Fixerati Antwerp

I recently flew to Antwerp and discovered Fixerati. Now I know what some of you are going to think: "hey, the guy's got money.." The guy has no money at all, the guy simply had the luck to travel in the name of the company he works for to attend an event in Antwerp and had a free morning last Saturday wondering around the city of diamonds. Well, Antwerp isn't just the city of diamonds of course. Without cheating and searching on wikipedia, I'll just tell you what I think about it: it's got some amazing historical buildings, especially around the "Cathedral of Our Lady" and if you ever go there I warmly recommend you pay a visit to the Kathedraal Café, loaded with hundreds of sacred wooden statues all around the place, and with a good selection of Belgian beers of course. It's got an awesome port on the river Scheldt, close to the sea, with some amazing old warehouses inside. It's got beautiful restaurants and cafès which really prove that Belgians have great taste for design and furniture. And it's got some great, great shops, like RA Destination Store and Your Concept Store where I met Ken.

Ken's a fixed gear pal who works there. Extremely friendly, very good in his work in my opinion and terribly helpful in directing me towards Fixerati during what were the last available couple hours before my train would leave from Antwerpen Centraal. I knew there was a fixed gear shop in Antwerp, I had seen it from the taxi window the last time I was in Antwerp, while heading to the airport. But I didn't manage to find it. Then I stumbled upon Your, stepped in and found a really great (now that I've read it all I can confirm...and I'll write about it soon here...) fixed gear book. I head to the counter and Ken sees me with the book in my hand and bursts out: "Oh, that's the best fixed gear book I've ever read! You know I had the chance to ride the Eddie Merckx bike that's featured inside? The one he did the record with in Mexico in the 70s?" and he flips through the pages and shows me.

I say the only thing I remember about Eddie Mercx, which is what Mr Giovanni Pelizzoli told me: "you know he was maniac about the saddle? He used to move it up and down all the time, always searching for the perfect position". Ken appreciates and we exchange a few words on the fixed gear scene in Antwerp. I actually tell him that the fixed gear club in Antwerp I had looked up in the internet has such a funny name, FIGA. I explain him that in Italian it's a slang for vagina and he can't believe, and understands why I would love to have a FIGA tshirt...

Then the question pops out: "Are there any interesting fixed gear shops in Antwerp?". Ken's eyes light up, "Oh, sure, you got to check this out, it's ten minutes away - everything's ten minutes away in Antwerp - and it's called Fixerati. It's not far from the Cathedral. When you go in tell Daan that Ken sends you". He gives me a map and marks the spot with a pen.

Fixerati's a really great shop for fixed gear aficionados, and it immediately clears out doubts about the fixed scene in Antwerp: there's people riding over here. When I enter the shop there's a young chap with a Cinelli MASH frame waiting for his turn together with several others who park their bikes outside and wait for Daan (if I'm not mistaken from what Ken told me, he's the owner).  I quickly present myself while Daan's busy with a client and tell him I've got a blog and would love to shoot a few pictures for a feature. He's glad and so I can wonder around taking pictures of everything.

There's a terribly beautiful Eddie Merckx orange and white frame mounted single speed, a super agressive Cinelli MASH frame on display, and a DODICI frame exactly like the one of my friend Lele (among other Dodici frames I saw in the shop), only this ones' light blue with yellow writings. What also strikes me are the FUJI frames in the shop. I had never seen them in person and they are really beautiful, if you like aluminum and carbon frames. There's a jaw-dropping black Colnago Pista mount and above it lots of aerospoke rims. There's some BROTHERS CYCLES frames on the wall too, and some gorgeous bike clothes. I had found a really beautiful shirt but wrong size. Damn.

A bit like Tokyo Fixed Gear in London (at least the old 14 Bike Co. shop I've been to), at the center of the shop there's an exposition block for a whole variety of parts going from hubs to tools, seat posts, lights, pedals, caps and more and at far left end Daan's put the "mechanics" section to fix and build bikes.

Didn't have the chance to speak with Daan since he was surrounded by clients. He only had the time to give me his business card since I told him I would have loved to send him the feature as soon as i published it. So Daan, here it is. You should be proud of your shop, it's really a cool place selling some cool stuff. Would have loved to ask you what you personally ride and where, but I'll leave that for the next time...

And thanks Ken: just like in the movies you gave me the right tip at the last available moment. I really had to rush to the station afterwards.