Mr Bikes n Boards

If you ride a bike, chances are that you have been to Ace Metric at one time or another. But what you might not know is there is another shop not too far from there with a bunch of cool stuff as well. Located in Longwood, FL, Mr Bikes n Boards has a nice selection of complete bikes as well as a ton of components or whatever else you may need. I included some more pictures after the jump from my visit today.

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Congrats to the 2 Mikes!

photo by Andrea Schad

Mike McGovern (MikeVan) and Mike Palmer both competed in a triathlon in Chicago this past weekend. Both had some pretty damn impressive stats and MikeVan in particular finished 1st non Chicagoan. Next time you see him at the Vegan Hot Dog stand, make sure you give him a high 5!

Congrats guys!

Andrew Voegeli (St Pete) Interview

Andrew Voegeli-Whats up man! How’s it been up there?

Nick Patton- Pretty good dude, you all should come back up sometime soon. Maybe this weekend for the PBR pub crawl???

OK, to start, what's your full name? Where are you from originally? How
long have you lived in St. Pete?

Andrew Voegeli- Hell yeah, dude sounds awesome! I’ll talk to Bailey and them about it.

OK, my name is Andrew Miles Voegeli, and I was born in Boca Raton, Florida. I lived in Broward County for a few years, moved here to St. Pete in 1997, and have lived in the same house since. I like it a lot here, besides these brutal fucking summers.

Nick Patton- Shit’s brutal in Orlando, I’m sure it’s worse near the beach.

How and when did you get your start in bikes? What was your first bike?

Andrew Voegeli- Unlike a lot of dudes in the fixed-freestyle business, I wasn’t like “pro-BMXer” status before I started tricking on a fixed. I rode BMX when I was like 10 but I was too skinny to pick the bike up high enough to even hop up a curb, so I said fuck it and started skateboarding. Then when I was like 14 or 15 my friends started riding fixed gears and eventually I ended up getting my first fixed gear; a Mercier off bikes-direct haha! Now it’s a polo bike!

Nick Patton- Haha, yeah man, I know how that goes.

So you're riding 26's now, how was your transition from 700c fixed with
23's, to 26inchers with +2 inches or more tires?

Andrew Voegeli- Yeah, BMX is definitely super fun. I like it a lot more now that I can actually do shit on them, haha. It’s funny because I learned all that stuff: 180s, nose pivots, and everything on a fixed gear before I could do it on BMX. But yeah, BMX is fun for sure.

Haha man it is so much better. You should’ve seen my 700c wheels right before I got these 26's. I literally had multiple people telling me they wouldn’t even ride them down the street because they were so wonky. I still commuted everywhere I went and jumped off shit with them though haha. But these new wheels are so solid man. I got sun mtx 33's laced to true 3/8ths profile fixed hubs (soon to be 14mm!!!). They’re bomb proof, and still pretty much perfectly in true after a million 180s, nose pivots, stairs, and everything I’ve put them through. It’s totally awesome coming off the old 700c's which would bend back and forth from anything. In one of my edits there’s a part of me banging the shit out of my wheel on the ground to bend it back in place, haha.

Nick Patton- Who all sponsors you now? Who all have you been sponsored by?

Andrew Voegeli- I just got sponsored by D.A.M.P. bicycles out of Sweden through that contest they just had. It’s awesome because the Butterbean frame looks great and the guys are super nice. Profile hooks me up, and i'm also sponsored by 187barz ran by my boy Dave DeVore in Naples, FL. I also get some threads from Sink or Swim. Shout out to Burro for flowing me some straps too! I really want to thank all these guys for hooking me up! I really appreciate it so much!

Nick Patton- Yeah man, Burro is awesome and so is Sink or Swim. Both locally started.

You just won that competition and that sick DAMP bike. Tell me about
it: the bike, the competition, how you entered, and how did you find out
about it?

Andrew Voegeli- Haha, actually I knew about the contest for a while, and wasn’t really planning on entering because all my new footage is going to a different project... Then very last day they were accepting entries, and I thought what the fuck why not? I put together an edit in less than an hour of just old shit just to see what would happen. I couldn’t even find all the footage I wanted to put in it. I honestly was not expecting anything out of it.

The bike is so sick. It’s got two gussets on the top and down tube, a curved seat tube for maximum wheel slammage, a wishbone seat-stay, and my favorite part is the chain-stay yoke to fit fat ass tires.

D.A.M.P. are going to make a few changes to the prototype that Marten is riding and then send them out to me and Nick Johnson, the other fellow who won the contest with me. Shout out to him too, got that super smooth and fast style!

Nick Patton- That bike is fucking amazing...

Who do you ride with in St. Pete the most? How is green transport going? Where do you see it going in the future?

Andrew Voegeli- I ride mostly with my dudes Bailey Anders, Derian Messenkopf, and Austin Richard. Baileys bag company Green Transport is still on those first stages, but it’s going to be super awesome. They’re handmade with a real sick vibe. The prototypes look awesome, and he’s shown me some other work that is ill as well. Bailey is moving to New York City in spring for art school and I think the bag company will keep growing into something really sick backed by solid guys, product, and art work.

Nick Patton- what are you doing other than biking right now?
Any future projects coming up?

Andrew Voegeli- Well I have my first day of college tomorrow, haha. Other than school and bikes I’m just working, kicking it, jammin, and shreddin with my boys. The only future project I can think of right now is this edit I’m working on with Michael Davis from 66fixed in St. Pete, and maybe something bigger that I can’t talk about ;)

Nick Patton- Awesome bro, sounds like stuff is going really great for you right now. Thanks for putting time aside for the interview. I’m sure a lot of people had questions after watching your video’s. Keep repping Florida!

butterbean contest entry-andrew voegeli from Andrew Voegeli on Vimeo.

andrew voegeli from Andrew Voegeli on Vimeo.

Just banging the wheel against the ground


Credits- The black and white gets credited to Parker Young. The X-UP and wallride go to Mike Weimer,

Monday Midnight Mass is a bike ride meeting at midnight every Monday, always. Since the ride is leaderless and lacking a defined route, it's up to the riders that attend any MMM to figure a route out. MMM is everybody's and nobody's ride. Don't forget bloody Monday. See ya there! Click here for link to event.

Orland Bike Polo

Polo at Howard Middle School at 5pm this Wednesday (8/25) and Sunday (8/29)! Some People are meeting at my place around 4:00/4:30, if you are driving in you can park outside, I live half a mile away. We have 12 mallets total, 4 cones, and 2 balls. All you need to bring is you and your bike. Click here for event link

To Live and Ride in LA

To Live & Ride In L.A. OFFICIAL TRAILER from TRAFIK on Vimeo.

Can't wait till this video is out!

Polo At Howard

Polo is popping off at Howard Middle School at 5pm this Sunday (8/22). Some People are meeting at my place around 4:00/4:30, if you are driving in you can park outside, I live half a mile away. Between Quinlan and I we have 12 mallets total, 4 cones, and 1 ball. All you need to bring is you and your bike. Here is a link to the Polo Event. If rain happens we'll play at some garage, but we're still playing.

NiHuPa Checking In!

Hey!

This is Nick(Patton). A new contributor checking in from Colonial Town. I'm a Georgia transplant, and I've been here for almost two years now. I love riding in Orlando, I don't even mind the bricks that much. I work as a bike messenger in the Winter Park area, more specifically Park Avenue. When I'm not working, the only other obligation I have is school at VCC. I run Central Florida Fixed Gear, on FB. Check it out if you have a chance. I plan to integrate 407 and CFLfixed together to give easier access about fixed gear haps to non-facebook users.

I do bike workshops on sundays, and anyone can bring their bike to my garage and we'll work on them together!

Stay tuned for posts!
Nick(Patton(NiHuPa))

It's been real, its been fun...

But its time to call this project done. I just dont have the time anymore to keep it running and due to the lack of posts, neither do the other people involved. It was nice to see this little project start off small and grow into what it did. Instead of letting this continue to sit in a state of limbo, I think I would rather pull the plug on it. I appreciate everyone who has helped/supported along the way, it truly has been appreciated. As for me, I will still be riding my bike until the wheels fall off...

Anyone interested in taking over the blog, email me...


ez!

River Rat 3

More info here

Product Review: Sofus Francisco Double Straps

photos by Metha

So I was lucky enough to get a pair of the Sofus Francisco Double Straps courtesy of Kristian over at fixedgear.dk. My old double straps were super ratty so naturally I was stoked to get a pair of these quality looking straps for my bike. First thing I noticed as soon as I got them out of the box was the attention to craftsmanship and quality of the straps. These bad boys are handcrafted by Jonas Normann (owner of Sofus Francisco) and the attention to detail is evident. The leather is top notch, look very durable and the brass buckles used to make the strap adjustments are damn near bulletproof. From what Kristian passed on to me, the leather and material is hand picked and great care is taken to pick only the strongest and best quality leather for each pair of straps. They are perfect for daily, heavy duty use and from what was passed on to me, the messengers in Denmark are using them on their bikes and the straps are holding up beautifully to the abuse of daily riding and the Danish weather. Here's a few pictures of the black ones I received.







Installation was a no brainer, fit perfectly with my GR9 / Soma Double Cage setup that I'm currently riding. I've had issues in the past where I've had to pull the straps through with a pair of pliers but there was no such problem with the Sofus Francisco straps. Once they were on, it was just a matter of adjusting them to fit my foot and I was off. They felt amazing (not too loose, not too tight) and I didn't feel any bit of slipping while I rode which is a huge plus. I'm sure this is due to the buckles Jonas used to address a very common problem I have had in the past with other straps. Since they are actually buckles as opposed to some kind of pinching mechanism, I didn't feel the slightest bit of slipping when I had to brake/skid hard. If you have dealt with this crap before in the past, these straps are the answer...

Overall I was highly impressed with the product and I highly recommend them. IMO, they are comparable to other high quality straps in the market and are well worth the money. If you see me out and about, stop me and check them out. Great straps from a rider owned company which cares about their products. A big thanks to Kristian and Jonas for the double straps and a big shout out to Metha for taking these pictures at a moments notice...

Links: Sofus Francisco -- FixedGear.dk

Orlando Bike Kitchen Project

Greg Leibowitz asked me to pass along some info about a cool new project he has in the works. Feel free to contact him if you can help out in any way.

The City Arts Factory (29 S Orange Ave) has invited me and several other artists to be a part of their upcoming (Aug 19th) group installation art show. The show is titled 'What moves you?' and the theme for the show is transportation.

The project begins with sending out a call to action throughout Orlando asking for used and unwanted bicycles and bike parts to be dropped-off at various locations around... Orlando, one of which is the Stardust Video and Coffee bike rack.

The project will then be installed in to the City Arts Factory as a defacto bike kitchen where bicycles will be piled and worked on for the duration of the show. Volunteers will sign up for shop hours, workshops will be hosted for people to learn how to repair their bikes, and finished complete bikes will be painted orange and given to communities in need.

Ideally this project will continue outside of the gallery setting and transition to a permanent centrally located space with grants, yearly memberships and low cost complete bike builds.

I am currently looking for old bikes, volunteers, and bike related tools.

Greg.Leibowitz@gmail.com for further info.

Related Links: Daily City, Orlando Weekly, Orlando Sentinel

407fixedgear : Ronnie

407fixedgear : Ronnie Govoruhk from Antimo on Vimeo.

Oh Snap! Hanging with Ronnie was a blast. I hope he kicks it well in Philly for the next few. Thank you Elle for driving us around that week too. Rat Race edit right around the corner! Stay tuned.

RR3 Long Jump Contest Results & Pictures

1) JJ - 144”
2) Cody 104”
3) Newberry – 81”
4) Jarad – 78”
5) Antimo – 76”







Good times, good times!

Pictures from the end point

Metha posted up on his flickr stream a few pictures from the end point @ Wills Pub. Here's a few:

Check out the full photo set here! Antimo is collecting footage from yesterday and we should be cranking out a short edit of the race in a little bit. If you have any pictures from yesterday, drop me an email!

ez!