The Radavist

One of the things that caught my eye at this weekend’s NM Bikepacking Summit was Mike, the owner of Broken Spoke in Santa Fe’s custom-built O’Leary rack for his Karate Monkey. Mike really wanted a better way of carrying his essentials, rather than a bikepacking saddle pack. His goal for the rack was to have it be multi-purpose, both designed to carry traditional panniers or as a framework to strap Nalgene bottles to, while allowing for a bedroll or tent to be strapped to the rack’s platform. Depending on how you’re traveling, this opens up the use of a dropper post as well.

Mike went to O’Leary, a custom builder here in Santa Fe, to hash out the design and he whipped it up in a matter of hours. Minimal racks like this offer a simple solution to a very common problem and I thought the readership would be intrigued by this. Check out a few more photos below!

Last week, Dillen from Baphomet Bicycles compiled a list of everyone that bought a Ride Group bracelet and used a randomizer application to select one lucky person to be the new owner of that snazzy SSMTB. Well, Matt bought a single ticket and ended up winning the bike! Dillen was already coming to Matt’s house to stay for the NM Bikepacking Summit, so he hand-delivered the bike. After a quick ride, Matt decided he’d take the bike on the Dangerbird. That’s serendipity at its finest.

Thanks to Baphomet Bicycles and Ride Group for pulling this together. They raised over $9,000 for Ride Group! I’d like to thank everyone from The Radavist’s community who donated, including the makers who donated products for this bike: Paul Component, White Industries, Teravail, Revel, Buckhorn Bags, Farewell, and Doom Bars.

Expect some photos of this bike loaded down and dusty in our Dangerbird coverage tomorrow.

Do you recall the Baphomet Bicycles we featured a couple of weeks ago? The one that’s a fundraiser bike for Ride Group? Well, Dillen is closing out the fundraiser in a few hours, so if you wanted to enter the raffle, head over to this post to read all about how you can win! But be quick, the raffle closes at 12 Noon MST!

With a new, steeper seat tube angle of 75.5°, a 63.5° head tube angle, 430mm chainstays, and a bottom bracket height of -58mm, the 2022 Orange Crush Pro 27.5er is right there in terms of existing within the hardcore hardtail geometry. There’s also a new chainstay yoke, promising excellent chainring and tire clearances, and yeah, we love the new paint job!

These frames are made in the UK from 6061-T6 Custom Butted OS aluminum tubing and carry quite the cult following. See more of the new and improved Crush Pro at Orange.

The Speedvagen Rugged Road just got a bit more rugged thanks to the RockShox Rudy XPLR fork and a flashy new Ivan Stewart inspired paint job. The Speedvagen Rugged’er Road is The Vanilla Workshop taking the Rugged Road platform up to 11. Bigger tires, up to 700x50s, 30mm of suspension, and all the details of custom Rugged Road framesets. This beaut has tons of details, so head over to Speedvagen to see them all.

Titanium hardtails offer the best riding experience out of any material, ATMO, and seeing more US companies offering them is always a good thing. Alchemy’s newest offering is its Argos, a 140mm travel hardtail. This frame is made from Alchemy’s own blend of titanium, feature a sculpted rear triangle, and come available as completes with packages from GX to AXS. Head to Alchemy to see more from this beaut!

Sage Titanium’s Storm King is the brand’s flagship gravel bike and for 2022, the brand offers up a revamp on this model with a RockShox Rudy fork and new, custom anodizing. Check out the press release from Sage below!

This post is old, for the latest update on the status of NAHBS, please see this post.

The North American Handmade Bicycle Show is returning next year to the host city of Denver, Colorado. After a two-year haitus due to the pandemic, we’re stoked to hear that this showcase will return. As always, we’ll be on hand documenting our selection of bikes for you to drool over and it’s nice to have something to look forward to in the coming year already!

Check out more information at NAHBS’ Facebook and if you’re hankering for some beautiful builds, check out our Related Archives below for the gamut.

Festka, the Czech manufacturer of high-end carbon frames, just announced their newly-designed Scout gravel frameset. The Scout was the brand’s first dedicated 1x gravel bike and this year, it got an overhaul, making it longer, slacker, with bigger tubes, and bigger tire clearance. The new model’s geometry is designed around an extended wheelbase whose scope can be tweaked further using the adjustable trail provided by the Columbus Futura Cross fork.

The new Scout frameset weighs in at 1000 grams, fits a 700×42 or 650x50mm tire and is offered in production or custom geometry, with a number of paint options. See the full spread at Festka.

Mosaic has added two new frameset models to their G-Series lineup of gravel and adventure bikes. The GT-1X and GT-2X are two new Mosaic framesets for riders seeking a big tire, off-road capable titanium adventure bike. Both GT-X frames are designed around a 29×2.25 tire, a gravel-specific or MTB drivetrain, and a geometry that incorporates a longer top tube and shorter stem, allowing the rider to set up their GT-X in a drop bar or flat bar configuration. The addition of optional frame bag and accessory mounts, as well as rack and fender mounts, make the GT-X capable of all-season, all-terrain exploration.

The GT-1X utilizes Mosaic’s top-of-the-line, double-butted titanium tubeset. Custom geometry and a rider-specific tubeset are included as “standard” options on GT-1X, making it a truly custom build. The GT-1X is offered in the rider’s choice of Mosaic Paint Layout or the Mosaic Factory Finish.

The GT-2X utilizes Mosaic’s simpler straight gauge titanium tubeset. The GT-2X is offered in 7 stock sizes from S-XXL, with custom geometry available as an upgrade. The GT-2X is finished in Mosaic’s standard raw finish, with available upgrade options to a Mosaic Paint Layout or the Mosaic Factory Finish.

Every GT-X adventure bike is built to order and finished in Mosaic’s Boulder, Colorado facility. Orders can be placed through a Mosaic dealer, and frames carry a 12 week lead time from the date that the details are confirmed, the order is signed off and put into the build queue.

See more at Mosaic.

Nao Tomii from Tomii Cycles recently was profiled in Texas Monthly. Unfortunately, they didn’t upload the video to Youtube so you’ve gotta go over to their site to watch it. If you missed our Tomii Cycles Shop Visit, then check that out in our Related Archives below!