PinarelLOL Soho @Interbike 2010

Evolution of the H******

Alert! The New Aerospoke / HED3 is here: LexCarbon Monospoke

LexCarbon 700c clincher. from Leeww on Vimeo.

Red Alert to all the Hipsters reading this!!!

Arrospok, HED3 and Spinergy are all yesterday's news, this is apparently the new hip thing, LexCarbon monospoke. Now quickly, surf to Ebay to get yours before everyone else gets in on these. 

In fact I must admit I first questioned whether this thing is even real or just a spoof but I guess it exists - since it is in teh Interwebz, right? But yeah, the technological innovations and progress the road cycling brings and feeds on seem to be pretty much limitless. 

And apparently this thing costs about £1200. Convert that to your own currency and weep silently by yourself. 

But wait, there's more. Apparently manufacturing of these was finished already in 2003 and there was a weight limit of how much they would carry safely. 

But is this all just bullshit? Honestly, I cannot tell. 

Fix Push? Fix Pushing?

Fix Push, the new thing? Pretty funny. And kinda puts things into a perspective too, maybe. 

Seen In Helsinki

You know how Fixed Gear Gallery sometimes has those "Seen In XXX" posts where someone has seen a fixed gear or a single speed bike (wooohooo! who very exciting...) locked up somewhere and taken a crappy mobilecameraphone photo of it and then went thru all the hassle of emailing it to The Fixed Gear Wizard AKA Dennis? It's stupid and boring, right. 

Well, this evening as I was cycling along Pohjoisranta, my regular way to home from the city centre, a saw this bike and * just had to stop, turn back and * take a photo with my crappy mobilecameraphone. It was so nice & idyllic, with the harbor and the sailing boats, and even those big ice-breakers in the background. 

And the bike, so lovely & very retro and simply beautiful. In that setting this is probably the nicest bike I've ever seen in Helsinki. And it wasn't actually even fixed gear but a single speed bike with a coaster brake instead. 

Edit. 

You know what? Yesterday evening I should have - maybe - written this way instead (place this between the asterisks * is in the text above):

"... I just pulled this super long skid with my Tarck Bike and finished it into a trackstand, then I pulled a wheelie on the spot and bunny hopped 180 degrees turn and wheelied back to the spot where that bike was standing and..."

But why? I dunno. This though somehow just occurred to me when I passed a middle-aged roadie in full spandex riding gear this morning on my way to work.  

More Info On Kanye's New Toy Tarck Bike

Ok, some more information concerning Kanye's newly purchased totally rad and trendy as hell Tarck Bike has surfaced on teh webforumz. Here the pics as proof and some best bits from the discussion on bikeforums.net:

'Luke at BrooklynMachineWorks also told me that a friend had it build for Kanye. He custom ordered a color, just like everyone else can, and had to wait for his to be ready, just like everyone else. No special treatment, he had to wait just like you and me.'

'can kanye even ride?'

'Kanye has been spotted riding the BMW in NYC...'

'So I guess dressing up like Michael J. Fox circa Back to the Future is in right now.'

'isn't this the dude who always wore one of those girls leather backpacks? i hope he plans on tying his goddamn shoes when he rides though.'

'Man best roll up them jeans...and maybe his shirt lol.'

'You ever had your shoes come untied while riding? It generally leads to bad things. Not the least of which will be getting chain nastyness all over his $200 limited edition nikes.'

'Try $700 Lanvins...'

'do you guys think he rides his bike often? is it possible for he to ride on stage and accidentally fall over? the thought of him falling off the stage pleases me somehow.'

And here's one more time to Kanye's new hobby... 

Kanye West Buys A Tarck Bike, again.

Fixed Gear just keeps on growing and growing and even hip celebrities, who probably would like to consider themselves street credible or something, are finally catching up. One of the first famous persons to ride an road bike converted to a fixed gear bike in public was the skateboarder guru cum actor Jason Lee who was spotted participating in a group night ride in his home town, Hollywood, LA already ages ago. Then soon after Heath Ledger died, some pics of him riding a similar road bike FG conversion popped up somewhere on some web-forums. 
 
Well, around about same time someone had spotted Kanye West shopping for a new ride in the king of all the fixed gear boutiques, Track Star on Lower East Side, NYC, and the blogs were immediately all over it. Kanye also kept it very bling bling and bought the most expensive and fanciest track bike Track Star had in their selection, a Cinelli Vigorelli. 



As if that wasn’t enough, now he’s apparently had The Brooklyn Machine Works build a specia bike specially for him. It’s pretty much a typical Tarck Bike, or a BMX bike for an adult, with a glow-in-the-dark paint too. The name of the bike model is apparently Gangsta Track. What can you say? It’s not excatly my preferred style of bike. And when can we expect him to ride it on a video clip, and do so rad barspinz while pulling an eternal wheelie while rapping at the same time?