Audley Yung

Commercial Photographer and Director

about

Originally from San Francisco, I just graduated from UNC Charlotte with a B.S. in Economics. It’s been a long journey but I finally got my degree. I enjoy bicycling, the outdoors, photography, textiles and watches. My blog contains original photography, adventures and reviews of my favorite gear. For my original fashion and commercial photography, please come here: www.ollyyung.com Currently seeking a job in the fashion industry, watch industry and production industry.

*RIP* Gravity Swift2 in Aluminum with Carbon Fork

August 26, 2014

A great starter bike…

I didn’t see many reviews for this bike when I was making my decision on Bikes Direct so I’m going to post my thoughts in order to better help anyone who might decide to purchase this as their beginner fixed gear. I was looking for something in the $300-$500 price range. It has been a really long time since I’ve ridden a bike (about 10 years) but last year, I decided to bike to school instead of drive in order save some gas and incorporate cardio into my daily routine. I didn’t realize how expensive bikes have become! I figure that they’ve always been this expensive and I’ve just been accustomed to bikes from bargain stores as a kid.

The Gravity Swift2 AL with a carbon fork retails for $309 at Bikes Direct which is a very good price for a brand new beginners bike. It’s extremely light coming in at only 16 lbs, I can carry this on my shoulder over difficult terrain all day if needed. Because of its aluminum construction, the bike is extremely bumpy and very twitchy on the road. The carbon fork helps ease out some of the vibrations, but due to the poor seat that came with it, my butt was in a constant state of soreness and my thighs got numb after rides that lasted more than 40 minutes. Aluminum bikes can be very unforgiving and absorb very little of the shocks from the road compared to a smoother steel bicycle. It took quite a bit of getting use to on the school commute as the ride was always very jarring over less than ideal urban pavement. 75% of the commuting road on North Tryon does not possess bicycle lanes.

The components are bare basics and cheap. The crank and pedals creak quite a bit when mashing up hills but never did anything actually break or come loose. It’s a good bike, just rough around the edges. The Alex R500 rims that come on the bike are decent and not that heavy. The tires that come with the bike are garbage though, I got 2 flats in the first week and decided to upgrade to a pair of Bontrager R1’s for slightly better protection and eventually a pair of Continental GP4000s which gave even more protection along with a slightly smoother ride. The top tube slopes down so you don’t get that classic track bike geometry, aesthetically, the Gravity Swift isn’t the prettiest bike on the planet compared to its Mercier Kilo TT and Windsor Hour counterparts.

Being a mere hobby bicyclist and not knowing too much about bicycles in general, I was ready to keep this bicycle for a couple years. I enjoyed its clean black paint, the fact that I didn’t have to worry about rust due to its aluminum frame, and its outright speed. This bike can easily pick of some very good speed on the straights and downhill. With a 46/16 gear ratio, it’s perfect for the level ground, easy enough to climb hills and won’t spin out too quickly on the descents. But mainly it picks up speed because it’s so damn light! I just wish the crank and arms were stronger such that it didn’t flex when under stress.

Sadly, my Gravity Swift2 was stolen after I decided to take the bus and lock in a sketchy part of town during a snow storm. The next day I went back and the bike was gone 😦 That taught me to get a stronger U-lock instead and to also look into nicer bikes in existence 😉 Stay tuned for my newest bicycle…
My Thoughts: The Chrome Citizen *Night* Messenger Bag

August 26, 2014

A Great Messenger Bag with Clever Urban Camouflage

The Chrome Industries Citizen Messenger Bag, what else can I say about this that hasn’t been said before? While there are a lot of reviews on the interwebs and youtube by hipsters and fixed gear fanboys touting the greatness of this bag, I’ve yet to really come upon a review that gives a dispassionate take on its merits and shortcomings, besides Carryology.com. I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a fixed gear fan boy myself but I also value functionality of my gear and not just what everyone else says about this bag.

So here goes, I used the bag for a month but realized that it just wasn’t suited to what I needed. There are some great things about this bag that I really liked, but there were enough downsides for me that I ultimately sold it on ebay for a slight loss and got a Mission Workshop Rummy instead. Now I’m not saying that bag is perfect either, but it was more suited for my needs.

I’m going to go over the great things about this bag and there are a few technical details and innovations that Chrome Industries got perfect with the Citizen Night. I LOVE the way it looks. The outline of the bag is modern and sleek, the big reflective stripe running across the front flap is bold and really makes the bag pop. I like the placement of the Chrome’s logo on the front as well, the black and white fastening straps and the reflective area on the lower flap. Aesthetically, this bag is beautiful and it really has the classic rectangle and rounded corner bike messenger shape. The densely woven ballistic nylon is also weather proof. It’s not waterproof persay since water will eventually soak through nylon if it sits on there long enough, but the bag is also protected with an 18oz tarp liner which will definitely keep everything inside dry.

My favorite feature of the bag is the camouflaged reflective surfaces. Chrome used a special type of 3M reflective paint that appears silver/white during the day, but turns into a extremely bright reflective strip at night when any type of specular lighting or head light shines onto it. The entire bottom half of the flap is dotted with this paint also and gives off a bright shimmering reflection as your riding in the dark. I wish more bags had this function or used this paint, it’s simply amazing combined with the sleek and modern look of the bag. Love Love Love this feature! But there is also a caveat, despite how great this paint is. For some reason on my bag, the paint started to chip off after just a couple days use of tightening and loosening the fastening straps. I thought that was really strange for a higher end bag like this and it didn’t sit too well with me. I had a strong feeling that the paint could potentially flake off after a couple years of heavy usage and that just wouldn’t be worth it. I’ll never know if that will really happen, but the fact that it started flaking off so soon after a couple thunder storms didn’t sit too well with me despite how awesome and helpful it is at night.

The inside of the bag is compartmentalized very well with separate compartments for your water bottles, notebooks, tablets and keys. The problem with the Chrome Citizen is that when the bag begins to fill up, it gets harder and harder to reach for the items on the outer most compartments because the inside if pushing against it. It’s best to use this bag at slightly less than its full capacity or else it will be hard to pull out your smaller, but no less important items.

The aesthetics inside are also beautiful. I love the waterproof tarp lining which can be separated from the outer wall of the bag so you can potentially store clean clothes/soft items that you don’t want to get dirty or wet. I wouldn’t suggest putting anything delicate in that spot because without the liner, all that is between that “item” and the ground is the nylon fabric which probably won’t do a very job of protecting it. Items in the tarp liner get an extra bit of protection due to the liner’s thickness. But by no means can you toss your 17 inch Macbook around in this and expect it to not break. I always set my bag down gently on the ground.

This bag can store a ton of stuff, approximately 27 liters worth. It can’t really store much more than that because doesn’t really use a roll top design. So as you store more items in there, you raise the top flap more and more which will expose the interior to the elements. Even with the bag at less than full capacity, shown above, rain water was already getting into the inner flap of the bag. It is easier to “pull stuff out in a hurry” with this bag due to the lower front lip, but you have a higher risk getting your items wet during a storm.

At full capacity, your pens are definitely going to get wet 😛

One of the features that everyone likes about the Chrome Citizen is the seatbelt buckle. I’m actually not a huge fan of it because it’s so heavy and swings like a pendulum when disengage it. No matter how careful you are when you take it off, it will find something to bang against make a racket. When I used it, I usually just threw the bag over my head to take it off. Another thing that I didn’t like was the fabric used for the strap. It’s supposedly seat belt material just in appearance, the webbing is actually very supple and it doesn’t feel very strong. There were many times where it got tangled and twisted up in the buckle as I was using the quick release to lengthen and shorten the strap.

The major downside of this bag is the design of the strap. It is thick and comfortable, but that’s only when the bag is at about half capacity. Due to the way the strap is attached to the bag, items will start to protrude into your back since the strap does not allow the objects to away from your back. It’s a bit hard to explain, but you’ll find out when you purchase the bag and decide to really fill it up, it’s just not very comfortable and does not hug your back when fully loaded, the way that the Mission Workshop Messenger bag does. Because of that I had to pass it down to someone who didn’t fill it to the brim all the time.

Overall though, it’s a good messenger for students, parties (since there’s a built in bottle opener on the front buckle) and a trip to the beach. The major downside is that it’s just not that comfortable to wear once it’s fully loaded and that was disappointing because I really love the way that this bag looked. Agree with me, don’t agree with me or have any questions? Leave them in the comment section below!
Review of the Mission Workshop AP Rummy in Waxed Canvas with Arkiv Hardware

January 20, 2014

Here’s an honest review of a great messenger bag…I spent a long time thinking about whether to go for this,the tried and true Chrome Citizen or the exquisite Trakke Mule. I decided to go with the Mission Workshop Rummy in Wax Canvas mainly due to its slightly more elegant design and price point. The Chrome Citizen was too ubiquitous and the Trakke Mule was far too expensive. So here are my thoughts…First off, I wanted to show this bag in its element, being an everyday carry that’s capable of withstanding the elements. Yes this bag does look pretty sleek in Mission Workshop’s official product photos because they probably lined it with filling to make it look more rectangular than it is.

This is a cotton bag, much different from its nylon “normal” Rummy counterpart. The waxed cotton is softer and much more supple. Because of that, it’s also less structured than the VX fabric or Nylon Rummys so it will pretty much take on the shape of whatever you put into it. In the above photo, it’s loaded to the brim with groceries, toiletries and some beer so now it looks more like Santa’s gift bag instead.

This bag can definitely hold a lot of stuff , 27 liters worth but it can probably hold more due to its roll top design. Simply unroll the top flap and you can literally fill it to the brim as I did here with laundry, books, etc, anything that you can think of. To keep it all secure and water tight, the VX hardware buckles that come with the Waxed Canvas Rummy can extend via 2 elastic bands that can reach all the way to the top of the unfolded flap as you can see here.

Yeah…not really what you see on Mission Workshop’s site anymore right? Well, this is the functional side of the bag. It can look quite snazzy with just a few books and a lap top inside, but it is equally functional with a load of dirty laundry when you’re making a bike trip to the cleaners. Oh, did I mention that it’s also a water tight bag? I’ve ridden through snow and heavy thunder storms and the waxed cotton combined with the inner waterproof liner managed to keep everything inside completely dry.

In its compact form, this is a handsome bag where you can use it in roll top mode or flap down mode. Aesthetically I like how it looks when the flap is rolled up and also because it allows for quick access to my bike lock, pen and notebooks located in the inner compartments. This was one of the big reasons why I chose this bag over the Chrome Citizen and Trakke Mule/Wee Lug. Instead of using a normal plastic clip to secure the flaps, the Rummy Wax Canvas shares the same hardware as the VX Rummy. It uses a metal buckle fastener which simply slides on top of a tab, this only requires a simple one handed motion to attach and detach the buckles.

Here is a closer look at how the buckle attaches onto the tab. It is a lot quicker to operate than the standard plastic snap fasteners used on most bags on the market, not to mention it looks really cool as well with its brushed steel.

I would say that the bag is quite comfortable, but that depends on how you load it. Because this bag isn’t as structured as the “heavier and thicker” nylon and VX fabrics, it takes the shape whatever you put into it. It also isn’t padded as well as the other Rummys for some reason…I think the ballistic nylon and VX fabric used in the other Rummy is also thicker. The best thing about the Mission Workshop Rummy bags is their strap. It’s very well designed such that it attaches to the outer edge closest to the rear of the bag. That causes the contents of the bag to push away from you when you begins to fill it up INSTEAD of INTO you which is painfully uncomfortable. The Chrome Citizen does that and that was another reason why I chose the Mission Workshop Rummy over it. So even if you put a big square box into this bag, it is still comfortable to ride with it because it’s resting on top of your back instead of digging into it. Another great thing about the Rummy is the fact that it can be worn over the left or right shoulder with the simple switching of sides of the strap.

Because this is a cotton bag and therefore not scratch proof, this bag will wear compared to its VX and Nylon Fabric counterpart. That is wholly up to you to decide whether you want a bag that looks sleek all the time, or a bag that will eventually look well worn, beat up and full of character…I chose the latter because I like how waxed cotton develops a certain patina, as it ages, that is unique to how you use it. I do have a gripe about how the top flap is wearing though…

There are some very wrinkly spots that developed after running the bag through some heavy rainstorms. I wasn’t expecting the cotton to wear like that and personally it’s a bit unsightly. I think it might have to do with how the black pieces were sewed onto the cotton. I’ve tried ironing them out but to avail, it stays wrinkly. If any readers have any advice about getting them out please leave a comment below.

Overall, it’s a great bag that can hold a ton of stuff. With all that shown in the above photo, you can also still fit a whopping 17inch laptop and charger in there as well. At that point though, it gets pretty heavy on a single shoulder so I’d recommend only doing that for short 1 hour or less rides or using the bag as a weekender. It keeps all your contents dry in heavy rain and even dust storms as there is no gap between the flap and the opening of the bag. It’s comfortable as much as a messenger bag can be with all that weight on one shoulder. The Mission Workshop Rummy tries to make it easy for the user by using a wide strap that can help disperse the weight. The only big gripe I have about this bag are the wrinkly parts that have developed on the top flap and the lack of padding or a laptop compartment. That makes carrying a laptop a bit dangerous as it is susceptible to bumps and drops as the cotton and inner liner, despite being waterproof, is actually very thin. I would also not recommend putting a small laptop or a tablet (unless it was in a protective sleeve) in the front compartment either since the fabric is also very thin there. I hope you enjoy this review, please leave any questions or comments you have below. I know choosing a premium messenger bag can be quite a process especially since these can get quite pricey so I am more than happy to answer questions or even take more photos for anyone who wants to know more about this bag.