Rapha is one of those rare exquisite brands whose excellence is both unparalleled and classical. Their cycling clothes and accessories sacrifice the ever common flash and graphics of the more pervasive kits from companies like Castelli and Louis Garneau. Crafted designs and colors will undoubtedly weather the roads and will stand the test of time and changing trends. As cycling culture becomes ever more fashionable and a staple in the urban sphere we have seen a lot of companies pop up touting a similar style or ethos to Rapha, but after nearly a decade I think they have truly established themselves as a riders company. This video they recently launch is a perfect embodiment of their company and their goods. No additional soundtrack is necessary, just the sounds of riding in its purest form.
Category filter: Bicycles
Grouper Social Club
Kyle Miller is a serious talent distinguishing himself in the LA design scene. His recent work for social startup Grouper Social Club is a clean and fun demonstration of his skills in brand identity and art direction. The collateral he designed for them is also a really nice extension of his awesome type and icon elements.
(via Design Work Life »)
Cycle Kids – Breakaway
It’s so invigorating to come across a project where both the client and resulting work are so inspiring. The branding and collateral designed for Cycle Kids 2012 Breakaway is clean, colorful, and bold. The attention grabbing work was created by Boston based Bluerock Design Co.
(via grain edit »)
Coren Cycles
Carbon Fibre is one of the amazing technologically advanced materials that is becoming more and more prevalent in high end automotive and other parts construction. UBC a high tech German composites company has paired up with designer Christian Zanzotti to create a line of bicycles. The bikes use custom manufactured parts made by UBC out of their super light materials for every possible component. The resulting bikes are futuristic and light as a feather, but also elegant, minimal, and utilitarian. Currently Coren Cycles only have a single speed model and fixed gear model available, but more concepts are due out soon.
Bike Like a New Yorker
Mother New York created this great campaign for Transportation Alternatives an advocate of biking, walking and public transit in NYC. The goal of this campaign is to raise awareness and point people to BikeNYC.org especially the cities cyclers. The site includes event information as well as tips and deals. Mother’s design combining aerial shots with unique angles and bold gritty typographic quotes really channels what it is like to be a cyclist in New York.
Dosnoventa Runs New York City
Founded in the Fall of 2010 Dosnoventa is a Spanish maker of quality accessories and street oriented track bikes. This video is a teaser for a forthcoming film by CREAM Bikes and Things it captures a recent trip the Dosnoventa team made to NYC. They rode the streets hung out with the local fixed gear community, and of course took part in the Red Hook Criterium.
(via Ryan Scails »)
Shinola
In a defunct General Motors building Shinola is working to revive American manufacturing. They are producing an ever growing line of products, which includes watches, leather goods, and most recently some beautifully crafted ultra-utilitarian bicycles. All of their goods are focused around craftsmanship and longevity. Creating things that can be used forever and their production even helps sustain the US and Detroit economy.
(via The Scout »)
Faraday Porteur
For the most part electric bikes seem a little wasteful and are definitely the some of the least attractive bikes on the market. In steps Faraday Bicycles to change all of that. Initially the Faraday Porteur was a collaboration between IDEO and Oregon based frame-builder Rock Lobster. Adam Vollner one of the IDEO team members involved on the project, prompted by his love of bicycles and the project left to launch Faraday Bicycles. For their initial launch Faraday is fundraising and selling their first bikes through Kickstarter with only 10 more days to go.
Hufnagel Cycles
The design work of Caleb Owen Everitt carries with it a wonderful sense of history. His work for Hufnagel Cycles is adds a great deal of that to their look and feel. The badges for the bikes and the t-shirts fit the brand so well, but also inject Everitt’s slant. I posted about some of his custom type work for Vans previously here.
(via iso50 »)
Porsche Concept Bike
I would literally buy this bike in a second if it was available for purchase. The concept was developed for the Porsche Next Design Challenge hosted by Co. Design. David Shultz created this concept bike for the competition, which in my opinion succeeds at channeling the essence of the source of inspiration(vintage Porsche Carrera) far better than the other entries. In turn the end result is a substantially greater standalone product.
(via Behance »)
Re:route App
Earlier this year Recyclebank and Transport for London got together and created the Re:route app. Commuters who opt to walk or ride(bikes) to work and use the app, which allows users to plan their route, can earn rewards for their participation. Re:route is currently only available in London, but I definitely think this sort of trend would really catch on in any other commuter heavy area.
(via The Verge »)
Shoes Books and a Bike
Since summer weather has already descended in a steamy cloak of mugginess let’s keep the cycling theme going today with this awesome bike storage shelf designed by Thomas Walde. This unit is produced in Switzerland and available for sale over at Postfossil.
(via NOTCOT »)
The Bike Owners Handbook
Cicada Books has recently released a Bike Owner’s Handbook, which would probably be a great addition to any bike enthusiasts library. Much of the information inside is pretty pedestrian, but the layout and design of the book makes it fun to peruse.
(via Cool Hunting »)
Ghost Riders
This short film was shot for the Bicycle Store in Paris, a high end bike retailer, which specializes in track bikes. It’s extremely eerie to see the quiet late night streets of Paris overrun by this imposing mob of ghosts. The face paint they are all wearing creates such a great visual effect.
The Bicycle City
Pedals for Progress is a program started 20 years ago by founder David Schweidenback. Over the past two decades they have sent down 20,000 bicycles to the otherwise impoverished city of Rivas, Nicaragua. This amazing story is the subject matter for the upcoming documentary The Bicycle City. The film’s interviews really capture into how this access to physical mobility leads to self empowerment and the ability to improve their lives as well as the lives of their loved ones.
(via swissmiss »)
Gregg’s Cycles New HQ
When designing a retail space for Gregg’s Cycle in Bellevue, Washington Weinstein AU decided to create a building that literally put the bikes out front, and really leverages it’s design to highlight the bicycles. Instead of submitting to the norm and creating another street level retail experience with limited parking Weinstein AU opted for a raised concrete design that provides protected parking below along with easy access to the rear of the building and more parking out back. It also physically boosts the bikes up towards the sky, which definitely accentuates their concept of highlighting the bikes.
This style of, product first retail design is becoming more prevalent. One specific instance that the Gregg’s Cycle reminded me of is the Freitag Flagship Store in Zurich. Design that is both relevant to the brand, it’s products and also develops a customized approach to display that is only applicable to their specific goods and location really creates a richer and more unique shopping experiences. This thought process or equation can and should be applied to other media and applications.
(via ArchDaily »)
Domestique
“Domestique is a historic cycling journal. You will find clippings, images, random filings and general romantic cycling non-sense filling these pages. Most likely you won’t find much about carbon, expensive modern components or the like, but once in a while we get a little self-indulgent. Think of it as a history book, but a hell of a lot less boring.”
I couldn’t really some it up better myself. This is a great blog with awesome historic cycling content and a nice minimalist design to boot.
7D Slow Motion by Oton Bacar
I have had the Canon 5D and the Canon 7D on my wish list for a while. This slow motion video of some awesome bmx cycling really shows off the power and capabilities of this generation of Canon DSLRs. The editing is phenomenal as well.
(via Fubiz »)
Shinya Kimura
I have always loved motorcycles, specifically custom machined ones, but have I gotten bored with the contemporary style and culture surrounding them. This look inside the work of Shinya Kimura seems to have changed those feelings. He has found serenity in his work and the connection to the world that he achieves when riding his creations. “It feels nothing like how violent it looks from the outside.” This quote really says so much about both the freedom of riding motorcycles, as well as the personal level of thinking that Kimura has taken it to. Learn more about Kimura at Chabott Engineering.
(via Kitsune Noir »)
Death Spray Custom
At first I was pretty positive their work was all just die-cut vinyl graphics, but to my surprise and delight after further research and inspection I found out it is all custom painted. The meticulous care and craft that goes into the work of Death Spray Custom is something very rare these days.
