Creativity is King

What came first? The trendy clothes or the reverse-thread lockring?

No one can say at this point. However, like it or not…fixed gear bikes have become just as important in the world of streetwear as a Hundreds hoodie or Casio G-Shock.

Why, you ask? What in the holy living fuck do bicycles have to do with wearing awesome clothes?

I actually have no fucking clue. Literally…none. My only GUESS is that within the past few years, there were some hardcore fixed gear bike riders that started up some streetwear brands or were somehow involved with them, and everyone copied them because it seemed cool.

Everyone can certainly recall the rise in skateboarding several years ago that coincided with the heyday of Nike SB. All of a sudden, everyone and their mother had been “skating for years,” pissing off actual skateboarders to no end. (Whether they actually had any right to be pissed isn’t for me to say.)

I think that what’s going on with the fixed gear bike scene is pretty similar…with two notable exceptions: 1) the equipment is more expensive and 2) everyone already knows how to ride a bike, so you’re already several steps ahead of the people who tried to learn how to skateboard after they heard “Kick, Push” for the first time. It’s not like you need to enter any fixed gear races to get respect from the intertubes masses…all you need are some black-framed glasses and a proper fixed gear bike for that!

One of the very first fixed-gear bike posts on Hypebeast.com (which is the site we will use for historical tracking of this strange trend of “hub gears and hipsters” [Copyright]) was back in December of 2007. However, I think that this post was more due to the involvement of Obey than it was the actual bike. Here’s a pic, in case you’re interested (and why wouldn’t you be?!):

And then a particularly interesting post from January 29th of ‘08:

In a recent Air Force 1 Silver Service display at London’s Dover Street Market, the design collective, the Wilson Brothers created a handmade fixed gear bike to celebrate the AF1. How the two are related, I’m not sure, however a short documentary will also be featured documenting the construction of the bicycle with an ad campaign to follow.

(Emphasis mine.) Very telling. At this early stage in the fixed gear revolution, there was still confusion as to how shoes/fashion applied to bicycles. The above sentence would NEVER be used with a post on fixed gear bikes nowadays. Shoes and bikes go together like PB&J in the latter part of 2008. Or at least that’s what I’m led to believe. Oh, and to keep things interesting, here’s a picture of the above-described bike:

Over the spring and summer of ‘08, the fixed gear bike posts became more frequent, but the majority of them applied to collaborations with artists/brands that were familiar to the Hypbeast crowd:

RVCA x Barry McGee x Cinelli Bicycle.

Stussy Milan x SlamJam x Losa Track Bike.

Neimesis Project x Fatlace ARC Track Bike.

etc.

However, as the summer wore on into the fall, the fixed gear posts ran rampant. This all culminated in my favorite fixed gear post that Hypebeast ever put up, which actually ran as something unrelated to fixed gear bikes at all…the following pictures:

Jesus H. Christ. The amount of hypebeastyness involved in this picture had to have caused absolute shockwaves the world over. Let’s do a quick rundown:

-awesome fixed gear bike (obviously)

-fixed gear bike manufactured by awesome fixed gear bike-makers (Brooklyn Machine Works)

-awesome clothing (BBC)

-awesome shoes (Vans)

-awesome New Era hat (also BBC)

-awesome trendy black-framed glasses

-artwork by awesome artist (Kaws)

And let’s see…I think that’s about it. Oh wait.

-PHARRELL

Like I said…Jesus H. Christ. Biggie wearing a BAPE jacket is NOTHING compared to this.

In conclusion, I’d just like to say the following before any of the four people who ride fixed gear bikes and somehow find this site get their panties in a twist: I’m not making fun of fixed gear bikes. Not in the least. I mean, it’s a fucking bike…I don’t care what people are using to get around town. If you’ve been riding a fixed gear since Pharrell was writing rhymes for Wreck-N-Effect, fucking awesome…keep doing it.

What I am questioning is how the hell fixed gear bikes managed to become an intrical part of the world of streetwear. Frankly, all I have is a guess (and a pretty damn good one at that), as it is the cardinal rule of the hypebeast scene: when in doubt…do what everyone else is doing.