By Cycles, By Heart & Always True.

BIEK PR0N on CORE77

2011-09-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

been a while since i been on my bike

2011-07-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

carlos here.

been a while since i been on the velo. i mean, like, i been on it, but like, not like in a fun every day kind of way, just like an every now and then, wish i could be on it more often kind of way.

hopefully a new address back in hampden will sort that out.

NIce to See at least this place still works well...

2010-05-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

right now, google is telling me i need to save everything from my other blog into a zip, download the whole damn thing, back it up, then reupload it to the new site... which is exactly the same address (and server mind) as it was before! DOUBLE YOU TEE EFF MATE for sheezy.

Fixie Nirvana

2009-06-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

So, we managed to export it all the way to Slovenia, only to find out they have the mother of all velodromes there.

http://bit.ly/iwqSA

Shoes that you can take home to your parents.

2009-05-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

So NYC Bike snob just got sent a new pair of the Vittoria 1976 shoes. They look like you could wear them to work most places and not look like you are ready for soccer practice. They have flexible soles and take SPD's so you wont fall on your ass.
I am still waiting for a Redwing to offer some these with an SPD.

New Deeper V! Deeper than H & Son!

2009-04-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

velocity has (although they dont outright mention it) made a rim ONE millimeter deeper than the h & son rims, called it the b43, coming complete with their full color range, a custom spoke count of your choice (although comes stock in 32, 36, and 48), triple walled (as apposed to the standard double), and SPECIFICALLY designed for polo and "tricking" - isnt tricking what you did to your little sister, or the poor dumb kid in class? anyways, they are set to hit the streets next month...

siiiick!

from here.

reTARded places to ride a bike

2008-10-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

Amidst our Failing Economy, Laughter.

2008-09-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

Q: How many commodities traders does it take to change a light bulb?

A: None, they don’t change bulbs; but the trading price of darkness does plummet due to oversupply.

-from deep within the freakonomics blog.

Sick: Lugged Stem By Nitto w/ Reynolds

2008-09-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

Nitto Lugged Reynolds 853 Stem

"Made from Reynolds 853 steel tubing and custom lugs, this stem is gorgeous! 26.0mm handlebar clamp, and made to fit 1" steerer tubes. Nickel plated for a durable satin finish. This is the best reason you should never buy a bike that takes a threadless stem! We stock these in 5 sizes; 80mm, 90mm, 100mm, 110mm, and 120mm. 180mm quill. $ 200.00

from here

Feeling Flush? Plug GOLD.

2008-08-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

aint no joke. one of a kind. and the company will make you one, if youve got the bank to back a dip into pure gold.

here.

Tonights THE Night.

2008-04-02T08:44:00.001-07:00

although this has nothing to do with bikes, it does kinda have to do with beer - although all bike people are welcome... and beer people...

DJ B MINUS and DJ C PLUS, aka Benito Y Carlito throw an entirely new night at the church of red, aka REDCHURCH...

welcome to

RUDE SAFARI!!!!!

EVERY WEDNESDAY! with tonight marking the OFFICIAL 1st month completed, and tucked fully under our belts (amongst other things).

Come see B- / C+ play more types of music than you new existed - and all BACK TO BACK!

WE AINT FRONTIN!

YEAH!

MEDIA SPOT: The Observer (aka, the sunday edition of The Gaurdian)

2008-03-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

No brakes, no gears: the latest bike craze
Stripped-back cycles popular with couriers are taking London by storm

Alice Fisher, style correspondent
The Observer,
Sunday March 9 2008

Riding a bicycle without brakes sounds like a rash move, but a wave of cyclists are eschewing traditional bikes for a stripped-down machine known as a fixed-gear.

It is one of the most basic machines you can build with two wheels. A fixed-gear bike - or fixie - has no derailleur as it has only one gear, so as long as the wheels turn, so do the pedals. Its rider can't freewheel and the only way to brake is to stand on the pedals.

The fixed-gear's renaissance supposedly stems from West Indian immigrants in New York working as cycle couriers in the Eighties. They had used them at home because they were cheap and easy to maintain, and continued using them in the US. Their light frames and speed made them perfect for work. It's popularity spread throughout the courier community, finally crossing to the UK and other countries.

However, as the fixie craze has taken off so has the number of new riders who enter 'alleycats' - unofficial road races consisting of a series of checkpoints on a set route.

Alleycats originated in America and were organised for and by cycle couriers but now inexperienced riders participate. Last Sunday in Chicago, Matthew Manger-Lynch, 29, was killed in a collision with a four-wheel drive after running a red light. He was competing in an alleycat known as Tour Da Chicago. A similar race - the New York Monstertrack, normally the biggest annual alleycat in the US - was scheduled to take place on 8 March, but was cancelled after the Chicago death. These races now take place in British cities and threaten to colour public opinion of the growing urban cyclist subculture. Around 30 cyclists took part in one organised by art students in central London last Thursday which finished with a party at a bar in Hoxton.

Roxy Erickson, 28, who is part of the women-only fixed-gear Trixie Chix collective, said: 'Media reports don't show the community spirit, or the eco-friendly side of cycling. A working messenger [courier] who got hit by a doubledecker bus wouldn't get as much news space.'

The strength of the fixed-gear community is demonstrated on the messageboards that are full of updates on the welfare of cyclists injured in accidents, invites to parties and gallery openings as well as alleycats (which are often held to support injured cyclists or promote causes such as the war on drugs).

Andy Ellis, 28, who's part of Fixed Gear London collective and builds fixies, explained why the bikes are so popular. 'You can't get more linked to a bike than on fixed-gear. If you can freewheel, you can stop pedalling, you only feel the road when you brake.

'There are aspects which compare to skateboarding, which I've done for 15 years. You enjoy travelling through the city in the same way, but on a fixed-gear, it's faster and you have more control.'

The fixie's simplicity and grace appeals to the fashion conscious, many of whom take customisation to extravagant levels, creating bikes with imported track-bike frames and hand-built wheels that cost thousands.

Ellis said: 'At first it was anything to get them on the road, but I've built three bikes for one guy in the last year and every time he comes back he wants something more exclusive.' The fixed scene is also female friendly.

The international fixed scene is now getting mainstream attention, including official sponsorship from bike companies. A cyclist known as Superted - part of the Fixed Gear London collective - is sponsored by cycle brand Charge Bikes. There's also the Bike Film Festival, now in its fourth year. This international event showcases films - many amateur, which document cyclists' tricks and agility.

The most successful fixed-gear film is Mash SF, which featured the Mash SF collective riding in San Francisco. 'It's the first big film about fixed-gear trick riding,' said Laura Fletcher, the London producer of the festival and a fixed-gear rider. 'It's gone around the world.'

Tom Bogdanowicz, of London Cycling Campaign, the largest urban cycling organisation in the world, says: 'Fixed is enjoyable and good for fitness, but you have to acquire riding skills. Once mastered, the bikes are good for urban cycling as they make you very aware of the road and you can maintain speed at a level that's suitable for traffic. They make you think ahead.' He suggested that anyone wishing to try fixed in London should go to Herne Hill Stadium where low-cost training sessions are on offer.

---

its nice to hear homies in the news - big ups to rox, andy and ted! (i djed at the film festival too! tee-hee!)

fo sale!

2008-02-26T06:58:00.000-08:00

1. Nitto B-123AA Chro-Mo NJS 380m. you can still make out the NJS stamp too.
2. System Ex 3pc seatpost, 27.2ish. was 26.2, but the powder coating & varnish adds about a mill.
3. Brandless steel chops, straights, 330m.
4. Brandless aluminum chops, horny, from bullhorns, 345m at the widest.
5. Sugino MAXY crankset 171m. comes with two chainrings (and bolts) in case you want to use both, but, really, why would you?

ive not fully posted this to any forums or ebay yet, but if anyone happens to see this and wants to make an offer, go for it. ships from UK to most anywhere.

tings marked with an X have been taken / used.

churs.

NEW! IRO Premium Hubbies!

2008-02-23T07:57:00.000-08:00

pretty lookings, and good tasting! and only 99 USD a duo!

My Room: The Not-So-Used Part Bin

2008-02-22T07:08:00.000-08:00

powda coatin' dun.

dig.

before:

potentially the coolest helmet ever?

2008-02-22T03:02:00.000-08:00

its czech, and im looking into where it did come from... link to be posted

Cool Bits & Hot Chix

2008-02-21T17:59:00.000-08:00

actually, nothing to do with hot chix - it just rhymed - but i went a'diggen off of fgg, and found some yummy tings':

swobo bottle opener, pedal and track nut tool, made by park and considered by MoMA for their permanent collection:

swobo folsom: an industrial strength fixed & fun bike - more like a charge plug, than a bianchi pista, this an all-business bike that even superted might ride...

trackstar is now offering their "champion scarf":

what do you get when you want a baseball cap, but you need a short bill? trackstar now sells this creation, whatever it is...

Design & Bicycles

2008-02-20T17:10:00.000-08:00

finally (unless i am mistaken) Core77 has covered the Great North American Handmade Bicycle Showoff Convention Show. its nice to see even they are opening their eyes to "wider than standard industrial design" angles (track geometry, no doubt).

go here.

Bikes do grow on trees

2008-01-20T10:55:00.000-08:00

Another plywood frame showed up on fixed gear gallery ... slightly different approach.

My Room, the Used Part Bin

2008-01-14T09:25:00.000-08:00

heres what my floor looks like. i dont actually usually keep it looking this way, its just that im having a whole batch of goodies (pretty much everything metal in this shot) powder coated white, save for the risers which are going in with the frame to be blue. the principle is pretty simple; no two colored bits should be touching; ie, frame is blue, stem is white, bars are blue, and grips are white. hub white, spokes black, rim white, tire black walled with white tread.

should look pretty sweet once its all back together (for now, im rolling the peugeot). my inspiration was the "bmx inspired" daves quality meats vs trackstar bikes.

some mean ass tools

2007-11-22T15:44:00.000-08:00

these are straights. and were talking some straight straights. no curves. no nothin. and chrome. oh yeah, and those things on the end? those are for scratching cars.

Product Design & Those that are Suckers for it.

2007-11-21T05:05:00.000-08:00

i think, on many levels, that these little doosies, these trouser-saving ankle clips are just totally awesome. although ive reposted from a thread on londonfgss about a different subject, the whimsy involved in these is just amazing to me, and needed a repost that focused solely on them.

designed by Gijs Bakker, one half of the founders of the Droog Collective, these bad boys hit a number of sweet spots, product design wise; they achieve their goal (save trousers from grease / wear & tear); they provide slightly more safety (as they are reflective) and they toss in a dose of whimsy, a la Mercury. although they are made of a single polymer (making manufacture and recapture easy), on the downside, they are made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) a big no-no these days, due to the fact that any product wears down with use (abrasion), and this one will release chlorine - that which kills life.

available from terrance conran's online store.

bikes not cars.

2007-11-07T08:50:00.000-08:00

shot in the streets of Munster, Germany, below is an image i found off of core77, comparing the relative volumes of the same amount of people traveling by car, bus and bicycle. no wonder LA is packed with cars, yet so vacuous.

First Annual Bicycle Film Festival Bike Polo Championships

2007-10-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

Brendt, the Bicycle Film Festival creator, thought that they should mix up the last day of the festival with some on-steed action, namely with Polo championships (including teams from all over the UK), a game of HORSE, a live performace by The Spokes (missed them, but i can see from the photos that its like choreographed bicycle riding, me thinks) and lots of drinking. The event happened without a hitch - save a few bruised egos and scraped elbos, most of which were owned by me - and it was great turnout; id say at least 100 - 150 bicycles, plus at least 30 walkers

heres a shot of the crowd...

the zombie army

inbetween the finals for bike polo, a game of FIXED (HORSE) was organized, which matt and i were promptly conscripted into playing. simply enough, the game goes like: one person sets a trick that all everyone follows, and for every failed attempt you get a letter, with the first loser completing the word of the hour (in this case FIXED condensed to FIX). for losing (and quickly) we got vision street wear shirts, vans stickers and cute little dangly mini-vans slip on key chains.

heres team A cold lamping while somebody performs their ever increasingly difficult trick set.

notice how the players on the right side are not paying attention? yeah, thats the losers circle. so we focussed on beer and conversation instead. i can proudly say that i took a little air time while botching a leg-over-bars skid properly, thereby gaining my X and propelling me to the losers ring... and in front of 200 people. now by back is tweaked and ive bruises on every corner and limb of me body and i couldnt be happier.

heres roxy doing her superman trick set - a trick hard to manage when testicles are involved, so every guy out there (every sinlge person playing, save her) had to struggle with this simple but potentially fatal move.

yorgo, of zombie army, busting his trade mark skids as his trick set...

9inth Avenue to get Bike Lane

2007-09-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

what i wonder, tho, is, are there other streets that intersect with ninth, that also have bike lines? i mean, bike lanes are good, but if they dont connect, a lot of good they'll do. it would seem, logically speaking, that if the city did indeed have a meshing network of bike lanes, then adding SEVEN BLOCKS of bike lane would not warrant an entire article in the New York Times. yet there it is, implying that, yes it is the lone bike lane, straight and true. course, it doesnt go anywhere else, save for SEVEN BLOCKS of ninth, but hey, its the gesture that matters, right?

Recent Lookers, from FGG

2007-09-22T16:44:00.000-07:00

nice contrast of frame and background, nice build

nice eighties homage

nice photography

nice punk rock take

nice sexy beast!

nice classic fav of mine

Quote of the Day

2007-09-10T05:36:00.000-07:00

"[J.R.R.] Tolkien completed The Lord of the Rings in 1948, close to a decade after the first sketches. During the 1950s, Tolkien spent many of his long academic holidays at the home of his son John Francis in Stoke-on-Trent. Tolkien had an intense dislike for the side effects of industrialization, which he considered to be devouring the English countryside. For most of his adult life, he was disdainful of automobiles, preferring to ride a bicycle."

- from here.

Sets our Blog to Bed

2007-08-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

have you ever dreamed of heavy metal playing loud, as an unborn - as of yet - sport you participate in is documented, edited, and posted on youtube, and then used as leverage to get you sponsorship from a pretty much nonexistent company?

nor have i.

but it happend, yo. it happend.

this video was shot by cadence, a fixie-biased company, but it directly got this 19yo a sponsorship from "charge bicycle co" whom i know nothing of, other than jody wants the 'duster mid', one of their offroad rides...

Bikes & Beer, in Brugges, Belgium, BABY! YEAH!

2007-08-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

One Hundred Friendly of Arnold Circus / 29.07.07

2007-08-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

in the spirit of "take the power back", a local group of do-gooders went to reclaim a down-trodden, trash adorned, gang member hide out, and restore it to its former glory, when it used to host live brass bands, and was the center of a neighborhood. the place in question is a (probably manmade) hill, with a road encircling it, sporting a number of hundred-year-old trees, a stepped terrace flanking its sides, and an old band shell / bungalow, which, altogether, is lovingly called "arnold circus." this coalition, calling them selves "friends of arnold circus", have since organized its clean up (the gardening team sweeps through on tuesdays, the clean up crew on saterdays) and hosted a number of community oriented events, the latest of which was the "sharing picknick" day, hosted but a few days ago. of the events planned, one was "100 laps arround arnold circus."

at about 16.30 gmt, i get a call from rose, informing me of the ensuing race, and recommending that i come down to watch. within minutes i was standing at the byway, wondering "what and why." minutes later, there i was standing IN the race, waiting to begin, not knowing why i just signed up, but sure i would drop out after a few laps.

about an hour twenty after that, and i finally got to stop pedaling, knees aching, back soar, and alltogether worn out from doing 100 laps of .12 miles, at about 10 mph average. i couldnt find any good photos of the circus it self, so i scanned a little flyer that communicates both the neighborhood-like environment that encircles the circus, but also the loving sentiment these neighbors attach to it. they gave everyone these A5 paper things that had a big 100 on them, said "one hundred friendly revolutions of arnold circus" and then had your entry number tastefully scrawled on them; after mine got a bit worked by my back wheel during the ride/race, i thought it might look good semi-preserved for posterity (and anyone else who might look at my back wheel), so i swung by work and had that sucker laminated - spoke card!

Gangs with Bangs.

2007-07-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

when stephen and alex were on their way home from the arcade, gumballs in pocket, sleeves rolled, sunglasses rockin, they felt pretty good. alex had just scored 1,420 on the shoot-em-up game, a new record for him, and stephen had beat the shop boy at a burping contest, so they were both feeling pretty good, pretty hard, and pretty invincible.

and then they took the wrong turn.

suddenly, there they stood, face to face with what looked like an army of the toughest gang members theyd ever seen, who were staring back at them with almost as much shock as the two boys.

thinking quickly, the boys started to chat to them, hoping a quick friendship could be forged, which in turn might allow them to pass, to live another day.

but just then, stephen drops the ball, and admits to having recently had his nails done.

the girls wouldnt stand for it.

seconds later, stephen was a smear on the street.

the streets are mean these days.

doesnt help that youve got gangs like these, trolling the streets, causing mayhem and destruction on every street they haphazardly turn onto...

The Hammer Headset

2007-07-30T08:21:00.001-07:00

k, its not a head set, but it is awesome.

here

2 parts Water, 1 part Pothole, 1 part Bicycle, Mix Vigorously.

2007-07-30T08:01:00.000-07:00

THATS THE SPIRIT!

2007-07-30T07:59:00.001-07:00

bringing "bike porn" to a new level.

BMX-Inspired Track Bike Show

2007-07-30T07:36:00.000-07:00

before i comprehended the title on the below link, i was looking at the bikes going "man... these look like... i dont know... something... what is it?"

from here

i really dig the bright colors, and complementing color schemes... good job builders! (notice on the purple frame with the white fork, they actually shot some little matching purple stars onto the fork making it match so perfect!)

Used Factoid of the Day

2007-07-28T23:21:00.000-07:00

"Keanu" is a derivation of Reeves' great-great-uncle Keaweaheulu, whose name means "cool breeze over the mountains" in Hawaiian.

- from here.

this has nothing to do what so ever with bikes, cycling or beer. so there.

and, for all you william gibson fans; reeves played the role of johnny mnemonic (in the eponymous flim) who, according the short story by the aforementioned author, dated a girl named molly millions / "sally shears" (the latter because of her ability to extend and retract at will razor blades fromunda her nails), who, over the course of a series of short stories and novels, eventually dates a man named case. case is the lead role in 'neuromancer' (arguably gibson's best work), and the footprint - along with the whole fucking rest of neuromancer - for the hit sci-fi movie trilogy, "The Matrix," with molly brought to life by the svelt character, Trinity.

therefore reeves, effectively, played both the current and most-recent-ex boyfriends of molly shears.

Found: Rediculously Hot Bike For Sale

2007-07-26T17:02:00.001-07:00

its on ebay for the next 3 days and 1 hour.

its a 1985 Pinarello Amatore Track frame, sized 56 cc / 57.5 ct.

i want it.

if not simply just to adorn my wall, above my mantle piece.

its hot.

its what squarepusher wrote about, in "my red hot car."

i mean, just look at all the little subtle white detailings; look at the boundary lines of the red paint; notice the lugs, the fork ends, the headbadge...

what i find so amazing, however, is the complete lack of style this bikes modern counter part has - i mean, were only talking 22 years, but DAMN. one looks classy, stylish, respectable, and the other looks like it wants to be on MTV.

My Ride :D

2007-07-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

She's finished.
T.J Quick road frame (circa 1990 ish) with Cinelli lugs and Campagnolo drop-outs
Campagnolo seat post
Cinelli quil stem and LA84 time-trial bars
Brooks pro saddle and bar tape
Campagnolo Record C front caliper brake and crank set (42t)
Ambrosio front hub
Surly 130mm flip-flop rear hub
Shimano Dura-Ace 15t sprocket and lock ring
Velocity Deep-V rims (laced by Harry Rowland)
Vittoria tyres
Axxo K170 SL light weight chain
KRS track pedals and clips
Crane Creek brake lever

I love my bike.

Bikes & Beers: Ride Too or Hurray for Geeks that Horde!

2007-07-16T06:55:00.001-07:00

upon matts receipt of his white velocity deep-V's laced to black flip-flop surly out back and a silver ambrosio upfront, we quickly went to work on strappin' them in and on, finally delivering matt to a state of fixed gear wheeling.

after toying with what to do with vic's ride - seeing as its a tiny frame with even tinier wheels (something like 24" wheels, on 28 spoke double single speed hubs (as apposed to flip flop)) - we couldnt figure out how to get it to fixed yet, so, for now, we left it as is, and decided to eat pizza.

only there were four of us - matt, vic, jenn and i - and only three rides. (although jenn rides in baltimore, her stallion did not attempt the journey to east end london.)

"het matt" begins carlos, "i bet we have enough bike bits to build an entire, complete, bicycle."

after a deep-thought inspired long pauses, matt responds,"dude, i bet we COULD!!!!!"

"oh no," mumbles carlos, worried that his half-joke might be taken seriously and that they might now actually have to build a bicycle. "we might now actually have to build a bicycle," reiterates carlos, for those who cant hear what he thinks.

so off they went, carlos to his in order to grab the old lilac peugeot frame and the two boxes or old or un-used parts, and matt into his to grab wheels and other assorted bits and bobs.

within 30 minutes of beginning and 40 minutes of even mentioning, there stood a fully functioning, single-speed road-ready collaborative effort, bicycle. specs: 1980/81 Peugeot PX-10 frame, cinelli criterium stem & bars, selle italia seat, complete campy wheel sets, brake cable and rear brake calliper, cane creek brake lever, shimano crank n chainring. the rear wheel is off matts full speeded t.j. quick, so we just mated the chain to the gear with the straightest chainline. the only part we actually didnt have was two bottom bracket bolts; for a total investment of £4.50 and 30 minutes of fitting, attaching and otherwise putting together, we had a complete bike. hooray for geeks that horde!

although its a bad shot, below is what matts newest ride looks like. however, i will encourage him to take it out for a photo shoot somewhere, and have him post it to FGG.

once we got to the lauriston (an excellent pizza house, replete with a hand built clay oven, and shortlisted for the best pizza in london), we shackled up, up front. i noticed that our collection of four rides made for a particularly easy sight for the eyes. see below.

A Nice Essay, Ese!

2007-07-12T06:49:00.000-07:00

Rapha, apparently Condor's upmarket brand, has a section of their site buildt (im assuming) to demonstrate their commitment to cycling, and their intellectual interest in it. On their features page, i found this essay which i found really nice. so im reposting it here.
-

Alley Cat

by Jamie Grant

It’s dark outside. We’re terrified. Or maybe petrified. Whichever’s worse is what we are. Riding your bike at night is an odd feeling. Everything seems slower somehow, which compensates for the fact that we’re all riding harder than we have in our lives.

Bike messenger races are like that. Even after all my years as a top amateur racer I have never ridden harder than when I’m racing an Alleycat. It’s the fear, I guess. It hangs over all of us like a chandelier made of nails waiting to drop. But we’re too fast.

The only light is from the cars we’re passing at 45 kph. Drivers see the reflection off our spokes as we blow by them. There are about thirty of us tonight. We ride through traffic like water, taking the path of least resistance, no matter what the cost. I squeeze between two lanes of cars that are coming towards me. I’m breathing heavy. The drivers mistake the fear in my eyes for lunacy, but I’m far from it. This is simply the fastest way.

I see four or five others hauling down the sidewalk like a pack of dogs. All chasing me. Any one of us could die tonight, I think. The thought gets lost as I turn left; more pressing issues are at hand. I’m pretty sure I’m winning but I have no way of knowing. At any moment someone could come out of an alleyway ahead and defeat me. Panic starts to invade my body. To lose to a stranger is one thing, but to lose to your peers is unacceptable. My legs and my head are in the battle of their lives. “Just two more minutes”, my head says. My legs reluctantly agree and I start to fly.

Everything is in perfect symmetry. I am functioning the way God has intended me to function. There are no more alleys ahead. I can taste the victory. There won’t be any zipping up of the jersey here, though. For all I know someone could blast out of one the last building’s windows, nipping me at the line. The panic comes again. I’ve waited too long for this moment. A previous second place has caused me enough sleepless nights. Twenty feet from the line and the crowd is screaming for me but all I can hear are my prayers asking to be not struck by lightening even though there isn’t a cloud in the sky. I must win…

The first thing we do is wait to make sure everyone makes it in all right. We’re like a family at the hospital with more members coming in every minute to wait for the dreadful words of a doctor. The last one arrives to the greatest applause of the night. We could hear his gasping from a block away. He plays the part of a two-wheeled grinning grim reaper.

Relief sets upon us like a cool mist and the talking begins. Horror stories and close calls are traded like sports cards. It’s the same feeling, too. Like being a kid again. Someone tells of how they ran over some guy’s foot. That unwilling spectator will probably talk about his foot for the rest of his life. We’ll only hear the story a few more times before it’s forgotten: a casualty to more exciting events. People come over and congratulate me. Others keep their distance, unsure of what to say.

I know, however, that it is the last place rider who is the true champion. There was no blessing bestowed upon him of athletic genes at birth. The agony on his face was proof of that. His lung capacity holds only asthma and cigarette smoke.

It is him that we all came to see.

LIES are go!

2007-07-11T04:23:00.001-07:00

LIES clothing (fixie orientated, from the streets of SF) are now live on the interweb, with some killer artworks on their tees and one of the best bike caps ever. ha! swing by at www.everybodylies.net

BIKE GANG ASSUALTS LOCAL BASKETBALL COURT, ONLY STOPS FOR TEA

2007-07-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

on a lazy sunday, a few days back, we passed the basketball court at the top of brick lane, when the following transaction occured.

"hey check it out! its a BIKE GANG!", exclaims carlos.

"NO!", matt corrects, "Its a bike gang PLAYING POLO!"

and so it was folks, and so it was. a freaking fixed gear, probably all messenger polo game in full swing.

only, funny thing was, because your on bike, chasing a tennis ball sized yellow ball around, you cant really go fast (as your always turning to chase, or to avoid collision) so the whole game was amazingly well tempered. infact, the whole game was almost silent, same for a few "OHHH!!!" 's from the third team, if some one missed a shot, a smattering of rather calm clapping if a goal was made. suddenly, a goal was made, only this time one team departed from the court and the third hopped into action, steeds ready.

at some point, matt remarked on this, saying "sheesh, they seem so calm, i bet theyre going to stop for tea any time soon!" or something like that.

MATH CRACKS BEER FROTH MYSTERY

2007-06-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

Mathematicians have come up with a formula that predicts how the head on a pint of beer will change after pouring.

Their advance could shed light on why the foam on a pint of lager quickly disappears, but the froth on a pint of Guinness sticks around.

The research could not only provide tips for better brewing, but could also have applications in metallurgy, say the authors.

Details of the work by mathematicians in the US appear in the journal Nature.

Beer foam, as well as metals and ceramics - for which the formula also works, is a cellular structure comprising networks of gas-filled bubbles separated by liquid.

The walls of these bubbles move as a result of surface tension. The speed at which the walls move is proportional to the curvature of the bubbles.

As a result of this movement, the bubbles merge and the structure "coarsens", meaning that the foam settles and eventually disappears.

Bubble speed

The research extends work by computer pioneer John von Neumann, who in 1952 devised an equation to explain what happens to cellular stuctures in two dimensions.

Until now, nobody had been able to prove that von Neumann's result worked at higher dimensions.

Writing in Nature, Robert MacPherson, from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and David Srolovitz, from Yeshiva University in New York, describe an equation that works in three dimensions, as well as four, five and six dimensions.

"What happens in beer is the small bubbles shrink; the big bubbles grow," Professor Srolovitz told BBC News.

"Eventually, the big bubbles pop - although they pop for slightly different reasons. On Earth, there's gravity and the liquid that's within the walls tends to drain out back into the beer. The walls get thinner and thinner and eventually they pop."

Grain size

Asked why some beers such as Guinness have a creamy head that persists longer than those of many lagers, Professor Srolovitz explained:

"What this theory does is tell you how every single bubble in the froth will evolve. There are some materials properties that go into the final equation.

"So for beer, it will be the diffusivity of the gas in that little liquid layer that's in the wall of the bubble. Another is the surface tension.

He added: "I don't know the tricks that Guinness uses; they could be adding a little surfactant to get the head just right. That is just pure speculation on my part."

But the equation can be applied to other materials, in particular, metals and ceramics.

Most engineered materials, including metals and ceramics are polycrystalline - that is, they are composed of many small crystalline grains which are separated by boundaries.

If, for example, a piece of metal is heated in a furnace, the average size of the metal grains grows.

The small grains will disappear, while the big ones will grow, due to changes in the boundaries between individual grains. Exactly the same mathematics can be used to describe this process as describes the evolution of froth on a pint of beer.

The work could help scientists develop improved materials.

- from BBC News, via a post from tyler. thanks tyler.

Multiple Combinations, Combined

2007-06-12T14:20:00.001-07:00

What do you get when you cross an Austrian Industrial Design grad student, their passion for bikes, and a german-like attention to detail?...

What do you get when you cross strange (poor?) taste in materials, a passion to take bicycle design somewhere new(ish), and 138 pages of explanation in german?...

"Eine Wunderkind! YAH! YAH!!!!"

Roland Kaufmann put a lot of work (and documentation) into the 'Jano'; should have known it was a fixie as well (at least at the proto stage). havent gotten all the way through his photo journey, but the site (luckily) is in english, so its worth a peruse.

designer on bike.

some other dude on bike.

perhaps i shouldnt be so mean; i suppose its not a bad choice in material, just a poor choice of shape for that material... looking at biomega's mn frame - another user of the two peice shell-for-a-body technique (but of aluminum) - it would seem that Mark Newson (the MN in MN) went through a few models before he came to this minimalist conclusion.

i would chance to say, maybe, that Roly might be able to keep some of the cool bits (integrated LED lights, low resistance hub dynamo, semi-hidden disk brake action, rear-internal hub gear shiftage) while drafting a smoother more direct body / product; ie, cable routing - if he figured out how to make them disappear for 90% of the journey, why not completely internalize?, or the fork, if its made of metal, why so wide and with a window? (existing fork technology is pretty good, so, unless your using the formed plywood, i would venture to say a simpler fork would do the same job.)

now, obviously, there is an element of jealousy here (somewhere in the MA / dream bike / industrial design fields), but to much of this design seems like he got 80% of the way, then had to finish, and kept it at whatever state it got to.

hopefully we will see later iterations...

Papanek's 3rd Werld Bike Cart

2007-06-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

designed primarilly to be easy to make from existing infrastructure (loads of bicycles-to-third-world-countries programs exist, ensuring part supply, and the presence of basic welding technology), whilst not relying on non-existant infrastructure (electricity, gasoline, car parts, etc), the cart is changeable and adaptable, can go both directions, be hand or foot powered, and even attached into a small daisy chain. designed under victor papaneks direction, by students in sweden, sometime before 1984.

2007-06-05T23:46:00.000-07:00

Enough said.

shite off t' interweb

2007-05-24T06:17:00.001-07:00

more stuff i has seen!

This kid is sat smugly infront of some seriously warped bikes, check it out!

and the rest here! http://www.twentysixinch.com/

More shit...

http://www.atomiczombie.com/

Portable Beer: Got your loaves?

2007-05-15T17:44:00.000-07:00

Beer is an alcoholic drink. It is made (brewed) with water, sugar, hops, barley (types of cereal grains), and yeast (a fungus that produces alcohol). Beer is made when the yeast 'eats' the sugar, and as it does, it lets out alcohol and carbon dioxide.

The earliest records of beer were written around 4000 to 5000 years ago by the Sumerians. It is said that the Sumerians discovered the fermentation process by accident. It is not known exactly how this happened, but it could be that a piece of bread or grain became wet, and a short time later, it began to ferment and made a pulp that causes drunkenness. A seal around 4,000 years old is a Sumerian "Hymn to Ninkasi", the goddess of brewing. This "hymn" is also a recipe for making beer. A description of the making of beer on this ancient engraving in the Sumerian language is the earliest account of what is easily recognised as barley, followed by a pictograph of bread being baked, crumbled into water to form a mash, and then made into a drink, that is recorded as having made people feel "...wonderful and blissful".

It could even be possible that bread was first baked to be a way to make beer that is easy to carry around.

The Sumerians were probably the first people to brew beer. They had found a "divine drink" -- they felt it was a gift from the gods.

from here.

help me darlings, my bike is woeful.

2007-05-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

lovelies:

miraculous geoff (my sibling) is coming to brooklyn in 2 weeks to resurrect the mixte-fantastic from its current woeful state in terms of new wheels and effectively new everything, but that leaves me with the frame.

as this is the bike by which i have reclaimed my 2 wheel freedom, and rediscovered the joy of ambling about aglide, i want to make IT rad, even though at some point along the line i will get a legitimately wonderful thing and not have to do what i'm about to ask help with-- my poor frame is rusty (slightly) in parts due to New England, battered, and chipping of paint.

surely one of you (i KNOW you carlos) has experience repainting and/or resurfacing a bike frame....would someone give me a tutorial? maybe?

Matts Old Ride, For Sale, via Ebizzle

2007-05-10T04:04:00.000-07:00

item number : 290113448924

"Up for grabs- 1993 Haro Group 1 Zi BMX (Excellent condition!)

This has been ridden as a commuter bike, hasn't seen any race/dirt action and no crashes or spills. I bought it as new old stock, and rode it for around 1 year. I've added awesome NOS blue Haro Freestyle tyres (and I'm including a second pair I bought as back-ups in this auction, so you'll always look fresh!), white Dia-compe MX 910 brakes, front and back (with awesome white cabling), red and blue A'me grips and red Shimano DX pedals. Check the photos below, but the chrome, red, white and blue colourway looks great. The frame is in excellent condition, with on a minor graze from a lock under the seat clamp. The saddle looks a little worn, I never got around to putting an old-school upgrade on there, a new blue saddle would look awesome. Also the seat post is showing a little wear. Apart from that, its in great condition and I'm really sad to see it go. Viewings are available, please email me to arrange. In addition to the 2 new UN-USED blue freestyle tyres, i'm chucking in the older Dia-compe Bulldog brakes, a rear V-type, and all the odd and ends that come with that type of thing. I hope it goes to a good home. Thanks for looking.

Payment can be by Paypal or Cheque, delivery can be arranged for £25 and the item will be shipped when funds have cleared.

Collection is preferred. Thanks!"

Opportunities reside (usually undiscovered) in many places.

2007-05-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

a combination of physics and german brewing techniques brought an end to my £5-speshi bars (once stressed, alumin(i)um provides litte strength and, thus, safety);

so i was thinking id chop off at the white lines (and rotate forward), leaving something between the worlds shortest bullhorns and the longest uber-minimalist cut offs, depending.

for now, im riding my (alex's) old cinelli bars n stem, but theyre killin me because theyre like 6 cm / 2 in wider than my sexily slender bulls (slenderer being appealing because its easier / safer to go between cars). any ideas for the old bars? any suggestions for the new bars?

LIKE ME, LOVE MY BIKE

2007-05-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

howies (recently purchased by timberland, but still operating under their own design) just released this shirt, for their summer 07 line. comes in baby blue and navy ("pacific") blue, and only costs yous' guys in the us 50 bones (not including shipping) CHEAP! ha ha. whatever. click on image to be whisked away into e-shopping land!

Unstoppable

2007-04-30T16:38:00.000-07:00

ed note: an article that appeared in the april 29, 2007 electronic edition of the NYTimes; click pictures for the interactive bit; interesting stuff...

WHEN is a bicycle not like other bicycles? To begin with, when it has no brakes, or at least no visible brakes, or possibly just a front brake. That means you can’t ride this bike very well on your first try, and certainly not very gracefully, easily or safely.

The rear cog is bolted directly to the hub, so that whenever the vehicle is in motion, the pedals go around, making coasting impossible. This bike doesn’t have a shift lever or extra sprockets, and the chain is shorter and wider than on traditional bikes.

There are no fenders, and the rear wheels are probably bolted onto the frame to deter theft. You slow down by reversing the pedals, or skidding, or doing a skip stop. And that’s just the beginning of the differences between your run-of-the-mill 10-speed and a track bike, or fixed-gear bike — fixie for short — as it is also known.

Many fixed-gear adherents contend that their bikes are the ultimate and all others are pretenders. And these fixed-gear zealots are a growing presence on the streets of New York. Perceived by some as nuisances, or as troublesome, anarchist Dumpster-diving punks who happen to ride bikes, they are occasionally reviled, but they are also the subject of curiosity and interest. Just as die-hard skateboarders 15 years ago stood on the cusp of providing a new lifestyle, so the fixed-gear bike culture could be the tip of something that nobody can accurately predict but something that is huge.

Riders of fixed-gear bikes are as diverse as bike riders in general. Messengers are big fixie aficionados, but more and more fixed-gear bikes are being ridden by nonmessengers, most conspicuously the kind of younger people to whom the term “hipster” applies and who emanate from certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn. You see these riders weaving in and out of traffic without stopping, balancing on the pedals at a stoplight and in the process infuriating pedestrians and drivers alike.

In Williamsburg and points south of Grand Street, these bikes are legion. But they are fast gaining popularity, not just in those bastions of trend followers, and not just among 22-year-olds. Fixed-gear bikes are being ridden all over New York, by messengers, racers, lawyers, accountants and college professors — a diverse and not necessarily youthful cross section of the city’s population. They’re being ridden by people who work in sandwich shops and don’t know or care about gear ratios and bike history, and by people who have been racing these bikes for years in places like the Kissena Velodrome in Flushing, Queens, with its banked, elliptical track. They’re ridden by militant vegans who are virtual encyclopedias of arcane bicycle history, by thrill-seeking members of renegade bike gangs like Black Label, by shopgirls, street racers, Critical Mass riders, your aunt.

There’s also the phenomenon of city riders returning to fixed-gear biking’s roots and getting back to the track, entering races like the Cyclehawk Velo City Tour, to be held at the Kissena Velodrome on May 6.

These disparate riders represent a rainbow coalition, a movement that’s about bikes as part of a way of life, as an identity. Although fixed-gear bikes can be seen as a trendy accessory, they also allow a mild form of rebellion against what many of these bike riders see as a wasteful and insipid way of life. Fixed-gear riders embrace the contrary notion of taking a different route.

“We own the streets,” the spray-painted stencil reads. Not really, but fixed-gear riders are, in a benign way, promoting an alternative to accepted norms.

Anarchy in Motion

So what’s the big deal? It’s just a bike, right? On some level, yes. Two wheels, a chain, a cog, a seat and handlebars. But in the way that one of Marcel Breuer’s vintage Wassily chairs is just a chair that costs $10,000, the top fixed-gear bikes are just custom-made bikes that cost 10 times as much as a regular factory-made bicycle. The pinnacle of two-wheeled transport, they are beautiful objects with simple, clean, stripped-down lines that make them look fast even when they’re standing still.

“They’re the prettiest bikes out there,” said Gina Scardino, owner of King Kog, a store on Hope Street in Williamsburg that sells only fixed-gear bikes. Indeed they are, with a modernist blending of form and function and a look that matches what they’re made for, which is going really fast on a banked velodrome track.

But the question arises: Especially in this city, isn’t it insane to ride a bike that you can’t easily stop? By riding a bike that’s meant to be raced around a special track on the chaotic streets of New York, aren’t you risking life and limb?

It doesn’t make sense. But that may be the appeal, and has been ever since the bikes appeared on the scene more than a century ago.

Fixed-gear bikes have a rich past. Before the invention of the derailleur, the device that made multiple gears a reality, fixed-gears were the racing bike. The original Madison Square Garden, built in 1879 at 26th Street and Madison Avenue, was built for a velodrome. Races testing speed and endurance drew huge crowds, with the top riders among the sports stars of their day.

The bike races at Madison Square Garden were all the rage around the turn of the last century. A velodrome circuit flourished around the country, with the best racers earning $100,000 to $150,000 a year at a time when carpenters were lucky to make $5,000. And all this was happening on the forerunners of the bikes being ridden today.

Johnny Coast’s Coast Cycles sits at the end of a desolate cul-de-sac in the heart of Bushwick, Brooklyn, near the Myrtle Avenue stop on the J, M and Z lines. Mr. Coast, a 31-year-old with dreadlocks down to the small of his back, is a former squatter and current member of Black Label.

Coast Cycles is not your typical bike store stocked with rows of three-speeds and road bikes, along with locks, water bottles and other doodads. It is an old-fashioned, one-person workshop where chickens wander in from the yard. Here, Mr. Coast builds two or three custom-framed bicycles a month, most of them fixed-gears, “tailored to suit a body’s dimensions, to an individual’s geometry and affording the maximum of comfort, design and style,” as he put it in an e-mail message.

Mr. Coast, who works surrounded by Bridgeport lathes, jigs and blueprints, is a believer in fixies as a metaphorical extension of a squatters’ lifestyle that connotes, as he puts it, “living a certain way, subsisting on recycling, not wasting, finding liberation, freedom as a revolutionary act, like in a Hakim Bey sense, primitivist, spiritualist anarchism.”

He laughs at the absurdity of a brand like Mountain Dew approaching Black Label with an offer of sponsorship, as he says happened last year, and is wary of exploitation of the fixed-gear bike culture by corporations that have little to do with biking. “I saw what happened to skateboarding and surfing and punk,” Mr. Coast said grimly.

Look, Ma, No Brakes

The dangers of a small world getting bigger were vividly illustrated a few months ago when a hipster wearing square-frame glasses wandered into King Kog. The store, which sells fixed-gear bikes starting around $800 and going up to the thousands, also carries Jason Chaste’s Fortynine Sixteen clothing line, named for a gear ratio, and high-end parts like Sugino cranks, Izumi chains, and Dura-Ace and Ciocc frames.

“Um, I’m looking for a track bike,” the visitor said.

“What’s your price range?” Ms. Scardino asked.

“Three hundred dollars,” the visitor replied.

“Hmmm, you might want to try Craigslist or eBay,” she suggested gently.

When Ms. Scardino asked the visitor how he planned to use the bike, he answered, “I’m just going to be cruising around.”

You got the sense that this wasn’t the place for him, but also that he might come back one day. As he put it when he left: “I like your shop. It’s neat.”

At Bike Kill, an annual racing event sponsored by Black Label and held in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, nobody seemed worried about the issue of fixed-gear biking becoming too popular; everybody was having too much fun.

Vehicles used in the event, held on a blustery autumn day near the Samuel C. Barnes Elementary School, included tall bikes (two frames on top of each other with a seat about six feet off the ground), bikes with metal rollers as front wheels, tiny bikes and BMX bikes (little single-gear bikes used for tricks) and, of course, fixed-gear bikes.

Stopping on a Prayer

Mr. Coast was there, along with members of Black Label’s Minneapolis and Reno, Nev., chapters and members of other biker groups like C.H.U.N.K. 666, which has footholds in Brooklyn and Portland, Ore.; the Rat Patrol, from Chicago; Dead Baby, from Seattle; and the Skidmarxxx, from Austin, Tex. A lot of unwashed dreads, denim, leather and facial tattoos were in evidence, along with a carnivalesque assortment of voodoo top hats, orange jumpsuits, bunny ears, Mexican wrestling masks and a Pee-wee Herman doppelgänger waving from his Schwinn cruiser.

There were copious drinking, including a contest to see who could ride around in a circle while drinking a six-pack fastest, and the “Blind Skull” event, in which riders wearing big foam skulls over their heads pedaled until they fell over or ran into somebody.

Toward 8 p.m. the drunken tall-bike jousting began, with knights of both sexes armed with padded plastic “spears.” The only dissonant note occurred when a cassock-wearing interloper on Rollerblades with a motor attached was expelled by a Black Label member. “Get your motor out of here!” the biker yelled.

That’s the cardinal rule. No motors. For environmental reasons. Or practical ones, recalling the West Indian messengers who pioneered urban fixed-gear riding in the 1980s, bringing their ingenuity to New York from the islands, where bikes that didn’t have much of anything on them to steal were a decided advantage.

But pinning down what constitutes the fixed-gear movement gets complicated. After all, what does the insanity of Bike Kill have to do with someone like “Fast” Eddie Williams, who runs the bicycle-themed Nayako Gallery in Bedford-Stuyvesant, has published a book of photographs of messengers and competes in Alley Cat and Monster Track street races?

Mr. Williams’s scene is the messenger scene, in which he has been a participant since the early 1980s, when he first encountered the West Indian messengers hanging out at Washington Square Park. “I saw them riding,” he said. “I liked how they maneuvered, stopped at a red light and didn’t step down. And I thought, ‘How do they do that?’ ”

Mr. Williams got a Matsuri, a fast fixed-gear bike, and started working as a messenger. Twenty-five years later, he’s still at it, looking incredibly fit and younger than his 43 years. “Track bikes are not made for street,” he conceded, “and sometimes I need a hope and a prayer to stop short.” But he rhapsodized about their charms. “It’s like playing chess,” he said. “You think out your moves from a block away.”

John Campo, the salty-tongued director of the racing program at the Kissena Velodrome, is another fixie aficionado. As with Mr. Williams, the fixed-gear lifestyle seems to be a healthy one; Mr. Campo looks at least 15 years younger than his 60. Biking isn’t his profession — he’s a jazz musician who has played with Miles Davis, among others — but it is undeniably his passion.

Mr. Campo missed out on the glory days of the Kissena Velodrome, but he tells tales about the father of Vinny Vella, the actor who plays Jimmy Petrille on “The Sopranos,” racing at Madison Square Garden to win enough money to buy a scale for the pushcart he sold fish from, then earning enough to open a fish store on Elizabeth Street. Mr. Campo remembers all the Polish, German and Italian bike clubs, and he remembers Lou Maltese, a member of the Century Road Club who held many cycling records, including the 100-mile national record in a race from Union City, N.J., to Philadelphia.

‘A Zen Thing’

Far from worrying about fixed-gear bikes getting too popular, Mr. Campo yearns for them to return to the their prominence of a century ago, and he welcomes street riders to Kissena. “These kids are lovely,” he said. “They come; they win, lose or draw; they have a great time. This is an American spirit thing, to be free, to do what you want to do and express yourself in your own medium, like surfing or skating.”

Surfing and skating are mentioned a lot in relation to fixed-gear bikes. Something about these activities prefigures much of what is going on today in the bike community. Surfing 50 years ago and skating 25 years ago were small, below-the-radar pursuits with their own rituals and secret codes and vernacular. Now they’re billion-dollar industries, popular the world over. And in the opinion of many aficionados, a little bit of soul was lost along the way.

Bicycling is obviously different; there are more bikes than cars in the world, and bikes have a longer popular history, not to mention the fact that fixed-gear bikes predate “regular” bikes. But something about the trajectories of surfing and skating from unexamined, semi-underground secret societies to blown-out cheesy “sports” could forecast the future of the fixed-gear bike.

Surfing and skating retained some of their rebelliousness, in part because of the varied, unpredictable demographic of who is involved: 5-year-olds and 80-year-olds of both sexes, doctors and garbage collectors, law-abiding citizens and criminals. That makes the skating or surfing “movement” hard to locate exactly, just like the amorphous bike movement.

Johnny Coast. Gina Scardino. Fast Eddie. John Campo. The menagerie at Bike Kill. It’s a broad swath. The group also includes people like Toni Germanotta, a 42-year-old owner of an art studio that serves the apparel industry. “When you’re on a fixed gear,” said Ms. Germanotta, who works in the garment district, “it gives you a higher skill level. You have to be constantly aware, always watching the road. You don’t just ride, and it feels a little crazy.”

And it includes Kyle Fay, a designer for Urban Outfitters who is a relatively new convert. “You take the blame if you get hit,” he said. “It’s self-reliance, being responsible for yourself. It might sound kind of corny, but it’s a Zen thing, being one with the bike.”

And it includes Alex Escamilla, a 23-year-old book artist from Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

“I had a couple of friends who made fun of me for riding one because it was trendy,” Ms. Escamilla said. “But the problem with looking at bike riding as a trend is that you lose sight of everything that is positive about bikes. You know, the renewable energy source, exercise, convenience, saving money, saving time, community, seeing the city in a whole new way, blah blah blah.”

Besides, she added: “Track bikes are fun. And they’re beautiful.”

---
By JOCKO WEYLAND

Published: April 29, 2007

Jocko Weyland is the author of “The Answer Is Never: A Skateboarder’s History of the World.”

Newest Baby

2007-04-26T06:53:00.000-07:00

here be thine newest child on the proverbial. i think its called the penguin, because of its slightly stripy black and white theme. (like the penguin in burton's gotham, not the bird).

the frame is of nameless origin, and simply bears the name of the lug producer, everest. its 56.5 cm, with an EVER SO SLIGHT rake down towards the front, which you can JUST make out in some of the shots. the seatpost, bars, brake and stem were a fiver each, most from re:cycle (elephant and castle) and bricklane bicycles (bethnal green / shoreditch). crank and bb are campy, chain is kmz sp-z heavy gage, track cog, base and lock ring are miche (16t), front wheel is a shimano off the shelf thingy i stripped of stickers which sports a white striped tire, the back is a mavic laced to a system ex flip flop. surly bottle opener (and, i guess, chain tentioner), selle seat and... thats it i think.

outside the stingray globe cafe; best damn pizza you ever did done have. in london. authentic italian joint; frequently voted as best joint.

in london fields, which is the park that allowed the pub located on the park, to be ironically titled "the pub on the park."

glamour shot. what? i couldnt help it. photoshop was litterally begging me to!

close up of rear mechanicals. notice the surly chain tentioner. i blatantly stole the idea from sarah. i havent had a chance to "break in" its bottle opening abilities (oh yes, it does that), but hopefully tonight will prove... uh, "educational."

detail on the fade. didnt intend to paint it like that, but it happened and i thgouth "why not?" notice the edges / sides of the lugs hold the paint on only one side. also, the frame has really nice lugs, and you can kind of see how that seat cluster lug was split into two parts, where one half deals with tubes and seat stays, while the other part (separated by 2 inches of tube) is simply to hold seat still.

outside "stamp" salon. a year ago, no one there rode fixed. then i met them. HA HA HA! weak minds are easy to mould! HA HA HA! so, actually, only one of them rides fixed now, but hes gone through like 12 frames in the process

these are down this really quiant / cute alley by the royal oak. it looks like what i imagine london used to look like; tight streets, coble stone, no seeming master plan to streets and intersections... so basically, totally excellent.

Amateur Night at the Watch House

2007-04-19T09:13:00.000-07:00

frame is painted, and drying.

looks strange, but perhaps it will come together once the other (largely black and white) bits are on.

the frame only has black on a little less than 1/2. from the other side, it looks white.

Single Gray Bicycle looking for Multi-Colored Paint Job. Must Like Chain-Whips, and Lawyer-Lips.

2007-04-12T10:27:00.000-07:00

so, im just about done with the new ride (just need to put on the crank, and sort out a seat post), but i havent decided on paint yet.

of course, my first inclination was to get some 'freaky fly sompin proper from a paint shop' goin on, but the slickness of a nice ride makes me nervous; living in city means ali baba's 1001 arabian city theives. (well ok, they could be, like, nigerian, or french, or english, or polish or whatever. but yeah, i was going with analogy. so haters, piss off.) so then i thought, maybe i should go with the "it looks like one of those graffiti walls like like 1000 colors of illegible content" color schemes, but i dont know. i like sarahs method (the black, electrical tape style), but if im going to mask it, i still feel like color is more... fun? i dont know...

any thoughts crew?

Velo pr0n

2007-04-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

NAHBS

If fixed gear gallery just doesn't get you off like it used to ... here are some photos from the North American Handmade Made Bicycle Show. A lot of bling-bling, but a few little detailed gems hidden in there. Pegoretti's paint takes the cake (not to mention the tubing was first spec'ed for Ferrari's frames) and the Sycip ala 1910's flat-tracker is just plain pimp.

Wheelbuilding therapy

2007-03-31T19:15:00.000-07:00

In mourning of my now dead wheel, I had to build a new wheel ... functional or not. I have been wanting to build a wheel with a 3 leading / 3 trailing pattern. So here is the result.
I can definitely say a BMX wheel is a little small for this pattern. I am glad I didn't try it on a 48 hole wheel.

How to ruin a Saturday, or what not to do to your bike

2007-03-31T17:35:00.000-07:00

My rear wheel on my favorite wheelset has kinda felt weird for a few days. The breaking modulated a bit and I have been commuting on it through the horrible potholed streets of Bayshore, so I assumed I was in need of a true. So this morning I pull off the wheel, put it in the truing stand and give it a spin. Wow is it off! Then I see why. There isn't 1 crack in the rim, but 3! 3 cracks!? How the fuck did I crack my favorite rear rim in 3 places and not remember?!
I have had this wheelset for at least 10 years. Its a matching set of early 90's Mavic 501 hubs with Mavic MA40 hoops. It has been halfway around the world with me. I think it needed to be trued twice before. Did I mention it's my favorite wheelset?
So, if anyone stumbles upon either a 32 spoke Mavic MA40 rim or a pair of Mavic rims the same vintage (tubular or clincher) I am in need.

Black Label Bicycle Club

2007-03-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

haha! For those who like roots riding, welding, thrashing, and, well, fucking about.

http://blacklabelnyc.com

some pics i has founds.

2007-03-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

Our beloved Mike Giant's post on www.fecalface.com featured these awesome wooden bikes. not just wooden frames, but all the way down to the brake cables! ... they're a museum piece, but heck. i like.

http://www.fecalface.com/SF/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=499&Itemid=63

www.slamxhype.com had a little feature on Lies, a new clothing type thing. Looks like they have some pretty awesome graphics.

Found these on some site, some where, can't remember. ha.

that's it for now. i'm sure i'll knock more of your socks off later. haha

help me.

2007-03-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

i honestly feel that my even POSTING this query is moot (not to mention embarrassing, because i suspect i am the cause of this small misfortune...), but....before i head over to "the Hub" (which is Providence's sneering coterie of bike people, all things fixie, a distasteful eyebrow-raising establishment if you (or rather, i) ask them to special order a clangy, horrible bell for your bike---i DID do this though, and after some cocking of my head to one side and self depracating remarks, the lad behind the counter grinned, and two weeks later LO! clangy bell had arrived from parts unknown....but that isn't what this story is about....) and face jeers, appalled glances, or laughter....

my back tire all of a sudden has a curious bulge in it. gruesome. it's sticking out almost perpendicular to the tire/tyre. for the past 3 days, every time i have ridden my bike (which has been at night, in the dark dark), i've felt some strange drag...but then, yesterday, noticed this ghastly thing and have not ridden since, since i anticipate it exploding in a terrible way. i need new tires anyway, these are old and are flirting with being dry rotted, but....is this going to be a terribly costly affair? please help a lame, raleigh rider....

Our Rides.

2007-03-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

So, Spring is sprung, and its fantastic Sunday nursing a hang-over. To clear my head i cleaned my bikes. Think the BMX is going to go on ebay, its not getting much use and just takes up space in the shed. Add a little rust and it's a good idea to sell it soon. The T.J. Quick is running great. I got Brooks leather tape and saddle, and replaced the Cinelli drop bars with Cinelli LA 84's. Quite an odd look, what do you guys think?
Our newest addition is Vic's Raleigh 5-Speed 47 Racer. A great name. Its junior sized, with 24inch wheels. We stripped the shit off, down to single speed and have a pair of Sun track wheels with a flip-flop hub coming. She'll be riding fixed in two weeks all being well.
The BMX is a Haro Group 1 Zi, from '93. i used to cruise to work on this everyday. I've added Shimano old school pedals, A'me grips, white Dia-compe MX brakes, and blue Haro Freestyle tyres.
The other is Vic's Raleigh... shopper? Folding Ladies Bike? Compact? Not sure, Carlos can't seem to pin down this one, but we came across it on ebay with a search for 'ladies shopper folding' or something. ebay. i love you.

Best Bling-Bling

2007-03-07T04:07:00.000-08:00

wow_and_flutter (shock and awe?) possesses the best bling ive ever seen; its this little, asymetrical hand made spoke key, dangling from an appropriately gold chain.

Copenhagen

2007-03-04T07:04:00.000-08:00

I went for a 48 hour shopfest to copenhagen with work, and snapped a few interesting rides and sights along the way. For instance, a horned and fur trimmed beastie, some axel based rides, and the chaps at Soreni (www.sogreni.dk) had some great frames and even some wooden ones. a pretty neat place for bike fans, get yourself to copenhagen.

CRAZY NIPPON BEATS + BIKES 4 YOUZ

2007-02-15T21:01:00.000-08:00

Badass Bob : The Womens Logo

2007-02-07T08:36:00.000-08:00

so, really, it makes sense that boys should sport a girl - our 'blowtorch betty', with built in computer-geek reference - while the girls sport a guy - the newly created (albeit rough) 'badass bob', with incororated math-nerd reference! well! i know IM jealous!

YOWZA!

VICE Does and Doesnt

2007-02-07T08:21:00.000-08:00

seems that VICE magazine reads the same "insiders info on fashion" site that matt's got access to: image pulled from the most recent edition, The Clothing Issue, picked up today at a surf shop in shoreditch. (notice the assumedly intentional misspelling of "pista's" as "pists")

Bikes & Bitches Event 1: The Elephant & Castle Re:Cycle Run

2007-02-06T06:23:00.000-08:00

because jody and i had a habit of doing sunday rides across town, and it was sunday, and matt wanted to ride, and his new ride was ride-able, we did the epic, mythic trans-london ride (only about 3.6 miles) to Re:Cycle, a bicycle shop down in Elephant & Castle, a poorer neighborhood in the south west. but Re:Cycle is more than just a pun, its a shop that features 8 million used bicycles of every nature and sort, and completely separated bins of each and every part you can imagine: pedals, left cranks, right cranks, handle bars, brake calipers, brake levers, stems, seat posts, seats - all in their own bins, ready for the digging.

EXCELLENT!

anyways, this time we got there kind of late, they had their store room SUPER packed tight with so many bicycles, and the workers seemed to not like three of us pillaging their pillagings, so the pillaging was not as successfull as hoped. none the less, we each came out with various things; before, id found my aluminum bullhorns, and the gold 3ttt stem i now use for a fiver each, and this time i got a light shimano crank, 52t chain ring and 2 pedals with toe clips for 15 quid. not bad. i think matt got some bmx style levers, and jody got some grease on his fingers. yet, we all seemed to feel that our glory had been stolen because they closed about 20 minutes after we got there, so the only way to really bring any light to our dimmed situation was, really, to have beer.

and so it was;

it was bikes & beer.

now we just need our patches.

Genius

2007-02-06T05:53:00.000-08:00

I knows a lot of yous likes your Guiness. Personnaly i don't.
But i love this ad!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQDjynOzgCk

zen and the art of...

2007-02-04T09:10:00.000-08:00

Hi, I live with Carlos, often I knock on his door to find him hurriedly trying to conceal a bottle of silicon all-weather lube - he's bike crazy, and introduced me to the whole fixie thing, enlightened me to the ethos. Before, as I overtook these guys, I was often perplexed, 'why?', I thought, it just seemed dumb to me.

But most really serious city cyclists prefer fixies, or single speed setups, and now I totally get where they're coming from, beauty through simplicity, low-maintenance, hassle-free la de la la. However, friends, I've opted to keep my rear derailleur on (the front is off), as it's speed I crave. I need the acceleration, and to be able to hook on to that top gear when you've got a good run going. As far as not having a free wheel, yes you do feel more attached to the road, but I love that feeling of flight that you get when free-wheeling gracefully through your turns. Leaning into them like you're downhill skiing, it's amazing at speed.

I used to be a bicycle courier so I've had a fair bit of experience cycling in London, and it's something really close to my heart. I don't cycle outside London, I don't see the point; there's nothing to dodge and it's quicker to drive.

For me cycling is about achieving some kind of perfection, it’s a meditation, it's about dealing with the myriad different situations as they arise, with foresight, speed and efficiency. The roads are dangerous (though not as dangerous as most people think) and this forces you to concentrate that much more on your manoeuvres, as literally, your life depends on it. The faster you go the more you have to concentrate, and you can hit this point when you’re so absorbed that you loose any sense of 'self' and are totally at one, interfacing with the ebb and flow of the road.

When I was younger if my head was out of kilter then I would get down to Euston Road and bomb the length of it, often whooping wild battle cries, it totally sorted me out. When I combined my couriering with my dealing, this used to get completely insane, wired on the drip, ripping up the traffic like I was some kind of invincible god.

When I cycle I don't wear a helmet, but I used to, when I was developing my technique, and I needed it. Over a period of about a year I was knocked off/crashed about 11 times, and that helmet probably saved my life on at least half of those occasions. But those crashes taught me a lot, about what you can and can't get away with. And they taught me to always think ahead, such that now, if a door opens on me, I'm already moving out with it, and the asshole will never know that he almost wiped someone. I pity the person that gives him cause to be more careful, say a little prayer, and forget it.

I exercise pretty much a silent policy when I cycle, I never get angry, or raise my voice, if someone steps in the road and I come down on them, then it's my fault for not seeing it about to happen, if a car cuts me up, it's the same: ‘if you were concentrating properly then you would have seen it and been elsewhere’, I always blame myself. London might as well be a soup of chaos, there are no rules, apart from what you see, pre-rationally, you have to feel it. Fuck ego, and fuck the Highway Code.

People may shout at me, but often I can't hear them because I'm listening to my pod, if I do happen to catch a honk or a roar, then only rarely will I give them the sign, and if I do it's more for my own amusement as their anger will inevitably escalate, it's not through any malice, it just makes me laugh to hear people get so worked up over absolutely nothing.

The road is game, that’s why it’s good to listen to music, just in the background, you take it less seriously that way. If a bus cuts me up, and I have to retreat, then in my head I hear that descending sound that you get in the old Space Invaders, and I picture a ‘Game Over ‘ materialising into my view. ‘Wha wha wow’.

From an aesthetical point of view it's good to look fly whilst ripping your shit. When I first started in ‘99 I was a real geek, with the Lycra, luminous jacket, helmet and clear glasses to keep the soot out of my eyes. Though I was couriering and often doing 9 hours a day on the saddle, so maybe I needed Lycra, as yes, you do get saddle rash with the wrong gear. Being luminous you don’t need, unless you’re a pussy.

Later, as a student, I would sport a stylish hat and always have a pocket full of pistachios, which I would shell and eat, casually discarding the shells onto the road, as I sped along.

I thought this looked good, really eccentric.

Another thing I like to do when cycling, much less eccentric, is phlegm up a good amount of gob and project it with considerable force into an empty space on my right (in Yank Land that would be to the left), this reminds people that after all, we're just animals, it’s good to enforce a wild, untameable, street-urchin persona - it keeps people off your back.

Clothes are a problem when cycling, as Lycra can never look good, and if like me, you like to push yourself, then you're going to sweat, and you don't want to ruin your good gear with that. Often I turn up at places dripping with soot and grime, I don't mind, but maybe it's held me back.

I'm still working on that one, on getting a costume made up, maybe with a small cape and a utility belt. It would be good to fit a harpoon gun to the front of the cycle, with sucker darts. That way you could attach yourself to busses and catch a free ride, chill out, drink a beer for a bit, pretend to the ladies that you're in possession of 'powers' and get yourself banged up in the asylum for a few years, there you could really work the whole thing out properly…

Subtle Detail Change # 4,392: Blue Chain

2007-02-02T16:52:00.000-08:00

NEW CHAIN, GANG!

yeah... like sarahs, its not very visualy impacting... at all... purchased at the same location as sarahs (alpha bikes, vista, ca - a CHRISTIAN bicycle shop!!!!!!! BEWARE DO-GOODING CROSS BEARING MONO-THEISTS!!!!), my guess is that seeing the chain all spooled up - as you do when purchasing - has much more of an impact simply because all its glory has been condensed into the footprint of a PSP.

anyways, i went for the "lets glamorize the wash-basin" look to help boost its general lack of appeal, tossed in the purple monster, and shot away...

Bike Building: But Where Do I Stick the Bottle Opener?

2007-01-30T17:03:00.000-08:00

united bicycle institute offers a full range of parts for your welding-learning needs. and what do you need more, than an an integrated beer-bottle opener on your dropouts? i would have said a beer-bottle holder, but thats just silly.

Matts T.J Quick

2007-01-30T10:44:00.000-08:00

so heres some photos i popped on sunday, during the deconstruction and cleaning. much to my supprize, every single accessory - down to the cable housing - is "brev campagnolo." and since matts master plans are to single speed the quick beast, hes basically got an expensive pile of useless parts... (details: the shifter / brake levers are the integrated, trigger style, and the mount for the front derailleur is this sleek, hinged thingy that just looks nice in your hand, let alone on the bike.)

curiously, we noticed that the bottom bracket shell has a big "cinelli" logo (well, and as do the stem and handle bars), but the frame be branded t.j. quick... could he have used cinelli lugs to build his frame?

My New Frame: ???

2007-01-29T19:32:00.000-08:00

heres photos of my newest baby, of unknown make and origin. but it fullfilled a few crutial requirements:

1) track
2) my size
3) lugged steel

its got a shit, shit paint job, but i can see past that. whats life about, if not projects? i think the paint job is like hand painted - as in, someone took a brush to it. its pretty bad. but i think the shape has all sorts of potential, so a little veneer treatment, and she gon'be perty!

randomly, i noticed the left dropout has like a little bit more metal than the right; wondering if it is used for mounting something? for measuring something? ideas?

fashion forecasting and the fixed gear...

2007-01-29T06:26:00.000-08:00

From www.wgsn.com (i have a password so there)
*ahem*

"Fixed-gear riding in Tokyo.
REIKO KUWABARA, WGSN 26.01.07

Influenced by fixed-gear riders in urban centres in the US and Canada, the latest item to be popularised by skateboarders in Tokyo is the fixed-gear bicycle.

From the equipment and stunts to alleycat races, the emerging subculture has now been adopted in Tokyo and is also gaining the attention of street-fashion gurus.

A fixed-gear bicycle is a lightweight bicycle with no freewheel mechanism and only one gear ratio. The bicycles are easy to maintain, and have become popular among bicycle messengers in cities such as New York, San Francisco and Toronto.

These bicycles have gained cult status among urban riders, and have been used for night races and stunt riding. This unique subculture has now made it to the Tokyo streets and has become a hot trend among former skateboarders and streetwear designers.

Hiroshi Fujiwara, the brainchild of the Japanese luggage label Head Porter, clothing label GoodEnough and Base Station, is also one of the celebrities that has been attracted to the phenomenon and has joined in with urban night races in Tokyo. He often documents these "alleycat" races on his website www.honeyee.com with photographs and reports."

So there you go. my first post n' all. Big thanks to Carlos for the help stripping the T.J Quick ride down this weekend. Anyone got any suggestions how make a Campo 12 speed a single/fixed on the cheap? haha!

word up.

This lucky bastard is my hero.

2007-01-28T22:52:00.000-08:00

Langsty

2007-01-27T12:27:00.000-08:00

Finally got the pictures as requested. Swapped out bars and brakes, and just added Carlos' matte white chain (which still needs tightened but I was impatient to take the picture). Still haven't gotten the courage to take off the brakes--they've saved me too many times from Chicago drivers.

Behold, it's Bicycle Repair Man!

2007-01-26T20:59:00.000-08:00

Newest Baby: T. J. Quick

2007-01-25T11:00:00.000-08:00

matt - aka "short_matt" on ebay, so dont buy any of his crap - just got this little beaut'.

so after he sends me a couple of links off ebay of various sized machines (and of all different construction - alu, steel welded, steel lugged) that hes bidding on or wants to bid on, i send him an email going, "ok you might benefit from a spot of research, just to see what exactly it is you like or would like to have in a bike: ie, frame size & make, vintage, style, etc. then, research what you want to do with it, ie, does singlspeed interest you? do you want to fix it? do want to build a multi-gear speed racer?"

about an hour later, he sends me another text going, "I DID IT! I GOT A BIKE! CAN YOU HELP ME BUILD A FIXIE???"

so much for those suggestions.

but, luckily, its a nicely lugged steel frame (with some decent chromed bits), horizontockular high-school drop outs, and tons of potential.

but what do you think, gang?

Nothing is New.

2007-01-24T18:41:00.000-08:00

check this guy out!

oh wait... thats olds news! THIS guy was doing it in 1899! shoot.

The search for inexpensive, single-speed simplicity

2007-01-24T16:30:00.000-08:00

After an extensive search for a new, fully constructed, inexpensive, single-speed road machine, here was the result:

Obviously there are many brands on the market, and if you're looking for something cheap, I suggest, *gulp*... brace yourself... "Made in Taiwan". After living and riding a bicycle everyday for two years in Taiwan myself, I became well acquainted with the extensive bike industry on the island. Quality built man powered machines, at a fair price.

Recently in California I found a single-speed Giant with a very decent steel frame, for 450 USD. A bit on the heavy side, but still a comfortable ride. Very generic brakes, cheep wheels, etc. but hey, after only 450, you could easily do some future upgrades if you you're on a budget. This was the best deal, money-wise I could find. I test rode this monster, and almost bought the bastard, until I had a chance to lay my hands on a 2006 Specialized Langster...

The Langster runs at 600 USD and is, in my humble opinion, the best quality single speed bike for its price range. The Langster has a very lightweight, aluminum frame. Construction quality surpasses the Giant in every way. Converts easily to a fixed gear by flipping the rear wheel (for all you fixie fanatics out there). Originally I was gearing towards the 2007 model, but if you can find it, check out the sleek matte-black frame exclusive for the 2006! This pretty much sold me. I look forward to upgrading to a carbon fiber seat, new wheels, cranks, etc., as cash flow permits.

While building a single-speed from scratch is probably the most ideal, if you decide to go for a prebuilt, I wisely suggest: LANGSTER.

For you English bastards

2007-01-24T15:08:00.000-08:00

As I know you have a desperate shortage of decent shops out there on that cold bleak island, so I figured I would pass on this little gem of a shop I ran across. They aren't too special
but they seem to have a few interesting bars, including a knock off mustache. Prices aren't amazing, but hey, the probably beat Condor.
Oh yea, and they seem to know a fixie from a hole in their head, even got some NJS stuff.

LUST THIS!

2007-01-24T08:32:00.000-08:00

also from alex "i notice any flutter in the bicycle industry" zeh, is the newest metal out of the Reynolds Labs: the coveted, the lustrous 953. of surgical quality steel - stainless, and thus needin' no paintin'- and some how super strong and dent resistant, it can be stretched thinner than normal so it weights like high-grade aluminum, is strong like titanium and big like mountain!

SEE THE BEAUTY!

from bike mag :

"Back in 1995, Reynolds revolutionized steel bike frames with 853. The alloy took the market by storm, and remained the frontrunner of lightweight steel until the majority of the market abandoned steel for aluminum, titanium and ultimately fell into temptation with the glossy, black devil, carbon fiber. Although few could argue with 853’s supple yet snappy ride quality, most riders couldn’t stand the extra weight and corrosion.

The new 953, however, addresses both of those drawbacks. According to Peter Thompson from Carpenter Specialty Alloys (Reynolds’ material supplier), the new stainless alloy is twice as strong as titanium with a frame weight comparable to high-end aluminum, and won’t corrode. That’s a big deal. Those same qualities are what make carbon fiber such a standout. But carbon fiber isn’t a “tough” material---one good gouge could ruin a frame---where a steel frame can be ripped from a car by a low-overhang, buckle in two and still be easily rebuilt.

So far, only a couple bicycle frames have been produced with the promising new alloy. Independent Fabrications’ vice president, Tyler Evans welded both of them. “It’s extremely hard to work with,” says Evans. “It’s more difficult to weld than titanium, but the results are fantastic.” "

pictured is one of the two frames that dude made. i love the balance and smooth transition of the seat cluster. just fantastic.

Lust

2007-01-24T00:21:00.000-08:00

Who needs a fixed gear when you can have a 9 speed internally geared hub. They even made one out of carbon (though only for InterBike).
Sure it isn't the Rohloff, but then again it doesn't costs a G. Besides the photos on the site feature a hot dutch girl on a bike.

Straight up Wiley Coyote

2007-01-21T22:25:00.000-08:00

Holly shit! Thing rocks! Can you think of a funner way to kill your self on a bike!?
If you actually want to read the article its here.

Beer with hidden message

2007-01-20T12:28:00.000-08:00

The "Manana Project" the tomorow that rhymes with banana

2007-01-20T11:45:00.000-08:00

Hello peeps

This is the "manana project" (Spanish for tomorrow but i couldn't spell so what the fuck). The bike is a Bikerton portable its a British all aluminium folding bike. I think it dates back from the late 70's and was the design inspiration for the Brompton. The bike features oddities such as 14" front and a 16" rear, this odd sturmy archer hub with two cables coming out of it, an all aluminium frame that's bolted together and a 58 tooth front sprocket.

Dear problem page

Our relationship started when our eyes meet on a crowded street and i pulled her out of a skip. I haven't paid her much attention and shes pretty much in the the same shape i found her, i think we have relationship issues, especially seeing that we've been together for six months and i haven't had a ride!

I just don't what to do!

< / PARIS HILTON >

2007-01-15T13:25:00.000-08:00

completely vectorized, including a better wheel, and an "in honor of 'cheap mondays's anti-christian stance" upside down cross tattoo. not the final on my end (would like to detail that smoke in there - they do this alot in tattoos, but i havent figured out how to do a similar white-to-whatever-color fade that looks satisfactory)... eyes tired. spent probly to much time tweaking nearly every fucking node on her, to as faithfully as possible recapture the original...

i can't hide my tired eyes,
- your smile is a thin disguise.
i thought by now you'd realize;
there ain't no way to hide my tired eyes.

2007-01-14T10:59:00.000-08:00

Just cleaning and rearranging – are you planning on making this vector based in the end? I mean, making the girl vector based before you put the final one together?

Control Power? Power Control? Control + Alt + Delete?

2007-01-13T22:39:00.000-08:00

newest e-visions...

Godless Eye Dolls

2007-01-12T07:46:00.000-08:00

uh, more toying with pinup + tool + germanica font + slogan fun...

Who Wants A CHAIN WHIPPING!?!?!

2007-01-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

i cant help but think how disney this looks! its like, when you go into that gigantic pink castle in disney land, if your lucky, you can find the "hidden chambers" that are just off the kings room - repleat with concessionary stand, various plush dolls, disney branded paraphernalia, et cetera - and yet, things are just a bit askew; whens the last time you saw a happy disney employee dressed in rubber? or weilding a whip?

hrm.... wait a minute...

Heidi - Wanna Ride?

2007-01-10T13:52:00.000-08:00

GOD DOMMIT!

2007-01-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

more sketches, godless idols theme, matts idea and more sub/dom fun! opinions, people?

Hail Hail Mary

2007-01-10T01:40:00.000-08:00

i dig the idle gods motif, and a saintly halo/wheel hovering over mary's knob came to mind... just a fart in the wind.

a rough sketch, but you get the idea... any takers?

Sub or Dom?

2007-01-09T19:56:00.000-08:00

riding for elysium

2007-01-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

sounds valiant, what? ride for glory? who wouldnt want to ride for glory? i mean, i guess ive seen some kids in NY riding for Domino's pizza, and here and there you see kids riding for various courier companies, but cmon,glory? val hala! elysium! ride with the gods!

Trip down (false)memory lane

2007-01-09T01:24:00.000-08:00

I don't know whats the most drool worthy, he has some of every thing, a 1967 Hetchins , but the 1903 Tribune with the shaft drive and front suspention is just beautiful. What's your favorite?

http://collection.rydjor.com/rydcol1.htm

mo jesus crap

2007-01-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

dont really know where, or why, just liked the godless idols / idle gods idear, so i went with it.

GODLESS,
our deaths last eternal,
Sinners sanctified;

In death,
only life survives.

GODLESS origins,
deified lives -
evermore sorrowful sin.

Idols destroyed;
opinions left sacred.