Japanese track racing...

This is called Keirin racing, and it is the promised land of fixed gear aficionados.  The framebuilder for SCW is one of those pictured. 

About time I fleshed out this post a little bit, although I suppose now no one will look at it.  Better give it a new title.  Not sure if that'll even work.  Anyhoo, I posted this because in the hipster world of fixed gear bikes (and bacon, apparently, though i do not get the connection) Keirin is considered to be... heaven.  The happy hunting grounds.

I'm not quite sure why this is.  In Japan, it is a sport akin to horse racing.  As you can see from the above photo.  Betting and such.  But the stamp that shows a bike was used or approved for Keirin racing makes a part or frame many times more desirable for those who love such things.  I think it's because the pros who ride Keirin ride so often and so hard, that the equipment they ride must be, has to be, very strong and durable.  I would say that the Keirin culture is quite different from the Pista kind of thing that would be represented by Campagnolo track parts.  Now, Campy is a whole different cult, but I probably don't need to tell you that if you're reading this.

So, the man who makes SCW frames, now living in America, was a Keirin racer for years.  I should mention also, that these racers almost always have custom made frames, I believe because they are responsible for their own bikes, unlike US sponsorship situations.  They are professionals in a more pure sense- free lance professional cyclists, you might say.

So that's the story with the Keirin picture.  The end.