The Radavist

If I had to guess off the top of my head, which model bike has been featured the most on the site, it’d have to be the All City Nature Boy. Whether racing it singlespeed cross, or commuting or messengering on it, the Nature Boy is the people’s choice and when I saw Rob’s, I had to give it some lens love. Lots of street grime, character, stickers and yes, a top tube pad, make this one of the more unique builds I’ve seen. Technically, this isn’t a singlespeed though. Rob got a bit crafty with his setup. Look closely…

Usually, when I shoot a portrait of a rider and their bike, it goes at the end of a post but I really liked how these photos of Rob came out so he’s getting two galleries. Rob is quite the character. He came into Pearl Velo the day after NAHBS while I was working, snot dripping from his nose, bag all crusty and his bike was filthy. I couldn’t help but pull of the Mamiya 7ii and fire off a few shots. Rob helps throw a lot of the alleycats in the Denver area and has put in some serious saddle time on his Nature Boy. A full bike check is coming but for now, let’s admire this red-bearded brethren. Ladies, don’t get too hot and bothered, he’s taken!

Mamiya 7ii / 80mm
Portra 400

“builder’s hands are always dirty…”

NAHBS is always a difficult event to cover. There’s no feasible way for me to go to every booth and talk to the builders, or select one of their frames to shoot, so I tend to just walk around, aimlessly and stop to shoot when something catches my eye. This Photoset is filled with randomness from the show, check the captions for more information and check out my other NAHBS coverage here.

Ok, ok. I’m playing hookie right now from the interwebs and am probably staring down the rear brake yolk on this beaut, ripping through the limestone and singletrack of Austin. There’s something to be said about a bike that’s usually seen from the rear during a race, which is what a lot of Wilis‘ race companions had the pleasure of admiring. Cross bikes aren’t meant to be dainty, precious objects that you wipe down every day. They’re meant to be dirty, muddy and fast.

Wilis showed up to Austin with his Rosko cross bike and it was too clean to shoot photos. We’ve been riding a lot, #corndogging and just having a blast hitting the local trails and hills. After a couple days of that, his bike looked good and happy, i.e. primed to shoot photos. I love Seth Rosko’s work and was very pumped on his grassroots support for King Kog during this year’s cross season. The team did well and the bikes did exceptionally well, even Wilis’ Campagnolo beast saw the podium on more than one occasion.

There’s something very metal about a black bike and this one’s got battle scars just about everywhere, save for the Cadence bar tape. Oh and the Pearl Velo bottle was my touch! We’re both fans of H.G. Wells.

As I await for my film to get processed and scanned, I figured I’d post a little bit of love for these two parties: Pearl Velo and Avery County Cycles. Last year, when Josh from Avery was hanging around Pearl Velo, he and Tyler chatted about making a run of singlespeed cross frames for the Pearl Velo ‘cross team. This one’s Tyler’s personal frame, the first from the batch.

He prefers his cross frames a bit smaller, with a positive rise stem to put him at the proper riding position. Built with Columbus Spirit tubing and a sparkle clear over the olive drab paint, this is a no-nonsense race machine.

“A little bit of racing and a little bit of light touring” seems to be what a lot of people want from their cross bikes. That’s exactly what Gordon told Firefly when he put down his deposit. This cross bike has fender and rack mounts for weekend getaways and mini-v’s for road riding. Come cross season, he’ll pop on some 32c cross tires and get her nice and muddy. It’s always a pleasure to photograph a Firefly, especially when the owner is such a stand up guy. Denver has such rad bikes and such great people. It’s been a hell of a trip. Oh and, thanks for the hangover man!

Eric Estlund of Winter Bicycles like many builders, is beginning to step into the production / semi-custom market. While he’s still making fully custom frames, his recent Pelican rando project for Box Dog Bikes marked a new direction for Winter. At his NAHBS booth this year, Eric displayed two semi-custom production bikes. One of which is en route to Texas now. Still, I couldn’t take my eyes off this track bike…

When I first walked into the Six Eleven Bicycle Co booth at this year’s NAHBS, I immediately was drawn to this purple machine, like a moth to the flame. Like many people, all I saw was a 3 Rensho track bike. That is until I spotted the very clever 6 Eleven decals. Aaron went overboard here and I’m still dumb-founded that it didn’t win best track bike. It’s so good! Even to the point that a certain Japanese builder asked why he had a 3 Rensho in his booth!

Don’t miss those Sugino-branded Suntour cranks, either! Congrats to Aaron for doing a stellar job on this beauty.

The fact that the crew at Moots plans on actually putting this beast to work merits its own post. With attachments for a shovel, a chainsaw rack, 6 pack rack and plenty of packing room, this fat bike is meant to maintain the trails surrounding the Moots facility. It’s gimmicky as hell but man, what a presentation!

Going into the 2013 NAHBS, I wanted to find a way to capture the personality of the builders and the bikes they create. Headshots, especially when the subject is comfortable around you, is an easy way to do so. As I was halfway through this shoot, I realized something: the builders look a lot like their frames. Drawing that comparison is easy enough, shooting portraits in convention center lighting is not. That said, I’m pretty stoked on how these came out.

I wanted to thank these men for what they do and I wish I could have gotten around to shooting everyone but this selection is pretty spot-on.

Ride the Divide is one of the most difficult MTB endurance races in the continental US, so when Ty from Golden Saddle Cyclery decided that he was going to participate, he looked to Santa Barbara’s Stinner Frameworks to design a no nonsense 29’r. Utilizing a Rohloff Speedhub 14-speed internal belt drive, this bike will require zero maintenance for the extent of the ride. Tubeless wheels, XTR hydraulic disc brakes, SON hub, E3 lamp and Thomson Ti bars add just amount of show-worthiness to the bike. We rode our new mountain bikes yesterday and I am beyond pumped for Ty. This is one sick ride!

Yeah, I know, there’s already been a ton of Bishop NAHBS love here on the site but I was very impressed that with all the bikes Chris has been building, he brought two track bikes with him. My level of respect for Chris and Tommy only increases each year and I know the owner of this bike is beyond stoked on how it turned out. Full Campagnolo C-Record Pista, Cinelli heritage saddle with matching bar wrap and those fillets! This frame will be getting a coat of wet paint from Bryan Myers of Fresh Frame before it leaves for China. Have a napkin ready, this one’s a drooler.