fixie "culture" question

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i've been reading, researching, and talking to people about fixed gear bikes for about a 1/2 year now.
i think i know/understand it all, but i cant figure one thing(i can speculate).

what's with the cards in the rear wheel? how or why did that come about?

thanx dudes.
 
They are ride cards, one of the things about the skinny tire culture is most are computer savy little dudes. So they make (and I'll give em this) these really cool ride cards you get for showin up. Personally I think you should get them at the end. but I'll post some if I get a sec. Sins N Sprockets make some of the coolest and BarChopz too.
 
Spoke Cards are supposed to be from Alleycat Races. Everyone gets a spoke card with a number on the back of it, and that's your race number, that how they keep track of you. An Alleycat Race simulates being a bike messenger: you have a Manifest that tells you where your "pick-ups" and "deliveries" are and you are responsible for your routing. Generally there is no adherence to traffic laws. So if you're wondering why a bike messenger might be giving you the stinkeye for your "fake" spoke cards, this is why. I've raced the West Side Invite (a weekend of Alleycats) twice and went to the track day at Alpenrose Velodrome. I've done a few single Alleycats too, and they tend to wear you out. I will say this, you get respect for showing up and competing, even if you are DFL (Dead xxxx-ing Last) :cry:

Gratuitous Spoke Card shot:

IMG_0307.jpg


Bike messengers also hate the word "fixie" for the most part :mrgreen:

Here's a video filmed by Lucas Brunelle of an NYC Alleycat. Cue up GnR's "Welcome to the Jungle" or Judas Priest's "Breakin' the Law for the full effect...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nQs7u3f ... re=related
 
I'm just stating the facts about their origin.

I have spoke cards from Zoobomb http://zoobomb.net and I have a memoriam spoke card for a friend who died. I've made my own "fake" spoke cards.

Some bicycle people like to roll their eyes when I warn them about having a 3-piece patch claiming territory ( club name/design/city ) for their bicycle club, but I've heard of more than one situation where a Bicycle Club has been harassed by 1%ers. Doesn't matter if you take it serious, they do. Maybe in the interest of mutual respect, respect should be given. At least that's how it worked when I lived in San Diego.
 
You learn something new everyday! Here I was thinking it was just another way to personalise your ride. I threw a pair of Jokers from a deck of playing cards on the rear of my racer (the now defunct Raleigh boardtracker that I began a build topic on). I thought it was cool, sorta like performance stickers on an old race car. I guess it SO isn't... :roll: :lol:
 
Well then its a good thing my club people were smart and got it cleared with the local 1% club, colors and all. Not to mention the BC patch vs. the MC and we did all that out of "respect".

I will keep an eye out for the "stink eye" but mostly I get a "cool bike bro" and "I can't beleive you kept up on the ride" mosly cuz I look like a fat dude and cuz I did it on a stretch.
 
ChopaderoT-Flo said:
Well then its a good thing my club people were smart and got it cleared with the local 1% club, colors and all. Not to mention the BC patch vs. the MC and we did all that out of "respect".

Dead Baby Bikes has a territory rocker (Seattle WA) and they had a sit-down with 3 different 1%er Clubs. More cojones than I need to have. Drop Out Bike Club has a one piece patch, no territory claimed.


ChopaderoT-Flo said:
I will keep an eye out for the "stink eye"

You look tuff enough where you shouldn't be concerned with some skinny bike messenger sweatin' your spoke cards. At the same time riding a bicycle 40 hours a week in a downtown urban area is not the safest way to make a living. Cars and trucks are much bigger than bullets.

ChopaderoT-Flo said:
but mostly I get a "cool bike bro" and "I can't beleive you kept up on the ride" mosly cuz I look like a fat dude and cuz I did it on a stretch.

Yeah I get that too, no matter what bike I ride.
 
thanx for the info guys.
i dont have a fixed gear bike yet.....i've been daydreaming about one for some time now.
a pal of mine bought a giant bowery a couple months ago and i coveted it. i'm sure steve can warn us about a passage about coveting
than i saw riverbends thread about his sears fixed gear and dicided that it's time for me to build it!!!

sure i can buy one for 4 to 5 hundred clams, but i think i can build one for less than 200.
 
Sorry I live in suburbia. Learning here. What is:

1%er Club

I do remember the dead baby races in Sea back around the turn of the century. Suppose its still around.

Thanks,
T
 
A 1%er club is an outlaw motorcycle club. I grew up in the suburbs, the " local eighty-one " clubhouse was 3 tiny New England towns over.

Kind of off-topic for this discussion, but still valid info.
 
1%er, from wikipedia-
"One Percenters
Members of motorcycle clubs are often viewed in a negative light by traditional society. This perception has been fueled by the movies, popular culture, and highly publicized incidents. One of the earliest and most notorious of these occurred in Hollister, California in 1947[14] [15] and is now dubbed the Hollister riot. Whether or not an actual riot occurred is debatable, but there was a motorcycle rally in Hollister from July 4 to July 6 of that year that was attended by about 4000 people. Several newspaper articles were written that, according to some attendees, sensationalized the event and Life magazine ran an article and a staged photograph of an intoxicated subject on a motorcycle parked in a bar. The film The Wild One, starring Marlon Brando, was inspired by the event, and it became the first in a series of movies that depicted bikers and members of motorcycle clubs in this stereotypical manner. The press asked the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) to comment on the Hollister incident and their response[citation needed] was that 99% of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens, and the last one percent were outlaws. Thus was born the term, "one percenter". They are also known as "Outlaw Motorcycle Gang" or (O.M.G.) according to the ATF.
"
 
I'm thinking about moving to Austin. Bicycle culture is one of the things I like about the place. I did notice that the fixie crowd seems to have more followers than any other type of riders here.
 
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