About Me
Hi! My name is Justin, and I am the builder behind Fiddlehead Cycles.
I live in Portland, Oregon with my wife Sarah and my two kids. You can find us riding all around town. If you see my on the springwater, or in the west hills, shout a hello!
I've always had a love of designing and building things. In kindergarten, I said I wanted to be an architect. Over the years, the thing I wanted to design changed a bit, but I've always known I wanted to build something.
In college, I studied to design cars. I worked in the school machine shop, built several competition cars from steel, aluminum, and carbon fiber, and spent more time with the HAAS VF-4 than I did with my girlfriend (who is now my wife).
After college, I worked for a major auto manufacturer, but I never actually did any design engineering. I wrote code instead. After around a decade of that, I switched to software engineering, and worked for a series of tech companies.
This gave me enough capital to launch Fiddlehead Cycles.
Why Bikes?
A bicycle is the most efficient means of transportation ever created. They are simple machines - just a couple triangles holding some wheels in place. But they can be such beautiful works of art.
A bicycle's form follows its function. Their shape is simple, but there is such elegance hidden in the details. The best bicycles are breathtaking art pieces.
My goal is to make every fiddlehead the perfect balance of form and function, beauty and comfort, art and efficiency. Your fiddlehead will be well suited to its purpose, the most comfortable bike you've ever ridden, and the most beautiful piece of art you own.
People will frequently stop you to say, "wow, that's a beautiful bike" - it happens to me all the time.
Why Fiddlehead?
I get this question a lot. There are a few reasons
First, fiddleheads are the young shoots of certain varieties of ferns. They grow natively in the pacific northwest. They are a rare delicacy that is only in season for a short time in early spring.
I prefer to saute them with chanterelle mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and olive oil, then serve them with pasta.
Second, fiddlehead refers to the scroll detail in the head stock of a violin or cello. The reference to a violin is not accidental.
Like a bicycle, a violin's form follows function. And like a bicycle, a violin can be a beautiful work of art.
The best violins are ancient, made by hand ages ago by master artists in Italy. (sound familiar?)
Finally, the violin gives me my headtube badge - the f-hole. Yet another example of form following function. It's a beautiful f in a unique calligraphy. And its special shape is designed to allow the hollow body of a violin to resonate and project its sound in the days before electronic amplification.
It's also a clever union of my two initials - j and f.
