Brooklyn Machine Works and Wbase's Love Story
Brooklyn Machine Works (BMW) has always been into its own category in fixed gear culture. With the massive success of the recent Gangsta V4 and the number of questions that I heard around me, I took the opportunity to answer a few of them by getting information straight from the source.
So I went to see Marco at WBase Tokyo to learn more about what’s going on and where all of this is going.
Hi Marco! Could you introduce yourself and what you do?
Hi! Well, I’m Marco, Director of the creative label Manners Knows, I’m also working for Wbase and Annex distribution.
You could say I’m a little bit of everything: Rider, movie director, and many other artistic functions. But at the end of the day, I just enjoy riding bikes.
How long have you been into fixed gear and what was your first reaction when you discovered Brooklyn Machine Works (BMW)?
I started getting into fixed gear in my first year of university. I’m now 33 years old, so that’s a solid 14 years.
I do remember that the Gangsta was a cool-looking bike, but most importantly, it seemed super tough. It was almost the perfect FGFS bike at the time. We were all riding on some NJS frames or early aluminum track bikes, and tricking on those was a synonym of often breaking forks, bending frames, and other material casualties. But when we discovered Brooklyn Machine Works, we were told that it was made to last. I personally broke both chainstays on mine at some point. But after some rewelding, I’m still riding it to this day. One thing that we all understood pretty quickly though, was to replace the original “bladed” fork that has very little lateral resistance, with a SE Bikes “Landing gear” fork made for 26”. At the time that was the ultimate combo to be part of “the cool kids”
A lot of people are thinking that BMW is now 100% Japanese. Could you tell us what’s really going on?
Joe (BMW’s CEO) and Wbase always had a strong relationship. But everything we do, we do it as friends. There is no license or contract between us. We’re just here to help Joe’s vision and creative instincts come to life.
For example, if a brand asks us to make a BMW collab. We’ll ask Joe, go through the creative process together, and then he’ll decide if things are happening or not.
BMW is American and will stay that way.
So the V4 was a huge success, everybody wanted one and you’ve recently released a new BMX frame. Are we gonna see more revivals like the Park bike or the crazy Big-Ben downhill bike?
All I can tell you is a big maybe. Maybe we’ll do another run, maybe US-made. Who knows….
What I’m sure about is that some old models like the Big-Ben which were completely insane for their time, even if it would be fun to remake them, redoing the exact same thing would be a bit boring... There isn’t any reason to make a pure revival of old models if they aren’t in phase with their time. If Joe decides to do a rerun of older models, they will evolve to fit with the actual riding style of everyone. That’s what he likes to do, and that’s what we’re looking forward to. That’s also why he decided to put cantis on the Gangsta V4 for example. Gotta be always thinking about what would make the next gen of BMW better.
So a Gangsta V5 is not out of the question then?
I don’t know. We’ve never talked about it. But the way of thinking I just described before, might give us another BMW track bike with the Gangsta’s soul, or just a new and revisited Gangsta. It’s way too early to tell.
What about parts? Some BMW pedals go for insane prices on eBay right now. Is there any plan to re-release Stems, pedals, and other components?
Like I said before, doing another run of the exact same thing is not a priority. We would love it but Joe’s logic is towards the future, not the past. “It was great at the time but we need to make things evolve and consider everyone's needs.”
But as always I’m not the boss here. It all depends on Joe’s decision.
BMW has always been connected with the fashion world. Is this something you’d like to continue?
Oh yes! If you think about it, there isn’t any other bike brand that has such strong street roots as BMW. Street culture is our culture, and in most cases, we can see what’s fake when normal companies try to do collabs with the world of street riding.
It’s our number one asset, and a way to create awesome stuff with people and brands that fits with us.
What do you think of the fixed-gear culture right now?
As mainly a trick rider myself, I’ve seen the “trick boom” going around a few times already. The thing that we were always told when we first started riding was: “Everything is just a big loop”.
It will come back around at some point, and I can see the first signs right now. Everyone wants to start doing ground tricks with normal track bikes. If this gets more popular, you’ll inevitably see a few dudes getting more and more air, doing 180s, 360s … etcetera. But since normal track bikes can’t cope with that kind of trick, the trend will slowly evolve to 700c FGFS frames or 26” with more robust tubing, Spanish bottom brackets, BMX style headset, etcetera.
Here is your loop.
Is there any objective you’d like to achieve by being part of all this?
The goal that always comes back while discussing with Joe, is getting BMW to more people so everyone can enjoy our kind of product.
BMW don’t wanna become big like Trek, Giant or have the availability to order a Brooklyn frame, at any time, anywhere. But slowly grow through specific shops that understand us and are part of our culture. That’s the challenge, and doing this worldwide is gonna take time.
Anything you'd like to add?
I have to say, I’m really happy to see more and more people getting into fixed-gear freestyle. It’s my favorite thing ever, so seeing more content coming out every day and people creating new tricks makes me ecstatic.
As one of the central players of this culture, it’s also my role to increasingly push this scene so we can maybe find the next Matt Reyes.
I wanna see the next FGFS hero, so I’m helping to achieve this.
You’ve seen it here first folks! It’s all about getting more tricks locked in now and helping each other reach the top.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this short interview and the pictures attached to it. Wbase is just filled with BMW gems, from the old school pedals to Marco’s one of three ever produced “County Killer” CX Brooklyn.
If that doesn't make you wanna travel, I don’t know what will!
See you next week!
