Frame, Fork, Builder: Bradford Smith X Speedvagen
The Rider:
Tell us about yourself, both as a cyclist, frame builder, and beyond!
I have been riding a bike as long as I can recall. Riding around the neighborhood with my friends pushing the limits of where we could ride and explore (even when we weren't supposed to leave the block) I still remember that feeling of riding down to the center of town, that feeling of being completely self sufficient, getting there by the power of our own legs. We would go to the pizza shop and get a slice then ride home. Every weekend after that felt like a mission to explore, we'd ride to different neighborhoods and play soccer and explore trails through the woods.
That was like 30 years ago and as I write this I'm realizing I'm still doing that!!
Fast forward a number of years and I took a drive around the country, when we hit the west coast I found myself driving most of it and just had a thought of how much fun it'd be to go slower and explore.. a few years later I decided it was time to revisit the coast when I was living in LA. I decided to fly to Seattle and ride home. I got paper maps from adventure cycling and packed any bag I had with too much stuff and just went for a pedal.
Realizing that I could have a small idea and then feel confident enough to "wing it" opened up a lot for me. When all you have to do throughout the day is pedal, look for snacks and get to meet rad folks along the way, it's really just the simple life. After that I have had more what I call "bad ideas" the rides got longer and I worked on getting faster, it's taken me across the US, Australia, France, Ireland and those darn ideas just keep coming!
After a life-changing trip to Australia I found myself at a cookout with a bicycle builder and during a quick introduction I noted that if he ever needed anyone to do anything I'd like to be that person, and luck of the draw he said "I do need someone" that was 14 years ago learning to build bikes with Geekhouse bikes out of Boston, Mass. For me long days of the saddle opens up my creativity, looking to be efficient on the bike but also while I build, changing the process but never the goal. That's something I practice in my day to day
You’ve been building frames for over a decade. In retrospect, how has the ride been? What were some of the highlights?
While at Geekhouse I had a thought of building a bike and riding it across country, I felt that'd be the true test of a bike. Again I went to adventure cycling for paper maps and started really thinking about what I learned from my past trips and how I could make improvements, to the bike, to my gear and hopefully enjoy the ride.
When I started working at Seven I came across an event called the Trans Am bike race(a self sufficient race from Astoria Oregon to Virginia, roughly 4400 miles) I knew I could ride but had no idea how quickly. so I asked my boss if I could do the race and promised to be back as fast as I could!
Seven was more excited for the event and we ended up building a bike for me to pilot. Again I went back to the drawing board diving into the route and logistics and weather and terrain. I created a new bike and racks specific to what I wanted to bring and how I was going to ride. 24 days later I got the Atlantic with a smile on my face and having only adjusted my barrel adjuster for shifting along the way and the thought of, I could do that faster...
From your perspective as someone who lived, worked through, and influenced the cycling industry, how would you describe the connection between the rider and their “go-to” bike?
My cycling has evolved but also stayed the same quite a bit, up until 2023 I was car free for 17 years so my go-to bike was a commuter most of the time, aside from that it's constantly changing with the seasons. If I only had one bike today, it'd be a cyclocross type bike, drop bars, disc brakes, ability to run an array of tires or wheels even. That's a bike that can really open up your world and that's such a cool thing!
Outside is amazing, go explore!
The Bike:
Now tell us about this bike, The Rambler; what's the story?
The Rambler, I had the thought of this bike while riding. At that time, I was working at Speedvagen and we had a handful of bikes and my thought was to take a little bit of everything and put it together for something we didn't have. I.e. we had a disc road bike but couldn't fit tires bigger than a 32, we had a commuter bike that did. We also had an off road bike that had fenders but with a carbon fork that had a ton of clearance. As well as bike that had racks and lights but flat handlebars.
So for me, the way I was riding and exploring I wanted to pull all that together, be able to ride from town to town all day and night any time of year, I wanted to Ramble on and again feel self sufficient.
I definitely built it with my riding style in mind and have had some amazing adventures on it the last few years, I always like to be ready for a bad idea to pop up and this is the bike that's itching to go!
Bonus question! What can you tell us about “The Drifters”?
The Drifters was a bike gang out of New England comprised of some friends hoping to build community and always searching for a few good turns (and vanity plates)
Full Build Specs:
Frame: Speedvagen
Fork: Speedvagen unicrown
Fenders: Honjo by SimWorks
Wheels: Zipp 650b
Tires: Rene Herse 42's with fenders 48 without
Hub Front: Son Dynamo
Hub Rear: Zipp
Lights: Supernova
Rack: Handmade
Bag: Ruth works
Bars: Zipp Service Course SL70
Bar tape: Zipp Service Course
Stem: ENVE
Headset: Chris King
Bell: Spur Cycles
Groupset: SRAM Force Etap 44/36 x 10/36
Pedals: Time atack
Saddle: Flite
