We’re here in Portland, covering the 2023 MADE Bike Show, looking for bikes that we thought you, the readers of The Radavist would appreciate. Josh and John have been scouring the halls of the show for bikes to document, and we’ve got Part 05 of our coverage for you to enjoy…
Thanks to 1-Up USA for sponsoring our continued 2023 MADE Bike Show coverage!
Amigo Frameworks Earth Sucks Road Bike
A late night HAM Radio transmission led to an accidental crash landing of a miscreant extraterrestrial called “Ralph.” After a short heated situation where he took Zach Small owner of Amigo Frameworks hostage, he was won over by a shared love for delinquency, graffiti and cranking foamers.
After a budding friendship ensued Ralph divulged top secret alien technology to Amigo in order to create a rocket ship to get off this rock. Ralph has determined that “Earth Sucks” and that for the chosen few that want to join the “Away Team” they too can leave this stinking place. Musk, Bezos, Branson all have craft to get off this rock and so should you. This “Spaceship for the People” designed by two delinquent aliens and produced on space ship earth for the masses, is ready to blast off. Leave Earth Now! And join the “Earth Sucks Away Team!”
Black Magic Paint and Mosaic Cycles RT-1 ITR
On a bike like this, hands must have touched it 1000 times. Black Magic Paint’s elaborate multi-medium frame treatments were on full display at MADE but the Portland-based painters stopped the show with this Mosaic Cycles RT-1 ITR disc road bike. “I wanted it to look like bats flying… on psychedelics” said Rudi Jung, the owner of the company. He and his team underwent a meticulous process that involved cerakote, wet paint, and hand-painted mountains.
It all started with extensive masking and a cerakote coating at the bottom bracket and chainstays. Then a pearl white was applied, followed by yellow pearl to blue candy fade. The whole frame was then unmasked and another fade was added. Rudi and Ben then applied another masking job, so Brian Proud could hand-paint the mountainscape, which was inspired by a mountain range in California off of Interstate 5. Once that was done, a blue crystal clear was applied. The amount of time and energy that goes into these paintjobs is staggering yet the end product is something to behold.
Thanks for everything, team!
Chumba Cycles Singlespeed Sendero Ti
The Sendero is Chumba’s hardtail MTB, and since John’s review, the brand has begun to offer up titanium framesets. This frame was welded in-house by Mark Combs, Chumba’s lead framebuilder, for Vince, Chumba’s co-owner, who loves singlespeed riding in Austin.
Chumba’s chainstay yoke keeps the drivetrain and tire clearance tolerances in check, while rattle-free internal routing keeps the lines clean and the in-house anodizing is just the icing on the cake. Minimal. Precise. Clean. That’s the name of the game.
Coconino Cycles Rigid Klunker
While we’re typically focused on show bikes displayed in the event halls, every once in a while a special one rolls through the doors with an attendee. When we saw this Coconino Cycles fully custom rigid klunker-style mountain bike, with a rich history, we had to document it. Built by legendary Flagstaff, AZ-based fabricator Steve Garro, this bike was made for Steve’s longtime friend Yod Branch. Yod and Steve found the rare 30.0mm Campy seatpost seen on this bike years ago and thought, at some point, it would be cool to build a bike around it.
The frame is fillet-brazed in Steve’s recognizable style, but where Steve would usually smooth his welds to a glassy finish, these were left unfiled. Another of Yod’s friends, Wade formerly of Vulture Cycles and now works for Argonaut in Bend, OR, made the recognizable stem signified with the word “NECK.” Bars are from Mone Bikes, who also advised Yod on the brushing and prep methods before clear-coating the raw frame. Thanks to Yod and Wade for your excitement around this awesome Coconino!
English Cycles Homage Pace EC 100 Rigid MTB
Get ready to have your hair blown back because this English Cycles tribute bike is really something else. During the late 1980s and into the early 90s, British brand Pace Cycles was making square-tubed bikes out of aluminum with composite forks that had steel blades attached to an aluminum crown. Also, during this era, Pace was using a one-piece stem and steerer that bolted to the steerer tube. Growing up in the UK, Rob English always admired these old Pace framesets and implemented elements of them on his own builds, including the integrated stem/steerer. So, when he found a new old stock Pace aluminum fork crown on eBay, he decided to build a bike around it.
Because English works in steel, he sourced square chromoly tubing and figured out a process for machining it, and solving other problems like designing a square seatpost clamp for a round tube. In the end, the bike is a homage to a 1988 Pace RC-100, but with modern geometry and components.
Can you guess why the top tube is labeled “EC-100” rather than “RC-100”?
Horse Cycles Hound 27.5 Hardtail MTB
Thomas from Horse Cycles displayed a stunning new model at MADE. The New York based artist and framebuilder unveiled the brand’s latest model, the Hound. This 27.5″-wheeled MTB is T-Type compatible, thanks to the Rizzo dropouts, features a unique downtube kink to allow for more framebag space if you want to go a little further into the backcountry.
What really caught our eye was Thomas’ integration of the Australian bedliner, Raptor Coating. Anyone who follows 4WD channels on YouTube from Down Under will know this stuff. It’s a durable spray-on surface treatment that Aussies spray onto their barwork. It withstands abrasion, rocks, and heavy use. Which makes it perfect the the underside of a mountain bike downtube and chainstays. The incorporation of Raptor on a hardtail was one of the unique moments events like MADE provides. Well done, mate.
Liberation Fabrication Y’all-Road
Eva from Liberation Fabrication had a couple of serious head-turners on hand this year and we were smitten with the Y’all Road for both its incredible design and the philosophy behind it. Eva, who didn’t grow up using the primarily southern term “y’all,” now finds it to be “an explicit statement of inclusion” which is a common thread through all Liberation Fabrication bikes, including the Y’all-Road. “It’s a bike frame that is inclusive in its sizing, utility, and versatility. The Y’all Road frame sees ALL of you and can’t wait to be ridden everywhere.”
Liberation Fabrication’s website thoroughly outlines the design and philosophy of this bike, which we highly recommend checking out. The general gist is that it will come in seven stock sizes (that’s right – SEVEN), making it as inclusive as possible, while custom sizing will be available for riders that are outside of the range free of charge.
The Y’all-Road fits a variety of wheel/tire sizes, and is available in three stock colors with a variety of build kits including forks (with rack integrations and dynamo routing), fenders, and component options. Orders will open very soon so keep an eye on Liberation Fab’s Instagram and website!
Manzanita Cycles Rigid 29er MTB
Reno-based Manzanita Cycles was a first-time bike showcased, and the brand displayed a bike designed for heavy-duty off-road touring. Manzanita specced stouter tubing than its normal rigid or hardtail MTBs to compensate for a fully loaded haul. The client likes to go deeper into the backcountry, and so the frame space was optimized for a large, custom Rogue Panda framebag.
A custom chainstay yoke keeps clearances optimized and a bashguard on the DT protects a critical frame juncture, while offering a cargo cage mounting area. The custom fork is supplied with rack and cargo bosses but it was the jaw-dropping Dark Matter Paint job, inspired by starry nights out while camping that caught our eye.
Sklar Bikes Tall Tale Production 29er Hardtail
The Tall Tale is Sklar’s new production hardtail mountain bike, unveiled as a raw prototype at MADE. This capable and reliable trail bike is for everyday riding, the biggest adventures, and everything in between.
Mountain bikes are where it all began for Sklar and through building hundreds of custom mountain bikes in the past decade the brand became one of the small builders pushing progressive modern mountain bike geometry. Various Sklar frames over the years experimented with those long, low geometry numbers and learned a lot about how to make a bike handle well and also how to make it still feel like a bike you are used to. There are lots of geometry tall tales out there – going full progressive for progressiveness’ sake. This Tall Tale is informed by the most progressive geometry but planted in the fun and familiar.
This bike is a great tool for quick after-work rides with friends or spending all day on big weekend adventures. It is a nice balance between fun new-school geometry and familiar capability for an all-day affair. It is not a 6” trail bike that flies down hills but drags going up, nor is it an XC race rig that climbs like a breeze but lacks stability in descent. Sklar has refined geometry and materials to create a mountain bike that truly does it all. A Sweet Spot, if you will.
The Tall Tale is built with the finest materials available for superior ride quality and features details like our in-house designed chainstay yoke for an ideal chainstay length, asymmetrical chainstays for a dialed-in ride quality, and Sklar’s signature ovalized top tube. No brand name labels on our tubing, we just choose the best materials for the job.
Look for the Tall Tale pre-order this spring and sign up for Sklar’s newsletter for updates on the Tall Tale page.
Tomii Cycles Custom Road Bike
Nao Tomii from Austin, Texas brought a stunning CdM-splatter (campione del mondo) classic road bike to MADE, equipped with rim brake Di2 12 speed and unobtanium NOS ENVE rim brake wheels. The frame features Tomii’s signature saguaro embellishments, Tomii turquoise stem cap/bar ends, direct-mount eeBrakes, a stunning splatter paint job, and a custom-machined and painted Silca frame pump.
What did he do to make this a custom-machined Silca, you ask? Well, there are four CdM colors, but the Silca pump handles only have three machined bands, so Nao turned another band on his lathe to hand-paint all four colors. Then, to up the ante, since 12-speed Di2 rim brake kits require a cable to run from the shifter to the front derailleur, Nao routed it through the bars, stem, headtube, and downtube to make it extra clean. If you’re looking for perfection, this is it.
We’ll be back tomorrow with another stacked gallery of bikes from MADE, so stay tuned!
Let us know your favorite in the comments!
Thanks to 1-Up USA for supporting our continued coverage of the 2023 MADE Bike Show. Check out 1-UP’s made in the USA bike racks.