Imagine if you had the chance to own a prototype Braun SK55 or Eames chair and the proceeds of your purchase went directly towards helping refugees on the other side of the world.
Thats what Garrett Chow is attempting to accomplish by selling a very special bike, I stop just short of saying historic - time will tell if that is the case. If you don't know who Chow is, and you are reading this article on this particular cycling lifestyle magazine, then let me bring you up to speed with this incredible designer, cyclist and from what I've heard by my friends back in SF, a really sweet guy - that is not to suggest I put him on a pedestal, he is human just like you and me, but as a designer he is a good example of someone to pay attention to on instagram at the very least (and to be honest, he is hard to find elsewhere).
In a nutshell, Chow was and is a founding member of a San Francisco based crew called Mash which helped bring Cinelli back to the table for a lot of people - cyclists and otherwise. Later he became a designer at Specialized until about 2013. Now if you want a glimpse into his carefully curated world, you'll just have to find him on instagram, where he has over 20,000 followers.
Now, today, like right now, he's auctioning his personal Specialized Tarmac SL3, which he hand designed in a crusade at Specialized in order to help direct the company in a fresh new direction, the results of which we see today can partly be attributed to Chow, with their bright and colorful range featuring many colors other than black, white, and red.
“I painted this bike at a time in Specialized’s history when there was zero consideration for all components/wheels/bike to speak a similar and unified visual-language. I used my personal bikes as test-pieces to exercise and demonstrate new ideas to the company. The wheel graphics on this bike were existing, and I created a cohesive graphics-package drafting off of them. This bike also worked at challenging the red/white/black paradigm the company was tied to for so long. While I was in charge of another bike-category at the time, my shift in focus to Performance Road Bikes occurred shortly after this bike made its debut on the daily lunch-ride.”
So when he announced an instagram exclusive auction of his personal Specialized Tarmac SL3 which he designed by hand, with 100% of the winning bid to be donated for the benefit of refugees in Lesbos, Greece, I just assumed every bike blog would cover it and help propel the effort, taking the opportunity to own a small part of history.
The significance being in my opinion, this is the bike that Chow used in an attempt to open the eyes at Specialized and "right the ship". It's what designers do. It's why they're hired and it's how we change the world.
As stated, Garrett has since left Specialized but not without leaving a mark. A mark at one of the worlds largest and most successful bike companies. I stop just short of saying this is an opportunity to own a little bit of cycling history.
"OFFERED FOR AUCTION IS AN ORIGINAL, ONE-OF-KIND, HAND-PAINTED BY ME, NON-PRODUCTION LIVERY SPECIALIZED S-WORKS TARMAC SL3 (ALL GRAPHICS ON THE FRAMESET, STEM, BARS, SEATPOST, AND SADDLE ARE ALL HAND PAINT-MASKED--NOT DECALS), SIZE 52CM, WITH A SHIMANO DURA-ACE (MECHANICAL) GRUPPO; WITH CUSTOM MATCHING ROVAL SL45 CLINCHER WHEELSET. THE COCKPIT IS SPECIALIZED S-WORKS."
How do you bid?
Direct Message Garrett on Instagram.
As of posting, the highest bid is only $3,000.
Auction ends tomorrow, 2/12/2016 at 10:00p.m. Pacific.
