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Photos by Eric Baumann
While the 2014 Philly Bike Expo is this weekend. Bryan from Royal H Cycles has decided to share the tale of his show bikes from last year. This is the first time I’ve seen these two bikes, both of which are incredibly unique, so it was nice having a back-story to the framebuilder’s influence and inspiration.
Head over to the Royal H Cycles blog for more!
The Cielo Road Racer is a favorite of mine and of Chris King dealers everywhere. Over at Mellow Johnny‘s, store manager Will Black ordered this size large around the same time I was reviewing the chartreuse x-large. He went all in with Dura Ace, Chris King, ENVE rims and the bright orange paint.
Mellow’s has had this bike on the shop floor all week and it’s creating a bit of a stir. Such flash for such little cash, when compared to bikes in the same pricepoint and higher even.
I couldn’t help but wish I could have gotten photos of this bike up in time for Halloween…
Just… hold… still… This might hurt a bit.
Chris Bishop doing his thing, both documenting and building beautiful bicycles. See more at the Bishop Flickr!
Pass the Torch with Vanilla Bicycles and Coat Paint Shop
Photos by Jeff Curtes words by Sacha White
I’d be willing to bet that if you surveyed a handful of frame builders, asking them what one of the bigger challenges they face would be, their answer would be paint. At least with the builders I converse with frequently, paint seems to be their biggest inconsistent component in the equation. From late jobs, to increase in rates, for someone who is trying to deliver a product on time, paint can be the literal last straw.
Perhaps this is why so many builders are moving towards in-house paint. Or, I should say, smaller framebuilders are moving to in-house paint. A move that Vanilla Bicycles decided would be a key development in their operations early on. The world looks to Speedvagen and Vanilla for inspiration, that’s no secret, but in an attempt to delve a little deeper, I asked Vanilla’s Sacha White to share Coat Paint Shop’s history and future in a Pass the Torch feature here on the Radavist…
Small-time frame builders can deviate from their normal M.O. and create more precision machines with very little issue, which is why I think framebuilders will forever offer a better fit to your specific cycling needs.
Agendas aside, this Shand Cycles Stooshie cyclocross race machine is based off a Stoater platform, with a few geometric tweaks, tuned in for CX races… oh and camo never hurt! See more at the Shand Flickr!
If you’ve ever wondered who’s been behind some of the biggest names in MTB production here in the States, Frank is your guy… Trust me, sit back and enjoy this one!
Golden Saddle Rides: Haunted Hollows Stinner Off-Roadie
Photos and words by Kyle Kelley
I guess this bike would be a little more Halloweeny if it was black and orange, but what the HELL, it’s not!
Stinner Frameworks provided the skeleton, and we installed the costume.
Matt, the owner of this bike knew exactly what he wanted. A no nonsense road bike that could take large enough tires to really get dirty. The Velo Orange Grand Cru brakes are what made his decision to go standard caliber, over a cantilever or Mini-Moto style brake. Besides the Chris King bits, the bike is outfitted with a full Ultegra kit. The ENVE bar and seatpost are keeping Matt comfy on long dirty rides. Be it road or dirt the bike is always outfitted with some skin walls, duh.
It’s hard sometimes to visualize a bike’s potential from just a frame photo, which is probably why Thomas built up one of those 29’r framesets as a complete for a photo shoot. I still think this is one of the nicer 29’r production frames I’ve seen on the market and at that price, who can complain? Lovely. See more at the Horse Cycles Flickr and pricing at Horse Cycles.
Photos by Dan Chabanov
I don’t know why, I but I really love these photos that Dan shot at Richard Sach’s shop. I also love that Team RS works on their own bikes, the night before a weekend of racing to build team dynamic.
See more at Dan’s Flickr.
Live in the Philly area? Need a new road bike? Got a little extra coin saved up for something special? Well, you could be in luck. Erik from Winter Bicycles will be at the show and he’s selling this Sean-Nós road bike, complete!
See more photos at the Winter Flickr.
There’s been big changes going on at Stinner Frameworks HQ. For one, Aaron moved shop out of his garage and into a brand new workshop and yesterday, Stinner Frameworks welcomed their newest shop hand to the family, Chris Ellefson aka Mini Bear.
Read all about it at the Stinner blog. As eluded to previously, I can’t wait for my new Stinner cross!
With Rapha Travel heading to OZ for the Tour Down Under, they contacted one of Australia’s finest framebuilders to create a commemorative road bike. This black, yellow and green Corretto just screams Baum, with Busyman bar tape and Rapha insignia, it’s bound to be someone’s dream bike.
See more at the Baum Flickr!
In the world of custom hardtail mountain bikes, there exist a few key factors that determine shredability. The most important, at least in my opinion, being the head tube angle. Next, is the rear chainstay length and both of which, affect wheelbase and thus how flickable the bike is. I knew I wanted Seth Rosko to build it…
Follow the key measurements, or increments with a solid build kit and you’ve got a hardtail that can behave like a trail bike, under the right rider of course…
This one’s a truly unique ride. PAUL cantis, Rene Herse cranks, vintage Dura Ace and a paint job that will only look better with dirt, mud and road dust caked into the nooks and crannies. Jonathan’s dirt road bike is a dream build!
See more at the Bishop Flickr. Chris, this is a fine bicycle!
It’s not everyday you see a Firefly track bike. Much less one with a Winter stem, Curtis Odom hubs, Phil Wood cranks and that paint job. You’ve gotta head over to the Firefly Flickr for more!
Photos by Matthew Miller
As a small frame building operation, you often enlist the aid of your friends, in similar sized, adjacent creative companies. Whether it’s a web developer, or in this case, a photographer, knowing the right people can really help get your work out there.
Case in point is Matteo and Aaron Stinner‘s relationship. Matteo shoots all of Stinner’s bikes, with the most recent being his own road. Built with Chris King, SRAM Red and a Thomson cockpit, Aaron and Matteo took the time to concoct the best mixture for paint.
This grey color powder has pearl and flake built in, resulting in a powder that looks like wet paint Something that is not easily captured in photos… yet Matteo did.
See more below!
If you don’t want to look at super, über high end collaborations, don’t even bother watching this video because Movado doesn’t dabble in affordable timepieces and Parlee is, in their own right, the equivalent in the cycling world. That said, both the bike and watch looks damn nice. Insane, but yeah, nice.
I do wish that they would have coated some of the components in PVD because that would make this a truly detail-oriented collaboration, rather than putting a sticker on a bike… I’ve always wanted to see what a PVD crankset would look like!
See more at Movado.
I know the whole point of the Firefly Bones project is to offer a unique *steel* frame, made in Boston and hand illustrated by Eric Bones, but I can’t help but think these are the best looking collaboration bikes to come from a frame builder and I’d love to see them go into full-scale, mass production.
Each of these builds have unique details as well. What caught my eye here was that titanium stem and the proportions of those Dura Ace cranks. This bike looks mean.
See more details at the Firefly Flickr.