The Atala Script

Bikes bikes bikes. I've been working diligently to build these beauties and capture their essence. Fonts have always fascinated me. It seems that good script can cause an emotional reaction to the beauty. There is something so humanly artistic about well written words. I am a cursive writer. I feel like the last of my kind. Both my Mom and Gamma wrote in cursive and I thought it was so beautiful and frankly, quicker. Somehow though everyone in schools since my era haven't even been taught cursive, hell, I hardly was. Nevertheless, when I was a Freshman in High School I practiced my hand writing papers, get this, without a computer! Yes, it's true, we used to be required NOT to type papers. I wonder what age the kids start using computers instead NOW. Luckily, beautiful objects are often adorned with great script, even if not rendered by hand.

The Rider | Mojo

I was so busy before and after our trip, I've hardly had time to reflect. I regained a real sense of capability. I put a rack on the front of my Naga and carried a cooler full of gluten free foods. Sarah, as per usual, carried the rest of our stuff in my Dank doublestrap. We threw our bikes into boxes at the train station and let the Coast Starlight do the rest. Sarah Murder of Pushbike SF put us up. Two days into the trip we took a rest day to hangout with her and her hubby Ian. We watched movies and caught up. Our adventures included seeing Die Antwoord at the Treasure Island Music Festival and a tour of SF's Gluten Free options. We had amazing food throughout. My one moment of weakness (unlike in Seattle) was at this bicycle Cafe, Mojo. They happened to be hosting their Supper Club, which consisted of two local chef's and two hotplates. WHOA! I had no idea it could be this good! And who knew a date wrapped in bacon would excite the tastebuds into a symphony of flavor never to be matched again! Yes, it was that good! If you visit the city by the bay, do not miss this opportunity. Of course that menu will never be repeated but I'm sure the city with the best restaurants and chef's will make good on this promise in the future!

Diaphanous Lust

I love fall for the deep colors. The mobius floor often inspires great portraits. The blue of this Moser is so incredible as to inspire lust in anyone. Last year we rescued this from the Denver Velo Swap. We just came home with this year's haul so hurry down to see the fresh meat!

Rainbow Belt Buckle

by Inna Peck

I have been wearing many hats lately. My favorite hat at the moment is Studio Photographer. I am really enjoying helping my artistic friends document their beautiful art. I feel that every new project teaches me so much. With or without the time to think it through, the vision is getting captured. That is what I have learned the most. Being a photographer really is being a problem solver. I love this photo because of the way the bokeh (fuzzy bit) really hugs the far edge of the belt buckle. The texture of the belt is beautiful as well. A vintage, fantasy, rainbow world created by Inna Peck. Get yours soon before they are all gone!

Relief

Texture is beautiful. I love the grit of this world. The rains have come. There will be grit in my socks for awhile. I will be faster for being rain cooled. Then the snow will come. Snowboarding is the Northwest cure for seasonal depression. Sunshine, more than we get all summer, is waiting to radiate back at you from a shiny covering of white snow. Outside, warm and a different kind of wet. I can't wait!

Fall's Saturation

The last few days have been Golden here in Seattle. Fall light is saturating my world with color and warmth. Listen to The Origin of Love by Hedwig and the Angry Inch and imagine the world bathed in this Golden Light. Remembering that this slowing time is our time to gather for winter and say goodbye to the intensity of Summer. I want to bring in the cold this year with a remembrance of the warmth of color. Keep your eyes peeled and don't miss a single autumnal moment this year. It's going to be beautiful!

Fine Art

DT Swiss Red, originally uploaded by mobiuscycle.

I love this color. Or maybe it's the color of love. I definitely feel a heightening of the senses. Something about this photo really strikes me. The angles, captured. A wheel is a delicate balance, a suspension bridge. I often try to capture this tenuous quality when I photograph my wheels. "What doesn't bend breaks." -Ani DiFranco

This need for flexibility is one of the many reasons I only build with DT Swiss Revolution spokes. They are butted to be thinner than other spokes. Through this process, "work hardening" reorganizes the metal lattice on the molecular level. In other words, the spoke becomes denser and stronger as well as lighter, but most importantly it can hold more tension with less material. A wheel needs tension to suspend. I've said it before, my new wheels fly. Any bicycle wheel is a beautiful machine, but this is Fine Art.

Fusing craft spirit and vision.

Feather Dream Mural

Feather Dream Mural, originally uploaded by Taylor Hurley | Grain Studios.

I love night photography, especially in black and white. Today and yesterday we are under a Harvest Moon. Last night, about midnight, I was about to go to bed when Sarah pulled me onto the porch and said, "LOOK!" and pointed at that big beautiful luminary. I got out my Nikon FE2, loaded it with 3200 ISO Ilford film and drug my setup out to the street to minimize light pollution. I found my longest lens for said camera (a macro zoom lens) and fixed it to the camera and Voilà, the moon was nearly full frame, it was HUGE! I took most of the roll, experimenting with different shutter speeds, the moon would meter bright enough to blowout so I sped up the capture. I can't wait to finish this roll so I can see the photos! Thank you Harvest Moon for being so big and so beautiful. I really wish our way of life meant we would never miss the moon's dance across the sky. Sarah and I lived on a beach at La Push for a week once. The moon's cycle was ours and the waters' cycle too. Don't forget to look up, even mobius is hard to find without looking up!

Lead

Pentel, originally uploaded by mobiuscycle.

Pencil lead is beautiful. A well crafted mechanical pencil is a joy to hold. I wanted to be an architect when I was younger just so I could draw plans. Amanda works at an architectural firm. From her description these architects have more pens and pencils than a University Bookstore! My grandfather gave me my first Pentel mechanical pencil while we played Parsec on his Texas Instruments computer. He was an Engineer for Bell Systems, back when Bell was the ONLY phone company in the country! He therefore had the leading technology of the time. Amazing how things have changed since that side-scrolling space shooter. I can't wait for Virtual Reality games. Nintendo's Wii is pretty close. Who knows what's on the horizon, pocket computers are a dime a dozen. Not like my grandfather's day when a computer was the size of a large room. Welcome to Twenty Ten!

Orange peel buddah

Orange peel buddah, originally uploaded by mobiuscycle.

My best friend just made a trip to Seattle just to see me! I feel so full! It was as if she had never left. Five years erased instantly. We're like sisters that get along because we weren't forced to grow up together. I've been telling her all about the food I've been cooking lately and she was most excited about it. So, Sarah and I prepared at the Farmer's Market Sunday. We got lucky, the guys at Loki were able to bring home one more week of fresh salmon! That's right, never been frozen. I pan fry it on the skin with olive oil under, lemon and sea salt on top. Lid the pan on medium, make sure the pan is hot before you put the salmon in. If you pull it right when the center goes from dark to light pink it will melt in your mouth. Like lobster. Frickin unbelievable! Hearth and home with the best of friends. One of the nicest things about being a homebody is having your best homebody friend over for a couple of homecooking days!

Mountain Goat

GT ala mobius, originally uploaded by mobiuscycle.

I always forget what a roadie I am. Then I get on my road bike and WHAM! I'm hooked. Speed, agility, climbs like a mountain goat. I think part of me knew Mad Market was closed at 11:17pm last night. I think I just wanted to climb straight up pike from downtown. My favorite part was when my front wheel glowed in the shadows (it's phosphorescent blue on white paint). Baby got a new pair of shoes! These are my first deep V road wheels (DT Swiss RR585 rims, front painted by SIK Werks). I've always had low-profile rims before. What a difference! Holy stiffness Batman! Snappy everywhere! I think I just blew a gasket I'm so stoked! Too many exclamation points!

Fall into a raindrop.

Cafe Presse, originally uploaded by mobiuscycle.

Brisk Bisque
Surface tension
Beading droplet drupe.

Embrace the imminent
Our bones need rest
From all this business
(busy ness)

Lava Pit

Lava Pit, originally uploaded by Taylor Hurley | Grain Studios.

Taking this photo took my breath away. A Leicagasm. This is my playground from 5th-6th grade. I wasn't a junglegymmer, more of a kickballer. This was one of those mysterious places for me. There was a bit of a longing, the lava pit was foreign territory. I didn't speak the language, didn't have the strength to cross the pit without falling. I remember once falling from the third rung, landing on my arm and knocking the wind out of my lungs. That moment was different from the Leicagasm but somehow they are distinctly related. Experience is a spectrum. We invoke both the beauty and the grotesque just by breathing each breath.

Temporal Splice

Rasberi Bertoni - Pimp, originally uploaded by mobiuscycle.

This is a meeting of the minds. The near, the far. The new, the old. Technology meshing across a gulf of time. Old doesn't necessarily mean crap and new rarely equals good. Why? I've been asking myself this question with regard to bikes since my mom bought me a $10 Schwinn from a consignment store in ~1986. She said, "It's a Schwinn!" when asked if this was a nice bike, of course it was, the name said so. Things have changed since then. With the advent of internet bike sales, and increase in planned obsolescence, there is less accountability in bike production. It used to be that you could ONLY buy a "bike shop bike" in a shop. A "bike shop bike" was something you could trust for 10+ years. The major brands insisted, in order to honor your warranty, that a bike shop assemble your bike. Now even the major bike companies are building for that internet/disposable market. Wheels last months instead of years. First ride on the street, fixed cogs strip to freewheels. Besides, the gear ratios the bikes come with are practically unusable. Nowadays, the best way to be sure your bike is well built is to build from scratch. Hand built wheels, holistically chosen parts and the personal touch. Some components on this build are from the seventies, the frame is possibly 80's/90's and the other parts are 9/02/10...(hehe 90210 that's today). Each person needs a very specific bike to meet their needs. This is the goal of each build. The Rasberi Bertoni pictured here is Greg's dream, pure and simple.

Revel

Revel, originally uploaded by Taylor Hurley | Grain Studios.

A reminder to celebrate life. REVEL! Too often we are duped to believe that we don't deserve to enjoy ourselves. But inspiring through beauty in all its forms is the essential meaning of life. That meaning so many spend so long searching for. Enjoy! That's the message stitched into the fabric of the universe. No matter how bad it gets there is always some positive to be found simply by the act of looking.

Shug: More than anything God love admiration.
Celie: You saying God is vain?
Shug: No, not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off when you walk by the colour purple in a field and don't notice it.
Celie: You saying it just wanna be loved like it say in the bible?
Shug: Yeah, Celie. Everything wanna be loved. Us sing and dance, and holla just wanting to be loved. Look at them trees. Notice how the trees do everything people do to get attention... except walk?

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Beliefs

Army of Jesus...hmmm, originally uploaded by mobiuscycle.

The only true veil between us is belief. Todo bicho viviente y las estrellas estan hecho de lo mismo (every person alive is made of the same dust as the stars). Claiming cultural ownership over an idea or action never stops its spread or use. Now that we are connected via computer, the land of words and images, the spread of ideas approaches the speed of light. But no one can own a cultural idea or practice. Just look at religion. People of all backgrounds have adopted all manner of religious practices. Does Dharma Punx Seattle have a karmic debt to pay for not being in India? Or is the spread of a good idea just that. At Dharma Punx we release any accumulated benefit from our sit to the universe for all to share.  I may not be affiliated with a religion or belief system, but my spirituality wants to see more connectivity in the world, not less. I would prefer to share ideas with one another regardless of our beliefs.

Pretty in Pink

Pretty in Pink, originally uploaded by Taylor Hurley | Grain Studios.

Sunday is a glorious day. I always feel a certain quiet on Sunday. Sunday is patient. You can hear the grass grow. Even ants are on holiday. The Capitol Hill farmer's market lights me up. I love talking to all my friends. Sarah and I have been going all summer, missing only one market so far. We really know the merchants now. We're even giving them our homemade jam. I like knowing whose energy went into our food, whose intention created the lovely flavors contained within. THIS IS TRUE FOOD.

Broadway Market

Broadway Market, originally uploaded by Taylor Hurley | Grain Studios.

This is the kind of moment I like to capture. 4:30am Broadway Market and my new f/1.8 lens. I am a true cat, nocturnal. Grocery shopping is generally about this hour for me. No lines, no crush of people. Sure, half the store is closed but who needs toiletries daily. I think my favorite part of the photo is the way the D in BROADWAY sits a little apart. Gives it a nice oddity.

harden the fuck up

harden the fuck up, originally uploaded by Taylor Hurley | Grain Studios.

Sift Life

Sift Life, originally uploaded by Taylor Hurley | Grain Studios.

When I was younger, home was a place to escape from. Now, I love my home. It took years to build it though I laid naught a brick. mobius taught me about home. Running a business is a 24 hour job. Especially one you are passionate about. Thanks to photography, now I have more to be passionate about than ever. In order to refill that passion though, I have to spend energy taking care of myself, go figure. Going wheat free is a difficult task. I loved sifting flour. I love baking. But as I eat more fruits, vegetables and whole foods, I find myself with more energy and clarity. I like to remember we are animals after all. Food is food and a box of something like food isn't quite but wishes it was.

Parcheesi

Parcheesi, originally uploaded by Taylor Hurley | Grain Studios.

The Royal Game. Playing Parcheesi with Sarah and her family is the most amazing experience. They are all REALLY good at Parcheesi. They also have their own private Parcheesi language. Somehow though, I managed to hold my own. In their own words, I played the Snake in the Grass moves. Still think I lost, but had too much fun to care!

Peaches and Cream

Peaches and Cream, originally uploaded by Taylor Hurley | Grain Studios.

Tiny dew drop. I love water. I grew up on the Great Lakes in Wisconsin. I remember windsurfing when I was so small I had to reach my hands straight above my head to hold the sail, I wasn't alone. A pretty lady was teaching me to sail. Years later, when we moved to Kansas, I missed the water horribly. Not until my first year in Washington, which didn't come for 11 years, did I feel the easy flow from the ethereal pull of a large body of water. If the moon controls the tides, wild abandon equals lunacy, and we are made mostly of water, then I know why it feels better not to be landlocked. Sweet freedom!

An International Bicycle Brand

Panasonic, originally uploaded by mobiuscycle.

Like an orange sherbet push pop. The bike I taught myself to ride was this red. Out on a gravel road by myself in Wisconsin, I kept trying after falling over and over. I was probably three or four years old. Who needs training wheels. Once I figured out to go as fast as possible once I started, I could keep my balance. And I was off! I can still remember that first feeling of floating sideways when I'd lean. It was a little stomach lilting, but only the first time. I didn't get to ride a bike again until my fifth birthday. My mom then unveiled Niki's Snooper! A step through frame she had painted red with a white banana seat and grips. She and her best friend Jeff built it for me out of several bikes they got at the dump. My first bike was custom built just for me. Not to mention my mom painted a dancing Snoopy on the chaingaurd and Woodstock as the headbadge. I love that my job is helping other people have that first sickeningly sweet wobble on their very own custom bike.

Damn Gina!

Damn Gina!, originally uploaded by mobiuscycle.

In case you were wondering how the rims look on the bike...el Super Duper hot! Check out more photos at mobius cycle. ILOVEORANGE!

mobius Keirin Rims Orange

mobius Keirin Rims Orange, originally uploaded by mobiuscycle.

Orange and blue are two of my favorite colors. I especially like them opposed. My gamma is Irish Catholic and never wanted me to wear orange only green. Since starting mobius, I have found love for colors I never even liked before. My pastel purple Schwinn Paramount helped me love purple for the first time, hot highlighter pink Nagasawa...so many instances turning hate to love...of color!

Graffiti and Dumpsters

Graffiti and Dumpsters, originally uploaded by Taylor Hurley | Grain Studios.

Do you ever have that negative voice in your head, the "Devil" on your shoulder? For me, I feel like there is a cloud of heard memory, a jumble of statements made in judgment. Advertising, billboards, body image conditioning. Be impeccable with your word, take a moment before speaking from judgment. Nico's piece by Value Village reminds me of the dismantling process of these old audio memories. It is a joyous celebration of freedom.

Nakano Red Nagasawa

Nakano Red Nagasawa, originally uploaded by mobiuscycle.

My holy Grail. "the very best there is. When you got to kill every motha in tha room, except no substitute!". Samuel L in Jackie Brown

My friend Yohei Morita, the Cog Magazine Keirin photographer, has invited me to Japan. He is going to make my dreams come true by introducing me to Mr Nagasawa-San. Yohei took the photos of Nagasawa-san's shop for the issue of Cog that featured Mobius. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity. Thank you Yohei!

Volkswagen

Volkswagen, originally uploaded by Taylor Hurley | Grain Studios.

I love fonts. I especially love this font. The bumpersticker on this van read: Courage. Honesty. Love. I think it takes more courage to love honestly than any other pursuit. Get out there and get messy.

Razor's Edge

Razor's Edge, originally uploaded by mobiuscycle.

We've been talking about framebuilding around here a lot. I love metal shavings as long as they stay far away from bearings and grease. Shaping metal is sexy. Soon my dear soon.

Light Playing...

Light Playing..., originally uploaded by Taylor Hurley | Grain Studios.

on this relief mural on the side of what used to be the Jade Pagoda. The Jade was known for it's stiff, barely palatable well drinks. It is gutted but it appears as if the facade will be kept. If not I'm glad I photographed this now.

Spotlight

Spotlight, originally uploaded by Taylor Hurley | Grain Studios.

The church across the street is beautiful all summer. This flower stood out from the background nicely with my new 1.8/35 lens wide open.

Vivace Temptation

I love living on Broadway, this is one of the reasons.