Fixed Gear Freestyle has a future in France. And it stands in 6 letters: I.S.M.A.E.L.

A few months ago, we met Ismael at an Okami Riding while we were about to go for the ride. He came to me with a gray Santafixie Raval and told me he wanted to learn tricks with it, which surprised me: it's very rare to meet people that want to trick out of a fixed gear bike here in France.

The second time was the one. Ismael had bought the FGFS we had spotted on leboncoin.fr, the one we will be presenting here.

Ismael has the mindset of the soccer freestyle champion he is. It's the only rational element of what could explain how his bike control and freestyle level just went 'stonks' in less than 7 months.

Ismael has this agressive style of riding that makes you throw the bar like mad. In less than a few months he also keo spins, gaps stairs, rides fakie… and has definitely made a name in that constantly growing french fixie freestyle scene.

Components

Frame

Leader Shadow

Wheelset

H+Son Eero

Tires

Continental Contact Plus (Front)

Continental City Ride (Rear)

700×47c, ETRTO : 47-622, 28×1,75

Crankset

Profile 35T

Handlebar

MX Fairdale 4" Rise

(Old: GUSSET Open Prison)

Seat Tube

Thomson

Pedals

Shadow

Chain

KMC Black

Fork

Leader Ripper

Hubs

Profile Racing

Spokes

Sapin Black

Cog

N/A

Stem

BMX Odyssey Elementary V3

Seat

BLB Suede Brown

(Old: N/A)

Straps

Fyxation

Headset

Chris King

A Leader Shadow is rare, even in the US. How did you get one in France?

“I had the chance to find it ready to go on leboncoin, already built! I was searching for an FGFS bike strong enough to beat the sh** out of it : gapping stair sets, bunny hopping around without breaking it.”

What is the usage range of your bike?

“It's a do-it-all bike. With that seamless trick track geometry, I ride every morning to the university (always on one wheel obviously), I gap what I find (platforms, stair sets...), and ride a lot flat. Sometimes, I go the "street" side of the skatepark here, in Bordeaux.”

Any favorite trick?

“The most enjoyable tricks to do with my Leader are the tricks coupled with a bunny hop (those most inspired or common to FGFS and BMX: the 180°, the bunny hop barspins, the 180° barspins, 360° taps, rollbacks/backlashes etc.) Why? The frame of this bike is slightly inclined towards the back, which allows you to take a good impulse to throw your bunny hop, and the large tires (700×47c at the front and at the rear) allow shock absorption, avoiding you (if you use the right technique for the trick in question of course) to destroy either your bike or your wrists on an impact following for example a 180° from the top of a stair set.

The geometry of my frame allows me to use it in a very all-purpose way: I can mistreat it with big jumps, a lot of impacts and throw big tricks from heights, but the bike is at the same time sufficiently straight to be absolutely comfortable. Moreover, the frame is versatile enough to allow me to do tricks more focused on the trick track side of fixie freestyle (fish and chips, super sliders, keo spins, one-hand/no hand wheelies, stem wheelies, frame wheelies , tire wheelies, rim wheelies etc).

But one of the biggest advantages offered by this frame is the famous barspin clearance, absent from almost all track bikes currently on the market.”

Any drawbacks?

“Frankly, this bike is perfect for me, but if I absolutely had to nitpick, I would say that the frame could lean back more to have more space for my bunny hops.

It's not really a fault in itself, but since I found this complete bike on leboncoin.fr, I hadn't chosen the size of the frame, which was adapted to the previous owner, much taller than me.

If I had assembled the bike myself, I would have taken a frame one size down, and I think that would have really changed a lot of things: I could have bunny hop even higher very easily and the bike would have been even more nervous and fast in rotations. That said, even if it’s too big for me, this bike is excellent in every way and its size never really restricted me.

However, progressing, this aspect could encourage me to take a new bike, this time a pure FGFS, so as not to be disturbed by the frame and the saddle when I perform a big bunny hop.”

You can follow Ismael on Instagram to see his astonishing FGFS style, or follow us on @after.spin to join the collective!