Tickets For Fixies? Shiiiiiiiit.

So while I was looking for something new to write about, I came across the topic of people in different areas receiving tickets for riding brake-less. I thought this was pretty crazy when I first read some of these stories, but I can somewhat understand why people who ride bikes without brakes would get a ticket due to the safety issue. Here is the letter of the law:

21201. (a) No person shall operate a bicycle on a roadway unless it is equipped with a brake which will enable the operator to make one braked wheel skid on dry, level, clean pavement.

To disect this law to its core is somewhat pointless when you already have a ticket from a stupid cop in your hand, but it makes me wonder about the bikes that would have a coaster brake built within the bike without the presence of hand brakes. Remember those bike that rode when we were kids and all we had to do was simply back pedal to come to a skidding stop? Isn't that pretty much the same thing as riding a brakeless fixie?

One could possibly argue that they had a coaster brake and didn't have hand brakes when you're in front of a judge trying to argue the ticket. Haha, he probably wouldn't even understand but it might work. You never know... So be careful! I mean, I know I'm preachin' to the choir since I ride brakeless, but it's something worrth looking into and all the other bike laws so that you know what are and what aren't the rights you have while sharing the road with cars and whatnot...

How to skid on a fixie.
www.infobarrel.com/media/image/175.jpg

The Tri-Valley Redemption Alley-Cat

  Hello all Bay Area riders.  There is a new alley-cat race coming up this April 26th at 12 noon.  All riders are to meet at the Dublin BART station.  Sponser are awesome. Hope to see everyone there.  Also they stress to bring a helmet! Bring one. Better safe than crackin' yo head!

DRIF LA

  Drif LA is a gem find in the LA area.  This store is literally "a hole in a wall"..... it's super tiny!  And to add onto the minute size of the store it's only open for three hours of the day! So if you want to check this place out you have to venture out close of Little Tokyo and catch them between the hours of 3 and 6 pm.  

    (This is a NJS certified helmet found at DRIF LA that wouldn't fit my XL dome! haha)

  When I went on my birthday weekend to visit the store with my girlfriend the store keeper Jiro was polishing up his Bareknuckle.  The store carries a lot of random-but cool parts from Japan and even some deadstock saddles like a vintage Turbo that you can't find nowadays.  They have a couple colors of Saglife bags (which is why I went) and I picked up a small blue messenger.  It has now become my day-bag that is perfect size for carrying my U, a spare tube, mini pump, and a light jacket.  The SAG bags were also 20% off so it's worth checking out. 

 

  Another thing that was pretty funny was that I tried reaaaally hard to find some cool fixed gear riders, but I couldn't find any until we cruised through Little Tokyo.  I found some hipster kids were riding some keirin frames.  The only thing that bugged me was that when they dispersed and when me and my girl were walking back to our car, we saw one of the guys mounting his Nagasawa on top of his car!  I was like, "What the...!"

  

  What the heck is the point of having nice-ass bikes in the city and not riding them?!"  I do understand that LA is a lot bigger than SF, but to drive around and meet up with your boys to ride seems kind of dumb.  I also found out that riding in LA isn't the easiest task to do either with the lack of many bike lanes.  Here's a couple differences between San Franciscan's and Los Angelians:  people with live in SF either Muni, walk, or bike and people in LA drive, don't walk anywhere, and seldom bike places.  And this is coming from a native from LA who now lives in the bay.  But I digress...Drif LA is really worth checking out despite its small size and few hours of business because of some of their cool Japanese imports.

Yamaguchi san

Koichi Yamaguchi. A name that is regarded as one of the top frame builders in the world. AllYamaguchi bikes are actually built by this one man, which is why they're sooooo expensive. This is a picture of this master at work.


Yamaguchi got his training building frames for the infamous 3Rensho in Japan for mainly riders in the Keirin circuit.
The reason why I bring this guy's name up is because he doesn't live in Japan, but in Colorado! He also instructs a frame building school! How awesome is that?! Even if you're not really into cycling I think it would just be fun to learn how to weld, be able to talk with a legend, and keep something you make. Yep! He let's you keep that frame that you make over the 2 week course.
The course is a bit steep....$2,000. However, when you think about it, his frames retail for about $1,700 sooooo why not drop another 3 bills and learn from the Master himself? Another aspect that this school does not include is room and board for the duration of the class.
If you can save this amount of money and want a coveted bike by everyone on the streets of SF I would check into this awesome deal.
CHECK OUT YAMAGUCHI BIKES @ GOOGLE.