Photoshootin'

Hi fellow forum members, if any of you guys are free this afternoon, my mate is shooting photos/streetsnaps for a Japanese magazine. We want all fixed gear and singlespeeders, basically most of the people who reside on these forums.

Fixed gear culture is explosive right now in japan, so magazine coverage is huge. Of course London NY SF etc cities will be appealing for the japanese, mainly because of their already famous sub street cultures.

So if you are anywhere near Bricklane, please pop down.

I'll will be there with FixedGearLondon and I would love for London Fixed-gear & Single-speed to join.

Ill be on my Tommy, so see you there!

What time?

We might be able to divert there on the way to the Old Mill in Plumstead.

Looks like 4 of us will be there for 2pm.

Hi guys sorry to have missed you lot before you set off to Plumstead. I'm gonna try and organise some more shootings this week maybe in the evening since we are having some nice weather.

We thought we must've been late to be honest, figured you must've left way before us. We did get photographed by a Japanese student, but we didn't think that was the thing and just waited around half an hour or so.

Let us know where and when, and if we can make it I'm sure some of us will.

I'm out on Wednesday evening, but the rest of the evenings are fine for me.

That must have been my friend, was he riding a black and yellow fausto coppi?

Not that we could see, he just had a killer camera and a clip board. Noticed that he'd done Andy's Nagasawa just before us, which made us wonder where he was and whether you were near.

Oooooow I have a bike with only one gear. Can I come?? Never thought me and my bike were gonna be CoOl and anything else than a mode of transport.

By the way, any tips on what the next big thing is gonna be in Japan?? Maybe I can start to buy into that already...

;)

I think porn vending machines are pretty big in Japan. Especially at the truck and coach stops on the motorways.

COOL ! I'm already into porn and I have the facial hair to go with it, saves me a shit load of time researching that and perfecting my look on ebay.

Its true, fixed gear bikes is the new skateboarding. It's funny annoying but its here. It's not about being cool, but if you love your bikes, then why not come along. If you are gonna give up riding fixed gears if it becomes cool then you have to question how much you love bikes.

Jos we haven't met, but I know who you are, I think you DEFINITELY have to come. You ride as a messenger, on the track, you would be the ideal cover story! It's up to you dude. Anyway your big beard is cool! Look forward to seeing you there mate.

fixed wheel bikes ain't cool

most of your friends or other cyclists still don't understand the point of it. they don't think you're cool, they think you're an idiot, or a masochist

as for beards!

Recumbents are the next big thing, just you wait and see... look, this one has an aerospoke!

http://kb7mxu2.home.mindspring.com/images/luna.jpg

It’s not the being cool or not that bothers me, it’s al the side effects that come with it.

First off al, I’m Dutch which basically means I came riding out of my mothers whomb on a bicycle. Dutch kids learn to cycle on a fixed gear which is nothing special really if you think about it. I’m not a messenger that turned to race, but the other way round. A failed cycling racer turned messenger. So far so good....

The thing nowadays is that if I ride into work in the morning or cruise home after I see all these new riders that want to get ‘ radical’ on there bicycle. Trying to race me and my fellow messengers and narrowly avoiding killing themselves every 100metres or so.

In other words they see what they like but have no idea what they are doing. People that want to buy a track bike and then ask where the front brake goes. Or even better singlespeeds with only a cool messenger like front brake in the middle of the handelbars. Walking, a pimped out track bike at hand like its a dog prize dog.

Why are we as riders or the so called ‘tricks’ that are supposed to be performed interesting if you have 15 year old girls doing this
( http://youtube.com/watch?v=fScYaiYhDT4&mode=related&search=
)
They don’t get interviewed or shot for intersection or whichever japanes mag.

I’m just happy riding around not annoying to many other road users. That is the real trick, don’t swear at the pedestrian or the cabby if you just came wizzing through a red light from a one way street ??! WTF.

That way I don’t have to be confronted with an ever growing population of aggitated road users hating every single cyclist that they see when I’m working.

That is my view, in short anyway. But if you want to meet and talk that’s fine, just send me an email or something.

Another failed racer here :) London Dynamo, I was crap but very enthusiastic. I got into single-speed and fixed through training and wanting to reduce maintenance and cleaning over winter... not for the cool (hell I had more cool before I put lycra on).

I just think cycling is a blast, I love it and I'm happy when I see other people enjoying it. I've had my 15 minutes of fame 10 years ago and it ain't coming back. I'm not bothered about appearing in a magazine or being associated with a scene, I'm too old to think that's what matters, but if it helps someone else (dexter in this case) then sure bring it on. I rode in circles in the background of an ITV thing a week ago, on a geared bike wearing a yellow TdF shirt, I don't think this stuff matters, but little things to promote cycling in any form I'm for, we get too much bad press to pass up the opportunities for good press.

And hell, if it means a few new faces down a pub in a year's time and on a ride or two. Then that's gotta be worth it.

I have to agree with Jos a little on this one. I love bikes, trikes pretty much anything with pedals and a chain (except 'bents - that's just WRONG! ;-) ). And bigging up track/fixed riders because they can do what? The bmx boys can do much better, and as for the real bike gymnasts - well, take a look at the video... but wearing lycra doesn't look too cool...

So I do get kind of annoyed by the fixie-trendy thing - on the other hand if people suddenly get into riding bikes, then that's gotta be good hasn't it? As long as they stick with it, I don't really care why they got into it. But hey, two of my best friends have started a shop and are making a living from the fixed gear thing so that's cool too, I suppose.

To be honest, I don't really like cliques, and I am little suspicious of the fixie thing as a bit cliquey...

I ain't been riding fixed as long as Jos (only 15 or something years) but here in the UK back then, apart from literally a handful of couriers, it was only old men that rode fixed wheel. So it's kind of funny to see turn around and become a youth cult...

Oh, here's a story that illustrates my point:

I was asked to go on the "Today Programme", a very popular news show on BBC Radio 4, to comment on a cycling 'news' story. Before we went live, the presenter John Humphreys was trying to set me at ease (I was very nervous) by asking by about cycling. He had just started again after a break of 40 years. And he said "I used to ride a Hercules, with a fixed-wheel. Do people still ride fixed-wheel?"

I laughed.

Anyway, I think it's ok to promote fixie culture as long as it's not at the expense of cycle culture in general - and as long as you get paid for photo-shoots.

Oh, and Jos, I really do have better things to do... :-)

Now, if only I could remember what they were...

There is something to be said about the popularity of anything bringing along the douchebags along with people who are genuinely chill and just want to ride their bikes, whatever such bikes may be.

I have seen people do silly things on the road trying to bike faster than conditions allow. I think everyone in the world probably pulled a stunt on the road after which they thought - "Now, that was stupid." I imagine some of the animosity between bikers and drivers does have to do with the fact that there are plenty douchebags pedaling and driving.

Anyway, I think there are plenty of good things that com out of more people riding, probably more than what is negative or annoying. As I meet ore and more people who ride in different cities, I realize that there are too many cool people who could fit a certain stereotype, but don't. I have run into messengers, road racers, commuters and hipsters who are fantastic people, and others who are just complete asses. I don't particularly care about what someone does for a living, what kind of frame or bag or cog they have. What matters the most is whether you are good company on the road and on a pub.

So, Jos, I'd take you up on that chat, but not just to debate the finer points of cycling anthropology. I am just always up for a ride and a cold one.

You too, Bill. I gotta buy you a beer to thank you for pointing me this way through the 'Stache.

Man I love more people on bicycles the more the better. It's just the sudden Blah Blah that surrounds it, and not even all of the blah blah, that turns me off.

We can only wonder what Tofu would have had to say...

Tofu would say:

you're all missengers!

A real benefit to all cyclists of having more people on bikes is that as the number of cyclists rise, the number of collisions involving cyclists goes down, in absolute terms normally. Not up, as you might expect.

I think this is because the more cyclists there are, the more people expect to see them, so the more they look for them...

Just in case anyone was in any doubt of the benefits of more bums on saddles..

This is happening in London right now - numbers up 3% total journeys from 1998 (TfL figures), number of cyclists killed or seriously injured down by 20% (London Road Safety Unit figures)

I was in two-minds about the congestion zone extension, but after having seen so many new cyclists out there, it's worth it.

A few weeks of wobbly and dangerous cycling to contend with, but the new cyclists seem quite eager to learn and get comfortable. I've been pointing out road-markings, traffic-light sequences, advising them to get in the lane they want in advance, and also making them aware of free training that all councils offer. Just helping them get comfortable, be less wobbly and nervous (which can be pretty dangerous).

It is a huge benefit to have cycling more visible and more people riding. Ultimately it's not about the bikes, scenes, what's cool, it's about the people. It always is. That's a strong belief of mine, and you see it a lot in the cycling community, a lot of really great people helping each other out and looking out for each other.

Buffalo Bill:
I think this is because the more cyclists there are, the more people expect to see them, so the more they look for them...

Definitely, this is what really matters for cyclists safety - not cycle lanes etc. but a culture which includes cycling as a serious mode of transport (among other things of course).

velocity boy:Ultimately it's not about the bikes, scenes, what's cool, it's about the people.

Yes, and there are wankers in any group of people, people who ride bikes and people who ride fixed wheel included. I've only been riding fixed just over 2 years now, but even i find some of the 'cool-culture' magazine's coverage annoying (and the ppl who come with it). But that can be the same with anything people identify around and to try and pretend otherwise is pretty silly, people should just get on with what they want to do.

huff ;)

Jos: I’m just happy riding around not annoying to many other road users. That is the real trick, don’t swear at the pedestrian or the cabby if you just came wizzing through a red light from a one way street ??! WTF. That way I don’t have to be confronted with an ever growing population of aggitated road users hating every single cyclist that they see when I’m working.

Word.

and maybe it is getting better out there, I think it could be