The Radavist

Today we’re pleased to showcase a build from our friend Martin at Second Spin Cycles. Martin works on restoring old mountain, road, and yes, track bikes for his clients by speccing the period-correct components and more.

Grove Gathering: Rody’s Groovy Grove Innovations Hardcore
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk

We’ve all been there, the one bike we always wished we never had gotten rid of.  The one bike that transported us to a place of freedom, or perhaps the bike that got us stoked on bikes, this is that bike. After 12 years without his trusty bike, Rody, of Groovy Cycleworks decided to try and find this hardcore, which he sold a long time ago.  

With a flyer in hand, his local bike shops help, and some perfectly aligned stars he was able to find the bike, rebuild it, the owner even had the original HardCore fork and Hammerhead stem. I doubt Rody will ever make the mistake of getting rid of this bike again.

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Grove Gathering: Grove Innovations Assault Team Bike
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk

This assault was one of the first 10 assaults to roll out of production in Grove’s Pennsylvania factory and was ridden as a team race bike in the early 90s.  I can’t imagine if I were in attendance back then, my mind would’ve melted as a ten-year-old.  Just look at it! Fade, check, splatter, check, crackle, WHAT? This Grove has one of the wildest paint jobs I’ve seen on a bike. Sadly I’m told that this paint can’t be replicated because the chemicals don’t exist any longer.

Not only did Grove make frames, forks, stems, and handlebars, but perhaps the coolest of all of the Grove parts is the Hotrod cranks.  At the time square taper was everywhere, but Bill Grove and his team looked to military applications and came up with an asymmetrical polygon, very similar looking to the interface that E13 uses in their cranks today some 25 years later.  They thought if tanks used this design it should be strong enough for a bicycle application. These two-piece cranks used a row of four bearings (two per side) and some seals to keep the weather at bay. Aside from the cranks, this build features some pretty standard parts for a grove of the time, including the Hammerhead bar/stem, and some Shimano XT parts.

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Follow Jarrod on Instagram and Second Spin on Instagram and Freeze Thaw Cycles on Instagram

Grove Gathering: Grove Innovations Prototype Hardcore
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk

Earlier this year, Martin from Second Spin and Justin from Freeze Thaw Cycles schemed about an event that would let them share their mutual love for Grove Innovations and get together some Grove owners for a ride and party or shred-n-show if you will, that event was the first Grove Innovations Gathering.

Grove Innovations might not be a household name if you live outside of Pennsylvania, but Bill Grove and his team were innovators that tried some new things that many others wouldn’t dare for the sake of creating a bombproof bike. The oversized  2″ 4130 downtube and straight blade fork made for an extremely precise steering bike with a stiff bottom bracket junction that allowed the pilot to put power into the ground and control it over all types of terrain.  The hardcore, at its inception, was an east coast bike if there ever were one, playful, rugged and capable of hucking off a loading dock as well as ripping over log-laden single track.  With a 13.5″ bottom bracket, and integrated bash guard that even protected all 44 teeth on the big ring, the hardcore could make short work of the rugged rocky terrain of which this bike was born. Most of the builds done on groves of this vintage ran durable parts in favor of early 90s anodized bling. Each frameset came with a set of Hammerhead bars as well, and bottle cages painted to match, albeit this proto isn’t running the latter.  Proof of the concept in durability is that this prototype is still being ridden nearly 30 years later.

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Follow Jarrod on Instagram and Second Spin on Instagram and Freeze Thaw Cycles on Instagram