The Radavist

It’s not everyday that you see a gorgeous Gan Well Pro track bike rolling on the streets of LA. Maybe 5 years ago, but not today. So when the owner of this beauty walked it into Golden Saddle Cyclery, I had to take it out for some photos. Nitto everything, Suntour hubs, Dura Ace cranks and a well-used perforated Flite. More of this please!

*Unfortunately, the owner has to sell it, so if you’re in the market, call GSC for pricing. Please, serious inquiries only!

Christian from Golden Saddle Cyclery is one of the raddest kids I know. He’s a hard worker, smart and a real ripper when it comes to FGFS. Even though Kyle and I give him constant shit, truth be told, we’re both damn impressed with his character and work ethic.

Before I left town, I went around the corner from the shop to shoot some photos of his SKYLMT, along with a few shots of this gap he hits with ease. Check them out!

It’s hard to deny the impact that the original Ritchey Swiss Cross had on American cyclocross. Any cycling history buff will note Thomas Frischknecht’s many victories in the early 90’s while riding the original, so it had to be a perfect choice for Ritchey to re-introduce the mighty red machine for 2012. Having only seen the bike at Interbike, I was stoked to hear Chris’ choice in picking one up when he wrecked his previous cross bike. Built with mostly matching Ritchey components, this build turned out perfect. Last Sunday, after a Walnut Creek singletrack session, I got some photos of this race-ready machine.

Some of my favorite details are the integrated head tube and that wicked cable routing at the seat tube cluster. Check out more in the Gallery.

So now that we’ve seen what Ruckus’ shop looks like, how about a look at one of the frames that Shawn from Ruckus has built.  This is his own single speed cross bike, laced with a rather healthy component group, a sick paint job and some of those Ruckus vibes. I love the tag line on the downtube, the painted ENVE components and the cross bash guard. You don’t see a whole lotta flat bar monster cross bikes but when you do, they’re drool-worthy.

I’ve been trying to type out a few introductory sentences for this bike for the past few minutes and honestly, I have no idea where to begin. So let’s start out by me saying that it is by no means the first carbon fiber bike I have been offered but it was the first that had a compelling story attached with it, something I’m always intrigued by and will ultimately make for a better piece of journalism.

For the past year or so, I’ve been watching Ben at Argonaut Cycles reinvent his modus operandi. He made the shift from building steel bikes to developing a new fabrication system with a local carbon manufacturer. Unlike anything else currently being manufactured domestically, or overseas, the new face of Argonaut is focused on the future of bicycle design. But that’s not to say that Argonaut’s steel past had been cast aside.

Before he even began to sketch out his design, he met with the carbon engineers, who reverse-engineered some of his favorite steel tubesets, and improved upon their weaknesses. Ben wanted his bikes to have the same ride characteristics of his steel bikes, just more technologically advanced. He came to loosely call this “steel 2.0” but you should take that with a grain of salt because let’s face it, carbon fiber is not steel.

This bike is however a by-product of domestic engineering and fabrication. The carbon weave is from the States. It’s cut to shape, moulded by a proprietary process, assembled and finished all within an hour drive from Portland. The process used produces very little waste. There’s no hodgepodge assemblage, no messy resin and it’s 100% custom. Basically, it’s a streamlined process that utilizes technologies that allow each frame to be engineered to a customer’s specific needs.

That’s what had me intrigued in Argonaut and so I agreed to come on board. Soon, I started to hear the echos of “steel is real” in the back of my head, however. I knew my Bishop is as perfect as a steel bike could be. The geometry is dialed and I’ve never ridden anything like it. So I approached Ben with the idea to make the exact same bicycle, just with his new carbon manufacturing process.

Dimensions, trail, geometry, were all the same, just the profile changed a bit to a racier silhouette. Even the tube’s proprietary layup were influenced by the same steel that my Bishop is built from. Bottom line is, I wanted to be able to subjectively compare the two materials.

After I filled out my ride journal, had numerous talks with Ben and designed the paint, the bike was done. Last week, I arrived in Portland and immediately got to check it out. First thing I noticed was how much of a stellar job Keith Anderson did on the paint. The build wasn’t bad either! Rotor cranks, SRAM Red group, ENVE tapered fork, ENVE bars, Thomson stem, Fizik Kurve saddle, Chris King hubs to H+Son Archetype rims (built by none other than Sugar Wheel Works), Chris King PF30 ceramic BB and that special I8 Chris King headset. It was a dream build.

But what about the ride? The first day, we did a nice 25 mile ride up Saltzman, then Saturday, we headed out towards Mt. Hood for 75 miles (then Billy broke a spoke and we had to call it quits). My initial reaction is very optimistic. The ride is what I can only call “light and responsive”. It handles like my Bishop but even better. Descents are faster and it climbs with little or no qualms. There’s no jarring feel when I hit rough terrain. Everything feels dampened and smooth.

My previous experiences with carbon rental bikes like Cervelo, Specialized and other brands were always harsh. The bikes were stiff and I didn’t enjoy the ride. I’m not a racer, I don’t need a bike engineered to race. I need a bike that rides how I want it to, when I want it to and that’s what Argonaut produced for me. It really is like steel 2.0… So what about my Bishop? There’s nothing on this planet that would make me stop riding it. That’s a fact. Steel is still, real but this new experience has been loads of fun. As for the bike itself, it’s very easy on the eyes.

The bike weighs 15.5 lbs as seen here (minus bottles). With middle-grade LOOK pedals, 32h wheels and 28c tires, that’s not bad at all.

See more photos in the gallery!

In the spirit of Veteran’s Day, I thought I’d share with you one of my favorite bikes from yesterday’s Cross Crusade here in Portland. Tom is a close friend of the Vanilla / Speedvagen family. He puts on the Kiddie Kross races at the ‘Crusade series and races in the singlespeed category on his lovely 2008 Speedvagen Cross Machine.

Opting for the more eccentric “Surprise Me” paint job, his metal steed is covered in a red, white and blue livery, all brought together by a line of stars. It’s really something else! See for yourself in the Gallery.

Seth Rosko is much more than a frame builder to me. He’s a good friend and someone that I just enjoy being around. Seeing him build bikes is just an added bonus. Everyone claims to be a New Yorker, but Seth is one of those guys who was around when it all began. A huge advocate in the local skate scene and ex-Brooklyn Machine Works builder, he’s seen the cycling scene in NYC change over the years.

For the past few months, he’s been pushing grassroots racing in NYC. Building road and cross racing frames for fledgling teams and local racers. Most notably, the King Kog cross bikes, a bike for Matthew of Cicli Devotion and a few other road bikes for some local female racers.

During my short stay in NYC, I swung by Rosko Cycles to see how Seth makes use of his small, cramped work space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

It’s kind of sad to see fewer and fewer frame builders showcasing track bikes and fixed gears at shows like the Philly Bike Expo. There’s nothing more elegant than a cleanly-proportioned bike meant to travel around the city and this Royal H Cycles fixed gear is exactly that. The colors just pop in these photos. Check out more below.

Bryan from Bicycle Revolutions in Philly has some of the most unique builds I’ve ever seen. The man is not afraid of a little color, to say the least. This limited edition All City Nature Boy Zona prototype with custom paint just kills it, so I had to give it some lens love. Check out more colorific photos below.

This Rock Lobster was one of my favorite bikes at Interbike this year. As it sat, all alone in the Easton booth, I only hoped that its owner would be putting in miles on it. So you can imagine my surprise when I came across it shortly after arriving at our Ranch last week for the Giro New Road shoot. Owned by Katie, an employee at Giro, this aluminum Rock Lobster has a prototype Easton cross fork, Easton wheels and Easton post, stem. It’s freakingly-light and drop dead gorgeous. See more below.

I’ve already featured this Beautiful Bicycle once, but it was fully decked out in “city mode” during my Shop Visit to Hufnagel Cycles.

When Giro began making their selections for who would get to preview and review their New Road line, I was surprised to see Hufnagel‘s name on the list. He’s a huge advocate of environmentally responsible construction and sustainability. Sure enough though, the merino in the New Road line is from New Zealand, not China and it’s made in San Francisco… Sounds like a perfect match.

But what would Jordan ride? His city bike of course. Stripped of the porteur accoutrement, it became a lively gravel machine. Even the 420mm chainstays with 650b wheels didn’t hold Mr. Hufnagel back from getting rad on this bike. Here I was, thinking a cross bike was the ideal travel bike and yet, this thing looked pretty freaking rad.

I’m back in Austin, after a completely incredible weekend of filming and photographing Giro’s new clothing line, New Road. One of the things that made this photo shoot different than a lot of previous ones were the people involved. There was an ex 7-Eleven racer, a magazine editor, the co-founder of kickstarter, a bike shop owner, a race organizer, myself and a few Giro employees.

One of those employees was Eric Richter, a key figure in Giro‘s helmet and cycling shoe division. Eric’s responsible for many of the rad new products that Giro has been pushing over the years, as well as their involvement in various events like the Red Hook Crit. I’ve gotten to know him from chatting at Interbike and other events but I really enjoyed getting to spend some saddle time with him on his new Black Cat disk road bike in the hills of NorCal.

Columbus MAX doesn’t make this the lightest bike ever but the bent stays, disc brakes, Dura Ace and Easton parts set this bike apart from any other MAX road bike I’ve seen. When Eric pulled this beauty out of his car, I had no idea what to even say. I was stunned. See for yourself below!

Truth be told, I put a deposit down for a 2012 Geekhouse Team Mudville cross bike before my Woodville touring bike was stolen. While I’m planning on racing here in Austin when there are local events, I’m also just stoked to finally have a cross bike to travel with. Over this past year, I’ve come to determine that a cross bike is an ideal travel bike.

You can do just about everything on them: singletrack, off-roading, gravel, road rides and even light touring. Because this bike will be 60% all that and 40% racing, I built it up initially to respond to riding in Northern California and a brevet I’ll be riding later on this month. Hence the double cages, clinchers and Ramblin’ Roll. In fact, I’m heading to Cali right now to partake in some dirt rides.

Enough of the intent, how about the bike? A few things are new on the 2012 Team Mudville models. For one, the ENVE tapered fork and headtube. It’s so big and yes, it really offers a noticeable difference in handling. The tubing selection is a little different on mine than the other bikes. Columbus Life stays ensure my big ass won’t tweak the rear end riding like an asshole or casing barriers.

I honestly don’t have tubular race wheels, so I’ll be using my trusty Profile Elite road hubs to HED Belgiums. The SRAM Force group, ENVE stem, Thomson Elite post, 3T bars all compliment the brightly anodized Chris King InSet Mango headset and matching bottom bracket. A Paul Components Funky Monkey drops the front cable a bit lower and stopping power is provided by Paul touring cantis. After getting everything dialed in, I can say that I’m really enjoying the ride.

Many thanks to Geekhouse bikes for the stellar frame and Ben’s Cycle for the parts!

Enough copy, check out the photos!