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.