Introducting the Mishka DART cycling team

A project that's been in the works for a while now has finally launched. The Mishka NYC Death Adders Road and Track cycling team or DART has come to light! As a close friend of the Mishka crew and a member of their family, they felt that it was a good idea to create a street team of riders who appreciate Mishka's designs and who are respected in the scene. This isn't a sponsorship like Nike or Puma, it's a brand that's down with supporting their family and are stoked to see where this goes! Read the briefing below: For those of you unfamiliar with the world of fixed gears, here's a crash course in the history of the bicycle's forefather. In the simplest terms, fixed gear bikes lack a freewheel and therefore are incapable of coasting. If the wheels are turning, then your feet are pedaling. The first bicycles were fixed gears, but since then bikes have added more gears, better brakes and lighter materials. Up until about 10 years ago, the only place you'd see a fixed gear was either on your kid brother's tricycle or on a track bike, which were traditionally ridden on a banked track called a velodrome. Slowly, these bikes made their way onto the street as road racers used them to train in the winter and messengers used them because they were cheap to buy and maintain. Contemporary fixed-gear culture, has been growing steadily since the late 90's. It began in cities like New York, and now the fixed-gear bicycle is commonplace in both urban and more recently, suburban areas across the world. This growing popularity has helped usher in new talent & new innovation. In the same way that kids riding Schwinn Stingrays off dirt jumps preceded BMX, track bikes are evolving into the new freestyle bicycle of choice for many people. While the status quo inevitably tends oppose anything new & revolutionary, the ideology behind fixed gears is simple… just get out and have fun. Being Brooklyn based, cycling is very much a part of everyday life for most of us at Mishka. We’ve watched and participated in cycling’s growing popularity over the years and have enjoyed a mutual respect between ourselves and riders. We’re beyond proud to introduce to you the Death Adders Road and Track (D.A.R.T) Cycling Team. We’ve carefully recruited a group of riders on the forefront of this booming subculture. This eclectic group of athletes are motivated to not only push the boundaries in exciting ways, but to re-define and evolve the sport to the next level. The support and encouragement of this evolution forms the foundation of the Mishka D.A.R.T Cycling Team. Led by team rider & D.A.R.T captain John "Prolly" Watson, Mishka will be scouting the globe for talented riders, sponsoring & organizing bike-related events, creating rider specific gear and collaborating with the best in the industry on hardware. For all press inquiries relating to Mishka NYC or D.A.R.T Cycling Team, please contact: Annie Lam Media Relations Mishka NYC P: 647 204 0978 annie@breadwinner.ca Photography by Luke "Jonny" Stiles, Ed Glazar & Wilis Johnson