Dear Rachel,
Apropos this story:
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Rachel, you know I love you, but I have to tell you that you must have your staff put a little more effort into the details of reporting these vitally important stories. In Minneapolis, we (and when I say “we” I mean “they”) have been doing this fancy bike thing forever. This is the main recreational activity of our famous anarchists, as a matter of fact. Here are a couple of examples:
Fixed Gear Tricks:
More:
And of course, the May Day parade:
Dykes on bikes Minneapolis 2009
Oh, no wait, those were MOTOR bikes… never mind.
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or Paperback
*Please note:
Links to books and other items on this page and elsewhere on Greg Ladens' blog may send you to Amazon, where I am a registered affiliate. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, which helps to fund this site.
I’m German, living in Germany for close to 40 years.
I’ve never even heard of Kunstradfahren. But since it has its own Wikipedia article, it apparently really exists. Weird.
There’s been a small sub-culture of fixed gear bicycle enthusiasts in the US for many years. Here in Houston, it grew out of the bicycle courier scene downtown, which was imported from San Francisco. I’ve never seen anybody pulling tricks like the one in the video, though. It makes me want to take the front brake off my fixie.
Nah, that thing has saved my bacon way too many times. I must be getting old.
Um, I don’t see anyone in the US doing SYNCHRONIZED ‘fancy bike riding’. As in, two or more people working together in a team. Maybe it’s something to do with the ‘anarchist’ part.
Rich: I know, but this is all I could find on you-tube. So the comparison is not fair: All of Europe vs. what I could find for Minneapolis.
Props for the fixie love!
I’ve heard it grew out of bike messengers in the past too. Seems probable; that or training purposes for competitive road bikers. Either way they’re plenty of fun. Which is why I have two (in addition to my actual overpriced geared bike). I have about a half dozen other friends who are regulars.
So even here in the [have to go north to get the] south fixed gear bikes are alive and well, and have been for years.
ps: Freak bikes are also very cool (like that may day parade with the tall-bike and awesome ‘other’ bike).
Fixed Gear is for hipsters. Actually, waht they are doing is called flatland. Fixed geared is the name for the bike setup (which you did say), flatland is the name for the sport. Just wanted to clarify 🙂
No real comment to make (and maybe I saw it on your blog in the first place) but I found this cycling video of extreme cyclist Danny McAskill beautiful and moving. I’ve probably watched it 10 times.