It can be a little unnerving to wind up in the bike industry seasonality trap- having to horde all our acorns during the cold and wet months of late fall until spring. The realities of running a small business in the cycling industry are that when you aren’t up to your eyeballs in selling and servicing products, you’re planning and laying the groundwork for the inevitable return to the time when you are. We understood that in the wake of the strange, scary, and altogether uncertain year that 2020 has been, that it was going to create a 2021 with a lot of question marks. We’re trying our best to make good use of this time, as fulfilling orders tapers off, to keep our focus on the things that we can control. While we wait on suppliers to dig through purchase orders for more of SimWorks core product offerings- we’re taking the opportunity to focus on some artistic outlets- in the form of some fresh merchandise, soft goods and accessories.

When we brought Mary Rose Lytle on board a few months ago- we understood that we were gaining a person that was going to provide us with some added perspective and insight, help out with getting products out the door, as well as help us on keeping up with our communications with customers. As a bonus, and as a testament to her well-rounded skill-set, we also were fortunate to gain an employee that is a talented and established illustrator that we could tap for some fresh work and ideas for new graphics, merchandise and soft good offerings.

A Brief bio: Mary Lytle (she/they) is a queer cat mom, visual artist, co-founder of WTF BX, and an adventure cyclist based in Portland, OR. She is passionate about using her skills as an illustrator to represent and connect cycling communities.  Mary’s desire to connect the community around bicycles stems from their days of running a small hot dog stand on the Little Miami Bike Trail in Loveland, Ohio and feeding the cyclocross community at regional events. While design is Mary’s main gig, she enjoys working part-time for small independent brands that focus on creative design in the cycling industry. She currently works for SimWorks USA. On her days off, she loves to fuel herself with vegan snacks while meandering dirt roads in the PNW with friends. 

SimWorks is pleased to be releasing a first foray in to those fresh offerings- featuring the talented work of Mary Rose Lytle, in the form of two distinct new bandanas- each embodying a quintessential Simworks vibe.

Our ‘Endless Passages’ bandana print comes in an attractive “Coffee and Cream” color-way and illustrates some classic Pacific Northwest imagery. We’re so fortunate to live and ride bikes in a place with such a wide array of beautiful natural landscapes, rich flora, fauna, water features, and dynamic weather. All of these variables provide us with an endless array of experiences when venturing out to enjoy some time on our bikes.

The SimWorks ‘Essential Vibrations’ bandana print is everything ‘Between You and Me’ about SimWorks– all laid out with extra ‘Keith Haring style’. In this unique pattern- laid out here on deep teal, you might recognize shapes, letters, parts, and more that are the foundations of SimWorks. The shapes and objects used in our lifetime all scattered on the ground in celebration both before and after we die.