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| Steve Garro making it real |
Steve Garro has been called a lot of things, “legend”,
and “super hero”. More than that Steve loves bikes, he’s never owned a car, was a
fearsome mountain biker who rode during the same era of Ned Overend, John
Tomac, Dave Weins and Tinker Juarez, toured off road throughout America and is more than willing to a turn a wrench for a cyclist in need, even when traveling.
A near fatal accident involving being hit by a
speeding pickup truck has left Steve relies heavily upon a wheelchair. It hasn’t
appreciably dampened his love for bikes, or the outdoors, not by a long shot.
Steve still kayaks, fishes and rides a One-Off handcycle off road. Oh, and he
makes some pretty bitchen bikes.
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| The beginning of something wonderful |
Bicycle Industrial Complex asked Steve about his
accident and how it affects his mobility. He doesn’t want any pity, instead he
simply wants to keep doing what he loves doing.
“I can walk with crutches, but it hurts bad - I
got broken into a lot of little pieces.
I save it for travel, stairs, etc. You have to pace
yourself when you are this fucked up, or you will end up even worse. It's hard
when you want to go, go, go like my racing and touring days.
So, most of the time it's the chair. All of my building is done in a chair.
I'm a pretty jacked up individual, the focus I get
building bicycles gets me through a lot of it, but not all.
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| "I do my work from my chair." |
I don't think I would be the builder I am had I not
gotten injured, I've poured many thousands of hours into it I would have burned
off doing other things, for sure”.
Since opening his doors and turning on his torch in
2003, Steve has focused primarily on mountain bikes, but he’ll darn near make
you anything that you want. His aesthetics are both clean and purposeful, with
a hint of retro flair, and a curved top tube being a signature of his designs.
The starting price is $1,500.00; add $275 for a lugged rigid fork, and extras
like custom paint and S&S couplers will move the price up from there.
Bicycle Industrial Complex (BIC) contacted Steve Garro
to see if he’d be interested in a little experiment. You see, we’ve been
conducting interviews for some time now and we always want to do something
different. We like that and did Steve, because he said that stock interview
questions were boring. Perfect. We then floated the idea past Steve about doing
some free association. We left things open to the spirit of that idea so that
we could write as little, or as much, about a given subject as he wanted.
Please enjoy.
Questions for Steve:
1) Noodles?:
"What's not to like about noodles? Anyone
who hates noodles can't be much fun at all. What would life be without udon,
baked ziti or mac 'n' cheese?"
2) Fit?:
"It's as important to be fit, as it is to get
fit. Just don't throw one."
3) Through axels?:
"Are a good idea on suspension but
on any rigid structure like a rigid fork or frame they are just superfluous and
extra weight."
4) Wheels?:
"Wheels are pretty amazing - I laced my 1st
set around twenty-seven years ago and have build thousands since. It's pretty safe
to say I really love wheels."
5) Outdoors?:
"Is the reason to be alive."
6) Passion?:
"The driving force in life - I'd much
rather be dead then be passionless. I feel many people are, sadly. What a
vacuum of existence."
7) Steel?:
"It's what I work with. I’m a third
generation steelworker. We humans will never separate ourselves from steel.
It's a big part of what got us where we are for better or worse, and we are
still perfecting it after many thousands of years - some of the things we have
done with it are amazing - Damascus steel, lightweight bicycles, samurai
swords, the Golden Gate Bridge. As long as there are humans they will have
steel."
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| Kayaking and fishing! |
For further information please check out: http://www.coconinocycles.com/
For more information about Steve’s bikes, his
adventures, and his efforts to breathe life back into 120 year-old hammers,
check out: http://coconinocycles.blogspot.com/
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