Rides and Races - Toronto Fixed

Alright I love the crack about me in the house coat. Some refer to it as a "kimino".

So this is T.dot fixie huh?

I dont rememeber the xmen comic where they ride around on fixies..but ok great pic, wheres wolvie? or any of the babes?

It was funny reading about you guys trying to figure out the shop where the picture of my bike is taken.. ha ha maybe its cogs..

Sorry I had to move the shop ran out of space, I had to have room to run the other store too.

In any case I have posted a thread looking for ideas for the next frame, sadly I dont see any input. I would like to be able to provide an inexpensive fixie frame, and I have some other frames in mind..

Really im looking to get steel happening again.

So if you see my thread, chime in Id like to hear what youd like to see in a frame. Ive also taken note of your tire needs and am looking into them.. cheap slick $16 to $20..hmm folding?
You prefer narrow to wider?

Cavernmech? let me guess that must be kieth! I didnt realize you had a sense of humor..wink wink ha ha

paul_in_toronto
aka
polly
Owner cyclescanada.com
pollys recycle
&
not just cds

Hey Polly (john-green caloi stolen from in front of the old shop) nice to see you about hope things are going a bit better from last we spoke.

New frames? Dose that mean you have the shop open again?

Btw I built a fixed gear check it out in my link below.

Hope all is good.

Cheers

Johnboy.

Thats a sweet ride man. Whats the complete spec? ie wheels, cranks etc...

The shop is has always been open, but by appointment. I suspose its time to come out of hiding soon.

The frames.. Id like input.. what do you guys want?

I have another few items which im working on I hope to unveal samples of soon.

why dont you email me paul_in_toronto@yahoo.com I could use some creative input, I can let you in on the whole plan. The frames are just one piece of the puzzle...

FYI I have a crap load of those mutant stems.. I picked up from GB @ NAB.. Looks sweet on your ride.

Hmm I feel like im hijacking this thread.

Ive also been thinking alot about why we dont have a track here. Those of you who know a bit about toronto history might remember that maple leaf gardens had track racing at one time.

Any body interested in trying to push for our own track?

Hmm now how could that pay for itself..thats the thing.. off track betting??

Hey thanks just put another pic up on flickr with a rundown

Guess every one interested in track goes to London but you would think it would work in Toronto lots of people ride bikes & some ride fixed.

I will drop you a e-mail see what you’re up to.
Cheers

Re track in toronto.

Keep in mind we had it a few times. Long long ago and the figure 8.

Its really a question of economics. One problem is toronto doesnt have cheap rentals like it used to, maybe way back when you could have rented a huge warehouse space for a less then a grand. Stuck a track there.

One option I can see is the betting side. I wonder if that could be legal to do?

We could have something like rollerball..

that was a great rice ubyx.

Thanks for coming out to my show last night guys, I really appreciate it! Concensus was that it was a smashing success

Hey Paul, welcome to the forums! Enjoy your stay... Do you happen to have any of those 3t stems in threaded and silver? Also I think that if you get some frames built they should be pretty no-frills, ie. lower range butted steel tubes tigged together. if you wanted to make it more fancy you could try some shaped tubes; you don't really see shaped steel tubes on track bikes these days. The geometry would be up to you and your customers though I guess. Just don't use those butt ugly sheet metal track ends!

I have also been thinking over the velodrome in toronto idea for a little while. Rents in downtown are crazy, but theres plenty of places within the GTA accessible by bike or transit that could be rented for not too bad a price (think scarborough). There is also the Waterfront Revitalization Program happening over the next 50 or so years, so eventually all the derelict east donlands and other brownfields will be redeveloped. Now would be the time to get in on that land before it starts rising much more in value; At the moment the city (or province, or feds, as the parcels of land there are pretty much divided up between the 3 levels or government and private ownership) might still be pretty receptive to give some subsidies and land grants to such a noble cause. Its really just a whole mess of logistics and red tape, and I have no idea about the complexities of building and maintaining a track as well as keeping the whole operation in the black...

Oh yeah, also:
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/build1.jpg
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/build2.jpg
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/build3.jpg
the front wheel is borrowed from biseagal while they do a little work on my level/mavic front. I was introduced to 'toe overlap' yesterday when I tried to bust a track stand. Needless to say it was a somewhat sudden encounter!

sick!
what chain is that? its like a blingin' necklace.

Cyclops looks great Shiznaz.
Who wants to chill for lunch at kensington tomorrow at 1?

Your cyclops makes me weep, it's so beautiful...

My guess on a velodrome in TO would it would end up either being in 'burbville or outdoor. For an indoor track i in the GTA with adequate spectator space, you'd need a large area and some old money with a cough to poney it up as a last bequeth. Most half decent industrial space gets snagged for lofts/condos (which at least helps reduce sprawl) and there's not much else for options, unless perhaps as part of a waterfront development as someone else mentioned. The old TTC barns around Witchwood and Spadina aren't big enough (I checked) and they're being developed as artist co-ops anyway. Either that or it would need to happen as part of a university athletic refurbishment or olympic bid, much as Calgary's skating oval happened. I would very much like to see it happen. It'd be a great low cost recreation and excellent way to get kids into cycling. The potential would be huge. I'd suggest there'd be almost no luck getting it with betting a la Kierin. Too much of a hassle and sort of "at odds" with the purity of sport gig I'd think it would have to come out under.

yep

Half-link chain? The bike looks delish.

I'm down w/ lunch tomorrow. In the morning I'm going to do 50k worth of laps at Leslie spit, then I'll hoof my ass back to Kensington for some food (empinadas, perhaps).

Shiznaz,
hey thanks man! Ya Im digging this thread, and this site. I'm trying to figure out who some of the people are on here, I know Johnboy and Kieth. Im wondering if some of you guys are ex couriers that I rode with.

Didnt pay too much attention what type of show you just had was it art, or music? Id be happy to do a write up or small addy and post it on cyclescanada.com. I actually intend to start adding content to the site, ie interviews reviews etc.. Maybe an interview perhaps..

I have a cyclops story for you. Its making me chuckle thinking of it.

Picture the 80s, Im living in mississauga and I am the most freaky looking kid decked out in long coat, motor cycle boots, and at times wild teased hair.
I went to clarkson secondary, and I was "the token punk/goth/scary kid". Also attending clarkson secondary was a young "Marcel mullholland" who is the son of the founder of cyclops .. hmm are they even still around?

In any case marcel and me got to hanging around because, he wanted to be more punk. We started the
little punk/goth clique of at clarkson, and thus began the invasion of the mississauga suburbs.

The epilogue was I was eventually asked to leave the school.. uh more stories for later. Back then I really wasnt into bikes like I am now. I had either some crap tire job or a raliegh (which came from abraham on bloor)

Re the track. Betting is one option to have it pay for itself. Rather then being propped up by donations.
Some schools in the US have track bike teams, im not sure if some of the schools have a track, get time on a nearby track or how that works out. Ultimately the question is how do you make it profitable and self sufficient?

Re the frames. Im not sure about different tube shapes. When we talk about stamped dropouts are we talking about the urbane style ones? Heres a picture of the dropouts I use on my frames. I may or may not wish add eyelets for a fender, or a threaded hole for that use.

Those drops look like tuning forks (which is sexy)

Completely off-topic:

I was flipping through some cycling magazine w/ a Lance article. Lance is hanging out w/ one of his kids ...

"What does daddy do?"
"Daddy makes them suffer."

Bwahahaha ...

Gentlemen (and lady), it's time for a bike build competition:

http://fixedgeargallery.com/contest/build/

Gentlemen (and lady)

Heh, I appreciate that I am remembered in the most prosaic of ways.

[QUOTE=STEEKER]

I'd go with the krypto chain, never really trusted those u-locks. those big ones at least. The mini-u's might be good as well.

i use a mini krypto; it fits so snug against the bike that there's no way to get a crowbar or whatever in there. they're also using flat keys now, so not easy to pick...

Polly ....great to have you here and wonderful to see ya the other day. Those are sexy dropouts.
Shiz.... that ride is badass....how much toe overlap do you have?

I wonder if that alleycat figure 8 track has been sold?

I wonder if that alleycat figure 8 track has been sold?
The alleycat track is still here in Southern Ontario. The surface ply has been used for another project but the structure is still all there. It is stored in a 40 ft truck container out in the boonies. Someday when someone comes up with the required $ (the figure I have heard is 100k) it would be up in a heartbeat. Start saving yer pennies boys.

who paid to build it in the first place...... Dunhill didn't pony up that much for the AlleyCats at the beginning did they? 100K dang, sounds like a job for the Amish. A good ol' neighborly track build...lol.

Taken a second look at the chain and Operator is right that thing is bling all the way.

yes indeed....Dunhill ponied up the dough. Johnny Jetfuel put it together.....John Cons, aka clipin on the Bikeforums, designed it. Dunhill signed a 3 year contract....with the track to move between Vancouver and Toronto. I remember the Dunhill reps at the event handing out free packs of smokes...JACKPOT!!
oh yeah...the cost included venue, insurance (a BIG portion of the cost) shipping, and x amount to ship Johnny's chosen crew to the event and build it in a few days. If I remember correctly at the end they were getting the track built in 3 + days. WOW

I never did get to ride it, though I did go to one the the 'cats. Damned fun to watch. Think toronto could support a proper velodrome? I was wondering if that inflatable building vis-a-vis GolfPro could fit a proper track? WE do have tons of land being "planned for" at the waterfront especially in the east. Maybe a dual function speed oval and velodrome, to help with olympic training, university teams and the public. It would seem that officials have realized what putting a little money up for athletes can do for a sports program, maybe there are some bucks for programs in there somewhere .CAvit8 has some pretty good points.

Eyefloater 1:05 at Moon Bean.

Copy that, B.P.

yes indeed....Dunhill ponied up the dough. Johnny Jetfuel put it together.....John Cons, aka clipin on the Bikeforums, designed it. Dunhill signed a 3 year contract....with the track to move between Vancouver and Toronto. I remember the Dunhill reps at the event handing out free packs of smokes...JACKPOT!!
oh yeah...the cost included venue, insurance (a BIG portion of the cost) shipping, and x amount to ship Johnny's chosen crew to the event and build it in a few days. If I remember correctly at the end they were getting the track built in 3 + days. WOW

now if they would only bring back tabacco advertising in sports....

Nothing makes me want to have a smoke like some serious exertion...lol

now if they would only bring back tabacco advertising in sports....
I can understand the gov't view that tobacco companies should not sponsor sporting events.....but....it is ****ed that they will say companies X, Y, and Z, who have long supported certain sports, cannot give you any $$ for sponsorship but don't ask us either. If only someone is Govt would look at the Australian level of commitment to sport and do something similar.

I can understand the gov't view that tobacco companies should not sponsor sporting events.....but....it is ****ed that they will say companies X, Y, and Z, who have long supported certain sports, cannot give you any $$ for sponsorship but don't ask us either. If only someone is Govt would look at the Australian level of commitment to sport and do something similar.

yeah, it's no wonder that Canadian skier that was in the olympics was competing for .au and not .ca.

yeah, it's no wonder that Canadian skier that was in the olympics was competing for .au and not .ca.

i thought that was because he was a millionaire who didn't want to train as much as the canadian team told him to...

canadian governments put lots of money into sports, but only hockey and curling.

BTW, OT - did anyone hear anything more about mike barry's horrible crash in flanders?

Nothing goes together better than beer and motorsports though....the irony is never lost on me and it always makes me laugh.

[QUOTE=jeremywhitehorn]i thought that was because he was a millionaire who didn't want to train as much as the canadian team told him to...

canadian governments put lots of money into sports, but only hockey and curling.
QUOTE]
If you look at the amount of money each gov't puts directly into sport it isn't even close. The 2 countries have similar populations. For the years preceding the Sydney olympics the Australian Government starting putting much bigger dollars into sport federations. The result....Australians are kicking ass all over the place.... not just in Kangaroo riding and Koala Bear chucking.

Our fabulous results at the last Winter Games is a direct result to the "Own the Podium" program of the past few years. If you invest nothing, you get nothing. I can't remember what the dollar amount was but it wasn't a lot in the grand scheme of nationalist pride during world competition. Spend a few bucks and we tie(?) for our best medal haul ever.

[QUOTE=jeremywhitehorn]i thought that was because he was a millionaire who didn't want to train as much as the canadian team told him to...

canadian governments put lots of money into sports, but only hockey and curling.
QUOTE]
If you look at the amount of money each gov't puts directly into sport it isn't even close. The 2 countries have similar populations. For the years preceding the Sydney olympics the Australian Government starting putting much bigger dollars into sport federations. The result....Australians are kicking ass all over the place.... not just in Kangaroo riding and Koala Bear chucking.

yeah, i guess the did win a medal in skiing. Skiiing! i can see that we don't spend as much as the aussies on sports, my point is that what we do spend is proabably too concentrated. actually, come to think of it, look at some of the cyclists they are producing. green jersey anyone?

i wonder if it's because they have better weather?

It's because of the junior programs they have nation wide. It serves a double purpose. It gets kids into sports of some/any sort so they mightn't grow into bloody obese monsters, as well it helps the higher level programs identify talent at a young age, unlike here were a fabulously talented athlete can go from cradle to grave and never be noticed. Once a shining young star is identified, they are groomed and taken care of by the state sports associations so that said young star can shine brightly for their country, if they wish. Here in Canada, we expect our athletes to become world class while holding a day job, paying for coaches and gear out of pocket, and then do us proud after we ignored you your entire life. Not surprising some jump ship. Imagine if that grassroots level of interest was shown in our athletes. We would seriously kick ass.

*cough* The newfies managed to bring home a medal *cough* :D

oh, and I totally forgot to post up my slow-sync madness from Critical Vvaaccuumm last week. They looked a little too raver in colour, so I did a quick 'n dirty b&w version to post. :P Only posted because they were requested, really. :)

http://static.flickr.com/1/126077648_cafc09df0f_m.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/28/126077523_b61c703c0a_m.jpg http://static.flickr.com/52/126077400_5306ff0f8d_m.jpg http://static.flickr.com/53/126077288_199bdb1ee6_m.jpg

Bigger versions in my Velo! set on flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wes/sets/72057594081307898/).

My apologies on the lateness eyefloater.
Nice, pictures!

Cool pics. I love the way low light photos turn out.

[QUOTE=somnambulant]*cough* The newfies managed to bring home a medal *cough*[QUOTE]

*cough* curling is barely a sport *cough* go team newfoundland!

oh yeah, nice pics.

Curling..... I wanna see ice biking in 2010, and apparently MTL wants to try and make a demo sport of it.
funky shots Somnambulant

Somna, remember the last photo from this set when it comes time for us to put our little fundraising effort together - I really like that one. How big is the original file?

Anyone good with teh php + mysql? I am alas, teh sux0r. Please shout me a holla if you can be of assistance.

[QUOTE=somnambulant]*cough* The newfies managed to bring home a medal *cough*[QUOTE]

*cough* curling is barely a sport *cough* go team newfoundland!

True dat. But the fact that most people do it while drinking and it's still an olympic sport isn't a negative thing, is it? But either way, I was born 'n raised in St. John's, so I had to get that in there. :D

Photos are from between
01 Jan 80 & 06 Apr 06.

I wasn't born in 1980 :D

Word to The Rock (not the person)

Double Word to the Toronto Bike Police that let me off with a smile and a 'be careful' after totally burning me torching 2 consecutive red lights. (Yonge and Victoria on Queen) 150 buckos per and 3 points each.

Technical difficulties. Let me try this again.


The guys at Midweek Cycling Club were talking with the Hershey Centre in Missisausage last year about putting in a velodrome. This was before Peter moved. At the same time they made a pitch to the Peel Board of Ed. to get grass track racing into the schools. No word on any updates. Grass track would be cool. I remember seeing pics somewhere. I think it's part of the Highland games. I'd be down.

Anyone good with teh php + mysql? I am alas, teh sux0r. Please shout me a holla if you can be of assistance.

Whassup?

If you look at the amount of money each gov't puts directly into sport it isn't even close. The 2 countries have similar populations. For the years preceding the Sydney olympics the Australian Government starting putting much bigger dollars into sport federations. The result....Australians are kicking ass all over the place.... not just in Kangaroo riding and Koala Bear chucking.

Word to that. Infrastructure is what's missing. As a member of a Provincial Sport Organization, we get money based on what we spent in the past year (ie. deficit financing). If you want to try to grow, you have to increase your numbers and cross your fingers the funding formula will pay you off they year *after* you fork out $ for infrastructure. Even initiatives like Active 2010 are weak ass, IMO. Each sport looks out after themselves (no surprise) and there's little incentive to work together instead of competing for $. New sports getting funded (eg. ultimate) is exceptionally difficult. As well, these are volunteer organizations. Some have the capacity for paid staffers etc., but there's little enough of that. Volunteering wears pretty thin, pretty quick.

If you look at the amount of money each gov't puts directly into sport it isn't even close. The 2 countries have similar populations. For the years preceding the Sydney olympics the Australian Government starting putting much bigger dollars into sport federations. The result....Australians are kicking ass all over the place.... not just in Kangaroo riding and Koala Bear chucking.

keith, what was the impetus for dunhill to hook up with the alleycat scramble in the first place? there's got to be more private sector sponsors that share the same marketing visions that they had.. and it doesn't have to be alcohol or tabacco. ..athletic shoe companies??? if anything ss/fixed gear is more popular now than it was in the early 90s. kinda off topic: for some reason, i've always remembered joe dias' pic in the "my style" section of now magazine way back when.