greysidewalk

I work for a company that covers art, design, culture and anything else, and we're looking to do a series of a few films on bike culture in PORTLAND, SF, NYC (and maybe LONDON). What we're really looking for are the real big, definitive forces (people and events) in each city. We have some ideas, but could use some of your brainstorming as well.

NYC: I think we're going to talk about the history of Fixed Gear. We might try to visit Old Skool Track in central park (https://www.oldskooltrack.com) and try to see some Bike Polo. Any ideas other people/things we could show?

San Francisco: Try to talk to someone from Zo Bags about creation of the messenger bag. Go to SF Bike Coalition. Go to a Critical Mass, talk to Robin
Williams

Portland: Talk to about the Government/infastructure and their stance on cycling. Film a bike production operation like Vanilla Bicycles.

That's a rough start, but any ideas would be awesome!
Thanks!

botto 

not an idea, but a suggestion:

try something a little less obvious than tapping into the FG fad.

greysidewalk

i was thinking that too, but the audience won't necessarily be that informed about cycling, so it might be news to some of them.

Dr.Deltron

GSW, don't forget recumbents & human powered vehicles!

I'm 100 miles South of SF and have several on hand. I was also the featured recumbent rider in the PG&E/SF "Let's green this city" campaign.

Let me know if I can be of any help out this way.

jcbenten

If they are not that informed, how will they what they are missing?

FGs are not only in NYC. I would think it is national phenomenon, particularly on campuses. At UT-Austin FGs are all over the place.

6thElement

Not road cycling but you could contact Jamie Bogner from NYCMTB, https://www.nycmtb.com/press.html

botto 

NYC is where it started, the rest of the country took 20+ years to catch up.

cohophysh

talk to Donnamb on this site, she is big in the portland biking scene

akaio

For Portland talk to the Zoo Bombers for culture, talk to Jonathan Maus of bikeportland.org for an overview and infrastructure, and talk to some bike builders (you mentioned Vanilla, but there are many more great builders here like Ira Ryan and Tony Pereira).

Chris_F

How about something like Critical Mass? It's bike, counter-culture, and pretty controvercial.

Edonis13

i think you were aiming for the single speed and fixed gear forum and missed.

sverrefehn

Another angle for Portland would be cyclocross as it's absolutely huge there.

cmh

Nobody has mentioned road racing. It is a pretty big part of cycling culture in each of the cities mentioned. You could cover the CP/PP weekly races in NYC. Maybe interveiw obra3 - he is now the OBRA executive director.

As an aside - the recent FG trend (or is it a fad?) started in NYC, but fixed gear cycling goes way further back than the recent popularity. I believe road racers were training in the off season on fixies before they were the messenger's bike of choice. And of course it goes back to track racing, and all of road racing in the early part of the 20th century.

obra3

https://bikeportland.org/2008/02/08/w...s-of-portland/

Teams you should talk to include: Team Beer, Gentle Lovers, Ironclad, Super Relax, S&M, Vanilla.

Great guy to talk to is Erik Tonkin, Sellwood Cycles. Also must talk to Scott Ricker at BTA- should be able to get into talk to Sam Adams too.

Another topic- Cyclocross in Oregon- big following. Guy to talk to is Brad Ross.

patentcad

It's a 'fad' now? Damn. I'm 10 years too late. I sold my beat fixed gear a few month ago.

F fixies. Rode mine for a long time. Didn't do much for me. But then I am beyond all hope, so don't let that be your guide.

BLACK BIKE

The history of Fixed Gear, along with several other fixed gear articles have already been featured in the New York Times, Maxim, and countless other mainstream publications. It's old news. Check all of the big name bicycle company's websites, and you'll see they all offer fixed gear bicycles. Specialized even offers their fixed gear bicycle in limited edition "City Tribute" models, not unlike the "U-2 limited edition" IPods.

Fixed gear riding is already a mainstream activity, which means it will soon be uncool. You missed the fixed gear culture exploitation train. Word on the street is that 1980's BMX bikes or vintage Italian road bikes are quickly becoming the new track bike. I've already seen a few recent college grads sitting on them outside Starbucks, while wearing their sister's jeans. Perhaps you can look into that.

KRhea

As for Portland: PLEASE do not do another thing about Vanilla, it's overdone, getting more overdone everyday and there are quite a few builders here in PDX whose builds are just as good and unique but without the exposure. Vanilla, everyone's "been there and done that...to death".

ZooBombers, Tall Bike Circus, Cyclocross, OBRA, PortlandVelo, did I mention cross, cool shops like Cyclepath "custom bike love", bikeportland.org, Jonathan Maus, the city's view on cycling/cyclists and on and on, oh yeah...don't forget the Cross Crusade.

KRhea

BLACK BIKE

In the early part of the 20th century, track bicycle (fixed of course) racing was a more popular spectator sport than baseball. In fact, one of the primary reasons for building Madison Square Garden in NYC was to provide an arena for track bicycle races. Ever wonder where the old Schwinn Madison track bikes got their name?

otismedina

Very interesting stuff.

DitmarsNY

How about pedicabs in NYC as well? Over the past several years they have exploded in the city, primarily central park

dannyg1 

Bikeworksnyc.com is a central influence within the 'culture' of NYC cycling and the man that runs it is an incredibly knowledgeable guy. If I were taking the pulse of NYC's direction no, that's where I'd start The CR list is also an invaluable resource for NYC cycling but it's a bit more difficult to sort through in that regard.

One of the things you might like to look at and document is this thing that's going on amongst the Latino delivery guys. They're taking mountainframes (mostly fat tubed Alu) and decking them out with a mix of high end road and mtb stuff that's very original and the adaptation of the road stuff is not so easy (I've actually built two variants of these. Mine are a quite a bit more focussed on the ecclectic nature of the frames I centered the bikes around, but I'm sure that others will see them as part of the cultural trend. I built both at the outset of this, taking what I saw as an interesting thing going on and trying to build a 'finest example' kind of bike as a 'proof of concept') . They're becoming much more expert at it and I'm fairy certain that the head mechanic at Larry/Jeff's 79th/3rd avenue is the mastermind of the trend.

Danny

BLACK BIKE

That sounds interesting, Danny. Do you have any pics of your bikes? I'd love to see them!

dannyg1 

I built both bikes for friends and they were delivered before I got a chance for pics, with the promise that I'd get photos back quickly from the owners. My friends though, are self involved bartender types who don't feel the need to follow through on their promises (aka Rat *******s, one and all).

I'm in the process of building one that's going to pay homage in a much louder fashion and, considering what it is that I'm honoring, this one 'll be the one you'll want to see anyway. Maybe I'll go take a few photos of some of the prime examples in the neighborhood and post those for you later tonight.

Danny

obra3

I also forgot- get in touch with Dan Kaufman from Crankmychain

greysidewalk

thanks everyone! lots of food for thought