Like graffiti, when it comes to fixed gear bikes, most people don’t get it, but for the ones that do there’s Empire. It’s a soon to be released film that shows cyclists pushing things to the limit on their track bikes through NYC, complete with Madison style slingshots and insane wheelies! |BikeBlog|
It’s no secret that bicycles are one of the quickest ways to travel the city, regularly pedaling faster than cars and transit. But how well would a two-wheeler fare if its competition wasn’t always mired in traffic? The São Paulo Intermodal Challenge made plans to find out, pitting bicycle riders against a helicopter passenger for a point to point race featuring buses, cars, feet, subway and even a wheelchair. Read more »
From the makers of the NYC Condom comes the NYC Helmet targeted at “the new generation of bikers.” Commissioned by the City, the designers at Yves Behar’s fuseproject created a modular head protector. The holey plastic shell, shown easily u-locked to a fixed gear conversion, can be paired with a variety of helmet coverings: visors and hats for sunny, rainy and cold conditions. If the NYC Helmet goes into production, cyclists craving the latest bureaucrat-endorsed headgear will likely find it at future DOT giveaways.
It’s not everyday that you spot someone riding a penny-farthing, in a suit and top hat, on the streets of Manhattan. The antique fixed gears aren’t the easy bikes to maneuver, especially when an oblivious cellphone-chatting delivery guy is headed in the wrong direction on Broadway and gets in the way. Click below to watch the extremely short footage of the throwback cyclist eloquently voicing displeasure with his momentum-killing peer.
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Recently, Pharrell Williams modeled a fixed gear bike to help promote a collaboration with Element Skateboards and Brooklyn Machine Works, which he partly owns. The two companies co-branded the Brooklyn Element, a newer version of the BMW Gangsta Track, and an accompanying clothing line that has as much to do with cycling as the rap mogul.
Photos by Orange Twizzle Bikes
While the Times champions stylish Dutch bikes and Urban Outfitters retails color-customized fixed gears, Marc Jacobs steers toward the impractical and less popular trend in cycling: pennyfarthings. The vintage bike is displayed in the front window of his Bleecker Street store with a skeleton rider for reasons only the fashion world can explain.
Photo by BikeSnobNYC
The Times spotlights a gathering of bicyclists who have been practicing fixed gear freestyle below the BQE in Williamsburg for the last couple years. John Prolly, prolific blogger, biker and host to the weekly ‘Peel Sessions’ underneath the highway, narrates a slideshow photographed by Raymond McCrea Jones. |NYT|
Urban Outfitters, one of the leading retailers of plagiarized t-shirts and clothing designs, is now selling color customized fixed gear bikes. Partnering with Florida-based online bike store Republic Bike, the new retail chain’s website offers customers an online interface to easily choose a garish combination of colors for their $399 ride. The new 24-pound bikes are then pieced together on a first-come first-served basis and shipped out. But so far, the Urban Outfitters Bicycle Shop hasn’t exactly won the support of the biking community. Their take below. Read more »
Photographer Matt Lingo is releasing a new book called This City Can’t Swallow Me. The self-published photographic essay features 40 pages of black and white, strobe lit shots of local fixed gear cyclists by the San Diego-based bike rider. With this latest body of work, Lingo attempts to capture their “unique style of riding through traffic,” down hills, off curbs and over bumps. Preview photos from the book after the jump. Read more »
Ensuring their new “performance” cycling sneaker won’t be taken too seriously, adidas curiously collaborated with two brands with only the faintest interest in riding bikes. Streetwear website Hypebeast and Berlin sneaker shop Solebox helped the footwear giant design their own Zeitfreis, matched with a couple custom painted Bianchi track bikes as “The Complete Ride.” Asked about their biking habits and local fixed gear scene, Jason Chow from Hypebeast and Hikmet from Solebox laid it all out to Crooked Tongues: Read more »
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