Couple Peddles Handmade Bikes in Newark

In a bright cloud of sparks and the burning smell of welded metal, a warehouse near downtown Newark is the birthplace for special, elegantly constructed bicycles that wear their roots proudly.

On the welded steel tubes of some of the bikes is a painted silhouette of New Jersey and underneath it are the words, "Made in Newark, NJ."

The handmade, bespoke bikes are from Folk Engineered, a two-person company which makes different types of rides from touring to city bicycles.

Through word of mouth and the Internet, clients from New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and even California order the steel bikes, which can cost as much as $2,000 and up. But what they get are quality bicycles that can last a lifetime and then some, according to its makers.

Ryan Reedell and Marie Pasquariello, two passionate do-it yourselfers, started Folk Engineered a few years ago when they moved to Newark in search of a workshop and studio space for their ever growing collection of tools.

Before decamping to Brick City, the two Rutgers University graduates had gone on long bike tours out West and lived for a spell on a farm in upstate New York. The couple, who married in 2009 at a warehouse loft in Newark, were attracted to the cheap real estate in the city, proximity to transportation and the opportunity to bring back manufacturing to what was once an important city for industrial production.

"It's uncharted territory," said Pasquariello, 27, about Newark.

Reedell, 32, was the first one to get into bikes when he refurbished a black bike frame while volunteering at a bike co-op several years ago in Santa Cruz, Calif.

"I realized humans make bicycles. They just don't appear out of nowhere," he said.

He took it on a tour starting from Oakland and rode all the way to Black Rock City, Nev. for the 2005 Burning Man festival.

The couple is mostly self-taught, though Pasquariello spent some time at the United Bicycle Institute in Ashland, Ore., where she took classes in bike making. Drawing on her sculpture major at Rutgers, she taught her husband how to weld. They also both collaborated on her 2007 honors thesis at Rutgers which focused on pedal-powered contraptions.

For the company, the couple churns out 12 to 15 bikes a year, with Reedell doing most of the fabrication and Pasquariello focusing on management and finances. They also both design the bikes.

Currently, they make touring, sport touring, road, track and city commuting bicycles. They also do restoration and repairs. Some of the bikes feature hand-stitched leather handles, pin-striped lugs, and decorative fenders.

Besides the bespoke bikes they offer, the couple has introduced a handmade production bike called the Marsupial, a "practical and adaptive sport touring bicycle for daily commuting, pleasure road riding, light touring and adventure," according to their website.

They are headquartered at a former wagon house near downtown Newark, where they do fine metal work and show off their creations. A sky-lit warehouse down the street holds their main workshop and welding space.

Beyond the company, Reedell teaches engineering at the Discovery Charter School in Newark. Pasquariello teaches boat building at Project U.S.E., an educational organization also in the city, and is involved in Park Works, a landscape summer work program, and Rooftop Garden, a Newark urban farming initiative.

The two also volunteer at the for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Newark, 31 Central Ave., which opened last year.

It all adds up to a life about dreaming and making stuff. Besides the bicycles they weld and their other pursuits, the couple likes to tinker, make crafts, grow their own food and even brew their own beer and wine.

"We like to make everything," Pasquariello said. "We like get as close to the source as possible. It feels good."