The Radavist

McGovern Cycles makes carbon bikes by hand in Nevada County, California. I don’t know why, but I can’t help think that a tequila sunrise was the inspiration for this John Slawta-painted McGovern Cycles road bike. That or a desert sunset.

Either way, this red, white and orange bike just popped out during NAHBS and I couldn’t wait to photograph it against the blacked-out background.

Alex from Portus Cycles was the late Ezra Caldwell’s biggest fan in Germany. After fighting cancer and documenting the process for six years before passing away in 2014, Ezra inspired many people, even today. For Alex, it became his inspiration and helped him through his own father’s battle with brain cancer. Ultimately, Alex’s father passed away, inspiring him to live life to the fullest and keep on keepin’ on with Portus Cycles. This bike is an homage to both Ezra and Aelx’s father.

Powered by the unique, made in Germany, Pinion gearbox, this hardtail was used in one of Germany’s 24-hour mountain bike race, Sleepless in the Saddle. If you’d like to know more, head over to Portus Cycles.

Eric Baar is a man of many talents. He can wield both welder and a paint brush to many forms of materials. At NAHBS this year, he brought his 2016 creation: the Steel Aluminum and Titanium track bike. You should be able to guess which part of the bike is which, but I’ll give you the information anyway. Eric made the rear triangle of this track from machined titanium, down to the track ends. This is then bolted to the aluminum front triangle, using cleverly located and designed hardware. From there, he left it up to a bladed steel track fork to complete the tryptic of materials.

The final touch was a series of one-touch paint experimentations, all of which Eric lays down by hand. Follow Ground Up’s work at their Facebook.

W.H. Bradford brought one of the most fun bikes at this year’s NAHBS. This Yeti homage has every detail worked out, from the classic looptail, to the flat top tube and even the fork, there’s not much Brad left out.

Pairing the Yeti turquoise frame with purple anodized Paul Components was the cherry on top.

We’ve seen this frame offering from Sim Works before, during the insane bicycle tour we got to partake in while in Japan with our friends from Circles. For NAHBS this year, Sim Works brought their Doppo touring bike, set up with 650b wheels, fenders, drop bars and their new Volummy tires. This bike looks great, painted in a matte olive drab, with custom Sim Works anodized green Paul components Klampers and skewers.

Arigatou gozaimasu, Sim Works!

Like the great old one Cthulhu, this Oddity mountain bike pulled me in with its ominous appearance. The tendril-like fork coming from the head tube looks like some alien beast reaching out to make you part of its low-carb diet. It drew me in. The titanium cockpit, post and fork were powder coated neon green to match the steel frame, angering the locals in Fort Collins, Colorado. Or so the owner of the bike said.

Then I noticed all the dicks painted on the bike. Dozens of them. Dozens of dicks. On a show bike. Then I loved the bike even more. Oddity, you’re one strange builder, but I think I love you.

If it were possible to craft a carbon road bike from molten lava, Calfee would be the ones to do it. This new Luna Pro is magma. It’s fire. The color pops so much, it burned the sensor in my camera. Joking aside, this might be one of the nicest Calfee road bikes I’ve seen at NAHBS. It’s bright while still being subtle in the details. For 2017, Calfee has updated the tubing on the Luna Pro, making it all the adjectives you want to hear when it comes to carbon fiber bike design.

Best of all, the Luna Pro is still marketed as the least expensive US-made carbon fiber road frame.

Oh, you like donuts? Do you like donuts a lot? Perhaps you have a stem cap or a bottle with a donut on it. In this world, there are people who are willing to commit to a donut on a t-shirt, and there are people who are so committed to donuts that they make their carbon fiber road bike one giant donut. This year at NAHBS, Appleman did just that.

How’s that for donut dedication?

Inspired by the BMW M Sport livery, this Breadwinner Lolo disc road bike has speed in its bloodline. As part of Breadwinner‘s limited edition runs, this bike will be offered with varying build kits and will go live next month. With these bikes, Breadwinner offers a limited edition paint job, with plenty of class and flash, all ready to roll for a quick turnaround.

White bikes really pop when shot like this and I gotta say, this one was my favorite of the day…

Each year when NAHBS rolls around, many builders use the opportunity to build themselves a new bike. This year was Curtis Inglis‘ time for a new hardtail. Over the years, Curtis has experimented with the Funduro model, altering the bottom bracket drop and angles ever-so-slightly to dial in what he feels like is the ultimate hardtail geometry. As a pretty tall dude, he decided to give the 29+ platform a spin, resulting in a bike with a large stance and aggressive geometry.

Over the past few days, Curtis has been riding this show bike and not exactly babying it. He’s got one of those new White Industries headsets on the bike, along with White hubs, cranks and a Paul stem, PIKE fork, XTR rear mech, with a Thomson dropper.

Looks like we figured out why the original post wasn’t displaying for you during our initial NAHBS coverage, so without further ado…

Let me give you a background real quick: Oh my oh my. I’ve never had the opportunity to photograph an English before, so when I saw this one sitting in the ENVE booth, I had to snatch it up while I could. Let me tell you, getting this bike to stay put while I was setting it up in my photo studio was nerve-wracking. This bike was so well balanced that I couldn’t get it to sit still.

Anyway, onto the bike. English‘s bikes are some of the most beautiful machines to grace the halls of NAHBS each year and this one is no exception. With a clean ombré paint job, flat mount disc rear end, ENVE wheels, SRAM RED eTap and an elegant internal routing port at the head tube, this bike turned heads and sparked conversations as I wheeled it back to my studio.

Bravo, English on making my absolute favorite road bike of the show so far!

The drive side photo, when composed correctly, can tell you a lot about a bike’s geometry. Head angle, wheelbase, chainstay length and other measurements or angles suddenly become apparent when observed at a flat, side profile. At a show like NAHBS, the various idiosyncrasies found in custom frame design can be overwhelming, especially as a photographer and a self-admitted bike geek. Each year, I like to look at the bikes documented in a Gallery… If you look closely, you’ll see some new models from No22 Bicycles that have yet to be posted.

To see all the entries, check out the 2016 NAHBS Category.

Bikepacking isn’t limited to mountain bikes and this W.H. Bradford has some tricks up its sleeves… For starters, there’s a Thomson dropper trigger under the SRAM shifter, extra bottle bosses on the Ruckus Composites-altered Whiskey fork and plenty of triangle space for that splinter camo Porcelain Rocket bag. With clearance for Bruce Gordon’s Rock N Road tires, this bike can go just about anywhere and when it’s time to stealth camp, it’ll blend right into the woods. Just don’t let that Profile Racing freehub spin or you’ll blow your cover.

420-friendly themes in cycling were abundant in the early years of mountain biking, yet I don’t recall ever seeing a bike actually become a pipe. Mars Cycles went there for NAHBS this year, making the Trailside Companion a functioning smoking device, carb and all. Personally, I think this is a brilliant use of a show bike…

Also, that spraypaint job is insane!