Velo City: Bicycle Culture and City Life

Morvélo x Aroe

Morvelo x Aroe

Back in the early 90s, when I studied Graphic Design, there was somewhat of a Sydney graffiti artist alumni in the year above me. It was an honour to study amongst them, for they did things with typography that rivalled any David Carson or Neville Brody.

Therefore, I love seeing aerosol art done well, even more so when it’s applied to a bicycle, like this collaboration between Morvélo Bicycle Apparel, Kinesis Bikes UK, Reynolds Wheels and one of the United Kingdom’s most famous — and infamous — graf artists: Aroe.

Morvelo x Aroe
Morvelo x Aroe

From the press release: “Last year Morvélo Bicycle Apparel were used to test and feedback on a new prototype Kinesis race bike, the Aithein. It was stripped down and intentionally visually nondescript in just bare metal with no branding. During the continued testing over the winter however their creative minds wondered what could be done with this excellent blank canvas.

Morvelo x Aroe
Morvelo x Aroe

“Being long time admirers of Aroe’s, Morvélo approached him about the collaboration. Aroe has a massive reputation on both sides of the Atlantic, also being a member of LA’s legendary MSK crew. His huge productions in Brighton are as recognized & photographed as the pier and his ‘Licence to Ill’ tribute to MCA gained massive worldwide coverage.

Morvelo x Aroe
Morvelo x Aroe

“Morvélo met up and had a chat about what they wanted to achieve with the project, handed over the Kinesis Aithein frame and forks and Reynolds Attack rims and let him get to work.

Morvelo x Aroe
Morvelo x Aroe

“Graffiti has given me many things: My best friends, crew loyalty, a sense of accomplishment, a creative outlet, a destructive outlet, massive opportunities for travelling/painting the world, adventures, beef, fights, laughter, tears, love, hate, understanding, diplomacy and above all, a sense of knowing that if I want something – there’s nothing that will stop me from achieving my goal.” – AROE

Morvelo x Aroe
Morvelo x Aroe

Special thanks to Pete Webb for the awesome photos.