Evolution of fixed gear freestyle

Waiting for my sticky rice to cool, thought I'd share some thoughts on a couple different bike movies and the whole "fixed gear freestyle" thing.

I've recently watched four newish bike movies: Crux, Etnies Grounded, MASH SF, and the Bootleg Sessions v.1. All four of the movies are sort of typical bike movies in that they're all about 30 minutes long, and feature a collection of riders, usually featured in a solo set backed by some sort of appropriately aggressive/uptempo song. That's kind of where it all changes.

Crux is Ryan Leech's new baby. For the three Canadians who have never heard of him, Ryan Leech is one of the most famous trials (no, not trails) riders in the world. He has quite genuinely taken street trials riding to another level, and the video features him and some of his peers doing what they do best--making pie. No wait, they're riding bikes.



(Etnies) Grounded is near-perfectly executed BMX film. It is unbelievable how talented these riders are, and how far they push the sport. Combining this riding with truly brilliant editing and soundtrack makes for an amazing film. This is adults riding (what most people think of as) little kids' bikes very well.



MASH SF is a truly goundbreaking film. It was, quite legitimately, the first biking film to really focus on fixed gear freestyle biking. Despite being a true labour of love, the finished product is extremely professionally executed, and has been very well received throughout its intended audience, and beyond. If the fixed gear freestyle scene is ever discussed in any sort of historical context, MASH SF will be in the introductory sentence. This movie really opened the floodgates.



In the internet chaos that ensued from MASH, a new video emerged--the next big step in the evolution of fixed gear freestyle. Drawing its name from its YouTube-esque, amateur production, the Bootleg Sessions v.1 demonstrated a genuine leap forward in aggressivity and shear technical riding ability. v.2 is being released extremely soon, and judging from the trailers, it promises another evolution of the genre.



The Bootleg Sessions demonstrated not only a huge leap in riding style, but also the beginnings of a new cycling niche--the fixed gear freestyle frame. While MASH still featured the traditional track bikes synonymous with the word hipster, the limits of these bikes were being pushed to their utmost. With tougher riding comes tougher bikes.

The most well known of the new breed of freestyle frames is the Brooklyn Machine Works Gangsta Track bike. Like other bikes of this new style, it features a much stronger frame and a 'barspin' compatible fork design, as well as freestyle specific geometry. Unlike the other ones, Kanye West owns one of these. This one:

The very existence of this new breed of bikes got me thinking about the future of this still infantile scene. Assuming peoples' interest in the sport remains, will it even be recognisable in the future. Consider again all four movies.

The first two are what happens to bike sports after generations and generations of riding and refinement. These riders are using extremely purpose built machines so that they can perform to their utmost.

In the new fixed gear scene, no one even really knows what the perfect freestyle frame is yet. It doesn't exist. People are just beginning to adapt entirely unsuited equipment to their needs, and it's already changing the sport drastically. But where will it go from here?

An obvious weak point in the traditional fixed gear bike, from a freestyle perspective, is the wheel size. 700c wheels, while efficient for riding distances, are weak and ungainly for barspins and air. The riders would be better suited with a 26" wheel, with wider tires. A much lower top tube would increase standover and strength. Pretty soon, the ideal bike is going to start looking an awful lot like the bikes seen in Crux or Grounded, or like a dirtjump bike.



The only question is whether or not the riders will choose to ride exclusively fixed or not.

Basically, these guys are going to go through the same evolution that happened with the original bicycles as people began to refine it for particular sports. This bike:



shares a shocking amount of things in common with the bikes in MASH. And that's where we're starting from. Everything really is cyclical, I guess.

But basically, go hard:



Or go home: