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Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to celebrate something special, the 30th anniversary of Paul Component Engineering. Paul is a close friend, and when asked to come down for the weekend, tickets were booked quickly and preparations began in good faith.
This entire project is so rad, from the concept, to the Squid Bikes frame, to the build and Travis from PAUL‘s press-release, which you can read in full below!
“The bike is done, and you can have it!
Wow, remember when we sent out that last teaser press release about the sweet custom bike we were building for Sierra Nevada Brewery to show off at this year’s Sea Otter Classic?”
Straight from the horse’s mouth:
“Because of our shared obsession with bikes, beer, and American manufacturing and innovation, we’ve begun a collaboration guaranteed to grab the eyeballs of every attendee at this year’s Sea Otter Classic (the biggest US bicycle event of the year). Our vision is a frame manufactured and custom painted here in Northern California by Squid Bikes, covered in Sierra Nevada Logos, then outfitted with glistening parts machined by us right here in Chico, that have been anodized a beautiful, sparkling, Pale Ale Green.
This bike re-ignites most people’s first sensations of bike lust as a kid, with shiny colorful anodized parts, wild paint, and classic chrome, on a style of bike that probably gave you your first childhood experience with adrenalin (and a scrape on the knee): a BMX bike. Bumped up in size to fit adults who are bored with fancy road bikes and in need of a good excuse for bringing a 4th bike into the garage, this bike is stripped down to the bare essentials of fun, a bike that was indeed conceived while brainstorming the most fun way to go on a beer run.
Frame: Squid Bikes Made in California
Hubs, Seatpost, Stem, Brake, Blake Lever: PAUL Component Engineering Made in Chico, California
Cranks, Freewheel, Headset, Chainring, Bottom Bracket: White Industries Made in California
Rims: Velocity Made in the USA
Debut: Sea Otter Classic April 19-22 2018″
Bananas. They’re some of the healthiest fruits you can eat but their nutritional value goes up as they approach a nearly all brown skin. As a complex fruit, with an even more complex lifespan, Squid Bikes looked to their friend, the banana for an homage to paint their ‘cross bike with. On display at the Gevenalle booth, this bike laid upon a bed of bananas, waiting, just waiting to be photographed. I still can’t believe their bikes are all spray painted!
Streetsblog did a survey with Squid for their MY NYC Biking Story series. Dude, you’re 40? You look 25 Kevin!
Squid was one of the first “OG messengers” in NYC who reached out to me. Still to this day, I have the utmost respect for the man. He embodies the hardworking NYC hustle but is never to busy to stop and chat for a minute. He’s split off from his old courier crew, now named Street Kings NYC and continues to push advocacy through Cyclehawk, Velo City and is the rep from Chrome in NYC. I caught up with Kevin last week in NYC and shot some photos of his work bike, a custom Squarebuilt track bike.
Check out more by clicking the photo above or here to open in a new tab.
