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With two wheel options, 650b or 700c, flared dirt drops, a 1x drivetrain, disc brakes, and 450mm chainstays, the new 4130 All Road model from State Bicycle Co looks to be one of the most popular items in their lineup, especially with a price of only $799. No wonder they sold out already! You can sign up to be emailed when they’re back in stock at State.
Remember Morgan’s review of the Titanium Knolly Cache? It dropped here on the Radavist just a few months after the Knolly Cache steel was announced. That was back in August of last year. Knolly finally announced they have stock of the Steel Cache, including two build kits and a frameset. You can buy the Steel Cache with a GRX 810 group for $3788, or a GRX 600 for $2899, and the frameset for $1250. Head on over to Knolly to see the component breakdown for each build kit and check out Morgan’s review of the Titanium Cache for a refresh on how capable this bike is.
Read the comments here enough and any time we post a new bike from a brand, someone will complain that the largest size won’t fit them. It sucks. Being really tall, and being really short for that matter means it’s hard to find a bike that will fit you. As such, those two polarizing ends of the spectrum are a real challenge for framebuilders. Lyle Wiens is a relatively new builder. He calls himself a “hobby builder”, who is based in Manitoba, Canada. He’s built about 30 frames and he got into it because he couldn’t find a bike that fit him properly at 6’8″ and 235 lbs… Sound familiar? Check out this super rad Readers’ Rides below!
The Ritchey Outback received a hefty facelift for 2020, making it more capable than ever. With an all-new Ritchey Adventure Fork design, complete with cargo mounts, and a frame with more braze-ons, including rack and fender mounts, you can take it on gravel rides, or out on a multi-day tour. The Outback also clears 700c x 48mm or 650b x 2.0″ tires, making it an extremely versatile bike within Ritchey’s lineup. The frame + fork will run you $1,399 and you can see one in person at your local dealer. Head to Ritchey to see more!
Last year’s Warroad brought endurance all-road performance to the Salsa catalog and this year, the brand revamped the new frame with some vibrant paint options and updated build kits. Due to the current pandemic, they’re even offering up consumer direct shipping via your local bike shop and Salsa’s Adventure At Your Doorstep program. Head on over to Salsa to drool over this AXS build at the high end and a Tiagra build for more budget-minded buyers.
Curious about what we thought about Warroad? Check out our review.
When I say Cervelo, chances are your mind doesn’t jump right to off-road bike like the Áspero and that’s why we wanted to review it…
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 five classes of Romax, Brodie’s do-it-all gravel bike model, ranging from the Comp for $2099, to the Carbon (pictured) for $3999, and many tiers of build kit and wheel options, Brodie’s offerings for these all-road bikes has something for everyone. The Romax has a steel, aluminum, and carbon frameset offerings, each with cargo bosses on the fork, clearance for plush and supple tires, and build kits ranging from 105 to GRX. There are just too many options to list, so head to Brodie to see the 2020 Romax for yourself.
Wow! What a year it’s been. In the past twelve months, we’ve shot roughly 300 bikes. From gravel races, to NAHBS, the Philly Bike Expo and our normal travels, we really captured some unique builds and we’ve got a good handle on the bikes the readers of the Radavist enjoy checking out based on some key metrics.
Every year we try to do our best to sort through twelve months of archives to narrow down to this list. The first filter is the comment count, which we start at 50 comments. Then comes page views, with the minimum number being 20,000 views. Finally, we look at the social media chatter; including Instagram comments and how many times was the post shared across various platforms.
What we end up with is a list that is filled with a plethora of interesting, versatile, and quirky bikes. The only editorial decision I myself made was to omit reviews of stock bikes. So no Santa Cruz Stigmata or Cannondale Topstone this round!
Check out the full Top Ten Beautiful Bicycles of 2019 below, in no particular order…
Wish One Cycles is a framebuilding and engineering operation in France. They design, build, and paint their frames, with their most recent project being the SUB, a sport utility bicycle, which was tested in the high country in Colorado during the Steamboat Gravel Race. Be sure to check out their video from the event here, see more photos of the bike below and check out all the details at Wish One Cycles.
All-City’s been pushing new models consistently over the past few months and people are already building them up in wild custom specs. The new Cosmic Stallion is landing in January 2020 at your local dealers and upon its arrival, you’ll note a few updates.
The first being new paint. Duh. The Stallion comes in a purple to white fade, SRAM Force 1 kit, or a lime, silver, and white chevron GRX build. It also got a new geometry update, making it a bit longer and lower for all-road stability, proven at races like the Land Run 100.
There’s also a new fork, with adjustable rake. The Columbus Futura Cross Carbon Fork has been updated to accommodate a 12mm thru-axle. The Stallion features a tapered head tube with external cups, and ding ding ding, flat-mount disc brakes.
Look for these ponies to land in your local dealer in the new year and read more at All-City!
The way I ride road bikes has evolved with the way the bikes are being built. As I have moved away from pack racing over the past 10 years, I have desired more variety in my daily rides. Most of my rides involve sections of steep LA county fire roads or linking hilly neighborhood climbs together by zigging and zagging through hidden dirt paths.
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…
Products like this intrigue me. They pique my interest and pull at my heartstrings. Oftentimes, I find the cycling industry’s apparel offerings to be too wrapped up in the supergraphic, the superhero, the loud, obnoxious, and ostentatiously-designed garb most of us are forced to wear due to brand simply one-upping, building off of and straight biting-off of other’s designs. Personally, I want my cycling gear to emulate my outdoor gear. I want my cycling shoes to look like boots and honestly, most of the time while I tour and bikepack, I wear just that.
Fizik’s Terra lineup – their dirt-focused shoes – has trapesed about the tundra that is earth tones and laces for some time now but it wasn’t until their Ergolace X2 model dropped earlier this year that I was intrigued enough to reach out to the brand to review a pair. So, aside from a rugged aesthetic, how do they really feel in person?
Bombtrack announced the Hook EXT C model last year. It was the flagship lightweight carbon gravel bike with a bit more versatility added in for the long haul, with the needed bosses for fenders, racks, and other touring essentials. The 2020 Hook EXT C now features a T47 bottom bracket, SRAM Rival, and 650b Hunt Adventure Sport wheels with 2.0″ gumwall WTB Venture tires.
3T continues to roll out pricing tier build kit options with their popular Exploro model. The latest news from the Italian manufacturers features options with Rival1, GRX, and the AXS Mullet kit, starting at $3599. Check out all the builds below.
The Old Growth Classic took place this past weekend – 500 riders took to a grueling 55-mile course through coastal redwoods and old-growth groves. At the end of the day over 8,000′ of elevation gain would be throbbing through the legs of every person that crossed the start and finish lines. I had planned on bringing my Sklar with me to ride and photograph the course, but Ibis reached out and asked if I’d like to ride their Hakka MX with Shimano’s GRX drivetrain and a new ENVE spec build. Here’s what I thought about the build kit on this bike, specifically GRX…
While PEdAL ED might be best known for its luxurious, form-fitting lycra attire, the brand has just released a more relaxed line of cycling apparel dubbed the Jary collection. This includes a short-sleeve merino t-shirt, a long-sleeve merino t, jacket, and riding shorts. The entire kit looks great with vibrant colors and a fit more in-tune with casual dirt rides to bikepacking. If I do say so myself, this is the best looking launch from the brand and I can’t wait to see some of it in person. Head to PEdAL ED now to check it out and see more photos below.
