The Radavist

Photo by Anthony Saffery

This Merckx Mondays post was submitted by Anthony Saffery as part of a Reader’s Rides feature but I had to use it today! You might recognize this frame from a post a few weeks ago. Well, Anthony did an awesome job on the build and sent me over some photos.

Check out more Merckx Mondays below!

Today I pulled a prank on my readers. Not only did I fib about my bike getting stolen, but I carried a cynical tone in all my posts. While it’s true that Macaframa uses a lot of time-lapse, I still thoroughly enjoy their videos. Did you see JSN get thrown out of the party at the end? Good stuff. I’m also super pumped for Cardiel. His online shop looks pretty bad ass and of course I still get worked up over sexy track frames. NJS or not. Go support Cardiel and Break Free Customs. Milltag‘s jerseys are awesome. Some of my favorites in the industry and these new ones are a great way to show your GB pride.

Come on now, of course the Rapha rope is a joke. But I’m glad some of you guys picked up on the awesome copy they created to promote it. And I wish I had a spare Hasselblad lens. Don’t worry, there are more legit Reader’s Rides coming up.

Yes, my Merckx is fine and yes, it was a mean prank but thanks to everyone who came to my assistance and posted about it. Hey, at least it wasn’t as cruel as last year’s 26″ fixed prank I pulled!

Photo by Pekka Pönkänen

Yeah yeah yeah. I know, we already saw a Reader’s Rides post today but I couldn’t pass up these photos Niko sent me. He can’t help if he got them in a little late, he lives in Finland. The current temperature there is around -13°F. Wow. Niko’s probably not riding much these days but at least he’s got Finland’s only fixed gear forum Yksivaihde.net to keep him entertained!

Check out some more photos of Nike’s Cannondale track below!

Thomas, the man behind that black metal Viking logo and that killer GT track bike has a new poster out. From the looks of the bike, I’d say this is a self-portrait! If you want one of these, he’s more than willing to ship worldwide, just contact him via his email listed here!

Photo by Eric Baumann

Last week when I put up the Reader’s Rides entry, Bryan from Royal H. Cycles posted this gorgeous cross bike photos to his blog. Since I couldn’t figure out how to get the images off the funky slideshow he had set up, he hit me off with Eric Baumann‘s photos. Man, what a great bike for this week’s weather. It seems like almost all of the country is under a white layer of powdery snow. I bet everyone’s wishing they had a nice snow machine like this!

Check out more photos below!

For the Fall 2010 D.A.R.T. look book, Mishka reached out to Takuya Sakamoto to shoot photos of some of the D.A.R.T. riders while they rode around on a Sunday afternoon. This season, D.A.R.T. revamped a few of their classic silhouttes and introduced new ones. Along with new tees, the entire collection is available to readers of this blog at a discounted rate.

Check out the rest of the look book and find out what the discount code is below.

I get so many emails from readers and from now on, when I get a re-occurring question, I’m going to address it in a post. In recent weeks, I must have answered this one question countless times:

“What’s a good beginner sfixed freestyle bike? I need a bike that can take a little bit of tricking and not break the bank.”

To which I’ve replied, each time to check out the Gran Royale Lurker, pictured above…

and the Subrosa Malum (pictured here) for complete street fixed builds under $600. If you’re looking to spend a little more, there’s also the Bens Cycle Bruiser economy builds for $900. All three offer super solid rides and can handle beginner-tricking. There’s no sense in dropping over a grand on a bike designed to withstand BMX tricks unless you’re sure that’s what you want. I always recommend people try something out first before investing a ton of money. For the longest time, my bike of choice for beginners was the Surly Steamroller. Now, with unicrown forks more common, it makes more sense to go with one of the three aforementioned builds.

Edit: A reader brought to my attention the Redline Urbis as another bike in the under $600 pricepoint. Solid build for sure. Disk-brake front too. Can you think of other options? Send them my way!

Hopefully this answers a few questions. Got something else you’d like to ask me? Feel free to email me!

Previously:
Gran Royale Lurker
Subrosa Fixed?

If you’ve been reading this blog long enough, you’ll notice that I don’t really post a lot of “hot girls on bikes” here. It’s mostly because a lot of the bikes aren’t really my thing and I don’t want to alienate any female readers. I’m not trying to be preachy, but there’s a tastefulness that needs to go into shooting bicycles and when women are involved, I like that same tastefulness to apply. I’m not the only one who feels that way either!

Andy at Fyxomatosis just finds that delicate line and time after time, he delivers. You remember Daisy right? How could you forget her and the bike she modeled on? Knowing the popularity of Daisy and the rarity of Chargers in Oz, he put up a nice homage to the quirky mimicry that happens in the land down under. Check it out! Oh and if you like photos like this, you’ll be able to buy prints at Shifter Bikes soon enough!

Previously:
Daisy Duke Rides Again
Daisy Duke