Flwrider x New Era Collection and Interview

New Era’s frantic expansion into Asia has given the opportunity to various brands around the region to partake in their own New Era collaborations. Given the ubiquity of two-wheeled transportation in China and to a lesser extent Hong Kong (due to the traffic conditions), Flwrider join forces with New Era on both a cap and T-shirt. Representing a crew of OG riders, we spoke with the crew to gain some insights into the group’s inner workings. The collection revolves around a specialty New Era cap which features a shorter brim with a snapback closure. The caps are available now, exclusively at New Era Hong Kong and at the Flwrider online store.

Who and what is Flwrider?
Flwrider is a group of cyclists wanting to promote cycling in Hong Kong with fresh new ideas. We organize a lot of cycling events that have never been done before in Hong Kong: AlleyCat, GoldSprint, fixed gear Criterium just to name a few. Currently, there are 12 of us – Andey/graphic designer, Brian Fu/filmmaker, Brian Leung/video production, Dennis/photographer, Eric/bike shop owner, Freddie/jade dealer, Henrik/multimedia artist, John/real estate, Joseph/architect, Linton/interior designer, Mike/graphic designer and Ricardo/IT engineer.

How did you guys link up and start?
Brian Fu was the first person to bring fixed gear culture into Hong Kong back in 2005, and he personally helped many people source fixed gear bikes and parts along the way. During the years from 2005 to 2009, Brian met a number of people who shared the same passion for track bikes as himself and some of them later became part of the Flwrider team. In January of 2010, Brian and his cycling friends decided to take cycling to the next level and officially formed Flwrider.

What are you guys’ respective pasts with bikes and riding?
Most of us picked up cycling when we were at a very young age, some from BMX and some from mountain biking or road bikes. For example, Linton has been riding BMXs since the ’80s and is also a vintage BMX collector, Joseph rode across America for charity, Brian cycled in a few big cities around the world as well as climbing a few French Alps, but we’re all passionate about cycling in all forms.

How would you describe the local biking scene? How does it differ from other big cities?
In a tiny city like Hong Kong, local cycling scene is actually huge. We have people riding road bikes, mountain bikes, BMXs and even unicycles. Unlike other big cites which are built with cycling commuters in mind, Hong Kong is built to have the best public transportation system in the world including double-decker buses, minivans, trams, taxis, trains, subways, light rails and cars. Some roads don’t even allow bikes!

How’d you decide on the particular cap style with New Era? Can you talk about the design’s direction?
Like all our gear, we wanted a cap which represented quality, and New Era is arguably one of the best caps out there. After meeting with Kenneth and his team we decided to go with an adjustable strap for ease of adjustment, as well as a shorter brim so it doesn’t block our vision while we ride. There are nice details under the brim with the typical “Pista Color Strips” as well as New Era’s signature 3D stitching for our Flwrider logo which sits off center to the right of the cap – this is because bikers would normally consider the “crank side” being more beautiful or complete so we placed our logo on the same side.

What do you plan to achieve with Flwrider? Any other projects on the way?
Flwrider is trying to get more and more people on bikes in Hong Kong, not only for the fitness aspect but also to commute. We are already seeing increasing number of bike commuters in the last 2 years. We’ll continue to host a lot of events monthly if not weekly to help cycling grow in Hong Kong as well as working with different brands to create functional parts and apparel for cyclist worldwide.