The Radavist

When Mash first opened their storefront a few years back, it quickly became a clubhouse of sorts for the local riders. Group rides would meet up once or twice a week to explore the roads and trails of San Francisco. As quickly as the storefront became popular, the brand itself grew and the need for more space became apparent, sending Mike Martin on a hunt for a bigger store, with space for a design office.

Yesterday I swung through their new storefront and design offices in SF and hung out for a bit, soaking in all the random artifacts both from SF’s street racing culture and cycling’s most iconic brands… See more in the Gallery!

As you can probably tell, I’ve been really stoked on what Chumba is doing here in Austin, Texas. During MTB season earlier this year, I caught up with Vince, who was riding the first prototype Ursa 29+ MTBs. At the time, Chumba’s production was in Oregon, but in recent months, they’ve moved all production in house, using USA-made tubing…

Good Things Don’t Change at Mercian Cycles
Photos and words by Jim Holland

Sometimes good things don’t change, Mercian Cycles is one of those things.

The current workshop has sat in the same spot since 1965, watching as modern industrial buildings crop up around it and other older workshops disappear. Underneath the steeped, church like ceiling, little has changed and the intermittent clang of tubes and scraping of files ring out as they have done for the last 50 years whilst one by one, men make bicycles by hand.

Frames are still brazed free hand on an open hearth, as they have been since day one, amongst the very last practitioners of this method, Mercian believes it to be gentler on the tubes, which contributes to the longevity of the frame. Die hard Reynolds stalwarts, they don’t often stray from Birmingham steel and have a good stock of 531 for the true nostalgist.

One of just a handful of England’s traditional shop based builders that remain, the torches are still firing brightly and the benches are seldom dormant as the orders keep pouring in, one of them mine, I’m counting the days.

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Embracing the Aroma at the Buffalo Trace Distillery
Words and photos by Kyle Kelley

Last winter, while I was home in Indiana for the holidays, my parents and I decided to head across the Ohio River to Bourbon Country for a visit to Buffalo Trace. Unlike many of the other touristy distilleries in Kentucky, Buffalo Trace is not fancy and they sure as hell don’t pump perfume into the air to mask the smell of the sour mash.

Pre-Season Preparation at Richard Sachs
Photos and words by Dan Chabanov

I pretty much wait all year to get this email. It’s short and simply reads;

“The bikes are ready. When can I expect you?”

This shop’s been on my radar since I first came to Kauai, four years ago and yet, this trip was the first one that brought me through its doors. Kauai Cycle is a small shop, located in what many consider to be an island paradise. For those visiting, but not wanting to schlep a bike on a plane, they do high end road and MTB rentals.

My favorite part about visiting shops like this are the little details, which you can check out in this short but sweet Gallery. Also, how good is that shirt?

Thanks to Jonny and Chris for taking me out on a MTB ride last Sunday. Mahalo!

The idea of “free” these days usually comes with a catch, yet when the Levi’s Commuter Workshops popped up in Brooklyn, LA and London, free really does mean free. A free desk to work at, free bike repair / wash areas, free coffee, free wifi and yes, free tailoring. So what’s the catch? No, really, there isn’t one.

Pace Sportswear has been around longer than any other cycling cap manufacturer in the United States. So long that even Italian brands like Campagnolo used them back in the early 80’s. The day I arrived in Los Angeles, Sean from Team Dream took me by Pace to see their operations.

I know cycling caps aren’t exactly saving the world, but when you think of domestic production, employee people and keeping an industry alive, it directly affects the US cycling industry.

If and when I ever do caps, Pace will be my choice.

I’ve been to Baum Cycles before, a few years back but in that time, both Darren and myself have made a few big moves and while Baum is still in a large bit of expansion, it’s fun to see what the future is holding for the Geelong-based frame builder.

Geelong has long been a center of manufacturing in Australia and even though the major factories have since left, Baum is alive and pulsating with energy.

The biggest change at Baum is the new physical queue. Literally, every customer, from the second they get a fitting and make a deposit, has a cubicle that rolls on a rack. If the customer holds up the queue, their spot gets bumped back and when your cubicle is at the end of the rack, it’s time to get built.

This gives not only Darren and his employees a physical reference for work, but it allows them to keep their customer’s parts and papers in order. Darren then took it further and established a color-coordinated production chart. These colors indicate what needs to happen and when. The specifics I’ll leave a secret, because, you know, Darren worked hard on it!

Unlike their color-coordinated system, Baum has always been very open with their final product. Their new factory space, albeit a work-in-progress, will open the inner workings of their facility up to potential and current customers.

I visit a lot of frame builders and Baum always impresses. Check out the Gallery for more insights into how Baum is keeping industry alive in Geelong, Victoria.

Since 1866, Brooks England has been making bicycle saddles in the UK. While their original facilities were located in Birmingham, the current factory is nestled in the industrial town of Smethwick.

We’ve all probably owned a Brooks saddle at one point in our life and can attest to their longtime comfort and character that develops from heavy use. Before a saddle ever touches a seat post, they begin as just raw leather and steel. The process by which they make the transformation to a bicycle saddle is complex, yet streamlined in their bustling factory.

Dozens of employees make Brooks England tick and each has their special task. While they will transfer stations every few months, a unique marker on the saddles can tell you who was doing what, when. This catalog of information spans decades and is what makes Brooks so unique. If something goes wrong with a batch, Brooks can asses the situation and make their end product better.

For me, the most interesting part of the process was talking to the workers and watching them move through their tasks with efficiency… In an age when Great Britain has shipped much of its industry overseas, it’s great to see heritage and craftsmanship are still alive at Brooks.

See more in the Gallery, as I walk you through this process.

This morning, after no sleep and a long day of traveling, I landed at Heathrow with the sunrise. In fact, I’m pretty sure it was the sun, peeking through the neighbor’s window, hitting me in the face that kept me from getting an iota of sleep.

I hopped on the Express train and made my way to the hotel, before taking a stroll with the PEdAL ED team around the neighborhood.

Holding onto consciousness, in an almost sleepwalking state, we swung through a few shops, all of which I’d like to spend more time combing through the details and doing proper Shop Visits at, but in the interest of time, I’ll have to go with these random details.

Kinoko was amazing. One of the nicest shops I’ve been in and the Rapha Cycle Club was quite the experience… I’m here with Brooks England, for their Eroica event and our days are pretty packed, but I’ll do my best to document our journey.

I love seeing frame builders gain notoriety through supporting grassroots cycling teams. Not to say that Aaron Stinner wouldn’t be as popular today without building the Mudfoot racing cyclocross frames, but it certainly helped.

During my visit to Santa Barbara during the ATOC, Jeremy Dunn and I spent the afternoon with Aaron, riding bikes, photographing bikes and making a mess at his house.

Aaron is lucky enough to have a decent sized workspace set up in his garage and he’s even luckier to have a great ride just seconds from his front door. As his queue stacks up, Aaron continues to crank out road, cross and MTB frames for customers, who happen to be mostly from California. Many of which are looking to race on a steel frame, made in their home state, rather than buy overseas production.

Stinner Frameworks is still new in the grand scheme of things, but if Aaron continues at the current momentum, he could vary well be the next big thing…

Paul Sadoff is a character. His personality has a patina. One that’s formed over years of racing pedigree and loud music. The name of his company was derived by the B-52’s billboard hit but before Paul would name his brand Rock Lobster, he had to have built a MTB first. “I couldn’t call it Rock Lobster if I didn’t have a MTB” Paul said when asked about the origins of his namesake… Then he built a MTB and the world changed for the frame builder.

The logo was even derived from MTB riding. Those blocks holding the letters represent rubble falling down the trail as you’re riding…

His frames have always been some of my favorite in the industry. These no-nonsense bikes are straight-forward, tig-welded masterpieces. Yes, utilitarian art – I’m standing by that phrase. Paul builds each frame in an industrial building within the Santa Cruz city limits. His own space is literally littered with cycling memorabilia from the past twenty years (even longer?) and is a gold mine of interestingness.

From track to TT, each of Sadoff’s frames bear some uniqueness and have a story to tell. Even the various crash-replacements…

While I was in town for the Giro #SantaCruzEffect, our group of 10 journalists swung through Rock Lobster to see Paul and his space. It was probably one of the most rushed Shop Visits I’ve done to date, but I managed to gain some understanding as to how Paul works and what makes Rock Lobster tick… Check out a narrated Gallery for more!

Erik Noren. There can be only one. This man makes me laugh more than anyone else at NAHBS. Every year, the man behind Peacock Groove outdoes himself and wows the crowd with his tribute bikes. Some are Voltron-themed, others pay homage to the Evil Dead, while others are just so damn rad! Peacock Groove is unlike any other frame company I know of…

While I expected to see Erik in the throes of production for NAHBS, I didn’t expect to see his long-time side project “The Plus System” underway. While I won’t go into too much detail on what the Plus System is, I will say it’s a line of in-house designed and manufactured headsets, available with a Peacock Groove frame. There’s more to come on that – at NAHBS, for now, let’s look at some photos from Erik’s well kempt work space.

Brent Foes is no stranger to metal fabrication. He began working in the automotive industry, designing trucks and other off-road vehicles for brands like Ford and Nissan before he opened Foes Racing in 1993.

Since then, Brent’s been pursuing the perfection of the long travel system (LTS) mountain bike at his shop in Pasadena, California, where, over the year’s he’s had race machines under some of the fastest pros in the world.

His bikes are no-nonsense trail machines. Most of the work is done on-site and Brent welds each frame himself. At Interbike last year, Foes unveiled a 27.5 XC machine that weighed 23lbs complete. That’s light for a full sus MTB, much less one that’s made in the USA.

Last week, I had the opportunity to tour the Foes facility before picking up a bike to demo, meet Brent briefly and see the man at work. It was an incredible experience and one that I’ll outline in the Gallery!

If you’re in the market for something different, contact FOES for your next build!

Man, I haven’t done a Shop Visit in some time. Thinking back at a few local bike shops I’ve been to in the past few months, two of my favorites were MTB shops. One of which was Topanga Creek Bicycles (which FYXO shot some great photos of) – I didn’t have my cameras and another, very different shop was My Mountain Melbourne.

As someone who’s recently rediscovered his love for XC and trail ripping, My Mountain was an all-you-can-eat buffet of radness. Well, as long as your wallet has enough clout. The owner, Tim, is not messing around. It was his Yeti SB95c that I was riding and that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the kinds of builds leaving his shop.

Tallboy LTC with full ENVE? Sure thing. Coming right up. Trek ProjectOne SuperFly with XX-1? You got it.

The world of high-end MTBs is just out of most of our grasps, but that’s not what makes a shop rad. My Mountain sponsors local racers, events and has an extensive demo fleet. They’re a new shop, so infill is coming in slowly, but right now, it looks like there’s a lot of potential in this space.

Check out more in the Gallery!

To visit Gene and the crew at One on One is to visit a mountain bike museum of sorts. Gene used to race for Bridgestone back in the 80’s. His many bikes line the walls and ceilings of this mecca for dirt heads in the midwest and beyond. But One on One is much more than a MTB specific shop, it’s a cultural hub in Minneapolis, an icon of urban cycling and for many, a local bike shop. Add in a coffee shop and cycling memorabilia to the mix and you’re bound to spend some time walking up and down the space over and over again.

I spent a lot of time at One on One talking to Gene and Cars are Coffins-founder Hurl. Those two guys are some of the most sincere pedal-philes I’ve met. If you live in Minneapolis and haven’t been by, you should! If you’re nice, maybe Gene will let you into the basement. Don’t worry, it’s not that creepy…

While I was there, I shot a few photos in the shop, check them out in the Gallery!