#track-bike

Reportage By: John Watson

My Icarus Columbus MAX Track Bike

I think every cyclist goes through ups and downs when it comes to what they want in a bike. When I began talking to Ian at Icarus last year about my ViKING track bike, I wanted something more relaxed to ride on. We kept the geometry of the frame true track and went with a fork with a little more rake than normal, to make the ride more road-like. That way, I could just drop a 32mm track fork on the bike and have that “aggressive” ride associated with a track bike.

Well, after having the urge to ride a fast, nimble track bike on the streets, I contacted Ian about making a 32mm rake fork. Initially, we couldn’t find a Columbus MAX fork crown in 1 1/8″ so we went with a unicrown. At NAHBS, Chris Bishop told me he had a stainless 1 1/8″ MAX fork crown, so I bought it from him and sent the materials to Ian at his newly-located facilities in Ashville, NC.

A few weeks later and this baby arrived. I held off on painting it for now because I can’t afford to drop the cash at the moment and I want to work out the paint scheme. But with the Chris King polished stainless headset, I plan on polishing the crown to really set the bike off. Because Ian knew I’d be riding it raw, he torched it a bit, giving it a hippie tie-dye finish and then coated it with furniture polish to keep it from rusting.

The feather on the blade lets you know this bike means business. Beware of impostors, there is only one feather to rule them all.

Check out the Gallery by clicking the photo above, or click here to open a new tab.

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Reader’s Rides: Ismail Ashland’s PIAS Track

My inbox gets swamped pretty easily and over the course of the past few months, I’ve missed out on posting up some Reader’s Rides. That said, I couldn’t let Ismail’s PIAS slip away. Check out more at his PedalRoom.

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Bishop Bikes: Modified Japanese Seat Cluster

Chris Bishop is at it again with shaping and carving away at lugwork. This new track bike sports some very elegant lines, from the Japanese lugs. All the satin finishing on the stainless bits are drool-worthy. See more at the Bishop Flickr.

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Cyclonesia: Movement

I like portraits taken with a bit of motion and that’s exactly what this photo is. Found via Cyclonesia‘s Flickr.

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Tokyo Fixed x Death Spray Custom ONO Low Pro

This looks so sick. I love Death Spray Custom and this new Tokyo Fixed ONO Low Pro is a perfect example of why. Damn. From Tokyo Fixed Gear:

“This prototype was hand painted by Death Spray Custom. The ONO will be with us in late May and should be priced around £775 including a carbon fork. The frame is fillet brazed and is made using Columbus Zona with a Columbus MAX downtube & CNC CR-MO dropouts. Pretty sweet.

The ONO features the 5 dot mon on the head tube, keeping the graphics simple and allowing us to use painting & masking only.”

See more photos here.

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Double O Championship Heat 4

Here’s Flwrider‘s 4th heat of the Double O Champtionships.

Reportage By: John Watson

Primate Frames

Back in February, Adam from CycleEXIF and I took a ride from Sydney to Wollongong to see Tarn and Meg at Primate Frames. I met these two back in 2009 at the CMWC in Tokyo, when they were both living in Sydney. Meg was running Candy Cranks and Tarn was building frames and working as an electrician. A few years ago, they moved to Wollongong to enjoy the mountains and get away from the hustle and bustle of city living. Tarn now builds Primate Frames out of their home and their dog Shifter overlooks the operations.

Tarn’s work is unique. Bright colors, big, thick tubesets and yet, elegant when the job calls for it. He’s been a huge Brooklyn Machine Works fan for years and you can tell in his work. His yolks are fat, his swing arms are burly and he works with steel. Unless it’s a custom scooter, then he uses carbon for the deck.

Check out the Gallery by clicking the photo above, or click here to open a new tab.

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Superb: Antonio’s Special Edition Kawasaki Green Superb Sprint

This is very nice. I love gumwalls, bright frames and even silver components. But the dual brakes seal the deal. You can tell someone’s in this for the distance. Check out more at Superb. Thanks for the heads up Tracko.

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Macaframa: Don “Roadblock” Ward

Macaframa did a video profile on Wolfpack‘s Don “Roadblock” Ward. Don’s one of the most genuinely nice people you’ll ever meet on a bike and I enjoyed watching this one. I need to make it out to WPH at some point. Damn, I miss LA!

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Will Goodan’s Nagasawa Special

Photo by Will Goodan

Three years ago, I shared a story about the significance of a cork being hung from your saddle rails. Two years ago, I reminded you about the story and now, I’m adding this in, just to shift the tables east. Will, this is a great photo. See his full set here.

Reportage By: John Watson

Ross’ 3Rensho International Keirin Champion Track Bike

This one’s been a long time coming. Ross’ stable is freaking insane. He’s got a Nagasawa track bike with dual brakes, a Richard Sachs cross bike, a Speedvagen cross bike and now this beauty is finally complete. If you’ve been paying attention to Fyxomatosis, since forever, you might recognize this bike. It was featured, a couple years back and shortly after, Andy sold it to Ross.

Gary Neiwand raced the International Keirin circuit and on his third revolution, Yoshi Konno built him this frame. It was a disaster. He didn’t want the low-pro geometry and the top tube was way too long. Yoshi disregarded Gary’s specifications and basically built what he thought was best. What did Gary do? He still raced the bike and still won. With drops. Typically, low-pros are raced with pursuit bars, not drops.

Amazing. You can see more on the story at Fyxo, but for now, let’s look at Ross’ build up. Below are specs and a video of Gary Neiwand racing during the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta.

Check out the Gallery by clicking the photo above, or click here to open a new tab.

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Reader’s Rides: Byskov’s ’92 Cannondale

Man, the user-submitted content is getting damn good these days. Here’s Byskov’s 1992 Cannondale track bike. I’m digging the black components.

Nitto NJS Cockpit (+ seatpost)
Prologo Navo Evo Saddle
Sugino 75 Cranks
Sugino 75 BB
Zen Chainring 46T (looking for a 52T)
Exustar EPS-R pedals
Reynolds Hubs
Reynolds SDV66c Rims
Vredenstein Fortezza TriComp 23c Clinchers
KMC 710SL Chain
Andel 17T cog + lockring

Reportage By: John Watson

One More Dosnoventa

The Dosnoventa Montecarlo, at first glance, looks like the Cannondale ’92 track bike. But this frameset uses Columbus Airplane tubing, a carbon fork (or steel) and a 1″ steerer. Its cousin, the Dosnoventa Detroit, has an integrated headset for those seeking modernity. They shortened the rear end and removed any brake hole drillings. Basically, if Canonndale took a return down memory lane, chances are, it’d look like this.

Check out more by clicking the photo above or here to open in a new tab.

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Beautiful Bicycle: Kim’s LOW Track

Photo by Kim Heikkinen

Sweet, sweet lord from the ground below. Kim’s LOW built up quite nice. Check out the full set here. Praise to the Finnish doom metal set!

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One Feather to Rule them All

I’ve been enjoying the shit out of my Icarus track bike and recently, I tracked down an 1 1/8″ Columbus MAX stainless fork crown for her, along with MAX blades. While I love the unicrown fork, the main reason we chose it was for it’s beefiness, when compared to the MAX tubesets. There aren’t any steel track forks with 1 1/8″ steerers that can stand up next to the MAX downtube. The unicrown was also a bit of a nod the Chris Chance bikes, which were built on the same block as Ian’s old shop. Still, how could I say no to a full Columbus MAX track bike? More to come, once I get my hands on the bugga’. Ian’s shipping out the raw fork this week so I can polish the crown before paint.

I don’t know what spawned this post, I guess I just liked this random photo I took from a Recent Roll with 1600 Fuji Natura. That’s a pesky film to use but sometimes the grain works just right.

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Slick Black Bishop Track for Sale

A Velospace user is selling his Bishop track bike:

“This is my custom build Bishop track bike . Built completely to my body measurements, and is the best riding bike I’ve ever ridden. Its surreal that this started out as a box of tubes , and turned into something so beautiful . This bike is VERY stiff where it needs to be, responsive , accelerates quickly, yet doesn’t kill you after riding it for 5 minutes. This is my commuter during the week, and will be on the track on the weekends. The tubulars never see the street, I have a set of mavic cxp12’s laced to suntour superbe pro clinchers.”

Check out the info here and here. Do NOT lowball the guy…

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House Guests

I get a lot of house guests since moving to Austin but maybe this one can hang out for a little bit. No, it’s not mine and yes, there are more photos to come. Sit tight…

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Kim Heikkinen: Jukka’s Kissena Velo Fund Bike

Photo by Kim Heikkinen

When I think of Finland, I think of death doom metal, not an Affinity Cycles Kissena Velo Fund bike. Thanks to Kim Heikkinen for keeping me on my toes. Jukka’s Kissena looks great and remember, you can get your hands on one of these bikes right here.