The bike industry carnage continues. This time it’s Colorado Cyclist. Back in 2022 it was acquired by private equity and merged with Planet Cyclery. And now, just two years later–and after 45 years of being in business–they are being shut down.

Colorado Cyclist was my favorite mail order catalog back in the 90s and early 00s. I loved drooling over the Merckx and Litespeed bikes built with Campy and Dura Ace. And they had some great wheel builders--I have at least two or three sets in my basement. Sad to see them go.

Check their website now for deals before they are gone for good. Via Bicycle Retailer

Legendary brand Kona got snapped up by private equity in 2022, and now after a great deal of mismanagement (who could have predicted this?), their future is in doubt. Owner Kent Outdoors is apparently now offering Kona for sale.

There has been an outpouring of love for Kona over the last few days–from BikePacking to Stevel Knievel to BikeMag.

Will someone come to Kona’s rescue? We hope so!

No, I didn’t go to Sea Otter this year. But here are ten bikes, products and news tidbits that caught my eye while scanning the coverage this weekend.

Ritchey Montebello
Ritchey made a big splash with a new randonneur bike! Via BikeRadar



Silver Dropper from PNW Components
Say yes to silver bike parts! Via The Radavist



Atherton S170
These have been out for a few months but this is my first time seeing one. Pretty cool. Via Ministry Cycles

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Haro gravel bike?
Seems a bit odd for a BMX brand, but ok. Via Velo



Kona is up for sale
Kona employees were seen setting up the their booth and then tearing it back down and retreating from the show. Latest at Road.cc



Mavic is back
With these Cosmic carbon gravel wheels and a host of other new products Via The Radavist



Parlee is also back
With a new Ouray all-road/endurance road bike. Via Escape Collective



Redshift Top Shelf Bar
Why not just get a different stem? Via Escape Collective



Gary Fisher is still cool
See what he was riding at the show when he talks to Ben Delaney



Sierra Nevada Sea Roamer
My favorite part of the show each year is just seeing what Paul and Sierra Nevada come up with. This year’s bike did not disappoint. Via The Radavist

Spotted on Facebook this week. Whether you hate or love the Cybertruck, they are pretty hilarious. For sale soon on Al's Rapid Transit

Today Cane Creek officially announced their new Invert gravel fork. They are calling it the "World’s First Gravel Fork." Not sure about that, but ok. Still, I don't hate it.

IMO it does look better than the other gravel-oriented forks that have proceeded it, in part because of the inverted design, which is more or less standard on motorcycles.

The new fork features a "carbon fiber crown & steerer bonded to aluminum upper tubes" to help keep down weight, and it comes in two flavors:

Invert CS (Climb Switch, 40mm, 1113g): $1,199.99
Invert SL (No Climb Switch, 30mm, 990g): $1,099.99

What are your thoughts?

Learn more at Cane Creek and check out the video below.

Would you ride down an abandoned mine shaft? The Black Hole Trail is a 6 mile underground trail down through the abandoned tunnels of an old lead and link mine in the Slovenian town of Mezica. Not a lot of head room! Watch the video!

Charlie Kelly was on the Cycle Jerks podcast recently. There are lots of great stories in that interview, but one of my favorites was about the review of the first MountainBike in the February 1980 issue of BMX Plus, where they managed to misspell Tom Ritchey's name! Charlie has it nicely documented on fattireflyer.com

Gary Fisher and I started “MountainBikes” in the fall of 1979, with nine Tom Ritchey frames. One of the bikes we built went to Monte Ward, whose friend Dean Bradley was the editor of BMX Plus! magazine. Dean was blown away.

We ran our first ad in that issue. This brought us to the attention of Southern California off road riders., where we found kindred souls.

Dean didn’t even know how to spell Tom Ritchey’s name. We didn’t even have decals yet, so it didn’t appear anywhere on the frame, but he made the most profound assessment of the new bike…ever.

“This month’s 26-inch test bike is called a Mountain Bike. Chances are you have never heard of it before, but believe me, you will be hearing a lot about this revolutionary bike in the future.”

Read the full BMX Plus! review at fattireflyer.com

Legendary Rock Lobster framebuilder Paul Sadoff just started a new shop tour series on his YouTube channel. Each video will feature a different bike, and the first bike on the list is the Dumpstervaagen! The frame was built from scrap bin tubing, and most of the parts were free or scavenged. Make sure to subscribe to his channel for future shop tour videos!

I was bummed not to make it to the Philly Bike Expo this year. We had a great time and met a ton of cool people at the last show in late 2022. I was looking forward to seeing coverage on The Radavist, but it sounds like John was thwarted by some bad weather. From Instagram, though, it seems like it was another great show, with people’s choice winners went to Memento Cycles, Básica Estudio and Significant Other. I definitely plan to make it back next year!

Even if you are a hardcore vintage/retro/used bike nerd, you will still most likely need to buy new tires from time to time. So it's nice to know that companies like Vittoria are starting to use more recycled materials. The Vittoria Terreno Pro T60 gravel tire uses 92% renewable and recycled materials, including recycled nylon fishing nets. This tire helped Vittoria win a green prize at the Taipei Cycle last week. Via Bicycle Retailer and PinkBike