In Atlanta in 2003 the only people riding fixed were either messengers or their close friends. There may have been about 10 people riding in the whole city. I became friends with a few of them through some anarchist actions.
The things I remember most are:
-the epitome of cool was a nice bike that had been beat to shit by being ridden every day. One of the biggest topics on BF was how to ugly your bike up to make sure it didn’t get stolen. Clean bikes were for roadies.
-Goats vs Squids. Squids (not to be confused with “Squid” Bolger from NYC) were roadies or people that only rode their bikes for training purposes while wearing lycra. Goats were people who lived on their bikes and used them for work/transportation/fun. Goats didn’t wear cycling specific clothing (at least not on the outside)
-Squid was a prolific poster on BF along with quite a few other heavy hitters from around the country. The regional fixed forums didn’t get big for a few years.
-Trackstands and back circles were the only “tricks” anyone cared about.
-Alleycats had a legitimate fixed category because it was recognized that racing fixed put you at a disadvantage against geared riders. There were also relatively few people in any given race who were riding fixed. Having a fixed category doesn’t made much sense to me when 75% of the racers are fixed.
-Lucas Brunelle videos taught me how to ride in traffic.
Summer 2005 I started a Thursday night fixed ride out of the shop I was working at, I had put together my first conversion a few months earlier (thanks again SB). TimArchy, Dutret, and IIRC Sarindipper showed up, good times. I remember being really impressed with Tim’s track standing skills.
Were Alex and Sarindipper really there? I think I brought my friend Sam too. I remember Lee trackstanding on his freewheel and then outsprinting me on a downhill spinning a much smaller gear. I’m pretty sure we ended up at Thinking Man Tavern and I was the only one not drinking b/c I’d decided to be dry for a few months. That kind of sucked.
Wasn’t Sarindipper the guy who broke off his thumbnail trying to mount a tire?
Pretty sure D came to a few of those rides, Sam was there for a couple. Yea, 'dipper was the fingernail guy. Pretty sure it was a spinergy death spoke to boot.
There is a scene but I am not a fixed gear trick guy so I don’t fit it.
Over here in Japan, for the most part, the scene is tricks.
For those that like riding track bikes fast, there is the messenger scene in the city,
but then again I am not in the city and neither a messenger so I don’t fit it.
I really want to start organizing some races, but don’t have a clue how to throw one.
[quote=kaido_k]There is a scene but I am not a fixed gear trick guy so I don’t fit it.
Over here in Japan, for the most part, the scene is tricks.
For those that like riding track bikes fast, there is the messenger scene in the city,
but then again I am not in the city and neither a messenger so I don’t fit it.
I really want to start organizing some races, but don’t have a clue how to throw one.[/quote]
Design a flyer and they will come. It helps to get some sponsors. I’ve found that people will generally be generous with small stuff.
it began like this was a runner then decided i do triathlon
so stole moms torpado that was way too big for her this was 99 or 2000 first road bike
then decided wanted to commute by bike rode bmx for a few years (it was short two mile commute) 2002 2003 ish
quit commuting by bike moved further away from work
decided to start commuting on bike again
someone at work had track bike
i built up conversion with promenade bars in 2006 (gave this bike away) frame came from yellow bike and lots of parts too
it was hell trying to find headset parts that would all match and fit out of yellow bike parts bin
sneaky viking had bad ass bridgestone sorta touring bike
then more bikes road bikes…pake…njs bridgestone that i broke seat tube…then rode torpado for months while waiting for yamaguchi to build frame
got yamaguchi little bit before tarckbike.com began
before that i remember dutret making fun of prolly on bf…and so many horrible threads i want to forget on bf
fgg and horrible conversions…shellac dropping knowledge on noobs on forum
yesterday saw girl on ut campus riding br8kless single speed
she was cute but soon be dead
i rode BMX bieks all over town from the beginning. i had little bity raleigh i think it was with like 16" wheels when i was about 9. busted open chin once jumping curbs and shit, many other crashes. would do super big skids in neighbors driveway. ruining rear tire and at same time leaving so many black marks on their driveway. what a little shit i was.
kept riding in HS. rode in college (small town) to get around. it was just bmx’ers and roadies.
move to bigger town oafter college.
tell dook lets go ride. i feel sick trying to keep up on heavy ass bmx bike. i get faster bike. so i guess it was around 2006 that i started road bikes. of course built FG conversion. not many people here had them yet.
fg’s have been popular a year or two here i guess. baskets recently too.
i guess touring bikes will catch on soon…
i had a dream last night that i was riding a brakeless ss.
i think the chicago currently encapsulates all of the trends from the beginning to now at once, although i live in a part of town where 99% of the bikes are bum bikes, so i don’t see many unless i make the effort.
i started to commute by bike in high school and have ridden for recreation for a while. i bought a track bike when everyone began to get excited about them, and sold it before to long. not really for me.
i feel that all of the excitement has brought out the non-competitive roadie in me, which was there all along.
Been doing the mountain bike thang since the mid 90’s, but that doesn’t really count towards what we’re talking about.
Started riding singlespeed road bikes in 2002-2003ish back in Kansas City. Was friends with a few shop rats down there and we’d do races/dickaround rides through the city. It wasn’t really “messenger” culture because there aren’t any bike messengers in Kansas City. It was just bike guys doing bike stuff and it was a ton of fun. Back then, there was maybe a dozen of us tops, mostly riding respaced road hubs with BMX freewheels or suicide setups with red loctite. I remember hanging out with Franklin Pierce from FGG a lot in front of a coffeeshop. It was very stereotypical.
I built my first fixed gear around 2004-2005ish. Joined FGG shortly after that when Franklin talked me into it. Joined BFSSFG shortly after that. I don’t remember any real specifics, I just remember it being different. Lots of people on track drops, the guys from MASH posting before MASH actually existed, Juvi Kyle pissing off dutret, nobody on risers. There was that one guy from SF who had like 1000 NJS frames. He was a hookup of sorts. Conversions weren’t as big of a deal, because bikesdirect didn’t exist yet and the Pista was the cheap choice.
Looking back at it like this has kind of made me feel like a fool for wasting so much time on the internet. Not that I don’t like you guys a lot, but that’s a ton of time that I could have been spending outside.
wasn’t it a joke thread about dropping cars? making fun of that dude who used to love dropping roadies in central park? i think it’s still my sig over there.