Tag Archives: 5ive points

5ive Points with Jeff Jones

NYC Velo is proud to present a 5ive Points interview with Jeff Jones of Jeff Jones Custom Bicycles, a custom bicycle builder from Medford, OR.  Jeff’s bikes have garnered a staggering amount of acclaim throughout the bike world, as well as in the design world – he was featured in New York City’s Museum of Arts and Design exhibit, Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle, in 2010.

In Jeff’s own words, “I’m a cyclists committed to the non-suspended bicycle.  My ideas and passion have created an exceptional ride – a geometry that delivers superb handling, comfort, and efficiency.”

We, like many cyclists, are big fans of Jeff’s work and look forward to seeing more of his bikes here in NYC!

NYC Velo: What bike do you ride?

Jeff Jones: I have about five bikes built up and ride them all. Recently I’ve been riding a new bike I built up with a longer wheelbase. Yesterday I rode with the kids to school on my old GT tandem.

NYCV: What’s your favorite ride/route?

JJ: Ride from the shop, over the mountain, sleep in the woods and ride home the next day.

NYCV: What’s your favorite post-ride food?

JJ: Homemade pizza and a big fruit smoothie.

NYCV: What’s one think you always carry on a ride?

JJ: My tool kit with my old Ti Cool Tool.

NYCV: What’s next for you in cycling?

JJ: More bikes and riding.

5ive Points with Nigel Hall & Dan Manco of Grimpeur Bros. Coffee

Nigel Hall is a Co-Founder of Grimpeur Bros. Specialty Coffee and an interactive designer at Tremor Video. He’s fond of adventures and has spent time in Kenya doing field biology research. During his time there, he climbed Mt. Meru in Tanzania and hitch-hiked from Kenya to Rwanda and back. On weekends, you’ll find Nigel racing bikes for David Jordan Racing, backpacking in the Catskills or Adirondacks, and/or knocking out his wife’s insanely long honey-do list and hanging with the family.

Dan Manco is also a Co-Founder of Grimpeur Bros. Specialty Coffee in addition to his work as a highly accomplished digital strategist, marketer, product developer, producer, and serial entrepreneur. Dan loves all things cycling and coffee related. He recently relocated his family to Austin, TX, from Brooklyn, NY, though he makes a point to get back to NYC as often as he can but it’s never as much as he’d like.

NYC Velo: What’s your favorite bike?

Nigel Hall: I have two favorite bikes. My mountain bike and my road bike. My mountain bike is a 1996-era, Reynolds 531, Walter Croll with a Girvin Suspension Stem and a kinesis aluminum fork. Yes, that’s right, a Girvin Suspension Steam – a relic. I converted it to my commuter bike and it’s a ton of fun to ride around the city. You can really accelerate and maintain speed with it. The stem absorbs all the potholes in the road and I really like the recoil on it. It’s plush and smooth. It’s an oldie, but goodie.

My other favorite bike is my road bike. It’s a Scott Addict R1 – pure machine. It’s light, stiff, and elegant. Similar to my Walter Croll mountain bike, the Scott just feels like it’s a part of me when I ride – pushing me to go further and faster.

Dan Manco: It’s cross season so my favorite bike is my 2010 Kona “Jake The Snake” procured at NYC Velo (we did not solicit that plug, ed.). I’ve been riding it so much that I rode my 2011 Scott CR1 Elite the other day after a long break and it was like going on a date with a new girlfriend. Jake is a fun, tough, just all-round solid CX bike. And doubles as a great commuter bike. Post-cyclocross season, my CR1 “China White” will return as my fave…she’s jealous right now.

NYCV: What’s your favorite ride?

NH: The only riding that I have done in NY has been the typical 9W route and WAY too many laps in Central and Prospect Park. I enjoy it because it suits my style of riding – nice rollers and some flat areas where you can get speed and maintain it. I prefer to take River Road into Nyack and then do some climbing up Bradley and then make my way back on 9W.

DM: In Austin, my favorite ride starts 10 minutes from my front door, the hills of Westlake Hills. They’re steep, short pitches (think the Piermont on ramp on to 9W back towards the GW except longer) and just a lot of fun. And they connect to even steeper climbs in Northwest Austin (Ladera Norte, Jester, Courtyard, Bee Cave Rd., the 360 Loop, Lost Creek, and the Dam Loop). They’re great, scenic routes to climb and are car-light. In NYC, hands down it’s 9W and River Road. I love those routes so much we named the Grimpeur Bros. signature espresso and peaberry single origin 9Dub Espresso and River Road Peaberry Single Origin respectively. And they are available for purchase at NYC Velo. Yes they are!

NYCV: What do you always bring with you on a ride?

NH: A very simple multitool that can handle repairs to get me home, spare tube, air and food. Food is most critical. I’m skinny and I burn calories like crazy. I need to eat. I get the “fringale” too easy, even at my fittest.

DM: Helmet, Road ID, driver’s license, $20, iPhone, tire irons, spare tube, Lezyne tire pump, patch kit, and Halt! dog repellent (3 words: Texas. Country. Dawgs.)

NYCV: What’s your favorite post-ride food?

NH: My favorite post-ride food is an organic burger from Prime Meats with one of their cocktails. Prime Meats is farm-to-table, local and fresh. The burgers are one of my favorites in all of NY, and nothing goes with it better than one of their cocktails. All of their mixes are freshly made and it’s the perfect combo after a good ride.

DM: Espresso or a single origin coffee pour-over plus whatever protein I can find…current protein favorite: Texas BBQ (J Mueller BBQ in South Austin).

NYCV: What’s next?

NH: More Grimpeur Bros.  Coffee and more racing – shooting to upgrade to Cat 3 in 2013. More family. Enjoying life and eating great food. More awesomeness. More adventures.

DM: More cross racing. More climbing. More coffee. More Grimpeur Bros. More Life.

5ive Points with Claudette Lajam, M.D.

This 5ive Points episode features a very special friend of ours. Dr. Claudette Lajam, also known as “Orthochick,” is not only a well-known orthopedic surgeon at NYU Hospital for Joint Disease, but is also a longstanding member of New York City’s cycling and bike racing communities. Claudette has helped countless riders find proper treatment when the unfortunate/inevitable injury occurs. She also rides for our newest sponsored shop team, W&D Racing/ NYC Velo.
Claudette sat down with us for a few minutes to talk about what riding and racing in NYC is like. Thanks Claudette!

NYC Velo: What bike do you ride?
Claudette Lajam: It depends on the day. For commuting, my Brompton folding bike.  My road bike is an electric pink  Pinarello 4:16.  For Cyclocross, a Felt F1x.

NYCV: What’s your favorite ride?
CL: The ride home from work after a long day! But seriously, Last year I was able to ride part of the USA Pro Cycling tour stage from Gunnison, CO to Crested Butte, CO.  Takes your breath away, literally, at 9600 ft elevation!

NYCV: What’s your favorite post-ride food?
CL: Wafels and Dinges Wafel with Nutella and fresh whipped cream. Yum!

NYCV: What is one thing you always carry on a ride?
CL: My cell phone.  And I wear my Road ID.  I wish I had thought of that product.

NYCV: What’s next?
CL: It has been my privilege to take care of many members of the NYC cycling community. My chairman and the department at NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases have been incredibly supportive here. We at NYU HJD are committed to providing the best care to the injured cyclist. We’ve carried this through to the national level also.  It is my privilege to be on the Board of the Medicine of Cycling organization, which educates health care professionals about treating cycling-related health issues. This is an ever-expanding part of our mission and we just keep getting better.
One of the scariest things that can happen to a cyclist is to sustain an injury.  Many riders don’t know what to do, or feel lost and frustrated. We are working to make sure that any injured cyclist can find good medical care in a timely manner without going bankrupt.

5ive Points with Kelly Mclean of Sky Pro Cycling

On a recent trip out east (to see our friends at Fizik in Italy) we had the rare opportunity to share drinks and a pizza pie with Kelly Mclean, Sponsorship Executive for the Sky Professional Cycling team.  Kelly was taking part in the Fizik factory tour as a liason between 2 of the professional cyclists on Sky Pro Cycling, Salvatore Puccio and Davide Appollonio, and Fizik, a sponsor of the UCI ProTeam.  Though not a professional cyclist herself, Kelly is quite proud of the team and its accomplishments.  She’s based in Manchester (Sky is a British telecom company) and prior to her position with Sky Pro Cycling worked for a number of years for British Cycling, the sports’ national governing body.  During our “interview”, she successfully dodged many a question about Mark Cavendish, save one (“Do you call him Cav? In the States we call him Cav.”, “No, I call him Mark.”), but did tip us off on something about Cav being photographed riding his bike atop the new Jaguar (another team sponsor) shooting brake sedan…..we hope that’s not their leadout strategy next week!

NYC Velo: What’s your favorite bike?
Kelly Mclean: I hope to get a Specialized upon my return home to the UK.  I’ve been inspired to get on a road bike after watching the Granfondo and seeing the Fizik facility!

NYCV: What’s your favorite ride?
KM: I did a ride in Japan a couple years ago, I can’t remember which mountain I climbed, but I don’t think it was Mt Fuji, definitely not Mt. Fuji.

NYCV: What do you always bring with you on a ride?
KM: I have 2 cell phones for work, both iPhones with different Sky Pro Cycling cases.

NYCV: What’s your favorite post-ride food?
KM: Definitely a roast dinner, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, a bottle of red wine, live jazz, and a view of the Cheshire countryside.

NYCV: What’s next?
KM: For Sky Pro cycling, definitely Wiggins in yellow and Cav in Green at the Tour de France, and Cav wins gold at the London Games.

Photo: IG Markets / Team Sky

5ive Points with Joseph Ahearne

5ive Points with Tim Johnson

NYC Velo is supremely proud to welcome our second (don’t call it a trend) video 5ive Points interview with (talk about going outside our sphere of influence) professional cyclist and 6-time US National Cyclocross Champion Tim Johnson.  While we’ve been lucky enough to host Tim and his Ride On Washington (RoW) crew two years running, we struggled to get him to sit down long enough for a formal interview (if that’s what you call our little sideshow).  Our solution was to break out the Applephone for a quick 5ive Points at the Pier 11 Sea Streak ferry terminal as Tim was making his way down to DC for some bike lobbying.

In addition to Tim’s National Championship titles (starting as a Junior in 1995, through his most recent win as an elite in 2009), he was the fist American cyclocross racer to stand on the podium of a World Championship event, taking 3^rd place in the 1999 race in Proprad, Slovakia.  Tim is now using the fame earned on the racecourse to fuel his Ride on Washington, a 500+ mile ride from Boston, MA to Washington, DC, arriving in time for the National Bike Summit and raising over $100,000 for the cause.  Once in DC, Tim turned his focus on Congress, lobbying for improved bicycle funding.

On the morning of their departure from NYC during the past two RoW events, Tim and his 25-strong crew of cyclists stopped by NYC Velo for a send-off breakfast.  Be sure to keep an eye out for next year’s event, as it’s a great way to get to know Tim and the team.  In the meantime, enjoy Tim’s 5ive Points interview in all of its unedited glory.

5ive Points with Photographer/Filmmaker Brian Vernor

Brian Vernor is a busy guy.  He’s an accomplished photographer, a filmmaker, an adventure cyclist, and a Santa Cruz-er.  Not all of Brian’s work centers around bikes, though most does, from cyclocross films to documentaries covering the lives of European race commentators.  Brian’s cyclocross films (Pure Sweet Hell and The Cyclocross Meeting) caught our attention a few years back when they (respectively) were shown at the Bicycle Film Festival a few blocks from the shop at the Anthology Film Archives. Brian has worked on a number of interesting, and disparate, projects in the bike biz, making him a seasoned member of the national collective cycling community.  He’s as at-home chatting Red Hook Crit in a bike shop in NYC as he is discussing NorCal rail-bike riding in a coffee shop in San Francisco.

As an admittedly weak nod to Brian’s profession, we decided to conduct a video 5ive Points interview instead of our usual written version.  Readers will notice decidedly poor production value, though the answers are no less interesting and relevant.  Enjoy!

5ive Points with IF#1

The 5ive Points Interview is breaking the mold again, creating a new paradigm in the uber-competitive world of oversimplified short-form bike shop interviews.  To say that Indy Fab #1 (rhymes with the nonsensicle Prince symbol, though hates to be called “Purple Rain”) is an inanimate object and thus not appropriate as an oversimplified short-form interview subject would be short-sighted, and missing the point at best. The bike frame in question is Independent Fabrication frame #1, the first production frame to come out of the Sommerville, Mass factory over 15 years ago.  IF #1, or IF1 as it prefers to be called, is a steel mountainbike frame, a hardtail in dirtbike lingo.  It wears a contemporary (for the mid ‘90s) triple fade paint job, and a wealth of component manufacturer stickers.  IF1 sports a one-inch headtube, a downtube gusset, cantilever brake studs, and the scars of a solid case of chain-suck.  IF1 will be residing proudly at NYC Velo (in a live-work capacity to get around 2^nd Avenue zoning regs) for the foreseeable future.  While not for sale (that would be wrong), IF1 is always game to crack open a beer and chat about New England bike building history.

NYC Velo: What bike do you ride?
IF1: Dumb Question

NYC Velo: What’s your favorite ride?
IF1: Mount Snow NORBA Cross-Country Course in Dover, Vermont

What’s your favorite post-ride food?
IF1: As a steel bicycle, I consume little other that J.P. Weigle’s Framesaver, didn’t you guys interview that dude?

What is one thing that you always carry on a ride?
IF1: A rider.  Are you sure you’ve done this before, these questions are ridiculously off-point.

What’s next?
IF1: Inspiring the hype-free production of hype-free bikes, hand-made in New England, and I think 1 inch headtubes will make a comeback.  And fade paint jobs.

5ive Points with Liam Quigley

The 5ive Points interview series has a tradition not only of brevity, but variety as well. Local-boy-cum-post-renaissance-man Liam Quigley (aka Ratherbebiking or Cyclocity) answers our intentionally simple interview questions succinctly and offers just a bit of insight into the world of a bike-rider/racer/commuter/latenight-anti-insomnia-cookie-delivery-dude/photographer/bike-lane-violation-documenter/revolutionary.

Liam grew up in downtown Manhattan, cut his teeth racing in the CRCA Junior program, and photographically documented the NYC racing scene before relocating to Baltimore to pursue higher education of an artistic nature. Whether he’s in NYC or Baltimore, or somewhere in between, Liam keeps his digital followers abreast of bike lane violations and other crimes against cyclists, and delivers the occasional batch of sleep-inducing cookies. Follow him on the Twitter at @_elkue.

NYC Velo: What bike do you ride?
Liam Quigley: I only ride one bicycle these days. It is a 4 speed (Dura-Ace!) delivery bike with a Cetma rack. It’s an Orion. I don’t know who built it but I hope they don’t read this because I haven’t been taking very good care of it. Mainly I use it for work so it has sustained lots of nicks and several dents.

NYCV: What’s your favorite ride?
LQ: I like rides that include more than one borough. In the summer I like to ride out to City Island, that’s a nice 40 mile ride that you can convince less experienced cyclists to do. 

NYCV: What’s your favorite post-ride food?
LQ: Pizza.

NYCV: What is one thing you always carry on a ride?
LQ: Two things : Patch kit & a camera.

NYCV: What’s next?
LQ: $$$ Multi-millions $$$.

5ive Points: The Rebirth of BMX with Big Dave Harrison

I met Big Dave, or Spooky Dave to some, in the mid 90′s through my good friend, tattoo artist Famous Gabe Smith(who just happened to be Dave’s brother). Dave, Gabe and I would spend our formative days pedaling around downtown Pensacola, Florida. Even though they rode Spooky BMX machines, they never once made fun of my little Mongoose. They even tried patiently to teach me how to do a few tricks and wall rides, all on my mini ‘goose. It’s because of this generosity that I have always supported Dave any way I could. I always sucked at BMX, so when FBM built a fixed gear frame I snatched up one of the original aqua green Sword frame and forks.

Dave has since moved on from FBM to Providence, RI to start a new life with his girlfriend. His new venture is calledPedal Driven Cycles, which will showcase Dave’s diversity in frame building and machining by building everything from commuting, to complete custom bikes. Dave is getting this new bike company off the ground with a Kickstarter BMX project called Kool Thing (a nod to the Sonic Youth song of the same name). Just like Sonic Youth’s undeniable influence over American underground rock, you would be hard pressed to avoid Big Dave’s influence over the American BMX industry.

Dave cut his teeth with Mountain Bike Hall of Famer Frank the Welder at Spooky 15 years ago and is commemorating his 15th year welding bicycles with a very limited run of 15 hand built and individually hand painted BMX frames. The 15 frames sold will be the seed money with which Big Dave plans to give the American BMX industry the rebirth that it needs. The rub is that, if your unfamiliar with Kickstarter, there is a deadline. That deadline is coming up quick, December 9th, and he’s 85% there.

You don’t necessarily have to throw down $750 for the frame to do your part: you can give to the cause as little as $1. Every bit makes a difference and pledges of $150 or more garners an original 11” X 14” Kool Thing Logo water color painted print by Famous Gabe. Check the Kool Thing Kickstarter page for more details on supporting American BMX through this unique project.

NYC Velo: What bike do you ride?
Dave Harrison: BMX- custom FBM frame with 21 1/4 tt; Around town bike- 1990′s Diamond Back Accent w/ 700c wheels that I bought in high school; Mt bike- Trek 8000, pretty basic set up but fun to ride.

NYCV: What’s your favorite ride?
Dave Harrison: That is hard to say, but I do love how long and all the things I have ridden on the old diamond back.  I used to race the thing cross country in Mississippi!

NYCV: What’s your favorite post-ride food?
Dave Harrison: Locally roasted coffee or a craft beer.  They both go well with food.

NYCV: What is one thing you always carry on a ride?
Dave Harrison: A BIG SMILE

NYCV: What’s next?
Dave Harrison: Who knows, but I am looking forward to making bicycles of all kind and hopefully getting more people into making their own bikes and I am looking forward to doing some projects with other frame builders.