Kinematika socks and Zelenograd — the unofficial capital of fix

Guests

Useful from the issue

1. A bicycle sock is not a household sock

   Compression, tight binding and quick drying are expected from bicycle socks. A regular cotton sock does not do this, so a different thread and equipment are needed for a sports model.

2. An enthusiastic contractor is more important than the price

   Productions that knit mass batches do not undertake the development of a sports product. Kinematika moved forward when a technologist was found who was ready to look for a solution together.

3. Prepare the site for the surge

   One viral publication can put down a website and a payment system and knock out the entire stock of packaging. A small brand should check the payment in advance and keep a supply of consumables.

4. Their prizes work for the community

   Prizes from local workshops and brands from the hangout are valued above the purchased equipment: people wear friends' clothes, and the community supports itself.

5. Watch professional races

   Ilya advises you to understand how sprinters attack: in a race, you need to make a decision instantly, and ready-made models help a lot.

6. The purchased slot motivates

   Without a registered race, it's easy to ride at the same pace for years. The start slot makes you train purposefully.

7. Helmet as a condition of participation

   At the Zelenograd Monday races, beer is given only to those who arrived in a helmet — a simple rule teaches safety.

How Kinematika socks appeared

Ilya has long dreamed of producing something cycling: racing, he says, and so everyone does, and the attempt at carbon fiber ended with one plate. In December, his last good bike socks were worn out, it became difficult to get foreign brands, and a couple of days before the New Year, he began to understand technology and thread.

A bicycle sock differs from a household sock in compression, rapid drying and knitting density. European suppliers refused to cooperate, and Russian manufacturers mostly knit ordinary socks in large batches, and no one wanted to take up the development. The enthusiast from Kemerovo was the first to believe: they sat online together, picked up the technology and made about ten pairs of prototypes until they found a convenient compression.

Rise, fall of the site and custom parties

The first socks arrived right on the day of the "Green Mud" and became the prizes of the race. Then the word of mouth of the Zelenograd party worked: every mention in the stories gave a wave of orders, the site on the Tilde broke down several times, and one publication of the St. Petersburg exercise bike gained more than a million views — Ilya didn't sleep that night, and the next morning the packaging and stickers ran out.

Custom socks for clubs started with a women's cycling club, which gave impetus to the idea. Ilya reduced the price for them by almost half in order to make the bike more popular, but admits that small batches of production are taken reluctantly. According to his calculations, about 1300-1500 pairs have already been sewn.

Kinematika 2.0

The next version will be made at a new production facility in Tula, on a machine that Ilya says is rare in Russia: finer thread, higher density, a seamless toe, and more durability — currently, some pairs have wear in the area of the big toe. For such cases, the brand offers a big discount on a new pair.

The plans include going to retail, abandoning zip-up packages in favor of recyclable packaging and socks made from recycled thread. Ilya tests everything new on himself, comparing it with the products of well-known European brands.

Zelenograd — the capital of fix

According to Albert, about seven events from different organizers took place in Zelenograd during the season: street races, classic alleycats, mud races. There are more participants from Moscow and St. Petersburg than local ones. The city is convenient: safe roads, few cars, and the forest with mud begins right behind the houses, and in 20 minutes you are already on the train home.

The group met at Monday rides: every week they ride around the city in the evening, beer at the start and finish, but only for those wearing helmets, and then they watch bike movies on a projector in a bar. Albert and his friends organize a summer alleycat around the city and 'Zelenogryaz' in spring and autumn — once it was a cyberpunk alleycat with personal pass cards and checkpoints marked by QR codes. A separate pride is the mother of one of the organizers, who feeds the finishers with home-cooked food.

Sponsors, their prizes and the evolution of fixers

Albert is looking for sponsors himself: he writes to brands that he has seen at other races and on social networks. But more and more prizes are being made by their own — socks, bags, small-scale productions from the hangout. It's interesting to the guys that their friends wear their things, and the community supports itself so much.

The hosts discuss how fixers are gradually switching to bikes with brakes: Albert rode all the hills around the city after a road bike, and after a tough descent on Pokrov, he decided to build himself a country bike. Ilya notes that gravel and mud generally improve handling skills.

The way to the podium and the Tour de Selishchi

Ilya was engaged in cycling at a sports school in Ulyanovsk, then everything was interrupted by studying and moving, and he started anew with a dream to climb the amateur podium at least once. Joint training with a triathlete, on whose wheel he spent the first year, and a vacation with large volumes helped. The dream came true at a hard race in Sergiev Posad — third place in the age category.

Finally, Ilya confesses his love for the Tour de Selishchi — it's not only a race, but also a weekend with friends, a sauna and a trip to the Novgorod marketplace, from where they took the old bike. Guests are advised to support cycling events in their cities: the best acquaintances, they say, happen in small gatherings.

Timestamps

1. 0:00Three from the box
2. 0:56Commercial break
3. 1:54Kinematika socks: historical background
4. 14:41Zelenograd — the capital of fix
5. 21:36Other races in Zelenograd
6. 27:42Custom socks
7. 30:32Cyclists in the bath
8. 31:45Will there be an April "Green Mud"
9. 32:09Broken collarbones
10. 34:41Evolution of fixed-gear bikes and indoor trainer
11. 36:58Racing, training and tactics
12. 41:49Zelenograd: the future and the past
13. 47:53Sponsors
14. 50:27Socks again
15. 55:33Tour de Selishchi and a story from Novgorod

Mentioned in this episode

Kinematika · Zelenogryaz · Tour de Selishchi · Cover · Tilde