blog!fixie

man, this thing could wear the tightest pants EVAR

noreply@blogger.com (yo fixie) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:20:00 +0000

no brakes baby!

someone please shoot cannondale

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:34:00 +0000

no really. in the face.

salim points to the follow, well drivel, is probably too light a word, how about piece of shit:

"With the grit and mettle for counterculture acceptance, the Capo lives, breathes and bleeds the fixed-gear lifestyle. And when it's time to take it easy, just flip the hub for freewheel bliss."

IN THE FACE!!!!

new yo fixie family

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:57:00 +0000

the UK side of the pond says yo to www.russlter.com for functional and not uptight or flashy duds - so there.

Sheldon Brown - RIP

noreply@blogger.com (yo fixie) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:54:00 +0000

I just learned that Sheldon Brown died February 3rd.

Probably the most important person to fixed gear bikes in the United States after Major Taylor.

I can't even tell you how many hours I spent in online conversation with this man. En-cycle-opedic knowledge of all things bike, but especially all things fixie.

A good man; proud of his family and proud of intellect in a way I have always admired.

the raddest new invention in fixies

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 17:15:00 +0000

how I missed these kids making this video is going to be one of those things I regret for the rest of my life:

there is some incredible beauty in mission hipsters making fun of mission hipsters, but damn, this is good.

fly yamaguchi

noreply@blogger.com (yo fixie) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 02:10:00 +0000

so, those folks in my corner of the world know the kokopelli is actually a yamaguchi. what they don't know is that after years of there being only two yamaguchis in san francisco (mine and a really fly silver colored one some messenger had) I have now seen two new ones. a blue one (found parked in front of Keith Huf's store on Hayes and a white one) somewhere in (duh) the mission. I don't know if it means anything in the larger sense, but I am frankly happy that there are more yamaguchi track bikes out there in the world.

give 'em what they want

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 05:55:00 +0000

so someone posted a comment saying post more and more pictures.

conveniently I had just found some old pics hidden on a broken camera:

these would be from worlds in 2005 in LA. wes oishi rocked us with the great seats. a blast was had. dropped the ball and missed scott from fixed gear fever though, lame of me.

strange twists

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 17:31:00 +0000

It appears torrin arnold was lying:

A felony hit-and-run case against a San Anselmo man was abruptly dismissed Thursday after a judge learned a doctor concluded the victim was feigning blindness.
The courtroom of Judge Terrence Boren burst into applause following the dramatic turn of events in the case against motorist James Arrigoni, accused of colliding with a bicyclist who claimed he went blind following the incident.

Arrigoni, 45, was charged in the criminal case following an incident on Feb. 26, 2005, when a bicyclist crossed lanes in front of him merging toward a median to make a left-hand turn on Red Hill Avenue in San Anselmo.

The bicyclist, Torrin Danger Arnold, 26, of San Anselmo, claimed Arrigoni swerved his truck to intentionally hit him in a state of road rage. Arnold testified he was struck by Arrigoni's pick-up truck, fell from his bicycle, hit his head on the pavement and later lost his vision.

Witnesses said they saw Arnold signal his move to the left and saw the cyclist "flip off" Arrigoni when he did not appear to slow down sufficiently. They said they saw Arrigoni's Silverado swerve toward Arnold but could not tell whether the truck struck the bicyclist.

But prosecutor Paul Haakenson told the judge the district attorney's office decided to drop the case based on information that came to light after Arnold was on the witness stand.

Haakenson said his office subpoenaed records from a University of California San Francisco Medical Center opthamologist who examined Arnold and concluded he was pretending to be blind.

Defense attorney Jim Collins, calling the turn of events unique in his 30 years practicing law, questioned Arnold in a February preliminary hearing about an examination by the UCSF doctor, who was not fully identified.

Arnold testified then that he had gone to the doctor but experienced a "psychotic" episode when he reached the office and could not proceed with the appointment.

But Collins subpoenaed the doctor's records and found he had indeed examined Arnold - and determined that he was faking blindness. The medical records indicated Arnold did not have the neurological symptoms associated with vision impairment, Collins said.

When Boren ruled in favor of the district attorney's motion to end the proceedings, Arrigoni's supporters - including his father, Peter, a former county supervisor - erupted with cheers and poured out of the courtroom to congratulate a jubilant Arrigoni.

"I'm extremely happy," James Arrigoni said, noting he still faces a civil suit filed by Arnold. "Hopefully the civil suit gets dropped and that's the next goal - after that we'll see what transpires."

Defense attorney Collins said prosecutors apparently had decided against proceeding with the case based just on felony hit-and-run charges because Arnold had not been truthful on the stand.

"The DA, acting professionally and ethically, realized he had lied," Collins said. "I think it's sad that Mr. Arnold in faking his blindness has not only gotten compensation from the state, but he also fooled the bicycle coalition, who supported him," Collins added.

"The most outrageous thing to me is there is a blind person out there without a guide dog," he added, noting Arnold received training and was given a dog by Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael. Arnold also attended Braille school and other classes for the visually impaired.

Arnold, who did not attend the hearing, said later he was aware of the ruling. "The people around me know the truth and that's what's important to me," Arnold said.

District Attorney Ed Berberian said the evidence in the case turned out to be materially different than what his office expected. Berberian said prosecutors met with Arnold Wednesday to relay the news.

"At the end of the meeting he understood," Berberian said.

Berberian said he could not comment on the medical evidence on which his decision was made.

Eric Anderson of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition said the case is not typical.

"We hope that the outcome of this case doesn't distract from the real message that bicycles and cars need to share the road," Anderson said. "We also hope that people understand that no matter how much people provoke you, it's not OK to drive aggressively because people can be hurt or killed."

In May, bicycle activists sponsored a benefit for Arnold in Fairfax to raise money to help him pay medical bills. Arnold and friends established a Web site called "offtheback.org" to raise money for cyclists who were injured on the road.

Arnold's supporters gathered at the Marin County Civic Center in May to deliver letters to the district attorney, urging him to file criminal charges against Arrigoni. They believed the office was considering misdemeanor charges at the time.

Attorney Bill Weiss, who represents Arnold in the civil lawsuit against Arrigoni, said he intends to pursue it despite the dismissal of the criminal case. "It doesn't affect the civil case," Weiss said.

"There were two witnesses that chased him down," Weiss said. "He knocked him over."

"When people who are victims of crime get involved in the criminal system they find they are not protected," Weiss said. "He didn't do anything wrong."

Arnold has a history of angry conflicts with motorists, including a 2004 obscenity-laden run-in with a sanitary district truck in San Anselmo. Another incident in Fairfax that same year led to vandalism charges being filed against Arnold but later dropped in court.

Arnold boasted about his aggressive riding on the Internet and claimed to be riding "brakeless," but later said his writing had been fiction that he was quite proud of.

A jubilant Arrigoni left the courtroom with an entourage for a celebratory lunch at Le Chalet Basque after the hearing.

uphill all the way - biking up haleakala on a fixie

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 16:59:00 +0000

So, last week I biked up haleakala on a fixed gear. for those of you that don't know what haleakala is: it's the biggest mountain in the world. of course, some 30,000 feel of it's elevation is under water and only 10023 feet are above water, but I biked up those 10023 feet. If anyone wants to replicate my task, or just enjoy my suffering - I've logged it here.

A little background:
I was in Hawaii for my long time friend Logan White's wedding. 5 days on O'ahu and 7 days on Maui. Packed (sort of) my converted Bontrager as one of my two pieces of baggage - pretty simply for me: tape the wheels to the frame/cranks and put the seat post/bars/front brake/tools in a small backpack. No bike bag, no box, no BS, no hassle - until they decided to charge me 50 bucks for shipping a bike on Aloha airlines. If my frame/wheels combo is the size of regular checked bags I don't think this is reasonable, of course, they didn't do this for the interisland flight or for the flight back which tends to make me think "arbitrary and capricious" but whatever. it was totally worth having the bike I wanted there. I never rode it once on O'ahu. Would have been nice, but I was at a wedding. The days I wasn't wedding people we did group stuff (body surfing at Sandys, hiking/swimming in canyons on the north shore - near sacred falls, drinking at mcgoos etc.)

When I finally got to Maui I put everything together. Here's what I had:
18" Bontrager with columbus track ends added by Litton
1 pair 36 hold sun rims on a phil wood fixed/free flip/flop hub (spaced 130)
1 old set of English path racer bars (rusty as hell, but drops and with the right sized clamp for the vertical rise stem that fit the bonty's fork (a rigid old steel stumpjumper fork)
1 seat (comfy, comfy, comfy)
1 set old s-works cranks - my favorite mtb cranks, with a 34 tooth chainring
1 12 tooth cog (which I had thought to use on the ride down hill) - not mounted but accessible
1 18 tooth cog (with lockring)
1 24 tooth cog (w/o lockring)

As it turns out I never rode down the hill so I only used the 18 and 24 cogs for the not so steep and the steep and steeper parts of the ride. This made my gear inches 51 and 38, with the option for 76 on the way down. Probably not the ideal combo, but for me, close enough. In retrospect I would have probably gone with a slightly larger chainring.

Here are some pics of the bike as I was waiting to get shuttled to Paia, the starting town:

Since we were staying in the Kahana area, we had a nice early morning view of the mountain on our ride to Paia:

a quick glance at the hill past a 45 mph speed limit sign (they're serious, don't speed there):

At Paia, we stopped at the Shell station to buy gatorade type drinks in addition to the water, gels, bananas, mixed nuts etc. that we had already). Conveniently the Shell station (on Highway 36) is right across the street from the ocean and very much at sea level. 100 yards to the west is highway 390, which heads to the up country to a town called makawao.

Two things of import:
1) At that intersection in Paia is Milagros - where you will eat a burrito and drink a beer after your ride.
2) This is where it starts to go uphill. (it never stops)

The ride to makawao is a gentle incline - I'm guessing 3% grade or some such. Maybe a little under 15 miles long. I used my 18 tooth cog for this part of the ride as well as the part that runs along the up country that follows Makawao.

We actually turned right at the main intersection in Makawao (there is only one) - onto Makawao Avenue, Maybe we shouldn't have. This is subject to some debate. Going straight is a less crowded but narrower road, in poorer condition, but a much prettier ride. It eventually takes you (after one left turn near the polo grounds) onto highway 377 from which you will turn left into the park at about 3000 feet elevation. We instead went to highway 37 (kula highway) which is busier, but wider and with a wide shoulder and smooth pavement. At some point past the post office (on the right) there's a turn off (to the left) for highway 377 (the second one, actually) which will take you to the park entrance in the opposite direction from the polo ground route.

I changed gears at the post office.

From the park entrance turnoff (the park entrance itself isn't for 10 miles) it's pretty much a burly climb for the next 20 miles. The advantage that the climb has is it's cooler than the up country portion of the ride, the disadvantage is it's more than twice the grade on average.

During this portion of the ride you'll see a bunch of fat tourists coasting down the hill on rented bikes. They all look at you like you're nuts.

I should point out that at this point (probably 4500 or 5000 feet) I flipped the bars upside down to get a more upright riding position - the Bonty is just too small for standard road ride for so long, even with the stem raising the bar so high.

It's also worth noting that elevation markers are intermittant, which can be discouraging (several times I thought to myself "have I really not climbed 1000 feet by now?" only to realize they skipped a marker).

at about 7000 you hit the park entrance. 5 bucks for bikes (I'm a national park member so I didn't have to pay, but don't forget your card or your five bucks if you're not. 1 mile past the entrace is the first visitor center - water replenishing is available here for the first time in 10-15 miles with one randomly opened store as an exception. For the climb between 5000 feet and 10000 feet there's not a lot of anything but monotony of scenerey - this is not a bad thing of course, and there's a shift from green grassy fields to rockier hillscape at maybe 6750, but you will have ample opportunity to stop and check out the view unless you're racing (which my fat ass was not).

Here are some pics from inside the park boundaries - this area is my favorite as you're above the clouds you just biked though and it's pretty sureal looking to look down on the tops of clouds.

For me, once I hit the visitor's center I knew I was gonna make it the whole way, but for a bit between 6K and 7K I thought I'd stop when I got there.

The second visitor center is at 9800 or so. if you want to drive though the parking lot go for it, but really, just keep going, the steep part is just beyond it. The last 750 yards are steep - I zig zagged to cut down the grade. And in the afternoon, windy as hell (worse than the grade actually). But as long as you can get enough oxygen into your system you'll do fine there. The top feels good. My girlfriend Mary and Logan's wife (of 5 days at that point) Melissa were at the top when I got there (about an hour after Logan, who had lots of gears to choose from, and is in better shape). I opted for a ride down the hill because I didn't want to spin that much on the way down - the fact that I had only one brake was dumb in retrospect. I may have given it a shot if I had two and they were well positioned for decent.

I have sort of lied - there are two spots where you actually go downhill on the way there - one's about 100 yards downhill, the other 250 or so. both of them made me realize I needed better brake positions.

Here are pics at the top:

feel free to ask me if you have any questions. I can honestly say this ride is doable for most people assuming you pick the right gear ratios and can spend some time in the saddle. I started at 7:40AM and ended at 4:40. Nine Hours. Probably could have done it in 8, probably would have taken me 10 and a half to spin back down with the gears and brakes I had.

fixie questions...answered!

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 23:40:00 +0000

http://www.fixiefaqs.org.uk/

hooray!

Most Horrific Failure

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 18:59:00 +0000

A nice, long post about all the horrible failures that have happened to folks (okay some of them are stretches) on fixies (mostly):
(I should note that I'm a pretty big fan of structural failures)

I witnessed it but it didn't happen to me. Carbon fork snapping at the
crown as the criterium racer dug in on a 20-mph, 90-degree left turn.

Steel is real!

--Greg

Broken crank. Vintage Campag Pista sheared through the
pedal threads, as I was climbing. I went over the bars and
got a pretty badly bruised shoulder, cracked my helmet.

The worst part was the 20 km to the finish of the event using
just one leg. I had to put the other up on the rack to
avoid ripping it with the sharp end of the broken crank.

I was with friends, who pushed me up the hills.

I now have the greatest respect for 1-legged cyclists.

I once had an old Airlite hub disintegrate on a 35 mph
descent. Luckily the chain went outboard and I just started
freewheeling.

- Phil

I have snapped a crank arm... crashed.
I have broken a pedal spindle... saved it some how.
I have broken one side off my handelbars... saved it some how.

I replace my forks every 2 years.
I replace my bars pretty much yearly, if I am training.

- Scott

Broken Bottom Bracket. I was in a standing start from a stop light, and the chainring side went SNAP. I did a huge yard sale in downtown traffic, and was bloodied up pretty well. The chainring cut my leg up too.
Several messengers came to my aid, which I appreciated.
-roger

Lockring stripped and popped off, allowing cog to unthead, resulting in
dropped chain. I was on a gentle downhill in the city, coming to a traffic
light in sparse sunday traffic. Front brake brought me to a stop.

Damage: One trashed lockring and several gouges on chainstay.
-eric

I was recently test-riding a track bike being sold by a nice enough
kid -- though admittedly clueless about bike maintenance -- who
happened to live amongst some of the steeper hills I've seen in
Portland. After noting a bit of play in the rear hub due to loose axle
nuts, on the return from said short shakedown ride, the chain popped
off. It wrapped around the BB shell in front, and lodged between the
cog and the spokes in the rear, nearly shearing 3-4 spokes off at the
hub flange. The sideways pull on the axle immediately pulled the rear
wheel sideways into the (non-functional, installed by above newbie)
rear brake capiler, quite effectively locking it.

I managed to control the skid (which thankfully started near the
beginning of a fairly fast descent, rather than the end) and never hit
the ground, probably due largely to my own somewhat ill-advised
experiments since childhood into semi-controlled skidding.

-Lennon

P.S.: I of course went on to buy the bike -- it was a good deal, which
only got cheaper with the sympathy points from the seller due to my
barely-avoided crash.
-Lennon

2 weeks ago, came unclipped from my (goddamn) eggbeaters right before
a turn, couldn't slow down, plowed into curb at 20mph, broke
collarbone, bent the crap out of my Soma frame, slightly dented the
braking surface on my front Velocity Deep-V, lots o' bruises.
Hospital + ambulance bills - bike parts = Still too much money

I'm never street riding again w/out a brake.
-Tony

Hmm...let's see. Offroad fixie I've broken a Candy
pedal (bent the eggbeater cage on a downhill stage at
State College, result was only a hematoma on my
forearm), an Avid Juicy front disc brake lever, and a
carbon handlebar. On the track fixie, I pretty much
only go through handlebar tape like it's my job. But
that's only because it's mostly steel and has nothing
hanging off it.

I'm done with Crank Brothers pedals though, great
customer service, but I still feel it's best not to
need that service in the first place. It's real easy
to pop out at the wrong moment as your cleats wear and
I've seen too many pedals come off their spindle. I'm
digging the Speedplay Frogs now.

So far I think I've been pretty lucky (at least the
guys I ride with think so, ha). I've dropped the
chain a few times, but it's never caused me to wreck
(both on trails or in traffic).

The fixie gods are obviously looking out...

-DT

Just last week:

Coming hot down State St to the office, I pulled into the left-turn
lane as the light ahead of me turned red. I set up to skid, but my
right foot unclipped (eggbeaters). I slammed on the brakes, not
realizing in that moment that I had previously adjusted those brakes
to make them tighter. Can you say "endo"? I was pretty battered; the
fenders and lights got banged up too.

I figure this crash was a failure of threes: first, I lost control of
the pedals because a clip came loose, which I knew about and have had
happen before; this is why I still run brakes. Second, I switched from
having a brake operating as an emergency fail-safe device to a
fully-modulated brake with considerably less tolerance; when I needed
to perform an emergency stop, I grabbed the brake hard the way I had
been for months before, and it locked the front wheel. Third, I had
positioned myself to skid when I grabbed the brake, so I was already
pitched forward; my weight contributed to the endo.
-Michael

No major failures yet, but an uncomfortable moment explaining to my better
half.

For some reason she failed to see the login in two bikes arriving the same
day. One was my long delayed Quickbeam, the other was the family triplet.

-Ted

Does running into a forklift count? I wasn't on a fixed gear bike
when this happened, but it's still a good story. This was in Seattle,
just after Adobe settled into that huge compound in Fremont. They
closed down part of the Burke-Gilman trail for that, but you could still
sneak thru (dodging construction vehicles, of course, which may or
may not have been safer than that intersection by the Fremont bridge,
enough rambling). So one day I was doing just that, slipping between
a semi and some large containers when my front wheel catches the
lowered blades of a forklift. Or so I figured out later; I don't
remember
any of the accident. I was pedaling at about 22 mph, and then I was on
the ground with 4-5 people looking down at me. Took me a couple
seconds to realize that much, another minute or two to realize I was
bleeding (someone's bled all over my hand, wait, I think that's my
blood,
hey, that's supposed to be on the inside), any probably
another 10 minutes or so to piece together what happened. The front rim
snapped and had a 90 degree bend in it, and the spokes all bunched up
around the bend (cut an onion in half-- looked kinda like that).

I think they blocked that passage the next day.

Rubber side down.
- jesse

Terribly simple failure (non fixie though)- a front puncture during a
crit. I was half way through a 90 degree turn at the time, leading the
bunch. I went down like a sack of potatoes. The guy immediately behind
managed to avoid me, but four riders behind him went straight into me.
The result was one frame snapped clean in two, a guy in hospital, and
large quantities of skin left on the ground. Despite being run over by
a couple of people, I wasn't seriously injured - just road rash and some
bruises.

Regards,

-Suzy

Does a serious failure of judgement count? If so, I made a mistake rinsing my tonsils with decent Champagne on New Year's Eve and, shortly thereafter, hopping on my fixie for a quick spin in the 'hood.

When someone launched a Roman candle in a nearby backyard, I panicked, imagining it was aimed at me. I flew over the handlebars upon hitting the curb and crashed headfirst into a muddy snowdrift. Dazed, I rode home to face a spouse who pitilessly shook her head as I tumbled inside.

-Dave

In keeping with the unclipping theme . . .

A couple of weeks ago, on my way to work, I went
pretty hard down Pittsburgh's Cherry Way (or Lane or
something) into a tunnel beneath a department store.
The tunnel is dark, the pavement less than perfect,
but typically it's two lanes wide and over before you
know it.

Recently, they have been doing work on the building
straddling the road; at the exit from the tunnel
(which ends at a fun little blind crosswalk people
tend to meander into against the signal utterly
unaware of the near-silent bike closing on them at 15
or 20 mph), the last twenty feet of the right lane are
now hidden beneath a scaffold that itself is hidden
behind a loose canvas wrap.

Although by then I knew well that the narrowed
single-lane exit was wide enough for only one car,
that morning I somehow persuaded myself that I could
slide between the last couple of cars and the
scaffold. Only as I came right up to what I had
thought to be a wide enough passage did I realize my
folly; it narrowed impossibly and I knew I couldn't
fit. I snapped back hard on the SPD's to lock up, but
my foot pulled before I'd bled any speed and just
before my bike pulled even with the scaffold. This of
course flung my balance right and back, a condition
made even more spectacularly precarious when the right
pedal carried me over the top, which made me feel like
a lush on stilts might feel.

Instantly, I was in the tunnel within the tunnel,
pressed and teetering between cars and scaffold, too
imbalanced to reach my brake (I was holding up by the
stem; brake down in the drops), in a space no wider
than my bars. The cars ignored the signal when it
changed, perhaps sensing my impending tragedy and
hoping to minimize their possible roles in same; hell,
I would have frozen to watch. I was so utterly sure
that my bar would catch a fold in the tarp, yank my
wheel right and fling me into one of the cars I was
almost literally squeaking by, or alternatively catch
a mirror, wrench my wheel left, and catapult me into
the canvas and the unforgiving scaffolding behind, but
somehow I managed to sneak through the bike-wide
opening, without touching anyone, scraping paint, or
otherwise ruining my morning (unless a heartrate
approaching failure counts as ruination).

I'm still half-convinced I suffered some horrible fall
that morning, and the rest of this is Act II of some
movie in which I have entered a coma and have yet to
figure it out. Come to think of it, that would
explain a lot of what's happened in the past two
weeks.

Assuming this isn't the case, I figure I owe a
sizeable debt to the fixie gods; I'll do my best not
to impose on them again any time soon.

Otherwise my relatively short fixie career has been
failure free, unless you count the two recent
occasions when my _balance_ has failed and I've
dropped myself gracelessly to the pavement at rush
hour red lights in front of dozens of car commuters I
can _almost_ hear laughing.

-Joshua

When fault is hovering, it hurts more! Crash: I was passing on the
right, and, yes, that car did a right turn. Swiftly I was on the
ground, front wheel under the car's. To add to my stupid feeling, it
was right in front of a high school's main entrance, and they were just
letting out for the day. I was entertainment!!
-David

grrrrr

noreply@blogger.com (evil gordon) — Sat, 06 Aug 2005 11:32:00 +0000

and i bit.
bigfathairyarsewithsweatybollocksandadoublebugger!

gettin' snarky wid it.

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 21:22:00 +0000

this is funny

From the Marin Independent Journal

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 23:26:00 +0000

Marin motorist denies blame in bicyclist's fall

By Nancy Isles Nation

San Anselmo man pleads not guilty to felony charge
A San Anselmo man who is part of a prominent Marin family pleaded not guilty yesterday to felony hit and run in connection with an incident in which a bicyclist said he was blinded.

James Arrigoni, 44, the son of former Marin County supervisor Peter Arrigoni, faces three years in state prison if he is convicted.

He was charged with one count of felony hit and run and a misdemeanor count of reckless driving causing great bodily injury in an incident that occurred Feb. 26 in San Anselmo.

Arrigoni is accused of striking Torrin Arnold, 25, of San Anselmo, with his green Chevrolet Silverado in what witnesses said appeared to be a deliberate action. According to a police report, witnesses said Arnold pulled in front of Arrigoni to make a left-hand turn on Red Hill Avenue near Essex Avenue. Arrigoni's truck seemed to swerve toward Arnold in a way that could have caused the bicyclist to lose his balance, witnesses said. They said they saw Arnold's bicycle slip from underneath him after the two collided.

One witness said it looked like Arrigoni was trying "to make a statement with his vehicle," according to the police report.

Arnold complained at the scene of pain in his back and neck and was taken to Marin General Hospital, where he was kept overnight for evaluation, according to police reports.

Arnold told a doctor he later began seeing spots in his vision and lost most of his sight, according to a physician's report provided by the family. The May 5 report concluded Arnold has some peripheral vision but no center vision.

Arrigoni told police he became upset when Arnold crossed lanes in front of him and made an obscene gesture as he prepared to make a left-hand turn off of Red Hill Avenue. He said he accelerated to have a word with Arnold, who began to lose his balance. Arrigoni told police he believed Arnold was trying to steady himself on the side mirror of the pickup.

Arrigoni said he panicked and drove off to get away from the bicycle. From his rear-view mirror, he saw Arnold wobble and then fall, the police report said.

As he was driving west on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Arrigoni said he realized there had been an accident and he should not have left the scene. He decided to drive to the San Anselmo Police Department to turn himself in when two other cars sped up behind him, cut him off and began yelling at him, saying he hit someone and needed to return to the scene.

Arrigoni told the two drivers he was going to the police station and they escorted him.

Outside of the courtroom yesterday, Arrigoni's attorney, Paul Burglin, said he and his client hope that Arnold recovers whatever vision he has lost.

"We support the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and the rights of bicyclists," Burglin said. "Mr. Arrigoni feels terrible about it but he is not some crazed motorist who ran down a bicyclist."

Burglin said it was an accident.

"An accident is not a crime," Burglin said. Arnold, whose supporters have urged the District Attorney's Office to prosecute Arrigoni to the fullest extent, said he is satisfied with the charges that have been filed.

"I have absolute faith in the Marin County District Attorney's Office," Arnold said. "They are taking this case seriously."

Eric Anderson of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition said the Fairfax-based organization is happy with the way the case is going.

"There is a lot of attention countywide and nationwide," Anderson said. "We think it's a great opportunity for the county to send a message that aggressive driving is not acceptable and will not be tolerated."

Arrigoni is due back in court July 15 for a preliminary hearing.

torrin arnold fundraiser

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Sun, 29 May 2005 16:48:00 +0000

The ride/fund/awareness raiser for Torrin Arnold went well - much thanks to Justin for being such a great guy on this issue - I wish I could have been more helpful but guess what? - you can be - there's a nonprofit that's been started called offtheback.org which helps cyclists who get whacked with no insurance. what a great idea eh? yes it is.

pimp my fixie!

noreply@blogger.com (evil gordon) — Fri, 20 May 2005 18:34:00 +0000

my miche hubs finally died having fractured along the spokes.
i don't know how many thousands of miles they rolled but those days are over.
r.i.p. evilgordon's miche hubs.
long live phil wood!
pimpin fixie riding fun.
yeah baby yeah baby yeah.
overandout

swobo is back!

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Mon, 16 May 2005 23:43:00 +0000

but the fucking bastards require an email address to visit their site - no word on the front page as to what shit they'll do with your address once they have it.

as much as i like swobo shit, they can fuck off if they think I am going to give them my email address as a pre-req for giving them money.

holy crap

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 23:57:00 +0000

I saw five bikes in a row this morning and not one of them was a fixie!!!!

luckily salim swung by a few moments later on his shiny bianchi pista, complaining of its components but being quite proud of the fancy brooks saddle he'd placed on it and the nice finger e brake for the fork.

still, we've slipped under 20%

money for nothing and your fixies for free

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 17:37:00 +0000

This is genius. (offsite link to the fixie gallery)

This bike has a flip flip with a freewheel on each side AND a drivetrain on each side...just think about it.

additional pics and description

a.

california's new velodrome?

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 01:39:00 +0000

on our way over 152 we passed a sign for pistaccios, but half of it was missing so it simply said "pista"

nisi pista speciali

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Sat, 26 Mar 2005 16:14:00 +0000

I went and purchased some rims on ebay, I know, I know - sheesh lay off me already.

they are pretty much the lightest rims out there - 220 grams each, excluding the required washers as they don't come with eyelet grommets, but just the same, their lighter than the fiamme ergals (which is mind boggling to me).

They were laced and glued but never ridden (they were on a show bike).

I'm trying to figure out if I should invest in some ultralight washers now or just use the stock ones.

pictures posted later...

fixies in the nytimes

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 15:12:00 +0000

well, they do have fixies there no? I saw a few two weeks ago when I was only there for seven hours or so...

A NYTimes article (link offsite requires free subscription) featured these great pictures of a fixie locked up (mostly) to a parking meter. cross your fingers I don't get busted for posting these here but they were too good to pass up:

stolen fixies

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Tue, 22 Mar 2005 00:46:00 +0000

the bad news on the fixie front is salim's basement was broken into and two of his bikes were stolen. he did mention recently trying to pare down...don't think that is what he had in mind...
sucko.

matt chester

noreply@blogger.com (aram shumavon) — Tue, 22 Mar 2005 00:44:00 +0000

I rode the MC in to work today, anachronistically set up with a campy shamal front wheel and a fiamme ergal (yellow label) on a 63 campy 28 hole track hub. soooooooo sexy.

all manner of crap pt 1

noreply@blogger.com (evil gordon) — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 21:55:00 +0000

ok, call me slack.
a hundred things have stopped me contributing recently. did i say recently? i meant forever!
a house purchase, a dead laptop, dad having a heart attack...
all these things plus i JUST WASN'T RIDING MY FIXIE!
wow. i just admitted to something there.
until recently (the last few weeks) i have hardly ridden fixie in nearly a year.
so, writing stuff for yo!fixie hasn't exactly felt like a priority to me.
HOWEVER...
i'm back!
there will pretty soon be a new yo!fixie site and hopefully a magazine to follow in the summer.
lots of people have offered their help but this is mine and aram's baby and we want to be proud parents.
so, forgive us if we are slack, take our time etc.
it WILL be worth the wait.
we promise.
we just want it to be just right.
like an old skool ska album.
nowyouknowwhatimtalkingabout.
gordon