Author Archives: Justin Fox

How I got the bike off Ash from MC Cyclery.

Velocity rims.

How it ended up (FSA cranks, Salsa seat clamp, Campy front brake and Thompson seatpost + stem).

Just dug up these photos of my SE Lager from 2009.

2009 was a HUGE year for Fixed Gear Culture. I watched a screening of a MASHSF short film and like many others, hopped on the fixie bandwagon (I bought a custom SE Lager fixie off Ash Moon who was the head bike mechanic at MC Cyclery at the time.

I enjoyed the simplicity of riding fixed but I never loved the SE. It was too big for me and I hated the red and black theme. I could do mean track stands on it but didn’t get too good at doing skids (I had to run a front brake).

Anyways, now that I’m obsessed with bikes again it’s not taken me too long to check in on Fixie Culture and sadly it looks very much like Fixie Culture is dead. So many brands that sold fixie bikes and gear have long gone, existing fixie stores have little to no stock left and there’s not a single fixie specific bike shop in Sydney (they used to be everywhere!).

Whilst the fad may be over, there’s still fixed gear riders and culture out there. There are tonnes of cheap fixies on AliExpress and Fuji is still making and selling the Fuji Feather. I’ve spent weeks looking at cheap fixies on Facebook Marketplace, eBay, online and AliExpress. I’ve added stuff to the cart countless times only to shut the window once I realise I have more than enough bikes as it is.

I can’t stop looking though. From a design perspective there’s just so much to love about how fixies look. Less is more and they’re so minimalist. I’ve been wanting to ride down to the local supermarket instead of walking. They have a bicycle lockup outside but I just can’t bring myself to lock up any of my bikes so I’ve been looking for a cheap fixie to be my beater/pub bike, but even then I can’t help but be super fussy about how it’s going to look.

Alloy frame fixies on AliExpress will cost around $700 landed, the frames are OK but every single component is trash and covered with terrible Chinglish and branding. I know I’d end up replacing parts over time, then in the end I’ll have a shitty frame with bling bits (I always do this!). I could get a steel fixie from Decathlon for $400, it would never break and I wouldn’t give a shit if it was stolen, but again, once I start tinkering with it I’d be losing out.

Last night I had a TSUNAMI fixie in the cart. I was ready to pull the trigger, but after 5 minutes of staring at the checkout screen I shut the window, loaded up dosnoventabikes.com and pulled the trigger on this infra red DOSNOVENTA Los Angeles frameset.

Buy once cry once? It’s so porno. Fuzzy logic for sure as there’s no way in hell I’d leave this thing locked up outside the shops but I’m already hyperventilating over what parts to get for it. The wheels, crankset, bars… everything!

SPECS:
COLOR: INFRARED MATT
FRAME: COLUMBUS AIRPLANE TUBING . 7005-T6 TRIPLE BUTTED ALLOY
FORK: FULL CARBON FORK . TAPERED 1-1/8” . RAKE 45MM . 700X28C MAX
HEADSET: COLUMBUS COMPASS . 1-1/8″ CARBON
BB: BSA 68MM
SEAT TUBE: 27.2 Ø
GROUND CLEARANCE: 290MM
TIRE CLEARANCE: 700X28C MAX
FORK WEIGHT: 410 GR

No.

I’ve got nothing against people who are new to a hobby buying the best top shelf goods before “getting good”, or… do I?!

I like nice things, but I’ve always felt like I needed to earn nice things by going through trial and error with not so nice things. When I was really into riding I always owned Giant bikes because they’re such great value for money, but not so secretly I always wanted a porn bike. A Yeti, Specialized, Santa Cruz, basically the same bike but 3 times the cost that wouldn’t make me any better a rider.

10+ years ago I heard about Canyon bikes. I instantly liked their brand logo and look of their web site and mountain bikes too. Clean, slick, modern, less is more, love it. Their videos were so well shot too (not to mention riders in their vids were doing things I could never do). Fast forward to now (I’m 49) and I was quite surprised at the reality of Canyon (like Giant) are very much known for great value for money as they sell their bikes direct to consumers via their web site (IE: you won’t find Canyon bikes in your local bike store).

This threw me for a spin as I remembered Canyon as a bike of desire.

Since buying my Canyon (first bike I’ve bought since 2008 and the most expensive bike I’ve ever bought) I’ve been visiting the Canyon subreddit daily and initially I was taken aback by how many people are buying these bikes without much previous bike experience.

The bikes come in a box and you have to put your own bike together. It’s an easy task (I think I love building bikes more than riding them!), but this is not IKEA and I wouldn’t trust someone who’s never put a bike together to do the job. There are so many technical posts made by people who have little to no idea about bicycles on the sub, and the sub has got to have the most non-drive-side photo posts of any sub I’ve ever visited (it’s as bad as eBay and Facebook Marketplace listings for shit bikes!).

It’s not nice to judge, and in this case I’m judging anyone who ever posts a non-drive-side photo to show off their bike as someone who’s quite clueless about bikes. IMHO you best learn from making mistakes, but making a mistake (say, overtightening bolts) on a carbon bike with carbon parts would be pretty damn costly, but hey, it’s not my money so why should I care?!

There are all types of people out there. Some people are born with a silver spoon, some people are OK with paying to win and ultimately I have to be OK with that whether I like it or not. I’m just processing how I feel about Canyon as a brand and inexperienced people buying expensive bikes and putting them together on their own vs getting a local bike shop to do it. It’s all innocent enough though and if there’s any kid of fault here it’s got to be blamed on Canyon and not the people buying their bikes.

/rant.

PS: Please post drive-side shots!

I’ve yet to take the Grizl off-road, but I thought I’d chime in on my impressions so far.

Love the bike, but I’m finding it much like my Fender American Pro II Strat in that it’s a beautiful thing to look at, quality components too, but it’s just not as amazing as I thought it would be. IE: This bike isn’t cheap, neither was my US made guitar, and both are things I’ve always desired, but now that I own them I’m not sure they live up to the hype.

IE: I still love my old beat up Giant Reign and my Korean Fender Squire much more. Both have so much history, and they both just fit me so well and above all they both just “feel” perfect.

The Campagnolo gear shifter is a strange thing. Works better when you’re in the drop bar position, but I mostly ride on the hoods and down-shifting from the hoods is far from ergonomic as you have to move your hand away from the hoods in order to press the gear lever. The shifting is fine, but it feels far from buttery smooth. I’d assume this is because it’s got more of a MTB cassette on the back with big jumps in gears vs. a much more tight gear ratio on a road bike?

Love the look of old school road bike cassettes!

Initially I was worried about the Grizl rolling as slow as a MTB as it’s got super fat tyres, but to my surprise it rolls really well, and has confirmed that this isn’t a 90’s MTB with drop bars, but a road bike with fat tyres. I didn’t miss not being clipped in to SPD pedals at all. The MTB pedals on the bike have big (quite sharp) pins so I had plenty of grip there (and it’s nice to be able to micro adjust foot placement on the pedal too).

The hydraulic brakes work well but they’re not as amazing as the brakes on my Giant Reign in both feel and stopping power, but hey they’re a shittonne better than the brakes on my old Paino road bike that’s for sure!

Part of me still wants a modern road bike (endurance, race and aero, they’re all rad to me!), and an e-bike (I’m looking at both road and dual suspension e-bikes), and a fixed gear… but in reality I have more than enough bikes to ride right now and I think all in all buying the Grizl was a good choice. Straight off the bat it’s just SO much more comfortable to ride than my 80’s Paino road bike as I’m in a more upright position, it’s also a lot safer to ride too (the Paino literally can’t stop as the brakes are so bad!).

Who doesn’t love freebies in the mail?!

Got this amazing care package from Jay Mijares at The Kickz Stand and now I feel like a V.I.P. (Very Important Person!). I’ve known Jay for ages through the car scene, and later through ZEN Garage, he’s always been so good to me, most of all I have a tonne of respect for the guy as he’s built and continues to run an awesome community via It’s More than Just Sneakers, his sneaker and lifestyle event.

Especially love the cap (I’ve been looking at a lot of caps online lately!), and sneakers too, the colourway is the exact same colourway as a pair of Onitsuka Tigers I used to wear in the days before I only wore black!