A Message From Los Angeles

Hi everyone,

So I used to live in London for 10 years and rode fixed for about 3 of those.
Now I live in LA (1.5 years) and brought my bike with me.

Being a Brit out here, well it's a different scene I can tell you.
When I was in London people seemed to be influenzed by the courier scene - bike set up, everyone rode with clipless (spd's) pedals etc etc. I guess more aggressive looking/ more road looking anyway?

well the fixed scene here has exploded over the last year or so.. and everybody wears slip on vans with clips and straps (which I don't really get), is really into the more 'colourful' bike set up with matching grips and deep v's etc (everyone had a black bike in London?)
It's been totally taken up by the 'street' scene ie. Rogue status, undefeated - which are shops selling expensive trainers and t shirts which are heavily Hip- hop, influenced (Imo)?? There are no couriers so the scene has had to be sort of invented a bit and in fact has more to with street culture than anything.
Anyway thought I'd let you peaople know how it is here.

What is happening there? are you guys still clipless or running straps and toe clips?

J

no messengers in la... are they just a north east thing? to the faze out west of denver, and south of pdx?

... I meant compared to London... there are couriers downtown...very few on the westside

The street / freestyle scene is growing over here. Over the last 18 months I have noticed more people with clips and straps. It's all change in big ol' London town.

TheBrick(Tommy) The street / freestyle scene is growing over here. Over the last 18 months I have noticed more people with clips and straps. It's all change in big ol' London town.

Yeah and the funniest thing about this is that a lot of people can't use the bloody things. Snap/click, i was in my clipless nad it took the guy next to me at the lights 200m of frantic pedal spinning to get his foot anywhere near the strap. I'm sure it's smooth when you know how (and i don't) but clipless just seems easier/quicker/more elegant somehow.

I'm running a mixture accross all my bikes - clips and straps, spd's and a set of eggbeaters, they all have the same results but i think clips and straps 'look' cooler especially if going for an old skool look (vintage etc) but the spd/eggbeaters work so much better and are much smoother to get in and out of (saying that once you get the hang of it clips and straps are easy peasy).

I think whatever floats yer boat is best, no need to follow the herd, there are sooooo many ss/fg bikes on the roads of late. I've built every one of my bikes for the last two years and have loved every minute of it, it's all good, just enjoy it i say :)

End of the day a bike's a bike and we should all just enjoy cycling, whatever it is. Fine example of this was that Hovis thing last year when they closed most of central London for bikes. Even gave out free butties! :-)

Bump

Going over there for work tomorrow. Anyone know of any decent bike shops in the hollywood/sunset area? Im not going to have any transport so not going to be able to go much further.

Cheers

http://orange20bikes.com/ is good. Not been over for a few years so maybe there are more now.

If you are over for a little while then buy a cheap bike from craigslist as, apart from the hollywood hills, LA is flat and the roads are really wide so it is a great way to get around. It is the perfect town for having a fixed. Alternatively once you get to the beach you can always rent a cruiser. You see a lot of fixie skidders out Echo Park, Silverlake way in the hardcore hipster territory. Watch out for cactus based punctures though!!!

It's also smoggy as hell, no one knows how to drive but they still go everywhere at a million miles an hour and it's a long way to the beach from west hollywood...

The hills are fun for riding / jogging. Lots of parks and trails.

I'd rent a car if possible.

LA has had a fixed gear scene for quite a while, but more and more hipsters are putting together 'trusty steeds' following the massive publicity that fixed gear gets over there. Many users will start off using clips and straps, as that is what is often being used by the freestyle communities out there.

Pedal. Top-Notch indicator.