Words and Photos by: Andy Rogers

Things improving with age is what I would label as one of those almost universally understood ideas; wine, cheese, a cast iron skillet, jeans - there’s a myriad of things that we use that we agree only get better as time goes on, as they’re used and worn with love. Why should a bike be any different?

In an industry obsessed with developing the next bright idea, and constantly making improvements to quench the seemingly endless thirst of the consumer urge, the idea that a bike could last the test of time and stay in someone’s garage for more than a season or two has almost vanished. 

I’ve always had an affinity for steel bikes. My first road bike was an old, un-marked steel frame that had been painted over at some point in its life. All that was known was that it was made with Columbus tubing. From there, my love of steel bikes only continued to blossom - which ultimately ended up deciding that a hand built Speedvagen was the bike of my dreams. 

I knew I wanted a bike that would stay with me. Stay with me through adventures. Stay with me through crashes. Stay with me through the ups and downs of cycling - and it has done just that. 

It’s been almost 6 and half years since I received that unassuming bike box with a small flower design cut into it. Since then, this bike has seen many things. It has seen mountain tops. Pouring rain. It’s seen gravel roads that were probably a little bit much for it but hey, they were fun! It’s seen different countries. It’s seen abuse but it’s also seen care and attention. 

It’s starting to show its age a bit - there’s chips in the beautiful paint from stones, being thrown in boxes on planes and crashed - but I think that’s the part I love most about it. I’ve gone through waves of wanting to change the paint as my aesthetic changed but now I couldn’t imagine getting rid of that character. Much like scars on our bodies, these scrapes and dents hold memories for me that I wouldn’t trade for anything. 

I hope that when I’m older and sore and maybe not riding much any more that this bike will still be waiting for me in my living room, or worst case hanging on the wall. 

When you are ready for your next bike, think about all the fun escapes you could take over the years. All the races you could go to and all the memories you could store in it. Maybe think of your bike less like a tool, and more of a companion - It's about where you want to take cycling, not where the cycling industry wants to take you.

Questions? Comments? High Fives? Drop us a line info@speedvagen.com

No Hints, no regrets. That’s the Surprise Me motto. This bike was no exception. Three Shades of Alpers two shades of a Sage green.

2018 Speedvagen Surprise Me Road Disc W/ Enve Road Disc Fork

• Groupset: Shimano Dura Ace Di2 9020

• Wheelset: Enve SES 3.4 DT Swiss 240.

• Tires: Schwalbe G One Speed

• Headset: Chris King

• Bar Tape: Fizik

• Bar/Stem: Enve

• Seat Post Head: Carbon Fiber made by Enve

• Saddle: Fabric Scoop Carbon

• Bottom Bracket: Kogel

• Frame Pump: Silca Impero Ultimate

• Upgrades: Carbon Fiber Seat Tube

Paint - Custom Surprise Me.

Questions? Comments? High Fives? Send them to info@speedvagen.com 

Leaving the Nebraska farm, I had few expectations of Grinduro and my new Speedvagen rugged road. I'd seen pictures from previous events, I'd ridden another Speedvagen, so how much better could it get? I learned a few tricks for anyone thinking about going next year. (P.S. You definitely should)

1. Northern California is amazing. I'm lucky enough to have been to Arran as well (not for Grinduro) and Quincy was just as scenic. Seriously, parts of the roads looked straight out of Lord of the Rings. The trees were huge, the vistas were scenic, and there were great things to look at around every turn. It's a limited cell service level of remote, and totally worth not being able to upload to instagram. 

2. In addition to the big trees, there were big pine cones. You wouldn't think this is remarkable enough to make a top five list, but they were HUGE. I thought I knew a lot about trees, but damn. I took one home, and its rad. Go to Grinduro for the pine cones.

3. In what is likely the harshest burn I've ever received, my wife ridiculed me (correctly) about not being able to turn my handlebars past 10 degrees. Even on a sweet new custom steel racing machine, that's basically true. I was acceptably close on the uphill and flat segments (even the TTT one that I solo'd), but did really bad on the descents. I mean, BAD. Given that 2 of the 4 segments were downhill and I can't turn, I considered it a success that I kept it upright. 

4. Like most time trialists, I don't really care for anything other than riding fast over a given course. If someone puts a rock in the middle of the course, I'm trying not to crash, and slightly annoyed. Spoiler alert, MTB courses have a lot of rocks. Some on the side of the trail, some in the middle of the trail, and sometimes the whole trail is rocks. As someone who doesn't get along well with rocks, I find MTB super hard. *mumble positively about the view* MTB is hard, but the climbing makes up for it. 

5. In one sense, I didn't properly focus on enjoying Grinduro. Along the course I took approximately 2 pictures, had 0 shots of jameson, 2 SIS gels, and 1 beer. In another sense, my goals were to enjoy the view, get a good training ride in (World Cups are almost here!) and not crash, of which I did all 3. Fortunately, the gravel community is awesome, and no one cared how I decided to do the race! I met a lot of amazing cyclists, saw lots of cool bikes, and drank at least some whiskey (after the ride, of course). It was a great event, and I look forward to attending year! 

2018 Speedvagen Rugged Road W/ Enve 2.0 Fork

• Groupset: Sram Red 22 Hydro Mechanical, with Quarq Zero Power Meter

• Wheelset: Zipp 303

• Tires: WTB Nano 700x40

• Headset: Chris King

• Bar Tape: Fabric

• Handlbars: Zipp Service Course SL-70

• Stem: Zipp SL Speed

• Seat Post Head: Enve

• Saddle: Fabric Scoop

• Bottom Bracket: Kogel

Paint -2018 Surprise Me

Give Ashton Lambie a follow on Instagram

Questions? Comments? High Fives? Send them to info@speedvagen.com 

It's been an unofficial tradition that when a customer goes with a custom mixed color and it knocks our socks off we name it after them. It's honestly pretty rare that this happens, we tend to have our own ideas on color. With that said, don't be surprised if you see "Gatens" Green show up more over the next few years. This custom Speedvagen Road Disc is a new contender for shop favorite this year, it has just the right amount of class, speed, and mean-ness built in. 

2018 Speedvagen Road Disc W/ Enve Road Disc Fork

• Groupset: Shimano Dura Ace Di2 9170

• Wheelset: Enve SES 4.5 AR w/ DT Swiss 240 painted to match hubs.

• Tires: Schwalbe Pro One

• Headset: Chris King

• Bar Tape: Brooks

• Bar/Stem: Pro

• Seat Post Head: Ritchey

• Saddle: Brooks Swallow

• Bottom Bracket: Kogel

• Skewers: Enve Ti

• Frame Pump: Silca Impero Ultimate

Paint - Ghost Scheme in custom Gatens Green

Questions? Comments? High Fives? Send them to info@speedvagen.com 

It's not everyday we get to showcase an employee build. Jim who's official title is "do-er of things" because he gets shit done, just completed his Custom Speedvagen Road build. 

Jim was sitting on the Ultegra group and built up the rest of the bike with a mix of parts he had on hand and a few new parts (those EE brakes). Putting together a smart build coming in at 16lbs 9oz. The full build list is below.

2018 Speedvagen Road Frame W/ Enve 2.0 Fork

• Groupset: Shimano Ultegra 6800 with Dura Ace 9001 Shifters

• Wheelset: Enve SES 3.4 w/ Enve Carbon Hubs

• Tires: Vittoria Corsa Control

• Headset: Cane Creek 110

• Bar Tape: Supacaz

• Stem: Ritchey C220

• Seat Post Head: Ritchey

• Saddle: Fizik Antares

• Bottom Bracket: Kogel

• Skewers: Enve Ti

• Frame Pump: Silca Impero Ultimate

• Brakes: EE

• Chain: KMC SL Gold

Paint - A-Team in Vermillion, Dark Vermillion and Gold. See the rest of our paint options in the 2018 Guidebook.

Questions? Comments? High Fives? Send them to info@speedvagen.com 

The year is wrapping up and there are some positive changes underway at The Vanilla Workshop. We have our sights set on the 2018 Speedvagen guidebook and what's to come. We do feel that it's a important to celebrate our craft, and all the blood, sweat, heart, and hard work that goes into what came out of the shop this year.  

Largely, as a company we march to the beat of our own drum, but we love to hear form our customers, fans, and potential newcomers to the #SpeedvagenFamily. Below is a gallery of 26 (no we couldn't narrow it down to 25) complete builds that the crew here has selected, but really we want to know which is your favorite? What do you want to see 2018? Has the lack of sparkle in our paint schemes been the hold up for you? Let us know! 

Drop us a comment below! or Shoot us an email with your thoughts, questions or high fives info@speedvagen.com. 

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!