It's becoming abundantly clear to anyone involved w/ fixed gear urban riding that riding styles are quickly changing and now the bike industry is starting to evolve alongside.
Just last nite at SD Fixed.com's two-year anniversary ride our friend Isaac pulled off a trick which broke his fork so hard it became completely unattached from his bicycle. Kids (including our friend Isaac) are starting to experiment with DIY self-modifications and reinforcements to their forks.
Some frame-builders who are paying attention (and care about younger urban riders) are working more closely with those younger urban riders to remain at the forefront of urban road cycling.
For example, Leader Bikes, a San Diego-based, independent frame-building company, recently unveiled their new 'Trick frame.'
Our friend Kareem Shehab (director of Death Pedal), one of the younger urban fixed riders we're talking about, works directly with Leader Bikes to test new frames and forks.
When he returned to San Diego to visit this past week, he brought back this gnarly machine equipped with wider tires, a beefier fork mounted on the Leader Trick frame which has a shorter top tube than the average frame and features a unique head tube reinforcement. (More closely visible via their site; http://www.leaderbikestore.com/ ).
(Photos by Matt Lingo. More photos available at mattlingo.com )
Kareem's relationship with Leader is just one example of the emerging and developing relationship between younger urban riders and the bike industry. Some companies are starting to pay closer and closer attention to what our friends have to say. We think that's pretty awesome.
Just because you listen to punk-rock, or have tattoos, or ride a bike instead of driving a car doesn't mean you can't have great ideas.
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