The Radavist

April Fools..?

Rather than pretending to rebrand or make a goofy bike, Joe from Starling Cycles fancied a bit of a rant.

We’ve got a double feature of manufacturers today with a Hope Factory tour. This new film offers a glimpse behind the doors of Hope’s HQ, tucked away in the town of Barnoldswick in a rural corner of East Lancashire. You’ll get to meet the team behind the proudly UK-based, privately-owned manufacturer, see the process from drawing board to finished product and get a feel for the pure passion powering the constant innovation.

Starling Cycles love supporting talented riders and the brand is proud to introduce its latest athlete signing, Hâf Land.

Hâf (pronounced Harve, by the way) is an 18-year-old enduro racer, from North Wales in the UK. She’s only been racing since 2022 but has already got a whole heap of really decent results in the bag, including a load of #1 spots at the UK’s Welsh Enduro Series.

Hâf will ride a Starling Twist this year racing the British Enduro Series, Welsh Enduro Series and maybe even a few Enduro World Cup events…

Launching this Thursday, 14th of March, Wizard Works have just announced their new Kengo Camo Mini Collection. This is the brands first limited-edition project of 2024 and features a distinctive earth toned camo fabric, with reverse herringbone weave that is sure to turn heads.

UK-based Brother Cycles, profiled by Petor last year, just rolled out their new 2024 Kepler touring bike frameset pre-order (£799). Read on for a closer look at these all-steel, versatile frames below!

Not only is he super talented on a mountain bike, but he actually studies mountain biking at college. Yep – that’s actually a thing you can do now! Joe joined the Starling Cycles team a few years back and went on to enroll into BASE College in Scotland, studying mountain biking full-time.

BASE is the Borders Academy of Sporting Excellence (BASE) Mountain Biking Performance course, based out of the Borders College in Peebles, Scotland. Joe’s time at BASE is spent learning how to be a better rider and racer, but also sports science, psychology, coaching skills and everything you need to be an all-round expert two-wheel athlete. Because Starling thinks Joe is rad and the brand thinks his story is rad, it decided it was time to tell his story.

Hope Tech, UK component manufacturer, dropped a double whammy this weekend with the announcement of both its new Carbon crankset and a complete Bronze anodizing lineup for its parts…

Fairlight Cycles and Bentley Components teamed up on a CNC SON rear light bracket, designed to be lightweight, robust, and specifically match the Chris King 3D Violet color…

We’ve covered BESPOKED over the past few years and we’ll be back this year! The UK showcase just announced its dates and venue after a year hiatus so read on for more.

John loved the Cotic Escapade 853 he reviewed last year. They’re great bikes. And to celebrate their greatness, Cotic just announced a Made in the UK Escapade. Available in limited supply, direct from Cotic today…

Enigma is a UK framebuilder, founded in 2006, that has won various accolades over the years, including NAHBS awards. We’ve featured the brand before, albeit briefly, in our Limited Edition Shimano Silver GRX build showcase. Enigma’s EXPLOR platform features a geometry adapted specifically for flat bars, with lots of touring accouterments like plentiful rack, fender, and cargo mounts…

The Dirt Dashes are grassroots bikepacking and gravel events in the UK. Join us in 2024 by signing up on Dirt Dash ‘Three Dashes’ features footage from all three 2023 Dirt Dash events and feedback from the riders – who range from an experienced bikepacker from the US to another participant from Glasgow, who had not ridden a bike further than on his 20-minute commute. Film by Markus Stitz with music from Epidemic Sound.

For several months now, Cycles Manivelle has been offering the Alakazam bag from Wizard Works, custom-made to the dimensions of the Manivelle basket with and without. To celebrate this proud collaboration, Manivelle asked Ve, Harry and the Wizard Works team to incorporate one of our favorite raw materials, tarpaulin, into a very, very limited edition of this bag.

Remember a few weeks ago when we linked to the Tracker story on the Stooge Cycles website? Well, that should have been a hint or at least a wink wink, nod that Andy from Stooge was working on a Tracker-inspired bike! Yesterday he announced just that, the Dirt Tracker, so let’s check it out…

Launching today, the Hobgob Hip Pack expands the lineup of London-based bag-makers Wizard Works‘ collection of wearables for both on and off the bike. With multiple clever features – including a side-loaded Fidlock Hook buckle, two zippered pockets, wide hip wings, and an optional bottle pocket in both stock and custom configurations – this pack is sure to be popular. Josh and John participated in the prototyping phase of the Hobgob and, below, offer a detailed look and review of the new pack.

Our friends at London-based Quirk Cycles are best known for their custom steel gravel bikes with stunning finishes and, this week, they’ve announced two new exciting road bike models. Let’s take a closer look at the Durmitor ULTRA and RAT PENAT below…