PBE Bikes and Builders

For the 2019 Philly Bike Expo, SRAM worked with the organizers to create the Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship: a grant to provide builders from underrepresented categories with booth space and parts so they can display their creations to the public. The SRAM booth was the center of attention at the show, with attendees marveling at the craftsmanship from the four builders.

Jackie Mautner builds her frames as Untitled Cycles while also managing production at Breadwinner Cycles in Portland, OR. She created a classic fillet brazed steel all-road bike with 650b wheels and fat tires. The frame is elegant with little flourishes, like a seatstay that takes a bend at the seattube and runs all the way to the downtube, and subtle scalloping on the headtube. Keith Haring-inspired figures in the paint make the bike stand out in a crowd. The RED eTap AXS 2x drivetrain and dynamo hub laced to Zipp 303s are perfect for exploring the Pacific Northwest.

Danielle Schön of Schön Studio recently moved her workshop from Toronto to Squamish, BC. She built a hardtail MTB designed to shred the aggressive trails in her new hometown. Her name in highly polished steel acts as a hi-vis downtube gusset to draw you in. An XX1 Eagle AXS drivetrain with RockShox Reverb AXS, Pike Ultimate and Zipp 3Zero Moto wheels complete the fleet but burly build.

Megan Dean has been a professional framebuilder for more than ten years, operating as Moth Attack. Renowned for her road and track bikes, she used the opportunity provided by the Inclusivity Scholarship to push herself to the limit and create her first full suspension mountain bike. She hand built each part of the linkage, using headset cups as pivot bearings. Dressed up with XX1 Eagle AXS, Reverb AXS, Pike Ultimate and Super Deluxe suspension, and 3Zero Moto wheels, she’ll be exploring the trails around her home base of Eagle, CO.

Julie Ann Pedalino made a big splash when she first exhibited at NAHBS in 2015. Her artist’s eye coupled with her incredible CNC skills have made her builds stand out ever since. For PBE the Kansas-based builder used her personal CX bike to debut her new machined rear dropout. Polished stainless steel lugs mated to matte stainless tubes, with purple anodized adornments that linked into the lugs and exploded out across the tubes made for a true standout that won her the People’s Choice Award at the show.

The builders also participated in a panel about inclusivity and diversity in the framebuilding world co-moderated by Eileen Mulry of SRAM and Taylor Kuyk-White of Philly Bike Expo. Beyond introducing the builders to the PBE audience, the panel discussed how to grow access to the framebuilding community, and what the bicycle industry can do to invite more people in. We are, as Danielle Schön said, “just at the very start of creating a better path” in the bike world, but the future is bright. “Every time we take a step forward a new horizon appears, and we can take another step” added Jackie Mautner.