tag
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…
The Chunk frame, a made-in-Japan fillet brazed cruiser-inspired modern mountain bike by Crumbworks in Japan, caught our eyes when it was announced last year. These bikes feature non-boost spacing, thru-axles, and disc brakes, designed for dirt riding and touring. If you live in the USA, ordering one from Japan is expensive, but Crust Bikes brought in a few frames from Crumbworks and now only a size large remains. Available in raw for the paint finish of your choice or run it raw for $2,100. Check out more at Crust Bikes.
The Radavist copy editor and Northern California correspondent Nicholas Haig-Arack spent a weekend at the Cruiser Classic, a long-running grassroots gathering of mountain bike enthusiasts in the Tahoe National Forest near Nevada City. Read on for a first-person retelling of the organized chaos of the 2024 Cruiser Classic…
The State Bicycle Co Klunker was the star of the show in our New Skids on the Block video. Ok, technically, the Subaru Brat was but the bikes are really fun. Like the old cruisers from the Repack era, this bike has durable wheels, frame, and high-rise handlebars from a motorcycle.
For 2024, State offers up the Klunker in a new olive drab paint with tan components.
Check out more at State Bicycle Co.
The Stellar Cycles Pulsar is sort of a do-all type of bike as long as it’s singlespeed. This unique offering caught our eye on Instagram, and we’re sharing it here because we think you’ll dig it, too!
We restocked our Klunker Socks ($18) in the white and orange colorway and added a new turquoise and cobalt color for summer (above). Both are in stock and shipping from our Santa Fe office. Thanks as always for your support! Buying our merchandise is one way you can help keep our original and unique Reportage rolling out! xo
During his sojourn to Northern California in April, John Watson wanted to document one framebuilder in particular whose work had caught his eye. John Fitzgerald has been building elegant custom steel bicycles under the name Fitz Cyclez for just under two decades, yet he tends to fly under the radar. He doesn’t attend the big bike shows, and he’s not really interested in marketing his brand. But as anyone who’s seen a Fitz in the wild can attest, his work speaks for itself – and his work is seen often throughout Sonoma County and the greater Bay Area, thanks to Fitz’s popularity within the randonneuring community.
To tell the tale of Fitz Cyclez from the eyes of a local, John Watson tapped Santa Rosa’s own Nicholas Haig-Arack to interview John Fitzgerald. Take a peek into the world of Fitz Cyclez.
The new Bob Marley and State Bicycle Co. collection features a Klunker and 4130 Road+ lines alongside hemp frame bags, bar bags, and a range of distinctive cycling apparel. Let’s check it out below!
John spent last weekend in Santa Cruz catching up with friends, riding some tacky dirt and checking out the History of Mountain Bike Evolution Show at Santa Cruz Bicycles, put on by Doug Hatfield, Velo Cosmos with Team Old Soil. The show spanned the evolution of the mountain bike from the 1940s through the Syndicate Racing Team’s World Cup DH machines.
Below, John hones in on the evolution of cruiser bikes to klunkers and the genesis of the Marin County “Mountain Bike” and shares a jam-packed gallery of bikes and hangs…
Ricky, aka @shaquille_owheel, has one sweet Black Sheep Klunker, with an incredible story. Ricky penned a killer Readers’ Rides for us this week, so let’s get to it!
