Our Readers’ Rides column has become a venue for introducing new framebuilders. Not just to the readership, either! We’ve been introduced to lots of new companies over the years through this fun feature. Today we’ve got Ben sharing his GJ 29er from Grand Junction’s Orchard Bicycle, and boy, is it a beaut! Read on for Ben’s wonderful photos and words below…
I first met Brett sometime in 2011. He was working at NYC Velo on 2nd Avenue in New York City, and I was in school and living in a dorm on 7th Street, just around the corner from the shop. Brett was an excellent mechanic, and I was hard on my bike. We became friends through my frequent visits to NYC Velo and the (pre-gravel bike) mixed-surface rides that the shop occasionally organized Upstate.
Fast-forward a few years, and Brett was now living in Steamboat Springs, CO, and building frames at Moots (R.I.P.). I had also moved to Colorado, and we crossed paths at a coffee shop in Fruita, both on a spring mountain bike trip to the desert. We’d lost touch for a few years, but as my father-in-law also lives in Steamboat, we started seeing each other more frequently when we were visiting family.
As if all of our path-crossing wasn’t serendipitous enough, Brett grew up in Palisade, CO, and my wife Kristine’s first job offer after grad school was just a few minutes down the road in Grand Junction. We met up with Brett at a brewery in Steamboat to ask him questions about GJ and the Grand Valley before we decided to move there. We sat outside on a winter evening around a fire, freezing for a couple of hours and making great conversation (this was the tail end of The Pandemic).
While Kristine and I were deciding whether to move to Grand Junction, Brett was building frames and designing some seriously stunning finishes at Moots while also contemplating building frames of his own. In 2023, Brett founded Orchard Bicycle and shortly thereafter opened a shop in Orchard Mesa, a neighborhood on the southern side of Grand Junction known for its vineyards and fruit tree orchards.
By now, Brett and I, both living in the Grand Valley, were getting together several times a month for coffee, rides at Lunch Loops, or in my basement, where Brett graciously helped me assemble furniture. It’s awesome to see our 10-year friendship come full circle now that we live in the same place.
When Brett told me he was considering starting his own brand, I knew I wanted one of his bikes before seeing one. Few people are as creative, thoughtful, and meticulous in their work as Brett. I still have a set of wheels that Brett built for me in 2013 that I’ve never needed to true. And yes, these wheels were on my road bike for many of those NYC Velo mixed-surface rides.
In the fall of 2023, Brett brought the first Orchard Bicycle mountain bike for a ride on the Palisade Plunge. It’s a gorgeous yellow hardtail with perfect geometry for our chunky riding in the Grand Valley.
I joined Brett’s queue for a frame and put down my deposit. When it was close to my turn, I swung by the shop to talk design. Sitting on the couch at Orchard Bicylcle, we measured my current bikes and focused on geometry. I told Brett that he should make any and all aesthetic choices for the frame (a very good decision).
In addition to building a gorgeous custom frame, Brett also helped me source parts and assembled my complete build. When the bike was ready, I rolled it out of the front door of Brett’s shop. I think this was a pretty cool moment for both of us. I was stoked to see a long-time friend fulfilling his dream of starting his own framebuilding business and to have such an amazing bike.
Since picking up my GJ 29er, it’s seen several hundred miles on our local trails and a few on the trails in Moab. When the snow melts, I look forward to taking the bike up to the mountains around the Western Slope. I was instantly comfortable on the bike. It’s a bit slacker and more upright than previous bikes I’ve owned, but Brett was right that this is the perfect geometry for how I ride. It’s a joy to ride on the technical trails in Grand Junction and on dirt roads. Many people don’t pay much attention to hardtails, but it’s not uncommon for someone to stop me on the trails to gawk and ask questions about the bike. My GJ 29er is as much emblematic of our friendship as it is of Brett’s storied bike industry career. It’s a head-turner!
Build Spec:
- Steel, fillet-brazed frame. Handmade with love.
- Purple Paint
- 140mm Fox 34 Fork
- Fox Transfer Dropper with a Wolf Tooth Components lever
- White Industries headset, bottom bracket, and cranks
- Thomson Stem and Handlebars
- Wolf Tooth Component Fat Paw lock-on grips
- Shimano XT/XTR drivetrain and brakes
- Astral Serpentine alloy wheels with White Industries hubs
- King Cage bottle cages
Geometry Highlights:
- HTA: 65.7 (67.5 @ 30% sag)
- STA: 75.2
Roll on over to check out Orchard Bicycle and get in their queue.
We’d like to thank all of you who submitted Readers Rides builds to be shared here at The Radavist. The response has been incredible and we have so many to share over the next few months. Feel free to submit your bike, listing details, components, and other information. You can also include a portrait of yourself with your bike and your Instagram account! Please, shoot landscape-orientation photos, not portrait. Thanks!
