The Radavist

This time of year, the idea of leaving the bike at home and swapping mountains for man-made monuments was very appealing, especially coming off a trip to Tasmania and showing my mom around Death Valley for three days. I’d become inundated with nature and London was going to be the perfect destination this time of year.

If any city merits a good, solid track bike or singlespeed, it’s London. The traffic is like an organism. Sometimes predatory, othertimes symbiotic. It’ll swallow you whole, or let you surf the wave of continuous flow. Die-hard fixed gear and track bike riders will sing their bike’s praises in these conditions, while guys like Charlie will take all that and run a different direction.

Charlie is the owner of Seabass Cycles. He’s had this Ted James Design ESB, or extra strong bike for a few years as a fixed gear. The premise behind these frames was to take a track geometry and tweak it with a few BMX or MTB influences: bigger tire clearances, gussets and body language.

Cycling isn’t a new thing for Oakley. As a company, they didn’t see a potential market and invent a legacy or shift marketing dollars in order to tap into it. From supporting Greg Lemond back in the day to working with Mark Cavendish on modern eyewear. They’re an iconic staple heavily vested in creating not only performance eyewear for professional athletes, but supporting scenes and dare I say cycling’s outlying “cultures.”

Their In Residence spaces are designed around a specific use or program. It began in Los Angeles with a Studio, which centered around the art surrounding LA skateboarding and has now moved onto London, where the In Residence Workshop operates as a hub for cyclists.

Nestled on Exmouth Market, a small one-way street that shuts down to vehicular traffic at night for the pubs and restaurant patrons to enjoy, the Workshop is an ideal pre or post-ride meet up. There’s coffee by Prufrock, exhibitions by Spoke London, free Seabass Cycles-operated mechanics area, maintenance workshops with the London Bike Kitchen, weekly rides by East London Fixed, movies by the Bicycle Film Festival and yes, free wifi.

In the world of beausage and bicycles, you’d be hard pressed to find a better catalyst than a street-racing track bike. Or even a bike messenger’s work horse. When you combine the two…

This Legor Cicli track bike was first featured here back in 2011 at NAHBS in Austin. Originally owned by John Taki and was just recently passed down to Chas, it’s seen its share of street wear and tear. Fit with Omnium cranks, a 44RN camo chainring and Essor wheels, it has the mean stance of a race machine, with a lot of that special pista patina we’ve all come to admire.

Chas was in London to do a panel with Oakley at their In Residence space, so in-between his busy schedule, I took this bike outside to document it. There’s something special about a track bike in a city like London… and I love it! Oh and that cup in the spokes? Chas didn’t want to litter when he finished his beer.