Sweet Stunts down in SA1

Me and Evs blowing up the spot earlier today, booyaa! The Norwegian church really is the ultimate spot for fixie dudes in and around the Swansea area, ha!

Sweet Stunts on Fixies, Yo! from FixedGearWales on Vimeo.

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Sun Worksop Frame

I've been on the lookout for a 19" frame for a while cause my 21" is a tad too long for me. I've been scouring the paper and every week I've been calling into Re-Cycle in the hope that something will have been donated but no cigar. Until today. Turns out there has been a 19" frame there the whole time underneath a bunch of other frames, it's a Sun Worksop which as far as I can find was gobbled up by Raleigh, from Wikipedia: "In 1960, Tube Investments acquired Raleigh and merged the British Cycle Corporation with Raleigh to form TI-Raleigh which had 75% of the UK market. TI-Raleigh then acquired Carlton Cycles in Worksop, England, at the time one of the largest semi-custom lightweight makers in the U.K. Raleigh brands acquired and marketed were Phillips Cycles and Hercules Cycle, Rudge, BSA, and Sun, however these were cheaper machines in The TI-Raleigh range. Production was switched to Nottingham, however the Sun branded bicycles were made in the Carlton factory at Worksop, England."
It's nothing special but at least it will fit me and it's certainly better than the Apollo Challenger frame I'm using currently. Check it out:
It's pretty rusty but nothing a bit of sandpaper won't fix

Pretty cool headbadge

"Sweet lugs"

Pretty weird?

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Best Find Ever: Charity Shop Fixie

Today the unthinkable happened, Aled from Slam on the Breaks was walking past the back door of a charity shop, glanced in and to his amazement he spotted a golden fixie and a Raleigh converted to a dirty singlespeed! He picked up the pair for TWELVE QUID which not only makes me sick to the stomach but also to my socks. It's a bit (way) too big for him but he's gonna give the fixie a bash and he donated the other to Re-Cycle. So, Aled, welcome to the bestest gang in the world.

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Fixies Suck! (Upcoming DVD Releases)

I just found this on Facebook. November 21st last year I remember watching the Council of Doom trailer that Ev posted and genuinely thinking that it was the crappiest, most 'gay' thing I'd ever seen.

But according to this picture just 13 days later I had bought myself a fixed back wheel, God knows how that happened but I'm pretty chuffed that it did :-)


On a separate note Council of Doom, Macaframa and Bootleg Sessions 3 should all be available very very soon, yeeha!

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Backwards Circle - Fixed Gear Steeze, HA!

This is how I be rockin' it yo.

Backwards Circle - Fixed Gear Steeze, HA! from FixedGearWales on Vimeo.

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Once You Go Black...

"Mourning Glory"

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Review - Cycling Caps

Let's not beat around the bush, I have a TINY head, it's shocking, even children's baseball caps are too big for me. There is only one brand that fits me ok but they just don't stay on when cycling, as soon as I lift my head up they are off. 

I bought myself a Campy cycling cap a while back thinking it wouldn't fit but they are so bloody cheap that it didn't really matter. It fitted ok and was soooooo good for riding, it did the lot, it stopped my stupid floppy hair from flapping about, it kept my head warm, it kept the rain and the sun out of my eyes, basically it did exactly what it was designed to do. People seem to think that they are hysterical looking and its true, a bit. How they look really doesn't matter though when they work so perfectly!

Campagnolo

I lost the Campagnolo one a couple of weeks ago and have been really missing it, today I bought myself an Assos one from Cyclopedia in Cardiff. This one is even better, its a bit smaller so fits me better and even has a mesh panel in the back for ventilation which actually seemed to work today on the uphill ride home.

Assos
Wikipedia tells me that "a traditional way to keep the head cool when cycling in hot conditions was to put a cabbage leaf under the casquette" so if you see me around and I look a bit like treebeard on a bike don't be alarmed, I'm just keeping it real, yo.

These hats cost anything from £6 to about £10 with more "classy" ones costing much more. Try and get them from your LBS but if you can't try prendas.co.uk or eBay. This is the best one ever:

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Stripped Thread, New Hub, My First Wheel Build, Swans

I got a new 20t (!!!) sprocket to try out a lower gear inch, I wanted to bring it down from 70 to mid 60's so that I could take on some more hills. I whipped the 18t off to find that the thread on my hub was completely stripped, I don't know why but it was and was unfixable so I had to spend out on a new rear hub. I got the System Ex from Schmoos cause it was all I could afford and gets good enough reviews. My first wheel build began. I used this article to learn how to lace it up and then this video to true the bugger, which took ages! It's still a little bit off but I'll get some help to get it spot on, every time it was practically perfect one tiny turn would throw it out again, I enjoyed though. Here is a photographic diary of the process...

Stripped Thread

System Ex 32 hole hub

All the bits

Don't copy this!
Or this!


Note that the spokes are coming from the inside out...

On both sides! :-(

They should be from the outside in

3rd of 4 groups done

Now some go from inside out

Turns out that brakes are actually useful for something
First build, DONE!
And now for something completely different, me with some swans...

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Riding in Traffic Video, Backwards Circle Success and Posing

Here we go, its a jumbo post! Tuesday I attached a video camera to my bike and filmed my ride into town, the footage came out ok but not great. I need to secure the camera a bit more rigidly to the frame next time and head out during rush hour cause the roads were quite quiet. Check out the video below, I've cut it down to the most 'exciting' bits but had to take others bits out because of the crazy shaking...

...Secondly, I FINALLY nailed some backwards circles today, after weeks and weeks of trying them, watching videos on YouTube for technique tips and even dreaming that I could do them (yes I am that sad) I got 8 in the bag. I didn't get any on video but I did get Nigel to confirm that they happened.

Lastly, just after the successful execution of 3 circles a young lady and her friend wanted to be photographed with my bike. She seemed to want me sat on the saddle with her straddling my top tube but I wasn't 100% so I just let them do whatever they wanted cause I was so chuffed with my new skillz.

Oh, and I managed my first leg over and through the frame to trackstand and back combo :-D

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