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The time has come, and we are proud to share our next installment of the Solé Fixtape Series by Solé Bicycle Co.  A curated monthly mixtape series with the sole purpose of pairing our favorite cruising tunes with the innovative artists of our generation.  

With our cruisin’-in-the-summer aesthetic in mind, our newest fixtape takes a turn for the funkier, for those rides where you need that extra grooviness to get you to your destination.  And there's no one better to help take you there than the connoisseur of funk himself -- Treasure Fingers. 

DOWNLOAD ENTIRE FIXTAPE HERE

Tracklisting:

1. new navy - breath (telepopmusik cover)
2. todd edwards - no place like london
3. fashen - dunce
4. dublin aunts - heartbreak reputation (liaison version)
5. david garfit - take me to the top
6. amtrac - untitled
7. digitalis - encore (spiller & 2 guys in venice remix)
8. music lover - (keep on) dancing'
9. breakout - one out of two (oliver remix)
10. andre crom & martin dawson feat roland clark - back to the future
11. disclosure - lividup
12. sneaky sound system - friends (plastic plates remix)
13. JNL - offset, power, slope
14. matthew dear - her fantasy (tornado wallace remix)
15. alex herrera - light
16. peter & the magician - memory (club mix)

A little more about this month's artist:

Treasure Fingers, the DJ and producer born Ashley Jones has been making it rain in the disco with innovative remixes and original tracks. Jones is far from a new jack, having racked up over a decade of international club experience and studio chops as part of the legendary drum & bass group, Evol Intent. Yet as Treasure Fingers, he’s found a way to merge his diverse influences and deep history into a signature sound, packed with intricate basslines, chopped-up, gritty synth melodies, and party-ready drum breaks. It’s already captured the ears of everyone from Innerpartysystem , Monarchy, Theophilus London and Miike Snow to dance music icons  Eric Prydz, Romanthony and Roy Davis JR (all of whom requested the Treasure Fingers remix treatment). His amazing new twist on Disco attracted the attention of such labels as Defected, MOS, Nervous, Hed Kandi and Fools Gold to name a few.

Here at Solé Bicycle Co. our aim is to be purveyors of the bike-style life, giving you a dose of what inspires us here in Venice, CA. 

After the overwhelming success of the first edition of our Solé Fixtapes, we have decided it is only necessary to follow up with a few Ballroom Galas of EPIC proportions.  In partnership with Collaborative Media, and the Pacific Festival, we are happy to announce two Solé sponsored shows, sure to bring positive vibrations to all our local OC Solé family members.

On the Eve of Saturday August 18th 2012 we have the sounds of Classixx, Eli Escobar, and Cosmic Kids, combining for one unruly fish bowl of stoke at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa.  Check the event artwork below, and preview a Solé sample selection of unique audio stylings from each artist.

Classixx - "Fingerpaint-Lunar"

Eli Escobar - "New White Label (Preview)"

Princeton- "Florida (Cosmic Kids Remix)"

General Event Info

·       Time: 9:00pm

·       City: Costa Mesa

·       Venue: Detroit Bar

·       Address: 843 W. 19th Street Costa Mesa CA 92627

·       Venue phone: (949) 642-0600

·       Country: United States

·       Admission: $10

·       Age restrictions: 21+

·       BUY TICKETS

After the recovery has ensued, the Solé Family will be back in Orange County with the return of the cosmic amp.  This time around we are jumping up and down for the likes of Gardens & Villa, Mr. Little Jeans, and Wildcat! Wildcat!  Check out the event propaganda below, and preview a Solé sample selection of videography from each artist.

General Event Info

·       Time: 6:00pm

Gardens & Villa - "Black Hills"

Mr Little Jeans - "Runaway"

Wildcat! Wildcat! - "Mr. Quiche"

Today, rising Los Angeles artist Shplinton will be painting & illustrating at the Solé Bicycles HQ in Venice Beach, giving prizes to a lucky few.  

Stay tuned for all new Solé Artist Collective pieces.  Tweet @shplinton and @solebicycles for a chance to win!

Welcome to the first installment of the Solé Fixtapes presented by Solé Bicycle Co.  A curated monthly mixtape series with the sole purpose of pairing our favorite cruising tunes with the innovative artists of our generation.  But be careful, you may never want to stop riding once you've started one of these Fixtapes.   

Our first Fixtape is a feel-good, sun-drenched infused poolside cocktail.  We couldn't be more stoked to have our good buddy Tropicool kick off this monthly mixtape series.  Click the link below for download.  Enjoy!  

DOWNLOAD ENTIRE FIXTAPE HERE

A little more about this months artist:

Tropicool is a feeling, not a sound, a feeling best served frothy and blended with a cocktail umbrella. Haw. Flavours tease the pallet tangoing in musical bliss with the accompaniment of Steel Drums, Saxophone, Key-tar, and a funky baseline. The genre of sound has been self described as "sun-kissed tropical funky disco" and we must oblige. The man behind the tropical shirt and funky feel good is David La Melza; Santa Barbara native, and good times engineer. He happens to be a founder of both GottaDanceDirty and Mindtai. Mind the forecast, and make sure you're front and center for the Tropicool Funder!

SwipeLife, a fashion, lifestyle, culture, and design magazine has graced their pages with our presence. Featured on the front page, SwipeLife praises Solé for our uniqueness and quality. "Sole Bicycle Company really makes it happen by delivering colorful and rich exterior designs while maintaining a fascinating standard by which each of its bicycles are made, from having a hi tensile steel frame and a machine/double walled ‘Deep Dish’ rim to incorporating BMX handle bars and a Black Vader soft top saddle." SwipeLife believes that our $349 bikes are worth the buy - and so do we! Thank you SwipeLife for the awesome writeup and we look forward to working with you soon. Welcome to the Solé Family! Check out the article at SwipeLife.com

A brief history lesson for you groms:

# 366 Safety Bicycles and Bicycle Gears

Penny Farthings were the oldest type of bicycles that were made. They had only one big wheel and were quite tall where the person cycling could not balance himself by his feet. The next generation of bicycles were the Safety Bicycles which had two wheels and were created using a diamond pattern. They were introduced by Harry John Lawson in the year 1876. They were created considering the safety features like the rider could balance himself well with his feet since the cycle was such that his feet could reach the ground. The pedals that were created moved the rear wheel and worked through a chain drive system where the pedals moved the chain and the chain helped in moving the wheel.  The revolutions of the pedal in safety bicycles were more than the revolutions done by Penny Farthing and therefore the rider covered more distance with less energy for pedaling. The safety bicycles were women friendly as well because of its height.

The gear part of the cycle was added as a plus point where riders moving over high mountains could easily move without applying too much of pressure on the pedals making the riding comfortable. Similarly they made it easier to ride down the slopes and in greater and controlled speed. Pedaling slower or higher than your pedaling speed (cadence) would be a waste of energy. There is a risk of injuries on your thigh muscles, joints, hips or knees. Therefore having many gears on the bicycle made it possible for the rider to find his perfect cadence which would not require too much energy or strain on the legs.

Bicycle gears can be calculated on the basis of distance in meters covered by the bicycle for every turn in the pedal. There are high gears and low gears in the bicycle. High gears allow the rider to easily move with higher speed and vice versa. Shifting of the gears is done through the handle bars. Going to a lower gear is called as Down-Shifting while going to an Upper gear is called as Up-Shifting. There are rings that are attached to the chain on the center of the wheel on the bicycle and more the number of rings means more are the gears. As the rider selects the lowest gear the chain moving through the pedal shifts itself to the smallest ring, which is on the outer side of the wheel and similarly when the rider selects the highest gear the chain moves to the largest ring which is located at the inner most part of the wheel.

High gear bicycles are much in vogue and are purchased by people who have a love for adventure cycling. Companies are introducing their new bicycles calling them as multiple gears or infinite gears. It is generally a marketing hype created in order to increase sales. The gear feature obviously contributed to increase in the sales making a simple bicycle known as mountain bike. There are sales specialists who have knowledge in sizing and they can look at your body structure and decide what type of bike is perfect for you. Also companies provide test drives to their customers so that they can decide on the type of bicycle they want on the basis of its gears. Thus safety bicycles created a surge in the development of gears in bicycles and major changes in the gear shift pattern were brought along by the safety bicycles.

Recently, Austin, Texas based artist Severiano Garza teamed up with Solé Bicycles for an out-of-the-box photoshoot to kick off the new Solé Artist Collective. For the shoot, Garza used long exposure photography and l.e.d. lights to illustrate the bikes in a way that has never been done before. Using hand made lighting tools to create shapes, colors, and lights, Garza lures audiences in where they are invited to step into an alternate reality made with little to no software editing. Part of the beauty of light painting, which is what makes our bikes look so cool in his art, is that it is made organically and yet it looks as if it was made using editing software. Check out how awesome our Solé bikes look!

http://g52cube.com/ 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/severianogarza/

On June 14th, Solé Bicycles had the privilege once again to be featured in Forbes Magazine. The article, "The Kairos Society: Turning Dreams Into Businesses," is about an extremely selective, young entrepreneurial networking group working to help bridge the gap between dreams and reality for young men and women with entrepreneurial goals. Solé, a member of the Kairos Family, is featured as one of the top 5 companies within the Kairos Society along side start-ups SmartDeco, Moneythink, ThinkLite, and DUMA. Congrats to the other members of Kairos! We are one step closer to achieving our biggest dreams.

On Saturday June 2nd, Solé rocked the rooftop of the Standard Hotel in downtown LA. The No Shirt/No Shoes event featured a DJ set by American Royalty and Steffi Graf, Solé FMLY friends and local Venice artists. An audience of over 400 Los Angeles locals showed up to celebrate the warm weather and awesome music. What better way to kick off the summer season! Check out pictures from the event and check back for more events to come in the near future!