Handsome Cycles

"People are Handsome, We make their Bicycles." That's the slogan of the new "Handome Cycles" people in Minneapolis, founded by Jesse Erickson and Ben Morrison.


Jesse's dad owns The Alt, the iconic bike and skate shop in Minneapolis; both Jesse and Ben work at The Alt. "After years or fixing and selling bikes, we knew that no one made the bike that we wanted to ride," says Ben, "so we looked at what bikes we really liked and why."

The Alt was a big Bridgestone dealer back in the day, and Jesse and Ben have an affinity for those Grant Petersen bikes. They especially liked the XO series of bikes. The XO were among the original "urban" bike -- fast machines intended primarily for road use, but more rugged than your standard lightweight racing bike.

The Handsome Cycles guys liked the XO for their durability and versatility. Using that as their inspiration, Jesse and Ben started last summer designing a similar frame that people could build up any way they please that could take the wear and tear of daily riding.

"We wanted to be able to run a fat 700c and still have room for a fender and a rack," Ben tells me, pointing out that Jesse runs 29er tires on his bike. They also set out to create an affordable design: "Our goal is to provide products with in reach of the many, not the privileged few. You shouldn't have to spend thousands of dollars to get a versatile, durable and beautiful frameset."

Handsome Cycles will be at Interbike showing off their "Handsome Devil" bicycle at the Serfas booth. They'll have a website up in a couple of weeks.