Doom's bike in Portland.

My favorite part about the Turbospoke:

"On an episode of the TV show Braniac in the UK, a kid wanted to know if he was faster or slower with the turbospoke attached to his bike. So they set up a little circuit for him to pedal around with the thing on/off. Realisticly it should slow him down, but the result was that he went faster with the thing on, and what they figured is that it was psychological in speeding him up (with the "vrooom" and all)."

Now if only someone would make a spoiler then we could get into some serious modding.

spoke cards arent aero.

Actually... enough spoke cards and you'll have a disc wheel...

I wonder if that turbospoke will work well on a non-spoked wheel (carbon fiber quad-spoke).

I WANT TO BE PART OF THE CLUB, GUYS.

not before someone decides it's good to ride with a sponge wedged in your ass. :D

I think about 95% of the people who do that are just trying to be cool for the sake of being cool. And on a rolling course, I'm pretty sure 95% of fixie and single speed riders would have their ass handed to them under race conditions.

Now in the city, that's another story. I've raced messengers around town before and I can usually pass em on the straights or if I'm drafting around cars in traffic but when things get slow, I mean real slow, packed like a can of sardines, they usually leave my ass behind as they swerve between cars and pedestrians.

It's not arbitrary, it's just absurd. Spoke cards are part of the subculture because they stem from alleycats, which is decidedly non-roadie. Lycra is obviously the epitome of roadism, and thus, the diamteric opposite of the distinction necessary to be part of the subculture of fixed-gear.

A minority tribe needs to distinguish itself from the dominant cultural tribe, otherwise it won't have the subculture appeal.

i think it's legit to make spoke cards if you have a cycling crew. i was going to for the riders in williamsburg but i never got around to it. maybe when i have some free time...

get a grip man...tape is lame. I use staples or carpet tacks. jeez...

You let me know about that banana thing, though, ok? I'm in!

F'ing bananas are cool as hell, dude. Yeah!

I kind of like the plantains myself.
I think I may just put one of them in my spokes and just slap some cards on my face.

seriously: i'm allergic to bananas, so now you're not being sensitive to my dietary needs. i'm requesting that this thread now be moved to politics and religion. mods, where the f are you?!??!?

allergic or afraid?

allergic!!!



and afraid

Most fixed riders I know are off-season road bikers.

All this cool talk reminds me of high school. GO SPARTANS!!!

Be true to your school- rah rah sis boom bah

JUST RIDE




(I wonder if ninja turtles would fit in the spokes as I don''t have any GI Joe)

Actually there are several racers that are now or began as messengers who do the ass handing under standard race conditions. course they also do well in alleycats and larger messenger races too. I've been to 2 North American Championships where i found myself facing off against folks holding spots on the canadian national olympic team, and that's usually the situation in europe too. Usually in the sprint catagory you'll find top amatuer or pro riders from the track. (not in my elimination heats thankfully) There are a few cat 1 & 2 messengers in TO.

Thing is, they don't always win ;)

Hehe that's why I said 95% rather than 100%. ;)

the first spoke cards i remember was when i was a kid, youd put playing cards or anything else in your spokes...can't say as there was a reason.
the first spoke cards remember as a messenger weren't associated with any race, usually a bar, or the pornographic playing cards or sumsuch. the first I remember associated with a race had racer numbers on one side and the race sponsors or name on the other. you can usually tell where a person is from by their spoke cards unless they travel alot which is frequently the case for couriers. I don't think anyone has there nose in the air for having or not having them. I ride road cept in the winter, and i can ride up to any group of messers and have a freindly chat no matter their spoke cards or gears/lack of. I've encountered the elitism that yer talking about, but roadsies can't really talk bout elitism hehe. thats the blind red pot calling the pink kettle a blazing shade of safety orange.

:)

Yup, I remember kids doing this with playing cards and BMX bikes as early as the late 1970's. I put a playing card in my BMX spokes once when I was 10 in 1980. I crashed my bike that night. Spent 3 1/2 weeks in the hospital in traction. Shattered elbow. Never again put a card in my spokes. Felt like bad juju. 10 years later, complications from that injury helped end my racing career. I still get the willies when I see fixed gears with spoke cards in the spokes. Maybe I need to stick a spoke card in the spokes of my track bike when I get it back on the road. Confront those demons. Look them square in the eyes. I'm not too concerned with what others will think. When the hipsters (or roadies, for that matter) come back to cycling after injuries like I've had, they can have an opinion. Must admit though, as a former road racer, I am seriously superstitious about riding. May have to give this all some more thought. Bad juju vs good karma, you never know...

2004

Huh?

3 year old thread

but surprisingly familiar. weird.

I have a few I've made and painted on etsy right now. I won't sell spoke cards that I've made for races, though (even though I got hosed on the Snow Crash race because people were, um, afraid of *snow*...).

all the Main St Hipsters in Vancouver, riding their trendy for the moment fixies have spoke cards now.



:rolleyes: