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42X12 Cult of Fixed

Published 2009 by Carpet Bombing Culture
Compiled by Gary Shove
Words by Patrick Potter
Distributed by Ginko Press
Hardback 192 pages, 232 x 220mm
ISBN-10: 0955912121
ISBN-13: 978-0955912139

Project Summary

42X12 was a book for fans of fixed gear cycling. It took me ten weeks from brief to sign off. I submitted 20, 000 words making it the longest book I'd written and the first for which I was credited as the author. I knew nothing about cycling when I took this contract on. I developed a tone based on my own research into the cycling scene. When it was published it was received well in the scene, one reviewer even suggesting that it was written 'by people who ride for people who ride'. I hope this proves that I can find the right voice for your audience too.

Clipping

There are those who come to Fixies from the manly and serious world of road racing, citing the bicycle's considerable capacity to strengthen the legs and improve the rhythm. There are those who come simply because it’s fantastic fun to learn the new awareness and coordination required to make Fixies fly. 

There are those who come because it’s really, really cool and the bikes are well sweet. 

There are those who come by mistake and leave shortly afterwards.

All these pilgrims are rewarded. For it was written long ago that they would come. And above all the Fixie offers a new perspective on riding a bicycle. And it is a perspective that many claim to be a gateway to the mysterious ‘zone’ wherein the body and cycle become one with the road, time compacts and the mind is for a few priceless moments chained to the moment in all its ragged glory.

In short, it is a moving meditation.

Praise for 42X12 Cult of Fixed


Drilling deep into the book Potter highlights the finer points of Fixie riding, for instance are you a Romantic or Classicist? The Classicist is explained as such; "Function excites the Classicist.. looking pretty is viewed as a shallow concern." Whilst the Romantic: "The Romantic will often daydream about cycling... the lure of the new is very strong for the Romantic." This is great stuff and as an outsider I see it as wonderfully funny.

Not being great fans of the fixed gear, that's why God created Campagnolo we none the less enjoyed '42x12 The Cult of Fixed' and we liked the manner in which Patrick Potter has written the book because although he writes about the subject thoroughly, he doesn't take himself or fixie's overly serious. (i.e. not a dry academic or neither a slapstick comedy) He is backed up with fine and varied photography.

Review by Lothian Life...

The book is essentially a series of articles, loosely linked, but more because they’re all about fixed wheel riding rather than a descriptive narrative. It feels like a magazine with a hard cover, peppered with stunning photos and reasons why people forego geared momentum. Many of the articles, most of the articles, are written in a spoken style. That is they’re written down exactly as someone would speak about cycling a fixed wheel bike. This could, possibly should, make for a disjointed feel to text, but somehow it works. Perhaps it is because it fits in with the disjointed style of the publication as a whole, jumping from short article to short article. But I think in the main it’s this style which retains and honesty and truth about what is being said.

This is what marks the book away from being simply another part of the trend. This is written by the people who actually ride – there isn’t a single touch of a marketing man looking for buzzwords and niches into which he can tap. This is a book by people who love bikes, for people who love bikes.