John Watson

1 week ago | theradavist.com | JOhn Watson |John Watson

Earlier this week, we looked inside Hope Tech, a leader in UK manufacturing. While visiting the shop, John spent some time documenting the Hope HB.T track bike…Created for the 2020 Olympics and ridden by Team GB, the HB.T represents Hope Tech’s capabilities as both designers and fabricators. This particular model features a Lotus pursuit cockpit and fork. Renishaw cranks and an aero Twin Seatpost complete the build.

1 week ago | theradavist.com | JOhn Watson |John Watson

Radar Ibis founder Scot Nicol-designed “Goose Neck” stems were used in early mountain bikes to convert flat bar frames to drop bar bikes. Scot handed the design off to framebuilding greats Charlie Cunningham and Steve Potts who brought it further into the burgeoning industry. Soon, the Goose Necks stems had the nickname of LD Stems. Crust Bikes loves the practicality of these stems, so they’ve updated them for modern applications.

1 week ago | theradavist.com | JOhn Watson |John Watson

SimWorks just brought back one of its classic bar designs with longtime collaborator Jeremy Sycip – a renowned framebuilder and fabricator based out of Santa Rosa, CA – the J.B. Bar. The J.B. Bar had previously been produced for Sycip by Nitto – but had been out of production for several years. Originally based on a hand bent bar that had been produced for a ‘Java Boy’ bike that Jeremy had built many years ago, the J.B. Bar is a swept back bar with a unique shape and grip area.

1 week ago | theradavist.com | JOhn Watson |John Watson

It’s just a handlebar plug, right? Sure, but when the machinist bike nerds at PAUL start designing, prototyping, (obsessing), and testing a project, even a simple bar plug can end up at NASA-level standards of tolerance, function, and reliability. Introducing the BEP Handlebar Plugs. They install in drop bars or MTB bars with a 4 mm Allen key and lock into position, never rattling loose…Paul thinks it has arrived at the highest quality handlebar plugs in the world.

1 week ago | theradavist.com | JOhn Watson |John Watson

Like Grant, we’re suckers for skinny tubed, rim brake road bikes. Let’s check out his hand-painted Steelman Stage Race road bike…I hand-painted this Steelman Stage Race frame for a friend of mine and built it up with a new old stock 11-speed 105 groupset. It’s a pretty simple build for a gorgeous frame and was stoked to paint it for a friend of mine.