The days of the “Keo spin” being the epitome of Fixed Freestyle is quickly fading, and is being replaced with a new age of fixed tricks. Riders have begun to push not only what can be done on these bikes, but their design as well. The classic trick list of Keos and bigspins have been replaced with feebles and barspins. I miss the days of popping up no hand wheelies, doing pole jams, and spending all night riding something as simple as a basketball court with my friends. The only thing I won’t miss are flats, but besides that, What do you miss most about riding track bikes?
I remember going through tubes, and entire patch kits on the daily when I ran 700’s, but as rare of an event it is riding 26’s, flat tires are an inevitable part of riding bikes. Flats are the easiest way to put a damper on your day, and completely ruin a session. And with daylight savings in full effect, the amount of usable light to film with is dramatically shortened. Making it hard to get in a full days work unless you’re up and ready early enough to catch the good light. Here’s a screenshot of Mike fixing a flat from coming up short on an up rail. When is the last time you found yourself w/ a flat?
Caught this picture the other day of Mike checking out San Francisco’s famous Clipper Ledges. With rounded corners, and a shear drop on the other side, there have been plenty of people who have been worked at this spot. Mike was lucky enough to ride away unscathed hitting both hubba’s back to back. You’ll see the clip of the action either in the next Wheel Talk or Grime edit. Stay tuned.
Caught this photo of Scott Horton riding the dirt jumps hidden inside Golden Gate park the last time he stayed w/ me in the city. I remember back when riding dirt jumps on fixed was unheard of. Bike geos have progressed to the point where riding dirt has become a more common part of the sport. People are beginning to explore new options w/ their new and improved off road capabilities. Taking the bike to places nobody has before and pushing the scene in ways nobody ever thought possible.
Matt Rice from Deal With It SF shot this killer photo yesterday of Mike getting creative filming me doing a wall tap 180. Sometimes the person filming ends up pulling some moves to get the shot. Whatever it takes. In this case it took Mike scaling a wall, holding onto a pipe, and dangling from a loose electrical wire.
For the past few days I’ve been riding + filming w/ my good friend Mike Schmitt from the GRIME. He’s been staying up in San Francisco, and we’ve been rolling around and hitting everything that SF has to offer. I enjoy riding w/ Mike, because he has a truly unique style of riding and is always in search for those creative tricks that only work w/ the spot. Be on the look out for a ton of fresh new content from Mike.
Pulled this photo of Matt Rice’s PFIX build from his Flickr. This is definitely the cleanest PFIX build I’ve seen yet, especially considering it’s a Size : Large frame. Super fresh w/ those gum wall tires, and silver chain. For those of you who don’t know, Matt Rice runs Deal With It SF. He rides blades, Fixed Freestyle, and holds it down mad well w/ a Kendama. Head over to his blog and check his shit out.
Here’s a screen shot I pulled last weekend of Ed giving 14 year old Gabe Alcantar some last minute advice before riding down this beast of a drop. He drew up quite the crowd during the time he spent on top the building, sizing up the drop. Cars, bikers, pedestrians all stopped and pulled out their iPhones, iPads, and cameras to record Gabe ride off this shit. We began to draw a pretty substantial crowd of on lookers until the inevitable Police Car rolled up on the spot. It was now or never, so Gabe gave it one final crank and hurled himself off the bank to drop.
I was in Wyoming for the Holidays, and I brought along w/ me my bike. Spent some time riding around in what surprisingly little snow there was this year. I even had the chance to ride the new Green River Bike Park which was a park full of snow covered dirt jumps, and ladder runs stretching around its perimeters.