Pretty much THE most rediculous example of great timing during a news report EVER!

BE SURE TO WATCH THE VIDEO!!!

New Andel cranks out from Ben's Cycle!

Some of you may have seen my review on the previous version of these cranks. These look to be even radder!

As seen on the Ben's Cycle blug-blug-blug...

Onward Christian Rollers Event!

I went to scope out the Roller race event last night and it was pretty gnarly! There were a bunch of falls but no one really bought it. One of the rollers bought it though I wasn't there to bear witness. Apparently one of the guys shattered one of the drums! It was super awesome to see Bike Works roller set-up in action..

Since there was like two billion flashes going off I thought it would be more fun and or exciting to shoot some video:



Okay, it's like 10 minutes of strung together footage but there's some good parts..

So here's where I bitch out and just copy and paste what people on NYC fixed are saying.. I need to get ready to go to the job...

Al: god damn that was fun.
Talkin to Christian Vandevelde and racin against Bobby Lea was pretty cool too

Mattio: Al you got to the semis? Nice! Say more...

Driver: I think the best part may have been when buddy SHATTERED the blue roller while warming up.
...either that or the roadie in sunglasses going back for more, again, and again, and again...

Al: Alan, CyclingWMD, has some video which will give people a better idea of the races, but a good number of competitors showed up, mostly beefy track racers. The rollers took a bit to get used to. They are substantially narrower and a bit more jittery than my rollers at home. In the warm up time prior to the races, one of the racers was spinning up and one of his rear rollers catastrophically failed, with the tube completely ripping off from the axle and him shooting back into the bikeworks sign. Watching that gave me second thoughts about competing.

The races were set up with a 500 m time trial for seeding then a three up 1,000 m roller race to decide who moved forward. There were some heavy hitters competing, including current Olympian Bobby Lea and Andrew LaCorte.In the Semifinals, I ended up riding against the Bobby Lea and some other guy. I came in second in that. It was fun simply competing against an olympian, even if it was just a roller race.

The finals came down to Bobby Lea, LeCorte and some fast dude sponsored by Van Dessel. It was a tight race between LaCorte and Bobby Lea, but halfway through LaCorte lost control, crashed and somehow ripped three spokes out of his front wheel. Almost each race had someone crashing/falling off the rollers. One dude smoked his tire as he fell off.

Edit: Driver was my spotter throughout the night. Thanks Driver!

CyclingWMD: Yes! Alex killed it riding against those fuckin' track monsters!! Here's some video I shot. It's like 10 min of strung together footage but you get the idea:

Quote: driver: ...either that or the roadie in sunglasses going back for more, again, and again, and again...

I felt slightly guilty watching that guy looking forward to him spilling.. but only slightly.. The best was when he got all wicked squirly (as seen in vid) and SUPER rubbed up against the wood and smoked his rear tire- you could TASTE the burnt rubber in the air it was so thick!

Great job Alex! Remind me to hang with you and Cooper (who also did a great job!) so I can get my racing chops up to par...

Remember those Dura Ace Track cranks from the previous post?

yyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaa!

oooooo, I know this one's gotta sting the majority of you wankers- mwahahaha!

But what-the-fuck-ever, they were used and not super pretty. I decided to toss em on on my Concept when I was swapping out the Phil BB for a Miche. NOTE: Steel BB rings aren't exactly the best idea for aluminum BB's. I actually knew that before I put em in there but since I'm slightly retarded I did it anyway..

I'm pretty psyched about the cranks cause they weight 230 grams less than the Andels. Also because I know it'll annoy people to know that I rattlecanned dem bitches up!

Update: If you think that hurts, check this shit out:


Bike Repair from Stegnco on Vimeo.

I can't even begin to describe how much it WOUNDED me to let this one go...

I mean, come on, not only does it have a pavement licking front 24" wheel but a REAR 24" as well? How fucking sick is that?!

I really, really wanted to get this thing and mount some long monkey bars on it with a banana seat- KRATE TARCK BIKE!!! Alas.. I did not...

BUT.. I did however get a couple of awesome deals on some very good condition Paul/DT/DeepV/Gatorskin/EA wheelset and used Dura Ace cranks for all of four hundy! Local buy too so zero shipping $$$

A piece of advice to those of you on the bay: NEVER sell anything and have it end on major holiday when people aren't either at work, or traveling to see family etc.. Also, if you're a loser like me and have the time to spend looking around on ebay that day, sort your searches by 'ending soonest'. Chances are you can get some good deals on stuff due to the slight drop in activity...

Well, as you can imagine it was a 'productive' morning. Satisfied with my purchases, I went about my business. I eventually headed over to see the fam and gorge myself with yummy 'Thanks for giving us your friendship before we eventually decimate you race once we don't need you anymore day' food. After which I spent the next couple of hours wanting to sleep, barf and drop a deuce all at the same time. Instead I made yet another creepy self portrait to add to my collection...

Lyle came over the next day and after a brief visit to Home Depot for some supplies, got back to work on his new tall bike:


I don't know about you but looking at that sort of shit melts my fuckin' brain. Pretty bitchin' though right? Def the only time I think anyone's ever done a detailed CAD drawings for a fucking tall bike!

More info on his build here...

Just to give you an idea of what level I'm working at in comparison:


Yep.. Not feeling slightly retarded or anything..

Anyways, just a sneak peak at the original sketch. It's def looking a lot different now...

More to come!

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!

Lyle from Projekt B Came through earlier today to sift through my pile of junk to begin work on his new freak bike...

I was busy working on some photos of stuff I'm selling on the bay. Though the second I caught a whiff of burning paint and steel I dropped what I was doing and set to coming up with something new. I actually surprised myself with quite an awesome design and got to work on it right away. With any luck we'll both move a little further along with things tomorrow...

And no, we're DEF not making any engraved fucking coat hangars...

London Fixed Gear Forum shirts!

The Philinator was nice enough to bring me back a couple of shirts from London:

You gotta love the rearview mirror 'what a cunt' one!

Thanks a lot Phil you phancy phuck!

Since we're on the topic of shirts check out the difference between my old Metallica ...And Justice for All shirt I've been wearing since I was like 14 and the NOS one I got last year off ebay:

The one thing you def can't gauge from the photos is the near transparancey of the old one. Never mind all the tears..

BTW.. For those of you who aren't aware, ...And Justice for All was THE LAST viable Metallica Album. The ONLY reason for this is because Cliff Burton had written half of the songs before he died. Once he died.. The band officially died.. You would do well to avoid arguing this point with me because I'll totally bust out some ninja throwing stars and whip em' at your face!

So at this point I was just going to hit the publish button but then I thought it might be awesome to photograph some of my other rad old Metal shirts that I've had for fucking ever...

Another Metallica shirt from the same 'Justice' tour:


Metal up Your Ass was actually the bands original title for their debute Album but Elektra killed it for obvious reasons and they went with Kill em' All instead. Thankfully, they still made the shirts:


Megadeth's Rust in Peace tour shirt. That raddest part of which was for the first few years I owned it the back would actually glow from that green light absorbing stuff:


This is the only slayer shirt I could find that didn't have a MASSIVE photo etc on the front. More of a recent purchase too. I used to have a few more but they got lost in some luggage during one summer trip...


I totally used to get mocked out for this one in high school but it never prevented me from wearing it:


Quite possibly my favorite one is this Misfits shirt my old buddy Jon gave me a while back because it was too big for him at the time. I totally cut the sleeves off and did a lot of shreding and partying in this one. Hence all the holes...


Well, now that I've gotten that out of my system I promise I'll get back on topic shortly. I've got some 'junk' I'm going to post up on the bay soon me thinks...

Two words: Trailer, Racing..!

Dude the check points are REDONK!



The rest of it is pretty rad too. It's kinda like the original Bike Kill/Critical Mass gang..

The ingenuity factor of this set up just destroyed me!!!

Talk about some wicked tinkering to get things just right! Nice Job Morgan!!

This of course is a precursor to some freak bike building action about to go down over the next few weekends...

Some daylight photos of the new Jackson..

I took this beast out for it's first glimpse of daylight on a ride to the Far Rockaways yesterday with Lyle of Projekt B. It was a harrowing experience filled with many perils. Such as mounds of glass and hooked bars- D'ho! Though photos were taken, chairs were thrown and we made it back alive... and there was much rejoicing. Looking forward to the next ride!

Seen on street!

Aero KHS and Bilenky Cargo bike as seen on the corner of Kingsland and Beadel Street this past Sunday afternoon:

Mofo's are lucky I didn't have a long crowbar at my disposal- ssssSKOINKS!!!

...and the DKNY bike saga continues!!!!!!!!!!

Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes it hath arrived!!!

BEHOOOOOOLLLLLD:

Cast down from it's earthly fire, the DKNY bike burnt and broken reemerged from the depths of 3rd earth and awoke stronger than ever! With a burning hunger for vengeance it molded itself into a formidable adversary to do battle with the forces of man...

No more fat white walls and curly soft tube geometry here:

Custom Bob Jackson Track frame, Matte Black paint with Orange Decals and lug lining, Paul dropouts, Dimpled rear ST, Straight forks, and S+S FUCKING COUPLERS!!!

EC90 Bars, Stem and Seat post..

Chris King Headset..

Sugino 75 Cranks and 47t Chainring..

Bright fucking Orange NOS Selle Turbo Saddle..

Converted HED3 road wheels I got for next to nothing otherwise I would NEVER have painted them, with some Gatorskin Tubulars...

Def not my best work photographically (sold my 5D and am currently one of the first in line for the Mark II). Though I can tell you from personal experience that photographing in mount doom is nerve racking at best! Not to mention hott- WOOOO!!! Doesn't help that the DKNY bikes minions were all lurking about in their tinted out Crown Victoria's...

More photos to come once the bike has emerged from the darkness into the light...

..if you have no idea what the fuck I'm talking about, check this out first, then this...

Big thanks, ups and high fives to Dennis Stone, Andy at Ben's Cycle, Lyle, J.R.R. Tolkien and Tommmeeeee!!!

Suuuuuuuuper sexy 3rensho!

Not quite what's going on with those bars but the frame is pretty bitchin'

Just a liiiiiitle pricey though...

An Obama themed track bike?.. Really??

I mean come on.. The Bikesnob is SO going to be all over this thing:

Thanks Lyle!

UPDATE: That didn't take long now did it?

08' Light Roadster by ANT

I actually spotted this last week but totally spaced on posting it:

Can you say bitchin'??

THE most brutally badass Panny Farthing I've seen on the bay yet!

God I would so totally be all over this if I had the money to burn...

wwwWICKED!

As seen on street...

So I saw this dude roll by the corner of 39th and 5th as I was walking to my office in the morning. I remember thinking I could use a rack like the one he has. Then i get to my office and there's his bike. A fucking Colnago Master Olympic Track frame- AWESOME!

I love seeing sick bikes all torn up and locked up to poles and shit. So rad!

UPDATE: The bike belongs to an NYC messenger named Morgan and apparently he can carry a lot of shit:



Thanks Chocobot!

Rat Pack Hustle II: MEET TWO!!

Fortunately I remembered to bring the proper equipment to last night's meet. Which means slightly better photos. HOWEVER.. I still think I can do better. I just need to get my filthy mitts on a couple of quantum batteries and radio slaves. That and I need to compensate for the color distortion since the pixels tend to fall apart at higher ISO ratings. Oh and set my camera to rear curtain sync. Though I may need to buy a Canon 580 EX II flash first... Yooouu really don't care about all that do you..? Fiiiinnnne.. on with the semi decent snaps:

I mean, check out that stretch we're sprinting down- Fucking PERFECT!


More snaps here...

As with last week, last night was super fun. I even brought the gooch out since I'd been wanting to race on it since I got it. Despite it's radness and the unbelievable amount of attention it got, my times were actually a little bit worse. Which goes to show it def isn't always about the equipment. I think that's partially because I went out there cold with no real warm up. Next week I need to get there earlier to get the creek out mah bones...

Rat Pack Hustle photos and video!

Around this time last year I was working late nights over at RS which prevented me from attending the first Rat Pack Hustle meet. However, now that I'm working a slightly lesser late shift at this new sucky job, I'm able to attend this years meets...

I rolled over there after work excited to finally take part in a race that didn't involved crossing intersections or 180 degree turns around gravel ridden columns...

The space picked for this event couldn't be better. A super long stretch of green way along the Hudson flanked by a fences on both sides. Not to mention suuuuper nice smooth pavement...

The photos and video I took are pretty meh overall. I totally spaced on packing my second flash's slave unit and extra batteries. It's pretty dark out there too. Anyways, enough with the BS excuses, here's what I gots:

and a little sequence of the deciding race:

Like I said, pretty meh. Same with the video too:

I mean, you get the idea but it kinda looks like shizah...

More crappy photos here...

As you can see the racing was SUUUUPER fun and Dan Bones did a great job holding this event! I'm DEF looking forward to the next one this Monday. If you're interested in checking this event out be sure to scope out the Rat Pack Hustle Blog for updates and results from the previous meets...

ROBOTIC Bike Parking?! aaaAWESOME!!!

This is really fuckin' AMAZING!!!

Too bad we'll never see anything like this in the States...

BTW, for some reason Blogger's not letting me upload the uncropped version of this video. Check out the larger version here...

Thanks Jason!

RAT PACK HUSTLE 2 TONIGHT!!!

My shop REALLY needs to not look like this much longer...

So I'm having a little BBQ bike building swap meet style party this Sunday Sept. 14th to help get rid of a lot of it...

While there are a few really nice frames and parts I would say most of it is better for everyday use and abuse. BUT.. If you're looking to build up a roadie or polo bike super cheap for yourself or a friend to beat on/lock up, this is your chance...

I'll be selling most everything for wicked cheap and am def down for some trades if you've got something I'm interested in. I'll probs even give a lot away!

Proceeds will go towards a couple few cases of beer, wine, burgers for the meat-a-tarians, soy products and whatever veggies I don't already have growing in my backyard. Though if no veggie people are coming WE WILL ROAST AN ENTIRE COW, EAT MEAT RIGHT OFF THE BONE AND WASH IT DOWN WITH LAMB'S BLOOOOOOD

I live in lovely Cliffside Park NJ. A quick jaunt from the George Washington Bridge if you want to ride. If you don't, I can pick a few people up from the PATH station in Hoboken...

There's an elementary school playground directly across the street from my house where you can engage in polo, frame toss, foot down and whatever the fuck else. Just don't fall cause the pavement kinda sucks...

As far as getting stuff home if you're riding and don't feel like slinging a frame over your shoulder, I can toss it all in my car and bring it into the city afterwards or bring it to my office where you can pick it up another day. Whatever...

Also, for those of you with a similar problem, feel free to bring your own swag to trade and sell so we can have a true swap meet. As opposed to me just getting rid of my own shit. Obviously I don't want people showing up with two tons of stuff (unless it's stellar) cause my place just ain't that big...

PLEASE NOTE: I obviously am not looking to have a rager or 50 weird/schetchy/dirty people hanging out at my place. If you're interested in coming, send me an email with your blog/flickr/myspace/etc.. so I can see what you're all about. If I deem you to be worthy of my company (what an asshole!) I'll send you directions/address info...

Most importantly, let's keep this shit classy and fun people! Be sure to bring some fancy pants bikes for everyone to drool over if ya got em' too!