There’s nothing quite like carving a clean line down the slopes. That’s why Frank Aguilar and a team of extreme athletes designed the Slopecycle, a snow-shredding board bike that can slice powder with the best of them. “We are all somewhat adrenaline junkies — skiers, snowboarders, mountain bikers,” he says. “We’d snowboarded and skied for years and one day we asked ourselves, ‘What’s next?’ We had seen ski bikes, but we knew that we could make something that could do more.”
Aguilar and his crew fused a front and rear snowboard with a pro BMX bike — style frame to make one serious ride. The machine has the maneuverability and wicked trick potential of a snowboard, but it’s as easy to ride as a bicycle. “Anybody who has ridden a bike can jump on the Slopecycle and have a great time within a few runs,” says Aguilar. “At the same time, it’s a blast for hardcore guys like us.” The American-made Slopecycle is a smash hit with skiers, snowboarders, cyclists, motocrossers, and even jet skiers and now its inventors manage a full-fledged company and a multinational Slopecycle race team. Their Los Angeles office buzzes with activity and the company strives to fill orders for the Slopecycle.
The Slopecycle was designed — from frame to board to graphics — on Mac computers, which Aguilar and his team use to keep the business running smoothly. “The Macs have been there since day one,” says Aguilar. “We do everything on them, from graphics and video to accounting to office work. They’re really at the center of our business and every creative thing we do.”
The Mac in Motion
Slopecycle is steered by eight full-time employees and about ten part-time and contract designers. Growing the business was an organic process, fed by Apple hardware and software. The founding members drafted all their designs and business paperwork on their Mac computers and reached for other Mac users when they needed employees or outside help. The current team works out of a converted warehouse in Los Angeles, an open space dotted with Mac workstations, music production and DJ equipment, and Slopecycles. “This is where we house most of the Slopecycles that we make,” says Aguilar. “It’s also where we do all our graphic design and produce most of our videos.”
It’s tough to sell a fun product without visuals. Aguilar and his team spend a lot of time splicing footage of Slopecycle riders slicing snow, sailing through the air, and slamming down the slopes. To do it, they use Final Cut Pro. “Most of us have never had any formal video training, but Final Cut Pro is so straightforward and powerful that we didn’t really need it,” says Aguilar. “We use our own cameras and computers to do a lot of the video work and that’s key to our business.”
Great graphics are also key to the Slopecycle’s success. The company has a few full-time graphic designers who work with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to create cutting-edge graphics for Slopecycle boards and merchandise. “We need good graphics to be taken seriously in this industry. A lot of it is about being seen and making an impression. The Macs allow us to do that without getting in the way of our creativity. They’re easy to use, they’re powerful, they’re inspiring, and they give us complete freedom.”
