sammysnyderz

Raven, thanks for responding to me. I think we can chalk up most of my complaints to a difference in taste and leave it at that. I would just encourage you to think of an in depth interview as less of "discovering" someone, and more of delivering fresh insights into them, whoever they are. MaximumRockandRoll had an pretty good in-depth Twist interview 3 years (March 1993) before the 12oz one came out, but yours had a totally different feel since it came from inside the graff scene. It was good because there was a great discussion that took place, not because you were there first. (For the record, I have been picking up 12oz since issue 1 and you guys HAVE come a long long way! I'm just letting you know what I want to see from you folks...)

I was disappointed by this book. I thought it was too design oriented for my taste. The gloss overlay idea is attractive, but overused. I did really really like the spreads of tags, fills, gates and (especially) doors. I did not like the posters. I like seeing Skuf's work around and would have much preferred a poster with 100 Skuf fillins as opposed to a photo of him. What is this? Tiger Beat? A poster of those doors would have been much much more interesting to look at. The other poster is just an ad for the book, which I already bought. Most of the other stuff in the book was very pretty, but just not that interesting to me. "Featuring" VFR is a good idea, but one sentence and one photo is a featherweight feature. "Featuring" Noah and Os Gemeos? They are in there, but it's a stretch. You might as well say you are featuring everyone on the tag page. On which, by the way, there are also a lot of double examples of people who don't live in NY: Gorey, Grey, Amaze, Twist, Meak, at least. I know, those tags are in NY. I'm not saying they should be excluded, but do they need 2 or 3? Isn't there someone you could have put in who is from NY instead? There are plenty of new Stay High 149 tags, for example. (There are also duplicate shots of Pace KUK and Whirl.) Could you guys think about hooking up some nice, long, thoughtful interviews again? You have done some excellent ones in the past. I'm sure Noah has enough stories to make a real feature. The truck graphic designers section seemed a little out of place to me, but that may be my personal taste. Nice stuff, but a bit contradictory to the "grimey" mission statement of the book? Maybe it's just me. Overall, I appreciate the effort that went into this book, and would probably not have taken the time be so critical, but the after 5 pages of orgasmic accolades, I figure you guys can take it.....

I'm not really disagreeing with you here, but I think the difference would be, even if the middle class folks got paid to do a mural in a poor neighborhood, the end result would not necessarily be an advertisement encouraging people to buy something. From what I;ve read about this fiasco, I don't think the issue here is legal vs. illegal. It's graffiti vs. advertisment.

I'm looking for some hobo/moniker/streak zines. I've seen Faded Glory and The Fifth Goal. Are there many others? Anyone have any? I have some older "regular graf" mags I would trade. Either way, please add to the list.

Anyone know anything about Maillard hubs?

You guys are right (in the gear ratio dept). I've been riding in a lower gear and still, spinning out takes a while and it's really only when I'm going down a steep hill. Going over the bridge I felt like my cadence was a lot better. I'm not sure why, it just felt steadier and it still took some effort, but smoother.

Originalarea: It sounds like I am overgearing for my fitness level. Or am thinking about it. I rode around for a couple weeks in 4th gear a while ago, and then realized that even though I COULD do it, it wasn't very pleasant. 3rd seems nice and smooth. But the idea of more maneuverability in traffic makes a lot of sense to me. It's mellow where I am, but Manhattan is pretty hairy. Thanks again for the advice.

Whoever was asking about the LES bike shop: http://www.bikecult.com/works/

I think I'd rather have it a little high and spin out a little less overall.

I'm in Brooklyn. Pretty flat, but the bridges to manhattan are steep. I'm planning on putting a front brake on since it's already drilled for one. Right now I'm riding 48 20 on sort of cruiser with an internal hub. (shimano nexus 4 speed) I almost always stay in 3rd gear. Sometimes 4th. I can do the bridge in 3rd. I looked at a gear calculator and ended up with 93 gear inches, which is really high. Someone who rides fixed told me that the 70s are where most people ride. I would say that I don't ride that much compared to most people on here. Not full time at all. I'm thinking about this Sugino crank (it fits the bottom bracket the frame came with) and the place that has them says the smallest front ring they have is 46. So maybe 46/16? 46/17? I hadn't really thought about the cog life thing. thanks for bringing it up.....I'm interested in what other people prefer.

Okay, I'm putting together a bike... converting a road to a fixed. I saw some answers waaaaaaaaay back, but I don't have time to sift through all 86 pages of this. So what ratio are you folks riding at? I'm thinking about 46-48 front and 16 back. Are you anywhere in that range? Thanks...