Velo City: Bicycle Culture and City Life

Ocean Cervélo S2

Ocean Cervelo S2

The 2015 Tour de France was wrapped up by Mr. Froome & Co, for a second time now. No surprises there, but one team that was a surprise was MTN-Qhubeka, who made history as the first African team to compete in La Grande Boucle. They were the only team to ride Cervélo frames, which carried one of their number, Stephen Cummings, to victory on Stage 14 — Mandela Day.

Cummings was riding a Cervélo R5, which belongs to the ‘Classic Road’ division of their catalog, but MTN-Qhubeka also use the aero S5 frames — a different beast entirely. This S2, from the same class, is owned by Boston-based artist Eric Bones, whose name you’ll recognize from the brilliant Bones Project collaborations with Firefly Bicycles.

Ocean Cervelo S2

Cervélo was founded in 1995 by Phil White and Gérard Vroomen at Montreal’s McGill University, where they were working as engineers in bicycle and Human Powered Vehicle design. The company’s name is formed from a portmanteau of cervello, the Italian word for brain, and vélo, the French word for bike. After only two years, their bikes were winning triathlons and TT national championships.

Ocean Cervelo S2

The Bones Project was a unique collaboration between Firefly Bicycles in Boston and another local, Eric Bones, who applied his art to their frames before being clear coated by Jay Nutini of Circle A Cycles in Rhode Island. Firefly frames are already superb, even more so once they had been transformed into rolling canvases by Eric.

Ocean Cervelo S2

Eric has a new personal project on the boil, called Ocean. In his own words: “Ocean was something I started to form a little over a year ago, with the main intention being to produce videos and cycling apparel & accessories. Boston definitely has a big road cycling scene, and a large urban cycling community as well.

Ocean Cervelo S2

“I wanted to be able to show some of the awesome riding in and around the Boston area, as well as produce something that could put Boston on the map. From this, it pretty much expanded to not only be about Boston, but about cycling on a more national level, as we have riders in Austin, Miami, and Indianapolis. Hopefully we will have riders all around the world representing Ocean at some point!

Ocean Cervelo S2

“The team itself currently competes in track bike events such as Red Hook and the Wolfpack Crits, but road and CX are also on the agenda. I designed the logo as well as the kits. I’ve always been influenced by Japanese and Russian culture, both of which have some very interesting track history, so I tried to let those influences show in the logo and by using the Japanese Kanji in the design.

Ocean Cervelo S2

“While plastic bikes don’t typically have the longest shelf life, this Cervelo has seen it all other than crashes. This is why you’ll see dirt in some of the photos, this is my ride/train/race bike. In it’s 3rd year, it has been across the United States, seen countless road races, alleycats, centuries, and more than a few brutal dirt rides. One of those being the 2012 Rapha North East Gentlemen’s Race.

“The bike is light at 15.08lbs and compliant in all the right places. It is very stiff in the sprint but also comfortable over very long distances. I decided to have it re-painted because I wanted something new, but didn’t really want something new. This was also accomplished by installing a new SRAM Force 22 gruppo and limited Reynolds Assault carbon clinchers. The bars are the same 3T Rotundos from the OG build, and the stem is a new 3T Arx II.

Ocean Cervelo S2

“The Katakana on the drive-side chain stay reads: ‘Hyper Future Vision’. I came up with this saying while trying to encapsulate the feeling while being completely focused on the bike. It can go along with technical city riding as well as racing — keeping in the mentality of trying to be one step ahead of the competition, or that car that is about to bang a u-turn in front of you.”

You can see more of Eric’s art on his website, and you can follow him on his Facebook page and Instagram feed. If you think his Cervélo looks hot, wait till you see the kit, which is now available to order on the Ocean website.

Ocean Cervelo S2