NYTimes: "Ancient Surfboard Style Is Finding New Devotees"

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Rant - NYTimes: "Ancient Surfboard Style Is Finding New Devotees"

I dunno, man. I mean, it's really good to try different things, and alaias sound pretty cool conceptually, and from what little I know about him I like Tom Wegener, but articles like this make me worry a tiny bit. Maybe it's just the fact that the lead-in photo shows one of the heroes of the story clearly dropping in on someone.

Source: NYTimes: "Ancient Surfboard Style Is Finding New Devotees"
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rant by over_the_falls
19 comments
tehdely
2 years ago

I can't wait until this is the new trend for skinny-jeansed hipsters. As the guy from Mollusk NYC once opined to Lewis Samuels, "I’ve never seen a pair a jeans fit as tight as a wetsuit". It's only a matter of time.

I picked up cycling in the last few years and have yet to see the practicality of an fixie. As a new surfer, I bet this trend will pass me right by!

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cryptomail (not verified)
2 years ago

Fixies in SF make the most sense ever! What are you talking about? See you with your surf rack holding your alaina over Portola to ######!

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tehdely
2 years ago

I should "fix" my Xtracycle. It'd be the envy of Valencia St.

The only problem would be getting to an actual beach with it.

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cryptomail (not verified)
2 years ago

Is that a PBR holder on the downtube and and a Parliament Lights poking out of your bag?

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cryptomail (not verified)
2 years ago

Well, honestly...I see:

a) bike with no brake handles
b) a pbr on the downtube
c) Parliament lights
d) skinny jeans with a white belt

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tehdely
2 years ago

I'm feeling cooler just from LOOKING at that picture, Josh.

Must. Have.

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gamed
2 years ago

I was a bike messenger (in SF) for 6 months in 1989. One co-worker had modified his bike to be fixed-gear. He got around downtown just fine, and claimed that it was an improvement. I think you can get around most of the city w/ out gears.

I haven't tried an alaia yet, but all the footage I've seen makes it look super hard. I struggle with the best modern gear - I'm not looking to make surfing harder. Also, that article talks about how down-to-earth and homespun they are: you can buy them for $600. I'll be on that right after I buy a $2000 wooden retro fish.

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cryptomail (not verified)
2 years ago

Yeah that's where it all started gamed :) I was around in 91 (God I'm old) and all the messies had them, and yeah they pretty much stayed downtown working diligently there, or smoking on Montgomery, in lieu of there being faxes and email and attachments. Today, in my estimation it's a fashion statement instead of a localized unbreakable, simple work implement where it may have made a bit more sense. If you wanted a fixie back then you didn't get it from the bike shop. You ordered your hub (flipflop MAYBE) and got to work. Now it's your shiney new bike from the store yay! :)
Anyway enough modern fixie disdain.
GET OFF MY LAWN

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Mark cutback Johnson
2 years ago

What's wrong with skinny jeans?

surfing is also a trend........................ (and possibly more hip, commodified, environmentally damaging, influencing of colonial/post colonial idea(l)s, lame, etc.)

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cryptomail (not verified)
2 years ago

Mark I hate what I cannot attain. I can't fit in them anymore! I'm jealous of what they represent...the forbidden fruit, that fountain of youth, that state of hipness, it would be unacceptable for me to be in them. Unacceptable for me like kinda like someone's 65yr old mom showing up in a miniskirt and high heels to Beauty Bar in the mish.

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tehdely
2 years ago

I can't fit into skinny jeans because I actually have legs to speak of.

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Mark cutback Johnson
2 years ago

hahaha,
well i can't hold it against you(s)

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fxct
2 years ago

overheard: "GET OFF MY FUCKING BEACH, EMO FAG! AND TAKE YOUR FIXIE AND YOUR CANON 30D AND YOUR FUNBOARD WITH YOU."

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cryptomail (not verified)
2 years ago

haha ala ben stiller indeed :)

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H20MansLibrary
2 years ago

i forget which reputable shaper said this, but when asked by a surfer where he could get an alaia, the shaper snorted and said "Home Depot"...

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Flyingfish
2 years ago

You will shed weight and tone muscles but blow out your knees with a fixie, unless you are between 16 to 23. Go, surf OB with an alia and no leash. Go prove your point.

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whoa
2 years ago

Ha ha! I just came to SR to post the same thing. Really funny that the best picture is a drop-in complete with stink-eye. Probably it's so hard to catch a wave on that fifty-pound plank that you have to risk the beat-down.

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cryptomail (not verified)
2 years ago

I just inadvertently txt msg'd someone due to my skinny jeans!
TRUE STORY!!!!
Where's my fixie and alaia!! :D

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sticker
2 years ago

Dude, that somebody was *me*!

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