The Radavist

“Step right up, come see the latest from Cielo / Chris King – this bike has it all: tapered head tube, ENVE wheels, Chris King e’rywhere, PF30 BB, Ultegra Di2, grippy, fast tires and even the latest in chartreuse technology.”

Kyle from Chris King is always peddling the latest from Cielo and Chris King. With good reason too. Made in the same facilities as their brightly-colored, or murdered out Sotte Voce headsets, these bikes bear the same precision as the rest of the Chris King line.

The newest model in their road line, the Ultegra Di2 Road Racer is a full-on production model – meaning from the time you place your order, till it arrives at your front door, you’re looking at 60 days. Maybe 61. But still.

One reason I’m so stoked on these bikes is that any Chris King dealer can carry the frames. That means – nudge, nudge – any shop employee with a Chris King account can order one. Retail price is $2,495 for the frame, fork, I8 headset and add $300 for the matching stem. Cielo’s Road Racer frameset is also available as a standard “cabled” option. Remember, there are always Stem options too…

This bike in particular came in around 16 lbs. It might be less than that, but I don’t want Kyle wacking my knuckles with a straight edge if I’m wrong… See more of this chartreuse beauty in the Gallery! I took extra time with this one…

My friends in Los Angeles have pretty exceptional talents and taste. Speaking of the latter, Mr. Sean Talkington took advantage of Cielo’s industry pricing at Interbike and put down a deposit on one of their snazzy Cross Racer models. Sean’s new to cross bikes but he couldn’t pass up the deal! After a few months of waiting, his bike showed up and the capable hands at Golden Saddle Cyclery built it up for him.

Sean also works at Golden Saddle part time and is hoping that more customers will look to Cielo for an option when it comes to a MTB, road, touring or cross bike. Since he promotes made in the USA products through Team Dream, he felt like it was time to support US frame builders like Cielo.

Back to this build: You can have a completely dialed bike, but even underneath all that Chris King and SRAM components, bad photos will never do a good bike justice. Luckily for Sean, he’s good friends with Jesse Carmody, an exceptional photographer. Man, Sean really is living the Team Dream Team Dream.

As the sun was setting, these two went out into the woods and the result is in the Gallery!

Each year, I love watching people’s faces as they enter the Chris King compound and although the metaphor “like a kid in a candy shop” is somewhat dated, it’s application here is quite fitting. I can’t even walk into their booth without picking up at least a headset (purple!). This year at NAHBS, the Portland based frame builders and component manufacturers brought all kinds of eye candy. My favorite project bike was the champagne and purple Sportif Racer but people were tapping the top tubes and squeezing the brakes of the Cross Racer and Overlander (which I totally didn’t get a good photo of).

At this point, you’re probably not even reading the copy anymore, so check out the gallery for more goodness!