Nobody knows where trends are born. However, there are bundles of information that is felt over the broadcast, paper magazines and websites. I will regularly share with you these intuitions. You can comment or complete them to confirm or forget.
It all probably started with TV program in the show Tracks of the Arte European TV channel, or a video program online @ VBS.TV. Perhaps over the pages of general articles in trendy fanzines as VICE, Gustav, or urban culture magazine Shoes-UP. All of them, with their own field of investigations and styles, introduced these communities of San Francisco who decided to bring up to date racing fixed gear bikes now call « fixed bikes ».
What interests me in this movement is that it takes this up-date to customize their bikes. Organized in « crews » connected into network, they personalize their fixed bike to their colors or their mode of urban use. At the beginning restricted to New York Courier, Fixies become a mode of travel fast & ecological, without losing his pride of being an elegant rider.
At the heart of these networks are found workshops and suppliers of spare parts recommended for help in achieving their unique creation …
Fixed Bike at its source is a beautiful object, both aesthetic and clean cut features of a bicycle to a minimum. Without brake or lighting this dangerous practice can be classify in the category of extreme sports with all codes related to that culture.
Built in the 80th by leading workshops that provided the bike trail to riders at the top of their fame, it meets the fashion need of « recycling » the eighties period. At the same time free-ride discipline, and object for a period that we love again, fixed bike is definitely a trendy product and may be elected as cult object that will be loved and customized.. Oneself, and bringing in specialists. Experts from the 2 wheels that are above all enthusiasts: Between surf shaper and “metalsmith”, Jordan Hufnagel made a worldwide reputation for the quality of its bikes manufactured at unit and which defines aesthetic codes and technical benchmarks of the practice:
Then, driven by passionate and relayed by the creative, this movement will expand geographically. Beginning in very receptive to new trends area, especially when they have resonance with their culture: Japan, and its popular practice of Keirin, where guys will gather to create their own community and its network. Japan bringing to customization a level of detail and sophistication next to the Art. Like the designer Ko5 with his engraved accessories that I find absolutely amazing:
Following London, where crews will compete for originality and personality. London, source of all musical trends, will reflect its influences on fixed bike customization full of flashy colors which may reflect the song icon M.I.A:
Then the trend is ready to arrive in France … initially through the brand Kulte, that loves America, but also the authenticity of a product become rare and precious in the image of its values.
« Our brand forever loves backlighting and beautiful objects. So we went naturally attracted by the fixed gear. Often « made in France or Italy”, it has become rare, difficult to access, which can be bargains or via internet or via the small cycles retailer around the corner. Parts are often cobbled or recovered here and there. In the end each bike is full of history, unique and infinitely customizable ».
Kulte therefore calls for the photographer Cédric Viollet who during his travels has photographed the London’s community of bikers. But also the French workshop Cyclope which animates the movement with its blog, and online store, to give rise to a shop event around the trend.
Here we are … in less than one year a new trend for the customization was born. A new field of creation which, on the basis of micro-cultural communities, will globalize to establish its own benchmarks, information channels and place for sharing:
- A site where you can find videos of the pioneers of the discipline and pirate racings,
- A dedicated magazine who is the spokesman of the movement and its advertisers (you can download the first issue of Fixed here),
- A forum where all the players in the world can exchange tips, sources of equipment, the news about their meetings, and videos of their performance in group,
- A blog where you can find news and visuals of the community,
- and even a film festival held annually each year in 15 cities around the world,
Those networks, both virtual and real, give everyone the opportunity to make its influence and style to build a culture.
A culture now accessible to many, with part of which will need to take this trend as a “fashion accessory” that can be consumed quickly and easily… A time to move from workshops that create and listen owner before customizing its bike, to the stage to be able to feel just at 3 clicks of its custom bike… New customers who need reliable benchmarks to decide, using the established brands that would have understood this instant need, while having incorporated this trend in the customization of a bicycle urban and trendy.
Treck Bicycle brand has launched its Project One , which allows its customers to build the bike of their dreams.
Thanks to a very nice graphical interface, you can choose the color of the bike in a range of about twenty shades before assembling the accessories that best fit your practice. Before finishing, and meet the local distributor for the latest adjustments, it is possible to program a name that will be engraved to the finished product.
By definition fixed bikes have a single fixed gear. But we need several gears to navigate through the plains away from the trend, through the hill of fashion, before reaching the plateau of a profitable business model. Each stage requires a different mode of observation but interdependent: Alternative and creative culture needs to come alive by indirectly transmitting its values to brands who like the trend before defining standards for adoptions and democratization to be recovered by the brands. Sprinters who have closely follow this chain of transmission in network, to be able to bring attraction to the market and set them apart from the pack.
Some very nice travel in perspective…
And you ? Do you feel new trends that may federate creative energy and generate nice support for customization ?
