In 2006 when I started working as bike messenger in Portland OR these were hands down the coolest track bikes around. My dude Mattchew had one, and he always beat me in alleycats on it. The veteran messenger who hazed me the hardest (Cowboy) had
Back in the 90’s these frames were Olympic level competition frames, combining the stiffness of oversized aluminum tubes with a super tight pursuit geometry and NJS Keirin style steel fork. If memory serves this fork is a 28mm rake, Tange all Cro-M
A true track machine the biggest tire this fork would fit is a 700x23 and since it was the mid 2000’s I rode all my tires at 120psi for maximum speed. The classic lugged fork stood apart from the oversized tubes of the frame. The clearance was so t
There was (still is) a courier legend named Sharky, originally from Philly he worked in Portland when I started on the road. He got his nickname because he never stopped moving, always picking up and dropping off, making money. He rode a 3RENSHO f
If you road track bikes in the 2000’s you knew someone who had gotten “core sampled.” Crashed and had the open end of a handlebar (usually drops) dig into their leg, effectively core sampling their muscle. So I always tried to jam something into m
I had these bars before I got the CDALE. I rode them from Portland to Chicago on a track bike for the 2008 NACCC, from Portland to SF on this CDALE with nothing but an Ortlieb messenger bag and $100. Years of sweat and dirt have slowly started to
Made in Petaluma CA these Salsa stems were the “strongest” stem you could buy. And after the brand sold to QBP the original handmade stems became super hard to find. Hundreds of bike swaps all up and down the west coast got me this classy 100m 6°
This was the first Chris King headset that I ever bought new. It was kind of of a big deal, these were the best headset you could get, handmade in Portland OR. When I bought this at Box Dog Bikes in SF the mechanic mentioned that the cups were in
When I started riding track bikes Velocity Deep V’s were the sickest hoop you could get, they had just started releasing them without a machined brake surface just for us fixies. But beyond these were the unobtainable, THEE ARAYA SUPER AERO SA30.
24h front and 28h rear rims… the only solution was to get some custom drilled Phil Wood hubs. I guess this sounds chill now, but back in 2009 this was a huge deal. On my messenger salary each hub was a weeks worth of work, not including the cost of
Speed over function was the name of the game for these hoops. Low Flange single sided hubs were the lightest thing you could get from Phil Wood. Double sided would have been rad, since changing cogs from street to velordrome was a hassle. But I w
This is why we can’t have nice things.. The low spoke count, deep rims and low flanges all added up to a light, fast, track specific wheelset. Which I rode on the streets and in the dirt with wild abandon. And while this was my baby, if you were
One of the standouts with this frame was how tight the clearance is. Front and rear there are a mm or two separating the rubber from the frame. While everyone else was skidding through 700x28 Vittoria Rando’s I was stuck trying to find a good 700x
When messengers on trackbikes made their way to the West Coast at the 1998 CMWC in SF, it seemed like all the NYC couriers were riding the smallest chainrings and cogs. I can only imagine this is because the only other 1/8 inch drive trains availab
It was super hard to track down a 44t 1/8 inch track chainring. The 144bcd spider is huge and this is almost as low as you can go. Josh Hunt, who I started TCB with had this Sugino 44t ring laying around the old messenger mansion and I jumped on i
You’ve got non brakes, but you’ve got a chain. The only thing keeping you moving and also the only thing stopping you. I all ways, still to this day, only ride IZUMI chains. When I started they were considered to be the absolute best, bombproof n
As much as I’d love to have one those fancy EAI gold cogs, for me it was Durace all the way. This is one of the first 16t cogs I ever bought, thinking it would be good for the track and the street. But the clearance is so tight on the Cdale that I
So this is a track frame, built specifically for velodrome racing, super stiff, light and highly responsive. To be honest it’s not really the best bike for riding on the street. It’s waaay too stiff for rough city streets, you feel every bump, pot
It was all about pure speed, the stiffness, the lightness, the quick steering everything that made this a bad idea to ride in traffic also made it the absolute most shredding messenger bike ever. You could dance through cars, sprint every red light
I’m not one to stress where something was built, as long as it works well I’m all for it. But I always thought it was rad that these bikes were made in the USA. Mainly because they represented such a leap forward in technology at the time. This w
Kind of joke on that same vibe, I tried to keep the stickers to a minimum but some were too good to not rep. Stupid fast, light, and fragile, a blast to ride..but it may kill you a real “American freedom machine”
Not many people will remember Matt Case, a messenger from Seattle who made the “This machine kills hipsters” stickers. Well I loved those stickers, even though I was (is?) a hipster messenger on a track bike. So I found the french version and rock
From top to bottom. - Julian Stranger, Mattchew, myself and STORTS had planned to ride from LA to ATL for the 2010 NACC in ATL. But out van blew up driving from SF-LA to start the ride. So we stayed in a porn mansion in LA for a week then rode h
The steel fork would constantly get banged around shredding the streets, so whenever it started to rub the down tube. I’d stick the bike (the drive side pedal) in a doorframe, and yank on the fork until it pulled away from the frame enough to ride.
Mike Martin at MASH made this WC friendship bracelets, you got two and gave one to the homie and kept one for yourself. Mike has the other one and this one has stayed on the. back of this bike for years. This was the last frame I rode before I sta
To me this is one of the most Iconic dropouts in cycling.
Never forget where you came from - CHANT TSR
In hindsight this is a super uncomfortable position to spend days on the bike. But back in the day when I would hit “the drops” and sprint I felt like nothing could stop me. Turns out somethings can.. These bars are bent from a sprint competition
Speaking of things that are uncomfortable to spend hours on.. The Selle Italia Flite was my saddle of choice for years. This good old ass hatchet got from from NYC to Boston, PDX to SF, and has weathered countless years of mail runs and super rushe
When I built my first real track bike ( a PAKE, maybe someday I’ll do a garage post on that hunk of junk) and brought it to work I asked everyone what they thought.. Pretty much everyone laughed.. but Sharky being the nice guy he is said “I like th
There was about 6 years of my life that I lived in MTB shoes. Everyday 9-5 and weekends too. the first time I ever flew to Europe I only wore my Sidi’s.. From the jump TIME ATAC’s were the pedal of choice, mainly because thats what everyone else w
FAST AND LOOSE!! This bike took me on some of my first bike adventures, first international trips, I raced hundreds of alleycats, and delivered thousands of packages. Now it’s cracked and dented, beat to shit and honestly kind of uncomfortable to r
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