Meet Thorbin | Bike nut, CNC machinist, designer & Sewist at Pedal Stoke

We had the good fortune of connecting with Thorbin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Thorbin, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
After returning from my 3 month bike-packing trip in 2022 (Portugal to Denmark more or less), I realized I needed to figure out how I could do this kind of trip again and have the means to continue doing it. The freedom I felt during this adventure was idyllic and I became determined to not let this become a once in a lifetime experience!

Looking at the kind of jobs/careers I could get here in the US, I realized there would never be an opportunity to have that kind of vacation time let alone the money between housing and travel expenses. This meant that starting my own business was my only option to be able to experience that kind of travel again. Since then, its been full steam ahead everyday to be able to eventually accomplish this goal while I am still relatively young.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Well, I would consider my product my art considering my initial marketing strategy is going to local curated art fairs! For my art, I focus on modularity, durability & aesthetics. I think a problem in my industry and many others is that there is too high a degree of specialization, this leads to literal tons of waste that just end up polluting our planet with more things people throw away that no longer have use in their lives. These three things all compliment each other and aim to keep my product relevant even if the original owner decides to resell/donate.

The modularity aspect of my work allows my art to be used in a multitude of activities, from handbags to hunting gear! I accomplish this by using a standardized mounting system known as MOLLE/PALS. From my time at art fairs, I have discovered that most people have seen PALS webbing on backpacks and things but didn’t know that it is a Pouch Attachment Ladder System or PALS that is present in many different industries!

Doing this is most certainly not easy, I don’t believe in purchasing patterns & selling someone else’s design and calling it my own, all my stuff is designed by me from absolute scratch. This means that each of my bags and CNC machined gear has been developed through at least 6 different iterations, some pushing 20 iterations! As you can imagine this takes time, money and ABSOLUTE FAILURE. The latter being extremely difficult to declare when you have invested days/weeks & precious funds on an iteration you hoped would be “the one” and it turns out not to be. This can be pretty devastating, especially when it happens several times in a row for several different products.

I think what has gotten me through to this point is the fact that I have no other choice but to try again – giving up is simply not an option. When I fail, its back to the drawing board, working out the failures in process/design & hitting it hard the next day & trying not to dwell on the non-objective aspect of the failure. This is not to say failing isn’t taxing, because it very much so is. That being said its important for me to just focus on taking action in these scenarios, no matter how small, to avoid becoming paralyzed.

What I want the world to know about me:

I think that there is a growing movement against planned obsolescence & proprietary equipment I hope to be on the forefront of the wave of new businesses that lead with modular and non proprietary products that will be both good for our planet & economy.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I don’t really hang around the city so much so I don’t really have much insight to give there. If it were up to me, I would take them to climb some really awesome 13’ers namely Audubon & Paiute, Toll and N Arapaho. I would also probably take them backpacking on my route from Jamestown to winter park & take the California Zephyr back to Denver. Maybe we’d do some mountain biking on my favorite trails!

If its the winter, I would take them to find some snow drifts and make igloos and cook some sausages. If they’re down I would maybe do a 2-3 day split tour and have a short Igloo to igloo set up in advance! My favorite area for this is the Indian Peaks wilderness, the snow pack is pretty good for the drifts & makes sturdy structures in my experience.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Yes absolutely. The Tinkermill in Longmont CO is the only reason I am able to do any kind of CNC work, packaging etc. for my gear I sew at home. Without them & the community I would have had to spend $20k+ getting machine shops to iterate my designs to where they are now. Manufacturing is completely out of reach if you don’t have places like the Tinkermill or significant investment to back you. Maker spaces in general are the backbone of self funded startups & small businesses like mine, so I think they deserve way more recognition than they are getting.

Local businesses are deserving too, all the shops I am currently selling in decided to buy my product without knowing if it would sell giving another local business a chance. This has been a huge step for me and the legitimacy of my brand. The bike shops id like to thank are: Longmont Velo, Longmont Bicycle company, Hooptie Bike Lounge, Niwot Wheel Works, Community Cycles, Boulder Bike Works, Niwot Wheel House and hopefully more in the future!

I would also like to thank my close friends & family for their support in critical moments as well!

Website: https://Pedalstoke.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pedal_stoke/

Image Credits
Mikaela Nichols Photography