A Day with Corvid Cycles and Reroot Outdoors

Additional photos by Lucas Winzenburg

Boulder, Colorado’s Corvid Cycles and Reroot Outdoors operate from the same home but are owned and operated separately by Chad Corbin and Shan Wo, respectively. For six years, Corvid Cycles has been building custom titanium bicycles with an emphasis on bikepacking and adventure. Reroot Outdoors was launched in 2020 with a focus on quality, sustainability, and supporting other domestic businesses.

Part of what makes choosing a maker so fun is figuring out what they stand for and who they are beyond the usual stuff, and aside from building bicycles, Chad is also a talented photographer and potter. While photography has been more of a hobby and a way to explore the natural world, “working with clay is a meditative practice enabled by the simple act of shaping forms and accepting the imperfections inherent in handmade pottery,” Chad explained. He took some pottery classes with the Boulder Pottery Lab and eventually honed his skills to the point where he’s taught a few classes himself. He described working with clay as incredibly therapeutic and spoke fondly of the local pottery scene. Shan splits her time between organic farming and bag making. She makes use of pre-owned equipment and tools, finds ways to lessen her impact on the natural environment, and prioritizes US-made materials when possible.

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There’s far more to Corvid Cycles and Reroot Outdoors than titanium and X-Pac alone. Lucas and I spent a day with Chad and Shan, getting to know them outside of their work, uncovering the guiding forces behind Corvid Cycles and Reroot Outdoors, and learning more about the various intersections between them. Find it all below.

Corvid Cycles

Before framebuilding, Chad was an engineer surrounded by code. He studied mechanical engineering and did his graduate work around energy efficiency in buildings and renewables, bouncing around between a few different careers afterward. From how Chad discussed his previous line of work, he sounded both proud and relieved to have found his current path.

Chad learned how to build bicycles between college and grad school, building primarily for himself and his friends as a way to learn the craft. He wasn’t happy with his engineering job and decided to make a change, which started with enrolling in a framebuilding class at the United Bicycle Institute. That led to a job at Janus Cycle Group (owner of Dean Titanium and Merlin Metalworks), where he worked for about a year before branching out on his own. Corvid Cycles officially launched in 2018. The name “Corvid” is inspired by Chad’s last name, Corbin, which originates from the Anglo-Norman word corb, meaning crow. The term “Corvus” also refers to the family of birds that includes ravens, crows, and magpies, and we all agreed that it makes a pretty good logo. Chad mentioned that you know you’ve got a good logo when people want to buy your T-shirts and have no idea what you do.

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Every Corvid is handmade by Chad inside the small garage of their home in Boulder, Colorado. There’s not a whole lot of space to move around, and everything feels intentional, probably out of necessity. Along one side of the room is a medium-sized workbench, a lathe that he uses to fabricate many of his parts (he used to make bottom brackets and dropouts on it but has since moved to Paragon), several framebuilding fixtures, welding equipment, and materials. Along the other wall were heaps of components and a stack of plastic storage bins–this is a garage, after all.

There are nine models listed on the Corvid website, but every bike Chad builds is fully customized for its owner. According to Chad, about 75 percent of the bikes are some sort of variation on the Corax—a cross-country hardtail mountain bike—and the rest are gravel bikes. But the models are more or less just suggestions, as every bike Chad builds is unique. Anything from S&S couplers and CNC-machined chainstay yokes are available for an upcharge, and Corvid lists all of the options on the website. Like most custom framebuilders, the model prices reflect the frame only, but Corvid also offers complete builds. About a quarter of his customers are from Colorado, and the rest are being shipped out across the country. He’s also shipped bikes overseas to places such as Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland, among others.

When we asked Chad about any specific design elements or features that set Corvid apart from other framebuilders, he humbly responded, “This is going to sound terrible, but we’re all doing the same thing. I feel like you choose your builder because they’re either local to you or like what they stand for.” Despite being an exceptionally talented and well-regarded builder himself, he had only high praise and respect for the other established and up-and-coming folks working in the field.

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I respect Chad’s hesitation to integrate the latest and greatest into his frames simply because he can. Take 3D-printed components as an example, which seem to be becoming increasingly popular in the framebuilding world. Chad said he’s interested in learning more about incorporating 3D printing into his work but he’d want to spend at least a year to print, test, and try to break it before he offers it to a customer. Chad explained, “There have been some higher-profile failures that kind of freak me out. Like the 3D-printed Bastion handlebars that failed during the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.”

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Everything Corvid offers has been tested and approved by Chad. He’s not in the business of adding features just because, and everything he fabricates is designed with a specific purpose in mind. I can only imagine this approach is influenced by his time as an engineer. After all, writing code is about the least fluffy thing I can think of. I asked Chad about the relationship between framebuilding, photography, pottery, and his engineering career, and here’s what he had to say:

“The clean, efficient aesthetic that I loved about coding is reflected in my frame design and branding. But, as framebuilding became my sole income, it no longer satisfied my creative urge because of the precision/perfection that was required. The camera I purchased for photographing my builds took on the role of creative outlet. My B&W landscapes are clean and minimalist and reflect the same aesthetic. But I also photograph organic, sometimes chaotic, and often abstract details. My pottery pushes further into the abstract and chaotic; it’s free, organic, and irregular. Pottery has taught me to let go of expectations. It gives me lots of opportunities to experiment and fail. I sorely need this balance. With bikes, a mistake is expensive and potentially dangerous; with pottery, I can create without concern for the outcome.”

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Reroot Outdoors

Reroot Outdoors operates from the same home as Corvid Cycles, separated by only a kitchen and a living room. Shan’s operation is split between two small rooms. The first has a large cutting table and material storage, and the second is home to a sewing machine and a computer workstation. While her previous career was in structural engineering, these days, Shan’s time is split between Reroot Outdoors and a local organic farm. She compared the resourcefulness and approach of small-scale farming to her bag-making business, as she prioritizes limiting waste and making use of everything whenever possible.

Shan directed Lucas and me to a growing pile of thread offcuts and explained that she was going to make something out of it once she felt it was big enough. I followed up on this, and Shan mentioned repurposing it as stuffing in a small pet bed or backpack straps. With enough small channels sewn into the fabric, it could allow her to achieve the desired density with enough thread. Concern for the material waste from the bag-making world isn’t something we hear about regularly, and Shan’s approach feels refreshing and progressive.

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Shan learned how to sew from her mother, a hobby seamstress who makes costumes for ball dancing and tango. She worked at an outdoor gear repair store in Boulder for a few years with the goal of learning about industry standards and industrial sewing machines. During this time, Shan absorbed everything she could about outdoor gear and fabrics and what led to them ultimately failing. This mentality has stuck with her and influences the construction techniques she uses today. Shan focuses on durability and functionality over everything else, which Chad agreed harmoniously matches the Corvid aesthetic. Chad explained, “It’s not to say that titanium flies under the radar, but it’s not so flashy. We don’t have any rainbow anodizing going on.”

Shan explained that she prefers X-Pac over Dyneema fabrics, for example, and isn’t sold on how ultralight fabrics hold up in the long run. She prefers the stiffness and structure of X-Pac and how the waterproof laminate is sandwiched between the inner and outer layers, protecting it from abrasion. It was clear from our conversations that she has a strong understanding of material choice and bag construction, fueled in part by her time running Reroot Outdoors but also influenced by a decade-long career as a structural engineer with an emphasis on historic preservation. That job required her to assess what was there and design a retrofit to fix it while maintaining key historical elements–a process not so dissimilar from repairing gear, albeit on a much larger scale.

Currently, Shan’s focus is on made-to-order custom bags. She wants to know that the bags are going to someone rather than just sitting on a shelf, so making custom bags makes the most sense. Shan prides herself on her ability to talk to her customers to ensure they get the exact product they need, whether they’re a first-time bikepacker or well-versed with bike bag features and options. Her process sounds more like a consultation rather than a click-and-collect experience. She shared the example of a customer who wanted to fit a carton of eggs in their frame bag and how interesting requests like that make her work all the more enjoyable.

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When I asked Shan what she has planned for 2024, she mentioned working on some mini panniers for easier “pack-and-go bikepacking capabilities,” which she imagines might be the best way to go as a shorter rider with limited frame bag space. She’s also been working on some bike commuting items, including a pannier/backpack combo and a larger-capacity pannier. Stay tuned for more on those.

Five Corvids

In preparation for our visit, Chad and Shan gathered an assortment of bikes for us to take a closer look at. The five Corvids paint a picture of what Corvid Cycles and Reroot Outdoors do best: facilitate adventure. We took a short drive to the US National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder to get some fresh air, shoot some glamor shots, and learn a bit more about the bikes.

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Mike’s Corvid Corax

Named after Corvus Corax, the common raven, the Corax is designed to be adaptable and versatile. And, like the raven, it prefers solitude in natural environments. Corvid worked closely with our friends at Montanus to design a bike that’s equally suitable for day rides on local trails as it is loaded up for big backcountry trips. It’s Corvid’s go-to cross-country trail/bikepacking model with clearance for 29 x 2.6” tires, dropper post routing, and geometry designed for a suspension fork.

In 2021, Mike, the owner of this particular Corax, rode the Tour Divide and struggled with fit issues and hand numbness—finishing the route with partially functioning hands. He took everything he learned from that experience and set out to find a builder willing to take on his laundry list of must-haves in preparation for the 2023 Tour Divide. A few items included a better-fitting bike with an emphasis on comfort, a titanium frame, a large main triangle for a big frame bag, and lots of braze-ons. Mike met up with Chad for a coffee, discussed the project, and ended up riding the Corax to a 20.5-day finish at the 2023 Tour Divide. Before this, he also tackled a double lap of the White Rim in Utah, confirming Mike’s suspicions that Chad had built something special.

When I asked Mike about working with Chad, here’s what he had to say. “He’s a consummate professional who really understands his craft and truly loves the bike community and his role within it. Chad designed and then built an absolutely gorgeous machine.”

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Eric’s Corvid MAP

Corvid’s newest model, the MAP, debuted at the 2020 North American Handmade Bike Show. The MAP (More Adventure Please) is their “light and fast” drop-bar MTB, designed for a short-travel 100-120mm suspension fork, dropper post, and clearance for 29 x 2.6” tires.

Eric had his MAP built up in 2020, which he landed on because it checked all of the boxes he was looking for: titanium, custom geometry, and a chance to work with a small builder. He built it up specifically for gravel and light off-road touring and has ridden it on the Wyoming and Colorado sections of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) with his 14-year-old son. He has plans to ride the entire GDMBR in a few years. The bike is finished with a matching set of JPaks bags, dropper post, fast-rolling Maxxis Ikon tires, US-made Astral Outback wheels, and a Shimano GRX/XT drivetrain.

When asked why he chose Corvid Cycles, Eric explained that he would run into Chad out on the trails around Colorado’s front range every now and then. “One time we crossed paths on the trail, he was riding this beautiful baby blue steel frame he’d recently built. That bike had been stuck in my head since I saw it. When Chad started Corvid, and I realized I could possibly get one of his bikes, it was a no-brainer. Plus, he’s knowledgeable, great to work with, and a true artist.”

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Shan’s Corvid Corax

Shan’s personal Corvid Corax is built up for everyday trail riding, the occasional longer bikepacking trip, and overnighters. She rode it in British Columbia at the 2023 BC Bike Race, a week-long mountain bike stage race that attracts hundreds of riders from all across the world each year. As someone who has ridden many of the trails the BC Bike Race follows, I can attest to their chunk and tech. There aren’t many folks on hardtails at the event.

Shan sewed up some custom-printed bags for her Corax from X-Pac V21 RS with VX42 along the spines. The full-frame bag features a strapless, bolt-on design with an optional double-decker main compartment, a map pocket, and a hydration tube port. The top tube bag, which never leaves the bike, is also bolt-on and has a cable port at the headtube end. It’s rolling on Astral wheels, has a mechanical SRAM XO drivetrain, and features a Thomson dropper post and Tumbleweed Mini Pannier Rack.

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Chad’s Corvid Sojourner

The Sojourner is Corvid’s all-terrain, long-distance touring bike and what Chad describes as his “interpretation of the perfect travel bike.” It’s based around a Pinion drivetrain with a Gates belt drive setup, modern geo, wide tires, and can be paired with Corvid’s optional touring bar or integrated rack for a complete setup.

Chad has put his personal Sojourner through the wringer, including a San Juan hut-to-hut trip from Durango to Moab, several sections of the Colorado Trail, and the 2023 BC Bike Race with Shan. The Reroot bags are made from X-Pac VX21 with VX42 along the spines, waterproof zippers, and a lace-up/velcro combo. This particular build is equipped with a Pinion C1.12 + Gates drivetrain with CINQ thumb shifters, Astral wheels, and Corvid’s titanium touring bar.

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Ryan’s Corvid MAP

Ryan ordered his Corvid MAP in 2021 after riding a racy carbon gravel bike for several years. He was looking for something more comfortable and capable but was still keen on drop bars and wanted as much tire clearance as possible. He was also on a mission to thin out his collection of bicycles to two: a full-suspension mountain bike and a bike for everything else. Ryan explains, “I primarily use it for long mixed-surface rides when suspension isn’t necessary, and that’s the MAP’s bread and butter. I wanted something that would be a good option for bikepacking and overnights, and this bike obviously excels at that. But it’s also my daily driver for local gravel, quick spins around town, hauling the kids to the music festival in the bike trailer, running to the coffee shop, etc.”

Like other Corvid owners I spoke to, Ryan chose Corvid Cycles over other framebuilders because of Chad. “Chad was super responsive, very patient, completely transparent and honest about all aspects of the build, and just generally delightful to work with. He was as stoked about the bike as I was and never lost his cool despite the ridiculous parts delays and huge waitlists happening in the bike industry while this bike was being built. He’s local to me in Boulder County, which was a fun way to do a bike build, and he builds in tiny batches. When everyone else was caught up in the madness, Chad was just doing the work, a day at a time. A true craftsman. I could tell in the first conversation that he was someone who would be meticulous about every detail, and it shows in every weld.”

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Ryan’s MAP features a bolt-on JPaks top tube bag, Swift Industries handlebar bag, Reroot Outdoors framebag, and Ortlieb Fork-Pack mini panniers. The framebag is made from EcoPak EPX-200 with EPX-400 around the spine, with a full bolt-on attachment, a map pocket, and a hydration tube port. It’s currently set up with a SRAM GX AXS drivetrain, Ergon bar tape, and Teravail Rutland light and supple 29 x 2.2” tires.

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A big thank you to Shan and Chad for making time for us. You can see more from Corvid Cycles at CorvidCycles.com and Reroot Outdoors at RerootOutdoors.com.

Further Reading

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