May 13, 2008

Daily Photo: Untitled - How is She Doing That?

Chari & Co (175 Stanton Street, NY, NY), the new track bike boutique on the Lower East Side, opened with a party last night. The store specializes in high-end Japanese track frames, components and accoutrements, which are even nicer to look at with a cold beer in one hand and some sushi in the other. Keirin track frames line the gallery-like space (which was previously an art gallery), while fancy components, track bike jewelry, and a Supreme charm bracelet fill the display cases. The super friendly owners, Ken and Yuki, have a good-looking store with some really nice bikes in stock. They don’t build or repair bikes, but if you’re looking for a fancy Japanese track bike, it would be a good place to start.

You can check out more photos of Chari & Co in the gallery.

On Saturday, the Fourth Annual Bicycle Fetish Day took place in Williamsburg. Hosted by the City Reliquary, the block party drew all sorts of bikes and bicyclists out to show off their rides and compete for prizes in categories such as Best in Show, Best Vintage, Best Small Wheel, Ugliest Bike, among others.

Click here for more photos of the The Fourth Annual Bicycle Fetish Day.

Here’s another account and more photos of the day.

From the inbox comes word that a new track bike boutique is opening on the Lower East Side. The new shop, Chari & Co, will “specialize in selling and consigning Japanese track bike frame and other bike parts.” They’re opening this Sunday with a party at 175 Stanton Street, between Clinton and Attorney Streets. Interestingly, that’s about eight blocks from Trackstar, New York City’s first shop dedicated to fixed gear bikes and until now, Manhattan’s only. As of now, the shop is empty and the website has just two frames for sale, so we’ll have to wait and see what they offer on Sunday.

Last night saw a quiet memorial ride honoring the two cyclists who were struck and killed last week. Both Alvaro Olson and Jian-Lan Zhang were killed by trucks last Wednesday, April 16th. Olson died at West 36th Street and Broadway. Zhang died on Hester and Allen Street. The memorial ride of about 25 cyclists brought flowers to the ghost bike memorials, where they were joined by the curious passing by, and paid their respects. The deaths of these cyclists, the first reported in 2008, are a sad reminder of how unforgiving the streets can be and how much more the city needs do to make them safe for everyone.

The main race of Monster Track 2008 has been canceled. “Our reasons are many but the overall factor was that the race has become unmanageable due to the large participation and our concern for the participant’s safety.” Though disappointing, we’re confident the organizers have the best intentions with this difficult decision. Full press release from Squid:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The organizers of Monster Track 2008 have decided, after careful consideration, to cancel this year’s main race.

Continue reading: Monster Track 2008 Main Race Canceled

While our mind was focused on gold pills to make your shit sparkle and Calvin Klein billboards dripping with pink paint, we missed a smaller, but still tall, outdoor installation for the opening of the New Museum. This pink tall bike, with a frame welded in the shape of the museum’s logo, was locked just across the Bowery on Prince Street in December.

The pink tall bike has obvious similarities to failed attempts by Brooklyn Industries and DKNY to use bicycles in their marketing. Two years ago, Brooklyn Industries put tall bikes in their store windows, which became targets of the acid etched message, “BIKE CULTURE NOT 4 SALE”. More recently, DKNY painted their website address on a bunch of orange bikes, which many found too similar looking to the ghost bike memorials for dead cyclists, and locked them up across the city for a Fashion Week promotion of bicycling themselves. Considering this broken, unrideable, mono-color, tall bike embodies elements of both failed campaigns, it is surprising it has drawn little to no attention, good or bad. In the spirit of the museum’s opening exhibit, you could safely call this an Unfailure.

Perhaps the bike’s biggest flaw is taking up one of the precious few spots to lock up within several blocks of the New Museum. It’s a problem easily fixed with a handful of bike racks, free from the city. To their credit though, the one time I paid admission at the museum, a staff member noticed I had arrived on bike and gave me half off the ticket price, in exchange for filling out a card requesting bike parking, which I happily did.

Photo by Clemente on Flickr.