I saw these photos of Mr. Armstrength yesterday on the Tracko blog. And they caught my eye because they mentioned the name of our good pal Mr. James Selman of Weights and Pulleys at the end. But there seemed to be a bit of a question as to whether or not this is the case...
But I figured that I should get to the bottom of the matter. Indeed James Selman of Weights & Pulleys was the go to guy for the retro Shack kit that that they are using solely during the Tour of Gila. This very obviously worked as a great spot for them to sell shitloads of Mellow Johnny's (also designed by Selman) kits after last years race (which they did) so why not come back this year with something fresh?
This makes perfect sense. And so does that use of Selman for the Design end of things. I mean, sure, they gave the old designers at Nike a chance and look what they came up with? The Mayor of Boresville called, they want their team kits back. Seriously. James gets it. Just forgo or bypass or whatever the eff you need to do to get straight to James next time.
Now, here is the thing that gets me. Take a look at the kits in the photo. I get that you want to stick with some old school Motorola/Brooklyn Chewing Gum Scenario with the black shorts. In fact, I think that is pretty awesome. But why not go all out. Why are these guys wearing some of the traditional MJ's stuff and some not? What is up with that? Why can't we get everyone on the same page?
Also, I recently heard this term "Deck" come into play. Its not a new term by any stretch of the imagination. Kyle Smith used it this past weekend in James Morrison's house and I immediately knew that it was Marketing speak for something, but not what.
As lady luck would have it, Dan Sharp got "a deck" later in the evening, so he was able to show it to me in entirety. Apparently, in the speak, "a deck" is simply the series of photos or a short brief, but its focus is entirely on inspiration (interestingly, Dan's Deck contained some of his own photos, which was weird, but I guess not unheard of.) So, armed with my new knowledge of the system I questioned James on his deck. Yes you read that right.
Turns out he really didn't have one, or it was too long to send, I can't remember. But he did send me some of his own personal inspiration images. And it is pretty easy to see how things got sweet relatively quickly on the MJ's team up end of things. Love the whole big bubbly font scenario going on there.
His statement on the design and inspiration of the kit went like this:
We wanted to originally do a more seasoned, fresh RetroShack kit for the original RS kit, so the Gila gave us an opportunity to try it out. Inspired by the late 70s early 80s era per the old RadioShack mark. And using the alt Mellow Johnny's mark we had done based on muscle cars with the old Trek mark – thought about using DATSUN and Blue Ribbon Sports, but thought best otherwise. With those components, I looked to DeWolf in Vermeer and then kits of sem France-Loire, Fiat, Raleigh Creda, DAF Cote D'Or and of course, RDV in Brookly. Found what worked within the color palette & the various brand(s) / architecture... Keep it simple.
My only other question is this.Did Lance just name the newest addition to the family Cinco? Like Cinco Technology from Tim and Erik (trying to give you the benefit of the doubt) possibly he meant the powertap replacement bottom bracket thingie...
ps...did I mention that James also designed the new Rapha/Speedvagen kits that everyone saw at the Nahbs show in Richmond, VA. So good.
