Fixie culture

I don't get the whole fixie-craze thing. How fun can it be to ride a bike that you can't coast on, that has no brakes, and that has a gear which either makes climbing hills too hard, or makes you have to descend them spinning your cranks at 185rpm? The whole thing seems ridiculous to me. Why also does it seem to be that a prerequisite for joining the fixie-scene requires one to either be color blind, or at least pretend to be?


I often mocked fixie's openly. Claiming that they were the plaything of "Uber-hipsters". Those who no longer would be seen in public with an apple product, because they're far too mainstream now. These people needed a new outlet to express their 'individuality'. Fixies are the i-phone for those who outgrew the i-phone. When you had a walkman, a future fixie rider had a discman, when you were alphabetizing your CD collection on your bookshelf, a future fixie rider was attempting to find some obscure foreign band to download on to his/her i-pod. Because being one of the first to own an i-pod whilst simotaneously being the first in ones group of friends to 'discover' an up and comming band would elevate one to some sort of social demi-god in his or her clique.

But sadly, the time of 'i' was drawing to a close. The mother of someone you once thought was cool for having an i-pod, now has an i-phone. Possibly even his or her grandmother! And a user-group generation span of more than two certainly destroys any cool-factor that any product can have. Enter the urban fixie. Filling the void left in the wake of 'i's demise. The apperance of these bikes allows you to know who is at the forefront of cool. I, for one, shall never be caught dead riding one.

...from the journal of Mitch, april 14'th

A customers new ride...

I just thought I'd share a picture of a new Trek Madone that was built for a customer yesterday. The frame is a 47cm. And I think it's compact lines look fantastic. The customer can not comfortably use a drop bar, so a carbon riser, (yes... riser), bar was installed along with a new set of shifters, brake levers and a higher-rise stem. As I was looking at the parts prior to install, I thought it was sacralige to put a riser bar on a road bike as nice as this one. But as soon as the stem and bar were installed I loved it! The tiny frame combined with the new cockpit reminds me of a 50's cafe racer. I think the bike looks badass like this... plus with a frame this small it almost looks like one could take the bike dirt-jumping... not that one would of course...