The Radavist

“One sees clearly only with the heart, anything essential is invisible to the eye.” This quote is from the novella the Little Prince and really resonated with Pat, the owner of this new Firefly disc road. What a fitting mantra for a bike that is designed to climb and descend mountain passes in Los Angeles by utilizing Shimano’s flat-mount disc brakes, White Industry 30mm spindle cranks, a beautiful segmented wishbone seatstay, a Parlee fork and supple Compass tires. Raw titanium bikes don’t usually do it for me, but this one sits like a dream.

Congrats to Pat and the team at Firefly for building up yet another Beautiful Bicycle for the mountains of Los Angeles!

Golden Saddle Rides: With a Cherubim on Top Track Bike
Photos by Kyle Kelley, words by John Watson

A gilded ride deserves a few balleur upgrades. This Cherubim track bike was picked up from Tokyo’s Sexon Super Peace, one of my favorite shops in Japan. I visited this storefront back in 2009 and regrettably, didn’t make it back on my last trip to Tokyo. At any rate, that shop is known for having an incredible stock of track bikes and coincidentally, that’s where this golden Cherubim came from.

When Jeremy, the owner brought the frame and parts over to Golden Saddle Cyclery for a pro build, everyone was drooling over not only the frame, but the parts as well, right down to the Toshi bar tape. Berthoud saddle, EAI gold cog, vintage Campagnolo hubs laced to H+Son TB14 rims make for practical, vintage-inspired build kit.

There are few bicycles that are as well balanced aesthetically as a track bike. Their simplicity makes for a pure form that is not only easy on the eyes, but a balanced and proportioned ride quality.

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If you want a custom build like this and live in Los Angeles, hit up Golden Saddle Cyclery.

I Got the Blues: a Bombus Bikes Blue Steel Tourer
Photos by Kyle Kelley words by John Watson

A simple search online for Bombus Bikes won’t turn up a whole lot of information. A video here, a random photo there, and a Yelp page with not a lot of information. Yet if you talk to people of Seattle, they know good and well about this small time framebuilding shop. Well, some of they do anyway. Throughout the year, we get lots of touring bikes coming through Los Angeles, specifically through the doors at GSC. Sometimes I’m around the document them and sometimes I’m not, leaving it up to Kyle to do so.

Is it still a work bike, if you don’t spend your work days riding it around delivering packages? What about riding to the bar? Or errands? Or even hitting some singletrack after work and finishing off a beer. Even a 32oz. The latest Golden Saddle Rides is a Mash Cinelli Work frame that has been powder coated clear red and built with around-town functionality in mind. Here in Los Angeles, even around town means you can ride some dirt on the way. Wide Answer bars, and Continental TravelContact tires should have given that away. While these framesets come with cantilever bosses, this build is set up brakeless with a fixed drivetrain. The front bosses were utlized however, to mount a Nitto rack, which holds a Wald basket and one of those nifty Monkey Wrench Cycles bags.

The Arundel Looney Bins are great and make for interesting prop placement in this photoshoot…

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If you want a custom build like this and live in Los Angeles, hit up Golden Saddle Cyclery.

After owning a tri bike for years, Jesse finally decided to treat herself to a new road bike. It’d been a while since she had made a new bike purchase and after a lot of internet research, she decided on an Argonaut.

The frame selection, like the parts, came only after a lot of thought. Jesse went with Shimano Di2 hydro to make braking easier on long descents or steep canyon roads, King R45 Disc hubs laced to the super solid H+Son Archetype rims ensure her wheels will be solid and new 3T components offer a sleek look to this beautiful bicycle.

Since Argonaut is doing paint in house now, they can do just about anything you’d want, yet Jesse decided on a few color hits in the inside of the stays and fork leg. Since Golden Saddle is an Argonaut dealer, they made everything painless, from the ordering process to the final build.

Yes, bikes like this are easy to nerd out on, but even easier to ride. Oh and they’re terrifying to photograph on a windy day!

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If you want a custom build like this and live in Los Angeles, hit up Golden Saddle Cyclery.

Returning customers are a true testament to a brand’s quality. A few years back, Tod ordered a Cielo Cross Classic frame through Golden Saddle Cyclery and had the guys build it up to act as an inner-city singletrack machine and commuter. He went with Ultegra, a SON hub, an S3 lamp and Paul Mini Moto brakes. In the time that’s passed, Tod’s put a good amount of beausage on this bike, showing first hand how much he’s been riding it. When the time came for him to order a road bike, he looked at the Cielo Sportif, a classic road bike with clearance for bigger tires. Again, he chose Ultegra and Chris King for the components, with Velo Orange Gran Cru brakes and those nice n plump Compass 32mm Stampede Pass tires.

Photographing two bikes like this, one new and one that has been loved and ridden for years is a special occasion for me. Especially when you can flip between the two drive-side photos. I can’t wait to see how Tod’s Sportif looks after a few years of use!

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If you want a custom build like this and live in Los Angeles, hit up Golden Saddle Cyclery.

It should come as no surprise that this is the third SOMA Wolverine to roll out of Golden Saddle Cyclery and onto this website. These bikes are a great value, extremely versatile and they look damn good, especially in the murdered-out matte black option.

Matt has wanted to build a 27.5″ dirt tourer for exploring the fire and frontage roads in the Angeles National Forest for some time now. The Wolverine fit the bill, with massive clearances, rack mounts and an affordable pricepoint. He pulled the trigger and began ordering components through GSC, including a SON hub, Velocity Blunt SS wheels, Maxxis Crossmark tires, E3 lamp, a JANDD bar bag, Haulin Colin rack, PAUL Klampers, Thomson bits, Cowchipper bars and a Sram 1x drivetrain.

This beast is more than capable to climb the steep and loose roads in the local mountains and rip like a rocket back down. Earlier this week, I took Matt up on my favorite morning ride to shoot this bike in action. Enjoy!

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Visit Golden Saddle Cyclery in Silverlake, Los Angeles and follow them on Instagram.

Man, what a weekend in Los Angeles. Our friends at Sim Works drove down from Portland to open a pop-up shop at Golden Saddle Cyclery, which became the catalyst for group rides, hangouts and a Sunday brunch, provided by Mick of 100 Tacos. I hung around, camera in tow to document it all, from sun up to sun down, all along Sunset Avenue…

Many thanks to everyone who came out!

Jordan Hufnagel is one of my favorite framebuilders. Or I should say, was one my favorites. After he decided to lay down the torch, he and close friend James Crowe began West America. Together they rode motorcycles to Patagonia and documented the whole journey with 35mm film. Upon returning after a year on the road, the two began fabricating everything from more motos to furniture and eventually, Jordan began his own metal working business. Sometime prior to taking off for Patagonia, Jordan made this frame for Kyle of Golden Saddle Cyclery. Now, I don’t know if the frame was made to specifically pair with this Death Spray Custom fork that Kyle has had hanging on the shop wall, or if it was the plan all along, but soon enough, the two were mated and awaited parts.

Fast forward for literally two years and Kyle was ready to build the bike up, as a result of his Mudfoot Stinner getting side-swiped by a car. Kyle poached some parts and built it up, ready to rip the trails in Los Angeles and up until his Red, White and Blue Stinner 27.5 ‘cross bike, it’d been his go to bike for dirt riding. With a prototype 44RN ‘cross ring, SRAM Force 1x, Paul Minimotos, Chris King and ENVE bits, it’s a pretty tricked out build, but the last piece of the puzzle just landed from Japan.

Sim Works‘ Pop Up at Golden Saddle Cyclery this weekend will have literally everything from the brand’s catalog in stock and in person, including these Homage tires in Michelin green. Made by Panaracer, these tires measure 43mm on a rim like the H+Son Archtypes and even wider on a more modern carbon disc rim. They set up easily tubeless, on a tubeless rim and with the center file tread pattern, roll fast on pavement with the side knobs adding extra traction on loose corners. They are available in 650b or 700 diameters.

This bike has had a long life in the build racks at Golden Saddle Cyclery but in its short time being built up, has lived a pretty exciting life, as evident by the dirty fork crown.

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Visit Golden Saddle Cyclery in Silverlake, Los Angeles and follow them on Instagram.