Little did Matt know that the journey towards his new Sycip began back in 2016.                                        Matt's new Sycip. Photo by The Radavist.  Seven years ago, he picked up a personal dream bike in the form of a mid-90s Eddy Merckx MX Leader frameset. As cyclists have a habit of doing, building it up was a project that remained on the back burner until 2020 when it was made road ready following a refurb, a respray, and being outfitted with modern components. (You can read all about it in this blog post.) Much to Matt’s delight, the Merckx turned out to be a...

Remember those 'choose your own adventure' books? That's what life in Los Angeles is like when it comes to outdoor activities. The possibilities are virtually endless and with nearly 300 sunny days a year, there's ample opportunity to get out and explore. What follows is a list of some of our collective personal favorites when it comes to hikes and rides around Los Angeles. Whether you're local or planning an LA getaway, we thought you might enjoy seeing what we like to enjoy when it's time to go play.The Staircases of Los Angeles  Highlights from the Painted Stairways Tour. Staircases are hiding in plain (and not so plain) sight all over Los Angeles, many of which were built as neighborhood shortcuts around the...

Some quarantine projects are more ambitious than others. Case in point, Seth Gottesdiener decided to ride his bike from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. and ask the same 10 questions to folks he interviewed along the way. His project is called The Great American Bike Ride and his journey was documented by a small film crew that plans to turn his journey and interviews into a documentary that captures this unique and delicate time in our nation's history. Seth took the time to do an interview with us so we could find out more about him and his epic ride. (In the interest of full disclosure, we sponsored Seth with apparel for him and masks for the crew and their interview subjects. Our discussion has...

When a top 10 Paris-Roubaix finisher checks on your well being, that's probably a good sign you may have bitten off a little more than you can chew. To properly set the scene, do you remember in the original Rocky how there was a neighborhood Doo-wop group that would spend their evenings on the streets of Philadelphia harmonizing tunes while gathered around a trash can fire? That was us this past Saturday at Grinduro! but instead of the streets of Philly, we were high up in the Sierra Nevada mountains huddled around a campfire and instead of singing some oldies, we were muttering to ourselves about the frigid situation we paid to put ourselves in. And the icing on our frozen avocado...

It's amazing how the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat can forever change someone's life.  For Matt, it was a chance viewing of a segment about Paris-Roubaix (circa 1985) on ABC’s Wide World of Sports that opened his eyes to a world of competitive cycling that he didn’t know existed. If BMX and the Tour de France were on opposite ends of the cycling spectrum, here was a race that barreled right down the middle across the cobblestone roads of the French countryside.  Spring Classics season is the time of year Matt arrives at the office long before anyone else. With a slew of midweek races and the ability to watch live online, it’s not uncommon to show...

Our friend and sponsored rider Ben Weaver took the time to write up a recap of his 2017 adventures for us. If you're a regular around these parts, Ben should be a familiar figure. If this is your first time hearing about him, then the first thing we'd say is to give him a listen. Ben is a terrific singer/songwriter who uses his gifts to advocate for water rights and if that wasn't enough, his concert tours are all bicycle powered. We're proud to have our apparel play a part of his adventures and the feedback we get after thousands of miles in the saddle has been invaluable to us. Take it away Ben...  Another year in SWRVE I recently read...

(See part one here.) The bicycle wheel and the pizza are two of the greatest round things ever invented. To break them down into simple terms, they both start with common ingredients and how they end up all depends on the wheelbuilder or chef.   After mulling enough wheel options to fill an Excel spreadsheet, Matt decided to stick to the familiar and try the new, while entering a deeper realm of bike geekery. “I enjoy comparative research, apparently,” says Matt. “I generally start with products (or companies) I’ve heard good things about, something I think looks really good, or someone that’s maybe pushing a new direction while leaning towards smaller companies. In the end, I try to strike the best...