Jason Veall / Bristol
Dolan Track Champion frame
Thompson Stem
Carbon spacers
Nitto B123 drops
Charge Plunger grips
Miche Primato Advanced Cranks
Miche bottom brackets
Look Delta pedals
Vertex Track racer
NJS chain
Miche Supertype Seat post
Cinelli Unicanitor Saddle
New from Gusset is the Singles handlebar which is a one piece Stem/Bar combo, these come on complete Identiti Persona Fixed Gear Bikes and are now available separately.
TAF tapered cro-mo bars tig welded to a cro-mo stem
Tig welded
500mm wide.
Alloy Gusset logo badge.
Ergonomic 3 degree back sweep.
10 degree “flip-flop” rise/fall.
80mm forward extension.
Tapered Cr-Mo tubing.
Hidden binder for 11/8″ steerer.
Stack height: 40mm
Weight: 440g
Chrome, Black or White
rrp £39.99 (Black or White).
rrp £49.99 (Chrome Plate).
I’d been on the lookout for a decent set of toe straps for a long, long time, as a vegan my options were pretty limited. I researched until I went stir crazy, I chased phantom links from Google, I found what looked like great ones but were now either out of production or only readily available in far of lands, I even corresponded with a dude but that came to noting too. So with my options now filtered right down to the MKS Fit Alpha Spirit or the Pake Space Straps, the Space Straps were easier to get hold of so last payday I treated myself.
I’ve always used your run of the mill nylon straps, we all love to complain about how they fray, tear, slip (especially in the rain) and just generally SUCK. These Pake straps are made of nylon too but they are coated in a nice thick rubbery urethane which means that they suffer from none of the problems that their poor weany cousins do.
Let me warn you that getting the straps through the holes in my pedals resulted in a lot of growling and screaming like a 5 year old girl as I tried in vain to get enough of them through the hole to grip with a pliers and pull, do not try and fit these if there are any young, impressionable kids around. The flip side to all this misery is that when they are in they wont keep moving around and fucking up your bikes fen shui. They are pretty rigid when they are fitted and sit in a nice wide arc that makes it easy to slip your foot into which is always handy.
I went for the black ones because I’m the type of guy who likes to ride in a good old fashioned black Bruce Springsteen t-shirt but they come in all sorts of colours to match your own shirt: Yellow, Pink (which will go lovely with your cut off Tegan & Sara top), Orange, Duct Tape Silver (for all you punks), Maroon, White, Green (which would set off your eyes as well as your Fairport Convention tee), Yellow, Goldenrod, Bright Blue, Navy Blue and Red.
So to summarise: they are made of nylon with a strong, non slip urethane covering that resists the rain; they are nice and thick; are available in loads of snazzy colours and have a nice buckle too. I have absolutely no reservations in recommending these straps to you.
They are available from a few places but I got mine from Velodrama cause they are lovely and provide a great personal service.
Owen, Beynon and myself went on a ride from Swansea to Porthcawl on Saturday, I wanted to break in to the Coney Beach fairground to shoot some portraits in its off season state. We arrived to find the gate open so we wondered in but within a few minutes we got busted by one of the Polish carneys, we told him we’d ridden 20 miles to shoot some pictures and asked for 10 minutes to which he replied “I AM NOT HAPPY” (think it in a Polish accent). So, unable to spend any time thinking and composing etc I just had to plump for a few snapshots and one OK portrait of Owen with his new Scissor. We hit a pub for a pop and crisps, Owen bought some oil for his ridiculously noisy chain then we headed home. I notched up 52 miles which is pretty good going for a winter ride I reckon.
See all photos bigger on flickr…
Brick Lane Bikes seem to have a never ending stream of absolutely killer product arriving at the mo, check out their brand new ‘Chewy’ track grips, hot stuff!
I think it’s fair to say that Owen has waited an ETERNITY to get this bike. He was finally able to sort out the Cycle To Work stuff and get it all ordered last week and it was ready to go on Friday. Its the first bar spinnable fixie in Swansea and he was boshing them out within a few minutes which is cool. He didn’t muck about when it came to colours, he’s embracing the whole ‘You’ve been Tango’d‘ thing with open arms, if it was available in orange then he got it! So, here’s what he got: Charge Scissor frame and forks, Dish wheels with a Shaker hub, Bucket saddle, Spit bars and other stuff that I don’t know the names of. All in all a pretty sweet whip.
Here’s some more sponsorship news for you, Brick Lane Bikes in London has hooked up Keanue with a BLT frameset, Velocity Chukker rims and Fyxation Session tyres. It’s super duper cool to see such a young dude ripping and getting free stuff! Head over to the Brick Lane Bikes blog to read more…
One of the most enjoyable things about riding fixed is when you spot a ‘chap of age’ eyeing up your bike, you look at him, he looks at you then looks back at your bike, you smile at him, he hesitates but then finally comes over and talks to you about riding a fixed wheel. You probably know this scenario well, if not then you will sooner or later. One guy told me that he used to ride from Swansea to Cardiff (40 miles), race at Maindy track all day then cycle home again, that was back when men were men and not like us crazy kids.
The following is a guest post by Lewis Campbell, an ex-pat, who is now 70 and refers to his bikes as ‘fixies’ which I think is great!
The bike is a Hercules which my parents bought me as a reward for passing the ’11+ exam’. It was purchased from Baldwins, which was a Mum & Pop type of store in our little town of Potters Bar, Baldwins sold things like lawn mowers, hardware, bicycles etc and also did repairs and maintenance on things he sold. As far as I remember, it was just Mr Baldwin and his Mum that worked there.
The bike had a derailleur on it, as well as fenders and both brakes and I was really proud of it. All I knew about bicycles at that time didn’t amount to much because, during the war years, we didn’t have a whole lot of any kind of toys. However, I was fortunate enough to be naturally inclined to mechanical things and by the time I was about 10 I would scrounge for bicycle parts and was able to put a bike together that was rideable.
There was a farm about a mile from my house (mostly across fields) and I would ride my bike to it as I had a friend who liked bikes and lived just a little past the farm. Around this time a Turkish kid named Adil Gultikin (I’m not sure about the spelling) showed up at school. His older brother, who spoke good English, brought him but Adil hardly spoke any English. For whatever reason, he and I seemed to get along well and he began picking up the lingo and mixing in well. I had no idea where he and his brother lived but, after a while, he moved into a home where there was a boy named Pongo Barker. Pongo was probably 3 years older than us (which was quite a lot at our age) and was really ‘into’ cycling. He showed us how to ride, how to tape handlebars, etc. and explained about Claude Butler frames, Campy gears, etc. and also how ‘real’ cyclists rode fixed gears in the winter, so my derailleur had to go, along with the rear brake and fenders.
Pongo would lead us on rides to little cafes, out in the countyside and where cyclists would hang out., that was in the days when cyclists would ride to where they were going to have a race, then they’d take off their fenders, stash them in the hedges, take off the wheels, stash them in the hedge, then install their ‘race’ wheels, which they had been carrying on special brackets attached to the front fork.
I never forgot the good times I had during this time and I never forgot how much fun I had riding a Fixie.
There is a little bit more info about the bike on Fixed Gear Gallery and you can read about his 2-speed fixed gear hub project on 63cx.com.
It’s 10 years since the first courier roller race in London, these events evolved into Rollapaluza. For the last couple of years we have been running a Rollapaluza courier championships at the very same venue of the original race with all proceeds going to the London Courier Emergency Fund.
Only working couriers to race but all welcome to spectate as your entry fee is for a great cause.
London’s famous Dazzler, Sleep and Akely are your DJs and the Original Stevie is Master of Ceremonies.
Friday Feb 19th: Qualification 6pm-9pm, Knockout rounds 9pm-11pm.
The Horseshoe, 24 Clerkenwell Close, London, EC1
All finalists qualify for the National finale of Rollapaluza’s National series.
Geneously sponsored by Full City Cycles.
Deek / Edinburgh
Bob Jackson Vigorelli
Nitto bars
Sugino cranks
Phil Wood hubs
