The Radavist

I’m always stoked to see more domestically-produced bike frames popping up, especially in aluminum. VYNL Bikes are a relatively new company out of San Jose, California offering road “racing” frames for $1900 with a standard powdercoat and a wait time of a week, or you can go custom colors and tack on a few more weeks. While there’s no information where exactly they’re made or who is making them, with the number of sub-contracting frame building companies around, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s frame building pedigree producing them. Expect the same large-diameter tubing you’ve come to love from US-made aluminum frames. If you’d like to see them in person, head over to Sugar Cycles in Missouri City, Texas or Red Lantern Cycles in Menlo Park, California.

Check out more at VYNL Bikes.

Velo Orange’s newest frames really have it all figured out and the Pass Hunter disc framesets are no exception. Disc brakes, braze-ons, clearances, all with a classy 1 1/8″ threadless steel fork. Head over to Velo Orange to see more details and ordering.

Long-travel hard tails, especially when coupled with a dropper can be super fun. Add in clearances for a 2.4″ tire and suddenly you’ve got a very capable steel frame from a company that knows a thing or two about steel. The Ritchey Timberwolf has piqued my interest and I can’t wait to try one of these bad boys out…

Check out more at Ritchey!

This past weekend brought about a ten year anniversary for Mash and to commemorate this event, Garrett Chow’s newly-designed 10 Year Parallax Frame went up for pre-order. Inspired by “X”, the Roman Numeral for ten, this intricately detailed paint job is made from thousands of intersecting and overlapping lines in three dimensions. It’s by far the most complex paint design I’ve seen on a production frame.

Head over to Mash to read more and pre-order a 10 Year Parallax Frame.

Factory Five’s latest addition to their track bike line is the Stream, a performance minded machine made from 6061 aluminum and shaped to their custom specifications. The Stream comes in four colors and three sizes. Head over to Factory Five to see pricing and availability.

The Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park becomes the backdrop for an American cycling. Andy Hampsten won the 1988 Giro and these two new frames represent that legacy. The Maglia Rosa comes in either a Superissimo steel frame or an il Carbonario carbon frame.

Great video, guys!

Niner now offers their Ros 9+ as a frame and fork, allowing you to build yours as you see fit. There’s been a lot of buzz around this frame and after spending a lot of time around one in Los Angeles over the past few weeks, I gotta say that I’m impressed. It looks great and comes from a company like Niner that knows a thing or two about making highly shredable 29rs…

Check out specs for the Ros 9+ frameset at Niner Bikes.

Photos by Jan Krofta

The Festka ONE epitomizes performance and technology. With all this “savoir-faire”, Festka has two top of the line carbon frames: ONE RS (Racing Sport) and ONE LT (Light). For Michael Moureček, the founder of Festka, when it came to making himself a bike he chose to go with the lighter option. Michael’s ONE LT Dazzle weighs 5.71kg as a complete bike and 820g as a painted frame.

Michael chose to paint his bike with the acclaimed design of Festka, inspired by warships and perfected over time: Razzle Dazzle camouflage. This is the third generation of Festka’s dazzle and quite possibly their most balleur bike yet. Check out more photos and the full build kit break-down below.

Originally founded in the early 1970’s by Stelio Belletti, the brand Stelbel has just risen from the dead with some exceptionally-designed frames. Stelbel brings their expertise of tig welding to offer everything from a modern road, to a track (don’t miss those track ends!) and cyclocross frame but that’s not all, there’s much more to see at Stelbel.

Twin Six’s affordable “do anything” frameset, the Standard Rando is now in stock at their site in gloss black or green. These frames tout a comfortable, yet non-sluggish wheelbase, a 45mm offset and come in sizing from 51cm to 59cm. Build them up as a cyclocross bike, or a light tourer / commuter with fenders and take your pick of 2x or 1x cable bosses.

Personally, I’m impressed with Twin Six’s bike lineup and for anyone looking for a $600 frame, the Standard Rando is a contender. Head over to see more information.

SOMA’s Juice 29er and B-Side 27.5 hardtail MTBs are now compatible with a Gates belt drive system, thanks to split Tange Sliding Dropouts. You can now choose to build them singlespeed or with Rohloff hub. For this run, they kept the same colors and adopted the Tange split dropout, but future 2015 models will utilize a split stay. As far as current stock, the only other change was incorporating a drive side chain stay yoke to ensure the frames will fit 2.4″ tires and the thick Gates front cog.

If you’re looking for a versatile, steel hard tail, these two bikes are great options. Check out more details at SOMA and holler at your local shop for ordering. You could even set it up as a mean dirt-dropper. Check out Golden Saddle’s latest Wolverine for inspiration!

London’s Kinoko Cycles has just received a couple of easy-on-the-eyes Nagasawa track frames in various colours (that’s British for “colors”) for your consumption. Now, whether you want to just look, or buy one, that’s up to you. Either way, check out more at Kinoko.

For 2015, Moots introduces a rather interesting model to their extensive lineup. The Moots Routt is made for expedition-style, ultra-lightweight bikepacking and backcountry touring. With disc brakes, 450mm chainstays and a nice bottom-bracket drop, this bike will sail with ease down fire and frontage roads and rip up singletrack. With clearance for up to a 44mm tire, it’ll take whatever you throw at it on trail and tarmac.

Since the Routt is titanium, it’s bound to offer a smoother ride than other materials and since it’s a Moots, it’s backed by their lifetime warranty. Made in Colorado where they know a thing or two about the wilderness.

See more at Moots and head to your local dealer for ordering.

It’s not everyday that you come across a handmade, Italian, carbon fiber track frame. By today’s internet offerings, the pricepoint is anything but cheap, but see above descriptors for rationale and see more at Cueva.

Colossi Cycling, is located in Shenzhen, China where Jan Cole has been building frames since 2005. Everything from custom, to production and even frames from some of your favorite companies, Colossi is well-versed in the practice of frame building.

Now distributed by Sommerville Sports in the US, soon select frames will be available for ordering direct through Colossi US. Head over to the Colossi US frame shop to see these models.

Just as at home in the snow as it is on a dry and hot summer’s day, Twin Six’s new Standard Fat MTB is one fatbike not to be overlooked. Available as a frameset ($2000) or a SRAM X1 build kit (starting at $3,200), these bikes have options for through-axle, or quick release and cable guides for 1x or 2x systems. With a 70.5º head tube angle and full titanium tubing, the Standard Fat is make for shredding and slogging…

In stock now at Twin Six.