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Read on for The Radavist’s Top Ten Articles of 2024, ranked in ascending order and based on views. We’re more than just Beautiful Bicycles over here; year after year, the articles that our authors publish draw the biggest crowds. From our Dust-Up op-eds to the first look at brands’ future showcases, clever hacks, and new this year, our Radavist Documentary brought in the page views. As we look back across twelve months of content, ten articles in particular stand out.
For the Top Ten Beautiful Bicycles of 2024 we looked at pageviews, comments, and social media chatter from twelve months of content to determine what bikes best represent a calendar year at The Radavist. Then, to up the ante this year, we’ve included our Handmade Showcase Awards, featuring bikes from the OZ/US MADE Bike Show and UK/DE Bespoked. Let’s get to it!
Today, Black Sheep Bikes from Fort Collins, Colorado, is offering a first for the framebuilding operation: a production hardtail mountain bike. Photographer Josh Hicks penned a few words and delivered a fun gallery showcasing these new bikes Black Sheep has dubbed the Speedster Project. Let’s check it out…
Officina Battaglin just launched the 1984 (€3,800 frame), a limited-edition steel frame that celebrates the 40th anniversary of Giovanni Battaglin’s retirement from professional cycling…
In the first installment of a four-part series looking Inside / Out of the BESPOKED SRAM Inclusivity Scholarship winners, our European correspondent Petor Georgallou joins Significant Other Bikes of Denver, Colorado.
Petor recently took a gonzo-style roadtrip through North America to visit four framebuilders who were awarded SRAM’s Inclusivity Scholarship to attend Bespoked in Dresden, Germany, last October.
Take a peek behind the walls in a special Inside / Out look at Ashley King and her company Significant Other Bikes.
Please, if you enjoy these videos, hit the subscribe button below! If we hit 10k subscribers, John will do a gravel race. If we don’t, Miguel has to shave his mustache!
Ed Litton, a Bay Area framebuilder known for his impeccable lugwork, Rivendell paint, finishing for builders like Bruce Gordon, and period-correct Ritchey restorations, which included building biplane forks, was involved in a cycling accident in Point Richmond, near his workshop. He suffered a serious spinal cord injury. He was taken to Marin General Hospital, the nearest trauma center, and rushed to surgery. Currently, he doesn’t have any feeling from his mid-chest down. He is awake and able to move his arms, but only time will tell of any long-term spinal cord damage.
There’s a GoFundMe set up to help Ed recover his medical costs, so if you have any money you can spare for a living legend, check it out.
Kris Henry from 44 Bikes just released a batch of his popular Titanium DEDBLO Hammers ($250) to his webshop. These hammers are in stock and then immediately sell out. In fact, their numbers are dwindling as this is being typed, so if you fancy one, roll on over to 44 Bikes check them out!
Specs:
Chumba Cycles is selling the size XL SLACKR hardtail John reviewed for a heavily discounted sale price of $8,995. See all the details of the deal at Chumba Cycles and if you buy this bike, we’ll send you some free Radavist water bottles of your choice for it! Mention it to Chumba and we’ll get ya sorted.
Our friend Daniel Yang visited longtime buddy Curtis Inglis from Retrotec in Napa, California. Check it out as Daniel chases Curtis on his Funduro, which we documented last year, and peers behind the veil into what makes a Retrotec so rad!
John took a Chumba Slackr hardtail home from the 2024 MADE Bike Show to review. Since then, he’s squeezed every bit of riding potential on the bike before winter set in early in Santa Fe, putting it and himself through a multitude of rides in the Southern Rockies. Find out what epiphanies he’s had while riding this Austin, Texas-welded titanium hardtail below…
East London’s Stayer Cycles offers a Framebuilding 101 class now, and this video showcases one of the students, Louis, who is building their first frame. Read on for more information about the class…
Teased in the Campandgoslow Shop Visit and Trout Tape post, John got to shoot Casey’s delicious rigid 29er klunker Manzanita Cycles mountain bike while visiting Great Basin Pottery in the foothills of the Easter Sierra. This bike is a perfect mix of vintage throwback and modern mixed-terrain sensibilities. Check out a detailed photo gallery below with words from the bar tape/potter Hemmingway, Casey himself, along with a Q&A with Nick from Manzanita…
Zach Weiss of Zabrina Cycles shares the story of how his apprenticeship at Caletti Cycles grew into a deep professional and personal mentorship after John Caletti suffered a life-altering bike accident. As the torch is passed, both figuratively and literally, the student reflects on how his teacher’s influence shaped his path as a framebuilder and as a person. Take a look behind the welding helmet with Zach…
As previewed in our Bespoked 2024 coverage, Sour Bicycles has just announced the Space Cake All-Road model. Let’s check it out…
It’s spooky season, and while humans can’t return from the dead, bicycles can! Especially steel bikes. Longtime readers of The Radavist might recall John’s Geekhouse Woodville touring bike from 2013. Its history is sordid and includes theft, a recovery, some damage, and a brief hiatus. Well, thanks to a group of friends, John got it back, and the redux might be better than the original. Read on for the resurrection of this beloved and more beautiful than ever bicycle!
Meriwether Cycle‘s Ponderosa adventure gravel bike now has an open queue. The steel frame and fork will run you $2600, while the steel frame with a Wilde carbon fork is $2500. Roll on over to Meriwether Cycles for ordering and check out John’s in-depth review for more on this capable gravel machine.
Remember that crazy long-tail fat bike we showcased in our Meriwether Cycles Shop Visit article? The one with the sick custom rear rack? Well, Whit sent it off to Agave Finishworks in Colorado, and they did their magic on the frame… with illustrations by Bicycle Pubes!
It’s one thing to order a crazy long-tail fat bike from a custom framebuilder like Meriwether but it’s a whole ‘nother thing to have Lamar Scrotum design the finish for it. Well done, Casey. Well done.
See the whole thing at the Agave Finishworks Website and Casey, if you’re ever in Santa Fe, holler!
Daniel Yang from Yang MFG, Artefact, and Neuhaus offers up a deep dive into steel’s mechanical properties, butting, and how bike tubes are made. Remember, for steel to stay real, it needs primer and a finish like paint or powder.
