The Radavist

Man! What a year for the Town Hall bikes at Grinduro. There were nine bikes from builders on display, all the result of their ideal Grinduro rigs, and many of the brands took it as an opportunity to release some balleur builds. Take for instance this Breadwinner Cycles B Road, blinged out with custom Andrew the Maker bags made from Burberry fabric.

The result is one of my favorite Breadwinners to date, especially when you look at the complete build from a distance. It has panache!

E D D Y M E R K I N!

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The GR2 is the latest bike from Bend, Oregon’s Argonaut Cycles. After years of design, development, and testing, Ben and his team are finally rolling these capable models out the door. With a racing geometry, lightweight layup, and in-house paint, the GR2 is a veritable dream bike.

For Grinduro this year, Argonaut displayed this beautiful build with SRAM Red eTap, Zipp, and WTB 38mm tires.

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Adam Sklar wants to shake the negative connotations with the word “hybrid.” You see, Adam likes flat bar ‘cross bikes. He likes how shreddy they are and he always jokes about how people cringe at the word “hybrid.” For Grinduro this year, he brought a titanium bike, which I’m calling the Hybrid Moments. Partially because, well, it’s a hybrid and also because he’s never heard the song by the Misfits. Millennials!

Built with SRAM cah caw Eagle XX1, Zipp wheels, and those nifty new Paul Klamper Flat Mounts. What about that fork? Shhhhh!

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Grinduro is here! Beginning today in Quincy, California, smack dab in the Lost Sierra, the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship and Giro bring the fun to backroads and mountaintop singletrack in the Plumas National Forest. At the Town Hall, in the Quincy Fairgrounds, a selection of frame builders will display their work, as a collaboration with SRAM and Zipp. On the list is Portland’s Speedvagen, who brought along some extra eye candy, including this Surprise Me Road, with a striking, autumn-inspired paint job.

Built with Force 1 road, EE Cycleworks brakes, and ENVE, the rest of the details are there for you to see in this gallery, so enjoy!

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Just over a week ago, I was meant to be racing this bike, in my first ‘cross race in a very long time. The Friday night before the race, I pre-registered to make things go more smoothly on race day, and had everything ready to go. As it turns out, I wasn’t going to make it to that race.

If this bike were made for the 2018 NAHBS, it probably would have had a Shimano Steps system. A lot has changed since 2013, yet a lot is still the same. Trail builders need help accessing trail and over the years, I’ve taken a real liking to documenting trail working rigs, some as simple as mountain bikes with a BOB trailer, others built with custom racks to carry chainsaws and e-assist.

Moots made this bike in 2013 for NAHBS, alongside IMBA. It was at the height of the 29+ fad, so naturally, that’s what the bike sits on. It’s a true deep custom bike, with racks designed to carry trail tools like a collapsible shovel, and a geometry tuned for the extra weight but boy will you have to work for it! Even pedaling up to this little knoll above the Moots factory, I was short of breath. It’s easy to see how e-assist is a big helper in trail access!

Still, this bike has seen plenty of work days in and around Steamboat Springs and to this day, it stands as one of my favorite Moots to leave their facilities! I hope you enjoy!

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With companies like Moots, it’s not the branding, or legacy, or history, or name that makes the frames, it’s the people that work there. Both literally and figuratively. One of the job perks at Moots is the incredible employee purchase program, the details of which I’ll omit here, to save them from a flood of job applications. Joking aside, the company knows that the best product research and development can come from within and pride can often result from ownership. While the workers might not own Moots, each of them is part of the process. In today’s world, that means a lot, ATMO anyway.

The first thing that really struck me as I walked the floor of the production facilities was how many amazing employee bikes there were, of all makes and builds. From full on road bikes, to fatty all-road, mountain, commuter, and bikepacking setups. While my time was limited at Moots, I did my best to grab a few of these bikes and shoot details. The one that evaded my lens was Peter’s rim brake Psychlo X, which I don’t even want to describe here because it’ll make me cry! I suppose you’ve gotta leave something to look forward to on the next trip to Steamboat Springs. That and Taco Cabo!

I hope you enjoy this gallery, as much as these employees enjoy their commutes!

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When the Ramble Ride popped onto the horizon in my late summer travel and photo shoot plans, the guys at Moots offered up one of their prized models, the Baxter, for me to ride. Out of all their bikes in what I would consider a stout lineup, the Baxter is one that always stood out to me as the most versatile. The beauty about this bike platform is the Baxter is what you want it to be, although it’s designed to essentially be a drop bar 29’r. How you build it is up to you and there are options like with a suspension fork, or with a rigid fork, with or without a dropper post, and everything in between. Di2 or cable, double crankset or 1x, and now with the updated boosted rear spacing, compatibility with your “other” mountain bike wheelsets. The guys at Moots are great at constructing these frames, it’s just up to you to make them roll…

Second hand, custom, and larger sizes are hard to come by when it comes to a bike like this. You’ve really gotta be there at the right time, which is how John scored this sweet Moth Attack Rockin’ Road. Someone was selling it in Southern California, barely used and John jumped on it.

The beauty of a capable all-road bike is it can transport you from the inner city to more rural areas with ease and depending on the bike’s capabilities, you can ride everything from dirt roads to rugged Forest Service roads and even singletrack. In a city like Los Angeles, we’ve got a good mix of everything, and it wasn’t until I moved here that I realized this importance in a bike. For me and the kind of riding I enjoy, I prefer to be able to pedal out to the dirt from my front door.

Over the years, bikes that had only previously been available as a special order from a custom frame builder are slowly making their way into mainstream bike company’s catalogs. In that time, I’ve noticed a rather acute phenomenon, and most companies aren’t listening.

They’re not listening to what real, everyday cyclists are asking for. Who are they designing for? Who do they expect to buy their bikes? I’m not sure because I’ve seen a number of well-designed frames leave out crucial details that would make the bike from Brand X be the ultimate all-road bike, turned bikepacking bike, turned quiver killer.

Then there’s the Trek Checkpoint, which checks all the boxes, and I must say I was surprised when I saw it. After riding it on and off over the past few months, I’m finally ready to talk about this unique bike.

Greg’s Lone Wulf Blaze Bicycles Bikepacking Rig!
Photos and words by Kyle Kelley

Greg Turner the store manager at Bike Fiend and Pierre from Blaze Bicycles really wanted to turn heads at the 2017 NAHBS and by collaborating with local Moab artist Salley Hodges on this bike, I’m pretty sure they did! I personally wasn’t at the 2017 NAHBS, but how could this paint not turn heads!?!

Joe’ DKXL Prototype Salsa Cycles Warbird Carbon
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk

Joe’s proto Warbird has taken what Salsa has learned from their athletes and staff to refine what was already a fast gravel bike and give it some new features. The fork/frame is all new but with added versatility like dynamo routing in the fork, fender mounts, and a much cleaner Di2 setup.

Joe has already raced the DKXL aboard the new bird, proof that the new bike is ready to rip some gravel. This bike doesn’t just look fast, it is, but stays comfy over the roughest of b-roads thanks to the 2nd generation updated vibration reduction system. Aside from the entire suite of SRAM parts, including Zipp wheels, and SRAM Drivetrain and Brakes, the left lever can operate his dropper mid-race if needed making this, the most capable Warbird yet.

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Saffron Frameworks’ Bulleit Beauty Won the Bespoked 2018 Best in Show
Words by Matthew Sowter

We were approached by Bulleit to work on a project with the aim of celebrating the alliance between two craft companies. The idea was to produce a bicycle that would reflect them as a brand (bourbon), and Saffron’s style.

Bulleit is a clean and smooth Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, first produced in 1830. It was exciting to be chosen for such a project, and to be given total freedom with the design. We decided upon a gravel bike, and created a contemporary frame, by mixing old-school methods and materials with more modern approaches. The idea was to align with Bulleit’s traditional distilling process.

You can tell a lot about a cycling brand based on what the owner or proprietor rides. In this case, we take a look at Mosaic Cycles‘ owner and builder, Aaron Barcheck’s own RT1 disc road built with ENVE, Zipp, and SRAM. This weekend, the brand is coming to Los Angeles, to kick-off the Cub House as being a new dealer for Mosaic and with it, Aaron himself, along with his bike will be here to ride in the endless summer heat.

Speaking of heat, will you just look at that thing! Propped up against the backdrop that is the San Gabriel mountains, surrounded by Chaparral, with its Spectrum powder coat glistening in the sun, and raw titanium “braggers triangle” showing off its frame material. Bikes like this need very little description since they stand on their own.

Stay tuned for details of the Cub House party this weekend!

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