The Radavist

Straight from the horse’s mouth:

“Because of our shared obsession with bikes, beer, and American manufacturing and innovation, we’ve begun a collaboration guaranteed to grab the eyeballs of every attendee at this year’s Sea Otter Classic (the biggest US bicycle event of the year). Our vision is a frame manufactured and custom painted here in Northern California by Squid Bikes, covered in Sierra Nevada Logos, then outfitted with glistening parts machined by us right here in Chico, that have been anodized a beautiful, sparkling, Pale Ale Green.

   This bike re-ignites most people’s first sensations of bike lust as a kid, with shiny colorful anodized parts, wild paint, and classic chrome, on a style of bike that probably gave you your first childhood experience with adrenalin (and a scrape on the knee): a BMX bike. Bumped up in size to fit adults who are bored with fancy road bikes and in need of a good excuse for bringing a 4th bike into the garage, this bike is stripped down to the bare essentials of fun, a bike that was indeed conceived while brainstorming the most fun way to go on a beer run.

Frame: Squid Bikes Made in California

Hubs, Seatpost, Stem, Brake, Blake Lever: PAUL Component Engineering Made in Chico, California

Cranks, Freewheel, Headset, Chainring, Bottom Bracket: White Industries Made in California

Rims: Velocity Made in the USA

Debut: Sea Otter Classic April 19-22 2018″

As noted last year, we lost our 2015 Image bucket do a server swap error. It was a huge bummer when I found this out and have been slowing re-uploading the files. Since NAHBS is right around the corner, I wanted to re-up a few from my favorite frame builders and makers. Included in this re-up are:
An Afternoon with Paul Component in Chico
Inside / Out at the Vanilla Workshop
Inside / Out at Black Cat Bicycles
Todd’s Black Cat Steel and Carbon Road Has 8 Lives Left
Inside / Out at Hunter Cycles
Watch out for the Hunter Cycles Bushmaster!
Inside / Out at Strawfoot Handmade

This bike was one of my favorite shoots last year and now Travis gives you a look at it in the latest video from Paul Component Engineering. Did you miss the original gallery? Check it out in the Related sidebar to the left!

Over in Chico, Travis from PAUL had an idea, inspired from a certain band from the 80’s and wanted to do a fun product for the readers of this website. Splatter ano, like this band, had its heyday in the 1980’s and without giving you a direct link, if you search for the band’s name this color combination represents, it’ll take you to a special page where you can pick one of these special Somethin’ Somethin’ up.

We’ll give you two hints. The first being: this band was formed by two brothers, who were born in the Netherlands and moved to Pasadena, California in the early 60’s. The second: two lead singers were prominent during this band’s lifespan, which continues today.

If you head to PAUL and add in the answer to the search bar, it’ll take you straight to the product. For whatever reason, y’all can’t figure this out, express your concern in the comments…

SORRY TO ALL YOU VAN HALEN FANS, THESE ARE SOLD OUT!

In the world of modern mountain bikes, shorter stems are usually better, and that’s the motivation for Paul Component’s newest version of the Box Stem. These made in Chico stems now come in a 35mm length and weigh only 118grams. They’re in stock now at Paul. I can’t wait to put one on my mountain bike and on my touring bike.

If you’re thinking about buying some Paul Component Klampers, or if you already have a set, be sure to check out this video on how to adjust these unique disc brakes.

If you’re running Campagnolo on your disc road or disc ‘cross bike and have wanted to run Klampers, PAUL has just released a Campy-optimized design. The Campy-compatible brakes are made in Chico, California and are in stock now at Paul.

Live from the machine shop it’s… swoooooop up some holiday goodies at PAUL!

What’s the WORD, Paul? Boost! Boosted WORD hubs for your singlespeed MTB. 148mm spaced rear hubs are in stock now at PAUL. Here a walk-through from start to finish on the new Paul Word hubs.

PAULoweeeeeen, PAULoweeeeeen, PAULOWEEN!… is coming!

This Ross Shafer-built, custom MTB from the 90’s was made especially for Paul of Paul Component Engineering. Check out this video for all kinds of tidbits from the early days of Salsa and Paul, for that matter!

I’m not sure how many of you caught this in the gallery showcasing my Stinner hardtail but we ran into an issue when building the bike up. I wanted to run Klampers on this bike, since I’m using it for some bikepacking trips in the near future and I really liked the way the Retrotec I rode at Paul Camp’s Klamper brakes felt with the short pull lever. So, when I bought the frame from Stinner, we began building it and ran into a problem. It’s a common issue, when a frame is designed to run modern hydraulic disc brakes and you try to run a cable actuated brake like the Klamper, with its high cable entry point. Basically, if we ran the cable through the braze-on and into the Klamper, it wouldn’t work; the bend was too abrupt for the cable.

When I brought it up to Aaron at Stinner, he suggested using a V-Brake noodle, so I passed the idea off to Mike at Golden Saddle Cyclery. This is what he worked up. A simple noodle, with rubber heat shrink tubing around the metal part, so it won’t scratch the seatstay. Personally, I think this is an elegant solution.

This Friday, in San Francisco, Mission Workshop is hosting a Q+A with Paul Price from Paul Component Engineering from 6-9pm. Make sure you swing through for this event if you’re in the area, Paul is a fascinating human.

Whoa! Talk about a barn find!

“So…..here’s a funny story! We were about to demolish the downstairs bathroom and there were a bunch of old Sierra Nevada beer boxes above it with an inch of machine-oil soaked dust on them. Most of them were full of old paperwork, but upon peeking inside one of them, we were surprised to discover all the components and packaging to build up a bunch of this long discontinued product: “Blue Balls”. This was a seatbinder bolt we manufactured from 1992 to 1994. If you order one of these, you’re getting the original “New Old Stock” part, in its original packaging card with the peace sign on the back that Paul drew by hand. So all you people who’ve been commenting “Bring back Blue Balls!” on our Instagram….. There, we did it, who loves ya?!

These only fit frames designed for an external seatbinder bolt or quick-release, like your dad’s 80’s mountain bike. The minimum distance between the balls is 26mm, and the maximum distance is 40mm. If you don’t know if this will fit your bike, go to a bike shop and ask an expert.”

See more at Paul!

I just love these videos from Paul, but I want to see Travis do one on his Paul Component Hite Rite!

Chico artist Matt Loomis created quite the graphic for Paul’s newest shirt and I love it! In stock now at Paul!

… The guys in Chico just posted a video showcase from all the Paul Camp bikes. If you missed the gallery from this, check it out in the related column on the left.