Cranky Sundays
From Mod Mania
s3203603 Christopher Dalamagas
Cranky Sundays
When people have a love for the same interests they combine, to share each others knowledge and expertise. They help each other out with the general practises of their interest but also share their culture to the unknowing outsiders. In this essay I will investigate a community group, and express the reoccurring themes and practises within this group.
“Cranky Sundays”, is what this community group call themselves. It is a group of riding enthusiasts, mostly consisting of single speed or fixed gear riders, who meet every Sunday at Heist on little la Trobe, to ride. Most of the riders have been riding together every Sunday since November 2007, but the “Cranky Sundays” group formed in May 2008. The group is made up of riders aged 16-40+ who come from various walks of life and are into very different things apart from their love and appreciation for bike riding. Some of the riders have either come from BMX, MTB or skating backgrounds that have converted to the “fixie” side of riding. Most of the riders are decent riders. This community group has been accused of being “gay” for jumping onto the “fixie” bandwagon, even though it was started as just a casual Sunday ride for anyone who wanted to join in on the fun. Not just for fixed riders.
The main consumer product that has caused these riders to been drawn to one another is the “fixie”. “Fixie” is just another name for a track bike, Track bikes were originally used on the velodrome to sprint race. Because of their single gear that is fixed, meaning the rear wheel turns in sync with the crank arms, it causes a constant build up on momentum, producing the ability of the bike and rider to go extremely fast. Beside the velodrome scene these bikes were also used by bike messengers in San Francisco, because of their fast nature, giving the messengers the ability to distribute packages at a much faster rate. A few years later and this craze then spread to Japan and the rest of the United States. Now this new bike culture has spread to most parts of the world.
This group was started as a casual Sunday ride with anyone being able to participate, it was not designed as a cultural billboard, to express this new “cool” craze of being a fixed rider. Most people ride fixed because it is a different and new way of commuting, not to mention extremely fun. This is what has been said about this community group. No matter what age or whether you ride fixed or not each participant of these Sunday’s rides loves two things, riding, and their bike. Some riders do go to a more of an extreme when making their bike their own but it still doesn’t drown out the theme of each rider loving his/or her bike.
What is most common between all the riders of the Cranky Sundays group is that they ride either single speed or fixed gear bikes. These bikes are also unique to each individual rider, like their bike is just another expression of themselves. With their brightly coloured deep v or aerospoke wheels, stickers drowning the natural paint colour of the frame and anything else they can stick to their bike to make it theirs. Each rider within this group has this common theme of your bike expresses you. Not to say that someone with a plain shelf bought bike is bland in character, the rider still bought that bike for one reason or another. Whether to just fit their general needs of riding, or as a base to start converting it into a bike form of themselves.
Almost every rider within this group modifies their bike in one way or another. Whether it be as simple as a sticker, or a pair of Oury mountain grips, each rider modifies their bike. It can go as extreme as a full overhaul of parts from rims, spokes, hubs, seat, bars, stem, headset, cranks, chain ring and cogs. Each rider with the intention not to make themselves feel included in this new cool trend, but to put into their bikes a little bit of themselves.
In saying that a rider’s bike expresses themselves, also they way a rider rides within this group helps them to express themselves. Wether it be helmet or nor helmet, brakes or no brakes, or a masher, each rider does what he or she is comfortable with. The more experienced fixed riders tend to ride with no brakes, the older riders still with a helmet and the younger experienced fixed riders choosing to go without. And then there is the masher, a rider who has no brakes or helmet, and will not obey the law when it comes to road rules. Doing whatever he or she can to get to a destination. Running red lights, riding between trams, weaving in at out of cars and jumping curbs are just some of the traits of a masher. This is the most extreme style of rider within this group.
Even though this grouped has been discriminated against for being a social neon for fixed riding it has still stayed true to its roots. With the group being formed as a casual Sunday ride welcoming whoever wanted to join in no matter their age or what bike they ride. With the common themes within this group of all the riders loving to ride and to use their bikes as an expression of themselves, the Cranky Sundays group is growing and growing, with not only the open varieties of riders but also for the fixed community, as this is the main group in which fixed riders come to share their knowledge and experience with other riders within the CBD.
