The Radavist

Orange and red are two colors that often clash, but sometimes they work. Case in point, Patrick’s LOW track bike. If this one looks familiar, it’s because Kyle shot photos of it at the black top in LA a few months back.

To Patrick, this bike is the result of intense financial planning. It took him almost a year to save up for this bike, but the end result is one of his favorite moments of the day. As he describes, when he hops on the bike “it rides like a razor blade of butter.” Super stiff, but smooth…

Campagnolo Record drivetrain, H+Son rims, Thomson and Chris King. This bike is laced with top of the line, yet durable components and it adds a bit of subtlety to the flashy paint job. As I was photographing this bike, a pedestrian walked by and said “damnnnn that’s like a Testarossa!”

I love Andrew Low’s bikes, they’re a testament that made in the USA aluminum track bikes will always have a place in the world, whether the street or the track. Enjoy the ride, Patrick!

The Mavic 125ans Project came about to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the company. After the release of the Ksyrium 125 wheel in France earlier this spring, Chad Moore of Mavic USA reached out to a select group of frame builders who they felt were standouts in the industry.

Argonaut Cycles – working with designer Garrett Chow, Lynskey Performance, Mosaic Cycles – working with designer Zach Lee on their paint design, Ritte Cycles and Seven Cycles were contacted directly by Mavic.

Each builder was given a timeline and other than that, full artistic reign over their project bike. Looking to the Ksyrium 125 wheel for inspiration, each builder approached this unique collaboration in a way that represented what Mavic means to them and their brands.

These bikes will be released at Mavic’s brand communications center and Service Course in Los Angeles on 10 July, but I got a special sneak peek at the bikes yesterday, as I shot each in detail within the Mavic mechanics area. Both the Ritte and the Seven 125ans bikes will be auctioned off at the Pros Closet later this fall.

See this project in its entirety in the Gallery and there will be more to come, including interviews from some of the builders and an extensive look at Garrett Chow’s inspiration for the Argonaut Cycles road.

Today, FYXO and I took the trip down to Geelong to visit Darren at Baum Cycles. After we toured the new Baum facilities, we ate some lunch at a local cafe and took to the You Yangs trail system.

The next few hours, I spent all my energy chasing after a neon streak in the bush. In fact, it became a point of fixation for me, as I struggled to keep up with the extremely fit rider pedaling this machine.

Ryan works at Baum and he rides a Baum. This bike is the fruit of his labor at Baum and it’s one of the company’s most famous rides. Or at least one of my favorite rides from the company.

SRAM XX1, ENVE, Chris King, you name it, it’s got it and then some. Like a bright chartreuse paint job with neon pink accents and a carbon Selle Italia saddle shell – leather saddle just get wrecked on a MTB anyway…

For me, the thing I brought away from this ride was seeing a Baum completely smash these trails. In an age where digital presentation is everything, I rarely see a Baum outside of the photo studio. It really brought the reason why Darren builds these machines to the forefront.

Baum makes MTBs fit for thrashing their local trails and that’s exactly what Ryan did. All afternoon… Stay tuned for more photos from my Shop Visit and MTB shred sess with Baum. For now, check out more photos of this rad bike!

Llewellyn is one of Australia’s best kept, not-so secrets. Those who know, know, leaving the rest of the world coveting frames from Eisentraut (1959), Moulton (1957), Weigle (1977), Sachs (1975), etc.

Granted, Llewellyn has only been building since 1979, and the others, as stated above, have been around only slightly longer. Darrell Llewellyn makes steel bikes and steel bikes alone. He’s built for numerous Australian national athletes, was an Olympic mechanic and had a hand in the early days of NAHBS.

At the Melburn Roobaix yesterday (more to come on that), I bumped into my friend Ben Kamenjas from Sydney, who I met a few years back when he worked at Deus Ex Machina. Ben’s a wealth of cycling knowledge, especially the obscure / idiosyncratic world of French components and frames. At a certain point in your life, you tire of looking at others’ work and decide to start building for yourself.

What you see here is Ben’s first bike, under his moniker Cicli Spirito (no link yet). It’s a fendered porteur with a customized VO rack that mounts to the vintage center pull mounts and classic French parts with a classic geometry.

It’s always difficult to shoot a porteur with weight on the front, so I asked Ben to act as the kickstand while I snapped a few, very quick photos.

With this weather, I’m sure Ben was stoked on his Swift Industries Pelican bag, fenders and nice, plump tires during the Roobaix. That’s a great looking bicycle!

Richard Hallett is the author of The Bike Deconstructed: A Grand Tour of the Modern Bicycle and part-owner of Sportif Magazine, a new publication in the UK that focuses on, you guessed it, sportif rides. While at the L’Eroica Britannia last weekend, I had the pleasure of both seeing Issue 01 and having the opportunity to shoot Richard’s newest frame, his vintage road.

Laced with Campagnolo Nuovo Record throughout, built with Columbus Zona tubing, Cinelli 1a / CdM bars and a Turbo saddle, this is about as classic Italian as you can get, coming from the UK, anyway. The polished stainless seatstay caps and head badge pop from the classic Gios-inspired paint. All this, topped off with a custom painted Silca pump from the 70’s and rolling on Challenge Strada tires. Sorry, tyres…

For added stiffness, Richard used a bi-lam construction on the bottom bracket (not pictured – you’ll have to figure that one out on your own). Richard’s bike took him across the L’Eroica Britannia 100 mile course with ease, which is partially a testament for his own fitness as a life-long bike racer.

While I enjoyed photographing this bike in the morning sun, as it kissed the Peak District’s green hills and cow pastures, I had even more fun shooting the shit with Richard each night. I’m very impressed with both Sportif Magazine, Richard’s frames and wish both of them the best. Holler at him on Twitter for more information.

Cheers!