Over the holidays TRAFIK had the chance to catch up with Canada’s own Tom Mosher. A Champion “foot bagger”, urban spelunker, FGFS Rider, and YNOT front man, he was gracious enough to welcome our cameras into the YNOT global headquarters and talk about the fixed gear crowd up North.

TRAFIK: It’s fucking cold out. How do you guys ride up here?

Mosher: You get used to it. Toronto has a lot of messengers, dudes just plowing through the snow. They don’t bitch out, so you just bundle up and go for it.

TRAFIK: Speaking about messengers, when you hear about riders back East, people are always talking about New York messengers, do you guys ever feel like you’re overlooked?

Mosher: I think that Toronto is overlooked a bit. We are the biggest city in Canada but I guess NY is cooler and older. But riders in both cities are equally grizzled, dealing with the traffic and the shit weather.

TRAFIK: You are known all over the interwebs as a FGFS rider. What is the fixed gear scene like up here?

Mosher: Toronto has a ton of casual commuter FG riders. I think we have the highest percentage of fixed gear commuters than any city I’ve been to. I got into FGFS a few years back with a Tuesday night ride called T.O. Track Tricks held in a public ice rink. But now we have evolved and mostly hit up street spots. I also started a race series called “Hell Track” that we’ve been doing every summer. We held one around a public school with a stair and off-road section, check out the video. (Below)

TRAFIK: That’s cool, is T.O. a good city to race in?

Mosher: Actually, Toronto invented the alley-cat race. Underground street races were originally held here through the alleys back in the 80′s and it caught on with messengers all over.
(No bullshit…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleycat_races)

TRAFIK: Shit, I didn’t know that. “Toronto – Home of the Alley-Cat Race”.

TRAFIK: YNOT has been making some moves, your products are in stores worldwide. What’s next for you?

Mosher: In the past year YNOT has grown considerably. We just moved into this space and it’s already too small. You might have seen us at Interbike this past summer, that really set things off for us. We design everything in house and cut and sew each piece. Canadian quality. Our newest product is called the Cobra Bag – it has wings that expand and can carry any load. You can fill it up and still strap a frame and wheelset to it. Made in Toronto.

TRAFIK: Can we get one for free?

Mosher: No, but how about a wallet?

TRAFIK: Thanks Tom, it was great meeting you. Looking forward to more things from yourself and YNOT in the coming year.

Check out Tom’s blog “The Moshpit” at… http://tommosher.wordpress.com/
…And his FGFS forum TRICK TRACK

To Live & Ride in L.A. is now on CANADA iTUNES! Check it out HERE and download! …http://itunes.apple.com/ca/movie/to-live-ride-in-l-a/id438592723

Spotted in Toronto…

Like this: