1000 // Berlin

It's been bit more than a year with just over thousand blog posts and I think I've earned a little break. First I want to say big thanks to all of you, and there's been plenty of you guys, who read and comment the stupid stuff I post. Cheers! 

Tonight I'll take my huge Chrome messenger bag and fill it with my girlfriend's skinniest black stretch jeans, my retro Brooklyn Team cycling cap, a keffiyeh scarf and a bunch t-shirts with witty slogans on them. Then I'll trim and wax my ironic mustache and polish my vintage track bike and I'll be ready to leave for Berlin early in the morning. If you're also going to be there and catch me stuffing döner kebab in my face and drinking too much beer, say hi if you feel like it.

In the meanwhile, if you're really bored you can always go back to the very beginning and re-read my old posts, starting here. Remember also to click all those ads*nse-links so that I can pay my credit card bill when I come back to entertain you here again.

Jussi

Onitsuka Tiger '66 Limited Edition

I'm more of an Adidas man myself but Onitsuka Tiger makes damn nice narrow and lo-profile sneakers which are probably pretty good for casual city riding with clips and straps. So, here's the new Onitsuka Tiger '66 Fixed Gear sneakers, vegan-friendly with 3M technical materials and all. Read more at Hypebeast. 

They're available from here but limited only to 144 pairs worldwide so be quick!

Skateboards & Bikes // Tokyo By Night

Via ZLOG.

Bob Jackson Vigorelli Track

Daniel's lovely brand new Bob Jackson Vigorelli Track built up with really nice parts. There's a whole set of pics in his Flickr if you want to see more of it.

Knog N.E.R.D.

All right, the nice people at Knog kindly sent a red 12 function version of their new N.E.R.D. cycle computer for yours truly to review. Straight out of the box it looks super nice but now I'll actually need to do some riding first with it to check out how it works in action before I can really say anything about it. 

Anyhow, if you've been waiting for the N.E.R.D. to be available at the shops and want to have it NOW!, it should be out finally and you can get one for example from here.

Wonka Does Châtelet – Les Halles, Paris

From here.

ECMC Berlin 2009

Only three days left now.

Fixed City Trailer

fixed city | Trailer from fixed city on Vimeo.

"Fixed City | German fixed gear culture captured in 2009
Riding fixed – a phenomenon. A close up in Germany, summer 2009. Switching between velodrome and trafficlights, messengers and fakengers, inspiration and revolution, trickriding and speed adiction, pragmatism and passion, purism and a very own poetry.
Screened August 2009.

Feel free to contact us for additional inspiration and useful hints.
From May 28th to June 2nd, you can meet us at the ECMC 2009 in Berlin."

From Berlin Fixed. 

Seattle Girls

Layla above and the rest of the ladies below at Core Whore women's Alleycat Race in Seattle.

Pics by Layla, more here. 

Specialized Langster Steel

The pic is apparently from Specialized 2010 catalogue, here. There's a white one too but is that even really real...?

Metallico Super DROP!

New goodies from the makers of the infamous 'Tsuchinoko' AKA the dildo bar, the Metallico Super Drop. Directly from Japan of course, limited edition and looking super dope. The Super Drop is also available with 'rame' metal flake to make it even cooler. 

Get 'em here.

And Shiba Friday Again

Shiba Friday 5.22 from Fixy Life on Vimeo.

Carving A Bowl

Damn, I'd love to ride that!

All pics by Laali, from here.

Pic For Saturday

Laila photo by Laali, from here.

Samson

Some real Keirin frame pr*n here. Incredibly nice looking Samson 54cm frame, Columbus tubing with neat details like the aero fastback seat stays and all. 

According to some sources Harada-san, who builds Samson frames, is currently considered as one of the top Japanese, if not the top, framebuilder by the Keirin pros in Japan. Gaijin hipsters might dig 3Renshos, Nagasawas, Makinos and Kalavinkas but it's a different game over there. Samson frames are apparently also the most expensive Keirin frames to get built. 

But hey, in case you didn't already notice, it's for sale NOW in here.

Patrick Sullivan Haz A Beach Cruiser

"Fixies Are for Douchebags

by Patrick Sullivan. University of California, Santa Barbara.

Published Thursday, May 21, 2009
Issue 132 / Volume 89

Forgive me if the title “Fixies Are for Douchebags” is too rash - I wanted it to be “Riders of Fixed- Gear Bikes are Skinny Jean Wearing Tools and I Want to Ghost Ride their Bikes off a Cliff,” but, according to the editor, that would be “grossly inappropriate.”

Now let me explain. I have yet to fight anyone over this hatred and, in fact, I have several friends that ride “fixies,” but, as I learned from an early age from the saint that is my mother, just because your friends do something doesn’t make it ok for you to do the same. So let’s attack this problem scientifically.

1. Speed kills.

Now I love Tom Cruise circa Top Gun as much as the next guy, but the “need for speed” died along with Goose in a training mission over Miramar, California. (Too soon?) How quickly do you feel you need to get from your house to class? Now, I am no scientist or anything but how about you leave, say, ten minutes before class and travel at a normal speed on the bike path instead of “taking it to the limit” and zooming by all us regulars on beach cruisers, because you decided to leave 35 seconds before your first class.

2. Brakes are good.

You do know that freshmen ride bikes, right? More specifically, the freshmen girls who have caused, in a conservative estimate, 300,000 bike accidents this year. Yet even with these freshman death seekers on the bike path riding like a drunken Helen Keller, you still feel that it is a good idea to get a bike without brakes. Really? I mean, I’m a little embarrassed for getting a cruiser without fenders for the rain (boy was my face red), but even my cheap ass sprung for some brakes. In fact, why would one even invent a bike without brakes? I’d like to hit a wiffle ball at that guy’s balls (wiffle ball + nuts= comic genius).

3. You don’t look cool.

I understand that you want to express yourself, but dropping $1,000 to make sure that your rims match your handle bar grips isn’t going to bring back your girlfriend. In fact, neither are those skinny black jeans or that Affliction T-shirt. She left you because you look like a pre-pubescent girl, and because a sexy 6’3”, athletic stud, who is far wittier than you, and who likely has a bigger Johnson, just rode by on a shitty black beach cruiser of which she is very sure he doesn’t give a shit about. (Oh, what’s up ladies? Why yes, I am single.)

In closing, I will leave you with a recent, yet very fond, memory that I formed while wandering drunk in downtown Denver. A typical fixie rider was attempting to ride his bike home drunk, and after pedaling once, proceeded to lose his balance and eat shit in the middle of the street. After making sure he was alright and watching him shamefully walk away with a mangled fixie on his shoulder, my friends and I, as well as a few policemen standing nearby, had a solid chuckle. Which brings me to my final point: you can’t ride a fixie drunk but those beach cruisers practically ride themselves home (I know from experience. Haha, just kidding… seriously though).

So beware fixed-gear fairies, because if I ever catch up to one of you guys riding by at mach-3 like you’re Lance Armstrong, I will not hesitate to test your backwards pedaling skills as I careen all over the bike path like the freshman girl that I am at heart (Did I say that out loud?… Oh god).

Patrick Sullivan is a third-year bio-psychology major."

Via Locked Cog. 

Building A Carbon De Rosa Frame

Ever wondered how those carbon frames are manufactured? 

Check the video clip here and learn. Fascinating indeed.  

Broken Olmo Pista

Zjeim's Olmo with a cracked fastback seat lug. Sad business. Let's hope he gets it fixed somehow.

Anykine...

Anykine... from chuck reynolds on Vimeo.

Go Girl!

Pic For Thursday

Jesse's Very Speedy Kinfolk Bicycle Project

Kinfolk Bicycle Project from Jesse Carmody on Vimeo.

コビッチ 其の十五 潮風

コビッチ　其の十五 潮風 from jun iwai on Vimeo.

Velocity B43 at Chari & Co.

Velocity B43 now available at Chari & Co, NYC. 

Wooden Riser Bars

Alex just sent me this cool photo of the wooden bars he's making:

"Sugar Maple, 2007. House blend and Tung oil finish.

16" wide
2" rise
4" grip

(fits 4 bolt stems only)"

The bars are made of 'reclaimed hardwoods' so they should be pretty ecological and everything. I'm really digging the way they look, very classy. Nice parts for that sunday bike of yours, maybe?

EDIT

So yes, the bars are made by FlourescentBrown Woodworks, check them out here. 

Pics For Wednesday

Death Pedal // Rollin' In Paris

DEATH PEDAL PREMIÈRE & ROLLER CONTEST from Julien Rideau on Vimeo.

Fixed Mag // Issue 3 Download

Is here, or the PDF is directly here.

Pics For Tuesday

Modolo Q-Krono

My first bullhorn bar ever, Modolo Q-Krono, and I like the feeling. It's an old one and 40cm wide but it seems that Modolo has actually re-issued this model. Ok, in fact I've no idea if they ever even stopped making these but in any case you can find them in the 'Vintage Handlebar' -section of their 2009 catalogue. 

I'm also pretty sure that Nitto had one of these on their drawing board when they were designing their popular MASH SF -approved RB-021 bar. 

Psychokinesis

Psychokinesis. from Kris *lockedcog* on Vimeo.

Tanner Monmaney Again

alohaFIXED X Tanner Monmaney 2 from ALOHA FIXED on Vimeo.

One Fine Day In Seoul

One Fine Day _ in seoul from inkon on Vimeo.

Yksivaihde.net First Anniversary Party // 16.5.2009 Helsinki

The Yksivaihde.net First Anniversary Party on Saturday was magic. Mellow group ride, barbeque, bike polo, beer drinking, alleycat race and the more beer drinking. Lots people, old and new faces, showed up, the weather was as nice it gets. Big hand to Eki & tnts for organizing the event and lots of love to everyone who was there. 

Also a special mention to Samuli who rode for two days and some 400+ kilometres all the way from Vaasa on the west coast to come to the party. And as if that wasn't enough, he was the best out-of-towner on the alleycat race and finished on shared second spot. Respect. 

Next year we'll do this again and it will even BIGGER. 

Pics by Eki, tya, tnts, rokpete and Sir Richard. Thanks!