Charge Bikes

Red Bull Hill Chasers 2012

I headed up to Bristol on the weekend to compete in the Red Bull Hill Chasers event. Its a head to head sprint up Park Street which ran for the first time last year.

I was one of only a couple of people competing on a fixed gear and I think my Scissor made things a little difficult but it was a real laugh anyway. I grinned my whole way up the course.

When I was waiting to race, standing there in my denim jacket and leopard print jeans, one of the jock’s dads asked me whose bike I was holding and who was going to be riding it. When I told him it was mine he was very pleased that his lycra clad son was racing me and also asked me where my ‘race gear’ was…. I’m not sure that lycra would have really helped in a twenty second uphill sprint.

Pics above by Dave Noakes

I also really like this one taken by Jasper Tandy.

Big thanks to Redg from No Gears Bristol for showing us around on the day and of course a massive thanks to Charge and Red Bull for inviting me along.

Sunday by the Thames

I went out on my bike today and I did some stuff. I tried my first rail on my fixed gear and gave my shin a good whack…

And wore my new Velodeath t shirt. Thanks for the gifts, guys!

Saturday Banquet

Went out for a couple of hours on my new Scissor V3 looking for some street spots to session.  I always find it wierd how people call shots like mine below ‘wallrides’. Maybe I’m nit-picking but they’re blatantly not. It’s a bank! So here’s me riding up a steep bank. Can’t even really tell it’s steep on this pic though, ha!

I snapped this of Dave. You can’t really tell what he is doing but I like the picture

 

Cobble Wobble and new Scissor

Had a great weekend which kicked off with London’s Calling. I decided not to do the alleycat as I was feeling lazy and enjoying my beer but kinda regretted that decision as soon as everyone set off. Not to worry though. I missed most of the other events as I went to my nephew’s birthday party but it looks like a lot of fun. Dave snapped some great pics, more of which you can see here.

On Sunday I caught the train to Frome for the Charge Cobble Wobble. I took my new Charge Scissor V3 but the gearing was wrong for an uphill sprint- I was running about 85 gear inches so there is no way I would have gone up the hill on that. Instead, I borrowed a lovely Ti Blender and put it in the lowest the gear then pegged it out the gate. Unfortunately the gear was TOO light and my weight was too far fowards I guess. The result was that my wheel span out as I bounced over the cobbles and I pinged myself to the side of the course and took out a spectator, sending a woman flying! I got back on and sprinted to the top of the hill anyway, just to see what it was like. And I can tell you it was bloody fun! I felt proper wierd afterwards though…kinda sick, light headed and spaced out!

Pic by Jamie Salvage:

The race was super fun to watch and I definitely want to go back and try again next year! Somehow I managed not to come last even with the falling off, fannying around getting my feet unclipped and getting started again!

On Monday I caught the train back to London and had a roll around on my new bike, trying to get my hops all tucked. One problem I seem to have is that the more tucked I get, I just bang my arse on the rear wheel which stops the bike coming up! Then I saw Falski’s picture of SOl in Stoked On Fixed Bikes...

where he is jumping a similar hump to me and realised that Im gonna have to get my bum even further back so its actually over the wheel as it slopes down and away from me. That way I can get my bum lower and my knees higher. I got a few a lot more tucked than this pic but we are still getting to grips with the manual settings on the camera so this is one of the only ones that came out……..

I’m looking forward to riding the Scissor a lot more.

Charge Scissor V3 bike check

WOOOO! I just received the latest Scissor from Charge, the V3. This isn’t out yet but is coming soon as will be sold as a complete rather than a frame like the previous Scissors.

The frame has a much higher bottom bracket, lower toptube, shorter back end which still boasts loads of clearance plus it’s got less toe overlap. And it feels AMAZING!

Here’s my setup:

Frame: Charge Scissor V3

Rims: Alex SX44

Tyres: Maxis Icon

Front Hub: Charge 10mm

Rear Hub: Charge 14mm

Sprocket: Charge

Chainring: Whatevs

Cranks: Charge

Stem: Charge

Bars and Grips: Charge

Seatpost: Somefink

Saddle: Odyssey

Pedals: Eclat

Straps: Sofus Fransisco

 

Some pics from the Pedal Speed ‘London’ issue

Pedal Speed mag’s latest is the ‘London’ issue. There are shop checks, crew checks and the inevitable interview with Paul Smith. There’s a bit on Fixed Gear London too and seeing as I was hanging out with those guys that day, I wound up getting snapped too. Here are a few of the pages from the feature.

Wanna check out more stuff? Check my other blog here or follow me on twitter here

Vomit Zine – London Street Riot edit: Juliet Elliott & Dave Noakes

Dave Noakes and myself are currently working on our new video mag, Vomit Zine.

Whilst doing that, we got some riding in and made this little edit of ourselves.

Stoked On Fixed Bikes Issue 4

Ace photographer, Greg Falski’s latest issue of SOFB is available to read online here.

Sol and I have a couple of nice photos in there. Thanks Greg!

Quick Charge Stove bike check

I decided to try out a Charge Stove frame to see what it would feel like. The Stove is not in production anymore but I thought it would be fun to try with 26 inch wheels. Ive only had one play on it so far and I’m still making my mind up about it. Whilst its nice to have a higher bb and be able to try 26 inch wheels, i”m not sure yet whether I’d want to ride it over the Scissor or not. We’ll see.

Frame: Charge Stove (from 1996?)

Rear rim: Velocity Chukka 26

Rear hub: System Ex

Front wheel: Not sure

Tyres: Kenda Kiniption 2.3?

Seatpost: Something

Saddle: Charge Stool

Fork: dunno

Stem: Wethepeople

Bars: Gusset Open Prison

Cranks: Profile 165mm

Pedals: Cranks Bros

Straps: Sofus Fransicso ‘Titan’

I think thats everything?

Things I’ve been doing

An interview with No Gears Bristol here

and some snaps and stuff on my other blog here