Matthew Butterman

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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.

Mountain Weekly News •

Hollywood Racks 2 Bike CrossTrack E-Bike Rack Review - Mountain Weekly News

Brawn meets style in the CrossTrack 2 bike rack from Hollywood Racks. With a name like “Hollywood Racks” you can believe the company’s products will have characteristic Southern California flair, but strength, stability and style often co-exist uneasily. The CrossTrack 2 comes to the rescue by embodying all of these attributes in an easy to mount and user-friendly bundle. With its strength, style and versatility, the CrossTrack 2 would look equally at home on the rear of a 1999 Ford F250 or on...
Mountain Weekly News •

Hollywood Racks Sport Rider SE2 Review - Mountain Weekly News

Whether you’re hitting the trail that’s 2 miles away, or 2 days’ drive away, you’re going to need a way to keep your bikes secure for the trip. For vehicles with a trailer hitch, the Sport Rider SE2 rack from Hollywood Racks provides a stable, secure platform for your precious 2-wheeled cargo. Ease of installation and quality construction are the hallmarks of this mid-range priced bike rack.
Handbuilt Bicycle News •

Master Bicycle Builders Show 2024

Year Two for the Master Bike Builders Show, in Bentonville, Arkansas went very well. Located in a small park at the head of a well-used cycling trail, a steady stream of cyclists visited this outdoor show throughout the weekend of September 14-15. Exhibitors enjoyed the quality time they got to spend with potential customers, and organizer Sergio Bravo is already making plans for the 2025 event.Bentonville, Arkansas, has been dubbed the Mountain Bike Capital of the World. Whether or not this lof...
Mountain Weekly News •

Nakto Ox Folding E-Bike: Electric Chameleon Review - Mountain Weekly News

Among the best things about e-bikes are their versatility and functionality. Once you start using e-bikes for daily transportation, you won’t want to give up this very good habit when you travel or move to a new place with limited room for a full-size e-bike. Enter the Nakto Ox folding e-bike, a veritable Swiss Army knife of e-bike functionality and versatility that changes colors as your e-bike needs vary. It’s a fat tire cruiser, a step-thru commuter bike, and a fully-powered rocket of enjoym...
Handbuilt Bicycle News •

Serotta Rides Again

Serotta bikes were everywhere late last century, and his fit apparatus was at the leading edge. He was so good, people were copying him. Then the company disappeared, only to resurface again around the time of Covid. It would take a large book to fully tell the story, but Ben himself gave the outline view when we met him earlier this year at the Philly Bike Expo.Build, perfect, repeat and pass it on. That could be the company motto of the Serotta Design Studio. If imitation is the sincerest form...
Handbuilt Bicycle News •

Concours de Machines: Cycles Affranchi

Cycles Affranchi builds unique and functional bikes for all terrains in the Pyrenees Mountains of Southwestern France under the design principles of freedom and independence.Germain Chaline is the man behind Cycles Affranchi, which is based near the town of Foix in the rural Occitanie region of southwestern France. He builds custom steel frames, forks and luggage racks to suit customers’ desires and needs, but also under a guiding principle he boldly displays at his website: “FREEDOM: [he] who d...
Handbuilt Bicycle News •

Fine Bikes are in The House!

Stepping up from bike maintenance to frame building is, well it's more a leap of faith. Charles Thompson of Fine Bikes completed that leap last year, and in the biking boom town of Raleigh, North Carolina, he's plying a healthy trade in partnership with Oak City Cycles.You move to a new city for work, you get swept up by the enthusiasm and excitement of the cycling community there, so you leave your job, start working in a bike shop and then become a frame builder. Happens all the time, right? N...
Mountain Weekly News •

Flyer Via E-Bike Review - Mountain Weekly News

Flyer Via e-bike: Sayonara, minivan! Are you e-bike curious, but haven’t yet made the switch? Then consider the Flyer Via, a versatile “gateway” e-bike to the world of electric assist pedaling. The Via offers a quality-built, reasonably priced platform that can easily be decked out with accessories or upgraded as your needs and desires develop. Versatility, mixed with utility and dashes of fun and style make the Via an excellent first e-bike. The Via is so useful, in fact, that you may say goo...
Mountain Weekly News •

10 Best E-Bike Bike Racks for Ebikes - Mountain Weekly News

Unless you’re fortunate enough to live next to the trailhead of a vast network of backcountry trails, you’re going to need to drive with your bike to where the trails are. If you have an e-bike, transporting your bike isn’t quite as easy as throwing it in your truck bed or on your roof rack: You need a sturdy and dedicated bicycle rack for the heavier weights of e-bikes. But the great thing about the racks we’re exploring in this article is that you can also use them for standard bikes, meaning...
Mountain Weekly News •

Kingbull Voyager E-Bike Review - Mountain Weekly News

What’s one thing that separates Formula One race cars from street-legal speedsters? Side view mirrors. These gems of utilitarian technology are what first stood out for us about the Kingbull Voyager E-Bike. They were the first side mirrors I’ve come across on e-bikes, and the entire Mountain Weekly News test team hope the whole e-bike marketplace will adopt them for commuter-specific models. But the useful sideview mirrors were just the first of many things I liked about the Kingbull Voyager. A...
Mountain Weekly News •

Addmotor Trike Citytri E-310: Three’s Company - Mountain Weekly News

Mention “tricycle” and many people jump to the image of a pint-sized three wheeler with diminutive wheels designed for kids not yet finished with elementary school who haven’t mastered balancing on two wheels. But in truth, a three-wheeled pedal powered vehicle is the ultimate choice for commuting and errands – a stable workhorse that only becomes more practical when an electric motor is added to the mix. The appropriately-named Addmotor Citytri E-310 E-Tricycle will change your conception of th...
Mountain Weekly News •

Aniioki AQ177 Pro Max E-Bike Review - Mountain Weekly News

Enter the Aniioki AQ177 Pro Max E-Bike, a go-anywhere steed with the battery range to take you to the wilderness and back. The AQ177 brings you the most comfortable riding experience with its step-through frame design and all-terrain ability. The throttle mode range can reach over 100 miles at speeds up to 28+ MPH. It’s an e-bike that will make you forget you’re on an e-bike, and your rides won’t be interrupted by worries about finding an electrical outlet.
Forbes •

Council Post: How To Go Beyond The Good Review With Your Customer Relations

Love them or hate them, online customer reviews can make or break your business’s reputation. Review forums such as Yelp, Angi or Google Reviews are the first stops in the decision-making process for modern consumers. Taking pains to cultivate good reviews and assuage dissatisfied customers on these websites is one of the business realities of the internet age. But the business-customer relationship goes beyond the digital satisfaction secured on review sites. Your customers are a valuable...
Mountain Weekly News •

Easy Mountain Bike / Road Cycling Gear Upgrades - Mountain Weekly News

No doubt about it – mountain biking is a gear-intensive sport. Whether you’re a full-on tech nerd, or just a rider who appreciates accessories that make a ride more enjoyable, there’s a product on the market to solve every possible problem that can crop up in the backcountry. One of the best things about mountain bike gear is that manufacturers are constantly putting new ideas and enhanced engineering into product development, and we consumers get to partake of the fruits of their labor: better...
Mountain Weekly News •

Easy Mountain Bike Gear Upgrades

No doubt about it – mountain biking is a gear-intensive sport. Whether you’re a full-on tech nerd, or just a rider who appreciates accessories that make a ride more enjoyable, there’s a product on the market to solve every possible problem that can crop up in the backcountry. One of the best things about mountain bike gear is that manufacturers are constantly putting new ideas and enhanced engineering into product development, and we consumers get to partake of the fruits of their labor...
Philly Bike Expo News •

Chandi Titanium Bicycles will launch brand at 2022 Philly Bike Expo – 2022 Philly Bike Expo

Chandi (pronounced “candy”) Titanium Bicycles is the latest boutique titanium bicycle brand from Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Volunteer State has been a center for titanium ore mining and metal production for some time now, and with carbon fiber composite materials also being produced in the state, Tennessee is becoming for bicycles what Michigan is to the auto industry.
Forbes •

Council Post: How To Make Your Construction Company Greener

My excavation company, Carolina Dozer, clears land for development or redevelopment, either for commercial or residential uses. I’m also an ardent environmentalist who is committed to operating my business and living my life in sustainable ways. How do I reconcile the two seemingly opposite aims, running my business profitably and helping to save the planet? I do this by reducing waste and lowering my business’s carbon footprint as much as possible. The way I see it, development is inevitable, b
Mountain Weekly News •

Top 10 Hardtail Mountain Bikes for 2022

You really can’t go wrong with a hardtail mountain bike for all-around versatility and lighter weight. Whether it’s plying city streets and hopping curbs on the way to class, riding gravel trails with the family on weekends, or shredding rocky singletrack, a hardtail can handle it all. Hardtails are the mainstay of most bike manufacturers’ line-ups, but each brand has its idiosyncrasies, highlights, and drawbacks, so it’s worth doing your research and test riding many models...
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