Bike Check: Speedvagen’s stunning OG Classic steel road bike is sure to turn heads

Portland-based bike brand Speedvagen has played another blinder, releasing this beautiful OG Classic steel road bike which combines a steel frame with a carefully selected build kit to evoke vintage rides. 

Speedvagen says it challenged itself to create a lightweight and fast handling steel road bike evocative of vintage road bikes but made to meet modern standards. The OG Classic is the result. OG, by the way, stands for Original Gangster, and this new model is based on an existing bike in the company’s range.

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It’s handmade in the Vanilla Workshop, a community framebuilding enterprise, and is going to be a limited edition bike. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. They’re only selling complete bikes but with a build like this one, with a carefully picked list of parts that complement the frame, we don’t think you’d want to choose anything different. Here’s the full spec list. 

• Campagnolo Potenza groupset
• ENVE Carbon 2.0 road fork
• Industry Nine i25SL wheelset, 1450g of direct power to forward motion.
• Extremely limited edition all white Fabric Carbon ALM 
• Sim-Works Wonderer bars with Fabric Silicone tape
• Ritchey seatpost head & PRO PLT stem, both painted to match
• Paul custom high polished QR Skewers
• Chris King headset
• Kogel ceramic derailleur pulleys. 
• Stainless steel King Cages. 
• 700x28c Clement Strada LGG Gunwale Clinchers
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The steel frame is made to be a “vintage all-day race machine” and is complemented by an Enve carbon fork and Slate paint finish, with a colour matched stem and integrated seatmast.  There’s a choice of five standard frame sizes from 50 to 58cm and a choice of matte or gloss paint finishes, both in the Slate grey, painted in-house with ghost graphics. 

Such a bike doesn’t come cheaply, and at $6,495 it’s right up there with similarly high-end handbuilt bikes. Shipping costs to the UK is $450. Check it out at www.thevanillaworkshop.com/ogclassic-road-bike/

Speedvagen have been producing frames since 2007, which are billed as “purpose-built race machines with the highest level of innovation.” The frames are manufactured in the Vanilla Workshop, a collaborative community with framebuilder Sacha White at the heart. He’s been building frames since 1999 and produces frames under both the Vanilla Bicycles and Speedvagen Bicycles banners. He built the first Speedvagen in 2006, a singlespeed cyclocross bike.

The two brands allow Sacha to express different design influences and cater for riding styles, with Vanilla described as “pure, classic and focused on the pursuit of craft,” while Speedvagen is “modern, rebellious and built to be ridden. Hard.”

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