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Our favorite posts each week come from you, the readers of this website! Back in 2011 we launched our Readers’ Rides feature and every year, we like to look back at twelve months of submissions and see what resonated with people the most. Well, this year we saw a huge uptick in vintage restomods being submitted and it says something that the number one entry on this list was just posted a few weeks ago! Let’s get to it…
Steel may be real but, for Petor Georgallou, that cliché begs the question: is wood good? Ever the curious reviewer, Petor has long wanted to test the ride quality of a wooden frame and the opportunity to ride a Twmpa Cycles GR1 gravel bike finally presented itself a few months back. But before Petor dips into his ride impressions, he shares an exchange with another wooden builder, Mark Kelly, about the characteristics that make wood an especially compelling frame-building material. After checking out Petor’s review of the GR1, drop into the comments and let us know…would you? Wood you!?
We joke sometimes that fixed gears were the gateway drug for cyclists, leading them to geared bikes like road, gravel, mountain, and touring bikes. David shares with us his journey from fixed riding to his latest bike, a Fairlight Strael 3.0 All-Road. Let’s check it out below!
Underbiking World Championships is precisely what it sounds like: a mixed-terrain race on classic road bikes. Think Rough Stuff Collective meets Single Speed Worlds. Today’s Readers’ Rides comes from Barry Wicks, a legendary multi-surface master, who shares his Underbiking Worlds Raleigh Super Course…
There’s no shortage of drop-bar, dirt-oriented, MUSA titanium frames to choose from these days. Yet, one company’s consistently impressive designs continue to stand out in this somewhat crowded market: No. 22. John got his hands on the latest member of No. 22’s Drifter family, the Drifter Adventure, which became his “get into shape” bike this spring and summer. After logging miles on his favorite loop in Santa Fe, he’s ready to discuss what makes No. 22 and this new Drifter Adventure so special.
Read on for a fat gallery full of details and scenery, and his review…
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…
Today we are back with part two of Spencer Harding‘s ENVE Grodeo and Builder Round-up coverage. If you missed the builds featured in yesterday’s post, we’d recommend going back and giving them a gander—3D-printed parts (most ti but some steel, too!) seems to be the unofficial theme for the year but there’s plenty to see across the creative spectrum! Today, we finish up with the remaining frame builders in the showcase—with a few more overseas features—then we head out on the weekend’s main event, a 92-mile gravel ride on some of the best dirt in the northern Wasatch Mountains. Let’s dive in!
Every summer, ENVE Composites hosts a massive open house at their HQ in Ogden, Utah with an accompanying gravel ride. The 2023 ENVE Grodeo, which went down just one week ago, featured an impressive list of 24 frame builders from around the world. Spencer Harding was on the ground documenting all of the beautiful bicycles and riding festivities and, below, he presents Part One of his event recap with a stacked gallery of bikes, some snapshots from the builder ride, and Trackline time trail at the Grodeo. Let’s get to it!
We’re back with more 2023 Tour de France coverage from Safa. In this video, the team checks out the final kilometers of Stage 1’s finish and also takes a look at Taylor’s ultra-lightweight touring bike setup.
We love to see people re-using vintage bikes for modern exploits. It’s one of our absolute favorites. So when Harrison sent this into our Readers’ Rides inbox, we spent a good amount of time frothing over it. Let’s take a look!
We first met Guy Stone at the 2021 Philly Bike Expo where he was showing a personal New Trix singlespeed hardtail from his then-nascent custom framebuilding operation Relstone Cycles. Guy is a full-time accountant and part-time fabricator with an out-of-the-box approach to building bicycles. As a side project to his side project, he builds one bike per year for a veteran in collaboration with his local VA in Chillicothe, OH, and a list of generous brand sponsors. For this week’s reader’s ride, Guy shares his most recent Project VA build: a custom Rollin Stone road bike with a great backstory. Let’s check it out below!
Is there a frameset with a bigger cult following than the Cannondale CAAD? Hoj Art says no and we agree. For this week’s Readers’ Rides, we get a look at an amazing DIY project that turned a bummer CAAD4 into a stunner track-inspired CAAD4. Let’s get to it…
Yesterday, we shared a profile of Rob Roberson that traces his storied bicycle fabrication career from the 1970s to present day. Today, we’re taking a look at seven bikes Rob built during that impressive 50-year window, from early track bikes to road frames and his most recent personal all-road build. There’s a lot of intricate eye candy here, so let’s get to it!
Rob Roberson is an enigma in the handmade bicycle world. Some would consider him “the greatest known unknown bike fabricator” of the American frame building movement. His career, which spans nearly 50 years, puts him among a very small pedigree of builders that have both mass-production experience and have also built custom bikes under their own name without giving up the ghost. Yet, with such a significant trajectory, Rob has remained largely unknown. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be featuring bikes made by Rob and the stories about them. Today, however, Zach Small and Josh Weinberg are honored to introduce you to Rob Roberson.
Today, with the launch of the ARD44 wheelset, Chris King adds an all-road offering to their FusionFiber wheelset lineup that previously catered to gravel cyclists with the GRD23 and mountain bikers with the MTN30. Laced to King’s R45D hubs, at 25mm internal width and 44mm deep, ARD44 wheels are designed for riders of all roads – from tarmac to dirt tracks. Josh got his hands on a set of these new aero wheels just a few days ago and shares a first look below…
We get many submissions for our weekly Readers’ Rides feature. Some range from parts bin basket bikes to framebuilders’ own creations. This week’s feature comes from the latter. Will from Albatross Bikes sent in his personal RD-00 Builder’s Special, along with some process imagery and the bike’s geometry, so let’s get to it!
Cjell here with a quick report from the field on my latest prototype bike model, the Monē Hachita. I’m still dialing in the details but have released a few protos into the wild. The new/forthcoming frame featured here was just built up by my friend Bailey Newbrey. For those unfamiliar, Bailey is the owner/operator/janitor/DJ of Sincere Cycles in Santa Fe.
The new bike is one we’re working on over here at Monē. The current Monē line-up has a slack/playful hardtail with very big tire clearance, a drop bar with very big tire clearance, and a gravel bike with just big tire clearance. In many ways, these thru-axle, disc-braked bikes are superior to this new bike. In all ways, really, save one: ultimate retro compatibility.
While in Marin for a few photoshoots, John swung by to see Mike at Black Mountain Cycles in Point Reyes Station. It had been several years (maybe you recall his Shop Visit post) since he’d been in the area and was long overdue for some catching up.
Mike is an industry veteran, having raced bikes and worked for various brands over the years before launching his own in-house brand of bikes under the banner of Black Mountain Cycles. We’ve featured several Black Mountain builds over the years and are big fans of what Mike designs. Mike owns several unique vintage bikes that have helped inform his own designs, yet the crème de la crème is his personal Cunningham road.
We pinged Mike to write about this rare machine, showcasing its origins and unique details found only on a Cunningham, so read on for more!
