Fashion

Over the weekend we ventured into Gritty East London and came across the side of cycling in the city that I try hard to ignore. Tucked in amongst the shops selling skinny jeans, leopard-print man-leggings and limited edition trainers, all housed in stripped back warehouse style shops was the kind of bike shop I only thought existed in my nightmares. The home of the fashion bike and the aggressive fixed-gear scene, the shop was full of bright coloured bikes and parts in glass cases. All pandering to hipster fashion, and playing up the Grit while charging the earth. It’s the spiritual home of the kids roughing it because it’s cool, and listening to indie bands powered by the expensive instruments their parents bought them. It’s for people with all the money they need from home but taking a gap year to keep it real. Round here you’re likely to find yourself standing next to some rockstar or model’s spoilt daughter in an upstairs venue above a pub watching the sort of band that’s only made it this far because they’ve ridden a wave of what’s cool right now.

The shop had a pink fixed-gear bike in a full-on track style, including rear full disc wheel, in the window. It’s hardly the most practical bike for the stop-start twisty riding of London. That just about summed it up.



It could have been saved by the inner-tube vending machine outside, which should be the best idea ever. Except it didn’t work and so was just a prop to build the image of the shop.



The internet is full of videos of people pulling “tricks” on fixed gear bikes. Mostly they seem to involve big skids or tiny bunnyhops. The kind of stuff that wouldn’t warrant a second look in the proper bike scene, and as if to emphasise that, this video has turned up from Yorkshire bike-handling god Chris Akrigg. Proving once again that if you’re this good you can do it on anything, and the fixie-trixters have a long, long way to go.

One gear No idea from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

(While we're talking tricks, MBUK have just released this video.)

Neatly tying up the entire post we were in Shoreditch to go to a Howies sale (also the creators of the best mountain bike print ad I have ever seen, but can't now find anywhere), and Chris Akrigg is in a Howies teeshirt in that video. It's worked out wonderfully.

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