Carving mountain descents and sprinting up short rises, Morgan Taylor rekindled a love for zippy road bikes with the Chumba SOCO SL Ti All Road. In this long term review, Morgan reflects on what makes the SOCO a bike they’d like to keep just a little bit longer…
“builders for builders”
Search Term – Change
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Ti Talk with No. 22 Bicycle Company: Demystifying Titanium, the Ultimate Material for Frames
A few weeks back, during our State Bicycle Ti All-Road review, a conversation about titanium unfurled in the comments. The Radavist is uniquely positioned to have this discussion as we’ve amassed more Beautiful Bicycle galleries than anyone else on the web, and a large portion of these feature titanium frames. In the eighteen years of documenting cycling culture, we’ve also amassed a large contact list in the framebuilding world.
In an attempt to demystify the material, we reached out to No. 22 Bicycle Company for a bit of Ti Talk.
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Prova Cycles: Lean Manufacturing
John and Cari were in Melbourne for a few days following the 2024 MADE Australia showcase, which gave them some free time to visit a couple of shops, one of which was Prova Cycles.
Nestled inside this compact factory, siblings Mark and Kelly Hester build some of the most advanced bikes in the world. This two-person team has optimized production over the past four years, and it’s something to behold…
Radar
Camera Corner World Premiere MADE Tickets Are On Sale!
Camera Corner will have its world premiere at the MADE Bike Show Movie Night on Friday, August 23rd. It will screen at 8 PM at the Zidell Yards in Portland, Oregon, and your entry to the film is free if you have a MADE ticket for Friday. Otherwise, it’s $10. Yakima is sponsoring the movie night and We Are One is buying the first 400 beers for the evening events. Do not miss out!
We recommend buying your tickets ahead of time as this show will sell out and there are no guarantees you’ll be able to get in the night of. You can buy tickets at MADE.
Read on for more information about 2024 MADE.
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From Beretta to Bicycles: Tom Ritchey on Investment Casting and 1990 Eisentraut Mountain Bike
We’re in a seemingly new era of bicycle framebuilding with the proliferation of 3D-printed components. While this movement might feel “unprecedented,” a similar thing happened with framebuilders in the mid-1980s and into the 1990s with technology borrowed from the Beretta gun manufacturer in Italy.
In what has to be one of our most intriguing Vintage Bicycles articles to date, John hops on a phone call with Tom Ritchey to discuss a rare 1990 Eisentraut mountain bike that Tom had recently acquired and the technology that made it possible.
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Readers’ Rides: Cicli Bonanno Futomaki Disc – Bold Will Hold
Alex Bethge breaks down the inspiration behind his new custom Cicli Bonanno Futomaki Disc. With bold lines and an eye toward sustainability, he commissioned a bike meant to last and withstand the ever-changing tides of the bike industry.
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1984 Ritchey Annapurna: Lots of Brass
We looked at the restoration of this 1984 Ritchey Annapurna through a series of videos earlier this year, and today, we’re sharing a full Beautiful Bicycles gallery documentation of it, along with a brief quote by Tom Ritchey himself. John takes a look at this esquisite emblematic example of the quality work leaving the workshop of Ritchey below!
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John Watson
Originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, and formally trained as an architect, John began documenting cycling culture for what would become this website in 2006 while residing in New York City. His lens focused on framebuilders, Beautiful Bicycles, rides, and events that made alt-cycling culture so vibrant.
Over the years, he spent short stints in Austin, Texas and Los Angeles before landing on the edge of the Colorado Plateau in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A lifelong fan of the desert and the reptiles that call them home, he and Cari spend their downtime touring through North America’s dry and arid places on foot, bicycle, and 4×4.
John still brakes for snakes and lizards, stopping to say hello on every ride. His love of animals and regional folk art has inspired the branding for The Radavist.
When he’s not riding, he’s day-dreaming of canyons.
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Starling Cycles Announces Complete Builds and GIVE IT THE BEANS!
John and Josh love their Mumurs and others here at The Radavist have lauded Starling’s steel single pivots. To help get ya rollin’ on bikes, the UK framebuilders just announced complete bikes. To commemorate these slick builds, Triscombe local Toby Downs takes the Mega Twist on a proper flogging. Check out more info below!
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The Above Category Invitational Bike Show on August 31st
If you’re in the Bay Area, make sure to swing through the Above Category Invitational Bike Show on August 31st…
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SRAM UDH Compatible Gravel and Road Bikes List Has Grown
The SRAM Bike Finder list of UDH-compatible road and gravel bikes seems to have grown when nobody was looking…
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Bespoked and the Precarious Handmade
John here. I got linked to this quick opinion piece via La Marche Bike Co’s Instagram penned by Clandestine regarding Bespoked…
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Avalanche Cycles Shop Visit: Vive L’Innovation à Paris
Earlier this month, Josh stopped over in Paris, France, following his time in the UK covering Bespoked Handmade Bike Show. During his visit to the City of Lights, he visited multiple bike shops and fabricators. First up in a series of reports from his time there, Josh checks in with Marie and Laurent of Avalanche Cycles, who take an innovative approach to building bicycles and components from steel, stainless, and titanium.
Learn more about this duo of French builders below!
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Columbus Trittico Components
The Columbus Trittico line includes handlebars, stems, seatposts, forks, and bottle cages. These components are designed blend seamlessly with a variety of frame materials. Let’s check them out.
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Vintage Bicycles: 1983 Steve Potts MTB – What Are Dirt Drops?
Dirt drops are mentioned periodically here on The Radavist, usually in the context of a modern hardtail, rigid mountain bike, or adventure touring bike. But where did this terminology come from, and how are vintage dirt drops wildly different from what we have today? Using his 1983 Steve Potts as a platform for discussion, John unfurled the unique history behind this bike and looked at a proper 1980s dirt drop setup. Let’s check it out.
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Mike Varley’s ‘Dropping In’ Article from 1991
We’ve got a story coming up tomorrow that references this Mountain and City Biking article written by Black Mountain Cycle‘s Mike Varley from 1991 about drop bars on mountain bikes. Also known as dirt drops, Mike discusses the benefits of the unique riding position offered by these off-road drop bars in the original article text below…
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MADE Bike Show Australia 2024 Show Gallery
Rounding out our MADE Bike Show Australia coverage with photos from the Bicycle Roadshow, vendors, people, and views inside the DISC Velodrome…
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MADE Bike Show Australia Gallery 01: Baum, Curve, Devlin, Framework, Hungry, Kenevans, Loop Cycles, Lost Workshop, Off Course Builds, and Omnium
While Josh was at Bespoked, John was down in Melbourne at the MADE Bike Show Australia and compiled a few galleries from the event. Let’s check out a bike gallery loaded with heaps of details below!