Matthew Butterman
Beautiful Precision is my goal...
Robust and effective communication through the written word is my passion! The name of my copywriting venture, Verba Optima, is translated from Latin as "best words", and my goal as a writer is to choose words that convey my client's message with beautiful precision.
The majority of my portfolio is comprised of stories written for Handbuilt Bicycle Guide, the website that I am part-owner and News Editor for. Other areas of interest, and topics of recent articles, include music and fine arts, health and fitness, cybersecurity and cryptocurrency technologies.
No topic is off the table for me, and I relish the opportunity to learn and to expand my horizons as a writer while in pursuit of my clients' goals.
Wayne Bingham’s Mel Pinto tribute bike – 2021 Philly Bike Expo
The USA lost one of its chief proponents of bicycling with the passing earlier this year of Mel Pinto (1924-2021). Pinto was a Sephardic Jew whose family lived in North Africa and who spoke many different languages, including Spanish, French, Italian and English. During an encounter with American troops in Morocco during WWII while he was fleeing Nazi invaders, Pinto’s polyglot tendencies became very useful to the U.S. Army, and he ended up working for them.
How to Start a Bank: The Complete 7 Step Guide (2021)
It’s likely no surprise to learn that one of the most profitable businesses around is banking. The United States alone has the largest financial marketplace, and according to a report by SelectUSA., the financial services industry (which includes banks, investment services firms and insurers) represents 7.4 percent, or 1.5 trillion dollars, of the U.S. gross domestic product. For those who are willing to scale significant barriers to entry, the rewards for opening a bank are great.
Il Regalo (The Gift)
“In cycling or in life one can never be assured of victory, of the inevitability of triumph, or of the steadfast and pure motives of a gift.”
Signore Sandro Bono was on an off-year in 1988. Married to an American grad student at the University of Maryland, the Italian cyclocross specialist took up residence in a foreign land, away from quality espresso and parmigiano-reggiano, and reduced to that most American of cycling pursuits: the criterium.
Cinelli USA: Tradition Reinvented
If you’ve been around cycling for 30 plus years like me, then you know the Cinelli brand as one of the stalwarts of the industry. Back in the 1980s when I cut my teeth as a junior racer, Cinelli handlebars and stems, with their proprietary 26.4mm clamp diameter, were standard equipment for racing cyclists. Cinelli Supercorsa framesets, in striking cobalt blue and Ferrari red paint schemes accented with chrome lugs, were coveted for their high aesthetics and performance, and to this day they comm
Rivendell Bicycle Works: Bucking trends since 1994
There’s a famous adage in the bicycle industry, confirmed by a good dose of reality: if you want to make a million dollars, start out with 2 million.
Conventional wisdom holds that to maintain profits, you must meet the specific demands of the marketplace, be flexible with these shifting demands and, if possible, do it for lower cost than your competitors. Or, put another way, you must chase trends.
Rivendell Bicycle Works proprietor Grant Petersen began his enterprise in 1994 with $89,000 in
da Vinci Tandems: Technical Masterpieces
If you take the name of a famous Italian Renaissance artist and armchair engineer/visionary way ahead of his time for your bicycle company, you’d better be able to back up your own technical wizardry and product aesthetics. Da Vinci Tandems hits the mark on both counts.
Da Vinci focuses solely on tandem bicycles and their claim to innovation is their patented Independent Coasting System. The ICS lets a rider coast independently of their partner, which is a huge advantage for tandem cycling.
The Ride: Richmond World's Course
It started back in 1983 with a memorable role in that year’s Tour of America. This was a one-off event that ran from Virginia Beach to Washington, D.C. over four stages of racing through the mostly-flat coastal regions of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It was organized by the Societe du Tour de France under the direction of the late Felix Levitan. Despite some brilliant racing courtesy of top European teams and stars like Phil Anderson, the event was not a financial success...
Normal Bicycles: Buffalo Built
Buffalo, New York sits at the northeastern corner of Lake Erie, where the Niagara River empties into it downstream of the famous falls, and is best-known for chicken wings, football and massive winter snowfalls. Like many Great Lakes cities, the heavy industries that built Buffalo struggled and left during the 1980s, leaving the city to redefine itself, which it largely has done over the past few decades.
No Fools at the Fools Classic!
Those that follow the Spring Classics may recognize the nickname La Doyenne, which refers to Liège-Bastogne-Liège. La Doyenne literally translates as “the old lady”; the reference being that LBL is the oldest spring classic, having first run in 1892. This translation is somewhat disrespectful in comparison to the nuanced meaning of the term; translating it as “the Elder” would give further credence to its longevity and show respect for the race of attrition that it is.
Hunterdon: The Hell Cyclists Love
Admit it - you’ve done this too: You’re riding along in the early spring, gilet zipped up against the chilly air, imagining you’re in full pursuit of Peter Sagan, or Tom Boonen, or Sean Kelly, or Roger De Vlaeminck in the closing kilometers of one of the Spring Classics, the Monuments of cycling.Most of us have never raced in Paris-Roubaix or the Tour of Flanders, but New Jersey’s Hell of Hunterdon ride will get you about as close to those grueling experiences as anything this side...
Sleeping Better With Type 2 Diabetes
Getting a good night’s sleep is essential to good health for any population, but for those with a chronic health condition like type 2 diabetes, it takes on added importance. Fortunately, the steps you take to better manage your type 2 diabetes will also help you sleep better at night.
Here are a few ways to help ensure a good night’s rest.
We’ve all been guilty of putting other concerns before getting a good night’s sleep: work or school demands, family and travel being just a few things that...
Wake Up! Diabetes and Caffeine
For people with diabetes, there are some advantages and some disadvantages to consuming caffeine. As with the general population at large, individual reactions to caffeine vary widely. When used in moderation and within safe limits (generally accepted as no more than 400 mg daily), caffeine is acceptable for people with diabetes.
Caffeine is the drug of choice for millions of people worldwide. The average adult in the U.S. drinks two 8 oz cups of coffee per day, which contain approximately 280...
Velo Orange: Amis des Randonneurs
Randonneur bikes are on a bit of a tear right now, as evidenced by the “rando row” on the Philly Bike Expo floor inhabited by builders like Johnny Coast and J.P Weigle. Although rando bikes aren’t deliberately designed to be anachronistic, with the fenders, lights and greater tire clearances required by randonneur rides such as Paris-Brest-Paris, they hearken back to the days when such design characteristics were de rigeur.
This presents a bit of a problem for ride participants and the builders
Breismeister Bicycles: Just For You
New York City has a reputation for being, well, a little impersonal. With about 10 million people concentrated in a region smaller than Rhode Island, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd.
Doug Breismeister, proprietor of his eponymous brand, doesn’t want you to feel adrift in a sea of bicycle-mounted humanity. His made-to-order custom bicycles and attention-garnering paint jobs betray this sentiment.
Breismeister’s beat is his frame building studio in Brooklyn, but as an active rider...
New England Builders Ball, part one
The New England Builders’ Ball returned to Boston on September 22 for its 8th annual handbuilt bicycle show.
The New England Builders’ Ball returned to Boston on September 22 for its 8th annual handbuilt bicycle show. Always held in a distinctive space, show founder/director Eric Weis tailors each Ball to create a fun and relaxing atmosphere, more like a gallery opening than a traditional consumer expo, so that exhibitors have as good a time as attendees. The mix of new and returning framebuild
Breakout! Five Ways to Leave Your Comfort Zone
The day to day struggles of living with diabetes are significant, but it’s only by testing your limits and leaving your comfort zone that you will discover a stronger, more adventurous, more outgoing, kinder, and more generous version of yourself. As part of our collaboration with Scare Your Soul, here are five ways for people with diabetes to break out of their comfort zones and leave their couches behind.
Between these three activities, you can probably find one that you like to do. Doing som
Managing Your Diet While Away at College
College is a time of tremendous growth, but also of routine-altering upheaval for most young adults. Here are a few tips to keep your diet on track and your diabetes management stable during these important and formative years.
Colleges and universities are increasingly aware of the role that nutrition plays in academic performance and positive social engagement for students. In the midst of hormonal and emotional challenges to students’ physical and mental well-being, a healthy diet will...
I Have Prediabetes: Now What
So your doctor or healthcare provider has told you that you have “prediabetes,” and you may be wondering what this means. Prediabetes is a clinical term that means your blood sugar level is on the high end of the normal range of blood sugar levels (80-120 mg/dL). In numbers, prediabetes is signaled by a fasting plasma glucose level between 100-125 mg/dL, an oral glucose tolerance test level of between 140-199 mg/dL after two hours, or a hemoglobin A1c test level of between 5.7 to 6.4 percent.
Andre Haak's 1991 Colnago Master: Tall cool one
Andre Haak bought a Colnago Master frameset that was ridden by Belgian superstar Edwig Van Hooydonck to victory in the 1991 Tour of Flanders, and recreated a Buckler team replica bicycle as Van Hooydonck would have ridden.
Dutchman Andre Haak owns a 1991 Colnago Master in Buckler team livery originally used by two-time Tour of Flanders winner Edwig Van Hooydonck of Belgium. Haak bought the frameset earlier this year in Ghent, Belgium from a former Buckler team mechanic who confirmed that it was...
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