the monstrocities birthed from corporations

my gf insists that her bike is to be a fuji. there's no reasoning behind it, she just wants a fuji becuase she likes fuji apples. even after revealing that the fuji track is the same as the se lager, the dawes sst, the scattante, as well as a handful of other bikes- she stood unfazed. oh fuji.

way back when, fuji did a collabo with OBEY:

since this bike, the view of the urban keirin/pursuit look has made this their prototype. as close as i was to buying one before i met my lager, this bike is now one of the most dispised bikes on my hateration list.  well much to my dismay, fuji is at it again furthering the prototype of tarck bikes while bringing down with it a beloved company in fixed gear culture: VANS. yeah, that was my reaction too.


(via highsnobiety)
hmmm... good thing this only japan or i would hunt down every single one of these and destroy them. PINK? what? BOTH BRAKES? huh? PLASTIC TOE CLIPS? sketch? ODYSSEY TWISTEDS? shame. they couldnt even upgrade that sh*tty kalin seatpost. and it's not even the new track frame. its the frame that i ride..... if you seriously want a properly done vans bike check out FGLxvansxCHARGE (but back then it was only superted) bike:

and that was UNOFFICAL!

moral of the story: big corporations shouldnt collabo unless it's done on a more independent/people based scale.

hellspeed,
jmik.

the search for a new seat: part one- cocaine.

" Ride the saddle as 3 time Paris Roubaix winner and cocaine user Tom Boonen."
ebay link

so im in the market for a new seat and im kinda on the fence on what i should get. not only do i want something that will be comfortable, i need a seat that ill look good on my bike without costing more than the bike itself. bmx, road, NOS, whatever i choose- it's has to be MEAAAN. at first i took a look at soma saddles. basically they're remakes of classic seats: the selle italia turbo, selle italia flite, and the selle san marco regal.
here's the okami:

and here's the selle san marco regal

aside from the quality differece, it seems like a spot on replacement. but these seats arent the only ones on my mind....

hellspeed,
jmik.

starfuckers JPN's xenon @FATLACE

(via flickr)

(via FATLACE)



straight from japan and into SF, it has become official, the store FATLACE is going to stock the infamous starfuckers xenon EXCLUSIVELY. i can rip on this all day but i have better sh*t to do. im pretty sure i'm going to see kids on these EXTREMELY soon. i like the fork though.... if anyone gets one of these and swaps out the fork- im game.

hellspeed,
Jmik

michael leon's cycling uniform

so michael leon is an artist / director of nike sb. on his arkitip blog i found that the next am to go pro will most likely be sf native (and all around insane skater) justin brock. i remember wating the real podcast that featured him and i seriously believed that he was the dopest dude skating nikes (unoffically at the time). i look forward to seeing him go pro.

but back to leon; he is a cyclocross rider for the mudfooters. personally, i want to try cyclocoss at least once. anyway, he desingned a cycling setup for a buddy and it makes me wish i work for nike. im a nutso nike sb fan. so when i saw this:

(via arkitip)
i sh*t my pants. i want them. im not gonna lie. i want that uniform. i dont care how lame i'll look in a uniform setup or how un metal that sh*t is. i. want. that. uniform.

tis all,
hellspeed,
jmik.

blazing saddles.

blazin saddles. from Marwin Ou on Vimeo.

i pulled this from straightchain, and i have to say that this is a well put together vid. plus it has a song that was featured on gran turismo II and happens to be a song i like. the spot at 2:40 is dope. looks like a great place to skate or tarck. however, i especially enjoy how the focus is GOING FAST. 3:39- HELLA FAST WHEELIE. and right after that- a ridiculous variation of the suiskid: the overbarhipstersuiskid. RIDONKULOUS. sad ending though, hope the dude's ok and he's found an alternative bike....

hellspeed,

jmik

garrett chow for globe bikes?

so i know i pretty much dissed the globe roll a few blogs back. i have now learned that garett chow of MASHSF is going to collaborate with globe. pulled from MASHSF's arkitip blog:

"I think cyclists in general will be floored at what Garrett has added to the 2010 lineup for Globe. I had the opportunity to shoot images for their new roll-out earlier this spring, and if anyone fans out on Garrett’s personal bikes, they will be big fans of what he has been working on with globe. Refined city bikes. Their street/track slot relates to most of us. Starting at around 550$ for spring 2010."

something tells me there's going to be a pursuit frame in the works..... ive been a fan of garrett since i got introduced to the MASHSF movie. im quite fond of his personal bikes too: the pursuit ciocc, the "HE(LLA)" HED wheel adorned on his cinelli- he's an incredible and well rounded cyclist. OH and he beat lance armstrong off the line in his hometown on a fixed gear. f*cking awwwwsome. let's hope his setup is going to be dope.

(via milanofixed)
well, not as dope as this.

(via fixedgearblog)
or this...



hellspeed,
Jmik

Hectic morning: an ode to commuting cyclists.

So this morning I had the insanely bright idea to bring my bike to school. I knew 4^th street had a patch of parking that was 4hr parking. So 25 cents per 15 min, therefore 50 cents is 30 min, $1 is an hour, in turn the full 4 hours is $4. Thus, this cuts my parking by half the cost. YEE YEE! The patch of parking was a couple blocks away, so therefore I had to have a mode of transport to school. I put a lot of thought into it and I figured, "I could bike there." Little did my dumbass know that I was in for the most hectic 30 minutes of my life.

So I left my house at around 8:15 ; the perfect time to sneak my bike into my car: mom is in the bathroom, pops hella bounced by then. I put down the rear seat in the buggernaut, and quickly found out: it's damn hard to put the bike in a small car like a vw beetle. I took off the front wheel and was mesmerized by how small my car was. I seriously thought about not taking the bike, but I managed to fit it in without taking off the rear wheel.

So while I was making the trek to school in the buggernaut, i passed over 5 cops that had pulled over cars in the Kelley park area. And I thought: damn, if the US were more like china or Taiwan or any other majorly industrialized/ modernized country in the world and utilized a form of public transport (bikes, buses, etc), the police wouldn't be pulling cars over, and therefore would concentrate on more gripping things like actual crime. Therefore industries like gasoline would find themselves lowering prices, but we wouldn't care- we're taking the bus or a bike. The air would be cleaner (san jose is getting pretty hoots about that), and the state would make more money through public transit, crime would be focused on, and my homeboy Arnold Schwarzenegger (I have his number. Well, his business card. Therefore he is my homeslice.) would have an easier time and be better at his job. Then I was brought back to earth because a Honda integra reved passed me like a dumbass. I scared him by revving back with my car's famous "VRRRRRRpssssssshhhh." He looked at me funny.

So I get to the patch of parking, and realize: damn I forgot to bring coins. So I panicked to gather a couple coins from the bowels of my car which resulted in 1 hour and 15 minutes of parking. I rushed to the nearest gas station and got another hour, then rushed to a convenience store to get another hour of change. At the gas station there was a latino dude eyeing my bike. I didn't have a lock, so therefore resulted in my bike being out in the open. Dude was staring at my bike HARD. Luckily, i got out of there as fast I could. By then it was time to get to class- I hella rushed. When I got to the classroom I was hella sweaty, but I didn't care. I felt a sense of cheating the system. it was great.

So to all the commuters out there, I salute you. You people support the state and country as well as self well being. I have a great amount of appreciation for what you do. I have to say this morning was ridiculously fun, a very different environment than chico. I think I'm going to do this again sometime.

Hellspeed,

jmik

coucil of doom bunnyhop

i know im not one to be extremely amazed at tarck riding but WOW. that right there is nuts. a proper bianchi pista concept (with drop bars and all) in the air. THAT DUDE'S HELLA HELLA HELLA HARD.
(via council of doom)

congrats guys on the italian article! speaking of council of doom, where's hfwido?

oh yeah, there he is.

hellspeed,
Jmik

cheap thrills in a crappy way.

so on my endeavor to discover new LBS (since im not located in chico anymore and there are more choices but in a wider spread area) i stumbled into bicycle express this week. it's a quint little place that houses used and new bikes and has a small assortment of components for both the regular and fixed gear fanatic. but enough with the shameless store plugging: as i sat here coughing up a storm with my temperture rising right as a fall asleep forcing me to startle my frail body awake- i recall a particular frame i saw hanging from the walls:

the origin 8 del pasado. (be prepared for an oncoming train of hate) THIS IS BUUUUUUULLLLLSHIIIT. look at that thing. the geometry is wicked, but it has bottle braze ons- in fact TWO BOTTLE BRAZE ONS. hell my bike has braze ones but not an excess of bottle braze ons- and thats with thetop legs extending to the dropouts? they dont look very promising- one bag curb or one fat dude and WHAM hose things go straigh through your thigh.  and really? REALLY? an integrated seatpost clamp?  if that thing gets f*cked up, the whole frame is scrapped! true frame geometry my ass- THIS THING HAS BRAKE MOUNTS, AND FENDER MOUNTS. if it was truly a track machine (which i can easily say that my personal bicycle is not) then those wouldnt be there. the decals dont come off! how sad! but even if those manage to be covered up, the geometry is too recognizable.

but it's cheap. dirt cheap for a frame.

it's clear to me that this is the honda civic of the track bike world. this thing makes my bike (when it was stock) look good. its got sweet geometry, but thats all it's got going for it. sorry.

hellspeed,
jmik.

vegan doublers.

i just had the best mother f*cking idea in my life while i was in the shower. i'm going to make vegan toe strap doublers out of recycled plastic material. the hard part is making the material, the easy part is putting them together.i'll utilize the material i used to make my garbage bag messenger bag, but use my extreme collection of plastic grocery bags that my folks get. i can probably stash a couple every time i use the self checkout at luckys or something. best part about it will be that ill have a 1or 2 year guarantee: if any of the doublers snaps or gets f*cked up, send em in and i'll replace them if they dont look like you sliced em up with scissors or something. but im pretty sure the material is pretty rip proof- if it could handle a full load of books and stuff, it can handle hardcore pedaling.

i think i'll make a few prototypes sooner than later. debateing wethe it should be a side doubler

or a top doubler like the kashimax'

 im going to try to make them threadless/seamless because sewing is not metal.

or is it? NEVS. oh! and i need a name for them. hmmm....

hellspeed,
jmik.

the globe roll

looks like urban velo's got a new toy:

globe is an underside to specialized- just like mini is to bmw for example. personally, i think this bike is way to aimed at newcomers into track bikes. first off the color scheme. what do you call something that is the opposite of murdered out? whited out?  lame. retro style (possibly turbo) saddle, 42mm deep v's, stem/barsetup (which usually comes in custom bikes) SAG double strap setup, there are too many high end components already on this bike. what irks me the most is the styling and the components. IT SCREAMS TARCK. okay, what happened to kids that bought a cheap bike and get components whenever the money comes. forget that- this is an $800 bike! for that, you'd expect a straight up godly machine right? might as well buy a leader set up, part out the unwanted stuff and buy the better compnents witht that money- it sure as hell would be cheaper than this thing and probably twice as good looking and stronger! that's 2 of my bikes. TWO SE LAGERS. and what do you know- this thing looks like an se lager. in my opinion, the globe roll isn't my cup of tea, and im sure there are many with the same opinion.

hellspeed,
jmik.

DIY

i was at a LBS yesterday and saw 2 things: top tube pad, and toe strap doublizers (i think that's the term. dont quote me.) i looked at them. i looked at the price. i said to myself: i cant make that shit. i can totally make that shit. there are many different toe strap doublers out there but im pretty sure i can whip up a good looking pair made out of cordura or some other wierd fabric. and top tube pads- thats fucking easy to make. it's just itube insulation and a rectangle of fabric.

hmmm....

hellspeed,
jmik.

interesting stuff: kareem shehab's chain

 kareem from deathpedal and velocult has an odd bike. its basically a SERIOUS attempt at a bmx bike. it's a small leader bike with bmx bar set up. it's pretty cool for a tarck bike. a defining thing for this bike is the unique chain:


oh and here's a tutorial he posted up on death pedal! (via deathpedal)

Chain Cover Tutorial by Kareem Shehab from Killa Kareem on Vimeo.

eric koston and nike sb.

i called it. i knew this was going to happen. there was alot of speculation as to the nike sb am team showing up alot in the berrics. i knew it was coming. i knew it was coming. i knew it was COMING. this is bad. lets think about this: p rod is on his third shoe. janoski just got shoe. omar salazar is up next for a shoe. then koston would potentially (i mean, FOR SURE) get a pro model. i can see it now: when this happens, all the old timers are going to be epically pissed. gino, forbes, supa, shimizu- they were there in the beginning. why dont they have a pro model? lance mountain go signed not to long ago and he basically is one of the forefathers of skateboarding. why doesnt he have a shoe? all in all im left empty. nike sb is disregarding tenure and loyalty over someone who just got signed. i feel as if the entire nike sb team is going to be left in the shadow of the froston.

for your viewing pleasure, this is why froston went to Nike:

The end of the world as we know it

So im back in san jose and things are great. Saturday will be live 105's BFD where I'll be watching Steve Aoki on the 1's and 2's. I know I know, steve aoki is at the forefront of hipsterism, but ive been a fan of steve's for quite some time and I like his story. Half brother of model/acress devon aoki, son of benihana owner rocky aoki, steve never saw any benihana money, and was raised separately from the fortune and fame and stuff. He grew up straight edge. He listened to minor threat and gorilla biscuits. His setup is killer- he's a hardcrore serato user, has a full technics setup, as well as has a deal with WESC. Women throw p*ssy at the man, and the dude is pretty sketch looking. That dude is the greatest: he made nothing out of something and what he does is basically nothing. That's f*cking awesome.

Sunday is the sjfixed alleycat race and im d*mn well essited. On the trip back to sj (well before), I found out that my rear wheel is EXTREMELY untrued. It's so untrued that the hub and rim are offset ish. Plus, I can feel it when I ted shred brake. It's not flat spots, I can tell that the rim in oblong in certain areas. I need to prep my bike. I have a lot of plans for the summer, one of them is to strip the stock handlebars and to rob the brake and brake cable. I could then use it on my paul e lever. Therefore, my pops would be happy, and I would be happy with my "braked" setup (the brake is only for aesthetics). I also need a different front tire- im running an 18-23 tube with a 25 tire, which is alright and rideable....

Last night someone egged my car. Usually I would be furious, but I saw it as an omen telling me that I need to wash my car. the buggernaut is running great, but I feel lazy and stagnant not riding my bike. My legs feel too – I don't know….at ease. Im so used to my legs being extremely tense and stuff.

Im afraid of becoming out of shape.

Hellspeed,

jmik