The Radavist

To call Martin from Second Spin Cycles a “collector” doesn’t do his operation justice. When I think of bicycle collectors, I picture hoarders stacking NOS parts for the sake of their own enjoyment, often shutting off their acquisitions from the real world, while only allowing members of various online forums the sneak peek inside, via photos. Maybe that’s an exaggeration but personally, I feel a great amount of indifference to people who hoard bicycles and components. Unless they’re riding them…

Yesterday we took a look inside Second Spin Cycles and Martin’s stock of vintage mountain frames and accessories. Today, we’re going to look at four of his bikes in detail, all of which I felt were very unique. I’ve done my best to include Martin’s synopsis for each bike, along with some details which surprised even me. As with everything in this gallery, you can head to Second Spin Cycles’ blog for more information.

A few months back, the guys at Team Dream Team came up with the idea of doing a bicycle show during their next swap meet. The call went out to all of Los Angeles for cyclists to bring in their best bicycle for display. Coinciding with a swap meet, people would be able to haggle for new parts, BBQ, and ogle the many noble steeds that would parade their way to South Pasadena for the show.

On Saturday, the event went down, bringing in some serious beauts. Including, but not limited to Tinker Juarez’s old Klein, a resurrected De Rosa Joe Bell restoration, a 1993 Chris Carmichael Motorola Merckx TT bike from the Tour, road bikes, all-road bikes, vintage road and kooky, one-of-a-kind show stoppers.

Many thanks to the folks at the Cub House for throwing this shindig and to everyone who made it happen!

Hanging with Charlie Kelly at the Marin Museum of Bicycling!
Photos and words by Kyle Kelley

When in Marin you better make it a point to do one of two things. The first thing I’d recommend is going on a ride and taking a stab at the world record Repack decent of 4:22 still held by Gary Fisher on a Klunker! The second thing I’d recommend is getting over to the Marin Museum of Bicycling! If you have time, I’d even suggest you do them both. I would even go as far to say that you should ride down from the mountains straight into the museum, high on Klunker stoke, knowing that you just rode the fire roads where legends were born.

I was unable to go on a ride because of time, but will most definitely be up in the coming Spring to give Gary Fisher a run for his money. Sean from Team Dream and I were visiting Northern California to attend one of our good friend’s wedding around the Point Reyes area, it was a quick trip so there was no riding in our cards, but we definitely made the time for the Marin Museum of Bicycling.

For Lemond fans, few models hold the same cult-classic appeal like the 1990 Team Z TVT Carbone race bikes. Made in France by TVT these aluminum and carbon machines were made famous by their bright fluorescent paint jobs, Team Z insignia and Scott racing cockpit. Yes, these bikes are legendary. There are even Lemond fansites walking collectors through the process of building up this very bike.

Dan at Shifter Bikes took on this project for a customer, who sourced Campagnolo C-Record, the Scott bars, NOS hubs and hoops, allowing dan to assemble this bike over a two-year timeline. As you can imagine, projects like this are not cheap and are labor-intensive but like all good projects, they’re worth the wait.

The finished project is road-worthy, with latex filled tubies, allowing for peace of mind on a Sunday spin.

It’s been over years since I’ve been to Australia, so I made a point to connect with a few of my mates in Melbourne while en route to Tasmania. One of which being Dan Hale at Shifter Bikes, a bicycle studio in South Yarra. Two years ago I shot some photos of a rare gold plated Eddy Merckx Professional at Shifter Bikes and on this recent trip, I got to document the bike, built from the ground up with a Campagnolo 50th group.

While most bikes of this rarity would end up on the wall, the owner of this Merckx enjoys riding it , hence the modern pedals and non-period correct seat post. I suppose when you come across a frame like this, you’ve gotta do what you can to make it road-worthy (just ignore the front tire) and the result is a bike with a patina that comes from years of continued use.

Second Spin Cycles’ 1985 Yeti Built and Sold by John Parker
Photos by John Watson and words by Martin Kozaczek

Unless you’ve lived in a cave for the past 30 years you’ve probably heard of Yeti Cycles. Not much has changed in that time. The bikes are still turquoise and still made to go fast. Yeti has always stuck to its foundation in racing, and the alumni roster reads like a list on the wall in the Hall of Fame, with names like Tomac, Furtado and Graves just to name a few. Yeti outlasted most of its competition during those years as their bikes have evolved only enough to ensure they are as fast as their racers. Unlike some bike companies that either don’t embrace their past and culture or don’t have one to really rally around, Yeti is all about their history and more importantly, their tribe. If you’ve been to their HQ or one of their annual Tribe gatherings you’re likely to see some of the more significant bikes from their past. That lineup is soon to be joined by the bike featured here, which is the first Yeti ever sold!!! The story goes a little something like this. John Parker bought out the tooling for 26” BMX “Motocruiser” stalwart Bicycle Bob Wilson and his Sweetheart Cycles brand, and welded up 3-5 bikes. Needing a new name to distinguish his new bike from a Motocruiser, he chose Yeti, named after a sleeping bag he liked. This is the first bike he sold under the Yeti name from the storefront window of Emily K’s bicycle clothing store in Santa Barbara, CA. It was purchased by a young woman who owned it until just a couple years ago when a chance encounter with John at a motorcycle show reunited the bike with its maker.