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@turpe
Mongrel, for what it's worth, I do actually appreciate the fact that you've made the effort to ask people that actually know what they're talking about, as opposed to just taking a rough guess at things and writing an ill-informed article on a subject that, as you can tell from a lot of the responses, we're all fiercely protective of.
My main gripe was that Maxim really isn't aimed at the best demographic to be exposed to things like alleycat racing. Given that cycling in London (even for professionals - as in people that do it for a living, such as messengers) is a daily gamble with death by metal road monster, the last thing we need is for someone that orders the hottest curry on the menu to prove how big his balls are getting involved and putting all of us in danger.
I'm all for new people getting into cycling - each new cyclist is one less motorist trying (albeit inadvertently for the most part) to kill me - but alleycats are not the fucking place to start. I would worry that showing it as an 'exciting, dangerous, crazy dash through the heart of london traffic' will only encourage a bunch of arseholes to jump on a bike and start riding with around the same finesse that your average Max Power reader shows behind the wheel of their souped-up Honda Civic.
Also, the other thing about 'fixed-gear culture' (god, I hate that phrase) becoming appropriated by the mainstream and held up as this beacon of 'cool' is that it isn't like riding a regular bike. It's bloody hard to start with - just ask Mr 50x14, he might have a tale to tell you about diving in at the deep end.
Remember the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Well, in the UK, they were called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. This was because 'ninja' was a dirty word, thanks to the knee-jerk reaction of the press to a few muppets taking nunchucks to football games as an alternative to the classic Stanley knife and broken bottle combo. Strange analogy, I know, but I hope you can see my point.
We just don't want a similar backlash against something we love, due to idiots that care nothing for the safety of themselves or of others getting involved and, quite frankly, we don't want to be associated, or share the roads, with that kind of tosser.
/rant