Pro Cycling + design – a first look at 2010 teams, kits & bikes
As a cycling enthusiast I’m always excited to see the pro team introductions each winter. Even more exciting is seeing what each team kit will look like, and what bikes they’ll be riding. 2010 looks to be a big year with quite a few new teams as well as big players changing squads—most notably Lance Armstrong moving to the new Radio Shack Cycling Team. But while Lance is undeniably the big story in American cycling there are many other names and teams making news. Here are a few teams that I’ve been watching as a sportsman and a designer:
Team Sky
This brand new British cycling team has snapped-up real contenders, including Brad Wiggins (4th in the 2009 Tour de France) and – along with help from sponsors Adidas and Pinarello – are looking like poster children for classic minimalist design.
(Photo by Scott Sunderland/via)
Astana
Led by reigning Tour winner Alberto Contador and completely made-over since 2009, Astana will be looking to repeat the success it’s had over the last couple years. They’ve moved away from the navy blue in their kits… a little too pastel for me, now.
BMC
Swiss team BMC looks to be a real force in 2010. This fall the team signed current US Pro, George Hincapie, Cadel Evans and former World Champion Alessandro Ballan. I’m pulling for Hincapie to finally win Parix Roubaix (the Hell of the North), this April. BMC is from Switzerland… what else do you need to say in terms of design?
Rock Racing
Created by 
Michael Ball of Rock and Republic, Rock Racing is considered a “black sheep” due to their roster including past doping offenders. While these past troubles continue to follow the team, their accolades on the road have begun to stack up— achieving great success from former Grand Tour riders Francisco Mancebo and Oscar Sevilla. As far as design goes, the team has recently launched their own bike line, and, although a fan of their past aesthetic, I’m not completely on board with new new look.
(Photo by Ken Conley/via)
Bikes as Birds
A few months back an exciting new project landed in our lap from our longtime collaborators at Trek. The task was to redesign the consumer interface of their popular Project One custom bike configuration tool. At some point in the design process a few months ago I found myself dreaming about my latest project, as I commonly do. In this dream I used Project One to create bike designs that looked like various species of birds. When I woke up I realized what a fantastic idea this was.
I’m happy to announce that today with Trek, the team here at Hanson Dodge Creative has launched the latest incarnation of Project One. To commemorate the launch I followed my subconscious advice and actually styled several bikes as birds. Click on any of the images in this post to see a full-sized version.
The bikes below have been designed using just the configurator and haven’t been adjusted in any image editing software – a testament to the amount of creative control the custom program affords. You can even change colors on the smallest of details like bar tape, cable housings and in some cases even brake hood colors. The amount of customization Trek is offering to their customers sets a high bar for online product configurations.
So enjoy. And if you feel motivated, flutter on over to Trek’s Project One
Five Minutes of Heaven divx
Pokemon: The Movie 2000 download
configurator and make your own bike as a bird. If you’re really motivated, post your creation to Flickr and add a link to the comments for this post.
Wild Parrot
Flamingo
Yellow Finch
Woodpecker
Raven
Blue Jay
Turkey Vulture
Rooster
Stone & Ed download
Cardinal
Oriole
All of the source birdy photos can be found on Flickr and are flagged as remixable by the creative commons license.
Get your avian photo fix here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nosha/2572923294/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davideg/1513641666/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darwinbell/320009619/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindenbaum/2525362430/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jettyboy/855569038/
http://flickr.com/photos/ricmcarthur/148238137/
http://flickr.com/photos/simondbarnes/360572546/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/revilla/538922356/
http://flickr.com/photos/lindenbaum/2220526073/
http://flickr.com/photos/kubina/467715401/ download The Yarn Princess Peaceful Warrior psp Christian Blake psp
Outdoor Recreation in Urban Spaces
A half-block from our studio there is a bridge that I walk under almost every day. Well, actually using the word bridge is selling it short, it’s actually an overpass for a section of freeway
that cuts right through the heart of Milwaukee. The space is somewhat typical of what happens in urban areas under overpasses – it’s used as a parking lot, left feral or otherwise ignored. Despite its present undeveloped state, this location has a few things going for it. It’s across the street from the Milwaukee Public Market, it abuts Milwaukee’s River Walk Ridicule hd pedestrian thoroughfare and is right next door to a public launch for kayakers, canoeists and rowers who use the Milwaukee River. Here in the heart of the city, in an otherwise unused space and surrounded by such great attractions, seems like the perfect place to create an urban park focused on active recreation.
The Easter Egg Adventure movies
Other municipalities have done this with great success already. Portland, Oregon has the Burnside Skatepark, located under the Burnside Bridge. Built originally without permission from the city, this skatepark is now officially supported by the city and creates a public recreation area in a dense urban area that’s sheltered from the weather due to it’s location under such a large structure.
The Devil’s Own trailer A Hanson Dodge Creative colleague of mine sent me a link to the Colonnade Mountain Bike Park in Seattle, Washington. I can’t describe this place it’s so insanely inventive. It’s truly a new model of how urban “in-between” spaces can be dramatically re-imagined and converted from grafitti-strewn dirt patches into urban playgrounds. The park features mountain bike trails and obstacles, at various ability levels, in an unbelievably small footprint under a brige.
I walk by that mean space every day on my way to work and I imagine opportunity for joy in the heart of the city. Here’s to hoping it doesn’t become just another parking lot.
Bikes and Baseball Boondoggle.
buy Family Guy: The Story So Far… The Trek Marketing Department and their Hanson Dodge Creative team has been busy producing some pretty outstanding work this year — national TV spots, print ads, catalogs, websites. So we knew it was time for a celebration. And, with the playoff-chasing Brewers right in our backyard, the 1st Annual Bikes and Baseball Boondoggle was born.
Take a sunny 71-degree day, an afternoon game, 28 bikes, tailgating and a Brewers victory, and you have the perfect September outing. The group lived our pledge to “Go By Bike” and headed out from HD’s offices en masse to Miller Park. Taking advantage of the Hank Aaron trail, we showed that using 2 wheels instead of 4 is actually easier and more fun. I’d like to think we convinced others to try this next time.
Wyvern dvdrip The Ministers dvdrip
Our own Dan Herwig, Art Director, tried to bring home a skid contest victory but ended up demonstrating why he should keep his day job. And wear a helmet next time.
HOW NOT TO SKID How to Be a Sailor dvdrip
We brought the Brewers some luck and broke the losing streak. We’ll see if the Brewers can pull out a playoff spot. Go Brewers!
Mmmmm. Sandwich Bike.
I love the idea of putting a bicycle on the market that is useful, trendy and twice as cheap to produce — so buying the product for a regular price leaves means enough to donate one to someone who cannot afford one. This company’s whole design philosophy is pretty cool.
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra release
All Star Comedy Jam divx Brain Damage divx
Inspired by the concept of flat packing and home assembly made popular by companies like IKEA we finally made a bike out of two wooden plates. Hence its name: The Sandwich Bike. The absence of welding joints makes the frame very easy to produce and [...] materials used can vary according to the client’s demand. This way the bike can be kept simple and cheap, or aesthetically and structurally supreme and therefore reasonably expensive. Just like an IKEA product the bike will be delivered in a flat cardboard box and can be assembled at home with a single tool…
Bartok the Magnificent movie North Dallas Forty buy
For more information, visit the designer’s website: Bleijh.
(via Treehugger Point Break dvdrip )
Back to Basics
The Secret Life of Bees psp I ran across this post from James Thomas of the Bicycle Design blog last night. It shows a prototype Trek Stop (think truck stop) that’s currently located outside a bike shop in Madison, WI. Think of the Trek Stop as a vending machine merged with a mechanic’s bike stand wrapped in the styling of a gas station awning. The vending machine sells all of the basics you may need while out and about on your next ride including tubes, patch kits, water bottles, etc. I could see these units being a success in areas where bikes shops aren’t currently found – in dense urban areas, near parks and trails that handle a lot of cycling traffic, or near mass transit hubs. Overall I think it’s a great concept whose time may appropriate with the cost of gasoline on the rise and the renewed interest in bikes as viable commuting options.
Bike to Work Fashion
In keeping with my recent post
about the Speed Vest, here’s another nighttime cycling accessory that promises to boost visibility for 2-wheeled commuters. Cordarounds has just introduced their Bike to Work Pants, which feature fabrics that pass as cubicle-friendly khaki by day but transform into reflective beacons once you roll up a pant leg or pull out a rear pocket. Here’s a grainy, blurry nightime video that shows the benefits of the product.
It’s products like this that can help avoid cycling-related accidents and catastrophes. For example, perhaps NY State Senator Jeff Klein would have seen the cyclist he almost hit and could have avoided the embarassing blog chatter about the incident.
Design Trends in Cycling
It’s been a few months since I attended Interbike 2007 in Las Vegas which, for those of you who aren’t familiar, is one of the largest bicycling industry trade shows on the planet. All of the big bicycle manufacturers are there with their new bike line-ups for the coming year and all of the accessory and clothing manufacturers vie for the attention of bike dealers in hopes that they’ll pick up their product lines. It’s a great opportunity to see what’s going on overall in the industry and peep the newest innovations and products before they hit the general consumer. It’s also the perfect place to notice trends that will shape the industry for the next few years. Since the show, I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the trends I see in bike design and marketing.
Change in the bike industry traditionally starts on the fringes and then gets picked up by the mainstream market, so it’s fitting to look at some of the smaller players in the field to see where they see opportunity for new products and ideas. Passionate, small players are the ones willing to take risks, so its interesting to see what opportunities they see in the market. The following report is my unscientific, off-the-cuff observations of developing trends in the cycling industry.