The Radavist

Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…

Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…

At this year’s Unbound, Shimano will be unveiling its new GRX Limited group, which offers silver components for drop bar and flat bar GRX kits. It’s been a while since a big brand offered up a brand new, high-end group in silver, so as you might have guessed, we’re stoked to share this news with you.

To commemorate this special moment, Shimano pinged ten framebuilders to showcase this new kit, so let’s look at each of the builders’ creations below…

Today, we’re pleased to host the latest to roll from The Vanilla Workshop and Speedvagen, a titanium rim brake road bike dubbed the Autumn Road.

Speedvagen has always been about serious racing machines with beautiful hues and paint schemes that are rarely seen in the bike world. Tied together by great stories, hard rides, and good friends. From the gun, there was that dichotomy of a beautiful machine produced from grit and grime, with trusty old tools.

It’s ingrained in us and our roots and our employees’ roots. Sacha and Woody were bike messages during their formative years. Most of us spent the majority of our earlier years on either BMX bikes or Skateboards. These gritty beginnings influenced us from the start, up until this day.

Coming into our shop feels a bit like heading to a show, there’s a buzz, a vibe, energy. When it’s on, things just flow and it’s a damn party of getting shit done. Wanting to end the year on a strong note, we wanted to capture this energy and feeling and put it into one unit.  How do you touch on our beginnings, where our heads are now, and what’s inspiring our future?

What does that look like in bike form?

The Speedvagen Rugged Road just got a bit more rugged thanks to the RockShox Rudy XPLR fork and a flashy new Ivan Stewart inspired paint job. The Speedvagen Rugged’er Road is The Vanilla Workshop taking the Rugged Road platform up to 11. Bigger tires, up to 700x50s, 30mm of suspension, and all the details of custom Rugged Road framesets. This beaut has tons of details, so head over to Speedvagen to see them all.

If there is one thing this year has taught us, it is that we need to embrace the alternative now more than ever. With a parts shortage and global pandemic, this year has tossed all it had at us. Instead of going silent and resting on what we have built, we decided to push harder and be more creative than ever, launching a bike every single month, despite these challenges. This led us to full year of trying new parts, new finishes, and having more fun, which is what this is supposed to be all about right?…

This year Speedvagen is doing something a little different with their Urban Racer coaster brake bike. For one, the coaster brake has been upgraded to a Moné Bad Ass Coaster Wheel. Then it also got three different build kits: a drop bar with big ass tires (pictured here – $4150), the same build kit but with moto riser bars ($4395), and then the original Urban Racer with slicks and a fillet brazed bar/stem ($4500). Of course these bikes feature all the Speedvagen accouterment, including the Berserker dropouts, chain guard, and more. The biggest aesthetic change this year, however, has got to be the matching cerakote paint and components.

These new Urban Racers are built in batches of 11, awaiting orders to be sent off to their new home. Head on over to Speedvagen to see more.

Can I just say “wow” one more time?

One of the most interesting parts of Speedvagen is seeing how individuals can bring their own riding style, perspectives, and ideas to the brand and push us in new directions.

Think back to Sacha and the Urban Racer. Richard and the GTFO, Glenn and the AFF, and now Bradford and his baby the Speedvagen Custom Rando.

Last summer early in the pandemic we hired Bradford Smith to build frames. While that was a crazy time to start new, he’s taking to the role exceptionally well and has been a staple in developing new ideas. His excitement for bike and riding is unlike anyone we have ever seen.

Bradford’s riding style is just different than that of an average cyclist and he thrives in the Ultra Endurance category and cyclocross, a strange mixture on opposite ends of the spectrum. Brad is known to do some pretty wild rides like completing 1200 Km (750 miles) Paris-Brest-Paris in 48hours of moving time. Finishing the Trans America bike race in 11th place and many more long-distance adventures.

The Rando is his influence and thoughts on how a bike should ride, combined with all of classic SV signature touches, seat stays, geo, materials, technology, and style.

The Rando

-Three Cerekote colors Army, Terracotta, Titanium Blue
-Custom Geo
-Custom Steel Fork
-Custom Built-in House rack.
-Ruthworks Bag
-Lighting Package featuring SON dynamo hub and Supernova E3 lights
-Painted to match Honjo fenders
-T47 BB

Turn around time depends on when parts arrive. We order all parts soon as you confirm your order, but in all honesty, if you are buying a custom bike right now be patient.

Deposit $1000 (deducted from the total price).

After a year off from racing, everyone is more stoked than ever to say #crossiscoming. Over at Speedvagen, they’re so excited that for the first time they are offering Ready Made Cyclocross Team Editions as Frame-sets only. This is in part due to the supply shortages plaguing the industry.

Cyclocross was the beginning of Speedvagen and cross bikes are still among their favorite bikes. Light and nimble, ready to get rowdy. Not over-built like most “gravel” bikes today. A pure cross bike is something magical. Sacha has always said if he had to pick a bike for the apocalypse it would be a single-speed cyclocross bike.

THE RMCXTED Frameset Specs:
-Two Super Sparkly Paint Schemes, New for 2021 Team Blue or our traditional Team White
-Stock sizing 50-58cm
-Enve CX Fork
-Enve Post Head
-Enve Stem
-PF30 or T47 shell (single speed or geared)
-Turn around time 5-6 mo
-Deposit $1000 (deducted from the total price)

Speedvagen just announced their 2021 Surprise Me paint job, dubbed “the Painter’s Proof”, inspired by printing registration marks. This might be the most intense Surprise Me to date, so to read all the details, drop on into the Speedvagen Blog…

The Speedvagen Readymade program returns for 2021 but due to the pandemic, it required some new requirements for this popular program. Right now, Speedvagen is taking deposits for the Drop Bar GTFO and the Disc-OG bikes. A deposit of $1,000 is required to get get the ball rolling and only 11 of each bike model are available. Check out all the information below and if you like what you see, place your deposit at Speedvagen.

We’re not gloating but we do want to make a post congratulating the democratic process. Good on ya, America! That said, we have a lot of work to do to re-unite this country.