The Radavist

Smith Levi, of RatKing Frames, has been dedicated to making frames and bicycle cargo accessories that merge fun and function for a decade. After getting started in Oakland, California in 2013, RatKing has since migrated north to Seattle, Washington and is a founding member of the creative collective Stunt Doubles. Andrew Johns recently had a chance to stop in the space for a chat with Smith and, below, shares a conversation that spans from the idea behind Stunt Doubles, to RatKing’s design inspiration and obsession with process, and Smith’s current offerings.

Last week, John Caletti of Caletti Cycles hosted five up-and-coming bicycle framebuilders at his shop in Santa Cruz, California. An event that had been on John’s to-do list for the past few years, his first Framebuilding Summit was intended to be an educational meeting of the minds–a time dedicated to sharing knowledge with a group of young bike builders.

For the upcoming “Small Business Saturday,” John takes us inside one of his favorite shops in Santa Fe, Tourist, the city’s independent outdoor store, for a look inside this wonderfully-merchandized space.

Last year Mitchell Connell fell in love with a custom road bike he saw at a bike show. After missing an opportunity to test ride the bike, he took a road trip to Raleigh, North Carolina to find it and its creator, Charles Thompson of Fine Bikes. Along the way, Mitchell got to pay a visit to the iconic local shop, Oak City Cycling, and get the tour of Raleigh’s mixed-surface riding.  

Based in Seattle, Washington, Swift Industries is a bike bag company known for blending classic randonneuring aesthetics with modern functionality. Co-founded in 2008 by Martina Brimmer and Jason Goodman, the brand has grown from a basement DIY passion project to a mainstay in the bike luggage space. In celebration of their 15-year anniversary, Hailey Moore writes about Swift’s journey over the years from its founders’ punk roots, to landing shelf space in REI.

The door is freshly painted on the corner of Downing Street and 30th in the northeast Denver, Colorado neighborhood of Five Points. Behind the new blue facade, light washes in to reveal high ceilings and smooth wooden floors—heavily polished over time by both varnish and foot traffic. The rest of the space has that just-righted tidiness of a host’s house before a dinner party: intentional, inviting and immaculate. It’s an old building with a new idea, but Treehouse Cyclery isn’t its first bike shop.

Read on for Hailey Moore‘s shop visit to Denver’s newest, community-focused, bike shop: Treehouse Cyclery.

Spencer takes us on a trip to Colorado to visit Winter Park’s local bag maker, San Util Design. Started as a one-man project, but ever on the up and up, the makers recently opened a new shop on the mountain town’s main drag and hired a few part-time employees. Boasting a range of products from hip packs all the way up to custom frame bags, San Util has some great handmade gear available. Let’s check it out below! 

If you weren’t already familiar with Schön Studio, you may have just seen some of their stellar work in our recent MADE bike show coverage. Tucked into a corner of a quiet neighborhood in Squamish BC, Danielle Schön has been building bikes, teaching classes, and doing a variety of other metalwork and art out of her hand-built, backyard workshop. Read on below for Pat Valade‘s shop visit and in-depth profile… 

After six months of traveling the world–sans bicycles–Gideon Tsang and his partner Christie touched down in Bordeaux, France. With a full month’s stay ahead of them in the southwestern French city, the couple scooped up two 80s flat-bar “road bikes” for commuting and almost immediately fell in with the wonderful community-centered Musette Bicycles and Coffee. Read on below for Gideon’s insightful shop visit and interview with co-owner Rob Lawrence…

Motivated by the renewed interest in American manufacturing following the COVID pandemic, Erik Mathy shares part one in a new series where he will document how American makers of fine bicycle parts make a single part from the very start to the finish. At each stage he will ask the person doing the work two questions and take two portraits: One of the part and one of the worker. In his own words, this is a project to “explore both the processes and the people who make some of the most interesting, purpose-driven and—in their own way beautiful—bicycle parts in the world.” Read on for his first installment with a visit to Paragon Machine Works and an in-depth look at how they are making their new SRAM Universal Derailleur Hangar dropout.

It was back in 2020, during my first bike tour through southern Turkey, that I first became aware of Soulrider Frameworks via Instagram. Based in the heart of Istanbul, just a stone’s throw from the Bosphorus Strait that separates Europe and Asia, Yasin Bingöl runs a one-man show, building custom bikes from the first design ideas to the final build and everything in between.

In a strip mall on the north side of Tucson, a small business space houses Moon Dust Apparel (formerly Handlebar Mustache) and Cycle Monkey. One of these you have heard of if you like sweet socks, the other if you are an internally geared hub nerd. Today we highlight these two neighboring businesses you may not have known are now down in Tucson.

Los Angeles has no shortage of amazing bike shops, which should come as no surprise for those who have ridden bikes there. Be it road, gravel, mountain, or inner-city mixed terrain routes, there is a myriad of hidden paths, bike expressways, and cutty cut-throughs connecting this city’s many parks. That route finding was the impetus for Let’s Ride Cyclery‘s Mike Kalenda to start his LA Tourist Race. This event breaks down the barriers of sprawling city navigation, taking entrants from the palm tree-lined streets high into the San Gabriel Mountains.

On my last visit to Los Angeles, I swung by to say hey to Mike and to check out Let’s Ride…

This is a long story. It is a story of Blue Lug‘s influence on me, an interview with the co-founder, and hopefully it will lend some inspiration to American bike shops.

The photos you are seeing are of Blue Lug employee bikes that I shot one after another as we visited each location. We thought it would be cool to document the personal bikes of the build artists whose handiwork you see each day on the Blue Lug Instagram softcore porn for bike nerds.

We will begin with the story of my 650b leather and canvas activation as a lead in…

Nestled between giant trees and the surrounding University of California Santa Cruz campus, the UCSC Bike Co-op is a haven for students and community members. There are few things more satisfying than rummaging through a parts bin and learning how to wrench on your own bike. As with any good bike shop, co-operative or not, the community is paramount as many of the UCSC co-op volunteers can attest. Continue reading below as Finn Cunningham and Matt Miller, in addition to a collection of their friends and fellow co-opers, capture the magic of UCSC’s Bike Co-op…

Founded in 2016, Albion Cycling has dramatically expanded its apparel offerings in the past decade. And while the product line has grown, the UK-based company has stayed true to its fast-paced iterative roots and is now working closely with the technical fabric company, Pertex, in designing remarkably lightweight and packable products, for on and off the bike. Petor Georgallou pays a visit to Albion’s design HQ for a closer look…

Rob Roberson is an enigma in the handmade bicycle world. Some would consider him “the greatest known unknown bike fabricator” of the American frame building movement. His career, which spans nearly 50 years, puts him among a very small pedigree of builders that have both mass-production experience and have also built custom bikes under their own name without giving up the ghost. Yet, with such a significant trajectory, Rob has remained largely unknown. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be featuring bikes made by Rob and the stories about them. Today, however, Zach Small and Josh Weinberg are honored to introduce you to Rob Roberson.