MAJs gay bikes [she’s in her fitness era]

Sadly nothing to contribute but sending good vibes.
Heartwarming this, faith in humanity restored (a bit). :')

I love this place.

To echo previous posters, what a bummer and good work from the hive.

The parts will probably turn up eventually. I had a German order of Fox tat turn up six months after ordering (and PayPal refunded).

Can't wait to see the bike.

Talent is perhaps nothing other than successfully sublimated rage

German order of Fox tat

Fox-themed tat, or tat for a fox?

Price gouged nylon pajamas for the gnarmensch rather than on golden pond bucolia.

aye, 'leven

What shame about the missing parcel, I'd been very much looking forward to the culmination of the Maj X Hulsroy episode. Heartwarming that we will get to see that happen now.

this forum gives me hope in humanity, sending good vibrations, i hope you will rock this bike soon

afraid I don't have any suitable wheels, but would totally throw some quids into a crowdfunder/your paypal/an envelope thru your door if that's what it takes to get this thing rolling!

ebay "26 hope stans" not coming up with great options rn ("mint condition with just a couple of dents"), but if you had some budget you could be ready & watching...?

i literally did the same observation re the 26” crest sets. also in for a little crowdfunder to secure some light & decent wheels the frame deserves.

in the final hour, i have just been cleared to fly B)

(but for future refrence apparently i need oxygen on flights? wild, never been on a plane in my 28 years, and i off the cuff mentioned it to my cardiac nurse friday and she was like "UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH i'll get back to you", apparently berlin is fine...just)

Hello!

As we’ve seen the bikes and bags over on @Hulsroy s thread I thought I’d share some of the design influences which went on

The bags:

me and @Tijmen discuss bags all the time, we have for many years. From different Japanese micro workshops, to technical ultralight gear and designer handbags. We both really enjoy drawing inspiration both business wise and design wise from a variety of sources outside of cycling bags.

In another life I had a few stone island jackets, now gone (stolen), but what I liked about stone island as many of you familiar with them will know, was their approach to functional elegance. Two examples were relevant to this project

1) a white label coat from around 2015, in which it had a transparent rubber shell with a deep blue hoodie underneath. It was entirely impractical and stained if you put anything in the pockets but it was BEAUTIFUL,

2) the second was a heavy cotton parka with a metallic lining which could be reversed, you just took the patch off and applied it to the outside

The second jacket was proposed as a reversible bike bag with a shiney lining, space bag if you will. But tijjy has a fantastic brain for making things and I only have one for designing things. He deemed it not feasible as the material couldn’t be sourced in a way that’s not a pita to work with and he’d hate replicating it if anyone ever asked for one.

The first however sparked his interest, the idea of using a thin fabric with a bright under layer was something replicable and not often seen (double lining every panel you’re often cutting two bags) - it was a suitable amount of effort for a special occasion and importantly hit the right intersection of functional elegance. It gave him the opportunity to make something ornate and elegant, instead of some shade of utilitarian , but also show off performance fabrics, headwear and sewing techniques.

The colour selection went through many iterations, but I knew early on Hulsroj and me wanted a blue bike, so I proposed white and pink bags. The colours of a flag we all salute. I thought it would be funny, but not instantly perceivable. Fabric selection then went on and the idea of this picnic table grid print Cordura popped up, paired with this sandwhich wrapper faux dyneema body it seemed to be perfect. A further extension of that performance / elegance juxtaposition we were chasing.

the humour in using performance fabrics for a bike like this was not lost on us. They’re light weight bags with functional, precision hardware, made to look like something you’d see on the front of the sylvanian families bikes

The opposite of the bike, in which it looks performance orientated but decisions were made to mellow it out

Speaking of the bike

4 Attachments

The bike:

The bike itself was a negotiation at first between me and Hullsy.

As I’ve written at length in this thread me and Hulsroy, if left to our own devices, have very different design and function philosophies which on the surface are incompatible

Where he’s minimalist I’m maximalist
If I want function he wants elegance
If he wants elegance I want function

But look past this, we share the most important thing in common, we’re both HIGHLY OPINIONATED and not afraid to defend our opinion, correct and update it.

This made for a swift design process where I went to him with a fully formed idea of wanting a big bmx with tiny wheels and he quickly went

“I don’t hate it but no we do this…”

Queue a scene somewhat like blade runner where I’m interrogated and psychoanalysed; hulsroy is made to question if he himself is to be trusted or if he does indeed have implanted bicycle beliefs by the weyland shimano corporation m. Only in a final hour negotiation we finally agree on something to move forward

A 26” mtb with conservative geometry and modern styling/ standards

At this point it should be pointed out I was not convinced of disc brakes, and he was not convinced of 26” wheels and 90mm stems, but both of us trusted in the others reasoning and you can see from the prototype image to the final bike a lot stuck

I won’t wax on here about why these things are negotiated, going back some pages you will find words about why it is. But what’s important is the core idea:

A bike which uses everything the builder knows about performance, not to push them further or faster, but to make their life easier and the ride more comfortable.

That was done and more

Visually the bike incorporates a lot of what I like about bikes I’ve had in my life:

1) It’s a similar shade of blue to my old dk 6pack from the 2000s

2) It has a flattened top tube like my favourite ever bike, an old rim brake caadx

3) It proportionally looks like and is a 2000s era mtb as imagined by someone who’s only ever seen old copies of mtb mags. A simulacrum, Like how a zoomer might design a “y2k” outfit if you will

4) It has a suitably long head tube as all bikes should.

5) Straight blade segmented forks with bmx drop outs undoubtedly popularised by stridisland in our current year (for good reason, my final build will be shaped by him a lot), but frame wise, to me this choice owes much more the the all city junk yard dog, or being influenced by bmx and boxy jump forks.

6) it corrects so much of what is wrong, for me, about the bmx/ mtb offerings about on the market atm like the wombat and the low side, or a strids fork on a 26” retro frame. I believe it was spindatt on YouTube who once said “I like to make bikes which make people go oh that’s just a … hold on a minute… what… ohhh… ok… yeah… oh yeah… fuck…. So if I want my I own I need to?… oh” and that’s how I feel about this

I really love it, and seeing it built up has really secured that for me. Can’t thank Hulsroj enough.

It’s both nostalgic of riding I’ve done and progressive to riding I wish to do.

2 Attachments

wish jeez's latest incarnation was here for the 26" revival !

Stunning bike, well done

A tribute to Osti! The white fabric looks very similar to a waterproof paper parka from MD that folded into a rucsac that I used to own.
A Stony Zeltbahn must be worn in inclement weather on this bike.
Clean bike, paninaro porteur.

It's just so frikkin good. The back story, the journey, the bike, the bags, the humans...

Hyped to see it IRL!

i was just patiently waiting for more ecopak ultra colours to become available, but this solves the problem. mad concept, hats off to both. can't wait to have my hardtail built and order a bag for it.

the bike is sick obviously too. will it return to the isles bombed with all the free stickers she can possibly grab at the bespoked booths, including ones for the new german coffee shop and the organic flapjack brand?

This looks mad fun! Well done!

Sooo good

External cables ftw

That's sooooo good! Love it. 26" looks very on point here:)

Uhhhh

Richard from DCR wheels just called me

They have umm

A big box of parts covered in danish shipping labels??

It’s apparently all the stuff

They sent it to the place the box was from??????

My word

People who have sent me parts

@BareNecessities
@trigs
@Oddo
@RonnieOatmilk
@atk
@velosaurus
@stelfox

Please do not send, if you have sent I’m sure I can return them??

Or donate to projects here in london

This is

What

Wow

!!!