The Radavist

This whole trip has been a blast and what better way to end these escapades than with a party at the Golden Saddle Cyclery? As the AMGEN Tour of California finished up in LA, the city rejoiced. Over at GSC, the party was going strong and Hennie, the Rapha Mobile Cycle Club served up the coffee as Kyle and company made brunch.

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Sydney, Australia has always had a burgeoning BMX scene and it’s still thriving due to rad shops like Hell On Wheels. Tom’s space is part museum and part storefront, where he caters to the local park rats and street thrashers alike, all while keeping his eyes and ears to the American brands.

When one of his customers, Benny wanted a custom BMX racing bike, they hit up S&M. A few months later and viola, Benny’s custom S&M bicycle moto-cross machine was done. Happy Friday morning Sydney, here’s a Beautiful Bicycle for ya.

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Scraps imply they’re the last photos from the trip and that’s not the case here. I’ve got a few more posts coming in from my recent trip to SF, these are just the ones that have no immediate home. Enjoy and check out the previous posts below!

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I have to admit, I was a little sad when I heard that Matt Spencer was going to be riding 26″ wheels. Note that I said “a little” because it really doesn’t matter and smaller wheels will only enable Matt to ride harder and bigger than ever. When he announced he was leaving Volume, I knew he was going to be riding for SKYLMT. These frames are incredible. They’re light and made in the USA.

Matt’s SKYLMT weighs in at 25 lbs complete, as shown here and he’s already thrashing on it. While we were at the Island, I took it out for some lens love. It’s almost impossible to shoot a bike in SF without having a MUNI bus lurking in the background.

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These two kids are some of my favorite #FixieFamous celebs. Marc and Kelli are like a match made in Vice Magazine. When they’re not in sleeveless shirts, they’re kitted out in the hills of LA and SF. While Marc has been racing track (and looking for alleycats) the past few years, he’s just started branching off into road racing, which inspired Kelli to do the same. I caught up with these two, the day after a race and took some photos of them.

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I’m very excited for Mike and the entire Mash crew. In a year, their shop has become a destination for out of towners, a meet up for group rides and a bike shop that caters to track bikes. Mash is synonymous with track bikes in SF and the 1-Year Anniversary Alleycat celebrated that.

Unlike last year’s Twin Peaks Time Trail, this race was separated into two events: an alleycat qualifier and a Twin Peaks race. Only the top racers from the alleycat could race up to Twin Peaks. I hung around all day, chatted with racers and shot some photos.

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About a year ago, a man named Andrew Low came onto the track bike scene. Based in SF, Andrew builds handmade aluminum track frames in a small and tidy workshop in the Mission. San Francisco is widely responsible for the aluminum track bike hype and LOW has the made in the USA market cornered. When Massan caught wind of Andrew, he had to support a builder from his home town…

Just recently, Andrew completed a low pro model in a MUNI livery for Massan and I had the chance to photograph it in the Embarcadero on Saturday. With Massan’s recent induction into the Chrome Familia, this bike will be getting a lot of press-love, but for now, here’s my lens-love.

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After the spills and thrills from the 2012 Red Bull RideNStyle track race, the fixed freestyle competitors were ready to rip apart the ramps and rightfully so. The sport has progressed by leaps and bounds in the past year. The tricks are getting bigger, more clicked and are looking more fluid than ever. The good riders really can flow through a park setup now and since people have been spending time at Woodward, a lot of the riders had a new found confidence on big ramps. I feel like I heard rumors for the past few weeks about Josh Boothby’s plans for a backflip and, as we all know, he followed through…

Boothby’s solid runs landed him in first place.  Tyler Johnson’s big and smooth tech lines were more clicked than ever, landing him in second and Joe McKeag’s 540s, truck drivers and clicked 360’s pinned him down in third. Personally, I’m less interested in final rankings and more impressed at the overall caliber of riding that was present. Everyone gave it their all and no one was seriously hurt. But that helmet saved your ass Kenny!

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Today was my last full day in SF and I woke up to find my bike missing from the Messenger Mansion. I checked my phone to find a randsom from #FixieNinja, leading me to Bernal Heights. Crihs had been planning this “revenge” since I desecrated his bike last year, around this time. I got my bike, put the wheels back on and headed out for the day. After the Mash 1-Year Anniversary race (event coverage coming), we rolled to the park to soak in the sun. Nothing crazy, just a bit of people watching…

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Compared to last year’s event, the 2012 Red Bull RideNStyle race track was a huge improvement. The lanes were wider, racers were required to use some of the fixed freestyle course and with the addition of two banks on the staircase, people were encouraged to gap the channel. Much as I anticipated, the competition came down to four racers.

In the end, it came down to Addison Zawada, Hern and Walton. Three strong racers, all out for it and the crowd was into it.

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Yes, it’s that time again. Randomness from the streets of SF in preparation for the 2012 Red Bull RideNStyle. Today I met up with Crihs, Marc, Em and Chas over in the Mission and rolled over to Mash to see Mike and Walton. It was unbelievably warm out and for the first time, I finally had a track bike in San Francisco. It’s been fun so far and here’s a photo dump to hold you over for a bit!

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