Etching Memories with the IIWII Track, by So
By So
Hello everyone! Today’s feature is by So! After sharing my first impressions of the IIWII Track, I handed the bike over to So for a couple of months to see what would happen beyond that initial spark. And as expected, once the kilometers stacked up, so did the thoughts.
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Enjoy the read!
Do you know that rush when a new frame arrives? It never really gets old. This time, it’s the It Is What It Is (IIWII) track frame that Paul sent me, and honestly, the name says it all. It feels like our Shanghai friends stripped everything back, leaving only the raw essence of the track bike.
Of course, the first thing that hit me was the finish. That naked, raw aluminum, just like Paul described in his previous article, made me stop and look a little longer than usual. The logos and typography are chemically etched directly into the metal, giving it this prototype energy. It almost looks like a machine still in development, built purely for function. It’s not flashy, but it speaks in its own way.
As soon as it landed, I hit up my boy Minh (a.k.a. @vxarea) to build it up. The frame and fork come in silver and white, so we decided to go full contrast, murdered out, with all black components, except the chainring. And honestly, sitting there with a friend, swapping parts and debating every detail until it feels right… might be the best part of building a bike.
Building a new frame like this always takes me back to day one of riding fixed gear with friends, discovering everything for the first time. That feeling of looking at something fresh and imagining the stories you’re about to write before you’ve even clipped in. Having a reliable daily is great, but I never want to lose that hunger for new culture and new styles. That mindset matters.
Looking at the geometry, the wheelbase is on the longer side, and the head tube angle is a bit slacker than what I usually like. With that pursuit-style setup, I first built it with deep carbon rims and drops, something to mash through the streets of Paris. I was chasing that @pizza__zz___ energy: staying in the drops, not stopping, just carrying momentum.
I’ll be honest though, at first, I wasn’t convinced. The head angle and fork offset threw me off. I’ve always ridden tight, aggressive setups like the Mash Parallax, front wheel tucked in, almost hitting your toes at every corner. If a bike didn’t feel compact and twitchy, it just didn’t click for me.
But I was wrong, and in the best possible way.
At first, the long top tube felt strange, almost like sprinting underwater. But after a while, that extra stability started to make sense. In a straight line, the IIWII track frame is on another level. When I’m late and hit the big boulevards, I can just switch my brain off and push as hard as I can. Even if the acceleration comes a bit later than what I’m used to, once you’re up to speed, it just glides through the city. It really feels like it was built for wide, structured city roads, like the one you can find in major Asian cities, the kind where you can truly open it up. In the chaos of Paris backstreets though, a quicker, more reactive bike might make more sense.
Let’s get a bit more specific about the geometry.
With a 73° head angle paired with a 33mm fork offset, the frame feels incredibly stable, as I mentioned earlier. It’s naturally become my go-to weekend bike, whether for group rides with road cyclists or longer trips out to places like Costco, which is pretty far from where I live. The ability to run 32mm tires (and possibly even a bit more at the rear) makes it perfect if you’re after a plush yet fast ride.
Cornering, however, feels quite unique. Instead of the bike simply “falling” into a turn, it feels more like you’re actively guiding it with your body and handlebars. The longer wheelbase resists that quick, sharp lean just enough that you have to be more intentional when entering corners. But over longer distances, that actually becomes a strength. The bike is so stable that you can relax into the ride and just keep pedaling without overthinking. That’s exactly what makes it so comfortable, especially when riding on SPD pedals and pushing the pace.
Lately, I swapped the drops for risers and even borrowed a new set of carbon wheels from Minh. Riding a pursuit geo in the drops for too long was honestly killing my back. Still, cruising on risers feels like something is missing. The stability is there, the frame feels solid, but I keep thinking about that head angle and wheelbase. (Worth noting: I’m riding a size L, which has a drastically different geometry from an M that might’ve been the sweet spot.)
For me, that toe overlap feeling, that tight, tucked geometry, is essential. It’s hard to explain, but if you’re into vintage cars, it’s like that raw, analog feeling without ABS or assistance. It’s an internal switch. A signal. And here, I feel it a bit less. Every time I jump on a shorter wheelbase track bike or even a BMX, coming back to this one makes it feel long, more stable, secure, and also like it’s built for speed. It’s just very different from what I usually ride.
That’s where I’m at for now, and I still have time to explore it, but I can already tell you that this frame makes a lot of sense if you’re chasing raw speed, especially in this L size.
Performance and geometry aside, that chemical-etched finish is unreal. Normally, you worry about paint chips, scratches, and all that, but this frame doesn’t care. It almost invites it. It’s not a show bike, it’s a machine meant to be ridden hard. And even if from a distance, it can look simple, the closer you’ll look, the more you’ll see all the details carved into the aluminum. Every scratch you add just becomes part of this bike.
So I’m going to enjoy every bit of it and keep etching my story into it.