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Remember the story about how Crihs stole my Icarus track bike after a killer party at the Messenger Mansion (more on that tomorrow) and sent me an Instagram ransom? If you don’t brush up on it here. So imagine my surprise when I just got a bunch of film back from SF and found this on one of the rolls. Amazing. Crihs, you really out did yourself here buddy.
Giro will be rolling out a series of these videos to promote their Reverb helmets this year, beginning with this profile on artist Chris McNally:
“Chris McNally is a San Francisco-based artist who fell in love with bicycles and art at an early age. As an illustrator, the need to get out for a ride has always been a part of Chris’ creative process, even if the ride is just across town to his studio. In this first session we ride along with Chris on the streets of San Francisco, from his home in the Richmond to his studio in the outer Mission district, as he talks about how important the ride is to his life and work.”
I’ve been to SF a few times over the past year and every time, I’ve made it a point to swing through and see what Benny Gold has been up to. Many people don’t know this but Benny designed the Mash insignia and back in the early 2000’s, he traveled around the world with the crew. While Benny Gold isn’t a cycling brand per se, it’s in his blood. This last trip to SF, I rolled through the shop before heading out of town and chatted with him before leaving. It’s always extremely helpful to get business and creative advice from someone who’s done it all before and if there’s one thing Benny’s got plenty of, it’s experience.
One day, I’d love to work with him on a project. We’ve chatted about it a few times already, maybe something will come of it?
At any rate, check out some more shots from the Benny Gold storefront below and don’t forget to swoop up some of his Valencia Collection in store now. A lot of it is hand made in SF!
This event was a huge success. The 2012 Rapha Women’s Prestige was the first race of its kind and I can’t wait to see where they take it next.
SF Sprints is back! Seeing LOW on a flier means one thing… Better keep your legs loose!
City Grounds put together the best video I’ve seen so far from the 2012 RideNStyle event.
It’s crazy to think that it’s been a year since Chas emailed me, asking me to post about Andrew Low‘s work, leading to a full queue for the SF-based frame builder. He’s been steady cranking away this year at frames, sending them worldwide.
In that time, he’s refined his shop, and over the past few weeks, he’s working on some frame refinements. Faced track ends and finished welds are just a few of the things Andrew’s been working on. I tell ya, if I raced at the track, I’d ride one of these bikes.
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Photos by Jake Ricker
I spent a lot of time rolling around with Jake during the SF shenanigans weekend. He’s been uploading a few 35mm scans over at his Flickr. I loved the one of me riding the Icarus and this one of the Messenger Mansion.
Shane put together a quick edit from the sessions that went down at the Island in SF. Man, FGFS has come a long way since people started doing leg over bar skids at this spot.
Scraps imply they’re the last photos from the trip and that’s not the case here. I’ve got a few more posts coming in from my recent trip to SF, these are just the ones that have no immediate home. Enjoy and check out the previous posts below!
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These two kids are some of my favorite #FixieFamous celebs. Marc and Kelli are like a match made in Vice Magazine. When they’re not in sleeveless shirts, they’re kitted out in the hills of LA and SF. While Marc has been racing track (and looking for alleycats) the past few years, he’s just started branching off into road racing, which inspired Kelli to do the same. I caught up with these two, the day after a race and took some photos of them.
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I’m very excited for Mike and the entire Mash crew. In a year, their shop has become a destination for out of towners, a meet up for group rides and a bike shop that caters to track bikes. Mash is synonymous with track bikes in SF and the 1-Year Anniversary Alleycat celebrated that.
Unlike last year’s Twin Peaks Time Trail, this race was separated into two events: an alleycat qualifier and a Twin Peaks race. Only the top racers from the alleycat could race up to Twin Peaks. I hung around all day, chatted with racers and shot some photos.
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I’m gonna make this a real quick one because my flight’s about to board. Yesterday in Dolores Park, I met Adam from Montano Velo, where he had his gorgeous 10th Anniversary Merckx road with him. This is a quick Merckx Mondays, but enjoy some more details below!
About a year ago, a man named Andrew Low came onto the track bike scene. Based in SF, Andrew builds handmade aluminum track frames in a small and tidy workshop in the Mission. San Francisco is widely responsible for the aluminum track bike hype and LOW has the made in the USA market cornered. When Massan caught wind of Andrew, he had to support a builder from his home town…
Just recently, Andrew completed a low pro model in a MUNI livery for Massan and I had the chance to photograph it in the Embarcadero on Saturday. With Massan’s recent induction into the Chrome Familia, this bike will be getting a lot of press-love, but for now, here’s my lens-love.
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After the spills and thrills from the 2012 Red Bull RideNStyle track race, the fixed freestyle competitors were ready to rip apart the ramps and rightfully so. The sport has progressed by leaps and bounds in the past year. The tricks are getting bigger, more clicked and are looking more fluid than ever. The good riders really can flow through a park setup now and since people have been spending time at Woodward, a lot of the riders had a new found confidence on big ramps. I feel like I heard rumors for the past few weeks about Josh Boothby’s plans for a backflip and, as we all know, he followed through…
Boothby’s solid runs landed him in first place. Tyler Johnson’s big and smooth tech lines were more clicked than ever, landing him in second and Joe McKeag’s 540s, truck drivers and clicked 360’s pinned him down in third. Personally, I’m less interested in final rankings and more impressed at the overall caliber of riding that was present. Everyone gave it their all and no one was seriously hurt. But that helmet saved your ass Kenny!
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Today was my last full day in SF and I woke up to find my bike missing from the Messenger Mansion. I checked my phone to find a randsom from #FixieNinja, leading me to Bernal Heights. Crihs had been planning this “revenge” since I desecrated his bike last year, around this time. I got my bike, put the wheels back on and headed out for the day. After the Mash 1-Year Anniversary race (event coverage coming), we rolled to the park to soak in the sun. Nothing crazy, just a bit of people watching…
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Last night, the Chrome party was shut down before it even began by over-zealous cops and the fire marshall. Not wanting to hang around while groups of cops showed up, we all left. I kept my camera around my neck as a mob of track bikes tore through the SF streets at night…
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It’s the last day before the #RideNStyle competition here in SF. I rolled out the the #fixiefamous crowd from the Mission, out to the Embarcadero to see the course and bumped into all the fixed freestyle guys. The following set is all over the place but there are some gems in there!
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