Velo City: Bicycle Culture and City Life

Insight: Geekhouse x Cuppow CX

Insight: Geekhouse x Cuppow CX

Marty Walsh’s Geekhouse Bikes may very well be the funnest custom bike brand out there. Instantly recognisable by their eye-searing paint schemes, they can be spotted on terrains all over the world but they are perhaps most prolific on the cyclocross circuits.

Geekhouse are based in Boston, MA, which is also home to Cuppow, an innovative lid that turns a canning jar into a travel mug. Dedicated to promoting a low-impact life, Cuppow were drawn to Geekhouse through similar values and have since developed the Geekhouse x Cuppow CX team.

Insight: Geekhouse x Cuppow CX

The Cuppow lid was designed by Joshua Resnikoff and Aaron Panone — whose name might not be familiar but you’ll definitely recognize another of his products: his 44RN chainrings have been installed on some pretty high-profile bikes, and their high level of engineering blew us all away.

The Spoken caught up with Cuppow’s Greg Ralich to find out more about the colourfully collaborative Geekhouse x Cuppow CX team:

How long has the Team been running now?
3 Years. This Fall will be our fourth year sponsoring the team.

Insight: Geekhouse x Cuppow CX

How did the Team come about, what did the original conversations consist of?
Looking for alternatives to traditional advertising. Wanting to support another small business. We’ve been friends with Geekhouse since way back when.

We thought that displaying support of a sport, and a lifestyle, was way more effective for conveying what we’re about than any traditional marketing avenue. Luckily, it worked!

Insight: Geekhouse x Cuppow CX

The Team kits are a graphic explosion of stripes, patterns and colours, and are some of the most noticeable in the world. What drew you to the work of Adria Klora?
Definitely her work on the Golden Saddle Cyclery kits. Those are just legendary. Everything she has done is so original.

Insight: Geekhouse x Cuppow CX

Why did Cuppow decide to sponsor a team?
We always wanted to do things differently – this was just another step down that road.

Insight: Geekhouse x Cuppow CX

You’ve long been supporters of the custom scene. Which have been your favorite builds?
SUCH a good question. Gotta give it up to the obvious – Firefly and Geekhouse, but to me – the shining star in the Boston custom cycling scene is Royal H Cycles. No instagram account, no problem. (Bryan Hollingsworth has very recently, however, joined Instagram — Ed)

Cuppow co-founder Aaron owns a Tomii townie, a 02143 Indy Fab, and has a new Geekhouse. My personal favorite ride these days has been my fat bike but I have a few builds in process this spring that will surely yield a very fun summer.

Insight: Geekhouse x Cuppow CX

What do you like about the Mudville?
Geekhouse made something really special with the Mudville. I remember the first blue Team Mudvilles, and the team was a very different shape then, but the ability to recognize them anywhere on the course is the thing that’s has stayed the same all these years.

Insight: Geekhouse x Cuppow CX

What’s funny is – it’s actually only gotten harder as big brands have noticed that the exciting color schemes were doing well and fun and popular in the custom scene and you see things like Trek and Specialized frames using very similar color schemes.

Insight: Geekhouse x Cuppow CX

I mean – all of this really goes back to Fat City but Geekhouse and the Mudville specifically really put that scheme in front of a new generation of riders. Those who picked up city riding in the late 2000’s – that’s who is filling up the CX fields now and it’s a really cool evolution.

Insight: Geekhouse x Cuppow CX

What’s in store for Cuppow and the Geekhouse team?
For the past few years we’ve moved towards sponsoring elite riders, so in New England that’s Cat 1/2. These guys can shred. They’ve been riding bikes in New England for years and by teaming up with the B2C2 cycling squad our support can go a lot further.

Cuppow is a small business so we’re not in it to micro-manage anything, we’ve got full plates. But we want to see those who are great ambassadors of the sport have everything they need to race and excel. We’ve got some special plans this year (top secret per Captain Walsh’s orders) that I think people will love to see debuted come the end of summer.

With those bold kits and hot bikes, it will be hard not to keep an eye on the team this season. Special thanks to Greg from Cuppow for his time. Team Mudville photo credit: Blue Lug

Geekhouse Website | Facebook | Instagram
Cuppow Website | Facebook | Instagram

Insight: Geekhouse x Cuppow CX