Mike got his bike running again, new alloy forks instead of his busted Surly’s. He also wrapped bar tape along the length of his riser bars. It looks sick and feels real nice, you don’t get all caught up on the rubber of grips doing over the bar stuff.
Here are some shots of it and also a little wall jam to fakie that he did on Friday night- he was trying to ride up and hop to fakie – hopefully he will get that this week but that wall is narrow and the drop to the right isn’t nice.
Justin Mike and I are stripping some bikes down this week to start a new dynasty – RIDE THE WHITE HORSE edition frames YEAH!
New whip finally road worthy. So named because it’s beige and bad and flies with a 50/17 gearing.
Gonna put some 1″ risers on it – the 2″ are too high. It’s got:
Columbus tubed frame and fork (some ex commonwealth games bike blah blah), Campy Centaur cranks and BB, Meiche chain ring, vintage Cinelli stem, surly hub and cog and lockring on a 36 hole Mavic Open pro rim (powdercoated with the frame). Generic riser bars, Shadow Conspiracy finger banger grips (awesome) and MASH bar ends. Concor nubuck saddle.
It’s got Justin’s Aerospoke on it right now but will have a campy deep rim with a tubular on the front. Damn good with the Aerospoke though, wish they were easier to get hold of.
I was going to sell this steed but it’s been so long coming together and so stiff and quick I think I’ll hold on to it for a little while.
Anyway – riding tonight and Sunday and I finally got all the distances for the ASYLUM CRITERIUM laps sorted. SO I’ll post all that after the weekend. The laps are 1.8km fastlaps and one circuit lap is 3.5km – I reckon 3 laps making the race a 10km sprint should be a challenge.
Justin Watene is coming out for a ride on Sunday – YEAH J-Dubbs!
AKA Vag-ootsa. I went for a few sprinty laps last night on my lonesome. Justin hurt his back wakeskating so needed to recover and rest up.
You see the issue is that jeans are not the best form of clothing to ride track bikes in. Even if you have some of the best BMXican friendly jeans with a good portion of “Man-Dex” in the weave. They are not designed for getting some cranks pushed while IN THE SADDLE. BMX ers don’t even use their saddles to sit in - I know mine is slammed right to the seat tube on my 20″. If I try riding while sitting on it I look like a polar bear riding a tricycle.
So if you put some KM’s on the odometer while seated, the seams in denim jeans eventually have the same effect as a hacksaw on a raw leg of lamb. In one word: Vag-oots. Saddle sores that chafe-ease can’t ease.
Seriously – at the top of my right leg I think I cut myself a vagina. Maybe I can use medical tape or something so I can go riding tonight. Not that you want me to but I’ll update you tomorrow.
This guy takes some really impressive photos. Apart from Gabe’s shots in the MASH book I have’t seen a really good photographer document the fixie scene as well as this. He rolls with the fixedgearlondon crew.
Justin has to work tonight, but I’m keen to ride- Mike you keen? Lets take my car up to the criterium track and drive it out before we ride- whaddya think? I’ll text Calloy.
We hit up the criterium course last night. I’ll drive it soon and clock it all out for distance. This is Justin skidding the length of skid alley – he loves doing this, this stretch is where he blows alot of tyres out, it goes for about 50m around the corner at the top too. The tyres smoke alot. Speaking of which. Justin did an event last year called Red Bull Tyres of Fire. We are stepping it up later on in the year and going all out for the follow up event. The next Tyres of Fire will involve a formal road closure for the longest longest skid contest NZ has seen. The only rule is that there can be no gears – track bikes BMX’s whatever – just no whirring clicking deraileurs or lycra.
Mike and I rode on friday night but apart from that we didn’t push alot of pedals, I went to Waiheke island and got drunk instead.
Tonight Justin me and Mike are going for a ride, Callum – you keen? I’ll text you.
This map is the (very) rough route for the ASYLUM CRITERIUM. It runs 2 variations in 2 laps. I’m going to drive it out to see the distances. It’s a pretty good sprint though, and not alot of traffic to deal with so we can probably get a bit of a pack hitting it.
There is a nice junction where there is a road crossing with potentially riders going each way, just in the corner by Carrington’s pub, oh and 1 by the pool by the old mental asylum buildings. Might be a bit sketchy. Mellow hills with 1 little steep sprint climb. Not sure when we will have it yet but some time after easter probably.
This clip is Mike from Friday; leg through frame back circle shenanigans.
By the way – we are shooting this all on an old Ixus digi still cam. HD it is not – but stay tuned. We have some more plans in the pipeline for the near future.
Oh and Terry – that chainring didn’t work – I’ll bring it back.
What shoes do Keirin Racers wear on the track? I want to find out.
If you haven’t peeped the new Skull Bike Club site – it’s up and awesome.
I just went to see Terry from Pennyfarthings. I have been hunting for a 350BCD 1/8 track ring for my Stormin’ Norman project bike. This is because I (stupidly) ran a thin road ring on the front and blew my chain apart on my maiden ride. Scratched the shit out of my new cranks and freshly powder coated chainstay. So I find out that 350 BCD track chainrings are like hen’s teeth, Meiche are about the only people still making them, and NZ doesn’t have a big selection. Terry Clynes – had a bizarre multi drilled ring that will work for me and he hooked me up. THANKS TERRY!
This is great because now Mike can roll on the Norman seeing as his bike is out of action. So we have a posse tomorrow. Justin has to work till the evening so we will go on a dusk session too and get some shots. I love Fridays – it’s half past beer-o-clock and the crew in the office have been at the Corona’s for quite a while.
We just realised that TOTO played here last Sunday and we missed it!
Mike and I headed up to the practice pad last night, it was showery so we stayed under cover. I’m uploading some clips of Mr Lawrence in action. In the process Mike managed to bend the hell out of his brand new Surly forks. Second set of forks to be destroyed, I think it was the 180 hops that did it. The weather is meant to be good this weekend so we will be pushing pedals. I think a downtown session may be in order. But definitely a ‘Carrington Criterium’ on Saturday. Less skiddy skiddy more pushy pushy.
Steady Rollin is a group of like minded individuals into riding track bikes in an urban environment. Among other things we enjoy the freedom and simplicity of riding track bikes. Started in Auckland, New Zealand, we are have quickly expand the family to include Christchurch next it will be your town. If you are into riding fixies and based in Auckland or Christchurch get in touch and come out for a ride.
