Tuesday, April 1, 2008

The Fixie Hipster Forefather: Fausto Coppi



I've talked about the fixie riding hipsters here before, here and here, right? Then my friend Giac returned from his holiday in NYC last week and told me yesterday that the image of Williamsburg filled with cool hipsters walking around there with a fixed gear bike as a mere fashion accessory is actually true. I'd been wondering about this but I trust him. 

Well, I've also been thinking about how we need to go back, back in time to look for the roots of the connection between the fixed gear and track bikes and the hipsters and right at that moment I found a pic above posted onto London Fixed Gear Single Speed forum by Motman, Thanks!

It's the legendary Italian cyclist hero & icon Mr. Fausto Coppi himself, showing how it was done, way back in Paris in 1952 and in on the Velodrome (Parc Aux Prices, maybe, who knows?). Everyone knows that Italians do it better but Fausto's beatnik-hipster style is just pure magic. 

Also, the pic promts a question: will turning your drop handlebars upside be the next hipster trend?

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