The lowbar grind
A coffee business ramps up to cultivate a stronger skateboarding community
October 31, 2025 | photos and story by Diego Perdomo
This story is from Atrium’s Spring 2025 magazine, which released April 2025.
When Ryan Barlow was a teenager, he would have done anything to skate.
Who cared about politeness when he was asking for a ride to the skate park? Who cared about the cost of skate trips and gear? Who cared about his friendships? If he wanted to skate, he was going to.
“Anything that would stand in the way of that never really mattered,” Barlow said.
Nearly two decades later, the same skate friends who teased him for “setting the bar low” watch the boy they once dubbed “shithead” with a knowing smirk, as Barlow refines his ambitions in a new pursuit: coffee.
Born and raised in Gainesville, Barlow, 33, sought his dreams of barreling down hills and coasting through streets during a 10-year stint in San Francisco. Between tech startup jobs and side hustling with a local bike refurbishing company, he discovered a love of being a barista, allowing him to interact more with people who value creativity.
After tiring of California rent prices, Barlow moved back home.
Noting the skate-friendly infrastructure he left behind and a new food scene in Gainesville, Barlow melded his two passions and created lowbar, a pop-up aiming to promote specialty coffee and skateboarding culture.
The business gives Barlow the outlet to contribute to the lively skate community he always looked for growing up.
The DIY spirit of skating persists in Barlow’s product branding and a fully modular storefront that stacks onto his 1990 Honda microvan.
With the portable storefront, lowbar sets up shop three days a week.
In a storage unit next to the popup, customers and friends skate on homemade ramps of Barlow’s own design. With nearly 300 hours of work, help from other Gainesville skaters and a variety of purchased, donated and discounted plywood, he was the lead designer of the ramps and modular storefront. When they’re not at the pop-ups, the ramps appear at community skate events, night markets and music festivals. With aims to make custom ramps for other events, Barlow creates a job he loves instead of pursuing a job he could easily get with his experience across the tech and coffee industries.
Gainesville’s healthy business culture and skateboarding environment fuel his big ambitions. He believes Gainesville could one day be the next San Francisco.
“That’s really the whole reason why I do this,” Barlow said. “I wanna have friends help and hopefully employ skaters and other baristas one day. [Custom ramps are] the drive for it: Put skateboarding on the map for Gainesville.”
Creating partnerships with local business owners and larger brands like Converse, Barlow seeks to partner with national skaters and local governments to support friendlier skate infrastructure.
“My community is skateboarding, no matter what I do, that’s something that I can’t hide,“ he said.
