Outlier

I'm a sucker for any technical piece of clothing that looks, for a lack of a better word, fashionable. In the world of cycling two companies hit that note; UK based Rapha and US based Outlier. Rapha is the more established of the two, but Outlier is on the rise. Creating pieces that you can ride in then go to work or bar or party (you get the point) and not look like a dirty ass bike messenger. In short Outlier is, "tailored performance clothing for cycling in the city". I recently caught a clip about the process Outlier takes to create a shirt.

You rarely get to see the behind the scenes on how pieces of clothing go from an idea to something tangible and everything in between. The attention to detail in any garment is what separates it from being just another shirt or just another pair of pants. Some people may be turned off by the price. ZOMG, for one pair of pants I can have 5 pairs of cut off jean shorts. The quality definitely warrants the price. Pay to play.

I mean who wants to look ugly dirty homeless while riding. You do you hipsters.

North American Handmade Bicycle Show 2010

While living near DC has its disadvantages when it comes to riding (unless, of course, you enjoy riding in the rain or snow), I was fortunate enough to be day trip distance from this years NAHBS (as well as the tasty brews of the Legend Brewery) down in Richmond, VA.

Here are the photos I took at NAHBS:

Some of the standouts to me were Signal, 611, Vanilla, Cherubim, LLewellyn, and Dromarti.

While I was at NAHBS, I was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of Mark and Frank, two DC area riders. Mark is part owner of Panda Bikes making some cool steel lugged, bamboo bikes. I went over to his house just last week and he taught me how to true a wheel and served up a MEAN cup of espresso:

Not too bad if I do say so myself.

TEAM HYPE

Team Hype Jersey, originally uploaded by RFEEZY.

2010 is going to be a big year for Team Hype. We are training for AIDS/Lifecycle in June and Tour de Cure in May. We are looking to get some shirts and fitteds made soon. Stay tuned! Also, if you're interested in a kit email the team.