im sure the dude that invented cages and straps was kinda in the same boat.
good to have new ideas but lets face it, the concept of intellectual property is lost on anyone who grew up with the internet.

i curse you , you soul steeling youngins'

haha

jnd

hahaa, the last sentence is golden.

"You know if they last in Brooklyn, they'll last anywhere."

BRKLYN represent, ha. Nice.

what the hell is wrong with poeple? what happened to messenger culture? fuck copycats. this is a bummer to read about Wig doing that. they should be doing their own shit.

I lasted in BK.... though not lasting in Mpls.
hahaha born and raised in nyc....old and wilting away in Mpls. Lack of stimulation sucks the life outta you! hahaha

I dont think WIG is trying to cash in on copying the HOLD FAST design, most of his products are fairly one-off built to order; Isaac is a chill dude that contributes alot to the Chicago bike community and its a shame that he is being portrayed in a bad light here.

I'm sure he is a nice guy. Just seems like a "too soon" thing. If your friend was the first to make the product and someone "ripped it off" you'd probably feel the same way too. Especially since I was one of HOLD FAST's testers / PR&D guys.

Just wanna make sure Jeremiah and Rob can continue to work on stuff. When people like WIG, who already have a name in the "scene" begin to emulate the "little" guys like this, it takes the concentration away from the start-ups like Hold Fast. WIG makes bags already and if everytime Jeremiah and Rob come up with a new idea, someone follows suit, it's gonna be hard to future develop their business. The love to ride and want to make bike components that fit our riding style. Support that!

Ya know?

Tellem prolly! People forget about what its like to start there own company. I like what HF is doing.

I think the competition is a good thing because each design is slightly different and only by going through these iterations across companies can you really see who's got the best design

It's not a messenger bag. It's a specific product geared to a small percentage of fixed gear riders. They developed something to address a niche and with hopes of doing something that they love and making a living off it some day.

Not to mention (and my original point was) that the other companies wouldn't have thought to make those straps unless they saw the Hold Fast straps... Just lame. Create, but create something new. Don't just bite off other's work!

Powergrips -> Feetbelts -> Hold Fast -> ???? -> PROFIT!!

you know this is true. they can't be king toe strap forever..

completely different systems. Comparing power grips / feet belts to Hold Fast is like comparing a messenger bag to a back pack.

I don't think they are really so different.. each has their own contribution.

Feetbelts = Powergrips without the mounting system

Hold Fast = Adjustable feetbelts, zero hardware, and a better angle across the foot

WIG = Hold Fast without the metal clips and a double layer of the velcro

All I really mean to say is that I personally love my HF straps to death and even wrote them a really complimentary email that they featured on their blog, but they didn't exactly invent the concept of a strap retention.

Caveat: I am friends with WIG.

A lot of this is based on speculation. Nobody knows what was prototyped or the amount of time WIG or any other company would have invested in a product. To say that one company put in more work is foolish since only one side of the story has been documented. Look, I steal music, movies, tricks, books, poems, and tons of other ideas off the internet. Anyone here would prob say the same thing. Free domain. Today, I received my stout guard from mke. I would never have dreamed about doing a grind if I didn't see prolly doing it first. I don't know. Anything that is positive to the scene is positive to me. That said, if you think this or any other product is crap, don't buy it. But also, the fact that people post stuff like this and talk about it only benefits one entity, the target of the smack talk. Ask WIG how many orders they got after Bike Snob NYC made fun of his bike. He made a killing off of that. To quote Mosher - Hate is a waste of passion. Or more appropriately - Yeah, buddy!

Well put man. I felt the need to post it and could have probably worded it a little differently, but I'd rather be honest sometimes. Shows more of the so-called "human element".

I can get down with your comments on emulating the "little" or new guys - we're getting the same type of thing here in Boston. As much as the guy emulating claims he had an idea first, is more legitimate or has more credibility - the fact is that the 'little' guy had more motivation and a better sense of the respective culture. Sure, other established brands or shops have more money to throw at product development or inventory, but they often don't have the passion, creative drive or balls to do something against the norm. Its always easy to emulate someone's ideas after they are showing traction, we see it every day. There will always be people like us saying, "remember when so-and-so gave birth to that idea" and, with all hope, those same people will continue leading, while the 'big guy' keeps on biting at our heels for all the wrong reasons. I know we touched on some of this over the weekend - thought it was worth sharing. Rock on.

Are you saying I copied HF straps?

To be honest I have been working on versions of the JOL/Gurney Straps for about 6 months and didn't see the pics of your bike until I was a few versions in with the hardware-free style.

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread20179-2.html

I do feel however that the WIG ones look very similar to mine and think I have seen versions by him with hardware before. I guess it comes down to which products stand the test of time and actually look good on people's bikes.

I think it's good to see a number of people pushing what has been a standard (Clips/straps) for decades.

Be interesting to see what the future holds.

JOL

I see you're hating on JOL's Gurney Straps there.....I can't speak for Chicago Wig products, but you do realize that Gurney straps have been in testing/development for pretty much the same time as Hold Fast Straps, before "those pictures" ever even made it to your flickr Mr Prolly?
Its nice that you want to promote a product you believe in, but its a good idea to research the facts before you start accusing companies of copying your mates foot retention product.

emailed both of you to clarify a few points...