The Radavist

Today I’m continuing my coverage of Steve Nishimoto, or Nish‘s artwork. Yesterday’s piece showcased his photography and today’s entry looks at some of the packaging that he’s done over the years, specifically for Chari & Co and Macaframa. It’s easy to look at a DVD or in this case, a coffee mug box and forget that someone designed every square inch of the space. Part of the beauty of composition is allowing the design to breathe and Steve executes that perfectly in the Chari mug box. A simple burnt logo in a wooden box is all you need here.

Check out more below!

Wow. Coffee, rando frames and now leather goods. Velo Cult is sure stepping up their game this year. In an effort to produce some quality American-made products, Sky and the crew got a local leather smith to make mudflaps, hub shiners and saddle / bar bags. The Velo Cult Eye of Providence logo is then branded onto the bags to give it that timeless style that everyone loves.

All I gotta say is I WANT ONE!

But what’s this “Velo Cult Custom Goods” thing? Does that mean there’s more on the way?

We’ve seen a few of Ben’s Columbus MAX bikes over the past few weeks. First up was his Mazza track and then his Peter Bundy triple triangle track made an appearance but his most kick-ass steed that I got to photograph was this Tommasini MAX road bike. Complete with outrageous paint and Campagnolo Titanium Record, you can’t go wrong with this bike.

Check out more photos below!

I’m pretty pumped to check this out at the NYC BFF! The Red Hook Crit keeps gaining momentum year after year and Racing Towards Red Hook aims to document this track bike criterium.

Check out the full press-release below!

Photos of Epicness by Andy White

Ok strike that last comment. You don’t need video or a camera crew to follow you on an epic ride, just mates. Andy from Fyxomatosis‘ work has always been an inspiration to me. I remember looking at his blog in the early days and thinking “one day, I’d love to do what he does”. Not that I intentionally went out and based my whole m.o. around that but you need inspiration in your life to make it meaningful.

Riding bikes is fun and that’s only amplified by riding bikes with friends. When I travel all over the world, I love meeting up with people and riding. Road, track, cross or fixed, it doesn’t matter to me. The time I’ve spent here in Melbourne with people has been some of the best moments that I can remember. Never would I have thought I’d be here right now and experiencing all of this. It brings tears to my eyes to think about it.

What Andy and Dan do here in Melbourne is so significant. It stems from a love and admiration of the bicycle. Both of those guys were doing it before bikes were cool and they do it because they have to. It’s an addiction, a fix and a love. Blogging and cycling is best when kept grassroots, maybe that’s what Andy meant by this post? I don’t know for sure. All I know is that I have had the time of my life here in Melbourne. It truly is the best city for cycling.

To everyone who has shown me around, presented me with their bikes, fed me, gave me coffee or whatever, THANK YOU. You’re the reason I do what I do: for the love.

Check out all of my coverage of Melbourne, even as it continues, right here in the tag search string and don’t worry, I’m still here for a few days!

I’m sitting on about 400 photos, so expect a few more posts. ;-)

Where do I start with this bike? It seems every bicycle I shoot photos of has a story attached to it. Not necessarily where the frame is from or what its history is but how the owner and I crossed paths. When I met up with @ah_blake for coffee last week, he told me that one of his friends has quite the collection of Columbus MAX bicycles. He then set me up with Ben, who works at Genovese coffee here in Melbourne and so yesterday, I rode up to see Ben and his Beautiful Bicycles. He brought three in with him to work so I’ll be showing you each, as well as giving you a tour of the roasters in the next few days.

Up first is this lovely Mazza MAX track bike. Cover your eyes, it’s a bright one!

After my road ride with Fyxo, I thought for sure it would be my most memorable experience down under. Monday was a national holiday here in Melbourne. Something to do with the queen, I dunno. When Andy and Dan’s original plan for a 3 day cross ride to the wilderness was thwarted by snow, we decided to do a one day cross ride. With Dan leading, we put our lives and our inner tubes in his hands as we set out from the CBD of Melbourne.

Check out nine more photos below!

Where do I begin with Mr. Andy White? For starters, he went to college in my home state of NC, lived in Canada, messengered in NYC, SF and now lives in Melbourne where he infects the world with Fyxomatosis. Over the years, my red bearded bretheren and I have hung out in the streets of Japan and over beer and burgers in NYC. Neither one of us ever thought I’d make it to Melbourne but alas, I’m here. Yesterday I chased Andy around on his lovely Llewellyn MAX roadie while he ran errands and got his coffee FYX.

Check out nine more photos below!

Man, I’ve only been in Melbourne for two days and already, I’m so stoked on this trip. Yesterday’s FGFS jam was awesome and today, I hung out with the Track Cunt himself, Andy from Fyxomatosis. While I sort out all the photos, I figured I’d give Andy a little love and say THANK YOU in the only way I know how: post a somewhat embarrassing photo of him.

Check back later for an A Day in 10 Photos entry! And thank you for the coffee, FYXO Jacket and errands dude!

Hot damn! What a day. After getting over severe jet lag, I woke up, built up my bike and headed to Saint Cloud in Melbourne to meet up with the local fixed freestyle dudes. About 12 guys showed up and we rode out to a spot just north of the city under the highway. It was a drainage ditch that spanned for miles and it had a couple of rad little cuts and hips you could hit. One of the riders I met today is Andy. He’s the guy who wins all the local comps. There’s one in every city…

Check out nine more photos below!

Rather than saving up a series of snapshots for A Day in 10 Photos entry, I’ll be dumping a bunch on my Flickr and posting a few select shots here. We woke up at 7am today and went out for coffee and brekkie only to find the streets completely empty.

Our bikes arrived late last night so I’ll be at Saint Cloud today at noon for the FGFS meet up.

Here’s the latest from Outlier‘s ever-growing line:

“Our goal at Outlier is to always design future classics, innovative products that we think will be as good in a decade as they are right now. With our new Slim Dungarees and Northeast Pivot Sleeve Shirts we think we’ve got two ready for you today.

The Slim Dungarees are a lean version of our Keirin Cut Dungarees. Don’t call them jeans. There’s no denim in here. No cotton to suck up sweat and rain and clam up your life for hours as it sort of dries. If Levi Strauss set out today to sell pants to gold miners, do you think he’d pick a fabric centuries old or would he do what he did 160 years ago and find the toughest, most durable and most comfortable cloth around? Made out of our Workcloth Doubleweave Canvas, the Slim Dungarees boast a rugged canvas exterior and soft brushed interior, making them as comfortable as they are durable. They shrug off light rain, coffee and beer yet breathe with ease. They look great covered in grime and paint yet clean up like nobody’s business. The tough, the comfortable and the good looking rolled up into one pant. “

Grab these pants here and the shirt here because they won’t last long!

I got to document a lot of Beautiful Bicycles while I was in SF last week and while I love shooting photos on the street, the DZR warehouse space made for a perfect backdrop to shoot my friend Billy’s Affinity Metropolitan track bike.

Check out more details below, including a bio on Billy and what his role is in the urban cycling industry!

Photo by Brenton Salo

Brenton Salo‘s photography is always on point and in between roasting coffee and putting birds on things, he gets out and rides with local rippers. Jeffy D is up at UBI getting his wrench knowledge on and Brenton headed out with him in the late-afternoon sun. Digging these photos. Check the rest out here.

Some people go to Portland to get birds or coffee. Tracko went to go fabric shopping. The end result are these Woolen Mills Caps. I’m guessing they’ll be too warm for Texas but I bought one anyway. One day it’ll be worth a bird or two. Also, Tracko re-upped his STTB buttons and Tracko stickers. Get on that!

Photo by Kyle Kelley

Kyle’s been hinting at this on Tracko for sometime but this is the first post that actually comes out and states that he’s working on a new shop in LA. From what he’s told me about the Golden Saddle Cyclery, it’ll be a coffee and bicycle lover’s dream shop. I’m stoked for him and all those involved. Keep that rubber side down man! Unless of course it’s a wheelie on a track bike.

Follow the GSC on Facebook for updates!

Photo by Omar Ogues

There used to be a lotta talk about bombing hills on Tracko. Now he’s either talking about coffee or expensive road wear. Which is why when he posted Omar’s photos from the 2011 Feel My Legs stage race, my interest was piqued. Bomb hills? How about climb hills! Here’s the break down:

“If you are unfamiliar, this is a stage ‘race’ on 10 of the hardest hills in Los Angeles. We ride as a group between hills and then each hill is its own race with points awarded for 1st through 5th. We re-group and ride together to the next hill. It’s based on Danny Chew’s Dirty Dozen. Most riders are out there just to accomplish all 10 hills in one day, which is no small feat. The write-up from 2010 has lots of info and links as does the Feel My Legs tab on my site. Please familiarize yourself with the event’s history to get an idea of how fun and challenging it is.”

Check out more information at True Love Health and peep the rest of Omar’s photos here.

Tree Bicycle Co is a small, two-person BMX component company out of Potosi, Missouri. Tree was born from the mind of Sam Schulte and is arguably most noted in fixed freestyle for their Lite splined sprocket. This became the saving grace for fixed freestyle riders, pushing the demand for their innovation into overdrive.

Eventually, when the business became too busy, Sam picked up Nathan to help him with the growing company. Yesterday I spent the afternoon with Sam and Nathan from Tree talking ‘industry’, the growth of their company and the future of fixed freestyle.

Check out more photos from my afternoon with Sam and Nathan from Tree Bicycle Co below!