Ah Mayonnaise. The chatter on the street. The web of opinions,
emotions, rumor.
Well, in the last week, I've had 3 customers (from the forum) describe
the current pot of hot water you have been dropped into. Ouch.
A few messengers have mentioned it (doing drops on parked bikes, eh?),
and some of my fixie lover/commuters have read one or two stories while
waiting at the counter (one bought a copy yesterday afternoon... both
he and his girlfriend have gotten fixed within the last year). A couple
of people have mentioned Travis Cully's writings and the similarities in
style/feeling (I haven't run into him yet).
Good writing. But I can't lie- I've only read half of it. It'll come.
It's interesting to have seen the development of the local fixie culture
in Chicago! I remember when I had my first job in a bike shop- Recycle
was then (1994 at 1234 s. Wabash) on the first floor of the St. James
hotel, at the south end of the lobby. The north end was occupied with a
Polish dog joint. Mike wouldn't even sell fixed gear bikes- too
dangerous. That summer my neighbor had an old frame (Atala) and rear
hub shipped in from a buddy of his in New York. The day that it
arrived, he prepared the bike and handed the hub over to me. I did what
I could with the spokes I had available (too long for a 3 cross pattern,
too short for 4 cross), rebuilding the wheel 3 times before I decided to
mimic the downhill bikes of the late 80's and twist the spokes
together... Taking up the extra spoke length allowed me to build a
strong, striking wheel for AJ just before breakfast. He rolled off to
work that day, his first time on a track bike, and the only messenger in
Chicago that summer on a fixed gear. His buddy from New York (Oz) moved
to town a couple months later... And when I returned to messenger work
in the fall, I was riding fixed (after commuting on one for half of the
summer).
But now we're going way back. Back to a time when there weren't so many
rigid definitions of bicycle categories. When your bicycling loves can
meet and cross pollinate. Anyone can ride the beast any way they see
fit. And many people do. Messengers, commuters, mothers, racers, bums.
One man feels the urge, and converts his own prized beauty from the
Master Himself into a fixed portal- to another space and time. Feeling
the new love. So be it!

All my best!
-Marcus