We interrupt our ongoing MADE coverage with an important announcement!
When carbon bicycle frames were first introduced, the evil carbon fiber bike industry did all it could to bad-mouth aluminum bikes. It took decades, but we’re seeing an abrupt re-emergence of aluminum frames, particularly from smaller cottage industry brands like Beach Club and Ron’s Bikes.
Growing up in the 1990s, it was common for publications like Mountain Bike Action to do “shootouts” between two aluminum bikes. So, we at The Radavist thought it’d be fun to pit two of our favorite companies against each other in a democratic voting process. Check out our ALUMIWARS Shootout Special featuring sneak peeks at the forthcoming Beach Club Al Dente aluminum gravel bike and the Ron’s Bikes AluMAX grav grav daddy bike…
Rules!
Each combatant gets 300 words to sell their bike to you. Give it a read, look through the gallery, and then vote for your favorite in the comments! The winner will get nothing but bragging rights, which, let us tell ya, means a LOT between these two! Each candidate can promote their bikes on their respective social media channels to increase their vote count.
Beach Club Al Dente Aluminum Gravel Bike
Al Dente, the Italian way to cook pasta, or maybe the only way? Why not a slightly stiffer, slightly “faster” gravel bike? A true featherweight. Aluminum was the way to go for us. And, of course, we had to use the best Aluminum Deddccai tubing and get it made right at the source in Italy. These frames couldn’t be more fun to ride! Frame and fork starting at $1895 for our standard Splash Pattern w/ decals. The fancy, fully polished frame you see here is a one-off we just finished last week, and we are still working on pricing but plan on them being an additional $500 ish if you want to go with the Silver Surfer Roséspecial.
Now, onto the matter at hand. Ron’s bikes? More like YAWN’s bikes! What a snoozer. Anyone who’s anyone knows Beach Club single-handedly saved the rim brake last year with the invention of Discless Road. Now, the capitalist opportunistic Ron is again cashing in on our hard work. Ron will tell you to purchase his bike because it’s made in the USA. Ron talks a lot about supporting USA products, but if he cared so much about America, he would be using high fructose corn syrup to lube his chain instead of feeding his $600 a week extra extra cold pressed virgin olive oil habit.
Imagine the world seeing you pull up with a bike that’s eight Quarter Pounders WITH cheese heavier than our stunning Italian Stallion low cal calzone. Nothing says “I’m better than you” to your peers than a fine-made Italian product paired nicely with your morning eXpresso. Shout-out to the boy Clooney (he frequents Beach Club) and Nespresso. Look, Ron likes nice things. He might pretend to be a salt-of-the-earth regular Joe, but when the cameras are off America’s favorite Grav Daddy is really just one of us and secretly prefers a nice serving of Al Dente.
In the end, we’re lighter. We’re faster. We’re prettier. Way Prettier. Sorry, UltraSlowMance…
Look, do you want to hang with the cool kids or get stuck with the hippy stoners? A vote for us means you’ll totally be invited to my dads beach house next week for our annual labor day party. Last year Shakira was there. You should totally do it… or whatever…
Sean T’s Special Polished Beach Club Al Dente Specs:
- Frameset: Dedacciai Aluminum Tubing w/ Carbon Fork. Polished / Anodized w/ etched logos
- Campagnolo Ekar Groupset
- Ingrid R2 Crankset w/ 40T Ingrid Chainring
- Industry Nine UL250CX Wheelset
- Ultra Dynamico tires Of Course
- Control Tech Ti Mania Seatpost
- Extralite Hyperstem
- Enve compact drop barz
- White Industries Headset Spacers
- Fizik Argo Adaptive R1 Saddle
Frameset Price: $1895
Availability: late October
Weigh in: 18.9lbs with pedals
Ron’s Bikes AluMAX Grav Grav Daddy Gravel Bike
The thesis statement for this production bike was to emulate the geo and lightweight-ness of popular, more progressive grav dad framesets, but make it out of materials that will last much longer than the popular industry standard. Utilizing classic lines that you won’t look back on with embarrassment years from now, like a bad perm. A future-proof fast bike you will keep for 15 years or more without any strange standards.
The obvious material/execution for me to achieve what I was after with this project was 7000 series aerospace Alu-min-ium, made in Vermont by the renowned Frank the Welder. Everything from the center pull direct mount brakes to the skinnied Frank-U-Trax fork are the very best selections from a highly opinionated person (me). The Rosé race 700×42 featured on this build is our best-selling tire, so I specced the geo for larger 700c grav tires up to 50mm or 42 with fenders through all five sizes.
Why should you choose this bike over my opponent’s “Al Dentist?” First off, my opponent’s bike is made in Italy, and mine is made right here in the US of A. Made in America costs more, so it must be more high-end. In this regard, steel forks also cost more, and to add further costs, we design and make them right here in New England. My opponent simply clicked a button on a website like the Californian he is! Bottom line, folks, my opponent’s bike takes American jobs and sells them at a discounted rate to Italy and then sells them back to you in pink ano at the expense of our country’s bottom line — that’s a Beach Club Aluminum.
Thank you for your vote,
Ronaldo Ron Romance Jr. III
Ronnie’s AluMAX Grav Grav Daddy Build Specs
- Frameset: Dedacciai Aluminum Tubing with Frank-U-Trax steel fork 1 1/8” steerer
- Stem: Tune vintage 25.4 clamp 110mm
- Bars: bench vice flared nitto m151 shallow drop 26.0
- Headset: Chris King 1/18”
- Tape: Newbaums cloth
- Levers: Campagnolo super record drillium w/ Soma gum hoods
- Headset cap: Tune
- Saddle: Idealé 90 titanium rail aluminum frame
- Post: Sklar Titanium proto 27.2
- Collar: Tune
- Brakes: Paul direct mount center pull in pewter
- Hangers: Paul and Nitto
- Hubs: Tune 135 rear 100 front
- Rims: 32 H Crust rim brake 700c
- Tires insert: Tannus tubeless
- Sealant: Stan’s Race
- Tires: Ultradynamico Rosé Race 700×42
- Skewers: Tune titanium
- Bags: Rons Bikes
- Shifters: modded Simplex SLJ with Shimano pods
- Rear Der: XTR M951 long cage
- Front Der: 31.8 clamp Ultegra 6500
- Chain: KMC X9 SL
- Cassette: XT M770 11-34
- BB: UN55 68×110
- Crankset: Topline 172.5 94 bcd 44×29
- Pedals: Ritchey Logic SPD
- Pump: Zefal HPX painted to match
Frameset Price: $2200
Availability: late October
Weigh in: 21lbs without bags and pedals
Okay! Now, read over all this and vote in the comments.
Both bikes have pending launch dates, so once we find out the final details, we’ll post them here on The Radavist. And remember, this is all in good fun. :-)
Thanks to 1-Up USA for supporting our continued coverage of the 2023 MADE Bike Show. Check out 1-UP’s made in the USA bike racks!