The Radavist

When the team at Pedalers Fork became a dealer for Argonaut Cycles, they needed a bike that would operate as both an advertisement and a floor model / test bike for interested clients. While I love my matte-black Argo, stealth is not the best at advertising for the brand, so Gideon at Pedalers Fork cooked up a purple, flashy, chevron-inspired design for painter Eric Dungey to get to work on.

Since this particular model will be a test bike for inquiring customers, Pedalers Fork chose the traditional seatpost spec, rather than an ISP. The result is a flashy, yet classic stance with the brand’s name in bright silver on the downtube. With a painted PRO stem, a blue King, a purple seatpost collar, Mavic 125ans wheels and Dura Ace throughout, every detail has been considered… It’ll be sure to turn heads.

Southern California is a second home to me, for many reasons, the obvious of which being the excellent cycling and the people that live here. Life’s a bit easier when it’s always sunny and excellent riding is at your finger tips. Perhaps that’s why Ben from Argonaut has always liked the crew at Pedalers Fork in Calabasas. They’ve got world class roads and trails literally surrounding their unique restaurant, coffee and bike shop.

I can’t tell you how many times people attempt this business model, yet Pedalers Fork didn’t just attempt it, they nailed it. Excellent food, great coffee and high end bicycles. Pedalers Fork has created an environment that caters to the local cycling scene with group rides, fund raisers and parties. While their bike is small, they turn out many precision high end builds. Up until this point, they’ve sold only Moots. Not because of any exclusivity deal, but because they were looking for a carbon fiber match to the brand. That’s where Argonaut comes in.

A few weeks ago, Ben from Argonaut asked if I wanted to come out to Calabasas, ride bikes, eat great food and hang out with friends. All to celebrate this new union. Well, that and Ben would be giving a presentation of sorts about the brand to a few select people… and I’d shoot some photos.

We spent the morning riding bikes over the Santa Monica Mountains, with lunch at Pedalers Fork, an afternoon Putt n Pump track action at a secret location before attending a dinner, curated by Chris DiMinno of the Chris King Gourmet Century.

Rough day, huh?

Sean from Team Dream Bicycling Team is really living the dream. He lives at the top of the hill in Topanga Creek and can roll out of his front door, to find himself on a vast network of trails. Granted, it’s hotter than hell in the summer, but this time of year, it’s majestic. All the vegetation is golden, bone dry and the trails are fast and loose.

After zipping through a few trails in Topanga, we met up with the Pedalers Fork guys, who took us on an even more ripping ride through Calabasas. Now those guys have an even radder trail network.

The thing I love about riding in Southern California is the insane amount of elevation you get in each ride, all within a stone’s throw of the coast. So far, out of all the MTB trails I’ve been on in the Los Angeles area, these were my favorite.

We ended up around 30 miles and 3,800′ climbing. Had it not been for the meal at Pedalers Fork afterwards, my legs would have been dead the next day!