Trackstar NYC

For a second I was about to get mad. I could actually feel the emotion begin to take off inside. Some fool had just stickered my bike! Grr.... Hold up wait. Something in my emotional process got cut off. I read the sticker. "TrackstarNYC". An all track bike store. News. Information. Delivered straight to my bicycle. Even more efficient then the internet!

The sticker peeled right off, and I was happy, I learned an interesting piece of information. Valuable even. I ride a fixed gear bicycle. A converted road bike, not a track bike, but damn, damn close.

Most bike stores in America don't stock a single fixed gear. Talk to the staff and they'll think you're crazy to ride one. One speed, no coasting, sometimes no breaks. Until a couple years back, only messengers and bike racers even knew these bikes still existed. Back in time, they were the only types of bike around.

A store devoted to fixed gear bikes is a cultural watershed. A phase change for a culture. Anyone watching the bikes roll by will have seen the fixed gears multiply on the urban streets. It's beyond the messengers now, its a microculture, a mutant breed of punk rock, graffiti art and bicycle mechanics. Cyberpunk bohemians in a deeply urban sense.

Does the store last? Does the culture evolve? I'll bet yes on both for the sort term. The long? No money down, but its not a bad bet. Watch the streets, this will be interesting.

Posted by William Blaze at June 1, 2004 05:41 PM | TrackBack