Fixed Gear is popular in all corners of the world, and tomorrow our friends in LATVIA will be premiering To Live & Ride in L.A. in the capital of Riga. We had to Google map this one, located on the Baltic Sea between Estonia and Lithuania, Latvia is a former Soviet republic that re-gained its independence in 1991. Now they are the coolest Eastern Bloc country, evident in their choice of fixed gear movies! What goes on in Latvia??? – Read more after the jump…

We had a chance to talk to Andris from the fixed gear group MiiT. Here’s what he had to say about Latvian Fixed Gear…

What’s the fixed gear scene like in Latvia?

Miit: Fixed gear riders in Latvia especially in Riga significantly increased in the last two years. Before that there was a small group of less than 10 riders, today but it could be even 20 or 30 times more.
Of course most people ride in early spring and summer because of the warm days but there are a small groups of riders who ride even in winter when Riga is coated with a lot of snow – this is real fun to ride in winter.

Are there any popular Latvian Riders?
Now Latvian fixers can be proud of Toms Alsbergs who set a new world record and took a #1 place in RedBull minidrome in Glasgow. He also won in Manchester as well. Maybe you know Maris Strombergs – the first Olympic gold medalist in BMX, he comes form Latvia.

What is it like to ride in Riga?
Riga is flat and full of cars. Lots of car drivers usually ignore cyclists and you always have to watch out for them but every ride gives you some good dose of adrenaline.

If a rider from USA visited Riga, where would you take him?
The first Monday of each month there is group race called Sanitary Monday (Sanitārā pirmdiena – in Latvian). Roller Racing and Bike Polo are also popular in Riga. Of course every fixed gear rider likes parties and we have a few good places in Riga to go including our own MiiT.

Do you want to shout out any shops, groups or riding crews?
There was couple of riders who in end of 2009 created the first Latvian fixed gear web page called FGR – Fixed Gear Riga www.fgr.lv (in Latvian only) currently there are more than 700 users. This is the main site about events and to buy and sell parts.
MiiT www.miit.lv (in Latvian only) is first bike cafe, shop, workshop created in Riga in summer of 2010. We are 3 owners, me, my brother and cousin. Me and my brother have raced in bmx for more than 15 years. We mostly work with fixies and single speed bikes now.

Thanks TRAFIK, you should come visit us someday. To Live & Ride in Riga!!

Our friends at Urban Velo just released a new issue featuring a run-down on the races that happened during Interbike. A well-written article by Davey Davis, it’s a must-read for anyone looking to attend next year and take part in some of the “Urban” events that happen after the convention closes for the night. The two big races this year were the MASH race and the KING of VEGAS race hosted by local-hero HERN and sponsored by TRAFIK among others.
Photos by Allaudin Hightower and Ace Boogie.

“Brad Adams, of Road Runner Bags took second in both races and credits the city’s insane urban emphasis on cars in creating a dicer race. “Vegas intersections are meant to hold a mass number cars and trying to break through that when there is bumper to bumper flow was unbelievable. I honestly could not tell you how I did it. It still boggles my mind.” In the end LA took the podium for men, with Edgar winning the race. There was much singing, dancing, dogtags, and In-N-Out burgers to be had.”

Read the Full article HERE!

Our friends Robert and Sean in conjunction with Orange 20 threw an awesome Halloween alley-cat and block party this weekend. It was the place to be on two wheels. Everyone was in the party mood, great costumes and fun-as-hell games, contests, and prizes, prizes, prizes! TRAFIK was a proud sponsor of the event, check out our FLICKR page for the full set. Photos by Allaudin Hightower.

What Are You?

Robert organizing the racers

See the full set HERE!

Nick, this shit is scary man. Stay out from under bridges.

We are happy to officially announce that TRAFIK rider Jesus Lizama has been chosen to represent Team Kagero and Leader. You might have seen him rocking his new Kagero frame around town, all nice and shiny, just give it a few weeks and it’ll have that rich patina of smog, dirt, and L.A. grime.

Jesus has been involved with the L.A. bike scene for more than a minute. As one of the founders of the Korea Town Wednesday Ride (Kushtown for people who know) Jesus keeps it wheelie real. A racer, a bike activist, a top ranked Call of Duty player, Jesus is constantly working on making himself faster and raising the game of everyone around him. As part of Team Kagero, Jesus will be representing an international team of riders chosen from across the globe.

We are proud of you homie, represent L.A. well!

Thanks to Sal, Terrence, Patrick and all the folks at Leader and Pedal Consumption.

See More at http://www.pedalconsumption.com/

Our friend NASTY from Japan is finally coming out with his own signature frame. Nasty has been holding down the Tokyo FGFS scene for years now, glad they finally came around to hook him up proper. We met Nasty at Cyclemode, Tokyo a couple years back with the guys from W-Base. Super nice guy and a great rider. Check out his frame and video below.

Congo and Matt Spencer from Wolfdrawn put together this hot bike-check/workout video showing the interwebs that Congo means business. Nothing goes with American flag pants better than explosions. Great work guys.

WTF! Somebody up in Portland is looking for a true street beat down pulling stunts like this. A recent article from Bike Portland.org talks about a mysterious bike hater who is throwing down tack strips in bike lanes. He (or She if she’s a real bitch!) camouflaged the strips using tar paper and secures them to the pavement with sticky tar.

Good thing some observant cyclists saw what was up and took action. The rider, Jeremy Dunn, commented:

– “We had our heads up and avoided it because it looked like refuse, but we came across another rider about a mile down the road who had mysteriously double flatted.”

One flat sucks, but double? Don’t let this happen to you. If you see anything like this in your city, make sure to let people know. Better yet, if you can get a picture of the perp, post it up so we can make an old school WANTED posted.

-Ride Safe-

Grime added a fresh face to their team, Devon Lawson. Peep the new edit. Smoove moves and nice grinds Devon, looking forward to seeing more.

Redbull brought the mini-drome to the T-dot-O-dot for a day of Canadian swagger. Tom Mosher showed up and pulled a faceplant (check the vid) ouch. Those walls get steeper each time.