The Radavist

“Red and yellow, kill a fellow…”

Maybe that’s why I love these old Team Raleigh track bikes? There’s something venomous about them. Like some predatory beast, I loved looking at the old photos of British steel eating their competition alive on the boards. The last time I was in Melbourne, I shot another Northside Wheelers in-store display, classic racing track machine, that bright red Cecil Walker. They’re both the same owner, with an impeccable taste for steel race machines.

This one’s a keeper! See more for yourself in the Gallery!

Spooky Cross. For most of the world, it’s a segue into a long and arduous cross season. But for the Dirty Deeds CX league, it’s the end of series party. Unlike most spooky cross races, each race was one or two laps max, coming in under 10 minutes per heat.

Since this was my first DDCX event, I don’t have much to gauge from it other than I saw a lot of people, in exceptional costumes, having fun on bikes. That’s good enough for me. Oh and there was a streaker…

See more in he Gallery!

What better way to celebrate Halloween than with a Spooky road? Ok, I can think of plenty of “better” ways, but I felt this bike in particular fit with All Hallows. When I was at the road crits in Melbourne the other night, looking at the sea of Giants and Treks, this Spooky jumped out at me. Matte black, raw stays, SRAM Red and that recessed cable stop detail!

See for yourself in the Gallery!

For some reason, I always assumed Euro was based in, I dunno, Europe? Turns out, Brian Hayes builds Euro Sport frames in Australia, which is where, coincidentally, Andy picked up this very frame. Now, to go from a Llewelyn as your everyday road bike to a Euro Sport might seem strange to some (it did for me), for Andy, it speaks one thing: Australian racing pedigree.

This bike is the shit. Euro Sport frames have been ridden by the Aussie National Team extensively. They’re aggressive, steep and responsive. This particular frame was built by Brian Hayes for Brett Lancaster, an Aussie pro. While Brian’s work has dabbled in ostentatious paint jobs before, he can’t recall painting this specific job… Which means, clearly aliens painted it because it’s out of this world, bro.

Paint alone doesn’t make the bike. You have to know how to piece it together. Enter FYXO: the man knows how to build a bike. Campagnolo Athena 11 speed, with custom panto, C-Record influenced cranks, Cinelli cockpit, Absolut Fyxo bidons, Regal saddle and good ol’ made in the USA White Industry hubs laced to Mavic Open Pros.

I love this bike, almost as much as I love its owner, so I spent extra time photographing it. See more in the Gallery!

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that I’ve got a hard-on for BAUM’s work. Ever since visiting their shop a year ago, I’ve been paying very close attention to the torrent of work that flows into their Flickr stream.

Maybe when I strike it big in the “industry” and move to OZ, I’ll have one of my own, but the likelihood of that happening is slim. Until that day comes, I’ll just enjoy shooting photos of beauts like this Corretto road bike and hastily take it for spins around the block from Shifter Bikes in South Yarra until I find the perfect wall to shoot it against. In this case, I opted for brick, instead of this black wall.

Side note: people ask me why I use walls for bikes like this. The answer is simple: I can’t afford to replace anything on this bike if it were to fall over…

Molteni sausages were onto something when they sponsored a young bicycle racer by the name of Eddy Merckx in 1971. Not only were they to see a huge jump in sales from his many victories (someone give me a source!), but little did they know, their brand was to be embodied in one of the most iconic colors in cycling history.

While this frame in particular is not an original Molteni, it still looks mighty nice sitting atop this Kubota.

I have been dangerously low on Merckx Mondays content, so when I was over at Maison de Blanc over the weekend, I asked FYXO to shoot one of his many Merckx frames. “Which one?” he asked, to which I replied, the one that’ll look the best on your dad’s mower.

Granted, this is by no means the “nicest” Merckx frame in Andy’s man cave, it just looked so quant… See for yourself in the Gallery!

This, like everything in the world of FYXO, is for sale. Interested? Shoot him an email.

Since the first time riding in the ‘wood here in Australia, I’ve always wanted to shred some MTBs. Problem is, it’s usually a pain in the ass digging up a bike, or there’s just not enough time to spend fucking around on the tracks and trails.

This go ’round, I’ve been taking it easy, so when a Sunday afternoon opened up, we were able to find the time for plenty of fucking around. But what about a bike? Luckily for me, Andy set me up with Tim at My Mountain, a shop in Melbourne specializing in bicycles designed for dirt riding: i.e. a MTB shop.

So, I had a bike (which I’ll be doing a bit of a write-up on at a later date), I had a guide (or three) and plenty of time. Andy knew of some mates who loved to ride Smith’s Gully, a “local’s only” trail system. He wouldn’t tell me where it was, or let me use my Garmin, he just tossed me into his van and about 30 minutes later, I was in a parking lot putting on my kit and nursing a hangover from getting “trollied” the night before.

The four of us all gave each other’s bikes the once over (only to know what to look for in case one of us crashed into the bush) and took off for the trails. Now, let me apologize in advanced, these photos didn’t quite fit into the product reviews I’m in the process of writing, they’re merely left-overs that were too rad to just pitch. Especially this one of Barnie getting rad…

See a few more in the Gallery!

The owner of this Gangsta track has been hanging around Shifter Bikes since he was in his early teens. Now, years later and he’s got an itch to ride his bike out from the city on a big, weekend ride. Before he could do so, he needed Dan to add bottle braze ons to the frame.

Now, the technique Dan used didn’t involve a torch, but it did involve a drill and a device called a Nutsert. More on that later. For now, let’s check out this rad Gangsta Track!

I swear, when I’m in Melbourne, it’s like classic steel roadie overload. Normally, I’m content with my modern steel but after a day at Shifter Bikes, I’m ready to start piecing together an Italian race machine. Dan has so many amazing builds coming out of his shop at the moment, but my favorite is this Colnago Decor with Campagnolo Record. Why? See for yourself in the Gallery!

Ok, look. This bike might just well be one of my favorites I’ve seen in months. Why? Campag and Shimano, tapered head tube, general trickery and yes, a DIY paint splatter paint job with a matte clear coat. Blakey’s Kinesis commuter even has matching pedals and helmet (of which weren’t present). This bike rules, I’ve had splatter paint bikes before and there’s something that’s just so photogenic about them – and horribly difficult to correct white balance. Check out more of this rare bird in the Gallery!