Oooo time flies and this month has been so busy I nearly forgot to share with you all the pictures we got back from our Sunday Brunch party with LAPAZ , taken by Daisuke Urano.

At the entrance you would have been greeted by this mat pink 'rue' and a bunch of other Cartel Bikes some of which were belonged to us, but on the whole they were the other 'rue' bikes for testing:

 

 

 

Inside we really did have great music - if I may say so myself:

 

No actually we had a great line-up that....

 

Rico; who I DJ with at Ginza suki bar.

 

JR; who I DJ with at Water Works in Koara

 

 

And MIGHT-Z; who I play with at other Brunch parties.

Woah it seems like I am photo bombing a few of this pictures, so I promise no more pictures of me, but yes the vibe was good inside with the music.

And outside with the bikes...

 

 

Talking of which, we were really happy with the amount of ladies who came through and tried out our 'rue'...

 

 

It was lovely to see you all not only TRY the bike but also really enjoy the ride, even if some of needed a friendly nudge...

 

 

You all brought a stylish flare to riding our bikes that most men could never carry off!

 

 

 

 

There were also a few familiar faces who came along too...

 

From the E-Girls...

 

AYA

 

And also DJ ERIE who is now a proud owner of a 'rue':

 

 

To Baby Mary from Faline:

 

 

Finally the lovely KING and UNA too

 

 

Don't forget you can get your hands on a 'rue' right now...

 

 

¥59,400 (TAX IN)

 

I'll leave you with this mix I made on valentines day a few years ago, that I like to think the ladies love (feedback welcome here).

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Once again I will start by giving a big thank you to all the media that have been supporting our releases here at a Cartel Bikes:

 

1) Thank you to HYPEBEAST

 

 

2) Thank you to FNMNL

 

 

It's been a good few weeks of music for me and any of you who have been to any of the events myself and the rest of esteemed colleagues have been play at and I just want to say THANK YOU.

 

Here are some highlights...

 

 

Thank you to Daisuke 'DISK' Urano for these shots.

 

The BlackEyePatch party was a very interesting party due to the presence of the 'Gimatai' crew from Okinawa; be sure to check out the book too:

 

 

It was also a pleasure playing alongside Jay Daniel (left) and Kyle Hall (right) last saturday at Contact:

 

 

Listening to them play and spending time with them last Sunday was a real pleasure, their way of thinking and their aspirations showed me we are all walking on the right path.

 

 

Big shout out to everyone who came by and made the night a success...next I pray that we will able to catch this guy in Tokyo:

 

 

By the way back in August I bumped into the BIG ANT when I was on my way to do something or another (probably DJ); he was with his bike and so I was, and one of his mate's happened to have a film camera with him the results were as follows:

 

 

THANK YOU FOR THE SNAP!

 

Lets catch up again on the Friday update.

 

 

I've been modelling for the brand BAL for a few years now and have come to have a real appreciation for the quality of design, garments are print they use. Bal's creators do come from a background we can call 'street' but have grown the 'Bal' look into something with can call contemporary adult casual clothing: 

 

 

You can get a closer feel for the A/W 16' collection from this video below:

 

bal 2016 AW image movie from baloriginal on Vimeo.

 

Their background and appreciation for the cultures around them, made me want to bring our brands together for a collaboration very unlike any before:

 

 

A collaboration between Bal Original and 'Cartel Bikes'.
 
Introducing you to a completely original 700C sized  bike, inspired by the classical city bikes of Italy; that we've made with a Staggered frame making for an easy ride. Building on that smooth ride the handlebars, tires, cantilever brakes and other details were finished under BAL's supervision to give the bike a vintage-like feel.

Useage of Chromoly type iron gives the bike a supple and sturdy ride and ensures the bikes longevity.

 

 

 

The bike comes in two unique versions; the first being an all Chrome version finished with promenade type handle bars, and the second a solid black with flat type handle bars.

 

Both version having a silver plated finish with an embossed version of BAL's insignia crowning the bike's head tube.

 

 

The bikes are capable of being to set both to free or fixed gear.

 

 

  • CHROME

PRICE: ¥80,000 + Tax

  • BLACK

PRICE: ¥65,000 + Tax

 

The detailed specifications of the bike are below:

 

Frame: BAL x CARTEL original staggered frameset C-T46cm
Wheel: 24mm aluminum wheel 700C novatec hub 32C
Crankset: 46T
Free gear: 16T
Fixed gear: 16T
Seat post diameter: 27.2mm
Handle clamp diameter: 25.4mm
Headset: 1 inch thread JIS
Tire: 700C x 23

 

For more information call - 03-6427-2745

 

 

We are all for new things right?

 

Well since last week we started trying to show a different aspect to experiencing your road - it may be a bit of a cliche but I like to think people who ride or are interested in our bikes, are not really the spandex wearing road bike riders you usually see peddaling about town on the weekend.

 

We use our bikes to get around and also to get to any occasion we can, so for me no matter what I wear I am always pretty much aware of the fact I am going to be riding my bike, so I thought I'd share some of these looks with you:

 

 

Jogging bottoms are a no brainer really since they are light, comfortable and flexible - but if you are thinking about putting that D-lock in your back pocket think again!

 

The long sleeve T-shirt comes from the brand H33M Inc. a brand which makes heavy use of reflective graphics making you more visible.

 

Topped it off with the grey Balthazar 'C*c**ne Network' hat - a very rare item indeed everything combined to look like this:

 

 

I like how the Grey, Chrome and Carbon meet...

 

We used a nice custom Chrome 'Avenue Lo':

 

 

The swing back riser bars from Nitto are a nice touch, as are the 'Michelin Dynamic Classic' Tires (a mouthful tho!) but if you carefully you'll also notice this:

 

 

My favorite headset the Chris King no thread, one of those parts which you buy and never ever have to do maintenance on so well worth the purchase.

 

Final touch is our Carbon forks:

 

 

All in all you ride off feeling great like I did...

 

 

Best way to start of with is by picking up the Chrome 'Avenue Lo' Carbon custom (another mouthful I know) and starting off from there:

 

 

First of all I need to thank Erie from E-girls for posting our 'rue' on her instagram:

 

 

Just in time because the 'rue' is out:

 

 

Cartel Bikes presents you with 'Cartel'; a new line of bikes and products exclusively for her.

 

Starting with the 'rue'; the 'rue' being to her what the 'Avenue' is to him.

Keeping true to Cartel Bikes "chromoly" base, Cartel's 'rue' offers the same performance as the 'Avenue' finished off with a lavish mat pink and ever cool mat black, with and 'riser' handle bars fitted as standard. Downsized frame sizes make riding such an ease, so that even the most petite of ladies can ride confidently and enjoy those special moments as they experience their road.

 

¥55,000 Excluding tax.

 

Mat Pink:

 

 

Mat Black:

 

 

Any update would not be the same without music so here is the latest NTS radio show from Steven Julien:

 

 

For vibes like this and more don't forget, you can catch us at club Contact tomorrow for this:

 

 

 

Well it's been a long weekend literally; as today is "Respect for the aged" day here in Japan, which basically YOU all get a day off from work.

 

How was your weekend?

 

Well it's a busy one for not just me but the Cartel also, as we just got a nice shipment of 'Avenue Lo' and 'Avenue' bikes, included in this shipment is the return of the mint green 'Avenue':

 

 

A model that provided us with some great custom moments, mainly due to the coloring of the bike but also because all Cartel Bikes are built with the idea that YOU the rider will make the bike your own by customizing it.

 

Allow me to take some time out to share with you some of my favorite's...

 

There was the one I called the 'Mint Chocolate Chip' custom:

 

 

I don't really have to explain why you can see clearly for yourself ...

 

 

 

The chocolate effect comes from the Brooks brown leather grips and B17 brown leather saddle:

 

 

The next mint flavored custom has a particularly special part from Brooks' on it too, can you guess what it is?

 

 

Very well spotted, yes it is the basket on the front which is the Brooks Hoxton removable basket:

 

 

The removeable function makes the basket even more hipper than the place It's named after and certainly a lot better to look at even on a Friday night.

 

For one individual though a black basket was a must resulting in this:

 

 

 

Did you notice the running theme through-out all the above custom bikes? I mean ok they were a few obvious ones like they were all Cartel bike's or they were all mint green, but all my shrewd readers would have noticed the riser handle bars:

 

 

Allow me to now take you back to this time last year when this happened:

 

 

Jay Daniel from Detroit joined us for the Cartel sponsored S-Sense party, and before arriving put together this mix for us, which is still receiving plays  upto this day:

 

 

Jay is back again and this time we get Kyle Hall too... for something Kyle calls Fundamentals: 

 

 

I won't start going on about what is fundamental, instead allow me to share with you some of what these men do and maybe then you will start to see what is Fundamental and what is not...

 

Kyle Mix:

 

 

Jay Mix:

 

 

The last time I was with both these guys at the same time was in London...

 

 

But now it's 2016 and the city is Tokyo and I am very curious to see how the gents will break down the night for us, both DJ's have an immense groove, taking you the listener through a rich but most importantly soulful spectrum of sounds new and old that all transcend the concept of genre...

 

 

 

I do hope you can join us at Contact this Friday to witness what is I am sure going to be one of the best nights of music you'll hear here in Japan in 2016!