Sven Nys’ SSCXWC Bike
Photos by Jeff Kennel / Justin Blumer and Sean Talkington, words by John Watson

Each year, SSCXWC lands in the lap of some innocent city, only to have its parks, streets, and bars invaded by hundreds of singlespeed-wielding maniacs in search for mud. This year the event found itself in Portland, Oregon, the bastion of debauchery when it comes to illicit bike races but I’m not even sure the organizers of the PDX event knew what was in store for them or their event. At some point, Trek felt that it would be a good idea to bring a recently-retired ‘cross world legend into the party. Yes, the one and only Sven Nys. For the guys at Trek and Sven, it would prove to be the perfect opportunity to create a special bike for the event and maybe up the ante for future SSCXWC races.

Justin Blumer from Trek described the design process as:

“Like most great ideas, the appearance began as a somewhat whimsical “what if we…” conversation amongst designers at Trek, who went on to make it happen and collaborated on the bike’s custom graphics. The scheme is a collage of tattoo-style art highlighting Sven’s career and celebrating the debacherous spirit of the event.”

As soon as the event unfolded, the internet was filled with “Jump the shark” memes, but isn’t that the role of events like this? Surprise the attendees, no matter how ridiculous and even if there is some shark jumping to unfold, it’ll most likely be in the mud pit.

Thanks to Sean from Team Dream and the boys at Trek for sending these images over! And to Sven for keeping the stoke high.

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Follow Trek on Instagram, Sean on Instagram and Sven on Instagram.