Though this project was completed quite a while ago, sometimes while walking around in a frenzy to finish up some assignment or heading out the door at the end of the day, a lovely light strip of blue catches my eye and I remember one of our most fun and rewarding creations, the WORK Bike.
When not in use, it sits in the corner of the WORK Labs lobby, more like a piece of art than a functional object. But then that was the point all along. This is not just a bike, it's a WORK Labs bike, meant to communicate the message and mission of the company and it's founder, Cabell Harris.
In collaboration with one of most favorite former employees, Andy Stites, now at Carytown Bikes, Cabell was able to give the true WORK Labs character to his new mountain bike. Coated in the signature WORK blue, everything from the hand grips to the seat was put together with Cabell and the WORK Labs' philosophy in mind (even the Shine Craft water bottle is a shout out to another favorite WORK Labs associate, Jordan Childs).
Aside from the WORK paint color, decals and labels were designed in-house to adorn the bike. Stickers like, "The Boss" (No, not Bruce Springsteen), "Always Pedaling" (an homage to Cabell's mantra, "Always Thinking"), and "Property of WORK Labs" give that personal touch. The favorite (and most difficult) addition is the file cabinet-like label with "WORK Bike" mounted on the front bar. Initial concepts for this look proved to be difficult and costly leading us to turn to a little welding and a lot of ingenuity to get the effect we were looking for.
We could not have been more pleased with the results of this project. And whlle the rest of us here at WORK Labs do not get to partake in the actual pleasure of riding it (after all, it was made for The Boss) seeing it gives us great pleasure in a Job Well Done.