The Radavist

When it comes to a touring bike, the randonneur bag or Wald basket will reign supreme for front-end portage, but not every bike has rack mounts. In the case of a classic road bike, or MTB, strap on handlebar bags are the simplest solution to carrying extra cargo around town.

There are countless options, ranging from cordura, to cotton, but for those looking for something a little classier, check out the Tanner Goods Porter Handlebar Bag. I’ve been keen on trying one out since the line was first launched and since using mine for around a month, I’m loving it…

See more below!

I’ve used a lot of camera bags and honestly, they each have their own place. For instance, right now I’m using one of F-Stop’s Loki packs. It’s great for a strictly-photo trip, but as I’m packing for the Amgen Tour of California today, I broke out my Poler Excursion camera insert once again.

Why? Because it’s modular! This thing is so clever and even though it’s sold as a set with the Excursion backpack, I’ve used just the insert for over a year.

Check out more below.

While most cantilever cable hangers have built in barrel adjusters, some don’t. Since I run the Speedvagen x ENVE Integrated stem, I don’t have an in-line adjuster. Before, I used to just re-clamp my yoke or canti if I needed more stopping power and that’s just not right.

These little things have been floating around on the internet since 2011, but I completely forgot about them until last December…

… continuing with the Fuji X-T1 test shots, I wanted to sing praises of these tires. Made in Japan by Panaracer, the Jack Brown “Blue” label 33.3 tires have been very good to me. I’ve yet to flat on them and even examining the tread as I was shooting this photo, I found a number of thorns and copper wire pieces stuck in its hardy casing.

If I had to guess how many miles I’ve put on them, it’d be over 1000. Most of which are from around town trips.

Sure, the rolling resistance is higher than other comparable offerings – including the Jack Brown “Green” – but for an around town / touring machine, I’d rather have a reliable tire than one that flats on thorns or road debris.

Pick up the Jack Brown Blue tires at Rivendell for $63 /each or $126 for a pair.

For those wondering about the camera and lens, this is my Zeiss 28mm f2.8 on the X-T1 shot wide open.

Even I was a bit skeptical about the ability for my Geekhouse Woodville to throw from a 50t to a 32t consistently, using White Industries’ VBC cranks. But more importantly, I was interested in seeing how the crank arms and rings would hold up to daily use. Well, the front derailleur still throws just fine and they haven’t shown much wear at all. Go figure.

With around 10 months of heavy use, as you can see, they’re still kicking and show very little ‘tooth decay’. There’s very little crank arm rub as well. My Woodville is primarily my around-town, errand getter, bar bike and my go-to ‘big fuckin rides’ vehicle of choice. It’s been camping, tackled the MSOJ and blasted through tons of 1-track.

I have to admit, these are some of my favorite cranks I’ve ever owned.

After receiving emails from people, asking to see updates on the drivetrain, I shot a few yesterday. Check out more below.

I catch a lot of flack for saying things like “these are the best brakes” and “I’ll never ride another set of brakes again”. Rightfully so. What I’ve learned in the past is to say things like “these brakes impressed me, both in design and stopping power” and “modulation is king!”

Writing product reviews ain’t easy, especially when a company gives you their product to test out, which is not the case here. I bought these brakes because I believe in supporting the US-manufacturing economy.

EE Cycleworks is a small shop, that produces a handful of components, all of which are incredibly well-designed – from an aesthetics standing – and from what I can tell so far, are easy to service.

Check out more below!

“IT IS FORBIDDEN TO FORBID!”

It’s hard to believe that this is the typical Austin “fall riding” wear. Short sleeve jersey and bibs. Maybe arm warmers. Out of all my road-cycling kits, for some reason I keep coming back to this combo: the Tenspeed Hero Stealth Club Jersey and the Team Dream ENDO Compression bibs.

Both fit exceptionally well and are classic additions to anyone’s collection. In fact, I’m a huge fan of everything Tenspeed Hero is doing but I had never owned one of their jerseys before. They’re made in Italy, from tech fabrics and the fit is pretty spot on. I haven’t owned a club-fit jersey (size large) in over a year, so I was surprised at how the chest in particular felt a little more roomy than my tradition size large race fit kits.

What can I say? I don’t have to do posts like this but I’ve been really digging this jersey!

For the past two days, I’ve been preparing to head back down to Australia for a few weeks. Lauren is there, working again and so I get to spend some more time with my bestest mates. As I was packing this morning, I noticed some color-coordination happening and thought I’d take a minute to shoot these two photos.

These are all products I use and wear on a daily basis. With all the “what kind of _____ is that?” I experience, let me break it down:

Left
Manual for Speed shirt
Rapha Brevet Gillet
Rapha Winter City Riding Merino Socks
Giro Atmos helmet

Right
Winter shirt
Giro Limited Empire MTB Shoe
Topo Designs Mountain Shorts
Topo Designs Nesting Pouches

I won’t even begin to lay out all the orange and camo gear I have…

When Speedvagen first announced the Integrated stems earlier this year, people were split like a cable yoke. Some liked it, some hated it but I loved mine. I loved it so much that I paid Speedvagen to paint me a one-off (at the time) black on black Integrated stem for my Geekhouse.

Turns out, black on black looks great and so now, Speedvagen is offering this murderously-sleek stem in their web shop for $350.

Now, considering ENVE sells these stems for $280, I think that’s a fair price for internal cable routing and a sick in-house Vanilla paint job.

Need a review of the stem? Check out more below.

Photo by Kevin Edward Brown of Yonder Journal

I know I’ve already talked a lot about this bike, but I still can’t get over how much fun the State of Jefferson Brovet was last month. One of the reasons it was enjoyable was because of the equipment I used. There’s a lot to be said about the traditional randonneur events, all of which will not be discussed here. This is more a reflection on a ride that could have been hell for me, had I not planned accordingly.

After bonking and consequently pulling out of the second Brovet, due to a lack of adequate planning, I wasn’t going to let that happen on the latest ride. The stats were heavy. 250 ish miles and around 20,000′ in a day and a half was a big undertaking, especially with the weather fluctuations that you experience in California altitudes.

Check out more below.

Photos by Sean Murphy

As one of the first people to test out the new cycling gear from Mission Workshop, I greeted it with as much apprehension as enthusiasm. Surely, there were already a lot of options for urban cycling gear out there but were these new pieces strictly for cycling?

Not at all. In fact, while I enjoyed riding in the clothes, I didn’t feel like there was anything in particular that made it cycling-specific and that’s a good thing. The side utility pocket has everyday applications and the cut certainly fits on the bike. In the end, this is made in the USA, high-tech, high-quality clothing from a company that is no stranger to those traits.

If you need scientific data to support tire purchasing, you need not continue reading. Just look at the pretty photos and move on. This is not a controlled test on rolling resistance, aerodynamics or puncture protection. I don’t do that kind of product review. What I do is actually use something until I feel like I can sign off on its quality, before I choose to write anything.

Let’s look at this tire’s history before we go any further. Bruce Gordon was arguably one of the first builders in the USA to support “gravel grinding”. His bikes were straight-forward, utilitarian beasts that sometimes were painted like an 80’s hotrod, or even adorned with animal print. They are wild. In fact, one of the first BG bikes I ever saw was a flat bar cross bike, with these tires and tiger stripes that was well before any 29’r hit the market. A lot of bikes back in the 80’s couldn’t even fit these tires. There weren’t exactly stock framesets that fit a 700c x 43c wheel, so these stood out from other offerings of the time.

Bruce’s Rock N Road tires are iconic, much like his bikes. Originally designed by Joe Murray, a well-known figure in the MTB community. These 43mm (1.72″) tires were designed to be high-volume, fast rolling and rip through gravel like I rip through a Frito Pie. Are they slow on the road? Of course. They have decent tread. Are they good for loose and sandy conditions? Mostly, yes. They move as fast as you pedal them.

The Rock N Road tire is one that’s at home on chip seal, paved, gravel, rock, sand and just about everything else you can throw at it on a ride. It’ll handle great at 60psi on asphalt and excel at 40psi in gravel. I had a great time ripping through the cedar-topped trails here in Austin, as well as a few gravel roads and even rocky terrain. All save for one flat (snake bite in a rock garden), I’ve yet to have any issues. Let me add however that if all you do is ride sealed roads on your rig, I would go for something else, mostly because you’ll probably wear through the tread too fast.

Puncture protection? It’s not thorn season here in Austin, so I’ve yet to tackle anything like that but I’d say they’re pretty resilient to the normal road and trail debris. Some tire liners would help and I read somewhere that people have been successful at running these on a tubeless wheel. If anyone has insight to that, share in the comments!

If you want a big, fat tire for your cross, touring or even MTB with 700c or 29’r wheels, look no further. $50 a piece is a great deal for anything coming out of the Panaracer facilities in Japan I might add! For the weight-conscious, they’re 540g each. One major note. They’re BIG and wouldn’t come close to fitting on my cross bike, so MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CLEARANCE!

Pick up a pair at Bruce Gordon’s online shop in skinwall or blackwall.

I know I’ve plugged the Giro Privateer shoes numerous times on the site before and yet I continue to get emails from people asking what shoes I wear on my cross and mountain bike. These days, I travel exclusively with my Mudville cross bike. For road rides, I bring Jack Brown tires, for dirt, I bring Grifos. Spending serious saddle time in shoes will either make or break your relationship with them but spending a lot of time on the road in MTB shoes is sure to test their comfort.

In dirt, you tend to move around a lot more, stop, hike and the time you spend actually sitting and climbing is limited. At least in my experience anyway. Especially when I come to California, I find myself climbing mountains on my cross bike, in these shoes. People often comment on how they hate riding road in mountain shoes and I used to hate it as well but then I got the Giro Privateers. I’ve been amazed at how comfortable they are, at such an affordable pricepoint. They also come in HV, or “high volume” for wider feet.

This isn’t a “paid advert”, this is just me sharing with you something that I use a lot more than I anticipated…