2024 was the warmest year on record and since then it has gotten even warmer.

The ‘warming stripes’ graphic are a visual representation of the global change in temperature over the past 100 years. The graphics was made by Professor Ed Hawkins at the
University of Reading.

“These graphics are specifically designed to be as simple as possible, and to start conversations about our warming world and the risks of climate change. There are numerous other sources of information which provide more specific details about how temperatures have changed, so these graphics fill a gap and enable communication with minimal scientific knowledge required to understand their meaning.” https://showyourstripes.info/

“I had seen this pattern many times before it hit me that it would look awesome on a bike frame”

There are many custom painted bikes out there, but even though they often get a lot of attention few use the opportunity to tell a story with it. I figured it would be a perfect segue to get on the topic of climate change. Also as a way to penetrate the social media bubbles with an important message that otherwise is quite hard to get in there. So the POW bike is “just” a good looking conversation starter.

I thought this hade not been done before, but I was wrong. Even though it would have been cool to be the first, the important thing is that more people realize the importance of the message. Check Omar Di Felice, an Italian adventurer who made a bike with this pattern and cycled across the arctic.