Self-Bike Check: Brooklyn Gangsta V1 No421
It's been a while since I have done a proper self bike check… Even more so after selling a few of my bikes on my way to bike-minimalism (We might talk about that in a later blog-post). But after some organizing and heartbreaking sales, there is truly one gem that stood up from the rest. I’ve tried countless times to build this bike without getting it to feel right. I was even going to sell it at some point, since I was sure I'd never get it to fit my vision. But maybe by luck and a lot of trial and error, I finally managed to squeeze every bit of potential (that matters to me) out of my Brooklyn Machine Works Gangsta.
Let’s rewind a little bit and look at how all of this started.
Back when I was working with Wbase, I had the opportunity to get my hands on a Gangsta V1 that wasn’t receiving too much love from its owner.
At the time of selling V1s, Wbase had a “weld-on service” that was quite popular. For a small fee, we would take your frame to the local frame builder and add canti-studs to it so you could run a V-brake setup. With traffic laws in Japan and brakes being mandatory, we ended up doing a solid bunch of them, with or without a repaint afterward.
As you can see, my frame went through the same treatment, with some additional cable guides on the top-tube. And after many years of cold storage, I decided to finally build the thing as a SSCX bike for my daily commutes. I debated quite a while on if I was supposed to have the studs removed or not. But since they were already there, why not take full advantage of the situation, and use all of these braze-ons. Following some parts hunting and a painful build (because canti brakes are so annoying to set correctly), my single-speed Brooklyn was finally ready.
To be brutally honest, it was the most boring bike I ever rode… I was so hyped up, and it ended in the biggest disappointment… And no matter how hard I tried, every build failed to impress me, or even, to simply create a fun bike to ride.
So despite the very visible brazed-ons clashing with the “pure” track bike aesthetic, I decided to give it one last chance, but as a “simple” fixed-gear bike this time. Pulling out various parts from other projects, and getting some fancy new stuff along the way, I managed to complete something that was, first and foremost, visually pleasing.
I wasn't expecting much from that experiment, but went at it either way. As for the parts, you’ll see that I made a decent effort by matching this Sugino Grand Mighty with some Renthal Fat bar, or even these ESI grips with this pair of fairweather tires.
Detailed Parts List
Frameset
BMW Gangsta V1 (No 421)
Chainring and Cog AARN 49T, 17t Cog
Crank Sugino 75 Grand Mighty 165mm
Seatpost and Saddle
LP Composites, Selle Italia Flite
Stem and Handlebar
Thomson X4 130mm, Renthal Fatbar Lite
Wheels Zipp 404 Track Clincher
Tires Fairweather Traveller 32c
A BMW Gangsta is like no other bike you may have already ridden or tested. It has that capacity to look like the chillest geo you’ve ridden, while being dang fast and incredibly stable. I’ve personally never ever needed a 130mm stem, but for this bike it was a perfect fit and great styling choice. As for the other special bits on that bike: The LP Composites seatpost is from an old American maker that is unfortunately long gone. They were creating these MTB parts with crazy carbon-kevlar weaves in them, and it took me a serious while to find one of my own. But it looks sick, and you couldn’t convince me otherwise.
There is also that forged brass W-Base spacer that we never officially released, luckily enough I was able to keep a prototype, and that just adds to the little unique details that I love to talk about. Finally, you might have seen that the decals on that bike are not the conventional Brooklyn ones. The “Koi” decals were designed and printed when W-Base and Brooklyn first started their collaboration. They were meant to be on the first batch of imported frames, yet this one had to be one of the last, being number #421 out of the 500 V1 produced.
I sincerely didn’t understand the attraction for BMW Gangstas at first. Even after meeting Joe that put sweat and tears into that first batch of five hundred frames, the gangsta was still a steel track bike with a sloping top-tube and a wild looking fork. But I guess with time I got to feel and understand what makes this frame so attractive to such a wide crowd.
I understand that for lots of you that a bike with that kind of geometry might not be that attractive. But give it a go, and you’ll understand how some steel frames can feel so comfy yet extremely stiff and reactive, like the gangsta.
Why would you ever paint a bike Kawazaki-green ?!
🎞: Kodak Gold 200
📷: Nikon F100
📍: Biarritz
