Thursday, February 12, 2009

I'M BAAACK!!! ..and boy has there ever been a lot going on!

Ya'll missed me didn't ya? Yup.. that's what I thought...

Welp, first things first... The Renny.. she is built:


From Japan to the Jerz.. yeeaaahh- that's right!

I decided it would be a good idea to lug it, along with a 40lb bag of camera gear up Dirtbag Mountain BY MYSELF for the photos.. It's this awesomely shitty/sketchy playground for motocross fans, burnouts and photards (another word for burnout) such as myself. As you can see it was a harrowing experience filled with many perils and super shitty light. Though both the Renny and I made it through unscathed..

More snaps on my Flickr set..

Specs:

3Rensho frame and fork
Dura Ace 7710 all around!
Araya gold tubular rims
Tufo Tubulars
Turbo Saddle
Nitto Slider stem and bars
Fizik wrap
MKS Royal Nuevo pedals and toe clips
Errebi straps

Thanks once again to Ben's Cycle for making it happen! Loooooove getting boxes full of goodies from them!!


(wheels weren't going to fit in there unfortunately)

As you could imagine, even despite my 'taking a break' I was unable to tear myself away from the all consuming thing that drives my daily existence.. eBay.. Okay, I'm not THAT much of a loser but it kinda feels like it when I see my watch list break a 100 items, hehe... UG..
In any case, there was many a luscious item that caught my attention. Such as this, this, this, this, this, this, this (3rd photo), this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and OMFG this!!!


Wait a minute, did you send me a coupon Buddha?! I'm going to kill you!! If no one buys it, I'm totally going to have to take it off your hands.. AFTER I send Kiochi my 2k down payment. If he ever gets back to me of course.. I would do evil, evil things to that white and gold cherry of yours!

But THIS is the one that nearly made me break my self imposed vow of silence. I mean, COME ON.. REALLY???


WIFN is NOT going on with that thing???

Oh and this one really pissed me off something awful! Not just because it's an all white bike but because it's an all white BMX bike. Why the fuck would anyone put together and all white BMX together is BEYOND me...


As if that wasn't bad enough, fucking Macy's went ahead and set this shit up:


If you don't live here what you have to understand is that there's like 3 ghost bikes within two or three blocks of the building. I can just imagine one those silly display twats hopping in her cab to head back home to the upper west side and thinking- 'oh, well now that's pretty'..
Nothing would please me more than to walk in there with a big squeeze bottle full of red paint and squirt it all over the manikins. I figure at least then having the white bike would be more appropriate...

Let's see , what else has been going on

My mind is still being boggled by the prices that USED Pista Concepts are going for...

I heard a rumor that a Velocity rep on an aussi board just let it slip that they're making a deeper rim than H+son.. Whoop-de-do!

I listened to the Bad Religion discography I downloaded like 10 times..

Oh I also made some snaps of the ALAN (uh-lahn) finally- cracked HT lug and all:


I didn't go overboard with the build or photos on this one due to the small HT lug crack. That and it's a cm too small for me. Still super fun to just ride around my hood to run errands etc.. Super easy 44/16 gearing and a bunch of random parts from my bins along with the sweet deal on a set of local wheels.. Actually, the one thing that's interesting is the cranks. The drive side is actually a Campy pista tandem stoker crank. Meaning that the pedal threading is reversed. So I took apart a couple of MKS pedals and switched the axles to make it work. Not the safest/smartest thing but again.. Just cruising around town and it's on there tight enough to not warrant concern over it popping off. I suppose I could've just set it up as a left hand drive but that may have been a bit too weird.. The other side is a campy strada arm that matches it perfectly desite being a road crank arm...

Another interesting thing about the frame is that it was originally part of the collection I got my hands on a while back. It came with a vintage Stronglight crank, Phil BB and Campy Pista Headset for $100. When I spotted the crack in the HT lug I was kinda bummed and mention it to the seller in passing. He actually felt bad and gave me a $100 in credit towards other stuff! SO GOLD!!!

I also got interviewed for a story about bike pornography. I was hoping it would be posted by now but it's still being edited last time I checked. Of course after it was all said and done I felt like a bit of a douche seeing as how I've never been interviewed before. Not to mention the fact that I'm way too honest and forthcoming for some stupid reason.. Well, it is what it is I suppose. The dudes were cool as hell and I'm sure I'm just being super paranoid as per usual. I'm writing this not actually having seen it yet so I guess we'll see what happens when it's up...

I also went ahead and scanned the rest of the Rossin Calendar photos:


Yeah, I know that last one's fucked up. Don't worry I'll fix it soon enough...

aaaand the first one and two I scanned a while back again..

As you can see the original two are def the best ones. Not to say that some of these aren't but still...

Anyways, I'm hoping all of that makes up for my little vacation from the blogisphere.. I've got a lot of neat and or fun and or stupid projects coming up so stay tuned suckaz!

p.s. - remind me to never take another vacation away from this shit. this post was a bitch to assemble! damn.. time for another break!!

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9 comments:

morgman said...

A friend contacted me this week about building "an epic fixie" this year. He first sent me a photo of the two Pista Concepts and a Cinelli in a dude's bedroom in Japan, and later, after some discussion, to an $800 Pista Concept on Ebay. He's never had a fixed bike before and wants to build something rad. Those bikes do fit the bill...

Alan Sikirić said...

Oh there's def no doubt that the Pista Concept is an awesome frame for sure. I mean, I've owned one for years now and LOVE it! I'm just blown away by the fact that they used to sell for $550-$600 NEW less than a year ago and now I'm constantly seeing 04/05's sell for like $750+ in super used condition. I just don't get it! I can understand that it's become this hott and trendy thing to own one, and that they are indeed really nice frames.. But when I see someone pay $750-$850 for a 4 year old $600 frame that's in used condition, I wonder if the money could have been better spent elsewhere...

Auntie Maim said...

You dog- you're gonna firm up Yamamama school- much jealousy! Email or call anytime. Great looking ThRen!

morgman said...

I agree, but when someone's building a bike of that caliber, a couple hundred more for the extra-desirable frame doesn't always matter. Do you have any suggestions for other frames that we might be able to start from?

Alan Sikirić said...

Good point man.. I'm just taking it a bit personal I guess. I'd rather see someone get more for their money, or at least get a lot more for it! Other frames I would seriously consider is a Blue TR250, Fuji Track Pro, GT Vengeance Track (if you can find one), Van Dessel Drag Strip Courage, Cervelo PT2 frame, Orbea Lobular, DURATEC T11, and I'm sure others that will come to mind two days from now..

I mean, I would even consider saving up for a simple custom frame. Like Bilenky's Eco Model for instance:

http://www.bilenky.com/SingleTrack.htm

I mean, having a frame built up custom fit would be worth the couple hundred over the couple hundred he'd be willing to spend. I'm sure there's other builders out there that also offer relatively affordable frames as well..

The point is, Pista Concepts are really awesome and he'll def be stoked on it, but I just really don't believe them to be the end all be all by a long shot...

Christopher said...

Thanks for building up that Sanny Renny real quick. Its beautiful.

((lyledriver)) said...

I kind of like that white BMX.

..and I also like Fudgy Tarck pros better than Concepts, despite being paper thin.

Oh.. but if you do decide to upgrade and part with your Concept, I will gladly ride it into the ground for you.

Anonymous said...

Man was that a post!! So:

A) Yes we did miss you, and it's good to hear from you again.

B) That Renny is just RAD!!! Awesome work of art if you ask me. Thanks so much for putting so much time, effort and thoughts into your builds. You pay these frames the respect they deserve and it's nice to see in a time that most everyone jumping on the band wagon don't seems to know shit about nice frames.

Again the bikes are nice, and you definitely got to upgrade that "metal steeds I ride" collumn with that bad boy and the Jackson Phoenix!

Now get to that Cuevas, I've been dying to see it all resprayed and build up properly!!!

Oh and that Rossin calendar.... they don't make 'em like this anymore. What a shame!

Cheers!
Math.

Alan Sikirić said...

Lyledriver - Aside from it being all ALL white I agree that the BMX is pretty sweet. As for my Concept, something tells me that even if the BB shell was totally striped, I could still get a few hundred for it on ebay, hehe- douches..

Anonymous - Thanks a lot for the awesome words man! Def need to be updating the sidebar like STAT, along with sending the Cuevas out for a respray. Though I'm still throwing color combos around in my head. I want to keep it semi true to form but am having difficulties deciding...