The Radavist

Shop Visits are some of our favorite content here at the Radavist and at the same time, they are very visual experiences, which is why I really love the Cobra Framebuilding “Shut Up and Build Bikes” series. The latest features Mark from Chumba Cycles and is well worth the listen! Head to Cobra to check it out and don’t miss our Chumba Cycles Shop Visit!

Cyclists make great subjects for portrait illustrations, especially when it’s with their bike. Artist Dean Liebau has illustrated many of the faces seen here on the Radavist, including this drawing of Ethan Goodwin. Check out the photo he based it on at our Ruta Del Jefe coverage from 2019. His whole Instagram account is filled with colorful portraiture, so head on over, give him a follow and enjoy!

While we’re all locked down in our homes, a lot of us are biding our time planning tours and travels. One of the ways we can help you with that is by teaming up with the Adventure Cycling Association to offer you a free, 6-month trial.

The Radavist and Adventure Cycling are teaming up to offer you a free 6-month trial membership to Adventure Cycling Association. Become a member with Adventure Cycling Association today and unlock the keys to a wealth of resources and valuable tools that will ignite your dreams and plans for bicycle adventures of any kind — whether short overnight trips, weeklong tours, cross-country rides, or around-the-world journeys.

Perks of membership with Adventure Cycling include:

-A subscription to Adventure Cyclist – the only magazine dedicated to bicycle travel
-Discounts on Adventure Cycling maps as well as deals on hotel stays, gear, and apparel
-Access to trip planning resources and more!

With over 50,000 members, Adventure Cycling is the nation’s largest bicycling association. We exist to inspire and empower people to travel by bicycle. Sign-up now!

*This 6-month free trial membership is valid only for new members and must be sent to a U.S. mailing address.

Sign up at Adventure Cycling

Data-driven designers and developers will appreciate this chart, in which the author, Hobocross helps direct you to see which Crust Bikes model is right for you. Now, we’re not gonna post the whole thing, so head to their Instagram account, give them a follow and share this. It’s genius!

Photo by Damon Casarez

There has been a rumbling online. A debate. The conversation centers around whether or not bike shops should be “essential.” Some very outspoken individuals claim cycling is a rich white man’s sport and that the shops which remain open are catering only to that demographic. While we can’t deny that might be the case in some shops, Bicycling Magazine contributor Peter Flax presents a different side of this debate.

“It is the first Friday of April, 15 days after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a statewide shelter-in-place order. In Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other large cities in California—as well as in many other states—bike shops have been classified as essential businesses, a move that has been celebrated by some and derided by others. Some critics have argued that bike shops primarily cater to privileged fitness-oriented hobbyists and that putting shop staff in harm’s way (and risking community spread of disease) to serve recreational riders is unwise. But that assumption renders invisible the thousands of neighborhood shops in cities across the country that serve customers who mostly rely on bicycles to facilitate their livelihoods, customers from some of the most economically vulnerable communities in the U.S.”

Continue reading at Bicycling.

Last week, Beth from Frontier Bikes posted a video of her mopping up and getting down in the shop, to which I commented that I thought is was a great example of Social DisDANCING. Being a fellow wordlover/punsmith, that sparked something for Beth, so she reached out. In the course of 12 hours, we whipped up a collaborative campaign to spread some funds by spreading some funs. -Tobie Depauw

She put her magical ability to get brands on board with some prize donations and within a day, there were a dozen companies contributing raffle prizes.

And these are not some no-good knick knacks, these are top quality prizes.

Head to www.stewardshipretail.com for more info.

Join Ally Mabry, bikepacker extraordinaire, for an AMA on Adventure Cycling’s Instagram Stories.

All you’ve gotta do to join in on the fun is send a DM to Adventure Cycling with your questions to their Instagram, then join Ally Friday, April 10, 1 pm Mountain time.

About Ally:
Since 2014, Ally has slowly worked her way through the many disciplines cycling has to offer: commuter, social cruiser, weekend roadie, road racer, bikepacker, mountain biker, cyclocross racer, ultra-endurance gravel racer, community organizer, print media professional, and beyond.

Some of her favorite bike experiences have included riding the Baja Divide as part of the 2017 grand depart; riding the Oregon Outback twice on two different bikes; riding and then racing the first Arkansas High Country Race (and winning!); leading weekly “Intro to Bikecamping” overnights in Austin; co-founding Pedal Missoula, a “bike fun” advocacy org; racing Dirty Kanza 200; and joining her sister, a first-timer, on Adventure Cycling’s Puerto Rico tour in December.

“Bikes became many things for me: an athletic outlet, a form of meditation, a way to combat heartbreak, my primary mode of transportation, an opportunity to see the world, and entry into a multi-dimensional community.”

Take happy hour early, head on over to Instagram Friday afternoon, and ask Ally all your questions about routes, gear, community organizing, racing silly long distances, and more.

With bike shops for the moment being listed as essential services, many shops across the US have remained open. Chris King and Portland Design Works have joined forces to make this interactive map, which shows you what shops are open in what states and cities across the US. If you want your shop on this list, sign up at the Bike Shop Operations Update and see more info at Portland Design Works.

So as you can imagine, the contributors to the Radavist are all sitting on a bit more free time these days, myself included. While personally, I still have a few bikes to review, which will be rolling out over the next few weeks, we’d all like to queue up a few more. Over the years, the readership has provided outstanding feedback, and with those opinions, we’ve reviewed various bikes from big brands to small. We’re all collectively wondering which bikes you’d like to see reviewed here on the Radavist? Drop your preference in the comments and we’ll take note!

In the midst of this uncertainty, bicycle brands are uniting, and they need your help. How can you help? First, they want you to get out and ride, respecting local outdoor activity ordinances of course. Second, they want to ask you to support your favorite local bike shop, and it’s easy. The fact is now you can get whatever you need from your favorite local shop delivered directly to your home. Just call your preferred shop to place your order for home shipment today!

Shops can sign up for retail to home delivery service through QBP or Hawley. Just about every shop has a QBP or Hawley account. Some suppliers are offering to ship direct right now as well. Most shops will have access to these types of services. QBP is actively contacting shops right now, as I’m writing this to enable them to sign up. If everyone calls their shops to express interest in this program, most retailers should be “in the know” by next week.

Retailers in the service can literally create a cart on QBP.com and change the shipping address to the customer’s residence. The sale goes to the retailer but the product gets delivered to the consumer at their house.

Sounds good right? Holler at your LBS to see what they have to say!

In this troubling time, small businesses are struggling to stay afloat. One such company is Search and State, makers of made in the USA apparel. In an effort to keep their employees paid, keep people motivated to exercise and stay healthy, continue to make donations to those who can help on a larger scale, and do the best they can to keep moving forward, starting today SAS is offering up their existing inventory at a 20% discount, and for the next 2 weeks, they will donate 15% of all sales to the World Health Organization. Please use code “20/15” at checkout.

Note: All of SAS’ existing inventory is currently housed outside of New York City and they are following CDC and State and Federal regulations and guidelines for safe business operations at this time.

“Right now, protecting each other is more important than mountain biking. Staying home is essential to safeguard our communities and slow the spread of COVID-19. Our trails will be waiting for us. IMBA wants to make sure we will all be there for our trails.” —Dave Wiens, IMBA Executive Director

IMBA has released an updated number of safety measures to help us fully comprehend the magnitude of this pandemic we’re all in. Read IMBA’s updated procedures for how to safely ride in the current environment.

Riding on the road still maintains many of the same principals. Avoid crowded bike paths, or routes, take the road less traveled. Ride solo if possible, or with a household partner. If you must ride with a friend for safety or other reasons, maintain social distancing. Be safe out there, y’all. Remember, the safest place to be is indoors. Wash your hands!

Yesterday’s post was a hoot! Evil really created a divisive bike! While our comments were pretty calm, our Instagram got out of hand! A friend sent me this post yesterday and I thought I’d share it for those looking for more insight on this bike!

“The Chamois Hagar is an outlier though. I hated my previous road bikes. Too sketchy, twitchy, felt like an accident waiting to happen. So, around the spring of 2015, I came up with some geometry and specs to make a “road” bike that riders like me would immediately understand and be able to ride.”

If you’re curious about who designed the Chamois Hagar, then head to Dave’s Instagram!

There have been a lot of discussions surrounding how to behave socially during the Covid 19 pandemic, yet a lot of the basic precautions are being ignored, and certain actions are affecting smaller communities across the globe. While we all should be self-quarantining, socially isolating, and staying at home over the foreseeable future, more importantly, we need to acknowledge that this pandemic is not a vacation.

The world has been brought to its knees over the Covid 19 pandemic and while our current administration hasn’t enacted the Defense Production Act, manufacturers like Industry Nine have picked up the torch themselves. Read on for their recent announcement:

Industry Nine is in a position to help with manufacturing parts needed and assisting supply efforts in combating the virus outbreak. At our disposal are dozens of CNC machines ready to make parts in short supply like ventilator components. Our engineering teams have years of robotics and automation experience ready to support companies producing PPE like masks and gloves. We’re reaching out to our contact network to find ways to support these industries in need, but now we’re calling on our dedicated followers to help us connect with other manufacturers or suppliers. If you think you can help us in this effort please email:⁣ tips@industrynine.net⁣⁣
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Please share with or tag people/friends who may be of help. Thank you all – please be safe! ⁣⁣

Do you know of other companies doing so? Link them in the comments!

There’s a lot going on in the world right now with the Covid-19 pandemic, which has upended many people’s lives. Unfortunately, this falls right in the middle of our relocation to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Yet, I can’t complain because people are dying from this virus. Our minor inconvenience is nothing compared to that.

It’s obvious that California has been a great host state for our operations over the past five years but I’ve been feeling the draw to move out of the Golden State for some time now, for various reasons, both related to the content of this website and my own personal sanity.

Our move to Santa Fe mostly stems from the fact that recently I’ve found myself gravitating toward smaller-towns, rather than big cities. Cari, my partner, who plays a huge role in the admin side of this site, has family ties to New Mexico. We both wanted to live somewhere at a higher elevation, with easier access to the activities we love and a greatly reduced population. Our road trip through Santa Fe last summer, plus various trips over the years solidified our decision.

Los Angeles’ riding is unparalleled when compared to other major US-cities and hopefully, we’ve shown that over the years. You can’t get much better than the Santa Monica, Verdugo, and San Gabriel mountains, our three major ranges in the area. There are hundreds of miles of easily-accessible dirt roads, singletrack, and doubletrack in the area and it’s been a great community to be a part of.

That said, I personally just get inundated with the constant hustle. Over the years, it’s just gotten to me. Everyone is always moving at 110% and both Cari and I are looking for a calmer environment to live in. What I’m personally looking forward to is documenting the cyclists in Santa Fe, working with the local organizations, and being in the Four Corners. I’ll miss the Sierra, the Mojave, and everything in between, but I look forward to all the Southwest has to offer.

We’re moving as soon as we can, which will probably happen in the next week or so. During this process, we’ll be closing down webshop shipping but continuing the site’s day-to-day content schedule. Please, during this crazy time, be safe out there!

If you’re in the Santa Fe area, be sure to holler, I look forward to riding bikes with you all.