We hope everyone is having a great holiday wind-down to 2009 and is gearing up for 010!
Personally, we're holding hands, kneeling, drum-circling, sweat-logdging...anything to appease the gods of NYC so that the new Hudson River Skatepark at Chelsea Piers is bike friendly in the new year.
Skip to 1:40 for a sneak peak if you want to skip the 8 wheeler stuff.
Art of Rolling: A Day in the Life of Angelo Ferrer from Rolling Film Media on Vimeo.
There's been a some speculation as to changes in the World Cup downhill schedule this year, but we're still excited to see Windham on the lineup.
(Jump to 5:18 for the DH course)
After this year's US open and full race series at Diablo, Plattekill, Windham, Highland (and more!) a World Cup at Windham is just hilighting how awesome East Coast destinations are, and have always been, for riding the gnar gnar.
We still tip our hats to the West Coast OGs!
NPR's Monday Morning Edition has a report on the increased use of pedal hauling:"Cargo Bikes: Go Ahead And Bring The Kitchen Sink"
Even outside the Portland Accodionist scene, pedaled cargo haulers are pretty bad-ass, and there seem to be more and more here in the city. Mad props to the dude seen around this weekend with a keg and ghetto blaster comfortably nestled on his ride.
"The Launchpad" is our new "trick specific/700cmx/fixed freestyle" frame. The first frames are nearing completion and should be trickling out to paint in the next week. All of the first batch is spoken for but some will be available in shops that have preordered them.
Our friends in LA, Orange 20 are first on the list to have some in stock. The bros at WBASE ,Chari & Co., Brooklyn Bicycles, and Tokyo Fixed Gear are all on the list to have frames soon too. If you can't get your hands on one from this first run, we will be taking orders for the next, hopefully to be completed in the very near future.
"The Launchpad" is going to be offered in long and short top-tube versions with the option of either a Mid or Euro bottom bracket shell with a 45x45 integrated headtube. Color options are black, red, and clear. The long version has a taller standover and slightly steeper HT angle than the short. Overall, the geometry of this frame isn't a much of a departure from the "Gangsta". This thing is more stout than it's older brother and has ample tire clearance. We're pretty stoked on it and the addition of our "Clusterfork" is going to make for a kickass frameset that sells for $850MSRP and is handmade here in Brooklyn.
Geometry is as follows:
HT angle - 72.5(short), 73.5(long)
ST angle - 72
CS length - 15.75" to 16.75"
BB drop - -2.40"
TT length (actual) - 21"(short), 22.5"(long)
ST length (c-to-t) - 16.25"(short), 18.5"(long)
Here are a few pics of Jeremiah's from Hold Fast FRS production prototype. We'll have some shots of the frame alone when one comes back from paint this week.
Only 2 more weekends left to ride at Platekill , so pack some long sleeves and a windbreaker and meet us up on the mountain, take a few runs, and talk about how fast you'll be next season over a few beers.
Keep an eye out for our friend Nito's latest Konkrete bike tee, available at the Plattekill shop, or it they're sold out already, they'll surely be available for sale elsewhere on the mountain.
Have a good weekend riding, everyone!
As much as we like to think we have a good time here in Brooklyn, the real party on Powers Street are these two guys we found after lunch.
The guy on the right was busy polishing his top tube. The guy on the left, well, watch the video...
In other news, the London to Paris film will premiere tomorrow in the Lower East Side.
Words:
"On Thursday night, WNW will play host to the premiere of “London to Paris,” a film by Grace Ladoja. Documenting the journey of 10 riders traveling from London to Paris to the finale of the Tour de France this summer, and to meet Lance Armstrong at the opening of STAGES at Perrotin Gallery.
It’s a gorgeous short film and an uncanny portrait of the intersection of cycling and pop culture in 2009. The fact that many of the riders made the trip on fixed gear bikes makes their journey (and the film) that much more impressive.
Join us for the first NYC screening of “London to Paris” on Thursday October 30th at 7pm."
We just learned that LOOP magazine dropped in Japan. It's packed with pages of photos shot by our friend and NY bike culture photagrapher extrorinarre, Tak, and the front cover is graced by Jeramiah Jones (of Holdfast fame) on his Brooklyn Element frame, which we'll be releasing in limited numbers in time for Christmas.
It's the second time a Brooklyn rider has been featured on a cover this month (we're trying to get our hands on copies of both). Thanks to everyone here in Brooklyn and Japan for reppin' hard!
Dan Toff has been killin' it all year all over the globe, from right here in Brooklyn to Whistler, British Columbia.
We put him on a Big Ben 26" on his last spin through the shop. Here's how he's acclimating to big wheels:
At the park:
At the Trails:
Here's a bunch of pictures we stole of stuff that happened this weekend:
Austin drank a Bunch of Redbull and rode too fast to get photographed, but check back for some photo action of Mr. Horse and the boys at Outlier...(heal up, Abe!)
NYC was was teeming with Luchadore-maked polo players for the Los Marcos Polo Tournament.
Check out Brooklyn rider and local Polo hero Doug D's blog for updates and a photo recap of this year's mayhem:
The afterparty ended up at 470 space, HasibiGBs, where the disparate corners of the NYC bike universe converged to get half-naked and dance:
Fiona, of Fifoycle fame, expresses her love of tie-dye after a full day of polo on her Gangsta Track.
Luke gets wastey faced and educates revelers as to the beverage pricing structure:
Clusterforks are back in what might be the fastest paint turnaround time we've ever had. Doing business locally sometimes has some advantages to balance out the headaches of manufacturing in Brooklyn.
Here's a couple of detail shots. The black is semi-gloss.
Look for Brooklyn's resident polo maven to be cruising around on one while doing the injured reserve thing and shooting photos this weekend, for his site, www.hardcourtbikepolo.com.
From the world of Brooklyn's with smaller wheels, trials dude Dan Bowhers(Mr. NY) came up with a new web edit. Late pass on this one, we've been busy.
Untitled from Dan Bowhers on Vimeo.
The first batch of the Brooklyn Machine Works "Clusterfork" is finally heading off to paint and will be ready to ship next week. Specs are as follows:
Axle-to-crown height - 410mm
Axle offset - 31.75mm
Axle slot - 9mm
Weight - 1360 grams
Handmade right here in our shop in Brooklyn, NY.
$175
The legs have a slight two degree taper so that the average fixed tire isn't swimming in space, but still has clearance for just about any tire currently available.
One caveat of this first batch, the steertubes are a little on the short side, due to them originally being meant for bmx forks. New, longer steertubes are currently being made that should have plenty of length and will be used on the next batch that is due to go into production in the near future. So for now, the steertube length is 170mm with a few available at 195mm. Be sure to check your stack height before ordering one from the first batch. From what we can tell, the short ones will work with any of the Gangsta' frames currently out, provided that one isn't using a tall stem or spacers.
Lastly, they come in any color, as long as it's black and 990 mounts will be available in the next batch. Send us an email or call for any ordering or questions you might have. Thanks.
Taking a break from the Japan/Vegas trip, we'd like to point your attention to Ray's MTB park in Clevland, Ohio.
(But maybe not the Gangsta Track since we'll be stopping production soon. )Things at the shop have been full speed with new metal coming in every day and half of us traveling the globe. Here's a recap of what's been going on outside of Brooklyn.
BMW Superfan Number one walks fast, evidently:
(Yes, that's our new fancy prototype fixed frame)Summer temps have been churning on here in NY so while the Tokyo crew prepared to hit Vegas, the rest of us here in Brooklyn decided to take an impromptu lunch break at the dirt jumps in Cunningham Park.
*Brooklyn Park bike (1X9 trail setup)
Seth putting some distance on Darren:
Darren pumpin':
Maya holding his line:
Luke tucking low on the Big Ben:
Moving to the DJs Ken felt out a hip:
Maya sessioned the middle:
After splitting up for some trail miles, everyone met at the fresh stepdown/stepup/berms being built on the backside of the park.
Ken tossing around the ACL:
Luke rockin' factory pilot style:
Seth working the step up brakeless after Luke broke off the lever on his thigh:
