This week's subject line was inspired by a big entreprenurial inspiration for me, Joel Gascoigne of Buffer. I've been a Buffer user since nearly the beginning (before 2012 or so) and always admired Joel's approach and Buffer's success. To this very day, each issue published here is shared on LinkedIn and other platforms via Buffer.
Joel recently rebooted a regular newsletter, and his most recent issue was entitled "Generosity is a strategy".
"Our ability to be generous is directly connected to our ownership structure. We do not have pressure for short term growth and results. We can utilize this advantage to lean further into generosity. Many of our acts of generosity are decisions that would never enter competitors' minds, and would almost certainly never get board sign-off. This is also why I'm comfortable sharing this aspect of our strategy: it's very challenging for others to encroach on this position. And ultimately, if more businesses felt pressure to be more generous, I'd see that as a great contribution for Buffer to make." – Joel Gascoigne
I read his take, and was like, "Hell yeah, Joel!" I'm a firm believer in "you get what you give," and I strive to live by that motto. In life, at work & on the bike, I truly believe that it is better to give than to receive.
Yet a word that rhymed with "generous" felt hard to find, and the word "dangerous" kept coming to mind. The duality of giving and getting got felt like too easy of a shot, except sometimes it's just not.
In the name of community, Twotone was recently approached by a global apparel brand to promote their local crit series, advise on the fixed-gear race and event formats, and, in general, just bring the stoke. For Round 1, we did exactly that & generously! They even added Twotone to the flyer, race-winner cheques, and race numbers, and collabbed on the post to promote the race. It was a great event that successfully brought multiple scenes together, and it was fun to be part of it!
Twotone has always promoted local racing, events, BMX jams, shows, rides and more. We've also done a number of pro bono projects for non-profits over the years, but that was not the case here. After receiving great feedback from people higher up at the brand for the hype & attendance we brought to the event, I asked about billing a single-day rate for the upcoming Round 2.
After following up a few times, I got more kind words about 'community' and a polite decline to compensate us for the support. Technically, that's 'fine', but the real rub was that our logo was then removed from the flyer that went live yesterday. Boo hoo, I know. 😒 "That's life in the big city", as I always say to my kids.
I get that budgets may be tighter than an aero skinsuit, but public acknowledgement & gratitude are often worth more than an invoice, especially in the long run.
Nobody works in this industry because it's a get-rich-quick scheme. It is the two-wheeled solidarity that should unite us as we all try to live the dream!
Thank you for reading and supporting this newsletter!
wishing you a nice week ahead,
Jon
p.s.
other posts on the tenuous topic of brands & community: nº279 Nothing Affords Opportunity, Like Fostering Community, nº359 When Community Support Is Proportional, Business Is Personal, nº318 Community Made For A Decade & from nº387 'The Commodification of Community"
🎵 Some tracks on deck last week: Heaven Year by Bleary Eyed, Grease by Cold Gawd, Cercle Vicieux by Béton Armé & still lots of Ben Kweller 😅
August
- 🇳🇱 12 Wheelrunner Wednesdays 6:30am
- 🇳🇱 13 Gregario Gossip Club Thursdays 7:15am
- 🇳🇱 13 The Mechanics of Joy with Kristo of Radial Pro Cycling 14:00
- 🇳🇱 13 Echelon x Isadore Evening Ride 18:00
- 🇳🇱 21 Gregario Auto Drop // Kind-a-social Ride 18:30
- 🇳🇱 21 Henn Album Release Show at Workspace 6 19:00
- 🇳🇱 30 Bounty Hunters presents: Hit The Bricks BMX Jam
September
- 🇳🇱 4 Dox Under The Tracks Nº16 w/ Y.O.P.E.
- 🇳🇱 6 Fixed Crit Zwanenburg
- 🇩🇪 11-13 Bespoked Dresden
- 🇪🇸 18-20 Sea Otter Europe
- 🇳🇱 19-20 Open Nederlands Kampioenschap Fietskoerieren
- 🇫🇷 23-27 Concours de Machines ÉDITION MAURIENNE GALIBIER
Bikes
Press Invitation: Bespoked Dresden | 11-13 Sept. 2026
With just over five weeks to go until BESPOKED Dresden (11 - 13 September 2026), media are invited to register for three days celebrating the world's finest handmade bicycles, independent brands and cycling innovation at Dresden International Airport. Press invitation in the Twotone newsroom. Stoked to see you all there!
Team Amani’s Tour de France Femmes dream: Overcoming tragedy and needing to raise $1m
Bike Business Adventure SAXONY - Part 6 | Sep 9-10, 2026
Ideas
The Science of Brainrot I Lecture with dr. Idil Galip and dr. Wouter van den Bos
Dr Idil Galip is a researcher with a PhD in sociology working at the intersection of digital culture, online communities and internet subcultures. Her work combines qualitative research (interviews, discourse analysis, participant observation) with light, exploratory computational methods (network mapping, NLP-assisted text analysis) to understand how communities form, what they value, and how they evolve online. She's open to research projects with brands and organisations seeking to build a rich, textured understanding of a specific online community, its aesthetics, and internal dynamics. Also check out her blog post on the nostalgia of internet subcultures of the 2000s.
Nalden on how to do marketing for growing as a company
Radial thinking: How Kristo Jorgenson's cycling app went viral after Tour de France vlog shoutout
Friends
Yorit Kluitman interviewed by cyclespeak
My first ride with Yorit was 300km long & he designed the first Twotone Amsterdam logo. It has been awesome to see him grow in the industry alongside Twotone and his event, The Pathfinder Giro, become legendary in its own right as well. Kudos to Chris at cyclesspeak for the great interview!
Minka Sicklinger Interviewed by Dust Clothing
The first issue of Patience Papers
Borre Akkersdijk has launched the first issue of Patience Papers, a four-panel broadsheet on what it means to make with intention. "It marks a shift from brand system to knowledge system: moving beyond how a studio looks, toward how it thinks and what it knows." Available in a numbered edition of 233 here.
Radness
How The Mountain Races Redefined Bikepacking Racing | Mountains and Trees
I'm very fortunate to have been at all the inaugural editions of all of Nelson's races. Each race is a bookend to a chapter in my life. Anyone who's raced a Mountain Race will attest to the effects these adventures have. Carve out 40 minutes and give this beautiful film a watch!
Thank you for reading!
Here's to being generous this week!