These past weeks have been incredibly great to us. Last week we reached a milestone here at TRAFIK as we released To Live & Ride in L.A. on Netflix – but that was just the beginning:

This week, we announce another successful launch on Hulu and Hulu Plus! This release along with iTunes in 16 countries, Netflix, Vudu, Youtube and our Collector’s DVD, make To Live & Ride in L.A. the most widely accessible fixed-gear film in the world!

We love the feedback, hope you guys rate and review our film!

Over the weekend TRAFIK attended “Movies About Bikes”, a short film festival brought to us by Funwunce. Rick Darge, the Director, Producer and coordinator of the event presented some great locally made short films like Monday Night Rehab, Los Angelopes, West Side Mosey, and the much anticipated Wolfpack Drag Race promo. It was a rainy night, but that didn’t stop the bike crowd from showing up and virtually selling out the beautiful Vista Theater in Echo Park.

This is an event Rick (seen in picture above^^) and his Funwunce team would love to do at least twice a year to encourage filmmakers and bike enthusiasts to create more short films. Rick said, “We’re already talking about making this kind of our own little L.A. bike film festival because there is the BFF and other things that happen, but Los Angeles really doesn’t have its own niche bike film scene and i think it’s there.”

The screening kind of reminded us of that scene from Gremlins where all the monsters are going crazy in the theater. Don’t feed Midnight Ridazz after Midnight. And whatever you do, don’t get them wet.

Pics by Allaudin Hightower. See more on TRAFIK’s FLICKR

And just in case you missed it, here’s the trailer:

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…

Yooooo, the new 2012 poster for Team Kagero featuring the homie Jesus, just dropped! A beast in the street, Jesus reps TRAFIK, Leader Bike, Pedal Consumption, and H Plus Son!  This poster would make a great decoration to any female cyclist’s bedroom (wink wink).

Team Kagero consists of 6 riders from all over the world: Patrick Thames from Portland, Faz Adhili from Malaysia, Jason Yim from SF, Irfan “Ippe” Wahyudi from Indonesia and Gypsy from Australia.

Look for more to come from Jesus and Team Kagero in 2012!

Best way to deal with haters…

Just in time for the Holidays! TRAFIK is happy to introduce our new WATER BOTTLE as a special Thank You gift to our fans. Get it FREE when you order $25 or more worth of merch from our online SHOP!

Did we say WATER BOTTLE? We meant Motha F*ckin’ Sticker Pack! You heard right, this beautiful piece of art not only quenches your thirst it comes with stickers that give your bike swag….instantly. Free swag, brah! GET IT NOW!

Designed by L.A. graf artist LEEN, this bottle is a So Cal original printed only in limited quantities. This offer is good only till the end of the year. Buy anything over 25 bucks and own this dope piece of art.

Our friend Pnut was recently involved in a hit & run on his bike but never stops repping To Live & Ride in L.A.

Heal up quick homie!

TRAFIK coming at ya with another contest for our online friends! This one is called #BIKEFAIL Friday – rules are simple:

• Post up a picture or video of a BIKE FAIL on our Facebook Page – with hashtag #BIKEFAIL.
• Get as many friends to LIKE your wallpost.
• Most LIKES wins!

This contest is open to anyone in the world…ANYONE! The fan with the most LIKES will win a TRAFIK prize pack that includes a To Live & Ride in L.A. DVD, our new water-bottle designed by LEEN, hip-pouch and foot-straps from Famli, Skully lights, TRAFIK vinyls, and an official TRAFIK tee! We ship worldwide!

#BIKEFAIL – Hey foo, you made it on the blog.

Be one of the first in the world to own a TRAFIK water bottle!

Participating in the contest is as easy as skidding with no hands – all you have to do is a quick search on Google, find something funny, post it on our wall and get some likes! Get creative, find something that no one has seen yet. And here’s a hint to increase your chances of winning: share with your friends!

Contest ends this weekend. Winner will be announced on Monday. Goodluck everyone!

Post your #BIKEFAIL’s to our FB page!

 
Since we released To Live & Ride in L.A. on International iTunes we’ve been hearing from riders from all across the world. We caught up with some of the guys from Switzerland to see what was up with fixed gear culture over there…

Bastien Raoux is a FGFS rider based out of Geneva & Fabian Wespe runs a shop outside the city. In a country that is serious about its cycling, fixed gear riding, especially FGFS, is starting to take hold…

TRAFIK: What’s up guys? What’s going on in the world of fixed gear in Switzerland?

Fabian:
There is definitely a growing fixed gear scene in Switzerland. Big towns like Bern, Zürich, and Geneva are where most of the riders are, but it’s more of an underground scene.

Bastien:
In Switzerland cycling is a religion and there are many riders who like to race on a fixed gear. In Geneva there are many fixed freestyle riders and a big group of racers too.

TRAFIK: Where would you take a rider visiting from a foreign country?

Bastien:
To ride and chill with freestyle fixed come to Geneva!! There are so many good spots and in 1 year we will have the newest big skate-park in the country. We are a big freestyle group in Geneva and all the day one of us is ready to ride.

Fabian:
Myself I live in the country and there is only me and my roommate on FGFS. If we wanna meet people we go to Geneva. The scene is very different depending on what city you are in, some places you are welcomed with open arms and in others it’s very hard to get in. But that is just my opinion. I am riding and selling FG-Bikes because its fun to ride. Thats all.

TRAFIK: What FGFS riders do you look to for inspiration?

Bastien:
I think i have 3 riders who inspire me. My favorite rider for the grind is of course Mike Shmitt, i like his nervous style. My other favorite is Tom Lamarche, this guy is awesome, i love his wall ride and many big 360′s. I think his last edit is the best of the freestyle scene. But for me the most crazy is my friend Simon Andraca (GOMOK), he is a rider who can ride everywhere, he is very complete (barspin, big gap, grind, wall ride) plus he’s a cool guy.

TRAFIK: Wanna shout out any local crews or websites?

Bastien:
Yeah, my riding crew is MILKYCE with Quentin Oddo, Marc Wuarin, Florian Ferrier and Me. Shout out to the Shred crew, with David, Laurent Pili, and Pepy Todesky. You have ONEGEAR (my sponsor) run by Fabian, the best website for FGFS in Switzerland. Also check out FixedGearGeneva on Facebook where everybody can come to speak about fixed gear.

TRAFIK: Thanks for chatting with us, any final comments?

Fabian:
I don’t speak for everyone here, but we don’t care if you’re a messenger, a fakenger or a hipster. We just love to build and ride our bikes an meet people with the same passion. Its all about having fun, not making a statement.

Bastien:
Check out some of our websites!

http://www.onegear.ch
http://milkycecrew.blogspot.com/
http://www.shredcrew.com/
http://ww.fixedgeargeneva.com
http://www.fixedgearswitzerland.ch

TRAFIK: Fa Sho! Remember to tell your friends to download To Live & Ride in L.A. on Swiss iTunes. Peace.