Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
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Radar
Swift Industries Celebrates 15 Years With a Special Anniversary Collection
To celebrate its 15-year anniversary, Swift Industries just released a capsule collection that is an ode to its roots with an original colorblock in classic 1000D Cordura. This Anniversary Collection features the iconic Swift Zeitgeist Pack and the Sidekick Stem Pouch in two colorways accented by a bold hot pink and desert bone. Like the first Swift bags ever stitched, this collection was designed and manufactured in Seattle, Washington.
Radar
The Radavist Authors’ Favorite Small Business Products: John Watson
John Watson picks up this series we began with Ryan Wilson during the pandemic. Consider this a shout out to our favorite small businesses in the cycling industry. Here are some of John’s personal picks.
Small businesses are the foundation of the outdoor industry and many have been seriously impacted by the pandemic over the last couple of months. While money is understandably tight for a significant portion of people, if you do have the means and are dreaming up your next bike trip or local ride, I wanted to offer up a few suggestions for gear that I believe is worthy of investing in from some of my favorite small businesses in the industry.
Radar
We’ve Added a Couple of Products to the Web Shop
The Web Shop has a few new items as of today. These ByWay Patches, as well as an all-over Jackal pattern DeFeet AirEater patten in black and marigold. In case you missed it during the holidays, we added men and women’s MTB jerseys in black or green Disruptive Coloration patterns, as well as lapel pins, and we re-stocked our Jackal long sleeve shirts!
Thanks again for your continued support!
Radar
I’m Digging the ESI RCT Bar Tape
ESI has been making grips in the good ol’ US of A since 1999. Their silicone grips are my absolute favorite for a MTB bar – easy on, easy off with a four to six month lifespan. They’re tacky in the rain and offer plenty of grip through sweaty hands or gloves. While just about everyone will have nothing but positive things to say about the ESI grips, I’d never heard of their RCT Bar Tape before.
Dubbed RCT for “road, cross, triathlon”, this bar tape is re-usable since silicon is tacky enough without the use of adhesive. You can pull it hard and get it a bit thinner than it’s shown here, but I actually like the thickness, especially on a cross bike that gets ridden on trails. It’s easy to clean and doesn’t crawl around on the bars like other tapes do.
So far, I’ve had it for a few weeks and it’s taken its share of spills without showing any wear or tear. Time will tell how long it’ll last, or if it will replace my other favorite bar tapes – Fizik and Lizard Skin – but for now, I’m excited to have ESI products on my MTB and cross bikes.
You can see just how thick this stuff is by looking at the photos below. Head over to ESI for more information!
Reportage
The 2014 Interbike Super Duper Ginormous Gallery Day 03
This is it, the final day of Interbike. My shutter finger is sated for the time being, my feet are sore and It’s been a busy week. I think I’ve hit all the booths I wanted to, along with some requests… Vegas is rad and all, but I’m ready to roll on home to Texas. Thanks to everyone who hung out and chatted this week. It was a pleasure to meet you.
Enjoy the largest gallery to ever grace this site and again, feel free to ask any questions in the comments!
Reportage
Seven Months with the Santa Cruz Tallboy LTC 29’r with SRAM XX1
I love long-term reviews. “Here, take this bike, travel with it and shred it for around six months, then send it right back to us.” Pretty ideal, huh? Especially when there’s a no-strings-attached policy. If you like it, do a review, or don’t, no big deal. Just get out and ride it. For The Radavist, that’s how I like to do product reviews: honestly and with no commitments. The problem is, you’ve got to be really stoked on a bike to want to ride it a bunch, and then photograph it / write about it.
Reviewing bikes is something I don’t often do, partially because I rarely get the chance to ride anything else besides my own bikes but mostly because so few companies contact me to review their bikes. One of the companies that has embraced what I’m doing over here is Santa Cruz and I can’t complain. Great company, great bikes and as I said before, no strings attached.
When Santa Cruz offered to send me out a Tallboy LTC with SRAM’s new – at the time – XX1 groupet back in December, I obliged! Who wouldn’t? I traveled with it, raced it a few times and rode the shit out of it for half a year.
While the world of the $8,000 – $10,000 MTB is certainly saturated at this point, I’ve ridden a few of them and yet I keep wanting to come back to the Tallboy and its unique riding characteristics. The best way I can describe the way this bike rides is solid. There’s no “plastic feel” to the frame, no annoying resonance when you hit technical sections and when the bike tells you to go in a particular direction, it’s usually on point… What often requires honing are your own skills and your confidence on that bike in particular.
Radar
Emily Maye: Rapha Team Sky Mallorca Photography
Photos by Emily Maye
On Friday, Rapha launched their Team Sky 2013 collection online, shot by photographer Emily Maye. As someone who will always credit his inspiration, I have to say that these are some of the best Rapha product photos to date. See the full photoset here.
