SkinGriz

I’m happy for him that he gets paid or product or whatever.

I’m happy he puts info out there.

I don’t think having a bunch of media out there with my face on it is for me.

Rage

I actually wonder how much money he can even make on those videos.

Lazyass

I don't know but apparently he's getting hooked up with new bikes. He should have one taken back for that last backyard mechanic video. No torque wrench (attention to detail my young Zach), trying to chop off a cog, frame hanging up in a tree wobbling

sleepy

His Wabi sponsorship irritates me. I watch his stuff, but it feels so dated when talks about going brakeless or slamming a stem. The 2000's were a decade ago. My favorite one is when he rates bikes by going online and reading their specs. I'm on a computer online watching a guy on a computer talk about bikes he saw online.

thehammerdog

Who??
what???
really??

SkinGriz

I think the real appeal to any famous person we find attractive is (counterintuitive) that we don’t actually know them. So they stay as whatever our imagination ideal version of them is.

I think the industry and most actors/actresses know this on some level.

To me the desire to be famous is seriously weird. It would be fun for a day, or maybe a week. Then it sounds like a nightmare. So maybe these famous people are secretly sociopaths? Or maybe they just didn’t think it through.

I have a suspicion most of them have major daddy issues, ie, nobody threw them up in the air and adored them as toddlers, so they’re looking for it.

Couple more thoughts on the subject.

Yes famous people, by becoming famous you made the decision that your future kids would be harassed by fans/paparazzi/whatever.
You can’t realistically say “Idolize me” for 20 years or whatever then turn around and say “Please respect my family.” Doesn’t work that way.

I had a group of neighbors when I lived in Culver City. 3 roommates from some acting school in NYC. They all wanted desperately to be famous. One of them got some kind of short term modeling contract… if he changed his name, changed his look, changed his hair style and color.

I was like “So they don’t really want you.”

Nope. I want to be wealthy. I also want to be completely anonymous to society at large as soon as I drive off the job site.

SkinGriz

Above comment not so much about the Wabi guy.
More about Hollywood.

I imagine a niche following of fixed bike friends would be a lot less stress than broad fame.

Phil_gretz

You must have a different concept of beauty. That's okay. Tell us who you consider beautiful in a natural and charming way. I'd like to know.

grant40

I used to watch him several years ago when he was making videos like "fixie vs fixed gear vs track bike" and "what makes a bike proper". He kinda died out for a couple of years. From what I am hearing, he is now being called as a "poser" and a "sellout"?

Rage

I have seen a couple of his videos and I dunno if he is a sellout so much as a paid spokesman. And who knows how much they’re paying him, or even if they are, at all. They might just send him a bike every once in a while for all we know.
And, heck, I’d love if Wabi sponsored me in some way and/or sent me bikes to ride.

As far as being a poser, he seems genuine. He might just be putting it on for the videos.

We should try and get him to weigh in on this. Like leave a comment on one of his videos and try and direct him here lol.

kingston 

I just tried to watch a couple of his videos. In the two videos I skimmed through he doesn't seem to know what he's doing/talking about. One where he shows you how to tighten a rear wheel that looked like a parody of someone showing you how to tighten a rear wheel. And another one about bottom brackets that didn't provide any useful information about bottom brackets. I guess that appeals to some people? I have no problem with the paid placements or live reads. Everybody's gotta eat.

I have been watching a lot of James Hoffmann coffee videos lately. Now there's a guy who knows what he's talking about. Check it out if you are even mildly interested in coffee.

TheRealDrPhil

I found Zach's YT videos when I started riding fixed, and initially thought him pretty uninformed. No road cycling or racing background, not context derived from cycling history, etc. But after a while, watching him because there was nothing else, and the YT algorithm kept feeding him to me, I realized that maybe he was providing a valuable service to the fixed gear community. Simply by doing his videos, naiivity and ignorance included, promotes an interest in cycling and particularly the single speed, fixed gear segment. I'm personally not into the fixie culture and find those videos of people running red lights in downtown NY totally insane and scary as hell. But if more people get interested in fixed gear riding, then the demand for products goes up and hopefully we get more choices for gear. The track scene is small and localized resulting in almost no access to trick parts online. (If there's an online track community, plaese point me to it!) But back to Zach. I haven't seen any videos from him since the pandemic hit. Maybe he's doing something else nowdays?

Colorado Kid

I think he makes good money from these YT videos. He said in past video that doesn't do anything else but make these thing. (Must be nice, right?)

TejanoTrackie 

He's alive and well post pandemic.

sebasbike

He makes pretty good content and it helps the fixed gear community.
I dont know how it is for the rest of you guys but there isn't a big fixed gear scene where im from and im guessing there isnt a big scene anywhere else but cities like New york, Portland, Chicago, and some cities in California so his videos are informative. the degree of information that he might give is subjective to some but watching his videos is a great way to get "into" fixed gears or even learn about different parts available.
the only other videos regarding fixed gear bikes ive seen on youtube are people riding fixed gears or some shop owners in Japan or Taiwan building bikes. both are very interesting but show different content than zack gallardo.
I started out with a very cookie cutter fixed gear from china and thanks to his videos i even ended up in this forum and making a pretty solid build.