1992 Yeti ARC vs. 2020 Yeti ARC: More Similar Than You Think

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1992 Yeti ARC vs. 2020 Yeti ARC: More Similar Than You Think

We love vintage bikes but our parent company The Pro’s Closet knows vintage bikes… and modern bikes for that matter. Spencer Powlison takes a look at the 2020 Yeti ARC limited edition hardtail and compares it to the 1992 Yeti ARC in this blog piece and what he finds will surprise you. In terms of tech, gearing, weight, price (believe it or not), and accouterment, these two bikes are closer than you’d think. If you’re into this kind of bike nerdery, give this one a read.

Our Winter ’21 Drop Is Live!

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Our Winter ’21 Drop Is Live!

With supply chain shortages, backlogged production, and having to find a new screen printer who could actually get shirts for us, I thought this day would never come but we’re here, finally! Our Winter drop is live in our webshop via The Radavist shop at The Pro’s Closet. We’ve got collaboration artist bottles with Shaun Marcus from Silver Stallion, a Radasnake design from Collette Marie that’s been over a year in the works, colored stem caps, a re-up of our Bobby Dixon-designed DUNE-inspired top caps, new sock designs by Cari Carmean, and as always, our LAND-designed logos on classic t-shirts.

I also thought it would be nice to include some of TPC’s Certified Pre-Owned bikes and new products in the webshop as well. You can sort the goods by “Merch“, “Bikes“, and “Gear“. I’ll personally be updating this list weekly, so check back for a curated look at fine steel and titanium bikes that TPC gets in stock. Like that Rivendell Roadeo for $2224.99

Now that the good news is out of the way, it’s time for some bad news. We’ve tried to get international shipping handled but since The Pro’s Closet is now shipping all of our merch, they will only ship to the US and Canada. We’re trying to figure out a solution to this problem but right now, your best bet is to use an international forwarding company… I’m really sorry to be the bearer of this news and I’m hoping we can work this out sooner than later. Another note is our head-banging experience trying to integrate Shopify in our WordPress website. It sucks. They don’t want to play with each other, so apologies for the multiple windows you’ll have to open in order to pick out your goods! The last bit of good news is TPC ships with FedEx so you’ll be receiving your goods MUCH FASTER from here on out!

Thanks for your patience in this transition period! If you’re a web developer who has successfully mated WordPress and Shopify, I’m all ears!

Thanks for your support!

-John

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Bicycle Kingdom Ep.2: Riding in NYC – Monster Track

In this episode of The Pro’s Closet Bicycle Kingdom, we explore the intricacies of Monster Track. Monster track mirrors the chaos of the city it takes place in, New York City. It is the pinnacle of Alleycat racing. It’s part party, part race, but in the end, it’s all about community.

Disclaimer: Riding bikes is inherently dangerous. That said, while we are not encouraging people to ride fixed-gear bikes in a crowded city, we do see value in sharing this story of a longstanding subculture in NYC and cities around the globe. Be careful. Ride respectfully. Spread bike love.

Bike Laws Every State Should Adopt

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Bike Laws Every State Should Adopt

Illustration by Josh Cochran

This past year, we’ve seen more and more people getting on bikes — to commute, to recreate, and to get some exercise. More people riding bikes is great, but it means more interactions with car traffic and city infrastructure. So what laws are in place that help make cyclists safer? Here’s a breakdown of some laws recently enacted in Colorado and elsewhere that aim to keep cyclists (and everyone else) safe. Also, here’s a great resource from The League of American Bicyclists that lists all bike laws by state.

Check out this full article at our parent company, The Pro’s Closet.

The Cub House Builds: Sheldon and His Custom Firefly Road Bike

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The Cub House Builds: Sheldon and His Custom Firefly Road Bike

What would your dream bike look like? For the team at The Cub House in San Marino, California, just outside of Pasadena, they specialize in curated, custom dream bike builds ranging from Firefly road bikes like this one to basket bikes and everything in between. One of The Cub House‘s most recent builds was for a customer named Sheldon who wanted to put a bit of himself into this custom machine. We’re lucky to host Sheldon‘s words below, so read on to see what he did and why with this specific build…

A Sneak Peek At Our Winter Drop

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A Sneak Peek At Our Winter Drop

Normally, we would have launched our Winter Drop this week but a few things have delayed the launch, particularly (you guessed it) shortages for t-shirts. We’re in the home stretch now, however, and we’ve got a pretty robust launch on the way. Our webshop is still technically down, although our existing product is live on The Pro’s Closet, and our portal will be redesigned this week. We’ve got shirts, bottles, stem caps, and more on the way. We’re hoping it’ll be live the first week of December and we’ll be sure to get your order out ASAP since all of our goods are being fulfilled in Colorado by The Pro’s Closet’s staff.

Keep your eyes peeled here for an announcement shortly!

We’d Like to Welcome Josh Weinberg to The Radavist’s Editorial Team

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We’d Like to Welcome Josh Weinberg to The Radavist’s Editorial Team

Perhaps you read our announcement last month about The Radavist merging with The Pro’s Closet?

These are exciting times, and we’re excited about many new initiatives. One of those includes hiring an editor to help take some workload off my shoulders.

After running this platform solo for 15+ years, I think it’s safe to say it’s time for a right-hand editor to help out. Well, we put out a call for applications for this position, had some great interviews, and were pleasantly surprised to find one of our endemic contributors fit the role perfectly.

Josh Weinberg has penned and photographed some wonderful pieces for The Radavist over the years and his contributions will help with our vision for 2022 and beyond. For the past few years, he’s spent his time working for Arizona State University where he used SEO and other web tactics to grow its online degree programs. We’ll be tapping into Josh’s knowledge for growing The Radavist while leaning heavily on his photography and organizational skills to continue our pursuit of documenting cycling’s Radical Atavists.

We compiled a list of some of the stories Josh has shared with The Radavist over the years below in our Related Archives, so take a few minutes to check those out!

I’d like to personally thank Josh for being such a solid companion over the years and look forward to seeing him grow his role here at The Radavist! I might add, he’s got a stellar eye for medium format photography, so be sure to give him a follow on Instagram!

– John Watson, founder, and director at The Radavist

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Bicycle Kingdom Ep.1: Riding in NYC – Central Park Raccoons

Bicycle Kindom is a new video series by The Pro’s Closet which investigates the many different orders, families, and genera of cycling. Some are well known to the general public or cycling enthusiasts, like traditional road racing. However, some subcultures of bicycle riding are lesser-known. In this episode of Bicycle Kingdom, we take a deeper look into riding bikes in New York City with the Central Park Raccoons.

Wind, Chile, Chonk, and the Monumental Loop: the 2021 Dangerbird in Las Cruces

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Wind, Chile, Chonk, and the Monumental Loop: the 2021 Dangerbird in Las Cruces

Washboard roads, rocky doubletrack, creosote, cacti, centipedes, tarantulas, and vistas for miles. The Monumental Loop provides it all in a healthy mix, featuring the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, BLM, and state lands surrounding the town of Las Cruces, New Mexico. With the mighty Organ Mountains looming in the background, it’s hard to imagine a better touring or bikepacking route in Southern New Mexico. When you add in the delicious food on the route, you’ve got yourself a winning combination. To help celebrate this monumental achievement (tee hee), Matt Mason, co-founder of the Loop, throws a grand depart each year dubbed the Dangerbird which took a brief hiatus last year due to the Pandemic. With Covid protocols in place and our numbers remaining slightly elevated in New Mexico, Matt made sure the entire weekend’s events took place outdoors, so I felt safe to head down to experience this gem of the Chihuahuan Desert…

A Dyno Pincher-Inspired DeSalvo Gravel Bike for Grinduro California

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A Dyno Pincher-Inspired DeSalvo Gravel Bike for Grinduro California

Editor’s note 3/11/2022: This bike is now for sale over at our parent company, The Pro’s Closet.

And so it goes…

Mike DeSalvo is a friend of mine. I’m a fan of his work (I own a bike from him) and I believe he’s a fan of my work. We’ve done a few projects over the years now. Each one always rooting itself in some sort of nostalgia as the inspiration. Be it our shared love of the Raleigh Team Ti scheme and 80s skateboard graphics. Or his love with Volkswagens, somehow we always, naturally zero in on the thing that inspires both of us.

Our Web Shop Will Be Down for a Few Weeks

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Our Web Shop Will Be Down for a Few Weeks

We’ve been working behind the scenes to send our goods to The Pro’s Closet’s facilities and so we’re closing the Web Shop for a few weeks while we shuffle things around and receive our Holiday product. In the meantime, you can still buy our current stock over at The Pro’s Closet.

We’re hoping to relaunch our webshop with new merch in mid-November. Thanks for your patience!

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Trail Guide: Jason Fitzgibbon

Jason Fitzgibbon, who has delivered some exceptional content here at The Radavist over the years, MTB shredder and wildlife ecologist, makes a point to stop to smell the flowers.

Fitzgibbon monitors, tracks, and documents the vast and delicate landscapes of the southwest. He knows that the more aware people become of the needs of the landscape we share, inhabit, and recreate in, the better we are able to work to sustain and protect it.

Filmmaker and fellow SoCal resident Brian Vernor documents Fitzgibbon as he shreds through subalpine regions around Los Angeles, educating and elaborating on our impact to the regions where we live and ride. Made for The Pro’s Closet.

Otso Voytek Review: More Than Just a Fat Bike

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Otso Voytek Review: More Than Just a Fat Bike

Fat bikes. They’re the cycling industry’s lost children. The forgotten ones. Remember when every brand under the sun had a fat bike in their catalog? Now there are only a few brands still putting in the PR&D required to make these bikes less cumbersome, less heavy, and more like a true-to-form mountain bike. One of those brands is Otso, whose Voytek is all the above and more. I’ve held onto this bike for probably longer than they anticipated, cycling through the winter months, into the spring, and well into the summer. I’ve ridden it in its thicc 26″+ form and now in its chonk 29+ form and have pulled together a comprehensive argument for why bikes like the Voytek hopefully stay around for a while…

Vintage Bicycles: 1989 Otis Guy from the ‘Art of the Mountain Bike’ Braunstein-Quay Gallery Show

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Vintage Bicycles: 1989 Otis Guy from the ‘Art of the Mountain Bike’ Braunstein-Quay Gallery Show

For this edition of our Vintage Bicycles showcase, we present the unique 1989 Otis Guy mountain bike, built with Suntour, which was displayed at the Braunstein-Quay Gallery ‘Art of the Mountain Bike’ showcase. The current owner, who is loaning this bike to the Pro’s Closet sent over the story of how he acquired this unique ride, so read on below for Eric‘s words and yes, the chain is out of alignment in the photos. John blames that on the bright sun… ;) Check out the full spread below!