Capitalism has killed fixed gear culture

I know this is not a new concept, but I just had two awful experiences today that confirmed it:

  1. Walking through Myer at Chadstone I happened to glance at some Industrie t-shirts. On one of the display manikins was a black t-shirt with a fixie stenciled with metallic zebra-patterned paint…

  2. Later, I was flipping through rip-off magazines in Borders, and my girlfriend showed me a section in Sportswear International that has a special on New York bike polo players with funny bike fixies all wearing designer gear…

Bahhh!!!

Here’s your problem Horatio:

Walking … Chadstone … magazines … girlfriend

:wink:

ah too true!

Once I move house I’ll be back-on-track (literally, mentally and metaphorically)

eg: http://sydbma.org/bikes/node/405

Hi All,

I am working on a commercial for Optus. I need to hire a messenger bicycle, equipment and wardrobe for a photoshoot. Approximately 6 - 8 hrs on either the 8th, 9th, 12th or 13th of January in Sydney CBD. We have a little flexibility as to what day it could be.

I have a budget of $800 to hire this equipment for one day. If you are interested please email me clear individual photos of each of your items of equipment and wardrobe. If you do not have the facilities to do so please feel free to email me and I can send someone to do this at a time that is convenient. I am showing options to the client at 4pm on Monday the 5th so if you are interested please contact me asap.

If you are interested in being the model for this shoot please also send photos of yourself, a head shot and full length on a plain background, this would also pay a lot more money, to be discussed with the casting director.

Please note this ad is part of a series that depicts people from all professions using Optus products, it is not discriminatory toward cyclists in any way.

Messengers don’t have to ride fixties. But it is a sign of the Second/Third Coming.

Kevin Bacon may (or may not) have ridden a fixtie in a Major Motion Picture twenty years ago… so it’s been sold out for some time now :smiley:

Really? Which movie was that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicksilver_(film) | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091814/
(link neutrality)

A nice Schwinn with custom “Bacon” hubs if I remember correctly. Been trying to track down those hubs forever :smiley:

Classic, If I was still working for M&C Saatchi they could have used my bike

Will this optus ad show the messenger checking the forums on australias slowest broadband network in one scene, followed by a scene where they can’t get any coverage to make phone calls in a lift because optus forgot to invest in In Building Coverage and the final scene would be the messenger trying to check facebook using the slowest 3g network with a foot print no bigger than the major capital cities. True?!

Yes most things, when you look at them closely, have been sold-out or been done before. I just think it’s interesting to see fixed gear culture reach a kind of saturation point in the last couple of years. Just like skate culture did.

I don’t feel particularly surprised by all this, but rather disappointed in the whole idea of marketing I suppose. I mean it’s all so damn predictable isn’t it?

What will the next band-wagon be?

Two words: Nathan Barley!

pop culture eats it self

was there a fixed gear culture before capitalism?..

I’m riding my fixtie right now :roll:

So you could tell if that bike on the tshirt was fixed or freewheel? Was the print that detailed?

The polo guys in the states were proud of being ‘exploited’ in the Mac Safari for Windows video - and in Melbourne we were more than happy to capitulate to ng (and sacrifice a proper model’s pay even though I had a sook about it at the time) for the ‘exposure’. Quite a few of the rides organised recently have been given schwag from ng and rml*r - would handing it back help?

Meanwhile… I’m slightly miffed that ‘8-bit’ and chiptune samples are becoming mainstream, only I don’t know which forum to complain to :frowning:

  • Although not quite as much exposure as the hawt faux teen lesbo action in the third slideshow

PS you’ll know cycling’s sold out when there are more bikes than cars on the road during the morning commute. let’s reconvene then?
edit: http://www.cyclingpromotion.com.au/content/view/374/9/ Bikes outselling cars for seven years straight in Australia …

I hear you loud and clear. Anyone involved in the punk/hardcore scene in this country 10 years ago can tell a similar story of saturation and the inevitable dilution that accompanies it.

Deep!

Soon Cannondale will own the rights to “Feel at one with the bike™”…

If people keep taking it they will keep giving it. Personally I’m kinda over lights that go flat in 2 uses and uncomfortable bags that leak. But if they dont ask the people that use them… oh right, its a ‘look’ and not a practical product that is well deisgned, works, and lasts.

Punk was 1977. And it was manufactured to make a potload of money. :roll:
(IIRC It was still a shITload of fun all the same, nearly as much fun as riding my fixies)

.

haha true true.

I’m finding it harder and harder to get good quality components that do their job well, don’t break after two uses, and are repairable. This built-in obsolescence is so entrenched in products these days that we almost expect them to fail prematurely. And when they do, we just throw it away onto landfill and buy another crap quality product.

I’m trying to think of some good examples… anyone?