Pre-Launch: Indy's Bike Makeover
When I lived in Tampa, I had a good friend who used to call me “extra.”
And honestly, she was not wrong.
“Extra” is code for doing too much. It is when you take that one little step, or sometimes one very large step, beyond what most people would consider normal.
I do this on a regular basis, especially when I come up with a new project idea.
Deciding to ride a bike is normal.
Deciding to ride a bike across the country? Extra.
Documenting your trip on X or Facebook? Normal.
Creating an entire media project around the ride, complete with articles, videos, interviews, sponsors, music, and a larger mission? EXTRA!
You get the point.
So, in keeping with that spirit, I could not simply buy a bike, give it a name, and call it a day.
No, no, no.
This is for America.
This ride is a tribute to my people, my fellow patriots, and the country itself. So naturally, Indy needed more than a name.
Indy needed a makeover. A little extra pizzazz.
For Freedom Ride, I decided I wanted to give the bike some custom design work. I wanted to take it beyond whatever color scheme and decals came stock from the factory and turn it into something that felt connected to the spirit of the project.
That presented a challenge. I am highly creative when it comes to words, ideas, themes, stories, and big project concepts. That is my lane.
But design?
Color schemes?
Drawing?
Graphic design?
That is not my gift. Not even close.
Thankfully, this is 2026, and we now live in a world where AI tools can help fill in the gaps. They can give you access to creative abilities you may not naturally have or at least help you communicate a vision clearly enough to bring it to life. Sure, it’s likely AI will get turned into T2000’s at some point and eradicate humanity, but until then we might as well have some fun along the way.
So for Indy, that meant it was time to start imagining what Freedom Ride’s official bike should actually look like.
The color scheme was easy.
Red, white, and blue.
That part was never in question.
But the actual design? I had no idea.
I wanted something patriotic, but not corny. Something that felt like America without looking like I had attacked the bike with a Fourth of July decoration kit. Clean. Modern. A little bold, but still classy.
So I turned to ChatGPT and Leonardo and started with this prompt:
A subtly patriotic electric bike, its red, white, and blue design minimal yet impactful. The color scheme is modern and elegant, showcasing national pride without being overly flashy. This is a photograph capturing the bike in a studio setting, highlighting its sleek lines and vibrant colors under perfect lighting. The quality of the image is exceptional, with every detail crisp and clear, making the bike appear stylish and sophisticated.
And then I started playing.
That was actually the fun part. I could adjust what I liked, remove what I didn’t, change the colors, clean up the lines, and try different ideas without having to know how to draw a single thing. Since I had photo references of the bike I thought I would be using, the process became much easier.
After several iterations, I finally settled on this design.
This design had me stoked.
Clean. Classic. Undeniably American.
But you see the problem, right?
This design was created back when I thought I was going to get the Skyline. Once it became clear that I was not going to get that bike, and that Indy would be red as the main color, I had to readjust the whole idea.
I will skip ahead here, because designing a color scheme for a bike turned out to be much harder than I expected.
There are really only a few ways to do it.
The first option is to have the bike professionally painted. That is not cheap. The second option is to paint it yourself, but that is not exactly simple either. You would have to disassemble a large part of the bike, sand it down, prep it properly, paint it, seal it, and hope you do not ruin anything in the process.
That was too much trouble. Honestly, it was more than I wanted to take on.
The other option is to wrap the bike, kind of like you see with cars. That sounds easier, but it really is not. A bike frame has curves, tight spaces, cables, tubes, and odd angles everywhere. It is not the kind of thing you just slap a wrap onto and call it done. Plus, once you start talking about a custom patriotic design, now you need someone who can design it, print it, and apply it.
I searched around, but I could not find anyone who could really create the kind of wrap I had in mind.
So that left decals and stickers.
But before I got there, I needed a new design.
I went back to the prompt, changed the color approach, and looked through a bunch of new possibilities.
The problem was that none of them felt as clean as the original.
So I decided to keep the same general concept, but reverse the colors a bit. I wanted something similar to the original image, but adapted for the Specialized bike, with red becoming the main color instead of the accent.
Then I ran into the next problem.
The best way to do this would be with custom decals or stickers, but that meant I needed accurate measurements, dimensions, and someone who could create the pieces to fit the frame. That sounds simple until you actually start looking at the angles and curves on a bike.
I tried.
I really did.
There are plenty of decal companies online, but none of them seemed able to do exactly what I wanted. At least not in a way that made sense for this project.
So, eventually, I went with something more DIY.
I went to Amazon and found colored reflective stickers. Then I cut them into a design that felt close to the original idea. After that, I found a decal maker on Etsy who could create a custom decal with Indy’s name.
And that became the final result.
What do you think of the design? Let me know below.