What we ride - Pat's Squid Bikes $QUIDCROSS

Available in small batches via Squid Bikes https://www.squidbikes.com/products/squidcross
Hand-Built, American-made frame by Sherwood Gibson - founder of Ventana Bikes in Rancho Cordova, California
Built and spec'd to race by Chris Namba - Squid co-founder, bike painter, frame designer, general manager and Squid race team lead mechanic
Painted by Jeff Tong - Artist, Cyclist, Tattoo Artist and Founder of Anatomy Tattoo in Portland Oregon

$uiqdcross frames are built in limited custom batches. Made from 6061 Aluminum they are stiff and compliant with proprietary double-butted shaped tubes. They are designed in partnership with Sherwood Gibson, founder of Ventana bikes outside of Sacramento CA. Sherwood has been welding frames since 1988, is best known for his mountain bikes and is known for creating some of the most beautiful handmade bikes in the world. The frame comes in a raw aluminum intended to be custom painted. You can opt to have Squid paint your bike for you or do it yourself thanks to their spray.bike paint.

Is it as fast as a carbon bike? ABSOLUTELY. This bike is not going to be the reason you lose a cyclocross race. Just ask or enjoy watching UCI level Squid team riders Anthony Clark, Emily Kachoreck and Sammi Runnels. They have all notched UCI victories aboard these bikes.

Chris Namba built and spec'd the bike for Pat. Chris has worked in the bike industry for over 10 years and supported athletes across multiple disciplines and continents. He has helped athletes to C1 and C2 cyclocross wins and in World Cup pits. When not working he races Single Speed cyclocross and tracklocross events. A combo of Thomson and SDG components with SRAM CX1 drivetrain makes for a bombproof build worthy of racing at ANY level.

The bike was painted by Jake Tong, tattoo artist in Portland Oregon, with Spray.Bike and One Shot paint.

A bit more about the artist's thought process:

"I choose these colors for specific reasons. In Chinese culture red and yellow are very dominate. Chinese see red as the luckiest color hence why Chinese weddings, festivals and even business are red. Red gets translated as hate, love, emergency, anger, passion, fire and so much more. Yellow represents good fortune to my culture and for funerals we wear white to represent death and passing.... I feel my motivate is pretty clear."

Pat's Note -

I felt like there was no paint job more fitting and relevant for today's nationwide conversation around politics and society. I'm proud to ride this bike and love the attention and wonderful conversation it creates with my fellow cyclists.

It's also worth saying that I am notoriously hard on bikes. I've shredded through everything you can imagine including frames, forks, wheels, saddles and bars not to mention plenty of drivetrain parts. Anyone who has ridden and raced with me can testify to that. I am especially tough on my cyclocross bikes. Cyclocross bikes are ridden at white knuckle speeds while asking the bike to transfer as much power from your body into speed as possible. The bike needs to stay stable and traverse across bumpy, muddy and sandy terrain during a race. This no frills aluminum frame and hand selected component build is exactly the right match to stand up to my abuse with style.

What's next for me? A second $quidcross, this time painted by me! Check it out below in it's raw pre painted form. I look forward to documenting the painting process here on the website.