It's 6 a.m. on a spring morning in 2011, and I have a Skype call scheduled with Luke Scheybeler, co-founder of Rapha. I'm working on my Master's in International Business from Georgia State University, and I get extra credit in my entrepreneurship class for interviewing entrepreneurs I admire. Rapha was peaking then, and I was giddy, to say the least.
"We're not using video?" Luke asked. Still not used to video calls, I scrambled to put on a shirt. I'd be lying if I internalized some wizardly road cycling marketing wisdom that morning, but what did stick was the generosity of offering his time, the utility of reaching out to those who inspire you, learning from their careers, and baking that proactive outreach and osmosis outlook into your routine.
And going on 15 years later, I'm still referencing Luke. Last week, he penned a sharply witted critique of the "social media design commentariat who post more than they create" & I loved it.
"The room they chose was Café Zoetrope, Francis Ford Coppola’s upscale bistro-winebar-pizzeria—or as the proprietor puts it; “Euro-inspired café.” Only San Franciscans or New Yorkers can pull off this sort of “generic Euro” vibe, but even this feels like the result of a lazy prompt: pizzeria, bistro, wine bar and café? Pick two at most Francis. Theres also the claim that the service is “helpful, friendly and fast”, which betrays a rather inauthentic take on European hospitality. But I digress."
I laughed at this because about 15 years ago, my friend Philipp (some of you may know him as the founder of the Schwarzwald Giro) visited me from Germany. He saw an ad for an apartment for rent where I lived in Atlanta at a local cafe. One of the rental's perks? 'European Touches.' And so, Philipp's now retired instagram handle and online moniker were born: @Europeantouches
But I digress, though the cheesy euro marketing metaphor does expose the same paradoxical & tired trope that Luke aims to poke holes in: copying style comes off cheap. In his words:
"The job isn't to avoid influence. It's to absorb it, build on it, and translate it. Use it in a new context." – Luke Scheybeler
Luke's article is really worth the read. It's the kind of clever & informative writing that not only inspires me 1. to up my game & 2. to reconsider my curmudgeonly aversion to incorporating AI into my workflow more, but Luke's prose makes it clear what he knows:
"Don't copy style; copy process."
Now, how to make that rhyme for this week's subject line? I'm relieved to share that I condensed my own initial verbose attempts on my own but ChatGPT easily offered options that could have had me outshone.
Spoiler alert, Luke doesn't see AI as a threat to design. But rather the creatives too keen to diss their colleagues' work as derivative, while too self-assured to glean lessons from the past, and too spooked about AI to figure out how help build the future.
"AI is the new design medium. The question isn't whether it will replace us. The question is: who will learn to shape it? And who will they learn from?"
You'll catch me trying to do both. Thanks for the motivation, Luke!
As always, thank you very much for reading & have a great week ahead,
Jon
p.s.
September 11–14 will be the 6th edition of the Bohemian Border Bash. I'll be there for the 6th time and by way of the European Sleeper night train. This year is a free registration DIY edition. Read more about it here and I hope to see you there!
June
- 🇧🇪 17-18 Micromobility Brussels (I'm hosting a panel tomorrow)
- 🇳🇱 18 Wheelrunner Wednesday Morning Ride (Weekly at 6:30am)
- 🇳🇱 19 Gregario Thursday AM Ride (Weekly at 7:30am)
- 🇳🇱 19 The Mechanics of Joy nº47 with Natalia Krasnodebska
- 🇩🇪 25-27 Let's meet at Eurobike
July
Bikes
The Best Bike Pump
Building the Next Generation of Micromobility Vehicles
1.5 Months Until VIA Race
Ideas
Why Are We Lying To Young People About Work?
"We owe young people the truth: hard work isn't the tax you pay for living, it's the tuition for a life worth having. Everything good requires work. Discipline trumps motivation. Meaning emerges not from avoiding struggle but from choosing struggle that serves something larger than yourself." – Maalvika Bhat
Small is Better
The End of Private Equity's Golden Age
Nicolas Colin
"The signs point to structural exhaustion of a 50-year model. Private equity emerged when industrial conglomerates hit their limits in the 1970s, serving as the financial innovation that imposed capital discipline on bloated corporations in the plateauing age of oil, automobiles, and mass production. Now private equity faces its own structural ceiling, even as it manages record assets of $4.7 trillion globally in the buyout category alone."
Friends
Passionfruit.cc Palestinian Solidarity Fundraiser Jersey
Rolf Ostergaard's Eurobike 2025 Predictions
Rolf Ostergaard
My favorite prediction? "Less carbon and more metal frames, and more EU-manufactured bikes." Read the article here. And thank you for the shout-out, Rolf! See you at the dinner!
Donalrey Nieva / Professional amateur
I'm grateful for a trip to Nice, France with Far Ride magazine years ago that Donalrey & I got to know each other on. We were tangentially connected thru the 5th Floor crew but hadn't met before. Such a sweet dude with a keen eye for photography on & off the bike! Read here.
Radness
Quirk Cycles Launches Kegety Production Gravel Bike
Thank you very much for reading!
Here's to not copying style but copying process this week!