The Radavist

As I travel more each month, the time I spend at home in Austin is really precious. I’ve been really enjoying the Mamiya, shooting portraits and some of the randomness that I come across. I was going to find some more meaningful way to display these photos, with some theme of “weekends” but I’m too tired from this weekend’s activities…

I hope your weekend was rad and I hope you enjoy!

Tools of the trade:
Mamiya 7ii / 80mm
Kodak Portra 400

Sometimes, the simplest changes in a bike’s setup can really enhance the ride. Take my Sword. Sure, it looked mean as hell with drops but I swapped them out for those Budnitz Ti sweep bars and plugged on a Cetma rack. It’s the perfect photo bike, with the aid of the Tanner Goods Field Camera Bag… Check out a few more photos below.

Tools of the trade:
Mamiya 7ii / 80mm
Kodak Portra 400

I can really appreciate builds like this: vintage steel with a mix of modern componentry, especially when you add a tubeset like Columbus MS into the equation. This bike rolled into Shifter Bikes while I was in Melbourne and it was one of those bikes that didn’t like to sit still. It kept wanting to roll. Was it the legacy of Greg Lemond that was trying to establish a forward momentum? Who knows… but the Campagnolo Centaur 10, Zipp wheels, Thomson cockpit and Rolls saddle probably have something to do with it.

Any guy will tell you that putting a bike together for his lady can be an emotionally taxing event. Luckily for me, Lauren knew exactly what she wanted when I proposed the idea of buying her a new bike for her birthday. She loved my Icarus and Ian’s work but wanted something practical to commute on here in Austin. I was pushing for a full-on touring bike but she doesn’t like the idea of bigger tires and wanted something zippier.

What we agreed on is a mashup of a few things: primarily a long-reach caliper, lower trail road bike. It’ll fit 28c tires and fenders or 32c without, it has rack mounts on the front and the rear for any sort of light touring or camping we’d do but most importantly, the front cockpit is by no means racey…

She liked the riding position of her Tokyo Fixed Dream Machine build but wanted the bars a little wider and better stopping power than her cantis. After finally wrapping my head around figuring out what she wanted, we met up with Ian of Icarus Frames, who measured her and went through the new frame procedure.

In the meanwhile, I started looking for parts. Rather than going all budget, I splurged a bit and went with a lot of American-manufactured products. Ian was making a stem to accomodate the back sweep of Nitto Albatross bars to which we’d run barcon shifters on. Chris King had these “ox-blood” Sotto Voce headsets at NAHBS, so I picked one up. Then, I consulted my friend PAUL and kinda went all out. Soon, I had purchased Canti Levers, polished Medium Racers, Moon Units, Polished Tall & Handsome seat post, Funky Money cable hanger and it didn’t stop there…

As with any commuter, gearing is a key factor. Lauren had been riding a single speed to work consistently but some of the hills en route to her teaching job were a bit tough. We also want to be able to do longer rides out to the hill country, so I chose the White Industries VBC cranks (46/30) with a mid-cage Shimano 105 rear derailleur and a 12-32 cassette. Shimano 105 hubs to H+Son TB 14s are bomb-proof, budget wheels. Topping the build off are Panaracer Paselas 32c, Brooks B 17 S saddle and tape.

The paint would be from Fresh Frame and the color we chose is an elusive one. Was it blue? Or green? It changes with the light. In the shade, it’s sort of jade but in the sun, it sparkles blue. Whatever it is, the final product is stunning.

While the bike is shown here, sans racks, we’re in the process of tracking down a good front basket and a rear rack for panniers. The bike is light, coming in at just a hair over 19 lbs and it “rides like a dream”. If it were my bike, I would have done a few things differently but that’s the beauty of a custom bike, you get what YOU want and trust me, there are few arguments I’m willing to engage in with this lady. She always gets what SHE wants… who can blame her? Further down the road, I’ll look into new panniers and maybe a porteur bag but for now, I’ve spent enough money on this thing!

Many thanks to Austin Bikes for the build, Bens Cycle for the assistance in the components, Ian Sutton of Icarus Frames and Bryan Myers at Fresh Frame.

As far as I’m concerned, Ride + Style is the leading showcase for the top street racers and fixed freestyle riders. The days of grassroots comps are for the most part gone, leaving Ride + Style one of the few standing trick comps. It brings people from as far away as Japan to compete but most importantly, to keep the scene strong and connected.

This year, from what I can tell, people were more stoked to just fucking hang out than they were to win any award and to me, that’s the most important thing to take away from any competition. However, since it is a competition, there has to be a winner and this year’s Ride + Style FGFS champ is Matt Reyes.

Many thanks to Matt Lingo for pulling these photos together in such a timely manner. Keep on top of Matt’s work at RecFail and check out more photos from the 2013 Ride + Style track racers in the gallery.

Red Bull’s Ride + Style creates a unique stage for track bike and fixed gear riders to compete on a course designed to host a freestyle competition, as well as a high-paced one-on-one circuit race. Competitors have to do hot laps around the course, in designated brackets and often times at break neck speeds (luckily no one broke anything this year). When all the brackets wound down, one man was left standing. This year, the winner of the 2013 Ride + Style Track was Jason Clary.

Many thanks to Matt Lingo for pulling these photos together in such a timely manner. Keep on top of Matt’s work at RecFail and check out more photos from the 2013 Ride + Style track racers in the gallery.

As you can clearly tell, I wasn’t able to make it to the 2013 Red Bull Ride + Style this year, so I asked photographer Matt Lingo if he’d be interested in covering it for me. We’ll start off with his Guest Gallery of lifestyle and crowd shots, to set the stage as a record number of people took to the Justin Herman Plaza to watch everything go down…

Many thanks to Matt Lingo for pulling these photos together in such a timely manner. Keep on top of Matt’s work at RecFail!

It’s hard to be around Shifter Bikes and not want to document what Dan does each day. Over the years, he’s become not only a mechanic for many of his customers, but a consultant. There’s only one way to gain knowledge and that’s through experience, something few people have the time for. While many people have naive opinions, Dan has callouses…

Tools of the trade:
Leica M7
Leica Summicron f2 50mm / Zeiss f2.8 28mm
Fuji Neopan 400

I’m even surprised I had the time to walk around SxSW for an afternoon but I did anyway. Something about the shitshow that descends upon this sleepy little town is very alluring for a person who likes shooting photos. The freaks mix in with the locals and the homeless cope with it the best way they know how. I lost one roll of exposed film somehow, so you’ll have to make due with these…

Tools of the trade:
Mamiya 7ii / f4 80mm
Kodak Portra 400