The Radavist

Long and slack gravel bikes are popping up everywhere. John’s Sklar is a good example, as is the Evil Chamois Hagar, even as polarizing as that bike is, it brought the long and slack ideology to the mainstream. Nordest just announced their Super Albarda Ti gravel bike and it looks like a beast. With a 68º head angle and a longer reach, designed for 50mm to 70mm stems, it’s onto something. Plus, it’s titanium, THE best material for all-terrain riding. Hands down. These frames retail for 1.156,20 € – 1.280,17 € and have a 10-week lead time. See more at Nordest.

Specs:
-Frame TITANIUM Ti3AL2.5V double butted tubing
-Long reach for use 50mm to 70mm stem
-Nordest 50mm stem,include with frame
-Wheels up to 650b 2.10 or 700x50c
-Interchangable dropouts, include with frame
-For 12x142mm thru axle rear hub
-Thru axle 12×1.75mm, include with frame
-For 27.2mm seatpost
-Seatclamp 31.8mm, include with frame
-46T max chainring in 1x or 50T/34/ in 2x
-TR44 head tube
-Weight for M/L size: 1.845 g
-Design for 400mm taper fork with 52mm Rake

James and Pete from Upshift Velo take on an amazing 100-mile route heading out from Backyard Bike Shop to Kielder reservoir and back including some of the Dirty Reiver route. 50/50 road and gravel, but surely some of the most premium gravel riding there is to be had in the country.

Perthshire Gravel worked on this lovely project, titled Drovers:

“Filmed on the Drovers Trail, a new 331-km-long gravel bikepacking route in Scotland, ‘Drovers’ tells the story of the ancient drove roads, an important part of Scottish history, which inspired Scotland’s greatest writers like Burns and Scott. The new video from round the world singlespeed cyclist and film-maker Markus Stitz follows him on his adventure on the route, retracing the footsteps of the cattle drovers on their journey from the Cairngorms through the Tay Valley to Crieff, which became Scotland’s most important cattle market in the end of the 17th century.”

When the return of Chater Lea was announced last year, we honestly had no idea what to expect from one of the UK’s most famous names in component manufacturing. Like you, we had a lot of questions. Well, today we’ve got answers to those very questions, with full product spec and high res photos of the finished product and even a retail price, so read on below for all the details…

It’s not often you get photos like James’ in the Readers’ Rides email box. It’s not the bike shots I’m talking about either, check out that rider portrait! So good. Let’s let James describe his Temple prototype in his own words for this week’s Readers’ Rides…

Made in their Leytonstone, East London workshop, in small batches, the new Groadinger UG frame from Stayer Cycles offers up a modern gravel geometry, frame details for ultra-versatile builds, and a beautiful finish, with a wishbone seat stay. Stayer offers these new frames in two build kits as well with the ultra-sporty HOPE superfast Grav Grav build (pictured above) or the Danglemug realness double camo build (pictured below) with an olive drab paint and a double crankset.

Pricing for a frameset with either a Ritchey or Whisky fork begins at £1,650.00, with a pre-order opened now. The next batch of UGs will be ready to paint the last week of August 2020. The Stayer pre-order will close on August 1st.

Head to Stayer Cycles to see more!

Hope is great at many things, the first being their ability to machine some of the nicest parts right in the UK and the second being nailing all the anodizing colors you could want. Their new colored center-lock lockrings offer a splash of color to your disc brake bike. They’re compatible with 15mm thru-axles, weigh 9.5g and are in stock now. Head to Hope to see more.

Next month, Cotic will have the new SolarisMAX in stock. While the geometry is only receiving a minor update – a 0.5deg steeper seat angle per size – the biggest update comes in its cargo capacity. More bosses have been added to the downtube, all at 64mm centers. This allows more versatile luggage and water options, as you can now carry two bottles on the down tube (as before), or a bottle with Anything Cage 3 boss mount style luggage, or just one bottle high up the tube within easy reach. You can also add a Cotic custom shaped frame bag for bikepacking.

Head to Cotic to reserve your SolarisMAX and to see more info.

While we’ve been working chronologically on these Readers’ Rides submissions, when I saw Samuel’s email, titled “What about shaved faces and skinny slicks?” I had to peek inside. What I found was a truly unique Readers’ Rides submission, so we bumped it to the front of the queue with words and photos by Samuel. Enjoy!

Last summer 4 friends took on the South Downs Way – an ancient 100-mile ridgeline that spans the southeast coast of England. Starting in Winchester and finishing in East Bourne the historic chalk path has over 3500m of climbing and not a car in sight, just rolling steep hills as far as the eye can see. The South Downs was the training ground of UK cycling legend Sean Yates, the third UK rider to wear the Yellow Jersey. Now his son Liam Yates carries on the tradition, joined by mates Neil Philips, Sophie Edmondson, and Anna Mcleod. In these strange times of isolation, this short film is a reminder to all of the simple joys of cycling with friends. A joy that for the time being must remain a memory. Please do not travel to the South Downs during this period of lockdown, it is a beautiful ancient land and it isn’t going anywhere.

For more content and information head to Wahoo

Wizard Works used a very UK material for their new collaboration products. This dry wax canvas is produced by British Milleraine, who has been making wax canvas in the UK since 1880. This move wasn’t just an aesthetic choice, as British Milleraine uses zero waste and water use in the wax process, and the fabric is free from fluorinated carbons often found in water repellent fabrics.

There are five Lil Presto! Barrel Bag and five Voila! Snack Bags available on 6pm BST Monday, June 1st for £70 each, so set your alarms!

CHPT3 and Restrap have pulled together a collaboration, featuring CHPT3’s Devesa pattern, inspired by the bark of the trees in Girona. These bags feature monotone patterning with a bright orange label. Three Restrap products, the Canister Bag, Tool Roll, and classic Musette Bag, are screen printed by hand and laser cut in-house. See more information at Restrap!

Like their 27.5 Bfe hardtail, the Cotic BFeMax is a trail-ready hardtail, just built around 29er x 2.6″ wheels and a massive, 160mm fork. The strength of this frame relies on trusty Reynolds 853 for the downtube and Cotic’s signature detailing, including their plate brake bridge, triple triangle seat tube cluster, and oversized tubing.

The geometry is progressive but still very moderate compared to where other companies have taken MTB geo over the years.

These bikes look great, so hop on over to Cotic to see more details.

Every town has a community, a gathering place, and local digs. Videos like this allow us to peer inside places we’ve never been before and for that, I commend videographers for creating these vignettes. Orange Trike Media made this as an homage to Clara Vale, a small former coal-mining village in the north-east part of the UK, with a population of 200. Yet, even with a small population, there is a booming MTB scene. They ride every Tuesday no matter what, on their amazing network of local trails…

Mudhugger is known for their MTB fenders, yet today they announced a set of gravel fenders (front and rear) to arrive in June. To reduce plastic waste and make removing and refitting easier, these GravelHugger fenders are supplied with nitrile O-rings (70mm sizes for flat blade type and 50mm for traditional round steel forks). Of course, you can always use zip ties if you’d prefer to fit and leave on at all times. Check out more on the GravelHugger front and rear at Mudhugger.

Specs:
-Helitape supplied to protect inside of forks where the GravelHugger could scratch the paint.
-Suitable for 700c and 650b wheels Max tire width 50mm (depending on wheel/tyre combination).
-Weight 75g. Length 520mm width 60mm
-Designed, made, and packed in the UK from 100% recycled polypropylene which can be recycled again.

Like all of us, Tommy had some downtime caused by an unprecedented Pandemic, and the first huge global disaster. He put together a montage of old clips that seemed to work together to reflect how he feels about cycling, the environment, land use, and community.

First of all, we’d like to thank all of you who have submitted Readers Rides builds to be shared over here. The response has been incredible, with hundreds already in our email box. I’m not sure how often we’ll be posting them but I figured we’d start it off this week with Tom’s Singular Peregrine fat tire randonneur…