The Radavist

Whisky Part’s Private Stock: Ben’s Rock Lobster and Steve Potts
Photos by Kyle Kelley, words by John Watson

Private Stock. A term reserved the best of the best when it comes to distilling American whiskey, Scotch whisky, and bourbon. For Whisky Parts Co, a brand within the umbrella that is Quality Bicycle Products, their aim is to design the best parts possible and get the most people using those parts as possible. Part of that comes from OE sales and the other brands within QBP using Whisky Parts when it makes sense, yet there is a growing demand from Domestic and International frame builders, to create products specifically for niche market requests. We’ve seen Whisky do so with their road, cross and mountain forks, as well as their wheels and components over the years.

For Ben Witt, Whisky’s marketing and sales director, he felt the need to not only embrace the niche market of frame building, but to use the parts for two of his own bikes; a Rock Lobster all-road and Steve Potts dirt drop mtb. We’ve seen a number of Private Stock builds from the Whisky team here on the Radavist over the years, but these two are some of the best.

Thanks to Ben for taking the time to let us showcase these bikes and Kyle for the great photos! My fingers are cold just typing this up!

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Lady Crushers On Crustaceans: Amanda’s Team Rock Lobster CX
Words by Amanda Schaper, bicycle photos by Kyle Kelley, other photos noted.

“Alright ladies, this is the highest percentage turnout for women at a cyclocross race that we’ve ever seen! You represent 23% of the racers out here, and next year we’re shooting for 50%. Enjoy your race, watch out for the sketchy descent, and sorry about all the bumps. First wave starts in 10…”

I love Paul Sadoff’s creations. You know the ones. Rock Lobsters always grab my attention, especially special ones like this one. Max is special. In his own way and so when he decided he wanted another road bike, much less, another Rock Lobster, he contacted Paul to build him an S&S travel road bike that could fit a chubby tire. Since he’d be cramming this beaut into an S&S case, Max didn’t want to put anything super precious on the bike, so he went with a tried and true Sram Red 10-speed group that he had pulled off an old race bike of his, along with some alloy Zipp wheels. Ok, so maybe that’s not exactly the cheapest group for this bike, but what can I say? Roadies that race crits have all kinds of trick road gear just waiting to be bolted onto frames.

Max, thanks for being a good sport and for supporting a rad guy like Paul. I think it’s time you order another Rock Lobster… ;-)

At the Rock Lobster Cup Strikes Back, there were so many flashy Rock Lobster ‘cross bikes rolling around the bumpy course but I wanted to shoot one in particular as an homage to everything Paul is doing with the team. Campbell Steers took a very impressive win home on Saturday, beating the highly competitive women’s field on her trusty Rock Lobster. In a world where disc brakes and 1x drivetrains dominate the field, Campbell’s on a v-brake bike with a 2x Ultegra drivetrain with Easton wheels and Dugast 33 tubulars.

It’s not the kit that makes this bike so interesting to me. Sure, the WTB test saddle is a nice touch, but this bike has some history. Campbell bought it from a Santa Cruz local. A woman who raced a bit, but ended up selling the frame after a few years. At that point, Campbell was just getting into racing, so she jumped on the deal. The fact that it was a Rock Lobster had to have been some strange premonition of the cycling gods. After a few impressive wins, Paul Sadoff asked Campbell to join the crustacean crushers, aka the Rock Lobster CX Team.

Every time Campbell asks Paul to build her a new frame, he scoffs and says “That one’s fine! Just keep racing…” As for Campbell, check out her artwork at Buda Burrito!

Big tires, disc brakes and thru-axles. Those parts of the equation are pretty standard issue these days when it comes to production bikes. Yet when you want something different. Something special and something with, I dunno, steez, sometimes you just gotta go custom. In the world of ‘cross and off-road bikes, there are many options out there, especially in California yet Nathan contacted Paul Sadoff of Rock Lobster to build him his new bike.

Why? Well, Rock Lobsters have a certain appeal, or legacy if you will and having feasted his eyes for years upon Paul’s handywork, when he finally had enough money for a deposit, Nathan could only think of one man for the job…

Granted he didn’t request a standard issue racing machine. He wanted something a little more unique. Again, steez. Fluro yellow, magenta and big. This bike pops after the sun goes down and screams down dirt roads with ease but style isn’t everything. Paul had to design a rigid steel fork with disc mounts and a thru-axle, something he doesn’t do a whole lot of.

Great custom bikes fit not only the rider themself, but their personality and riding style. When you meet Nathan, there’s no doubt that this bike is in fact a chip off the old block.

The Whisky Six Select Frames
Photos by Jarrod Bunk, words by John Watson

Photo via Whisky

Each year at Frostbike, Whisky builds bikes, both custom from frame builders and production from one of the QBP brands. This year Whisky had six builders and brands at the Frostbike booth to show off their new rims, bars and seatposts. Dubbed the Six Select, the collection debuted a variety of veritable dream bikes, including: Rock Lobster, 44 Bikes, Retrotec, Moth Attack, Salsa and Engin.

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Cyclofunk Single Speed Rock Lobster Cyclocross
Photos by Kyle Kelley, words by John Watson

Single speeds are by far the most elegant ‘cross bikes in my opinion and this Cyclofunk rig has tons of character built in.

Jake’s got style for days when it comes to his Rock Lobster SSCX bike. For starters, orange is the fastest color, especially when it matches the Giants’ livery. Then, the Campy Record and Chorus SS drivetrain and brake levers adds a bit of Italian componentry flair where it’s noticeable and finally, the PAUL “party” mullet brake combination of a Touring Canti with a MiniMoto provide ample stoppage. Black and orange make for great bike colors and I can’t keep my eyes off this one. The black Rock Lobster head tube logo is a perfect touch!

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Nick‘s new to town. Like myself and like myself, part of the draw that brought him to Los Angeles was the riding. Well, that and he got a job at Golden Saddle Cyclery. When his lady and he moved here, they opted to ship all of their bikes rather than bring them en tow.

Easy enough, right? Yeah until the shipping company crushes your beloved Rock Lobster singlespeed ‘cross bike’s steel fork! Yikes. After a back and forth with insurance, he was able to get Paul Sadoff to make him another fork. In the meantime, this ENVE will have to do….

While I’m not sure Nick will be racing this year, he will be enjoying all the dirt Los Angeles has to offer, right in his neighborhood.

Yeah, you read that right. Schnozola. Two Jewish guys get together to build frames and they use the slang word for a giant nose as their moniker. Brilliant huh? I thought so.

Paul Sadoff from Rock Lobster and Bruce Gordon from Bruce Gordon was a Dude to Me Interbike 2015 pins got together and started making tig-welded frames. There’s not a lot to be known about this brand other than they chose OX Platinum and Columbus Spirit for the tubeset, SRAM Rival 1, Paragon tidbits, the ENVE GRD fork, a Hebrew inspired typeface and yes, one giant Schnoz for the head tube logo…

Paul Sadoff has been getting a lot of love here on the Radavist as of late and surprisingly, a lot of the recent the bikes featured have been steel. These days, I feel like Paul is doing more aluminum frames, so when I catch sight of a steel road bike like Mat‘s 2010 Rock Lobster with Dura Ace and Chris King, in a bright blue I have to shoot photos of it.

Mat went with the pewter head badge upgrade, orange nipples, orange Salsa skewers and used his trusted Concor saddle for the finishing touches on what otherwise is a relatively straight forward build.

Steel road bikes will always have a place in this world and bikes like this are perfect examples of aesthetic balance and function.

You can never have too many tools for the same job. In Paul Price’s case, a cyclocross bike. Over the years he’s collected quite the stable, from various frame builders throughout California. We already looked at his Black Cat monster cross and now we get to check out some details of his Rock Lobster SSCX. As with the Black Cat, you can see just how sated this steed is based on the component and frame wear alone.

With technology changing, PAUL making disc brakes and everything going oversized or tapered, there’s something elegant about a rim brake ‘cross bike with a steel fork. Especially from a man like Paul Sadoff.

Shred on man, shred on…

Ian Stowe is a shredmeister. A true Radavist. He races cross for Rock Lobster, works for Santa Cruz Bicycles and spends some time as a model for Giro (that’s him at the top of the site). This past weekend, while on a super super secret outing, I got to spend a lot of time in the saddle with the dude (Like, 25 miles of high Sierra uphill saddle time) and a lot of time looking at this stunning Rock Lobster disc cross bike.

I don’t know what’s better, the bike by itself, or the complete package, paired with those House Industries bidons… At any rate, check out more photos in the Gallery and stay tuned for more information on our outing last weekend.

When you look out at the field of SSCX bikes at an event like ‘Cross Nats, you’ll see a lot of overseas production frames, but chances are, you’ll notice and remember the Rock Lobsters. All slightly different than the other.

My favorite part about these bikes is how Paul’s default color of choice is selected by so many, yet when you see one in brown, or in this case, purple, it pops. Ryan’s bike was my favorite bike in the singlespeed race and not just because of its color.

For instance, you don’t see a lot of Gates belt drives on custom singlespeed bikes, or at least, I don’t and to be honest, I didn’t even notice at first. There are a lot of details in this bike that are simple additions, but it adds to the overall delivery.

Saying a bike is your favorite from an event like ‘Cross Nats carries a certain weight, but you’ll see why in the Gallery.