Joe's life on a bike began much like most of us; racing around with friends until dark, flipping over handlebars, and engineering ill-fated jump structures (which to most 12 year olds, looked perfectly sound and logical).  He was a messenger in the late 80's in NYC for companies like Prime Time and Meteor, but in 1991 got hit by a car and walked away from "the life".

Joe's lifelong dream was to be an architect in his native NYC, which is what he's been doing for the last 15 years. He has always felt that working on bikes at a micro scale was a great balance to the much larger scale work he has done for architectural firms such as SOM, NBBJ, FXFowle and HOK.

Joe started 718 Cyclery in 2008 in his backyard with the help and guidance of Team Lope Cyclery, to pursue work that was more hands-on and immediate, with an emphasis on teaching and collaboration. He soon found that many other people were looking for the same manual outlet, and the company has prospered.

Joe currently works at HOK as an architect, teaches at Pratt in the evenings, and coaches youth lacrosse and football.  He is married, with 2 kids, 2 dogs and a cat, and lives in Brooklyn. Follow Joe on Twitter at 718_cyclery

Krys grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. She got into bikes by hanging out with her local bike club: Ragtag Armada (RTA) and participating in scavenger hunts, alley cat races, and watching them play bike polo in the summertime. She later moved to Brooklyn and started working at a bike shop where she gained knowledge of the trade. 

Along with bikes, Krys is very passionate about ink illustration and mixed media arts. She is inspired by the hand-illustrated nature of comic books and graphic novels.  She has worked with various clients producing art for clothing as well as some commissions.  In her free time away from work and sketching, she can be found in her Bushwick home, cooking up new dishes or hanging out with her cat, Elvira. Follow Krys on Twitter @krysblakemore

See the Team Lope profile of Krys the artist here

Ben Newell comes from St. Louis, Missouri. He grew up in dancing shoes: tapping and dancing classical ballet. He studied dramatic performance at Conservatory and then moved to Brooklyn, NY.

In his youth, he rode bikes with his pals all over his hometown; from the Junior High parking lot to the VHS Rental store. He also tore up dirt trails in the woods behind his house and busted his face bombing down steep gravel-laden downhill switchbacks. In high school, he left his bike outside and it was stolen, thus beginning his “cycling dark age”. It was in college he rediscovered the many joys of cycling thus beginning a great bicycle renaissance. He bought a cheap used frame, stripped everything from it and built his first fixed gear conversion. His spring-break trip to the tropical islands was cancelled, Ben & friends strapped their bikes to the roof of his car, drove to New York City and crushed the taxi packed avenues of Manhattan in freezing rain and snow, the cycling bugs bitten him hard.

Check out Ben's stuff at http://ben-newell.com