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Unicorns and Sparkles and Rainbows: Finding Joy through Art, Ecology, and Bikes

Reportage By: Courtney Currier & Tobias Feltus

Unicorns and Sparkles and Rainbows: Finding Joy through Art, Ecology, and Bikes

While earning, or enduring, her Ph.D in Environmental Life Sciences, Courtney Currier began spending more time on the bike as a way to further connect to the places she was studying, and as a way to just spend time outside during the very inside days of the pandemic. In a very real sense, her time on the bike was inspiring and she began making art again. Building up and custom painting a unicorn fixed gear commuter brought everything full circle! Below, as she plans for what comes next in life post-Ph.D, Courtney reflects on bikes and joy, along with Tobias Feltus’ overview of the build process.

Sami’s Fading Megamo Track Full Suspension MTB

Reportage By: Sami Sauri

Sami’s Fading Megamo Track Full Suspension MTB

I remember this day like it was yesterday. I had a big meltdown, mentally I was not in the right place. I had spent all day at home and there was only a short amount of time that the government was allowing us to leave the house for sports activities in the afternoon.

It was the 4th of May 2020. I planned a route very meticulously as I wanted to get the best views of the sunset. So, I packed some of my bags and of course remembered a hip bag with my camera and a few lenses, got my MTB ready, checked it and put some oil on the chain, removed the front wheel so it would fit in the elevator, and opened the door to a new adventure…

Love Landshark Bicycles? Check out This Facebook Group

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Love Landshark Bicycles? Check out This Facebook Group

The work of John Slawta is a lifelong pursuit of not only creating wild paint jobs but of bicycle design and engineering. Landshark is one of the most iconic custom framebuilders and even though they have moved away from steel frames, the spirit is still out there. One of the great things about Facebook – yes, I just said that – is the way in which communities come together to show support for others and in this case, appreciation for the work of Landshark. This Facebook group is all about Landsharks and is well worth the click-through to see some truly unique and well-used bicycles.

Premier Bicycle Werks Painted Jordan’s OPEN U.P. RTP All Road

Reportage By: Jordan Haggard

Premier Bicycle Werks Painted Jordan’s OPEN U.P. RTP All Road

The way I ride road bikes has evolved with the way the bikes are being built. As I have moved away from pack racing over the past 10 years, I have desired more variety in my daily rides. Most of my rides involve sections of steep LA county fire roads or linking hilly neighborhood climbs together by zigging and zagging through hidden dirt paths.

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Ritchey’s Heritage Paint

This has been an option for a while now, but Ritchey finally made it official at NAHBS this year. Their Heritage Paint deal is simple: for any of their steel framesets, Rick Stefani of D&D cycles will paint it one of four classic paint schemes. This includes the Team RWB, Sunset Fade, Urban and Commando Camo. See all the details at Ritchey!

Taking on the #FlowShiv – Chris Riekert

Reportage By: John Watson

Taking on the #FlowShiv – Chris Riekert

Taking on the #FlowShiv
Photos and words by Chris Riekert

Here in the hallowed halls of the big red ‘S’; you know, the Death Star of the cycling world… you might be surprised to see there are some real people roaming around. Real people that are, first and foremost, big fans of bikes.

People like my buddy John Friedrich, the only man I know who would happily talk about the different weights of DOT brake fluid and what they offer to the rider, literally, until you’d choose water boarding over continuing the conversation… Or like our mechanic Patrick “Tree” Miller who seems like someone delivered to earth in one of those rescue pods shot through space as the planet Krypton went through nuclear collapse. Patrick is the NICEST most willing to help person I’ve ever met… and yes, he is a bicycle mechanic! How about that?

Pass the Torch with Vanilla Bicycles and Coat Paint Shop

Reportage By: John Watson

Pass the Torch with Vanilla Bicycles and Coat Paint Shop

Pass the Torch with Vanilla Bicycles and Coat Paint Shop
Photos by Jeff Curtes words by Sacha White

I’d be willing to bet that if you surveyed a handful of frame builders, asking them what one of the bigger challenges they face would be, their answer would be paint. At least with the builders I converse with frequently, paint seems to be their biggest inconsistent component in the equation. From late jobs, to increase in rates, for someone who is trying to deliver a product on time, paint can be the literal last straw.

Perhaps this is why so many builders are moving towards in-house paint. Or, I should say, smaller framebuilders are moving to in-house paint. A move that Vanilla Bicycles decided would be a key development in their operations early on. The world looks to Speedvagen and Vanilla for inspiration, that’s no secret, but in an attempt to delve a little deeper, I asked Vanilla’s Sacha White to share Coat Paint Shop’s history and future in a Pass the Torch feature here on the Radavist…

From the Paint Booths of Death Spray Custom and Garrett Chow

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From the Paint Booths of Death Spray Custom and Garrett Chow

From Beautiful Bicycle: Stanridge Speed x Death Spray Custom Highstreet Track

From Recent Roll: Garrett Chow and His FEA Specialized Venge

Social media has done a great deal for the cycling industry. One of which being a platform for people who are movers and shakers, who might have not had a readily-accessible forum before. The two parties involved with this post in particular have created some stellar work in their day and if anyone has the right to have their opinions heard, it’s them. I saw this on Garrett Chow’s Instagram and had to post it up:

“From the paint-booths of @deathspray and @garrett_chow:

Hey Cycling-Industry! With the trade-show season upon us, it’s our guess that a great many in your employ are feeling the annual, dread pall of humiliation and embarrassment with your ‘little problem’: Shit Colors and Graphics, and weak product-offering. That twinge of, “oh fuck, I donno know — just make everything black, red, or white”. And, the tiresome, nagging itch of, “put three stripes on it, and call it a day”, needn’t be suffered nor endured any longer. These ‘strategies’ never hide the fact that your bikes are inane, open-tooling, off-the-shelf death-traps, anyway. And, no amount of voice-conferences, consultants, or Power-Point presentations will ever change this, either.

Adding insult to injury, the small company two booths over, who invested 1/23rd the cost of your ‘clever’ marketing-budget on their talented, appreciated and fairly-compensated designer (and not a color-blind engineer moon-lighting as your ‘de-facto design team’–the one with an iMac and a dog-eared back-issue of IdN Magazine on his desk), is literally KILLING your 2014 line-plan with one hand tied behind its back. Your self-congratulatory back-slapping echoing throughout the exhibit-hall–like so many floundering, dying fish gasping their last breaths–belies the fact that the death of our beautiful industry is precisely where your pedestrian products are taking us.

So, here’s your escape plan for model year 2015: Please, put down the golf magazine just long enough to write an email to: info@deathspraycustom.com and, garrettchow@yahoo.com IT’S REALLY, /REALLY/ THAT EASY! We are here for you –and with love, D & GC”

As someone who also works freelance and constantly finds himself frustrated with the lack of creativity in cycling, I can commend these two…

Stanridge Speed x Death Spray Custom Highstreet Track

Reportage By: John Watson

Stanridge Speed x Death Spray Custom Highstreet Track

Like a true artist, each and every piece that leaves Death Spray Custom has a concept, or a story behind it. When you first see this Stanridge Speed Highstreet, however, you might just end up scratching your head. Even though the concept is crystal clear. Let me elaborate.

A few years ago, when Dan Chabanov first received his Highstreet to race at the Red Hook Crit, the initial reaction someone had to the frame was “that’s not steel”. All it took was a magnet to prove it was, in fact, steel. When I walked in the doors at King Kog hours later, the magnet was still on the seat tube. Adam from Stanridge told David at DSC and he went wild with it.

Simple enough right? That’s the beauty of true art. It’s simple. The execution though, must be flawless and this bike is just that. Flawless. Well, that was until it flew over the barricade at the Red Hook Crit Navy Yard!

This machine has seen its share of races, spills and thrills. It’s not a wall-hanger, it comes alive at the Red Hook Crit. If you’re going to be at the Red Hook Crit Milan or Barcelona, you’ll be able to catch this bike in person. If not, see more in the Gallery!

Shimano
Tern
Wolftooth
Argonaut
Brooks
State Bicycles
Paul
RiG'd Supply
Mission Workshop
Rivendell
SimWorks
Maxxis