Like much of the culture that makes up the current state of urban cycling, fixed freestyle was birthed by bike messengers. From controlling brakeless fixed gears through traffic and honing the skills to trackstand and ride backwards circles on through the blend of sport and street clothing that makes up the fashion, it all comes back to the couriers. Alleycats have been going on for some time, and have undeniably experienced growth and changes in recent years as more people find the sport through non-messenger roots.

“Then MASH came. [It] pretty much acted as a culture catalyst for the track bike,” reports John Prolly, one of the more visible figures of the fixed freestyle genre. Gabe Morford and Mike Martin’s MASH film opened the eyes of many to the riding techniques that only a select few had developed. “With the aid of YouTube, kids started emulating the unique riding style found in the MASH trailer… Not just ordinary tricks the messengers could do like skids, backwards circle and trackstands.” Barspins, rear wheel stalls, combinations of tricks few had seen in solo revue were shown to the masses. As the masses tend, riders have gone to emulate the tricks and take everything a step further in the couple of years since.