Vans is celebrating its Downtown Showdown event this weekend in Amsterdam and since Amsterdam is a bike city, they decided to team up with Charge Bikes on a small run of custom versions of their upcoming 2013 Mortar model. Aside from being a modern bike, we love the details that went into the project, including the classic Vans x Kool Stop brake pads and the Vans x Cult waffle grips. Charge’s Creative director and designer Nick Larsen said the following about the project: “These prize bicycles for Vans Downtown Showdown have been pretty fun to put together. From sourcing the classic Vans x Kool Stop brake pads and more recent Vans x Cult waffle grips to making up the special edition Vans inspired checkerboard Charge Spoon saddles and moulding some custom gumwall 29″ tyres it’s been a challenging little project. The bike itself is based on a totally new 2013 Charge bike called the Mortar. It’s designed to be an affordable single speed hacker that’s tough and comfortable to ride, whether on your daily commute, nipping down for a pint at the pub or just cruising with your board down to the skatepark. It’s simple, robust and a comfortable bike that you can ride everywhere.” These custom single speed bikes are an extremely limited run but the standard version of the bike will be on sale globally from September for $450 in the USA and £375 in the UK.
