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Today we’ve got another bike that was displayed at the French constructeur event, Concours de Machine. Built by Jolie Rouge Cycles, this all-mountain steel full suspension is outrigged with bags, racks, and more. As someone who owns a steel full suspension, it’s amazing to see the ante upped in this manner but that’s just the half of the weirdness that’s about to unfold for you so read on below for the builder of this bike, Julien Fritsch’s words and photos!
Over the past year, I’ve had quite a few people roll through Santa Fe on road trips. Knowing Covid is still running rampant all up and down the Rockies, I usually opt for a meet-up outdoors. Whether that means for a cup of coffee or a bike ride, I like catching up with people but want to err on the side of safety these days. Last March, our good friend Gideon came through town with his new-to-him Madrean 27.5 hardtail. If you recall our Shop Visit with Madrean – and our older Shop Visit from 2013 with Cycles d’Autremont – then you’ll recognize Hubert d’Autremont’s handiwork…
With a new, steeper seat tube angle of 75.5°, a 63.5° head tube angle, 430mm chainstays, and a bottom bracket height of -58mm, the 2022 Orange Crush Pro 27.5er is right there in terms of existing within the hardcore hardtail geometry. There’s also a new chainstay yoke, promising excellent chainring and tire clearances, and yeah, we love the new paint job!
These frames are made in the UK from 6061-T6 Custom Butted OS aluminum tubing and carry quite the cult following. See more of the new and improved Crush Pro at Orange.
Coconino Cycles is a builder based in Flagstaff, Arizona. Steve Garro specializes in off-road oriented bikes like this Cruiser he made for Chris Reichel, who works for Why Cycles and Revel Bikes. When I was in Carbondale, Colorado last month, I managed to sneak away with this bike for proper documentation so check out more below.
Available in red (26″ pictured) or grey (27.5″), the newest tire from Ultradynamico is ATB-inspired. Convert your 90s MTB into a modern, supple, planing machine.
Specs:
-Race compound for superior grip in all conditions.
-Luxurious high TPI mystery casing sourced from a Moroccan street bazaar which may vary in hue
-Tread rubber extended down sidewall for added protection without sacrificing the premium ride quality of our most flexible casing
-Continuous ramped center delta for a fast roll when propelled, and confident braking traction when modulated
-Side knobs won’t let you down, or let you fall down in loose, dry corners
-Wide knob spacing sheds mud and makes artistic patterns in the space dust
-Did you know the triangle is the strongest shape in this dimension?
-27.5 pairs as a front with our ROSé or CAVA 650b in the rear for a fast and fun slackened ATB rat-rover
-Tubeless compatible for a rover mimicking psi of 20-30psi
-Tires packaged and sold individually.
-Each set of commemorative 26″ MARS tires comes with a 13″ x 19″ poster from painter Bryan Buswell. Posters ship separately in a proper tube and will arrive a few days after your rubber.
-27.5″ x 2.2?? available in GREY compound only and 26″ x 2.2?? available in RED compound only.
-605g and 600g
In stock and shipping now from Ultradynamico.
This weekend brings about Unbound Gravel, in Emporia, Kansas and I managed to catch up with a few friends who are taking on the 200-mile route… on a tandem. It’s not just any tandem though, so let’s check it out in detail below.
The Hayduke is one of the best steel hardtails on the market and it just got better. Until now, Hayduke completes have been equipped with a 120mm 29er fork built with 27.5+ wheels, which allowed riders to swap between the 27.5+ and 29er wheel sizes. While that same swapping ability still exists for Hayduke framesets, complete builds will now feature a dedicated 27.5” fork with 140mm of travel, allowing Esker to develop a dedicated 29er model down the road. This increased travel with a dedicated 27.5″ wheel means the A-T-C length is the same as a 120mm and 29er wheel, so riders can always buy a frameset and build their Hayduke up that way as well thanks to the Portage dropout system, which allows users to adjust their chainstay length.
Hayduke framesets come standard with Portage dropouts, an axle, seat collar, and a Wolf Tooth Components headset for $750. Complete builds are available in limited quantities at 3 levels starting with H1 at $2000, H2 at $2950, and H3 at $3250. Framesets and completes are available through eskercycles.com.
See more at Esker Cycles.
Steel is real. We all have personal paths when it comes to cycling and it’s serendipitous when our favorite bikes can adapt to align with these twists and turns within this cycling journey. My Retrotec has long been one of my favorite bikes. In the time I’ve owned it, I’ve swapped out the drivetrain, brakes, fork, wheel size, yet this latest permutation is easily the most drastic…
Most of you know I’m attracted to weirdos and eccentric people, so of course I love stopping by the BTCHN Bikes shop here in Chico to see what Tyler is welding on. He’s spent most of his life racing all types of motorcycles at insane speeds, and has been adapting the hyper-analytical engineering he’s learned in the motorized world into pedal-powered machines he pushes to equally scary speeds. He’s also one of the most enthusiastic people I’ve ever met, so imagine that he’s yelling and gesturing wildly with his hands as you read this interview about his latest prototype.
When I decided I wanted a custom bike there was only one person I really wanted to make it a reality. I’ve worked with Mike DeSalvo before, back when I was living in Portland, painting the first run of Speedvagen cyclocross bikes. I knew since this bike would be a once in a lifetime bike I wanted to go with titanium, and Mike is one of the best in the industry.
Black Cat Bicycles presents the 2020 edition of the Hello Monsta! The perfect gravel bike scaled up. Designed around 27.5 x 2.4” tires, but fully compatible with 700 x 40mm tires(!) without compromise to chainstay length, bb height, or steering trail dimensions. Let’s get real. Most of these features are ancillary to the fact that this bike just rips. The Hello Monsta! is great for exploring chunky backcountry, touring the world, or rallying your local favs. We shot this bike at NAHBS and it got a lot of attention. It’s finally available for ordering!
The frame and fork set will have the following features and specs:
-Custom sized frame and fork, tailored for you
-110 x 15 and 148 x 12 hub spacing-mtb boost
-1x or 2x drivetrain
-27.5 x 2.4” tires
-73mm British threaded bottom bracket shell
-1 1/8″ threadless unicrown fork for maximum ride quality
-front and rear flat caliper mounts for maximum versatility
-27.2 or 30.9 seatpost, internal dropper port if desired
-S bend seatstays
-Art School dropouts or Swinger single speed dropouts
-Custom blended rugged tubeset for aggressive riding
-Cable or electronic shifting
-Drop or flat handlebar
-Dear Landlord rack available, but not included
-Original paint always available and starts at $1000
-$4600 frame and fork. White Industries custom crankset and headset included.
“Where’s your Dreamer?” “What happened to the green Dreamer?” “Do you ever ride your Dreamer?”
Since posting up the gallery of my Crust Bikes Dreamer, it’s been the bike people email me about the most. I get various questions, ranging from the ones I listed above, to questions on the Microshift and how I like the Dreamer platform. When I first got the bike, Crust Bikes and Darren Larkin, the builder of the Dreamer frames, were working on a few details. What I ended up with was a bike that was in-between versions and a few things weren’t working out so well. This prompted me and Darren to talk about the bike in detail and him offering to take it back to update and fix a few things. Read on below to find out what happened between these two models.
Kona’s popular Libre DL all-road model has some changes in build spec for 2020. Most notably is the wheel package. The Libre DL now comes with 650b/27.5 wheels and a 2x Shimano GRX 800 drivetrain, giving this capable bike even more range. The Libre DL’s frame is made using Kona Race Light technology and is mated with an Easton carbon bar, Race Face carbon seatpost, Easton EA70 AX wheels and a Kona Verso Carbon touring fork. Retail for the complete build is set at $3999 with the frameset coming in at $1999.
-Frame Material: Kona Race Light Carbon
-Fork: Kona Verso Full Carbon Flat Mount Disc
-Wheels: Easton EA 70AX 650b
-Crankset: Shimano GRX 810
-Drivetrain: Shimano GRX 810 11spd
-Brakes: Shimano GRX 810 160mm front / 160mm rear rotor
-Seat Post: RaceFace Next Carbon
-Cockpit: Easton EC70AX bar/Easton EA90 Stem
-Front Tire: WTB Venture TCS DUAL 650bx47c
-Rear tire: WTB Venture TCS DUAL 650bx47c
-Saddle: WTB SL8 Pro
With a 68º head tube angle and a 74º seat tube angle, the Rangefinder might not be the shreddiest hardtail out there but it’ll be a more than capable bike for most trails. Plus, we need more approachable and affordable mountain bikes in this industry. With a 27.5+/29er wheel platform, a dropper post, and SRAM’s SX Eagle kit, you get to whet your appetite for trails and bikepacking all for under $1,300. Not bad.
There’s also a Deore build for a mere $1,099. Check out more of the Rangefinder at Salsa.
When the Salsa Warroad launched, it was marketed as an endurance road bike, to be ridden all day on various surfaces, both paved and dirt, yet I wouldn’t characterize it wholly as a gravel bike. Not by today’s standards. These days, bikes like the Ibis Hakka, the Santa Cruz Stigmata, and the Trek Checkpoint – just naming bikes we’ve reviewed here in the past year or so – fly that banner with their massive tire clearances. Yet, the Warroad has carved a niche in this ever-expanding marketplace where companies are making moves to make you use your wallet. Well, I’d like to think that we offer no-bull reviews here on the Radavist and after spending a considerable amount of time on this bike, I’m ready to do just that…
Cervelo‘s flagship gravel bike, the Áspero, just got a new build kit option with smaller wheels and higher volume tires. I got to check out this limited edition build kit while I was in Portland and I must say, the details on it are impressive. Read on for a more in-depth look.
Over the years, I’ve had the honor to throw my leg over many bikes, try them out, write a review, and then send them back. While the bikes return to their companies, the experience stays with me, and in the time I’ve been running this website, I’ve developed my own belief for what the perfect geometry for a hardtail mountain bike is. About a year ago, I began talking with Adam Sklar and Colin Frazer, who were about to launch a new production, US-made frame company called Mystic. We wanted to test the waters with a Radavist edition frame, dubbed the Alluvium. After chatting about numbers and branding, we felt like we were getting closer to releasing this frame. Then the reality of such an undertaking took hold and we killed the project.
With the launch of AXS, SRAM reached out to specific manufacturers and offered the ability to mix their Eagle rear MTB derailleur and cassette with the Force AXS shifters and brakes. This offers up the best of both worlds with a wide gear range and the ergonomics of road shifting. It took a while for this offering to hit the market for companies to spec complete bikes and 3T was finally able to implement the mixture, so they made an extra special limited edition Exploro. These limited edition completes will come with the 3T Torno crank, a full-carbon design, including the spider and axle, built to be tough and lightweight. Head on over to the 3T Exploro page to see pricing and your local dealer to order.
