheels will go through a thorough amount of work and personally, I like how this bike is looking.

Zipp Firecrest 404:
58mm deep
1,655g wheelset weight
$950 front and $1,150 rear

Zipp Firecrest 808:
82mm deep
1,805g wheelset weight
$1,100 front and $1,300 rear

In stock now at Zipp.

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Follow Kyle on Instagram and Chas on Instagram.

In the world of track crits, like Red Hook Crit and this weekend’s Wolf Pack Hustle’s Civic Center Crit, racers quickly realize that a standard track bike might have its limitations.

Let’s look at what a track bike is designed for: all left turns on a banked velodrome, with walls around 45º steep for a 250m track.

These crits however are completely different. For starters, the amount of people racing is almost three times what a miss-n-out or win-in-out would have competing. There are both right and left turns, yet no banked walls. In road criterium racing, you can coast through the corners and rail all the turns. With a track bike you need to pedal all the time.

That’s where Marc’s one-off comes into play. He and Andrew from Low Bicycles discussed options for a bike that was bred from the conditions of track crits. How is it different? Well, in all things related to bike design, a few millimeters here or there can make a huge difference. The bottom bracket is higher, to make for more crank clearance in the turns and the wheelbase is a bit longer to make it easier to hit those turns at speed.

So far Marc has raced three or four crits on it, as well as taking it to Hellyer, the local track to race.

Me, I just think it’s a beautiful fucking machine. Made in San Francisco by Andrew Low, fitted with Ritchey parts and with PAUL wheels made by Fresh Air Bicycles.