These Colorways Don't Fade: Interviews, Encounters, and Collabos

Further to yesterday's post, I must say that one of the best parts about reviewing a Dutch city bike (or at least a designer interpretation of a Dutch city bike) is that one is automatically exempted from using the terms that are otherwise mandatory in bike reviews. These terms include: hoops, stoppers, clampers, rubber, and skins. (Incidentally, in S&M circles those things plus a bottle of wine equal a romantic evening.) Furthermore, one is also exempted from citing the bike's lateral stiffness and vertical compliance, as well as referring almost sensually to the "beefiness" of the bottom bracket, as epitomized in the famous Neuvation video.

However, if you found yourself missing any of these things, perhaps this video will help tide you over until the next James Huang review "drops:"



That must be the new BB30 standard everybody's talking about.

But while I have no idea to whom the above bottom bracket belongs, I can say with assurance that it is not attached to a hipster, since hipsters tend towards the small and diminutive. (You could smother at least three hipsters to death with that posterior.) And speaking of hipsters, there is a brief interview with me in the current issue of "The Fader," which can probably best be described as a "hipster" magazine:

In my defense, I was drinking during the interview, and unlike Tom Boonen who blacks out and has "indirect contact" with cocaine when he drinks, I just say boring things to hipster magazines. Also, there's a photo of me or else someone purporting to be me doing some kind of contrived urban cyclocross maneuver. Hey, that shark's not going to jump itself. However, I will deny any accusations that I did it "for the hipster pussy," unlike this person:

That said, if I was motivated by "hipster pussy," this interview could only help, since one day maybe I'll get invited to a party thrown by "The Fader." In addition to a number of articles about various bands and rappers, the current issue contains images from one of these parties, which from the looks of it was not lacking in the Impassioned Hipster Dancing department:


Also, it appears as though furry cossack hats may be the new flat-brim fitted caps, and patterned cashmere mufflers may be the new keffiyeh. It's a good thing the woman from the BB30 bottom bracket video wasn't there, though. I have a feeling nobody would have made it out of there alive.

Of course, the fact is that even if I did attend one of these Impassioned Hipster Dancing parties, I probably wouldn't have much to talk to people about, since from the looks of the crowd they probably aren't conversant in the relative merits of the various bottom bracket standards, and they'd probably be quite bored by my thoughs on them. (Though the one person who rode a fixie to the party would probably say "square taper FTW!" at some point.) Really, the best I could do would be to refer knowingly to some of the bands on this "mix tape," which was sent to me by Barry Wicks:


Wicks actually sent me a first "mix tape" back in March, and I was extremely grateful to receive another one. Even better, in addition to providing me with Impassioned Hipster Dancing party small-talk, he also provided me with an ironic t-shirt to wear. Behold:



Yes, that's Barry Wicks with an Afro making karate-love to a flower. I can't help suspecting that Barry Wicks may be about to "drop" an energy drink, because I'm sure a beverage called "Wicknasty" with this image on the can would fly out of the bodega refrigerators. So I'd like to extend a sincere thank-you to Barry Wicks for the excellent hipster party survival kit, and if any of you wind up at an Impassioned Hipster Dancing party and see someone standing in the corner wearing a "Wicknasty" t-shirt and making awkward chit-chat about bottom brackets, come by and say "hello" because it's almost certainly me, and I'll almost certainly be really uncomfortable.

Speaking of comfort, I recently stumbled upon some photos of actress Famke Jansen looking a bit too comfortable on a Dutch city bike:

If yesterday's review inspired you to join the legions of people already happily palping Dutch city bikes, look no further than this pictorial for a guide to how to ride one properly. Yes, in a certain way the Dutch city bike is the SUV of bicycles--it's a little too big, it creates the illusion of safety, and nobody pays any attention when they're operating one.

Still, a Dutch city bike is downright stealthy when compared to a recumbent:


9:30pm, 2nd ave Brunnette on Bike 35th st to 10th(?) st. - m4w (East Village)
Reply to: [deleted]
Date: 2009-06-24, 11:26PM EDT

Hi--

I realize the chances of you seeing this are slim, slim, slim...but just in case lightning strikes---

We were riding bikes near each other down Second Avenue tonight. You have brown hair and brown eyes. Were wearing a white helmet and blue jeans and riding a blue 10 or 12 speed semi-vintage type of bike. I was on the recumbent.

You turned onto second Ave around 36th street (and narrowly avoided a cab at 35th street!) and then rode down Second before turning left on 10th street (?) or so.

I was totally struck by your looks (and liked the way you ride) and was hoping there would be a good opening to say hi... Hard of course as we were both kind of racing down the street, but... if you happen to see this, I'd love to race you to a coffee sometime!


Then again, a recumbent is stealthy in its own way, since the rider can prowl around the city safely below eye level like a U-boat of dorkitude. Even this post is stealthy--notice how he just slipped in the fact that he was on a recumbent in the same way that you'd gloss over the fact that you're already married or you have an STD. We've seen recumbent riders on the make before, and it wouldn't surprise me if the city is teeming with them. Nor would I be surprised to learn that some of them are equipped with crotchal periscopes in the hopes of encountering Famke Jansen or oversized bottom brackets. Maybe we'll see a RANS recumbent x U.S. Submarines "collabo" in the near future.

In the meantime, though, we'll have to make due with more fixed-gear "collabos." Here's one in the P.K. Ripper "colo[u]rway:"

Yes, heads will turn and bars will spin when you make the scene on your ironic nostalgia machine. Just top it off with a "Comeplaypolo" t-shirt and you'll be a shotgun blast of cycling references. Is "warmed over" a colorway?

Regardless, it seems as though people aren't going to tire of "collabos" (or "collabia," which is technically the plural form of "collabo") and limited editon colourways anytime soon. Even Tweeting celebrity Dennis Hopper is getting in on the act:



It looks like we'll have to wait a little longer for the Hopper x Krylon dayglo pussy "collabo" to drop, since Dennis Hopper seems to be wandering around his house in his underpants (he doesn't say that but with Hopper it's just assumed), rattling a spraypaint can and cooing, "Here, kittykittykitty!" He probably shouldn't have Tweeted about it, though, since now PETA's liable to join the collabo too.

But I'm sure he means well. He's only doing it for the hipster pussy.

BSNYC Interview: Great NYC Commuter Race Champion Jamie Favaro

As I reported yesterday, I was handily defeated in the Great NYC Commuter race. (A race, I might add, to which I was not only at least 10 minutes late, but which I wasn't even technically in.) Well, every defeat has a silver lining, and in this case that lining came in the form of an interview with the winner, Jamie Favaro. While my interview was simply a thinly-veiled attempt to understand her so that I might use that understanding to defeat her at some future date, it turns out it also offers a unique, inspirational, and at times explicit adult glimpse into the mind of a champion. And yes, this is a real interview. Enjoy, and ride safe this weekend.

--BSNYC

Do you usually commute by bicycle, and if so from where to where?

Lower East Side to Washington Heights, 181st baby. Can I take this opportunity to say that rollerbladers are annoying and they should all be shot? Or kept in cages. Their legspan is oppressive and their legs should be clipped. (Except of course the Gotham Girls, they're more than okay in my book.)

Besides commuting, what kind of riding do you like to do?

I enjoy riding around in the Giant Bicycle Vulva Taxi. It's kind of my home away from home.

How were you chosen as the cyclist for this race?

My best buddy Rachael alerted TA to my speed and agility on two wheels. After that it was multiple time-trials. And I had to beat some guy wearing a beanie at checkers.

You beat someone who took the subway and someone who drove a car. Does the word "sandbagger" mean anything to you?

Not to me, but I think April got a little sandbagged with the bus/subway combo. I fell in love with her when she politely commented that the subway "If you see something say something" alert was "Very helpful".

If you had known that you were competing against me too, would you have ridden any differently?

Yeah, I would have probably been really distracted - you're a pretty attractive fellow.

Please describe your preparation for this race. Did you train? What did you have for breakfast? Any music to get you psyched up?

I did a hefty amount of carbo-loading... and I put the songs 'Calabria' and 'Lollipop' on repeat.

(A true champion, Jamie sports road rash as a badge of honor.)

Please describe the race-winning machine. Any unusual equipment choices specific to the course, a la Paris-Roubaix?

I'm partial to late 70's Raleigh Grand Prix's... but for the race I pulled out the big guns... but kind of like BSNYC, she's anonymous.

What was your route?

To achieve my 16 minute victory I took a speed boat (thanks TA!) from Brooklyn to Manhattan. I'm a big girl, the steep incline of the Manhattan Bridge kills me.

I have to ask this because your fans want to know: single or attached?

Single. Although I have a rather extensive relationship with my bike... I mean my bike(s). I rank them like a harem, depending on what 'shape' they're in. I'm kind of the Don Juan of my own bicycle village.

If you could have chosen any person, living or dead, to greet you at the finish line, who would that person have been?

Bruce Smolka, but only if he's wearing pink pasties and holding a bottle of lube.

Will Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Paul Steely White stop at nothing in his relentless quest for power and glory?

I don't think so. When he learned that I biked into oncoming traffic once (okay, a couple) times, spit in a cabby's passenger side window (for cutting me off- TOTALLY acceptable), and stopped at Time's Up! he started calling his people. I thought he was going to have me 'knocked off'.

Was that a chopper following you?

Yeah. Oddly, TA highlights the carbon footprint made by each mode of transportation in the race but does not mention the carbon footprint of the chopper that hovered over the race for an hour to get 4 seconds of footage. Oh Fox, if you're okay by Dick Cheney, you're okay by me.

Did you see "Black Snake Moan," and if so was it better than you expected?

Much better- after all everything IS hotter down south.

Describe your ideal day on a bike:

All I know is that it doesn't include any type of stopping or waiting.

This Just In: More Pluggin'

Forgive the self-promotion, but this marks a watershed moment for me as I've officially done my first transatlantic interview, with The Bike Show on London's Resonance FM. You can hear the podcast here. Wisely I opted not to do it in a Cockney accent.

The Bike Show is taking a look at the fixed-gear explosion from a global perspective and this installment also includes insight from Roxy Erickson of London’s Trixie Chicks and Gabriel Nogueira from Brazil. Many thanks to Jack Thurston of The Bike Show, and thanks as always for reading.

Now back to today's post, about velo journalism.

This Just In: Pullin' The Plug (a BSNYC publicity update)

Just a brief word to let you know that I've been interviewed by my blinky-lighted siblings over at bikecommuters.com. If you're interested, go check it out, and please know they used the "Unknown Comic" photo despite my protestations.

We now return to today's post about ethical quandaries.

And Now, For Your Listening Pleasure (Or Displeasure)...

Last week, Jason Crane over at rocbike.com interviewed me for his podcast, the RocBike Review. Because I'm afraid of the dark, toucans, and the sound of my own voice, I have not yet listened to it, but Jason assures me that he's edited out the following unfortunate moments:

--The six times I hung up on him because I thought he was a telemarketer;
--My unfortunate Michael Richards-esque outburst about Nova Scotians;
--The 46 minutes we spent trying to diagnose a creak on Jason's bike over the phone;
--A cassette recording I made in the 80s in which I pretended to have a talk show and interviewed the cast of "Three's Company;"
--The point at which, emboldened by Recharge and vodka, I challenged the Fat Cyclist to a "blog-off."

So if you're interested in hearing what I sound like, please head over there, have a listen, and then feel free to come back and tell me. Thanks to Jason and Rocbike for the unique and enjoyable opportunity.

BSNYC Interview: Mission Bicycles

(The Mission Bicycle--yours for nine-fiddy.)

Recently I received a number of emails from readers in a short period of time informing me of a new company called Mission Bicycles. I checked out their website and learned that "the Mission Bicycle is a light steel frame fixed gear bike with high quality components, a custom paint job, no visible branding, and a price point of $950." This struck me as being rather audacious. I mean, $950 can buy you a lot of bike. How much bike was this? Like a vice cop trying to bust a bunch of johns, I wanted to know where these guys got off. So I emailed John Adams, who was gracious enough to agree to an interview. I immediately flew first class to San Francisco, had some great Mexican food, flew back to New York and emailed him some frank questions. His answers follow. Thanks to the guys at Mission Bicycles for being forthright, and thanks as always for reading.

(As with the Aerospoke interview, yes, this is a real interview; yes, it is different than what you usually find here; and no, I didn't receive any product or compensation for this. Having interviewed an established company in the context of the fixed-gear trend I think it's interesting to hear from an upstart company too, and hopefully you'll agree. Hyperlinks in the interview are theirs and I maintained them at their request.)

Who is Mission Bicycles?

Mission Bicycles is only a month old. We (John Adams, Matt Cheney, Zack Rosen, and Josh Koenig) had all talked a bit about starting ths business for some time but really got serious about everything right before Interbike in late September this year. We have been scrambling for the past few weeks designing and sourcing our first model, got our first prototype together last week (pictures), and are processing our first orders this week.

At this stage we're really just trying to build reliable and beautiful bicycles for our friends. Next month we will have a large run assembled and we will see how much interest there is in them from the outside world. We'll be blogging on our website throughout and would love to hear from anyone with questions, comments, and substantive (or at least witty) criticism.

What are your backgrounds as cyclists? How and when did you first start riding? What kind of riding do you do now?

John: I started racing in regional BMX races when I was twelve and raced through the junior ranks in road and MTB. In 2000 and 2001, I got into Cyclocross and competed in the several SuperCup series races. I also competed in several collegiate races and served as vice president of the University of Cincinnati Cycling Team. I recently raced in Godzulla (Godzulla.com) and the Ault Park summer crit series (QCW.org) in Cincinnati prior to moving out to San Francisco last summer. Mission Bicycles has kept me pretty busy, but I'm looking into building out a cyclocross bicycle and will probably head out and compete in a few races. They have an amazing crit series out here.

Matt: I stripped down my first bicycle and rattle-canned it hot pink and neon green during junior high school. Since I moved out to San Francisco a couple years back, I have been doing a lot of city riding and currently roll around on my converted and customized green and purple fixie.

Zack: I started biking in San Francisco out of necessity a few years ago on a crappy hybrid I had until my garbage man mistakenly threw it away. On a whim I replaced it with a stock track bike I picked up from Pedal Revolution last year and discovered how much fun cycling is on a bike that fits and suits me.

Josh: I grew up on bikes in pedal-friendly Eugene, Oregon, but didn't start really identifying as a rider until I moved to New York City in the late 90s, where I immediately fell head-first into the outlaw style and cowboy culture of the city's boisterous bike scene, bringing most of my friends along for the trip. Since then I've gone through a number of rigs (and locks), but currently I reside in hilly, remote, gravel-strewn Humboldt County, cruising the Pacific hill-shores on a Surly Crosscheck -- which incidentally does very well with slicks on city trips too.

What is your professional experience in the bicycle industry? Outside of the bicycle industry?

John: I started working as a mechanic in a local bike shop, Bishop's Bicycles, when I was in high school. In 2000 I helped my friend Jason Reser get Reser Bicycle Outfitters off the ground in Cincinnati and helped run the shop over the last seven years. I helped with just about everything involved in getting a bike shop up and running: setting up the retail space, managing inventory, sales, marketing, and services. Outside of the industry I'm a trained graphic designer.
Matt, Zack, and Josh founded and run a successful San Francisco based consulting firm called Chapter Three which works primarily on socially motivated projects using open source technology. They have a lot of collective experience in designing products and working with customers and through their consulting business are financing Mission Bicycles.

What other bike companies or builders do you admire?

John: For bike companies I would have to say Principia and Bontrager (defunct). I just love the design and engineering behind Principia frames. Bontrager, made awesome steel bikes with a very innovative approach to early MTB construction. To this day my all-time favorite bike is a Bontrager CX. For custom builders, we're huge fans of Matt Chester and local steel-genius Eman. Eman hasn't been at it that long but I've never seen anything like the frames he's been building, they are truly stunning. In a perfect world everyone would ride around on frames made by these guys.

Can you give me more details about the frame? Where is it made? Is the tubing butted?

The frame is straight-gauge chromoly steel designed by a US company and manufactured overseas.

This is a San Francisco-bred bike. It can be pretty wet there. How come no braze-ons or fender eyelets?

It's a slippery slope. A fender eyelet here, a brake mount there, and pretty soon you'll end up with with 27 gears, lazy-boy geometry, and both of your Docker pant flaps pinned down by reflective yellow ankle bracelets. You can always toss a seat post mount or clip on fender if you're really in trouble.

Who are your customers and how do you see them using these bikes?

Right now our customers are our friends. They are young professionals living in the city that are looking for a dependable and great looking bike to ride around San Francisco. They have varying degree of experience and proficiency as mechanics, but for the most part would rather not have to deal with assembling their own bicycles. Some day we hope to open a retail store in the Mission in which we would also sell our bikes as well as parts and accessories to anyone who needed them, including DIY'ers who, for example, just need the hubs, rims, spokes and nipples to build up a set of wheels.

When and where will the bicycles be available?

We sold out our first run of bikes in November and are currently taking pre-orders for our second run of bikes in December. The bikes are sold both through our website and out of our shop in San Francisco. The first bikes will be in our customer's hands around Thanksgiving.

Can you explain how the "artist designed vinyl decal kit" works?

Certainly. Instead of pasting our branding all over the bikes they will be shipping with artist designed decal "kits". We are working with a number of local graphic designers to design patterns that will be cut out of colorful vinyl and can be placed on bikes by our customers like fancy stickers rated to last 5+ years. We will also give out blank sheets of decal material so they can design and cut their own. If any designers are interested in working on this project the details are posted here.

You're entering a crowded and competitive marketplace. What sets your bike apart from all of the other off-the-rack fixed-gears, specifically the Swobo Sanchez, which is also designed with a "blank canvass" philosophy?

There are plenty of ~$600 off-the-rack "blank slate" starter bikes like the Sanchez available that can be easily ripped apart and rebuilt with better, fancier, and more customized parts by their owners. Of course, this kind of customization takes some time, can cost a lot to pick up the right parts piece meal at retail shops, and requires some amount of bike mechanic experience to put it all together.

Mission Bicycles are instead designed during the ordering process and built to our customer's specifications. Our thinking is there are plenty of people out there that want a high quality, beautiful bicycle custom designed for them and would rather pay more up front instead of buying a cheaper bike and rebuilding it with purchased parts and their own labor.

Your bike costs $950. Isn't that a lot of money for a bike like this? Bikes like the Sanchez, the Pista, the Langster, the 925, etc. all retail for hundreds less, and quite frankly I'm not sure why your frame and component spec warrants the higher price. What am I missing?

The selling point of our bike is the ability to customize it as you order and easily create an unique and great looking bicycle. During the ordering process you can pick the color to powder coat the frame and mix and match the color combinations on their components. We deliver the product without visible branding (we don't plastering our logo all over the bicycles) and we offer vinyl decal design kits produced by local artists that can be applied to further personalize the bicycle.

Additionally, compared to other stock fixed gear bicycles on the market, each Mission Bicycle comes with the Deep V wheel-sets (that run for $100 more than generic) and a standard front brake ($50). Not to mention the powder coating ($150 retail in SF) or the seat, seat post, and drive train that are a cut above the quality of the components you will find on a stock fixie. We did a lot of cost comparisons for these parts and this type of bike customization in and around San Francisco and are confident it represents a fair and competitive price.

What kind of warranty do you offer?

We don't have an official warranty plan in place yet. By the time we start shipping bikes we will offer one that is comparable to local bike shops.

Will riding without a hooded sweatshirt, colored chain or top tube pad void the warranty?

We are consulting with our legal team on this one. Likely we would probably need to know a little bit more about the musical tastes, coffee shop preferences, ironical abilities, and jean size of each rider before passing final judgement.

What are your goals going forward? Would you like to offer different bicycle models? Components? Accessories?

We started this business to make beautiful bicycles for ourselves and our friends to ride around San Francisco. We would like to see more people riding their beautiful fixed gear bikes to work or school everyday. We have big dreams of opening a retail store in San Francisco. We also have started thinking about what a lower-cost simplified version of our bike that stores could carry would look like.

Do you see fixed-gear bicycles remaining as popular as they are now? Where do you see this whole thing going?

It's hard to predict where things are going, but there is some amount of anecdotal evidence that commuting on bikes picking up in some major US cities. It's pretty apparent amongst the younger population in San Francisco (yes, including a lot of hipsters). At the same time, in our view, the most interesting and desirable bikes on the road are not the ones being sold in stores, they are the hand assembled fixed gear bikes being built by hobbyists. True, there are a lot of hilarious tragic abominations out there, but ultimately it seems like there is an increasing number of kids excited about biking and excited about their bikes -- and that's awesome.