The Radavist

What I said yesterday about Austin seeping with cross bikes stands true and I haven’t even begun to cover them. Mark from Majaco recently built up this sick singlespeed cross bike from True Temper OX Plat, specifically for the forthcoming Philly Bike Expo. His component choice is well thought out, putting the extra money where it counts and maintaining the aesthetics throughout.

Case in point: White Industries cranks and freewheel with Surly hubs. He then went with Paul and Thomson, resulting in a frame that by my judgement, weighs in around 16 or 17 lbs. It’s incredibly light!

I love the classic red to white livery and stainless head badge. For those interested in a similar frame, expect a pricepoint around $1400 for standard geometry or $1750 for fully custom.

Photos by Kyle Kelley

After passing away a few weeks back, Ezra Caldwell‘s work keeps popping up all over, miles away from his home studio in New York City. In fact, this bike was first built up by Golden Saddle Cyclery years back for Sean, a loyal customer living in Santa Barbara.

A singlespeed commuter is really all most people need. 650b tires provide a smooth ride and for medium sized frames, they look well-balanced proportionately. Exra had a way of proclaiming his approach with frame design by not really saying anything. While this bike may seem very straight-forward, the details in the metalwork are what first caught my eye.

The chainguard is attached by two 5mm bolts that actually pass through the down and seat tubes. Then the guard itself is incredibly elegant, especially when matched with the White Industries ENO cranks.

Stainless lugs and raw steel tubes make up the frame’s materials, with a good amount of patina forming on the steel. It must be the salt in the air. Santa Barbara is coastal, you know. The rear rack is custom, with wooden planks, which even out the overall build, especially when compared to Ezra’s signature wooden handlebars.

In a lot of ways, this bike is void of ostentation, yet meticulously detailed. Something that seemed to spill over from Ezra’s personality onto everything he touched.

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Follow Kyle on Instagram and visit Golden Saddle Cyclery in Silverlake, Los Angeles.

The Hunqapillar. A touring bike with massive clearances for mountain bike tires, tubing spec’d for off-road ripping (fully loaded) and a gorgeous green and cream paint job. Branded as a “Wooly Mammoth Bicycle”, this machine is meant to rip wakki 1-trakk and still make it to Poppi’s Pizza in time for a cold pint or a toke from the wizard’s pipe.

The girlfriend bike. Or in this case, the fiancé bike. It can be a tricky, slippery slope, especially when you’re kind of – ok really – obsessed with bicycles. When I bought this bike from Andy at FYXO last year, it came with a C-Record gruppo. Good for looking at, sucky for climbing hills – for Lauren anyway. We quickly found out that that 8-speed cassette didn’t have the gear range she needed to pedal up to Austin’s beautiful vistas…

This bike sat on my wall for about a year, collecting dust.

Guten tag! I have found the internet…

It’s Eurobike and I have no idea what to do here. Well, that’s not true, I have a few clever posts up my sleeve. After 12 hours of madness, I’ve made my way through most of the show, ran into some people, saw some cool shit, exhausted my shutter finger and the first flask filling #FFF. I managed to get some great shots, including the new White Industries anodized hubs, the return of turquoise Chris King, some rad Tune products, a sexy LOOK, Bear Grease, #Partybrand, body-painting, AWOL, beer, beer and beer.

While I’m working on more content, how about some randomness from the first day? I thought so…

San Francisco is out of control and not in a good way. Bike theft is at an all time high as the city continues to cope with a massive drug problem. Basically, your bike’s not safe unless it’s under your ass, being pedaled. Natalia had her race bag, shoes and this Igleheart singlespeed MTB “secured” within her car as it was parked in Noe Valley. Within minutes, her windows were smashed out and her bike was gone.

The next morning, Rai from Mission Workshop was riding past the BART station on 16th when he spotted it being pedaled by some random dude. He put out a call and had some friends go steal it back from some unsuspecting schmo who had bought it from the crackhead that stole it.

Now it’s safe and sound in Natalia’s possession, who races it for Chica Sexy in the Bay Area mountain bike circuits. It’s not everyday you see some Boston-area steel in SF, so I had to get some photos of it…

In a lot of ways, my first Geekhouse Woodville touring bike served as a catalyst for me taking cycling more seriously. It was my first custom bike and provided me with ample motivation to just get out there and ride. The first major tour being Portland to SF and from there, I took it on numerous other trips here in Austin. When it was stolen last year, I began planning out a replacement with Geekhouse. There were some things I wanted to change, but mostly I just missed having a touring bike to ride around on.

As it sat en queue, I couldn’t decide on how I wanted it to function. Initially, I wanted a dirt-drop 29’r pack-bike tourer for riding the MTB trails here in town, but then my Independent Fabrication took over that role, so I revisited what I loved the most about my first touring bike. The riding position is what I would consider traditional but having acquired the Bruce Gordon Rock n Road tires, I wanted to make sure it would roll at least a 50c. I also opted for external cable routing and passed on the S&S couplers.

I’ve had great luck with the SRAM XO rear derailleur and its 11-36 range matched with a compact crank. This time I went with White Industries VBC system and a Force front derailleur, converted to a top-pull. With a 50 outer ring and 32, inner, I’ll have a wider range than I would with a triple. Chris King classic hub on the rear and a SON hub with matching Edelux lamp on the front for light.

Paul components throughout: Tall and Handsome post, Touring Cantis. Other components include a Thomson seat post collar, Brooks Swift saddle, Salsa Cowbell 2 with SRAM barcons, TRP levers and MKS Lambda pedals. With all the Made in the USA bling, I got Marty and Brad at Geekhouse to fabricate a one-off custom stem as well as front and rear racks. The beauty of the front racks lie in their low-rider detachable hangers on the front…

I always load front and low on trips. The bike rides a lot better since the handling isn’t compromised as it would with a rear load and these low-riders are low. My large panniers sit about 6″ off the ground, which is perfect on a 43c tire. On top of just looking amazing, these racks weighed a lot less than the Tubus system I had been using previously. The fork is another highlight: internal cable routing for the Edelux lamp and the segmented shoulders have rack attachments.

Even with all those details and that component list, a build can still go south with a bad powder job. Brad really knocked this one out of the park. Olive Drab green with a matte clear adds to the utilitarian / military aesthetic I wanted. I’ve been scooting around town a lot on this beaut and took it on a few trail rides last week and am in love. Even the ride out to shoot these photos was super dreamy…

I still need to dial it in though. The derailleur cables are now routed under the tape, mostly to make it easier to mount a Swift Industries Ozette randonneur bag. I’ll also need to splice some more chain so I can use the 50t with more of the cassette but for now, it’s riding really well.

That said, it’s not a touring bike until you’ve at least camped on it and summertime in Texas will provide ample opportunities. Right now, I’m just pumped that it came together so well. Many thanks to PAUL, Bens Cycle, Chris at Mellow Johnny’s and the Geekhouse crew for making yet another dream come true.

… also, buy renter’s insurance! Most plans will cover your bikes when they’re stolen!