One of the recent things that caught my attention was men on bicycles. Was strolling around KL one night and bumped into a convoy of colourful, pimped up bicycles. Found out later on what they were riding on what were known as fixed-gear bicycles – and it is the thing for the season.
If fixed-gear bicycles are also a new thing for you, here’s a bit of what it is. Fixed gear and track bikes are defined by the rear cog which is attached or “fixed” to the rear wheel. The rider is always in sync with the motion of the bicycle. This type of riding requires an athletic effort. A fixed bike may or may not have a front or rear brake. Fixed-gear bicycles used to be thought of as strictly track racing bicycles, but “fixed gear” is now popular for getting around town too!
You’ll know that you’re looking at a fixed-gear bicycle when you see a bike rider stopped at a traffic light holding the bike stationary, balancing the bike upright with their feet on the pedals. Cause they are on a constant pedal! Unlike a single-speed bike, fixed-gear bikes do not allow coasting. And what’s even more crazy is that some of these enthusiast go on riding without a handbrake!
A fixed-gear bicycle is technically a subset of single-speed bicycles. But fixed gear is better thought of as a separate category of bicycle entirely, with its own enthusiast culture. Indeed.
Though what attracted me initially were those enthusiastically happy riders on their colourful bikes, what got me further excited was seeing photographers on those fixed-gear bikes! Some go around town with their camera bag on their backs, doing what they love.
If you were tune to the recent talk on the Incase Ari Marcopoulos, you’d remember me mentioning why Incase is so unique about as a company. They are always working on innovation, ideas and emphasising on design – which is why you could see that their state-of-the-art accessories caters for just about anyone – even fixed-gear bikers!
Chari & Co; who specialises mostly in one of a kind Keirin and fixed gear bikes also carry our Incase Sling Pack in their store. Being bikers or just a casual street photographer, having a beg light in its built and constructed with durable material that is weather resistant would be ideal. If you are always on the go, you’d want something that keeps up with you. And this is precisely what the Incase Sling Pack offers.
Not only does the simplicity of its outlook would capture your attention, the structure and organisation of this Incase Sling Pack is just found to be amazing. Believe it or not, though it appears small in size, it can fit 2 bodies. Even after you packed it with full gear (say a Canon 5D MKII with 24-70mm f/2.8L attached, a 70-200mm f/4L, a 50mm f/1.4, a 580ex flash, a STE-2 transmitter in carrying case, your spare batteries for flash, camera, and transmitter, 77mm polarizing filter in carrying case and spare CF cards in carrying case), it still feels as light as a feather!
One thing about the Incase bags is that, you can hardly find one that is quite like it – even a simple design such as this. The padding on Sling Pack makes it extremely comfortable to carry around for long hours. The material is good enough to withstand light rain (waiting for a rainstorm to hit!). The ergonomic support of this bag makes it easy for you to swing it back and front for quick access to your camera and gear.
If you’re looking for something that best suites your lifestyle, simple, sturdy and practical for your photographing, you may well consider the Incase Sling Pack.
