The rider and the bike: Brian Megens

Fixed gear bikes are in essence very simple. However, to compete in the front of Red Hook Crit, or other big international fixed gear crits, high-end materials are often used by the riders to maximise their performance. In the series ‘the rider and the bike’ we want to highlight the fixed gear bikes of the ‘pro’s’. After kicking the series off with Stefan Rothe from Intelligentsia Racing, we now keep it close to our roots with Brian Megens who rides for our platform, Fixedgearcrit.com. Brian Megens proved to be in a competitive shape again with a heat win in the RHC BK 10 qualifications, and a victory in the biggest crit of the NL Crits Series, the Ronde van Katendrecht.
Bike photos: Brian Megens

Name: Bombtrack FGC Needle
Frame: Bombtrack Needle
The Needle is one of the first and few fixed gear crit specific bikes meaning that the geometry is tweaked for fixed gear crit racing. Olaf Wit from Wit Industries was responsible for the geometry, in cooperation with the Bombtrack Bicycle Company. In comparison with a track bike geometry roughly one can say that this results in a less aggressive fork angle, a sloping top tube, and a higher bottom bracket to avoid pedal strokes as much as possible.

Measurements Brian Megens