The Radavist

When Josh from Avery County Cycles won the rookie of the year award at this year’s NAHBS, I don’t think anyone was surprised. I for one, was not in the least bit. His self-described Colorado front-range commuter is a mixture of things. Part cross bike, part light-tourer / commuter, with a trail suitable for off-roading. He kept the rear end tight, at 405mm and a nice, even bb drop of 65mm. While there are rack provisions on the rear, Josh prefers a bit of backpack camping.

Enough about the use and geometry, this is a show bike with all the suiting accoutrement. The hardware is copper-plated, there’s a machined lamp tab on the non-drive fork, Avery “A” fork crown inlay and a ‘perty blue matte coat of paint. The color really looks great in person. In fact, this whole bike looks great in person and in photos. See for yourself in the Gallery!

“A little bit of racing and a little bit of light touring” seems to be what a lot of people want from their cross bikes. That’s exactly what Gordon told Firefly when he put down his deposit. This cross bike has fender and rack mounts for weekend getaways and mini-v’s for road riding. Come cross season, he’ll pop on some 32c cross tires and get her nice and muddy. It’s always a pleasure to photograph a Firefly, especially when the owner is such a stand up guy. Denver has such rad bikes and such great people. It’s been a hell of a trip. Oh and, thanks for the hangover man!

Over the past few years, the crew at Geekhouse Bikes have slowly grown apart from their brightly-colored, low-pro, bent seat tube, triple triangle track bikes that they became so well known for. This slow and steady move towards class, with a bit of sass has culminated in their 2013 NAHBS offerings in Denver. New this year are the Brentwood Porteur and Hopedale Light Tourer. Both bikes would make ideal vehicles for a weekend camping trip, or around town jaunts. These models will be available in conjunction with Geekhouses’ already established models. Let me just say the brightly-colored Mudville singlespeed disk cross looks so dialed. Even the Adria Klora-designed graphics are top notch. Well done guys!

Check out some more photos, by the lovely Heather McGrath in the gallery!

Detroit has a long tradition of US manufacturing and it’s this very tradition that Shinola is looking to continue with their brand. The company began with watches, a common, everyday object that hasn’t been mass produced in the United States for decades. But Shinola knew that in order to bring that industry back to Detroit, they’d have to enlist in the help of true craftsmen. Ronda AG, a Lausen, Switzerland-based movement manufacturer is working with Shinola on their Argonite 1069 watch movement assemblage and that’s only the beginning.

Similarly, when Shinola began to design their bicycles, they looked to Wisconsin and the Waterford facilities for fabrication. Inspired by French porteurs and light tourers, the Shinola Runwell is an ideal city bike and you don’t need any fancy Swiss movement to get these bikes rolling. An 11-speed Alfine hub effortlessly shifts this mid-trail bike through your city or countryside. Load up the front rack with groceries, post office runs, beer, or what have you and just go! If you need to stop on a dime, the mechanical disk brakes will do the trick.

The Runwell has details. Waterford’s simple and classy lugwork, along with a bright Cherokee red paint job (it’s really bright!) really compliments the mostly chrome components. Even the gusset on the non-drive fork leg resolves any stress riser issue you might have with disk tabs on a mid-trail ride. Shinola went the extra mile with their branded saddle and grips and the 32c Continental Contact tires will roll without getting flats from thorns or glass.

Check out more below.

One of my favorite bikes at the Philly Bike Expo was this Chapman Cycles townie. At first glance, it may look like a pretty standard parts build but when you look closely, you’ll notice a lot of vintage parts in a dark black anodized finish. Brian Chapman really took his time with this one and it shows. The custom anodized Honjo fenders did it for me but don’t overlook all the frame details!

When Steve Blick first told me he was going to London for the 2012 Olympics, I asked something along the lines of “are you excited?”. Being someone who travels all over the world for Oakley‘s “two wheels division”, I can imagine that being at the Olympics might be daunting. But not for Steve. In fact, he said he was most excited about riding around his new Beloved Imperial Works Morton Concept. Here’s a back story:

“It started with monsieur @blick wanting to have a great ride in London for three weeks, so we approached Slate at Rapha for a taker, not wanting to send it back across the pond. He eventually said they would support the project, the only brief: just make it feel like Rapha.

Well, @blick is about black, stealth, and we (Beloved) don’t usually do black, staying classic silver with components, but with Rapha, the games in London, we got the idea / concept for an Imperial Works Morton, the common thought = gold. So in our interpretation, we figured out the small gold bits per IW: plate our steel downtube bands and the badge; next what was to be black: the Paul bits (crank/brakes/rev.levers), ano the Nitto bits (stem/bar/post), Conti all black tires, Brooks saddle (of course an “Imperial” classic B-17) & leather tape, fenders, and of course black powdercoat; and lastly what was to stay classic silver: bolts, rails, spokes, nipples, headset – a stainless King, stainless Phil BB cups, and pedals found that nice balance. A little magic was born on doing build.

It will live in the new Rapha London Cycle Club post the games, perhaps used as the
store’s special “work bike” here and there.”

See more of this beauty below in a full photo gallery and a video that Steve made while in London.

Mitch from Map Cycles recently began relocating his studio from Portland to Chico, California. And if there’s one bike that solidifies his long-time stay in Portland, I feel like it’s this porteur 650b Disk-ville city bike. Seen first in my 2012 NAHBS coverage, in a raw state, a new coat of black paint, along with the French fenders, makes this baby look like something out of a prohibition-era gangster fleet. Something just says cruise… cruise and “buy me“.

Click on the above photo to launch the gallery, or here to open in a new tab.