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Fast Folks just got in an order of their branded Purist water bottles. These are, in my opinion some of the best bottles on the market. You can read up about Purist bottles and why I think they’re so great at Specialized‘s site. Wanna pick one up? You’ll have to do so while you’re in town for the NAHBS!
When I post an Initial Reaction, I get trace amounts of anxiety. What if I post something and everyone bashes it? Well, unlike the bars I was riding, this Brooks leather bar tape has been holding up just fine to daily abuse. Yep, no “Zombie flesh” here, as one commenter pointed out. I’ve actually put a solid month and over 400 miles on this stuff and it’s still alive and kicking.
Check out more photos below.
Since day one, I’ve been telling the guys at Fyxation to make a bigger tire. Finally, at Interbike this year, Nick brought over a pair of the new 35c Sessions tires to wave under my nose and lemme tell ya, I liked what I smelled. Well, they are finally available today, at the Fyxation site and I’ve been giving these a go over the past month and they’re holding up really well!
Check out more photos and the rest of my Well Used review below.
There are a few “WTF” collaborations this morning but we’ll start it out with this Levis track bike. Hypebeast reports that:
“Three different parties were involved in the building act including Unik bike, Belgium’s master in vintage restorations, Fixerati, a Brussels-based shop specialized rare bike parts, and Brother Cycles, a London based entity known for their frames.”
I post the bar end photo because I thought that was the best detail on the bike. Wanna see more? Check them out below.
Maybe you recall a man by the name Christopher Robin that I’d posted about before? During the long winter months, he spends his free time making bicycles in what most would consider sub-standard conditions using implemented tools and techniques. For his latest endeavor, he decided to construct a replica of Graham Obree‘s hour-record breaking track bike. In a word, the outcome is immaculate!
You have to check out the rest of the photos and a video below. It’s insane!
Now you guys know my stance of 26″ fixed. I accept that people will ride what they want to ride and that small frames look a lot better with 26″ wheels. Even some medium frames look good with 26″ wheels. Now I get the whole durability argument but if you make a frame with bigger 700c clearance, your tires are larger and your wheel’s lifespan triples. Just look at Tom LaMarche’s Scissor. Massive tires and his wheels are holding up fine. Unless he clips a big marble manny pad.
Now where I’m not convinced of 26″: running them on large frames, as pictured in one of Slumworm‘s recent posts. I’m a man of proportions. It’s my architecture background. I’m also a huge stickler for builds. This bike is built really well but the proportions of it are all wrong if you ask me. It’s damn near impossible to design a large frame with 26″ wheels and make it look good. At least in my opinion. The main issue seems to be: 700c wheels, proportioned wheelbase and head tube, 26″ wheels, elongated wheelbase (visually) and over-compensated head tube.
My biggest qualm with this frame is that it looks squashed. Maybe it’s because they designed it with a ton of standover and the saddle is slammed? I dunno what it is but there’s something bad-ass about a large frame with 700c wheels and big tires that this one lacks. I know the Wheel Talk crew is working with Specialized on the P-Fix line, so I wanna see them push hard to make a large 26″ fixed that even I would wanna ride. I know you guys can do it!
2010 brought an increase in cycling blogs, most specifically the fixed and track bike blogs. From fixed freestyle to track racing, these blogs provided all of us great content and context.
Check out who made the Prolly is Not Probably Top 10 New Fixed Blogs of 2010 below!
Last year’s Fixed Gear Freestyle’s Top 10 Web Edits of 2009 list was such a hit, I brought it back for another run. This year showed a huge leap in the progression of fixed freestyle. I counted over 1,000 videos here on Prolly is not Probably, with about 70% of those being fixed freestyle web edits. In order to judge these fairly, I based the ranking on comments and overall Vimeo or Youtube views. All I’m trying to say is don’t be butt-hurt if your video didn’t make it! Without further adieu, here’s Fixed Gear Freestyle’s Top 10 Web Edits of 2010!
#10 Slumworm: Wheel Talk Series. From their debut Wheel Talk edit to their second and third, the Slum Worm and WT crew made their mark on the fixed freestyle community. I wonder how much influence these videos had on them landing the P-Fixed deal with Specialized?
Check out the rest of my Fixed Gear Freestyle’s Top 10 Web Edits of 2010 below!
Back in June, I showed you the Brooklyn Machine Works Launchpad Townie. Fender mounts, 8-speed Alfine hub, clearance for bigger tires and hand made in the USA.
Then today, Volume announced their Generator commuter. Same deal, minus the fender mounts and it comes with disk brakes. Volume describes their Generator as:
“We’ve been working on this bad boy for awhile now. Some of you guys might have seen it at our booth at Interbike? Our first post or mention of it was about a year ago with random parts we had in our warehouse. The Generator is a combination of a commuter and BMX. The thing rides like a dream and can still jump off a curb and do a mean wheelie. Features include: Full heat treated CRMO frame, fork and bar, EBB, fixed dropout, Shimano 8-spd. Alfine hub, Tektro Auriga Pro hydraulic brakes, 700X45c Resist tires, and much more. We’ll be offering it as a complete and should be due out around April/ May. What you see in the pic will be very close to what the production model will have. We’ll have more pics and info on the site asap.”
In an age where the fixed freestyle bike is moving further and further away from being an all-around bicycle, is this the answer? I think it is. There are a few things I’d change on the Volume (like who wants a commuter without fender mounts?!) but other than that, it looks good. I’m also not a fan of disk brakes but that’s a matter of opinion. There’s a bigger issue at hand here.
Back when we were rolling 38c at the biggest and still riding our bikes everywhere, something like this wouldn’t have been necessary but now, it seems like the fixed freestyle bikes are becoming more specialized. The guys who wanna do grinds and massive gaps are on 26″ with pegs and the tapper-tech guys are still rolling 700c but with big tires and slightly lower saddles.
People love the aesthetic of these bikes more than anything. A big, burly bike with big tires attracts all kinds of attention. They make the bigger riders feel comfortable and will take a pothole without coughing. You can hop curbs and take them off road. Having an 8-speed hub isn’t bad either. I find all this interesting. from one thing spawned many and as we saw in the Skidface video, it’s come a long way.
Are 700c freestyle-esque commuter (freewheel) bikes the next phase in the evolution of the urban bicycle? Or is this the last attempt to stay close to the fixed aesthetic and resist buying a road bike or cross bike? That’s for the consumers to determine.
Photo by Matt Reyes
You gotta hand it to Slumworm @Slumworm, they’re one solid crew. Building their own dirt jumps, riding just about every day and they developed a P-Fixed frame with Specialized. Their latest entry showcases the riding of Slummy and Jeffy Dempler. I really love this photo of Jeffy hitting a barspin flyout. Nicely done man!
I’ve gotten this question a few times since posting the Wheel Talk x Specialized P-Fixed. People are apprehensive about such a small tooth-driver on a fixed, asking if this is too much too soon? And now, with other companies talking about making 9t fixed drivers, I began to wonder: could a 9t fixed driver support the constant wear and tear of riding fixed?
The other day at Affinity, Ben and I were talking about it. Right off the bat, he showed me two torn drivers from a few months of riding on his BMX this summer. Ben’s a smooth rider and he’s also anal as hell about his bike (like most mechanics). He raised a good point: I wonder how long these 9t fixed drivers will hold up? Is a 9t Fixed Driver Really the Answer?
Check out some more photos below and feel free to comment!
Trust me, it gets a little better. A reader sent me this and jokingly asked what I thought of the bike. At first, I was going to post it and pick on it a little. Then I saw this…
Hey, I said a little better. Schwinn’s new 2011 Madison is getting there. I like the red version better than the purple and gold. In fact, when I first saw the red color, I thought it was a Specialized Langster. Can’t go wrong with a single-color, all-silver build. But still, someone needs to help Schwinn out.
I’d be all for a nicely-lugged Paramount re-issue. Stick to the classics, not the trends.
Interbike is great for many reasons. One of which is getting scoops like this. Remember Slumworm’s 26″ or 29’r fixed freestyle bike? When I saw it, I thought, there’s no way one of the Wheel Talk guys made that frame. Nothing against them but it looked PRO. Turns out, there’s a big company backing the project.
Wanna know who? Check it out below.
Falling victim to design marketing, Chris’ next bike was a Specialized Fatboy. Dude, you really were into funky frame designs weren’t you? On a slightly-related note, I think this is the longest “Previously” list to date on this blog. How many more bikes do you have man? haha
Previously:
Chris Piascik: All My Bikes 09
Chris Piascik: All My Bikes 08
Chris Piascik: All My Bikes 07
Chris Piascik: All My Bikes 06
Chris Piascik: All My Bikes 05
Chris Piascik: All My Bikes 04
Chris Piascik: All My Bikes 03
Chris Piascik: All My Bikes 02
Chris Piascik: All My Bikes 01
I have a bit of a backpack fetish. One of the things I’ve come to realize is that like bikes, backpacks can be specialized as well. Sometimes you just want a small pack, other times you need a cargo backpack and no matter what, having options makes life easier. Manhattan Portage isn’t really known for their backpacks, even though I own one, I wouldn’t consider them to be high-end by any means. That is until they start addressing the Japanese consumers. Hypebeast reports that Manhattan Portage is doing exactly that with their new Black Label line.
From the looks of things, it’s a huge departure from their other backpacks and the cost will most likely reflect that.
A while back, I posted about Andy Hampsten’s most famous photo; him covered in snow on the Passo Gavia in 1988, while riding a Serotta-built Huffy. The photo inspired that House Industries print and even Andy to make his own prints of the photo with a graphic overlay. He even signs each print. I ordered one of these back when I first posted about it and it finally came in the mail. I guess it takes a while to get Andy to sign them!
Sure, it may not seem like that big of a deal, but let’s not forget Hampsten’s legacy. For this week’s Merckx Mondays, we’ll take a look at some of Andy’s moments while riding for Motorola in the 90’s.
Darren Berrecloth for Specialized
I just want everyone to take a few minutes and read what Alex wrote in the Steven Jensen: New Rims Edit. While I may not agree with 100% of the content, he makes a very valid point; cycling cross-pollinates. Crossing over between bikes, regardless of rim size makes things interesting. Tom LaMarche did it in 2007 and now others are doing it. Many thanks to Alex for taking to time to write this comment. Read his comment here:
This happened a bit in the mountain bike scene too when riders like Darren Berrecloth (who was a good, but 2nd rate BMX’er) switched over to big bikes, and did all the big lines that the old mountain bikers did, but threw bmx tricks in as well. He immediately won a bunch of contests and was picked up by Specialized soon thereafter.
People started to bitch and moan a bit, but after a few other riders switched over, it got some cred for the sport because people were doing more than just hucking themselves off big drops and jumps to flat.
Check out more below…
84-year old Phil Wood ( @PhilWoodCo ) passed away today on his farm in Baxter, Iowa. Since 1971, the Phil Wood Company specialized in hub and other bicycle component manufacturing. In 1991, he sold the company to Peter Enright and other investors. Most of us first came to know Phil Wood’s products through the popularity of their track hubs. Reliable, handmade in the US, hubs that set the standard for modern wheel builds. Let’s all observe a moment of silence today for Phil Wood. His contributions to the bicycle industry are undeniable.
News via Bike Biz
