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Crust Bikes recently received a shipment of frames and in that shipment was stock of the Florida Man singlespeed frames designed by Leo Rodgers. These bikes can be ridden as a fixed gear, a coaster cruiser, or a singlespeed (with a front brake only), are available in six frame sizes and are in stock now at Crust Bikes. Head on over to see more details of these wild-looking frames.
We love hosting and supporting the fruits of our good friends’ labor. Crust Bikes and Leo Rodgers have been working on a pro model for Leo, dubbed the “Florida Man.” This singlespeed frame can be built as a singlespeed freewheel, a coaster brake, or a straight-up fixed gear off-road machine. Check out all the details below, including how you can win one of these frames!
Los Angeles has no shortage of inspirational athletes. Skate legend Eric Koston and Justin Williams of L39ION of Los Angeles recently worked on this video for Specialized in Silverlake while talking bikes and sneakers…
Since we posted Two Wheel Drive yesterday, we thought it’d be nice to feature one of the shop employee’s personal bikes. Bryan is a mechanic and his Mash track bike is too slick, laced with Albuquerque’s own DOOM bars and some other nice details. Check out our friend Nick’s photos below with words by Bryan himself…
In case you missed our DUST feature last week and the video embedded within the Reportage from South Africa, we figured we should share the event’s video recap (which has also been updated in higher quality). Enjoy!
You know how a hashtag can fuck you? Well maybe not, but a few years ago my good friend Nic and I had this idea … we’d always been intrigued by the pans – or mud flats – of the Northern Cape here in South Africa. At the time we were really getting into riding fixed gear bikes and one day it hit us – let’s take our fixed gear bikes onto the pan! Why not? Surreal landscapes, super smooth surfaces good enough for world speed records! Sounds like a good adventure right? We did some research and found out that that year there was a South African Speedweek planned in September 2014 on the Hakskeenpan, coinciding with the launch of a planned rocket-propelled car land speed record attempt – the Bloodhound SSC. We decided to travel up in Nic’s old 1963 Porsche 356 – it seemed appropriate. Bikes on the roof, gear in the back.
Readers’ Rides aren’t meant to be all 26″ wheeled basket bikes and there’s nothing wrong with that. Part of the joy we get from running this segment is the home-made, garage-cooked creations. Take this submission for example. Nick couldn’t fit on any production frames so he built his own frame. Then to up the ante, he put a fat fork on the front for some winter shenanigans… Read on below for more!
A reader from Leipzig sent this short video over for us to enjoy on this Friday morning:
“My name is Jacob and I’ve been a cycle messenger in Germany for more than 10 years now.
This week we had an unusual and unexpected outbreak of winter here in Leipzig with strong winds and heavy snow for multiple days. The city was totally unprepared, I saw snow plows getting stuck in snow and all public transportation was off for multiple days. Since I needed to send out some letters and therefore had to go outside anyway, I decided to take my track bike and camera and try to get some nice videos of the snow-cycling-chaos.”
Thanks, Jacob!
This week’s Readers’ Rides is a little different. Chris sent in his parts bin Bombtrack Arise gravel bike. What makes this build unique is that his current build on this frame is a fixed gear. Read on below for the full build breakdown and some words by Chris…
Remember cyclocross racing? Remember its sibling tracklocross and all those excellent galleries from the Bay Area series? Well, Mash SF has something for you to consider if you’re hoping to start racing tracklocross. Their 2021 frames all got a refresh, with new paint designs, and Mash even hinted at their new Phil Wood collaboration on their blog, so head on over to see all the details.
I guess this is a little embarrassing. I built this bike from a single part: the stem. When Paul released the first version of the Eddie Van Halen Boxcar stem, I just had to have it! To be clear, I am not a Van Halen fan.
Over the past few weeks I’ve enjoyed becoming re-acquainted with an old friend. As I’ve been slowing back down to a more creative and contemplative speed, un-encumbered by “normality” or any other external influence and bolstered by the vivid dreams associated with normal sleep patterns, a relaxed mind and inappropriately timed cheese consumption, I’ve settled nicely into fat tyres and riding fixed on sandy beaches. As the salty air of coastal living coupled with a lack of access to spares, tools and equipment that allow our bikes to keep rolling, caused the rideable bikes of our household to drop like flies. I was forced to delve deep into the museum of slightly broken bicycles that is my loft.
Tory Powers is a filmmaker out of Boulder, CO and they recently just wrapped up a documentary alongside cyclist Charli Mandel.
Charli had the ridiculous idea to do the world’s first track bike Everesting last May. Alongside this, Charli was in the process of transitioning MtF. On their birthday. 200+ miles, 29,029ft of elevation, over 6000 calories, and nearly 19 hours in the saddle.
Wow!
The latest from Seabase is as awe-inspiring as ever!
“Pantelleria sits in the southern Mediterranean like a black fortress. Seemingly the crossing point between southern European and northern African cultures, I first discovered this island in the movie A Bigger Splash, as Tilda Swinton and her co-Stars drove up the most symmetrical set of switchbacks I’ve ever seen in a Mehari. It was this that piqued my interest, and certainly nurtured my obsession.”
Something happened down in the Sonoran Desert this winter. Maybe it was Ronnie’s influence but people began riding gravel roads on fixed gear bikes. These bikes aren’t like the street track bikes, popularized by MASH and the like in the mid-2000s, yet they utilize a gravel bike’s geometry, down to the tire clearance, yet they just don’t have gears, or in this case, brakes. This type of machine is great for developing a smooth pedaling cadence and perhaps its the long and low rolling hills of the grasslands found around Patagonia, Arizona. Yesterday we looked at Ronnie’s Madrean and today, we look at Adam Sklar‘s own bike.
That suntanned, SUNTOURist, king of the grandiose, the beausage factory himself, Mr. Ronnie Romance, aka Ultra Romance, really knows how to put a bicycle together, even a simple one such as a fixed gear. Yet we’re not talking a Kierin bike, those NJS-stamped sparkle machines, or even a British Path Racer. This is a bike designed specifically for a plump, rough and tumble tire, with a relaxed fit, eons past the aggressive saddle-to-bar drop bikes of yesteryear, yet somewhere in-between the monster-truck abilities of a tracklocross bike. This Madrean Fabrications ‘country fixed’ is unlike anything I’ve seen in recent memory… or maybe it’s just my old age.
The Big Block is a tried and true offering from All-City. These street fixed gear bikes have a set of bottle bosses, increased tire clearance and drilled for brakes. The 4130 frame is tough and survives years of heavy use by bike messengers worldwide. For 2020, the Big Block got a wild paintjob, while the frame details and build kit stays the same.
Features:
612 Select chromoly steel with double-butted main triangle, tapered stays and brazed-on seat collar
4130 Chromoly double butted fork with lugged crown and tapered blades
Velodrome legal track geometry
All-City Signature investment-cast stainless steel Hennepin Bridge track dropouts with built-in chain tensioner
E.D. coated for durability and rust prevention
Tire clearance: 700c x 32mm; 28mm with fenders
Big Block (Midnight/Frost/Violet) Complete: $999 MSRP
Frameset: $550 MSRP
For their latest Riding Fixed, Up Mountains, With Pros video, State Bicycle Co rides with Christian Vande Velde in Greenville, SC up Caesar’s Head.