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As part of Bikes or Death’s Dangerbird coverage, Patrick sat down with Cjell from Moné Bikes to chat about framebuilding, Silver City, and more! Give it a listen at Bikes or Death. Also, related to the Dangerbird is a new Monumental Loop Patreon, where you can support New Mexico bicycle touring and bikepacking by subscribing.
These days, it’s hard to set your bike brand apart from others within a specific niche but if there’s one thing Cjell has achieved with his brand, Moné Bikes, it’s just that. Moné frames are instantly recognizable with their large, bountiful brass beds of fillet brazing, unique tubing bends, intricate and ingenious singlespeed-friendly dropout designs, and yeah, rat rod aesthetics. Cjell and I have met before, albeit briefly, but at last weekend’s Dangerbird event, we got to spend a lot of time on the bike with each other, which helped me gain an even deeper appreciation for the brand, the bikes, and the man who designs and even builds some of them.
One of the things that caught my eye at this weekend’s NM Bikepacking Summit was Mike, the owner of Broken Spoke in Santa Fe’s custom-built O’Leary rack for his Karate Monkey. Mike really wanted a better way of carrying his essentials, rather than a bikepacking saddle pack. His goal for the rack was to have it be multi-purpose, both designed to carry traditional panniers or as a framework to strap Nalgene bottles to, while allowing for a bedroll or tent to be strapped to the rack’s platform. Depending on how you’re traveling, this opens up the use of a dropper post as well.
Mike went to O’Leary, a custom builder here in Santa Fe, to hash out the design and he whipped it up in a matter of hours. Minimal racks like this offer a simple solution to a very common problem and I thought the readership would be intrigued by this. Check out a few more photos below!
Last week, Dillen from Baphomet Bicycles compiled a list of everyone that bought a Ride Group bracelet and used a randomizer application to select one lucky person to be the new owner of that snazzy SSMTB. Well, Matt bought a single ticket and ended up winning the bike! Dillen was already coming to Matt’s house to stay for the NM Bikepacking Summit, so he hand-delivered the bike. After a quick ride, Matt decided he’d take the bike on the Dangerbird. That’s serendipity at its finest.
Thanks to Baphomet Bicycles and Ride Group for pulling this together. They raised over $9,000 for Ride Group! I’d like to thank everyone from The Radavist’s community who donated, including the makers who donated products for this bike: Paul Component, White Industries, Teravail, Revel, Buckhorn Bags, Farewell, and Doom Bars.
Expect some photos of this bike loaded down and dusty in our Dangerbird coverage tomorrow.
As a cargo connoisseur, I often get swept up in the details, the minutiae, and some might argue, the icing on the cake of bicycle travel. These little details can become centerpieces of a final touring package. While I’ll always carry a few extra Voile straps on a tour, there’s something nice about having cam buckles and nylon webbing for the bigger jobs. One of the things I love about touring is the constant need to strap more crap to your bike. Sometimes, it’s a frozen pizza at a gas station that catches your eye or your wet clothes from that swimming hole. Regardless, having these items securely fastened to your bike is important because no one likes a broken pizza box.
Having a few extra straps can go a long way and while there are dozens of options made in China out there, it’s nice when a small company takes it upon itself to make something as simple as a cam buckle in the USA. Austere Manufacturing first popped up in my Instagram feed earlier this summer. I’m not sure why these tan cam buckles caught my eye ;-) but I immediately bought two pairs; a 3/4″ cam and a 1″ cam with webbing. Since then, I’ve used them to carry everything from a fly rod to camp chairs around on my bike and can honestly say, these buckles are some of my favorite things to come from a small, cottage industry maker.
Let’s check them out in detail below.
When I first fell in love with bicycle touring, I used panniers, mounted on a front low-rider rack, on a mid-low trail bike. We used to ride from New York to Philly with similar kits in 2008 or so, actually using newly-released Revelate saddle packs in conjunction with traditional “touring” garb. In the following years, makers were starting to move towards more customized bicycle bags, leaning away from Berthoud, Ortlieb, and the mix of classic, timeless, and staple brands.
There are so many idiosyncratic ways to camp by bicycle and these days, I feel like the soul of bicycle touring, vis a vis Adventure Cycling’s Bikecentennial in the summer of ’76 and even the 1983 Pearl Pass tour (complete with MTBs equipped with racks and panniers), still exists and is cherished by many, myself included. Many brands have since picked up this torch to carry on similar vibes. Brands like Swift Industries, whose image feels as timeless as the Bikecentennial, began launching their first randonneuring and touring bags at the 2012 Philly Bike Expo where I had the pleasure to meet Jason and Martina.
Here in New Mexico, we’ve got a few bag makers, one of which is Buckhorn Bags that just released its own pannier design, in line with the tourers of yesteryear. Let’s wax poetic about some waxed canvas vibes below!
We took a look at Baphomet Bicycles earlier this year and in that post, we discussed the ideology surrounding the iconography of this unique framebuilding operation, nestled in the mountain town of Taos, New Mexico. If you haven’t read that piece, you really should check it out first.
Yesterday I caught up with Dillen from Baphomet Bicycles, as he came to town to ride the BFL, an event Sincere Cycles throws each year, offering a classic 55 mile loop with over 10,000′ elevation gain and a “B” loop with 38 miles and 6,400′ elevation. Both take you deep into the Sangre de Cristo mountains at the terminus of the mighty Rocky Mountains. Doing either singlespeed is quite the undertaking!
Dillen finished this build right before the event and drove in from Taos for the day. We pedaled together briefly and then his chain exploded about 10 miles into the ride, sending him back down to town. Later in the day, we caught up to shoot his new 29er hardtail, aptly named the “Left Hand Path”, so let’s check it out in detail below!
Episode 69? On 4.20? Three days before my 40th birthday? Why not? lol
A few weeks ago, Patrick from Bikes or Death swung through Santa Fe after hanging with Matt from the Monumental Loop in Las Cruces. We sat down in our new office here in town and chatted about the beginnings of the Radavist, photography, land acknowledgment, and other topics relevant to many of your interests. Patrick is a great guy and spending my Sunday afternoon with him was a real treat. As someone who tries to stay behind the scenes here as much as possible on the site, it’s a great insight into what makes me tick. Check out my ramblings in Episode 69 at Bikes or Death.
If you have questions or comments after the interview, drop them in the comments and I’ll answer them today.
Side note: we’re getting our second shots today! Woooohoooo!
