Velo City: Bicycle Culture and City Life

MOOTS Psychlo X by Justin Bauer

MOOTS by Justin Bauer

Is there anything more appealing to the eye than a well-crafted titanium frame? Moots have been assembling frames from American-made tubes of ti, all with those perfectly spaced beads of filler, since 1981. A Moots frame is a work of art in itself, but this Psychlo X has been embellished by Justin Bauer, an LA-based artist whose work makes the MOOTS look even faster standing still.

MOOTS by Justin Bauer

Justin’s good mate Steven Ocheltree owns this Moots, built up with a heady mix of Campagnolo 10-speed Record and Chorus, Tune, Thomson and ENVE. The Alpha-Q forks were handed to Justin for a bit of aftermarket artwork. Justin tells us about his process: “I work mainly on canvas. My work is often an exploration of motion and inertia centered around some stable concrete shapes.

MOOTS by Justin Bauer

“Since I ride though, it seemed a worthy experiment to paint on the 360 of a bike fork and see how that motion would translate to something that is used for motion. Steve was finishing up his bike so I got hold of his fork and went to town. The result of painting on a practical everyday rider could end up a little over-the-top so I painted some wild strokes in two simple colors, black and mint green.

MOOTS by Justin Bauer
MOOTS by Justin Bauer

“These primaries feature on my canvasses and they still come off as tough and aggressive on the bike. I’m now working on a more conceptual series using crashed car fenders, motorcycle tanks, bike forks etc. Often an artist will simply translate work done on a canvas directly to these parts. I’m more interested in reacting to these pieces as destroyed products and working with what’s already there.

MOOTS by Justin Bauer

“I’d like to explore what nature has to say about it. We all crash at some point, most of us that do usually use that point as a landmark about the mystical relationship we’ve built with our machine of choice. It’s that confrontation that I want to paint about.”

MOOTS by Justin Bauer

Have a look through Justin’s portfolio and his tumblr, then come back to the forks he painted for Steve—they’ll really come alive. Special thanks to Steve, Justin and especially Kyle from Golden Saddle Cyclery for the awesome photography.

MOOTS by Justin Bauer