My friend Ted from Fixed Gear London, who rides for Charge bikes and designed the Vans fixed gear bike currently up for grabs on MPORA, is building me a bike and I’m so bloody excited I think I might explode! And when I say building, I don’t mean just putting bike parts together, I mean actually welding pieces of steel tubing together to make a frame to my exact specifications. Sick to the power of rad or what?! I got in there early, the waiting list for an STD (Super Ted Designs) bike is growing by the day. Ted’s already made a start on it, I went round to his new workshop, just off Brick Lane and round the corner from Shop 14, last night so he could take some measurements so it’s perfect for me. He’s going to raise the bottom bracket so my pedals don’t scrape the floor and wheelies are easier, then shorten the top tube and angle it a bit because I’m a short-ass. I’m going to have it fill-it braised rather than lugged because I like the clean lines, and a soft-touch paint job by Colourtech which is metallic but not shiny, if you get my drift. Annoyingly I didn’t have my camera on me to take a pic of stage 1 – the drawings on the table and the tubing – but I’ll be armed with it next time.
When the frame’s done I have to choose all the parts, which is going to be hard! I’m thinking of a Profile BMX stem, Goldtec hubs, Sugino cranks but haven’t got a clue what wheels I want, or saddle, or headset, or seatpost, or or or…..decisions, decisions!
Kellie from Oakley is buying Pete, my current steed, a little steel chap from Brick Lane Bikes who has served me faithfully since last June. Pete and I did some trackstands and bunnyhop skids last night at Tuesday Tricks on the carpark roof in Spittlefields. Backwards circles were beyond us though. Helen did a Crescent Moon Knicker Twist, which is a brave new trick, perhaps best done in private.
More on the new bike soon!
Oh, and I’m doing Set 2 Rise in May with Juliet and Posy who ride for Charge, and Sam Hart, one of our regular snappers. It’s a 12 hour mountain bike race through the night! Better get training….
