Chris Yang | Taipei, Taiwan 🇹🇼

Chris Yang is an avid urban cyclist who is very passionate about track bikes and fixed gear tricks, he is also founder of Track or Trick, a group who share the same passion as him. Probably you already watched one of his badass videos on the world wide web, short clips developed very meticulously that often takes months to see the light. Ultimately, for him, filming is very strong way to show and share his idea about cycling and keep the good vibes burning up.

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Type of cycling you do: Well, I started riding fixed gear bike when I was in Sacramento for urban riding and also started focusing more on track bike tricks just like the old days! Now back to Taipei City, I’m still into city riding and doing tricks, sometimes maybe a little bit mountain climbing. I did participate in some of the local races and won three times trackstand championships and one alleycat race. But for the most part, I love those old school days of track bikes and the way it was, you know… we usually ride out with toe clips or straps, brakeless and no Garmin, no full set of jersey and bib, totally street wear all the way down having fun skidding in the traffic and ride fast like it’s the last time to do the shit! That’s to me, speaking frankly, the most fun part when exploring in the city with no restrictions on things like “How many miles I need to ride” or “The cadence I need to pull out”.

Tell us a little about the cycling culture in Taipei: The cycling culture in Taipei is growing bigger and bigger every year, especially fixed gear culture. Back to few years earlier, there weren’t too many people knowing this, not to mention riding it. But recently in these few years, we had lots of groups such as Fixed Style and so forth, rising up to contribute some great efforts to this awesome community. 

What is unique about cycling in Taipei? There are many unique and good things in Taipei. To be honest, we have an extremely crowded traffic on the streets most of the time. So yes riding on the streets of Taipei is challenging! But what makes this place special is we have lots of mountains and steep hills for cyclists to bomb. And I think that’s why most of our fixed gear riders using their track bikes for mountain climbing. And I do hope more foreign riders, no matter what teams they’re from, know more about fixed gear community in Taiwan and have some trips to this beautiful country to have fun riding and make some new homies!

What inspired you to start riding? I always love riding bikes because of the freedom and happiness gained from the experience. Nothing can mimic that kind of feeling even if you are driving some great cars or something. It’s like through riding bikes, you can find out many things and stories happening in the city and when you’re driving the car, you cannot find out those beautiful details in the city!

What do you recommend to a cyclist who is going to Taiwan? I recommend Kendo Bike Shop, Nabiis, Black Fixie Team / Triple Café, Yao Bike Shop and so forth cuz they are all great bike shops to hang out and swoop some shit for sure! Taiwan has lots of gorgeous mountains and streets as well. Gonna be a good trip for those who are coming to Taiwan!

Best cycling moment so far? My best cycling moment actually was the time I spent in San Francisco for a ride! That’s a damn great adventure and great feeling that no places will have! Bombing on those steep hills and having some visits to the local bike shops and enjoying those marvelous views were something that I will never forget in my life and yes someday I will take a trip back to that magic place!

What do you love about cycling culture? I think the great thing about cycling culture is that everyone sticks together by sharing the same love and passion on two wheels. No matter what color you have, what country you come from, who you are or something, if you love cycling and try to make the world better by commuting on bikes, you are part of this culture. Bike is the perfect balance of machine that human beings have ever created and it’s definitely stoked that more people joining this culture and helping it grow bigger and wider!

Is there anything you’d like to see improve in the cycling community? I do hope there have continuous improvements for our cycling culture in Taiwan. I wish that more international link-ups could happen here. More foreign brands or riders recognize us, our riders, our brands, our events, what we do for the fixed gear culture specifically! And here in Taipei, seldom people shooting vids and I think that’s should be improved cuz social media is one the most influential ways to help us deliver our message and our beauty to people around the world. I do hope that someday our group could film some international link-up vids to bridge two different places that share the same goal together to make this culture grow to another higher level!