Chris Bishop in 35mm

One of my favorite framebuilders is Chris Bishop and this weekend, unlike previous events, I actually got to spend some time with Chris. While I really wanted to interview him while we sat at Whole Foods drinking a bottle of Tripel Karmeleit, I figured he was probably enjoying the afternoon and didn’t want to bother him with it. When we did chat, it was mostly about his years as a messenger (he actually still messengers in Bmore every day) and how much he loves to ride a track bike in Manhattan.

Columbus MS in 35mm

Then I came across this interview on Embrocation the other day and I was glad that someone caught Chris’ stories on tape. Here’s an excerpt:

“Chris clearly thinks that a track bike is the best for city riding. “Manhattan is great for a track bike; that’s traffic slalom all day long.” I have to agree that, especially in bad conditions like rain, snow, and ice, a fixed gear is much more communicative than a bike with a freewheel and brakes—“like driving a stick instead of an auto.” But what about the steep angles and incredibly narrow wheelbase? He described a method of changing a line in which he “pops” the entire bike from one course to another—it reminded me somewhat of the kind of thing one might do on a pump track. “

Man. Is he ever right! In fact, I’m going to go tear through Manhattan now on my Merckx Pista. Read the rest of Chris’ interview on Embrocation here. I added a few more photos from my Recent Roll to the NAHBS in 35mm Flickr set.