The Radavist

Photos by Jack Chev

How does Tracko find this stuff? Chev’s photos of the Gent Six Day Race in t’Kuipke, Belgium are so good, they needed to be re-posted here. See the full 35mm black and white set here!

Photos by Brian Vernor

The one, of many reasons why I love Rock Lobster Cycles is Paul’s ability to make even a utilitarian, race machine sexy. All in house. Now, I call this utilitarian but in reality, it’s more of a rarity. The tubeset used in this bike was developed by Easton over ten years ago and never went into production. A special tubeset for a special racer: Aaron Bradford. Leave it to Vernor to capture this bike in a way that even makes me look at the way I photograph bicycles! See the rest here.

Well, Guy East goes to the Six Day in Amsterdam on his Stoemper. Oh and he wins the derny race! I love short and sweet videos.

Photo by Mike Sanders

Man, I wish Maca would put out another video already! Seeing shots like this on their Tumblr makes me miss riding a track bike in SF.

Keep alleycats and CMWC weird. Or something!

Photo by Doug Dalrymple

When I saw this on Crihs’ Instagram from the Bicycle Film Festival‘s Joy Ride art show in Mexico City, I had to get a higher res photo for Merckx Mondays. Luckily, Doug D was there and shot a proper photo. I’m so stoked on this piece and if I had the wall space, I’d try to purchase it from the artist! Here’s the scoop:

Name: 148+fracc
Website: www.facebok.com/yopower
Materials: wood and acrylic paint
Technique: xylography
Work description:

“This piece is based on Eddy Merckx’s hour record done in Mexico’s Agustin Melgar velodrome in 1972. The name of the piece comes exactly from that: 148 laps and fraction that he did to complete the record. The rasterized image is carved on wood pieces with the regalement size for velodromes. Also the colour lines are official except that the cuerda line is red instead of black just as it was back then.

Generally in my work I use a contrast between antique techniques and new concepts. That’s what gives all my work a discursive character. In this case this piece was specially made for the Joy Ride art show of the Bicycle Film Festival Mexico.”

So rad! Speaking of art pieces, Tracko came across this eBay auction!

Photo by Keith Teket

With a killer paint job from Fresh Frame, custom components by Drillium Revival and the exceptional hand of Chris Bishop, this might be the best track bike I’ve seen all year. I’m seriously blown away here. See more at the Bishop Bikes Flickr!

Photo by Andy White

Shooting a bicycle, you either opt for it being propped up or leaned against a wall and which one you choose depends on your style. Fyxo nails the #BAAW every time and the latest to leave his shop is nothing short of amazing. TK’s Richard Sachs track bike is so clean! See the full set at FYXO!

Here’s a new video from Nabiis and Macaframa, featuring Fergus Liam!

I can take a few minutes from hosting guests to post this. Chas is on fire in this new edit from Mash. Now that’s endurance training…

Must see!

Ucon and 8Bar Bikes got together recently to take the concept of creating a ‘featherlight’ track bike to the next level. Personally, I think this came out great! I really love the paint and the details down to the collaboration caps and straps. The video is a little long, but you get the idea.

Check out more photos of the bike and the process below!

Photos by Kyle Kelley

Woah! I’ve never seen a Merckx track bike with those custom details, only a Merckx SLX road. Usually an extended head tube lug and a downtube cluster webbing was strictly for the big boy racers. These details came custom out of the Eddy Merckx factory in Belgium and are still, to this day, a rare find.

Check out more at the Tracko Flickr!

The guys at Heavy Pedal have creates something so strange and so weird that it just works! Introducing their Zephyr track frameset:

“We decided that we wanted to make a bike within the last year. At a time when everyone seems to be rushing to make the cheapest bike out of the cheapest materials for the wrong reasons— we decided to take a step back and do some research. What we gathered was our deep appreciation for NJS bikes, the Cannondale Track and also bike designers that were driven to stand out, like Landshark (none of which have any affiliation to us). So, when we decided that The Heavy Pedal would make a bike we took all three, great ideas into account. We introduce to you, Zephyr.”

Check out more photos and specs below!

I still have so much leftover film from China, with some of my favorites being the roll of 220 I shot in the bamboo forest on the Mamiya. The guys from Factory 5 rode up to the top of this mountain range on their track bikes and I was on my cross bike, getting shots along the way.

No.22 Bicycles just recently completed a build of their Little Wing titanium track bike. If you remember their Great Divide Road, then you know what to expect here. American-made, precision titanium at a pricepoint lower than their competitors.

The Little Wing features a No 22-designed integrated saddle clamp, custom drilled Phil Wood hubs laced to Wheels of Mass Destruction carbon rims, a tapered carbon, undrilled fork and those sick Phil Wood cranks. It’s over the top!

See for yourself below!

I was a bit surprised to see this on the Jony and Marc’s RED auction list. While I’ll always prefer the vintage models, the modern Laser Nostra continues the tradition of that iconic look with a modern geometry and details. If you’ve got between $10k and $15k sitting under your mattress, it might be time to sign up to bid! See more information at Sotheby’s.

This is the first video I’ve seen from last weekend’s Lord of Griffith race in Los Angeles. Any others floating around that I missed?