The Radavist

Today we’ve got a special Readers’ Rides. While John was in Chico eating all of Travis’ vegan snacks at Paul Component Engineering, he documented Liz’s Alumalith, which Paul had just finished building. Liz is Paul’s partner, and she had her eye on a Ron’s Crust Bikes Alumalith. So Paul built her one, and it’s wild. Read on for some words by Paul himself about the bike…

John and Cari were in Australia earlier this month, and since they were on the same continent as Matt and Cheech from Crust Bikes, they had to visit them at their home in New South Wales. While there, John documented a selection of bikes from their shed, including some prototypes and soon-to-be-released future cult classics. Let’s check it all out!

With the re-release of their ‘Rando’ offering, Velo Orange takes a stab at the slim, albeit existing, market of all-road bikes while adding their own, classically inspired twist. Floridian Nic Morales looked at where this gold-flecked bike shines and what pavement-centric dreams a thin-tubed modern randonneur inspires.

Beach Club. What is it? Are they serious? Rim brakes in 2022? Hot pink and white? Wut in tarnation are those Los Angeles city slickers at The Cub House doing? They’re doing what they want, and to be honest, we dig it. Beach Club began as the side project hustle of Danny Heeley and Sean Talkington from Team Dream and The Cub House. They wanted to make production bikes in the USA for people who still care about rim brakes, steel tubing, and lookin’ good. We already looked at the flagship livery a little while ago, and at the LA Invitational this weekend, John photographed Sean’s build. We think you’ll all agree deserves a full-n-fat gallery on this lovely Monday. Check out more below!

What will soon be seven summers ago, Crust Bikes CEO Matt pedaled his prototype Evasion to the end of Long Island to catch a ferry across the Sound to where the fishing boat I was working on docked each evening. I readied the lines as the boat backed into the harbor.  Looking up, I could see a backlit figure of a cyclist above the docks in the parking lot— late summer setting sun illuminating orange and golds through course, untamed hair.  Chest hair.  We had been expecting each other…

In this episode of “Where Are They Now?” we catch up with the road bike Hubert D’Autremont fabricated for himself to see what it has been up to over the past several years since its last appearance on The Radavist. We even returned to the same photoshoot location.

I hope your winter break was refreshing and that you got some miles in over the Holidaze. We’re back in 2022 with the first of our 2021 year-end recaps, beginning with everyone’s favorite: the Top 10 Beautiful Bicycles of 2021. Like years prior, I compiled this list by traffic, comments, and social media/backlink chatter, also omitting bikes from Open House/Expo style showcases. There are some real gems in here, so let’s get to it!

Leave it to Rivendell to create a new genre of bike design that harkens back to a simpler time in cycling history, while also employing modern production methods and componentry. The Susie W. Longbolts/ Wolbis Slugstone and it’s heavier-duty cousin, the Gus Boots Willsen, are what Rivendell refers to as “hillibikes.” Their design is modern, but their overall concept is influenced by early mountain bikes ridden on Mt Tamalpais, north of San Fransisco, in the ’80s. And, by the way, their names are all anagrams of each other. Rivendell had a decked-out Wolbis at this year’s Philly Bike Expo where Jarrod Bunk caught up with them to photograph the build and learn more about these hillbikes from Rivendell’s Will Keating.

In an age where rubbing disc brakes, dead electronic shifting, and fussy integrated cockpits rule the market, the idea of a simple bike with none of the above starts to look very appealing. A steel frame with a mechanical groupset has an analog quality to it that is hard to beat. It has undeniable panache, aero and weight don’t matter. I introduce to you my Affinity Anthem, a stainless steel workhorse of a bike mated to a groupset that is as timeless as they come.

Behold, a timeless diamond in the crust. The “cantibolt” is the “sign a waiver” lightest tubed-cantilever-1” threaded offering from Crust Bikes; the first name in Boastfully Poor Business Decisions Index Weekly. A riff on the Jan Mule that so famously/infamously dons just about every other page of Bicycle Quarterly; the Crust version has coincidentally received praise from its muse… the sultan of supple; the prince of planing himself… Jan Heine uuuuuuvvv Bicycle Quarterly.

Hanford Cycles calls Philadelphia their home and as home town heros, at this year’s Philly Bike Expo, they brought a subtle and subdued fendered road bike, when compared their ornate and attention-grabbing classic randonneur bike from last year’s show. Simon of Hanford Cycles worked for Bilenky for 14 years, before leaving to launch his own enterprise, Hanford Cycles. As you can see from the lugwork on this and all of Simon’s bikes, it appears to be working out for him just fine.

The details on this long distance road bike are stunning! It’s equipped with a SON hub for a generator lamp eventually, fenders, cantilever brakes for extra clearance around the fenders, and a geometry tuned for the long road ahead.