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Mattia from Legor Cicli and Franka from MAAD Cycling were at the Eroica California weekend, at the tail end of their trip to California this past week. In tow were a handful of beautiful Legor Cicli bikes, ranging from a classic Eroica road bike, a rowdy MTB tandem, a true chubby road, and this modern road bike. Each has unique details and a presence that demanded photographic portraits.
Fire is nature’s way of redesigning. A way to rewrite the present landscape and while the process is painful, oftentimes, the landscape is rejuvenated. Coastal California is tricky though due to its chapparal ground cover along the mountainsides. You see, chapparal – a coastal low-lying shrub – is old growth and when it’s burnt, the soil loses its stability, causing horrific mudslides. Once the chapparal is gone, there’s nothing else to hold all that dirt together. There aren’t really trees or forests like in other parts of the country along these hills and mountainsides, rather the trees find refuge in the canyons, where they can be more protected, although, with the past few years in California, there seems to be no refuge from fires.
Like many of the local riding areas in Santa Barbara, Refugio burnt a few years ago in the Serpa Fire, engulfing the fire road and hillsides, charring it to the ground. As with most fires, mudslides followed, wiping out El Capitan Ranch in the process. Local efforts have brought the area back, making this epic dirt climb ridable again. Many people say it’s better than ever. Perhaps it was the rebirth of Santa Barbara’s trails and roads that prompted Stinner Frameworks to update their Refugio all road model. Or maybe that’s just a correlation I came up with, either way, a redesign, and improvement is always good when it comes to a bicycle frame, especially one that stays close to its roots, post-burn.
Salsa hasn’t had a true road bike in their lineup for some time now. Sure, they have the Warbird, which is a gravel racing road bike, but with that, comes a more stable geometry with a longer wheelbase. The Warroad is a straight up endurance road bike, with two wheel sizes and multiple build kit options. Warroad is a new platform for Salsa, designed to take on chunky, imperfect asphalt, with what Salsa is calling their “Endurance Road Geometry.”
The Passo Giau was an unpaved mule track until 1986 when it was finally paved. The Col Collective looks at this daunting, 16km long, 2,236m summit.
Taking the success of their OG-1 road bike completes and bringing it to the next level, Speedvagen has just announced their Disc OG road. These bikes are sold as completes only, with a Shimano group of your choice and are tuned to be a precise ride or race bike with no frills.
Think of it as a workhorse, not a showhorse.
Check out all the info on build kit and options below.
No cable bosses, no frame drillings for wires, nada. Just a Pure Road bike made from titanium. Why Cycles wanted to make a road frame, designed specifically for SRAM’s eTap AXS group, tripping it of bosses and focusing on the frame’s details and construction. With clearance for a 32mm tire, it’s a straight-up road machine. Head to Why Cycles for pricing and availability options.
A little while back, All-City reached out to me to shoot their new Cosmic Stallion, with one request, it does not look like Los Angeles in the backdrop. Being a geological nerd, I have a list of weird zones surrounding LA’s sprawling megacity footprint that I’ve either found or have known about since moving there in 2015, one of which being Vasquez Rocks, a popular backdrop for Hollywood SciFi movies…
Averaging just under 8% and totally 1,715 metres in elevation, the Luz Ardiden is anything but your standard climb.
Up on Mt. Lemmon in Arizona, a rider has an unexpected run-in with a deer.
Remember Nukeproof’s digger? Well, here’s a video of Elliot Heap shredding it!
Holy Gaiole!!!
Photos and words by Kyle Kelley
l’Eroica Gaiole has always been a dream of mine. Since the early days of Tracko I would fantasize about traveling to Italy with only two things: a vintage Cinelli and a 35mm film camera. I hadn’t yet been outside of the United States and was young, dumb, and thought I could get anything done. Looking back, I probably would have forgotten to bring film. I was most definitely a bit naive back then.
A group of riders takes on the mountain passes between the two European towns of Bergamo and Munich.
Today was the Cub House’s third annual bike show and swap. While we’ll look at the show itself tomorrow, I couldn’t wait to share the winning bike from the show, this Medici-built Carnevale Road bike. Now, with all bikes like this, there is a backstory. Ralph Carnevale was a major dealer of Medici Bicycles in Southern California in the 70’s and 80’s. His shop sold so many Medici bikes that the Masi-spinoff builder made a whole line of Carnevale Bicycles for Ralph.
FYXO is our mate down in Straya and he just posted a route with photos from a mixed terrain ride in the Victorian Alps. This zone is one of my favorite places to ride a drop bar bike with exceptional views, lush rain forests, fauna galore, and punishing climbs. Head to FYXO to check out the story and head to the FYXO Web Shop to see the new Distract kits in Verde and Arancia.
When All-City first developed the Mr. Pink, they wanted to deliver a classic steel road bike, made from Columbus ZONA tubing, with a Shimano kit for under $2,000. In fact, that number came in at $1,799. Last month, All-City lowered the MSRP on Mr. Pink completes to $1,499, with the framesets being reduced from $999 to $850, sparking me to finally shoot Mike’s “Kiwi Green” Mr. Pink with Campagnolo Chorus. This is not an advertisement, I just wanted to share the news and get you into your local shop to check one out.
When it comes to production steel road bikes, the Mr. Pink is one of the finer specimens. The model’s latest color grabbed Mike from Golden Saddle‘s attention, as it matched some components had had laying around including some green Chris King bits, as well as some PAUL skewers and a Turquoise King headset. The boys at the shop like to ride bikes that they sell, so when potential customers ask them questions, they can reply with honest answers.
Luciano’s Velo Playa Larga GIOS Torino
Photos and words by Sean Talkington
I’m often drawn to things that are just the right amount of “thrashed”. That includes old cars, buildings, and even people look a lot more interesting with some character brought on from age. Of all the old things that pique my interest, bicycles might be on the top of the list.
There is something really honest about an old, weathered bike, and steel bikes are probably the best suited for “patina.” They’re probably the ONLY bikes that can look just as appealing after a lot of use versus a spotless new version. I seriously doubt it will be cool to see banged up old carbon S-Works in 30 years, but I guess you never know. I mean, as a kid everyone told me to save my baseball cards, so I did, and now they are worth nearly nothing. I’ve been lugging these things around for my entire adult life for literally no reason. I haven’t cared about baseball cards since I was probably twelve years old, yet I continue to drag 10,000 of them around like a 300-pound ship anchor. On the other hand, the Walkman I thrashed as a kid and secondhand Oakley Frogskins my friend Travis gifted me for my birthday are collectible. WTF!?
Leave it on the Road’s Desert Bear: a Ride from Joshua Tree to LA
Words by Crystal Haggard and Bianca Pettinicchi, photos by Jordan Clark Haggard
On Saturday, November 10th, seven women embarked on an epic desert journey to help fund cutting edge cancer cell and gene therapy research. They navigated the arid landscape from Joshua Tree to Los Angeles, following a route, and more importantly, their hearts. A ride to remember, with a noble goal – help raise $100,000 to fund cancer cell gene therapy.
Bryan Hollingsworth started Royal H Cycles in 2008. It’s now his 10-year anniversary of the company and at the Philly Bike Expo, he brought just the bike to celebrate, a deep purple sparkle-painted disc all road with elegant lines and modern functionality.
While the SRAM Red eTap, Easton Wheels, Zipp components, a Columbus fork, and Cane Creek Headset make for a completely balleur build, the detail in the wishbone seat stay steals the show. What a way to celebrate 10 years of framebuilding!
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