We here at swrve think a lot about how we affect the world, and how what we do can contribute to the wellbeing of everyone who shares this planet we live on.Recently, we came across a pair of alarming statistics found in a study by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation that found that clothing is often worn only seven to ten times, and that less than 1% of textile waste is ever recycled. Over the span of a year, 100 million tons of textiles are produced with only a tiny sliver ever being recycled. What that translates to is a garbage truck worth of apparel waste being dumped in landfills every second of every day and makes the fashion industry responsible...

Depending on how you look at things and who you’re rooting for, it will take either an unforeseen disaster or miracle for Jonas Vinegaard to not finish atop the podium at the 2023 Tour de France, finishing just ahead of Tadej Pogačar for the second year in a row. And how they finished 1-2 was a delightful battle for the ages that was filled with wonderful (and heartbreaking) surprises along the way.  If you've been been hooked on every stage like I've been, what follows is a recap of my favorite moments. If you haven't, but happen to be Tour curious, consider this a guide to stages worth checking out. Instead of binging Netflix, binge the Tour this weekend and...

To help get you ready to roll for La Grande Boucle, Matt has assembled his annual guide for who and what to watch for... The 2023 Tour de France makes its Grand Départ this Saturday. For its 110th running, the biggest cycling spectacle of the year will spend the first three stages roaming the Basque Country of Northern Spain before crossing the border back into France to get the party started with the mountain stages. If you binged the terrific new series Unchained on Netflix, you’ll be happy to know that this year’s edition of Le Tour is packed with storylines and you can watch the drama unfold in real-time over the course of 21 stages covering 2,115 miles in 23...

Pardon the pun but this Spring Cobbled Classics season has been truly classic and this weekend, it reaches its crescendo with Paris-Roubaix.This season has been highlighted by fireworks and firepower on both sides of the pro peloton.Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel are seemingly in a two-way battle for Classics supremacy while SD-Worx Women’s Team has been claiming the top two spots at virtually every race they’ve entered this spring with Lotte Kopecky, Demi Vollering, and Lorena Wiebes bringing home the most hardware.Heading into Roubaix, there have been a couple fantastic moments in the lead up races that are worth mentioning.At Gent-Wevelgem, Jumbo-Visma teammates Christophe Laporte and Wout van Aertfinished first and second following their decisive two-man breakaway with...

Matt’s not the only one with a new bike here at swrve HQ.Roxy has a new Diamond!There’s an amazing story behind her bike and as the foundation of any ride is its frame let’s start there. What you’re looking at is a Diamond, made by custom builder Greg Diamond out of Santa Barbara in the late ‘80s. Greg was a fixture in the Santa Barbara / Isla Vista community since relocating there from his native Philadelphia in the 1970s. In addition to being a framebuilder, he also painted frames for other builders, worked as a mechanic in local shops, and was an avid acoustic guitar player who was a frequent performer in area coffee shops and festivals. Greg passed away...

I think I’ve mentioned this before but the spark that inspired me to become a cyclist and pin on a racing number was catching a segment about Paris-Roubaix on ABC’s Wide World of Sports when I was a kid back in the ‘80s. Up until that moment, the act of riding bikes was nothing more than a means of transportation so I could secretly buy candy but when I saw the peloton going all out on brutally treacherous roads, I was instantly hooked. As an old cyclist here in 2023, it brings me immense joy to say the pro ranks are as exciting and loaded with talent as they have ever been. With such an impressive mix of young and experienced...

“It never gets any easier, you just go faster” - Greg LeMond  “It never gets any easier, you just get slower and chunkier.” - Todd My path to the start line of the Rock Cobbler began at another one of California’s marquee endurance events.Last May, while attending San Diego’s Belgian Waffle Ride as a spectator, I crossed paths with a long lost buddy by the name of Big Ern who moved from LA up to the Bay Area over 15 years ago. It was the kind of chance meeting that had us doing double takes before picking up the conversation right where it left off. Over the course of catching up, a seed was planted that I’d come out of...

Little did Matt know that the journey towards his new Sycip began back in 2016.                                        Matt's new Sycip. Photo by The Radavist.  Seven years ago, he picked up a personal dream bike in the form of a mid-90s Eddy Merckx MX Leader frameset. As cyclists have a habit of doing, building it up was a project that remained on the back burner until 2020 when it was made road ready following a refurb, a respray, and being outfitted with modern components. (You can read all about it in this blog post.) Much to Matt’s delight, the Merckx turned out to be a...

Welcome to the 2022 swrve Holiday Gift Guide!  Below you’ll find a breakdown of our latest goodies and favorite pieces that make wonderful gifts during the holiday season. And because everything we make is built to last, the gift of swrve will be the gift that keeps on giving for years to come.  If you received our Gift Guide from someone angling to be on your Nice List, you should know that we love holidays here at swrve. Gift wrapping is complementary and we’ll even include a handwritten note of your choosing (just look for the comments box at checkout) and if an exchange needs to be made, we extend our return window during the holiday season so you can...

Happy National Taco Day!  A few nights ahead of today’s momentous event, we sent Matt and his domestique Todd out on a special mission- to ride bikes and eat tacos.  We didn’t plan it when we moved in over a decade ago but swrve HQ is now surrounded by some of the finest taco stands and trucks in Los Angeles, so many in fact that it would truly be an exercise in human endurance to try them all over the course of a single ride so Matt and Todd kept their adventure to some of their personal favorites. Let’s go…  Stop #1: Angel’s Tijuana Tacos  Less than a mile from the front door of swrve HQ, you’ll find Angel’s Tijuana...