Candy Cranks

My friend Tyler (aka Methdad) has organized an insane event in Murfreesboro, TN for next Saturday (April 10th). Keith and I will definitely be there, and any one who can make it out really should; this is going to be A LOT of fun! Full line up of bands can be found here.

“Tour de Fun is going to be a huge community bike ride, which will visit as many house shows as we can, with two bands playing 10 min sets each at each house. The cookout starts at 3pm at MOAB; bring some food and throw it on the grill. During the cookout there will be a foot down competition, trick competition, sprints, and a raffle. Around 6:30pm everyone will go to the first house, see two bands, then go to the next and see two bands, and so on. The ride will end at the Temptation Club, where there will be some more bands, d.j.’s, food, drinks, friends, and fun. The date for the ride is Saturday April 10th. Tour de Fun is the first step at creating a more tight and friendly bike community. It will also be showcasing a list of local artist and bands.” -Tyler Walker

Primate Frames, maker of the lovely Candy Cranks frames and other bicycle beauties like The Wasp, has a new website. There’s an array of new bikes on display including mountains bike, 29′ers, single speeds, fixies, aerotube bikes, a 24″ as well as the monster downhill bike he’s building as a personal project.

Check out the new site here.

Arrow is one of my favourite bike shops in Tokyo. Arrow bikes are single speed with a coaster brake, not  fixed gear. All bikes look very nice! Kids bikes are available aslo.

http://www.geocities.jp/arrow_koenji/

The local fixed gear collective, Aloha Fixed, held their Island Unstoppable ride, over 100 miles around most of Hawaii’s main island, Oahu.

30 showed up for the ride, with 16 finishers, and a few ladies are in there!

Completing the epic ball breaking, Pinapple Hill

Congrats friends!!!

Think back to your childhood – remember your first bike? Sparkly pink streamers, little white basket in front, and a coaster brake.

Coasties (no I’m not talkin the Ugg-boot wearing variety) are offering deep-v wheelsets with coaster brake hubs that allow you to pedal backwards in order to brake. The site says coasties “give you the clean look of fixed gear without all the danger.”

Hmmm, interesting. What do you think? Cool idea? Or is everyone just trying to make some money by jumping on the fixie bandwagon?

Angled wheels are the new aerospoke

via China.org.cn

Interesting minimalist bike from the Michigan-based designer J. Ruiter. According to J’s web site:

Our project, simplicity in inner city bicycling, was at first glance a fun aesthetic opportunity in new trends, color, and materials. Our target lived / worked in an inner city environment with minimal space. Bicycling at this level can be more about fashion and culture than speed and performance.

After the first few brainstorm sessions we knew there where bigger opportunities. The project ended up rethinking what a “frame” meant, getting ride of basic key components, and creating a new type of compact bicycling. Inspired by the first the “hobby horse” from it’s simplicity and secondly the cafe race scene. Each is an exercise in stripping something down to its core.

More photos here at the J. Ruiter site and here.

Not sure how comfortable the seat is on the derriere, but I’m loving the design. What do all of you think?

Yesterday the Cupcranks hosted their third Cupcake Ride. The wonderful Gigi’s Cupcakes provided us with free cupcakes, water, and milk (Thank you!). It was a perfect fall day for riding. The weather was amazing and we got to see the most beautiful sunset over the Nashville skyline. You can find more pictures on my Flickr.

Inspired by old-fashioned Dutch bikes, 28-year old Dutch designer Sjoerd Smit developed VANMOOF bikes – aluminum frame single speeds with coaster brake.
Stylish, but not just that – it also comes with a special twist: solar powered LED head and tail lights integrated into the frame.

Now this one instantly made me think of that Cody Chestnut song…

The unique “Porteur bike” by french Ateliers d’Embellie is handmade with vintage and NOS parts. But most and for all: with heaps of leather.

It also comes with some nice extras…

…and even a little bling for the ladies…

more details here.