Adam's new Silver PBJ
Colors are hard.
Despite months of drawing and refining the shape of a dropout or waking up in the middle of the night to think about a chainstay profile during the very long process of designing a bike frame from scratch - the one thing people will always notice first is the color. That makes it really important. And as a business a good color can leave us sitting on a pile of less-desirable-color frames. Should I order more of this one and less of that one? Will I be the only one who likes this? Should I just finally cave and make a black bike? The process is agonizing and often filled with many screen shots texted to various graphic designers and art-minded friends whose eyes I appreciate. You may notice the Sklar palette has a lot of colors that are in-between. A blue that is almost grey, a green that is almost white, a yellow that is almost green, a red that is almost brown, and so on. I have always been drawn to these colors.
This bike is my new silver PBJ and it is a bit of a deviation from our standard earthy liminal palette. The inspiration came to me from a 90's Diamondback Mean Streak. A super cool lugged frame that briefly passed through my hands back in college. My best friend in Bozeman had a key to the bike co-op and we would build up all sorts of wacky bikes for a few weeks before swapping them out for something else. Today you can get annnnything you want in terms of paint, I personally find all of the options overwhelming. Back in the day though bike manufacturers were limited to a smaller palette of auto paints and I love to look back at the colors that were being used in the '70s on. They feel restrained and I live by the mantra that the best design shows restraint (put Dieter Rams quote here). Anyhow, bikes like this old Diamondback MTB really inspired the PBJ when I would ask myself "What if this bike was actually good?" To be honest I think I pulled it off. Every few years I get the itch to build up a vintage MTB because they are beautiful and cool and after a few minutes of riding I am abruptly reminded - oh yeah, I have a bike just like this that rides a million times better. And that is sort of the whole point.
That old Diamondback looked something like this if I remember right
Anyhow, here is my new silver PBJ built up just how I like it. PBJ bars, testing out a new alloy wheelset that we might be offering with completes. I have been loving the 2.6" Vittoria Mezcals for Bay Area riding. I tried these tires back in Montana maybe 5 or 6 years ago and hated them but they rule for our smooth mixed terrain. Fast rolling with lots of volume so that you can make it through anything. Of course a dropper and mechanical 12 speed drivetrain. This is my go-to bike for a day out on Mount Tam or an afterwork cruise on the townie trails on Mount Sutro. I think the new silver color is really fun and it definitely reminds me of those fun old bikes I would cobble together at the Bozeman Bike Kitchen, but then I can also feel good riding it down gnarly trails or loading it up for an overnighter.
Learn more about the PBJ Here.
