The Radavist

Golden Saddle Rides: Jack Brown-Equipped ANT Townie
Photos and words by Kyle Kelley

This is what happens when you have the Jack Brown Blues…

These particular tires were bought by one of our customers for the Dirty Hundo earlier in the year. After the ride this customer decided he would never ride a bicycle on the dirt again. He sold his Cyclocross bike, but couldn’t let go of these magnificent tires. Next thing you know, he’s bought this ANT just to have a bicycle to put the tires on…

Golden Saddle Rides: DIRT Research Cross Bike – R.I.P Tom Teesdale
Photos and words by Kyle Kelley

This bike is rare, probably one of the rarest bikes to ever grace Golden Saddle Cyclery. It’s owner is one of our favorite customers to work with(a true lover of vintage mountain bikes), because of him we build some of the coolest bikes on the planet and this one is no exception.

This is 1 of 3 DIRT Research cyclocross bikes, these three bikes were built by the late Tom Teesdale, and when this frame/fork was brought to us it was NOS.

The pictures tell the story of the build, so I don’t need to talk about that really. The bike is a very period correct, fire-road crushing machine. But what really matters, is who it was built by. Mr. Teesdale was the ghost writer for a whole generation of American made mountain bikes. Tom recently passed away while doing the thing he loved, riding bikes.

T.E.T you’ll be missed.

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Follow Kyle on Instagram and visit Golden Saddle Cyclery in Silverlake, Los Angeles.

The last time I was in Los Angeles, I had one thing on my mind: doing some road riding in the Angeles National Forest. Usually, I’m in LA on my cross bike and we will spend our afternoons poaching trails, escaping to the dirt or bombing fire roads. All of which are wayyy more fun than a road ride, ATMO, anyway.

Still, there’s nothing like a somber ride up the 2 to Newcomb’s Ranch for a burger, a beer and some fries, only to rip back down to town, sated.

Unfortunately for the group that morning, Newcomb’s was closed and I think I was the only one who really ate anything at all that morning. Check out some selects from a Recent Roll. Man, that was a long time coming!

We totaled 80 miles and around 8,000′ and damn, Oinksters was good!

Tools of the trade:
Yashica T4
Kodak Portra 400

I’ll admit, this bike should have been shot with a Kleen Kanteen, not a Purist, but Kyle doesn’t like rules, at all, so it’s fine.

This MB-1 came into Golden Saddle Cyclery around the time Kyle sold his Saluki, regrettably. We’ve all been there before, you’re in a bind and you’ve gotta part ways with one bike to make ends meet, but luckily for Kyle, he kept in alignment with Grant Petersen‘s ideologies.

Bridgestone’s MB-1 hit at a unique time in mountain biking. Dirt drops were in and rigid was the (only) way. For Kyle, this bike became his around-town singlespeed, opting for White Industries components and Nitto’s Bullmoose bars. Topped off with Rubena Cityhopper tires.

Yonder Journal‘s Brovets have both broken me and proved to be an ideal testing ground for products. Long, 200-400k rides will take their toll on equipment, especially when there’s dirt involved.

Ty is part-owner of Golden Saddle Cyclery, a shop in Los Angeles that was the starting point for Yonder’s Brovet 01. Back then, Raleigh didn’t have any real all-road options, but promised something ideal was on the way.

In 2014, Raleigh released the Tamland 2.0, an all-Reynolds 631 steel, disc-equipped “all-road” bike that comes stock with Shimano Ultegra. These bikes offer a burly, yet lively ride, loaded or unloaded.

When the road gets rough for long miles, Ty opted for the Ergon CF3 Pro Carbon seatpost to dampen the ride a bit and Bruce Gordon Rock n Road tires.

For the past few Brovets, Ty, Cole, Kelli, Daniel, Hahn and Moi all rode the Tamland 2.0 with a front SON Edelux upgrade. I like photographing bikes like this, because they show how a super simple upgrade can add a new level of functionality to a stock bike.

Orange and red are two colors that often clash, but sometimes they work. Case in point, Patrick’s LOW track bike. If this one looks familiar, it’s because Kyle shot photos of it at the black top in LA a few months back.

To Patrick, this bike is the result of intense financial planning. It took him almost a year to save up for this bike, but the end result is one of his favorite moments of the day. As he describes, when he hops on the bike “it rides like a razor blade of butter.” Super stiff, but smooth…

Campagnolo Record drivetrain, H+Son rims, Thomson and Chris King. This bike is laced with top of the line, yet durable components and it adds a bit of subtlety to the flashy paint job. As I was photographing this bike, a pedestrian walked by and said “damnnnn that’s like a Testarossa!”

I love Andrew Low’s bikes, they’re a testament that made in the USA aluminum track bikes will always have a place in the world, whether the street or the track. Enjoy the ride, Patrick!

Photos and words by Kyle Kelley

In many cases, I’m not a huge fan when someone swaps parts from a chromoly bicycle to an aluminum one, but in this case I was a-ok with it. This particular customer went from a frame sourced in China to this delicious Low, locally sourced and homegrown right here in California!

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Follow Kyle on Instagram and visit Golden Saddle Cyclery in Silverlake, Los Angeles.

Photos by Kyle Kelley

After passing away a few weeks back, Ezra Caldwell‘s work keeps popping up all over, miles away from his home studio in New York City. In fact, this bike was first built up by Golden Saddle Cyclery years back for Sean, a loyal customer living in Santa Barbara.

A singlespeed commuter is really all most people need. 650b tires provide a smooth ride and for medium sized frames, they look well-balanced proportionately. Exra had a way of proclaiming his approach with frame design by not really saying anything. While this bike may seem very straight-forward, the details in the metalwork are what first caught my eye.

The chainguard is attached by two 5mm bolts that actually pass through the down and seat tubes. Then the guard itself is incredibly elegant, especially when matched with the White Industries ENO cranks.

Stainless lugs and raw steel tubes make up the frame’s materials, with a good amount of patina forming on the steel. It must be the salt in the air. Santa Barbara is coastal, you know. The rear rack is custom, with wooden planks, which even out the overall build, especially when compared to Ezra’s signature wooden handlebars.

In a lot of ways, this bike is void of ostentation, yet meticulously detailed. Something that seemed to spill over from Ezra’s personality onto everything he touched.

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Follow Kyle on Instagram and visit Golden Saddle Cyclery in Silverlake, Los Angeles.

Team Dream Extreme Volume 01: The Backboner
Photos and Words by Sean Talkington

Lyle from Acre recently moved to LA from SF and has been talking about “secret trails” near my home in Topanga for some time now.  He kept saying that they were easily the best thing he had ridden in our area.  I had skeptically tried to find the “secret trail-head” to the “secret trail” multiple times and always ended up lost.  A few months ago I thought I had found said trail, so two buddies came with to rejoice in the new super secret discovery, only to end up trailblazing for 2 hours & schlepping bikes over loads of rock faces.  I was bummed, my friends were bummed and I began to secretly hate these secret trails.

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If you’ve ever ridden with Eric Brunt aka Skullcrusher then you’re well aware of this dude’s strength on a bicycle. A recent transplant to Los Angeles, Eric spends his weekends doing insane rides (like going up Cloudburst, TWICE in one day) and soaking in the San Gabriel mountains.

The last time I was visiting Los Angeles, I shot some photos of Eric at GSC, working on his Ibis cross bike. Check out a ride along interview below!