Joker

I don't know what to make of this thread. Is it for blackbook sketches? Videos? Photos of girls? All of the above? Some of the details in the sketches is very nice, though. Out of curiosity - what is "Kingism" referencing?

Yep, those are two pages from one of my blackbooks, early 90s. That letter "I" study in the upper left was obviously very much inspired by HR Giger, whom I was a big fan of at the time (still enjoy his work but in the late 80s early 90s I was a bit obsessed). The "Cohc" piece was painted at the Franklin Wall in San Francisco. I think it ended up in IGHT as I was sending Phase2 a lot of photos during those years. While the headline notes my "...stylish characters" - they have always been inspired by my mentor ETCH, from Washington DC. That guy single-handedly inspired an entire city with his characters and letters. Thanks for sharing!!

Yeah, they're very much not affordable. I just did a full build for that bike (granted, I used ENVE & SRAM for everything, and Ceramic Speed rear derailleur) and it ended up at $12,500 USD. That's not affordable. The new Cannondale SuperSix EVO is $15k. Canyon Aeroad CFR is $10k. Trek Emonda SLR 9 is $13k. I think $10k+ for a race steed is just the new normal. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that $8k was incredibly high for the same quality of bike, but now that price is a low-to-mid range bike. I'm kind of in the market for a new road bike (even though I no longer race road) but what I want and what I can afford are two different things. I thought with the bike market being flooded with supply, and now a low demand, there would be some amazing sales happening but I haven't seen anything worth considering. I'm thinking I may have to buy frame and fork and then build it up on my own with deals found online for components, wheels, and accessories. Try to get a $13k bike for half that... or less.

True, kinda. Modern day Amish do work in the real world... though mostly carpentry jobs (like building house and such) and selling farm equipment. Therefore they pay taxes (like income tax, property tax, etc). I'm not Amish, I've not spent any amount of time with them, but I'd imagine living their life has it's fair share of "mud" to deal with, just like non-Amish folk do.

That Rodeo Labs frame is wicked...

True. I mean, if some "kid" walked up to my door and offered me a ridiculous amount of money for my land I would sell it, too. From talking to those fellas it sounds like everyone in the small town isn't too happy with how the influx of growers has changed their quiet, sleepy town. Unfortunately... that's growth in any town.

Probably not the same, but in rural Oregon, especially near Bend, the amount of land being bought by weed growers has been wild. I admit I haven't read a lot about it but a few years back I stayed in a small town called Tumalo, just outside of Bend, and I was hanging out at a bar drowning my feelings after a 30 mile mountain bike race I crashed twice in (therefore finished poorly in after months of training) and I got to talking to a couple locals who've lived in the area since they were kids. They were telling me how people are driving onto folks land, knocking on their doors and offering millions in cash for their acreage because the region is perfect for growing. So of course these tired, old timers are selling their lands for double or triple their value and weed production in the area has skyrocketed. This has led to issues with traffic, odor from cultivation (which seems silly considering any rural farm is going to have odor), issues with grow lighting, etc.. After the chat I did a little research but there wasn't a ton of information out there at the time. Since then there's been a lot of legislation happening and folks never interested in politics now running for seats who are either pro or anti marijuana growing. I've no idea if any of the folks buying up land are corporations or just all small businesses trying to grow (pun intended) their business. Either way, it's kind of interesting.

All the gear, all the time. The only way to ride...

False. I work with some damn amazing folks. TPBM did not watch the super bowl.

Those DEBS throwies are very nice...

False. I'm a chronic "I'm not doing anything unless I know what it is, how long we'll be gone, and who's joining us" kind of person. Call it old age, call it playing it safe, I don't care... I am who I am. TPBM does not drink coffee

Silly self-promotion. Late last year I did the label artwork for a new HAB Sauce flavor. Super-tasty, minimal heat.

One of DC’s finest, and a genuinely nice human.

@Aristo- The first thing that jumps out at me is there are some connections to be made to clean up the overall configuration. For example, the right leg of your M is almost the exact same curve and shape as the back bar to your E, so I would merge the two together to clean up that connection. Same with the end of your E... you could connect that directly to the left bar of your N to clean that connection up as well. As for adding serifs... to help with this exercise I chose a slab serif font as my example to work from. Basically I got the letters where I wanted them and then went back and added the serifs. Doing this helped me connect my letters even more creating a nice, fluid form to the word. I tried my best to keep your letters so it feels familiar but let me know if this is hitting the mark on what you're trying to achieve.

Yeah, I think the seat tube is carbon. Definitely the fork. That Cerakote paint & anodize finish is so beautiful. I wish I could find a good photo of the bike they showed at the Chris King show. It's very similar to the green one above but the the details are so good.