A true fixed-wheel wall ride
Posted by
Max on
2 February 2010
Found this picture via Jussi at Fixed Gear Bikes blog.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Bycaboy Ho!!
Posted by
Max on
29 January 2010
Seb, long-time friend and official FPIK (fastest person I know), runs Bycaboy couriers. He's been having a little rummage in the dressing-up box here and is gonna have to scoot pretty fast to escape the fashion police! Can be seen in more restrained mode on the Rapha site.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Big in Japan
Posted by
Max on
24 January 2010
As Matt Fee, friend from the Fireflies Ride reports that he saw Fixed in a Tokyo bookshop, I found this. I always wanted to be big in Japan. Big plans afoot for a return to Tokyo in 2010.
[Matt ^ ^]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
kalavinka for condor
Posted by
Andy on
whilst in tokyo last year we interviewed Akio Tanabe and photogrpahed his workshop for the book. Tanabe-san bulids NJS certified frames under the very well respected brand, Kalavinka. Whilst there, he was very keen to show us his newest carbon creation - of which he was justly very proud! Tanabe-san was trying to find a British rider to ride his newest super-bike, so it's great to hear that it will soon be ridden by points race supremo - chris newton; badged as, and no doubt tested and tuned by condor... though i doubt Mr Newton will be riding with the twin 'spoks setup... read more over at the condor blog
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Level Graphic
Posted by
Max on
9 January 2009
An image that sadly didn't make the cut in our recent piece for Grafik magazine about bicycle logos (the editor's choice, not ours). Level, from Tokyo, are best known for their Keirin bikes, though I'm not sure that this is exclusively what they make. Many Japanese framebuilders use the Roman alphabet on their bikes. Some may have picked it up from the Italian craftsmen with whom they learnt their trade (Nagasawa, notably, worked under Pogliaghi and de Rosa). It may also be a legacy of the US occupying forces who helped to set up the Keirin league in 1947. Or maybe just fashion. Whatever the case, many have understandably taken a markedly graphic approach to their logotypes - we in the West use incomprehensible Japanese characters in exactly the same way. In this case, Level has taken the foreign lettering and rendered it graphically pure, in perfect symmetry along a vertical axis.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Pro Motion
Posted by
Max on
28 December
And another thing. We have an article in Grafik Magazine this month (issue 181) about bicycle logo design.
Having geeked out on bikes worldwide and from 1901-2009 researching Fixed, we were struck both by the diversity and the similarities in head badge and logo images. The article groups a variety of logos thematically (for example, signatures, birds, heraldry) and, although the subs left several of my favourite logos out (like Level!), it features lot of nice artwork by Andy. There's definitely more to say on this subject...
Thanks to Gruppo, Peter at Classic Lightweights and the Editor at Hetchins.org for their help.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Morvelo
Posted by
Max on
28 December
Talking of Morvelo, I was given one of their Ts for Christmas. A ton of great designs on their site, and the garms themselves are really high quality cotton. Most importantly, they're cut casually but in a proper cyclist's fit. Not too wide, for lardasses, but then not too skinny either. Keep it up guys!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The still centre of the turning world
Posted by
Max on
22 December
The road to the Marmotte started at the midwinter solstice, "the still centre of the turning world" as TS Eliot called it. I'd been off the bike for a while, mainly drinking, but I had winterised it and added a Phil hub - so when snow began piling on the skylight on Thursday evening I knew I had to go out first thing. I didn't get as far as Oli at Morvelo; far enough, though, to feel the Siberian wind whipping snow across the downs. Passing cars soaked me in slush on the way back down but my mojo's returned. Consequently there wasn't anything I'd rather have done on my birthday than hacking round some dark lanes dodging ice. Daylight was scarce and precipitation came as water, not ice, stripping the muddy fields of their white covering as the day went on. Then Talisker and fish pie in the pub.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Le Geant de Provence
Posted by
Max on
Not saying to you it's obligatory to have climbed the fucker to wear this, but you will walk a bit taller if you have - it's an amazing and emotional place. This, though, is a sweet T-shirt print from our friends at Urban Hunter. They do a range with classic cycling imagery, and also import Bagaboo to the UK... nice one guys.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Human Powered Rollercoaster
Posted by
Max on
7 December
Hello fixie skidders. Just a short one this, but when chatting with Squid in NY, he told us about the legendary figure-of-8 track that made an appearance at a CMWC sometime back in the '90s, I think. He had technical drawings and things, but I also found some pictures and info here. A hundred years ago, in the heyday of the 6-dayers, there were many portable tracks - but none like this, of course. The claims to be the only truly portable track now in existence. And if the rumours are true it may be making another appearance in the Oh-ten. Thanks to Bill for a Moving Target article (I don't remember which) that contained the link.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Mash SF and Fixed
Posted by
Max on
So despite the post office's best attempts not to deliver our book to SF (and UPS too - they also fucked up and I'm definitely not anti-post office), it arrived at Mash HQ yesterday, and they posted a great blog post about us. They're some of the hardest riding and nicest people I've met, and always an inspiration, so thanks guys.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Launch party
Posted by
Max on
17 November
So we had a launch party, it was pretty awesome. A lot of forumengers in full effect, despite the pissing rain. Bright Times DJs killed it as far as I'm concerned. There was only a short time between stressing setting up all afternoon and being really pissed. Certainly not enough to have dinner. So, sorry if you talked to me. Even sorrier if I 'signed' your book. Thanks to everyone that came down, all contributors, Andy from Fixed Gear London and 14BikeCo for helping out.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
‘80s messenger photos
Posted by
Max on
15 November
Some lovely pictures here from Dave Perez Shadi of bicycle messengers in New York in the mid-80s. I think that Born (pictured), was best friends with Nelson Vails, the former messenger and Olympic track silver medallist, whom we interviewed. If you like these - and you should check the rest of the blog - you should also check Eddie Williams' book Bike Messengers Life. Eddie gave us a few photos to use, but he has a shit ton, and his book is a fascinating pictorial history of one man's life in the messenger community.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
RVCA
Posted by
AE on
4.11.09
The book was recently featured in an exhibition at Seize gallery in Marseille. The Marseille exhibiton followed previous in Paris, Avignon, and Toulouse, and was composed of pictures from Cedric Viollet, who features in our book, Guillaume Jolly 's illustrations, Jérome romain's painting and the BarryMcgee - RVCA - Cinelli track bike.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Muddy Hell!
Posted by
Max on
I hear congratulations are in order for Rollapaluza. for running a thoroughly enjoyable Muddy Hell cross race at Herne Hill yesterday. Bank manager said 'No' to my attendance, but Andy went, got muddy racing, drank cider and laughed at people cycling in weird costumes.
Here's a picture by the way of Jos from Tour de Ville, one of the event's sponsors, in training for it... brakeless on a 60-mile cyclocross race! I hear he came second, nice work Jos. If you haven't checked it out, by the way, you should go to Tour de Ville for a selection of beautiful vintage bikes, parts and clothing. They lent us a bike or two for the studio shoot for the book, which looked amazing.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Lazy Dog store, Paris
Posted by
AE on
28.10.09
The Lazy Dog store, Paris, has had copies of the book nicely displayed in their shop window, alongside the pretty Barry McGee / RVCA / Cinelli supercorsa pista which features in the book, as well as a fixed-porteur bulit by Cyclope.
photos: lazy dog, paris
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Rapha Blog
Posted by
Fixed book on
26.10.09
Rapha were one of the first to post about the book on their blog, and they've chosen two of my favourite images to sit alongside - the super-cool 60's NYC fixed-gear rider, and Eddy Merckx attacking the hour record in Mexico (see the post here).
I particularly enjoyed their recent Nordaal photostory by Ben Ingham featuring Ira Ryan, the photos from which also turned up in the very nice A/W 2009 lookbook that arrived through my door this morning. There are some further images from the shoot on the Rapha flickr stream
photos by Ben Ingham
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Welcome!
Posted by
Fixed book on
26.10.09
Hello and welcome to our blog! We'll be posting updates from our contributors and lots of cycle-related news...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
