— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
As this photo from Murphy Mack would indicate, this year's SF Bike Expo should be a solid time. Fixed-gear battles! Trackstand competitions! Cross racing! Lots of bike shit for sale! Maybe some broken limbs!
10am, Cow Palace.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Given the lack of contact information, I highly doubt the owner really wants this colorful monstrosity back.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Debate the aesthetics of a person wearing a helmet all you want, but dogs wearing a helmet isn't even up for discussion.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Ever wanted to know what a Mission District Halloween looked like through the lens of a 7-year-old camera from Sears? You're in luck.
“Two Turntables and a Microphone” clearly took home the prize for “most culturally relevant costume.”
In an ocean of delusional people believing wearing a Giants jersey and a beard was a costume, one man knew how to not suck at Halloween.
Ordinarily a Jesus holding an 18 of Tecate is not noteworthy, but this cool kid was walking down Mission Street barefoot.
A giant burrito strapped to a messenger bag?
Best UPS driver costume I saw all night.
Lady Gaga riding a demon horse-bike.
FInally, I'll leave you with a snap of a horse making sweet, sweet love with a zombie. Time to start counting down the days to Santacon.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
The Bike Film Fest kicks off in a couple of weeks (Nov 11-14), so you may want to consider buying tickets now for any of the shows that you're interested in. Unlike last year, when you had to do terrible things like leave the Mission for pre-parties, concerts, and after-parties, they are keeping all the events in 94110. Highlights include a Friday night screening on Empire at Mission Workshop and after-party at Bender's, some Wednesday night drunkfest at Knockout, and a weekend of screenings at Victoria Theatre on 16th and Capp.
The website doesn't say anything about any street party on Capp, but last year they had a rad-looking BMX comp, so hopefully that goes down again this year.
Get pumped:
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
While this is not nearly has hilarious (or accurate) as the Mike Giant piece this pays homage to, it sure is an amusing slice of reality for the half-dozen people who look like this riding through the panhandle.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
While buying some parts at Freewheel to finish building up my 15th bicycle (costly hobbies people!), I was handed a petition encouraging the city to build a bike/community parklet infront of the business. Part of the Pavement to Parks initiative, Freewheel is proposing that the parklet be home to a bicycle repair station for flats and other small repairs, as well as general seating for people to hang out at. Apparently the idea came from watching customers buy parts at the shop and then occupy space on the sidewalk to install the parts (which could become illegal this November), so I'm assuming neighboring businesses are all for the petition.
Unfortunately, Freewheel isn't really good at the internet, so you'll have to swing by their shop if you want to support the campaign/want to engage your inner-SFgate commenter and yell at them for creating an anti-car environment and depriving the city of much needed meter revenues.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Matt Baume over at the SF Weekly recently caught up with the owner of the mysterious tiger bike (complete with an electric wagging tail) and he had this to say:
”It came from some inner thing, like, 'I just want to do this,'” [bike creator Dan Seneres] explained when we caught up with him by phone. He got the idea one day, inspired by the art car movement. There's just too much homogenity in the bike scene, Dan said, eschewing cliques like mountain bikers, fixie guys, and “road bike people with their spandex.”
“You don't see a lot of art bikes,” he said, so he set out to create his own. That was five years ago, and it's been going strong ever since.
The article goes own to say that beneath the fur exists a labyrinth of wires and cables that connects a small iPod radio. But what about the accusation that the bike scene is homogenous? Sure, decorated bikes pop up around Burning Man only to find their way to backs of garages everywhere by October, but there certainly is a lot of creativity and thought that go into people's bikes. Anyone who has ever worked at a bike shop can tell you people spend hours agonizing over every little detail of a custom bike. Maybe the bike scene is more like the low-rider scene? Artful without being covered grade-school craft supplies?
Even so, I wouldn't complain if this dude moved down from Reno to The City:
(full interview at SF Weekly — first photo by nuzz, second photo by Lauren Randolph)
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
This Mike Giant piece comes to us courtesy of Stevil over at All Hail the Black Market. On a side note, if any of you have been eyeing a fixed-gear Mission Bike lately but have been turned off by the price tag and the fact that MB is not 100% vegan and 100% Christian, check out Christ Cycles. Cheap! Pious! Taiwanese!
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Judd sends us word of his plight, accompanied by the above descriptive illustration of the situation:
So, on the offchance anyone on here is fuming about having a bike stolen in the Mission by Bi-Rite the other night (or knows someone that matches this description), you might be in luck. I've tried Craigslist, SFFixed, a few email lists and I'm going to be leaving a note by the pole in question, but long story short someone decided it would be a good idea to lock up their beater basket bike by u-locking it to my frame.
Yeah, you read that right. I waited a while, then unlocked my bike and hauled both bikes back to my apartment, where they now sit, both still locked to each other. Anyone have any leads? Its a blue bike, “well loved”, old Shimano 600 components, wire basket, swept bars with white track grips. It was last seen at 18th and Oakwood (in between Guerrero and Dolores) around 9:30 pm or so, locked to my track bike.
Anyone?
Judd is about to take an angle grinder to the lock and turn the bike over to Eris, but if you recognize the bike, you still have some time to save it. Comment here and I'll put you in contact with your bike's captor. (Side note, who the hell does this?)