The Radavist

MinneCycle 2017: Northern Frameworks All Road with Dura Ace
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk

I first heard of Northern Frameworks when it was just a whisper. Josh from Angry Catfish and Alex from A-Train Cycles decided to team up for a new custom frame brand to be sold in-house at the shop. The first time I saw one in person I was stoked: custom made steel bikes that keep the Twin Cities proud.

Northern Frameworks produces a bike with clean lines, tailored fit, and brilliant paint. The build on this bike is just as good as the aesthetic though, sporting Dura Ace 9100 series components, painted to match fenders, pewter Chris King headset and an ENVE cockpit. Those Derby rims laced to White Industries CLD hubs, hand built by Haute Bacon, tie it all together. The internally routed hydraulic line is extremely clean and the T47 BB keeps this bike somewhat future proof should the owner choose to build it differently down the road.

A bike like this screams versatility (with an inside voice), as it’s not overbearing in any way, but can tackle several different types of riding pretty well. I can’t wait to get back to Minneapolis to see more from these guys.  For more info check out Northern Frameworks.

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Follow Jarrod on Instagram and follow Northern Frameworks on Instagram.

MinneCycle 2017 : Vincent Dominguez Cycles Not So Mellow, Yellow Disc Road
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk

After I hopped off the plane and a short ride to MinneCycle 5, Minnesota’s handmade bicycle show, I waited out the harsh light and 90 degree temps outside by checking out the show inside.  One of the first bikes was this Dominguez. I wasn’t super familiar with Dominguez, but soon after observing this bike I wanted to be.

There is nothing mellow about this yellow bike, especially when you look closely, which I did!  The fully lined, internal cable routing, with some beautiful entry points into the frame, is what drew me in closer. Once I was there, I noticed things like the logo-less DT Swiss hubs, Campagnolo Chorus build – but most of all the frame details.

The mixture of fillet brazing and lugs to me was just the right amount of both. The way they integrate into the frame elegantly so as to not take away from each other really caught my eye. Scalloped seatstays and the slightly offset front brake housing – so as to not rub the headtube – were the final nails in this killer build. Check out Dominguez Cycles for more.

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Follow Jarrod on Instagram.

Stephanie’s Blacked Out 650B Straggler
Photos and words by Morgan Taylor

For what is admittedly a bit of a mish-mash build, Stephanie’s Straggler has come together with a lot of character. The parts kit borrows heavily from other bikes, so you may very well recognize some pieces from other builds. It’s the collection of parts, and the stories behind all of them, that makes this bike something special.

When I first heard the news that Box Components had branched over from BMX racing products to mountain bike componentry, I was eager to get some hands-on experience with their shifter, derailleur, and big-range cassette. A few weeks later, the Box rep visited Golden Saddle Cyclery and I was able to see it. Albeit not on a bike, so when Stinner Frameworks offered to build a review bike for me, built with Box, for NAHBS, I was stoked. I love riding and reviewing hardtails and since Stinner is one of the local builders in the Los Angeles area, I like helping him out when I can, particularly when it comes to mountain bike design. Aaron Stinner had been working on their Tunnel hardtail design over the past year. Previous versions popped up here on the site and with some feedback, he had finally moved closer to nailing down the official Stinner Frameworks hardtail. The team had two bikes on display at NAHBS this year, Kyle’s Grateful Shred 27.5+ and this Fuck Yeah Desert Tan 27.5″. I was excited to try it out, but I was also looking forward to putting miles in on Box Component and Magura’s latest offerings.

We’ve seen a lot of design gimmicks to make rough roads more pleasant on ‘cross or all-road bikes, mostly in the form of suspension forks, yet I personally feel like there’s more that could be done in terms of frame design. While I’m not an engineer, I feel like achieving comfort on rough roads can mostly be done in the frame itself. That with larger volume, lower pressure tires, a carbon fiber bicycle can really show its true potential when the going gets tough.

Granted, there have actually been a good number of attempts at this over the years, but mostly from the bigger brands with extensive engineering teams, with access to custom layups and large production numbers, but it wasn’t until I saw the Calfee Manta RS at NAHBS this year, that I really thought frame design and compliance had been approached in a different, honest design language.

The 70’s were the automotive paint design heyday, ATMO anyway. Earth tones and bright hues intersected along cars, vans and trucks via a network of chevrons and stripes. While many manufacturers embraced these trends, it was the niche hobby market who took it to the next level. A whole culture emerged with vans donning intricate designs, long before #VanLife, yet it was the off-road culture that has always piqued my interest, most notably the baja bugs and trucks. Jeremy from Stinner Frameworks has always had an affinity for the early 70’s Baja Bug paint designs, ultimately these became the inspiration for this two-wheeled off-road machine.

Tom’s Super Shreddy Stinner One-Off 26+ Hardtail
Photos by Kyle Kelley, words by John Watson

Working at Stinner Frameworks for the past few months, and other builders over the past few years, Tom LaMarche has learned a lot about frame fabrication. Riding BMX and MTBs for a majority of his life taught him about frame design. Tom’s a ripper. An ex-Hollywood movie professional stuntman and overall ripper. When he picked up a job at Stinner, he really wanted to build a new MTB for himself to shred on trails, random jibs and also rip on at bike parks. Not being a fan of 27.5 or 29+ platforms, he decided on a 26+ frameset with slack angles and a lot of standover clearance.

This frame is a one-off, labeled a Stinner because it happened under Aaron’s roof, with Aaron’s tools, but this bike is Tom’s brainchild that he built on his own. Bikes like this look mean, like they have their own agenda and I can’t wait to see more of that…

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Follow Kyle on Instagram and Tom on Instagram.

Shred on You Krusty Diamond: Travis T’s Falconer Throwback Machine
Photos by John Watson, words by Travis T

After an afternoon of looking at cool vintage bikes at Cameron Falconer‘s house, I asked him if he’d be down to weld me a single speed mountain bike frame inspired by old klunkers, with a fork inspired by a Pro-Cruiser (first production mountain bike) with a loop tail. I basically wanted all of my favorite things about a lot of historic mountain bikes, all on one frame, built for me. BUT, I also wanted to showcase as many PAUL Component parts as possible, and I wanted it to feature the new Set-N-Forget thru-axle skewers. I also wanted to ride the shit out of this bike, so I wanted it to have legit shredworthy geometry and no weaknesses or tolerance issues.

It was time for Nick to get a road bike. Nick is usually seen around town on a track bike – and a damn fine one at that – but now, he’s got something new. A longtime fan of Adam Eldridge’s Stanridge Speed brand, he commissioned him for a road bike with aggressive angles, disc brakes and an almost blinding wet paint. The sparkles almost overpower this speed machine’s stance. Short chainstays, a drop stem and a zero setback post puts Nick on the front of the bike at all times. It’s perfect for inner city riding and descending the tight canyons found in Los Angeles.

As you can tell, he used Ultegra, Thomson and DT Swiss for the build. This road bike is one of the meanest looking specimens to cross my lens this year. Lookin’ good, fellas!

People often ask what I love most about my job. After the obvious – riding bikes – comes watching projects like this unfold. Paul Price lives in Chico and is the man behind Paul Component Engineering. He’s been in this game for a while and has been to NAHBS countless times over the years. In that time, he’s watched a lot of new names pop up in the framebuilding circuit, most notably Sean from Oddity Cycles. Sean’s creations are whacky, fun and offer very unique riding characteristics. For one, they’re titanium, which at smaller diameters, can be flexy. Not in a bad way, just in a unique way. Next up, Sean bends the shit out of the tubes, making them swoopy and thus increasing the wow factor.

Paul Camp is a magical week where Paul Component Engineering invites journalists from all over the US to check out their day to day operations through a series of hands-on workshops. Each journalist is assigned a CNC machine, or workstation and is taught the skills needed to machine brakes, stems, and other components. From there, they camp out on the property, eat sandwhiches and run the machines 24 hours a day, in shifts. This gives the employees of Paul a chance to ride during the week. Everybody wins!

Just kidding. In reality, Paul gives the journalists a tour of the shop, where he walks them through the process of fabricating everything in the Paul Component Engineering catalog. From there, they are able to select a bike from one of eleven builders and go on a ride in the hills of Chico. Swimming usually ensues, along with a Sierra Nevada Brewery tour, some dinner and then everyone goes home. It’s a rad time, or at least I’ve heard it is, because each year, for one reason or another, I cannot attend this Bicycle Journalist Spring Break.

Feeling like I owe Mr. Paul something, not only because we’re friends, but because he had these eleven bikes just hanging out, waiting for a proper photoshoot, I planned on heading up to Chico once I got back from my European travels. Last week, I loaded up the truck and drove straight up California for 10 hours until I reached Chico, Paul and these bikes.

It’s always the unintended creations that receive the most attention. That’s the case with this Sturdy Cycles all-road. Tom Sturdy is an instructor at the Bicycle Academy and this bike was intended to be an experiment of sorts. He wanted to show students that building a frame isn’t rocket science and intended to build the bike complete in less than 24 hours. That included painting it. Then, to make it even more interesting, Tom used scrap tubes and pieces of steel that had imperfections of various sorts. That includes crimps, dents and even buckling. In short, this bike is far from perfect and far from the level of craftsmanship Tom and Sturdy Cycles is capable of. Yet, this bike receives loads of attention wherever it rolls. All it takes is a detail-attentive eye to notice the dented and buckled steel.

About the bike itself. Tom wanted to make an all-road bike that was closer to a road bike than a mountain bike. Lots of bikes today align themselves on one side or the other and Tom felt that running a higher volume, lower pressure tire, along with a very flexy frame would achieve “passive suspension” versus relying on other forms of technology making the rounds. Now, this bike mostly takes Tom to and from his job at the Bicycle Academy. Since building the bike, he’s put both it and himself to the test, learning from not only building but riding his creation.

For Tom, this process of making, testing, refining is what building bikes is all about.

Jake Rusby is a framebuilding instructor at the Bicycle Academy and one that specializes in beautiful fillet brazed construction. In a way, through teaching students this artistry, he’s passing the torch of knowledge to the next generation of framebuilders and since the Bicycle Academy’s student reach is worldwide, his impact will only have positive results in the industry as a whole. This is Jake’s personal bike. It’s an all-day road frame, built with Dura Ace, with a more relaxed geometry when compared to a crit racing machine. Jake wanted a bike he could spend every waking moment on, soaking in the sun in the British countryside outside of Bristol, where he recently just relocated from in London.

What is most impressive about all of this is that Jake painted this bike himself. He wanted the contrast of a single color, with areas of intensity in the details. After masking off dozens of dots, he began the painting process, resulting in a halftone-inspired final product which achieves his intention quite well. Other details I found intriguing are the split seat stay bridge and head badge, both acting as a reflection of the other.

Bikes like this are all about the little details, adding to the overall composition. Hopefully, that’s a message conveyed to the students Jake teaches as well. See more of Jake’s work at the Rusby Cycles website.

First of all, if you haven’t watched the muddy, messy hell that is the Hack Bike Derby video, you should do that first. Ok? We all caught up? Now, there’s a bit of chaos involed in this event, but there are still rules.

Before we jump into the coverage from my visit to Somerset, England’s the Bicycle Academy, I thought I’d share a very special bike. You might recognize this hardtail from the video I shared a few months back. It made its debut in the Tom Ritchey Old Skool New School video. It was built by Tom, while he was at the Bicycle Academy and has been ridden by various guests of the school. This fillet brazed hardtail features some unique cable routing, clean fillet brazing, a clear coat over the raw frame, 27.5+ wheels and tires by Ritchey, Shimano XT components, RockShox Reverb, Pike and Ritchey Bullmoose bars.

If you’re thinking the frame looks a bit small, Tom purposely made it a size medium, hoping to allow a number of people the ability to ride it. The Old Skool New School program is a great idea and this particular project made for a great first round. Look forward to more coverage from the Bicycle Academy this week and even more Old Skool New School news in the coming months.

… and if you haven’t watched the Ritchey video, you really should!

Mercredi translates to Wednesday in French, the day of the week when many school children have time off from their studies and are encouraged to play outdoors. I thought that was a very clever and insightful name for Adeline’s framebuilding company. Only a year into building and only three years into riding bikes, this wasn’t the only time Adeline’s perspective impressed me. She’s had an interesting experience with bicycles in that time, many of which have shaped her outlook on not only the industry but what she would like to do with her brand.

Adeline began framebuilding at the Bicycle Academy. A small, yet thorough school that teaches the skills needed to build a frame. Adeline was one of these curious cadets, who signed up and began her first bike. A few months later and Bespoke Bristol landed on the calendar, prompting Shand Cycles to win the Columbus Award. At which point, Shand contacted Andrew from the Bicycle Academy, asking if he had any hopeful students who would benefit from the tubeset. Someone immediately came to mind.

Once Andrew gifted Adeline the tubeset, she rented a small space and was able to begin building frames for her teammates. Only a year later and she too found herself at Bespoke Bristol, where she won the hearts of Columbus and Chris King, prompting them to award her creations.

I had the pleasure of spending a few days with Adeline, where we were able to discuss framebuilding, racing, bike rides and the UK cycling culture. I can’t wait to see where she goes and Mercredi Bikes go this year! If you’re going to Grinduro Scotland, be on the lookout for Adeline on her new MTB she’s building. She’ll be racing against Tom Donhou and Ricky Feather at the event – all in good fun – but I’m rooting for the underdog!