Suvi Loponen, Brad Sauber
One of the best things about cycling is, in my opinion, how easily it lets you connect with people you’ve never met before. Last week, we gathered in Takayama, Japan, for the annual Escape Collective summit, where over 40 members came to ride with us – the Escape staff. Over the five days of riding and hanging out together, it was heartwarming to watch the group bond and new friendships form.
Some of that, I think, comes down to how easy it is to chat with people when cycling – side by side, with natural breaks when one is out of breath or on descents where the wind noise is too much. And instead of awkward icebreakers, asking about someone’s bike is one of the nicest conversation starters.
So many people, so many bikes.
While I didn’t get to chat to every member at the summit about their bikes, I got a closer look at a good handful, and photographed a few of them, as well. This gallery is dedicated to those bikes – a small glimpse of what our members brought with them to the Japanese Alps.
We’ve also got a separate gallery coming on staff bikes – nearly all of Escape’s team were at the summit too, and I shot our travel bike choices while we were at it. But for now, let’s look at some of the members’ bikes.
Paul Komarek – No.22 Drifter
Paul’s No.22 Drifter is, if I may say, my favourite from the dozens of bikes at the summit. It’s not just pretty to look at, but it was one of the very few gravel bikes (and the only one with gravel tyres?!) at the summit.
The Drifter is No.22’s flagship gravel bike, and hand-built in the US with titanium tubing (22 is titanium’s spot in the periodic table, hence the brand name). While we rode very little gravel on the summit routes, the Hutchinson Caracal tyres are a smooth and fast-rolling pair.
The neat coupler joints, and finally, the bike in the bag ready for travel home.
Paul’s Drifter is also a true travel bike, and as such is fitted with No.22’s own coupler system (essentially a scaled-down version of the Santana Z-coupler), which allows the bike to travel as regular luggage on flights, without an oversize fee. While S&S couplers are not a novelty, the way No.22 has made the joins on the frame’s top and down tube is really neat – and hard to spot from the frame unless you look closely, and it all assembles or disassembles with a single 6 mm hex bolt at each location.
A further touch of functional elegance comes courtesy of No. 22’s “Brake Break” hydraulic line fitting for quick, tool-free and no-bleed disconnection of the hydraulic brake lines when packing for travel.
The paint job and how everything works together is so impressive, from the matched stem and spacers to the golden chain and the 5Dev cranks that, with the chevrons, match both the titanium and gold.
Garth McInerney – Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8 
If there was a prize for attention to little details, it would go to Garth’s S-Works Tarmac SL8 – and more specifically, all of its bolts. At a quick glance, the Australian’s bike looks just like a plain white Tarmac – but it actually has a very subtle marbling effect, which blends the S-Works logo neatly into the down tube.
But the paintwork aside, Garth had put serious effort into matching every bolt and cap on the bike. The bolts are from Better Bolts, the bar ends from Wolf Tooth, and the eeWings crank preloader from Cane Creek — but despite different origins, from a distance, they’re such a similar shade it’s hard to not think they’re all the same exact colour.
On the spec itself, Garth was riding a SRAM Red E1 2x groupset, with old-generation Wahoo Speedplay pedals, and finished with the SMP Full Carbon saddle. The spares are carried neatly in the saddlebag, while a custom 3D-printed holder keeps a Dynaplug accessible, and another holds a Garmin RTL 515 rear radar on the seatpost.
Unsurprisingly for a Specialized bike, the finishing kit is all Roval, with Rapide wheels, and Roval cockpit.
Ryan Knotts – Colnago C68
Ryan’s Colnago C68 was one of two at the summit, and at our final evening dinner, also got a mention or two for being one of the group’s favourite bikes.
The special thing about this one is the lug construction: it’s built from eight carbon parts that are bonded at the joints, and finished to look like, well, that there are no lugs. The joints are most visible at the intentional “panel gaps” at the head tube and seat cluster, though in Ryan’s bike’s blue-to-nearly-black fade, these are a little harder to spot.
Being a flagship Italian bike, Ryan has kept the components true to the theme. He was the only other person running a Campagnolo groupset at the summit, alongside Escape’s own Ronan McLaughlin. Of course, the top-end Super Record groupset is paired with Campagnolo Bora Ultra WTO wheels, wrapped in Continental GP5000 tyres.
Dang Lam – Specialized S-Works Aethos
Another Specialized?! Yes, there were quite a few of them around – but Dang’s beautiful baby blue Aethos was one that I got a closer look at. This is the previous-gen S-Works, and unlike the new Aethos that came out late last year, it still features the externally routed cables at the front, making it an easier bike to travel with.
The Aethos is renowned for its classic look, and Dang has kept it simple with the build too. The groupset is a full Shimano Dura-Ace, with a little CeramicSpeed oversized pulley wheel upgrade.
The wheels are also non-S-Works stock, but rather Enve’s SES AR hoops, wrapped in Continental GP 5000 S TR tyres – a popular choice amongst the summit participants.
Brook Shelley – Enve Fray
Brook arrived in Takayama with some big riding in mind – she continued to tour in Japan after the summit, and her Enve Fray seemed like the perfect bike for the job.
The Fray is Enve’s endurance bike model, and has clearance for up to 40 mm tyres in 1x configuration – though Brook wasn’t maxing that out with the Continental GP5000 S TRs, wrapped on the Reserve 44 wheels. She was the only other person besides our own Dave Rome (at least of whom I spotted) with Schwalbe Clik valves.
The Fray’s down tube storage just about fits the Cycplus AS2 micro-sized pump and some spares. And what doesn’t fit there, Brook had also put on the neat Apidura top tube bag for easy-access items.
Groupset-wise, Brook opted for a mix of SRAM Red and Force – and, keeping loyal to SRAM brands, also ran Time pedals.
Pauli Ervi – Merida Reacto
Pauli was, in a true Finnish fashion, rather modest about his shiny Merida Reacto – which he said was largely in its stock configuration, except for a swap to easier gearing. His bike is the fifth-generation model of the aero race bike that Merida launched mere months ago, and while we’re at it giving prizes in this article – I’d argue that Pauli’s bike takes the prize for the widest seat stay gap.
Pauli’s build is the Shimano Dura-Ace 2×12 speed, with Vision Metron cockpit and wheels, wrapped (you guessed it) in Continental GP5000 S TR tyres.
Like many others, Pauli was also running a rear radar – a Garmin Varia RTL515 in this case.
Rick Weinstein – Moots Vamoots RCS
Rick’s titanium Moots Vamoots RCS (Routt County Special) was one of the bigger bikes – Rick is 6’4″ [193 cm] tall, and as such the bike is sized to suit. The RCS is Moot’s mid-tier offering and capable of a bit of everything – and has lovely 3D-printed dropouts and customisable colourways.
Rick has opted for the simple ‘Stanley’ finish, and paired with the purple finishing kit – the seat post clamp, headset, Industry 9 hubs, bottle cages, pedals and even the Knog front light all match together. Not to mention, the Lizard Skins bar tape wraps it all up perfectly.
The groupset on Rick’s bike is SRAM Red AXS 2x, and he’s running eeWings cranks that pair with the titanium frame. The stem is Moot’s titanium one with a purple faceplate, of course – and attached to the front of that is the 3D-printed titanium computer mount that Moots also makes.
More bikes
As mentioned, the above are only the handful of bikes that I had time to shoot with the “big camera,” but much more was out there to be seen.
Dang on his Aethos, Garth on his Tarmac SL8, Caley Fretz riding with Julian on his titanium Naked All Road and at the back in the group of three, you can spot Mathias on his rim-brake Colnago C68.
Enves in the wild. On the left (top) Brad on his Melee, and on the left (bottom) Brook on her Fray with Wade Wallace.
Claire with one of the local GS Astuto bikes. 
If you think it was all sun for us, it wasn’t.
Did we do a good job with this story?
👍Yep
👎Nope