[CR]This Fixie thing - what's next?

(Example: Framebuilders:Bernard Carré)

Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 09:59:55 -0800 (PST)
From: "Tom Dalton" <tom_s_dalton@yahoo.com>
To: Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR]This Fixie thing - what's next?

If it weren't from the Internet, I wouldn't believe it true...

Tom Dalton Bethlehem, PA USA

From the "Trendscendental" column of Plunder magazine, U.K. edition:

Yank Cyclist Seeks Novelty in the Ordinary

Washington D.C. – Make the post-work scene at Dupont Circle and you’ll find a tribe of bicycle messengers, tattooed, pierced, and virtually all astride fixed-wheel machines. The bikes of these urban warriors have inspired a popular explosion of so-called “fixies,” an explosion that can be seen in cities and on campuses around the world. For this very reason the fixie is, for some, a thing of the past. Sitting high above this scene is Zachary Astor Green, or Zag to his comrades. Dreadlocked and surprisingly piercing-free, Zag is perched in the saddle of an “ordinary,” one of those antique bikes with a huge front wheel. In Zag’s case that huge wheel is 60 inches across, the largest size offered by the Pope Manufacturing Company in 1882, when his Columbia was made. “Most people think this kind of bike is dangerous, but the big wheel makes it really stable. At first I wore a helmet, but then I realized that being up so high, you have lots of time to react before you hit the ground.”

Zag came across this bike while cleaning out his grandfather’s garage. “After my Grandpa died, my dad and I went to take care of his house in Newport (Rhode Island). In the garage there was this cool old bike. The guy’s from Christie’s movers tried to tell me that I should wait to take the bike, but I liked it, so I took it for a ride.” Jag was immediately hooked. “There’s something really pure about the simplicity of a bike like this. You get a Zen-like connection to the wheel when you get rid of all that extra stuff, like the chain and the gears. Some other (ordinary riding) couriers are using newer stuff, like air tires and tangent spokes, but I like to keep it real.” And keeping it real is apparently what Zag is about. “When I started working this job, three summers ago, I used my dad’s old Masi.” This Italian-sounding brand of racer was actually made in California in the 1970s. “It was a sweet bike, but it kept breaking down, so eventually I just did a (fixie) conversion, paint, chop ‘n’ flops, new wheels. That was back when only hardcore couriers were riding fixed. Nobody else did it, then suddenly it was, like, everywhere. Even people at school were riding fixed. The Columbia seemed like a way to move on, and be different.” But there was a practical side too. “My old bike took a lot of maintenance. Even after the conversion, I had to put air in the tires and oil the chain, and I was getting flats, like, every other week. In this business you can’t afford to have your bike in a shop every time you get a flat.”

When he’s not plying his trade on gritty streets of D.C., Zag is a full-time Liberal Studies student at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. “After I started riding the Co-Low,” as he calls his Columbia, “I started getting into bike history. I even thought about checking out the library at SLC, but there’s a ton on stuff on the ‘net. It turns out that biking was really big in the nineteenth century, and racing was even a huge gambling sport in, like, the 1850’s. The League of American Bicyclists ran all the racing, and they were really strict about what equipment you could use. For ordinary guys, getting parts with the LAB stamp is really the ultimate. I keep checking Ebay, but no luck so far.”

While Zag enjoys studying the history of his old wheel, he also ready to keep is fresh and make his “wheel,” a personal statement. “This bike originally had a little brake, but all that did was flip me over the effin’ bars, so I took it off. The bars have been upgraded with Nitto Mustache, which a friend got anodized for me. His dad owns an airplane company, and the guys there really like helping him out by color anodizing all kinds of parts. Most of the stuff the Co-Low is steel, but I’ve added alloy stuff where I can, for personality, and to make it faster. This business is all about speed, right?” Asked about the significance of the words “Green Machine” crudely lettered down the bike’s spine, Zag tells Plunder, “Well, I call the bike Co-Low, but my boys painted that on there one night when we were partying at my house in Potomac and I, um, fell asleep. It’s my name, Green, but they also thought it looks like one of those Green Machine Bigwheel things. Plus, I really like Mickey’s Bigmouth.”

Zag has been careful to keep the whole ordinary thing from going mainstream, but he does try to convert his friends. “There was this chick, we were kinda dating, and I thought it would be sweet if she had an old trike. That’s what girls rode back in the day. She thought it was cool, but it was pretty heavy and slow, and she couldn’t really get down alleys, or keep up with her deliveries. One of my boys scored an old Star, which is totally KA if you have to deal with lots of stairs, but having the big wheel up front is way better on the potholes. My 60-incher just eats ‘em up.”

As for where this whole trend is leading, Zag is reflective. “I’m not sure, but I think the ordinary is here to stay. As for me, I think I might take a tour on mine after I graduate, maybe go to Europe, or just kick it and follow Phish.”

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