While the Portland cross season is just starting to see some mud. Our Australian Speedvagen x MAAP team wrapped up their season a few weeks back. Garry, Fiona and Jeff then headed to the US for a month of racing including Jingle Cross, Trek CX World Cup, KMC Crossfest in Connecticut, and the US Open of Cyclocross in Boulder, where Garry took the win. 

All photos shot by Jeff Curtes and Andy Rogers

Garry Millburn 

"The last race of the Australia season and for the first time in Australia's history we had a UCI C2 race. It's a monumental step forward for Australian Cyclocross and a testament to the growth of the sport and the hard work our community puts in."

Garry Milllburn 

"In every season there will be some highs and lows, but racing hard and watching my team mates do the same certainly made for a hell of a lot more highs. Travelling, riding and racing with the SV x MAAP crew was always a lot of laughs, good times and even more coffee hangs. We are more than a team, these guys are like my family...and that will never change" 

"Covered in mud and completely exhausted, this is what cross is all about for me"

Fiona Morris

Andy Rogers

"I couldn't have asked for a more stoked bunch of team mates to share the last two cyclocross seasons here in Australia with. Living in different States to the rest of the team always made heading to races that extra bit special, getting to catch up with the team after having not seen them for a few weeks. Mud, grass, heat, freezing rain, huge run ups - the last two years of cyclocross in Australia have had it all and Fiona, Garry and Jeff took it in all in their stride with stoke and a smile on their face. You couldn't ask for a more infectious attitude from your teammates."

"The heat of Queensland paired with the huge run up definitely equated to the hardest race for me of the last two years."

Andy Rogers

Jeff Curtes 

"It’s been great being a part of the ever growing Australian Cyclocross community….since my first race (with a slipped pedal, bloodied face and moment captured by Andy Rogers) down in Brunswick at the legendary Dirty Deeds venue to winning an Australian Master’s National Champ in 2016 in Adelaid,  to my final races here this past August down at Fields of Joy in Melbourne, it’s been an epic few years lining up on my Speedvagen and especially sharing the love and creating the SV x MAAP team over the past two seasons.  It’s been great showing the world that Aus CX is legit and as alive and stoked filled as anywhere in the world…same shit (mud), different continent, always stoked.  I’ll definitely be back for a race or two in the coming years." 

Jeff Curtes

Questions? High fives? Want to share your stoke? Drop us a line at Info@speedvagen.com

It's no secret that the crew at The Vanilla Workshop loves that smooth sound of 80's soft rock/yacht rock. Maybe its the use of a synth, or just the nostalgia of growing up with TV shows like Miami Vice. For what ever reason, Hawt Pink has been a part of the Speedvagen design language since the very first Surprise Me. You know what they say... if you love something set it free, if you want to make that thing again, well, you must actually like it quite a bit (i think thats the quote). So here we are ready fire Hawt Pink back up in a limited fashion, called the Operation Hawt OG1.

Here are the FAQs

1. You don't need Eclipse glasses to view it, but sunglasses are recommended. 

2. Distracting your competitors can be an advantage. Our testing indicates Operation Hawt Pink equates to 18 min over a 100 mi ride, but our 1982 Casio T-1500 Walking Dictionary Calculator Watch is stuck in dictionary mode so that figure could be wildly off.

3. Owning a white 1986 Ferrari Testarossa is not mandatory (but if you have one we can borrow for a photo shoot and are in the Portland area hit us up info@speedvagen.com).

4. It is rumored that your collar will automatically pop at 88 mph. 

5. We may or may not have designed this bike around Crockett and Tubs Halloween costumes. 

6. No we haven't checked what they look like under a black light.

7. Yes we have linen cycling kits in the works. 

8. The Enve build package might be the best pricing we will ever offer and its only sticking around for 3 weeks. 

9. A 60cm isn't available, well if a minimum of three of you want them, then we will make it happen. 

10. All of the real info is available here: Speedvagen Operation Hawt

Thank you for being a friend...yeah we just wanted to work a Golden Girls reference in here. If you have any questions shoot us an email any time. info@speedvagen.com 

Back in March, our favorite partner and master of all things carbon Enve Composites, announced a contest for a custom dream bike give away. The contest was simple, each person who entered got to vote for their favorite custom frame builder, then one of those voters would be selected at random, and given the option to get a bike from ANY builder on the who’s who list of top frame builders that were at NAHBS or the new Enve HQ grand opening.

Fast forward a few weeks and the eventual winner was announced. Soon after that, we received an email from Enve letting us know we were the winner’s pick. It was a honor to say the least. We reached out to Manny (the winner), and suggested for this to truly be a dream bike we should give him the full Speedvagen experience, including a bike fit here in Portland. When a Speedvagen customer comes to our workshop to get fitted, they get to tour the shop, see our processes, and meet everyone involved in making their bike. We tend to think it's this all encompassing experience and the ride quality that sets our bikes apart from every other brand.

You see, buying a Speedvagen isn't as simple as spending some money and then, "boom", a box arrives with a disassembled bike inside. Thats intentional, our goal isn't to make a million bikes, it's to make a few, truly meaningful bikes for our customers. We guide you through your purchase, we discuss with you which options will give you the best ride. From saddle all the way down to the tires; how the cables get routed, the angle of the hoods/handlebar, and hundreds of other little, but important, details. We talk a lot about balance in design and fit and how for your new bike to perform to the best of its abilities it needs to be more than just a comfortable position. Your position on the bike also affects how the bike performs under you. The harmonious connection between rider and their bike is elusive and it’s also the thing that makes the difference between a good bike and a great bike.

To get you in this place of balance, first we line up your center of gravity above the bike. This evenly distributes your weight across the contact points, (the saddle and handlebar). The second part happens when we design your bike from the ground up to distribute your weight perfectly onto each wheel — an elusive attribute of bike design and the secret to next level awesomeness.

When they’re balanced, the rider has an intuitive connection with their machine and through that they feel connected to the road. Because the bike is perfectly weighted, you can push harder through corners with more confidence than ever before.

We took Manny through these vital steps to determine the best fit. With that aspect dialed in, it was time to move on to the fun part, the bike build and paint options. Since this was a dream bike give away, Manny went for it. His choice, a SuperLight road frame featuring our lightest tubing, an Enve carbon seat tube, and a feathery Enve 1.0 road fork - a Speedvagen exclusive. The carbon seat tube will soak up shock from the road, offering a weight savings of about 200, depending on frame size, and comes standard on the SuperLight Speedvagen model.

Given that the entire cycling components world was at his fingertips, Manny picked Kit X (our hand selected component package featuring the best of super light weight, yet durable, components). Following that, he chose a classy Horizon paint scheme featuring our favorites of the 2017 color palette; Slate, Vermillion and Dark Slate. A scheme and palette that will stand the test of time.

Being that this contest was hosted by Enve, they provided their full offering of products. This included the Enve SES 4.5 rim, bar, stem, computer mount, bottle cages, and our proprietary Enve seat post head.

This is a good time to point out that we have been partnering with Enve Composites since they opened their doors over 10 years ago. Not only do they make the best carbon products on the market, they stand behind what they do and take great care of their customers.

Other special features on this bike are the Quarq power meter and CeramicSpeed full suite. The final detail was a custom leather work by Mick Peel of Busyman for the bar wrap and saddle.

The bike was then packed on our shipping Sled. A packing method that we designed and developed in house. Seldom scene, but one of the final touches we are super proud of. Simply pop on the bar/stem, front wheel, and saddle/seatpost head, then adjust the headset, the bike arrives fully tuned and ready to rip. 

The Full Build:

• Frameset: Speedvagen Super Light Road, with Enve carbon seat tube and Enve 1.0 fork 
• Seat Post Head: Enve painted to match
• Stem: Enve painted to match
• Handlebars: Enve
• Groupset: Sram Red eTap 
• Brakes EEbrakes
• Wheelset: Enve SES 4.5 w/  Painted to match Extralight Cyber F/R Hubs
• Tires: Schawlbe One 
• Headset: Extralight UltraTop
• Bottom Bracket: CeramicSpeed
• Pulleye Wheels CeramicSpeed
• Saddle: Fabric Scoop with Custom Busyman leather work.
• Bar Tape: Custom Busyman leather work.
• Bottle Cages: Enve Carbon
• Computer Mount: Enve
• Skewers: Speedvagen Carbon (yeah, we haven't announced these yet)
• Frame Pump: Silca Impero Ultimate

Want to build your own dream bike? Reach out to us, we can make it happen! info@speedvagen.com

We now have more Speedvagen Duffle bags in stock ready to ship! Just in time for your fall / holiday adventures. We love traveling with these bags on fit tour, its why we wanted to bring them into the world in the first place. They are heavy duty, utilitarian bags with a touch of #Speedvagen style. Simply load them up and toss them in the overhead or check them. They will be just fine on the other end. 

If you need a quick refresher we have three sizes starting with the Nooner Dopp Kit, perfect . The middle size is our weekender, and the Long-Hauler is the biggest option with board straps below.  

It's hard to not talk about paint with this bike, so lets get that out of the way first. This is a new 2017 Overt in a color palette used for the first time. The Overt is our most most intricate paint job, it requires sharp lines, and a custom layout every time we do one since each bike we do is custom, because of that the text pattern will never lay out the same way. Though we are committed to putting out great looking bikes, thats never what its about. The real beauty in in the ride. This is something we have come to realize as a team, more and more over the last year. We want out bikes ridden hard, really hard. Sweat on it, take paths that you probably shouldn't, get it dirty, muddy, and gross. Push your own limits and by all means scratch it! And when you do, we'll be here celebrating with you. This is nothing new in our beliefs, sometimes I think we just forget we have new people looking at our work everyday, so being a little more clear about our expectations from those who purchase our bikes can't hurt. 

2017 Speedvagen Road Disc Overt with Enve 2.0 Fork

• Groupset: Shimano 9150 Dura-Ace Di2
• Wheelset: Enve SES 3.4 w/ DT Swiss 240 hubs
• Tires: Schwalbe Pro One
• Headset: Chris King
• Handlebars: Painted to match Pro bar/stem
• Bar Tape: Fizik Superlight Microtext 
• Stem: Enve painted to match
• Seat Post Head: Enve painted to match
• Saddle: Fizik Arione 00
• Bottom Bracket: Kogel 
• Skewers: Enve Ti
• Frame Pump: Silca Impero Ultimate
• Power Meter: Pioneer

Pricing for similar builds can be found in our guide book, check it out!

You may remember this custom Overt Speedvagen Road from a few months back. As it turns out, the owner had a second bike idea in the works while we were working on this one. This time around he approached us with the idea of a custom track bike. Something we haven't made since 2011. Wanting to stick with a "matching" but distinctly different Overt paint scheme, the plan was set in motion. 

Never a company to shy away from a challenge, this bike is everything that Speedvagen as a brand stands for. Striping away all that is un-need and innovating what is left.  The build started out knowing we would use our signature stainless Vanilla track dropouts. We then braze on a brass plate to give superb gripping power to the track axle nuts. A tapered head tube allowed us to forgo using an external King headset cup, keeping the front end sleek and minimal. 

The bar-stem combo may be the icing on this unicorn themed cake. We used an Enve Composites bar paired with a built in house steel stem that also integrates with the Chris King bearing cap. The bars and stem were then carbon wrapped together giving a near seamless transition from bar to stem to head tube. 

Speedvagen Overt Custom Track Machine. 

Slate, Gold, Vermillion, Army

• Frameset: Custom Speedvagen track featuring polished stainless Vanilla track drop outs and tapered head tube. 
• Seat Post Head: Enve Composites
• Crank: Sugino 75
• Chain: CeramicSpeed UFO track chain
• Cog: EAI Gold Medal Pro 14t
• Wheelset: Enve SES 7.8 w/  Phil Wood track hubs
• Tires: Continental Sonderklasse II
• Headset: Chris King
• Handlebars: Enve carbon wrapped to custom steel stem
• Saddle: Fizik Arione 00

The only question left is if we did a batch of Ready Made Track Machines, would you pull the trigger? Shoot an email to info@speedvagen.com and we will keep you up to date if or when this might happen.

Each year, Leave It On The Road plans epic self-organized rides all with the goal of raising money for cancer research. Since the the start in 2013 they have ridden tens of thousands of miles, and raised over $100,000 for cancer charities. This year they went to Ireland to ride 1000 miles in 10 days. To honor Conor Brady's father who created this route "The Big Lap" and lost his battle with cancer in 2013.

For the ride, we had the honor of building two custom Speedvagen Disc Road Bikes. Each with their on unique fine details. 

Conor's Build: White, Gold, and Pink

• Frameset: Speedvagen Road Disc, With Enve carbon seat tube and Enve 2.0 Fork 
• Groupset: Sram Red eTap Hydro
• Wheelset: Enve SES 3.4 w/  Painted to match DT Swiss 240 hubs
• Tires: Vittoria Corsa
• Headset: Chris King
• Handlebars: Enve
• Stem: Enve painted to match
• Seat Post Head: Enve painted to match
• Saddle: Fabric Scoop
• Skewers: Enve Ti
• Frame Pump: Silca Impero Ultimate

Tabtabai's Build: Pink, White and Gold

• Frameset: Speedvagen Road  Disc, With Enve carbon seat tube and Enve 2.0 Fork 
• Groupset: Shimano Dura-Ace 9100
• Wheelset: Enve SES 3.4 w/  Painted to match DT Swiss 240 hubs
• Tires: Continental Grand Prix 4000
• Headset: Chris King
• Handlebars: Enve
• Stem: Enve painted to match
• Seat Post Head: Enve painted to match
• Saddle: Fizik Arione 
• Bar Tape: Custom Busyman leather work.
• Bottle Cages: Enve Carbon
• Skewers: Enve Ti
• Frame Pump: Silca Impero Ultimate

Each year, since the start of Surprise Me, in 2009, we have built a shop bike with that year's scheme for our archive at the shop. With last year's being the loud pink and cyan design, we decided to go a little more understated for our 2017 bike. This year features three shades of grey, vermillion, and a deep red. The paint and design work for 2017 features an asymmetric polka dot pattern, with two bands of open circles cutting diagonally through the frame. Those open circles are painted by hand on top of the clear coat. This both gives texture and color to break up the polka dot pattern. Our shop bike also features our new Anodized Faceplate Kit. Check out the full gallery below.

Interested in a 2017 Surprise Me? Well its not too late, you have until the end of the year to order one. It can still be surprise custom color palette too. Email us at Info@speedvagen.com if you have any questions!

Early morning practice with sprint starts, targeting precise lines, and seamless mounts/dismounts. Race weekends, turning ourselves inside out, choosing our moment attack and digging to find another 10 minutes of maximum suffering even when we wanted to stop. And best of all, battling, laughing and crashing in the mud with friends. 

There's something special about the dedication that a racer brings to reach the pinnacle, contrasted with the humility and humor of racing in mud bogs, being heckled (lovingly?) on run-ups and the unknown that each race-day brings. 

And while we've found a new love in our Urban Racer and will always like long days in the saddle, we will never lose our connection to CX. 

You may or may not know that Vanilla and Speedvagen have been on the top step of the podium in national championships, more state championships than we can count, and have done battle in world championships and world cups. Our team started back in the very first days that Sacha was building bikes in a hole in the wall and has grown to include a tight family of racers in Japan, Australia and the US. 

Well, Cyclocross season coming up and we're just launched this year's team bikes.

With the OG1- and our new Urban Racer doing so well, we're opened up a batch of team bikes to the SV lovers in the world.

For the 2017 Cyclocross Team Issue we offered 3 paint offerings: Ghost graphics in Army, or Vanilla Blue and a new blocky, punchy, sassy team paint scheme that's an evolution of our super popular 2016 Surprise Me paint scheme.

You'll have a choice of components:

The CX-R with Sram Force 1 with super race-able Mavic Ksyrium Allroad Disc wheels, Pro Plt, painted to match stem and seatpost head, etc.

-or-

The CX-X with DuraAce Di2, Chris King, Enve, Easton's awesome new crank, XTR brake callipers and rear derailleur. The CX-X also comes with a set of hand built wheels by our very own master mechanic, Woody, DT240s laced to HED Belgium plus disc rims in either tubulars or clinchers. All of this together makes a full on world class race machine, built right here in The Vanilla Workshop, USA.

Pre-order has ended and we're busy fabricating!!

*Delivery may be influenced by component availability. Substitutions may be available and/or necessary

Questions about our Team Issue Cyclocross bikes? Drop us an email at info@speedvagen.com

2017 Team Issue Kit

Pre-Order for delivery in September. Pre-order ends AUG 14th

The 2017 Speedvagen team kit is an evolution... as all things Speedvagen are. Clean, crisp, balanced, with a touch of texture and fun, this is the design our team will be racing in for the 2017 cross season. Naturally, we like offering something special to the Speedvagen family of owners, as well as to friends of the brand... and this new team kit seemed like just the thing. In addition to looking better than any of your riding buddies, every kit purchase helps support the team. We hope you can join us this season, in person and in spirit, as we spread the gospel of riding hard, holding ourselves to a high standard, and being good to our fellow racers—all while looking for a few chances to poke some fun at ourselves! 

We turned to our friends at Castelli for the pieces themselves. Long time supporters of our SV race team—not to mention cross-town neighbors—Castelli is committed to making superior race kits. Their blend of decades-old history and modern material development echoes our own desire to bring craft principles together with the best possible ingredients.