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Bike Ride to Fresh Start Event

Donnerstag, Dezember 17th, 2009

Greening the Beige had a small event called „Fresh Start“ to view the video and pictures of this years events as well as capture ideas for next year.

Greening the Beige Fresh Start Fundraiser Event

We decided to do a first critical mass bike ride to the event. But unfortunately it was the coldest day of the year. It was freezing and we only had 5 bicycle riders – 2 girls and 3 guys. So in the cold of the night we only cycled very directly to the venue. And we were happy when we had arrived and gotten our free cold drinks. The next CM bike ride should be on the last Friday in January 2010 and I am sure we will have more cyclists.

First Beijing Critical Mass Bike Ride Cyclists

Posted in Cycling, Green | 1 Comment »

iLook Interview and Dalian Fixed Gear

Mittwoch, Dezember 16th, 2009

The Chinese luxury goods magazine iLook sent Ethan to come and interview me regarding fixed gear bicycle culture in China. It turns out that he started the fixed gear group and blog „Ocean Factory“ in Dalian, a Northern Chinese coastal city. Unfortunately there are currently still only 3 fixed gear riders in Dalian so far as the city is quite hilly. The photographer of iLook took a picture of Ethan and me in front of my bicycle shop.

Ethan and Ines in front of Natooke

Posted in Beijing, China, Fixed Gear, Media | 1 Comment »

Russell’s Bike

Mittwoch, Dezember 16th, 2009

My friend from New Zealand sent me a picture of his new fixed gear built up that I find really nice. And he is going to do more.

Russell’s Fixed Gear Bicycle

Posted in Asia, Fixed Gear | 1 Comment »

Natooke Fixed Gear Bike for Julien

Dienstag, Dezember 15th, 2009

By lunch Julien and I had finished putting together his flashy fixed gear bicycle.

Julien’s flashy fixed gear bike

We took the bike outside of the Natooke bike shop and Julien did the first virgin ride to make sure that everything is fine, like the height of the saddle.

Virgin fixed gear bike ride outside Natooke Shop

And then the bike had to undergo the typical photo shoot in our hutong (= traditional old Beijing alley with grey brick houses with wooden pillars).

Colorful Natooke Fixed Gear Bicycle

Unfortunately I did not have a 26.8mm seat post in black color. Other than the seat post I think this bike looks rad! And off he rode with a big smile.

Julien getting on to his fixed gear bike

Julien riding his first Natooke fixed gear bike

Posted in Fixed Gear, Natooke | 3 Comments »

Beijing Courier Bicycle

Montag, Dezember 14th, 2009

A lot of people ask me if there are bicycle couriers in Beijing. Well of course! …but not the kind you are thinking of. A lot of goods in the center of the city are delivered on two or tree wheels. It is often some elderly Chinese guy that cycles in the summer with his tank top rolled up to the arm pits, spitting on the ground while smoking a cigarette and cycling at an amazingly slow pace.

But there are also the companies specialized in delivery like EMS (Express Mail Delivery) that use bikes. Today I say a nice EMS Flying Pigeon in the Beijing modern flashy CBD district.

EMS Flying Pigeon in Beijing

Express Mail Delivery Flying Pigeon in China

The guys riding these bikes ride faster than the typical tricycle delivery guys, but I would not call them bicycle messengers or couriers. And they often do not ride because they like riding but because their boss only gives them a bike and that is their job. So a very different perspective compared to bicycle couriers in other metropolitan cities around the world. But I wonder if Beijing will have bicycle couriers in the future – especially when the streets are more and more jammed and it will be obvious that cycling is the fastest way to get around or important documents delivered. I hope so.

Posted in Beijing, Cycling | 1 Comment »

A Theatrical Triathlon

Sonntag, Dezember 13th, 2009

The Beijing Actors Workshop in Beijing has been holding workshops on playwriting, directing as well as acting. And those three disciplines form the theatrical triathlon which was displayed this weekend at the Beijing International New Short Play Festival. Today they had 5 short plays on stage.

The first one was called „Sex and the forbidden city“ and was about the issues of foreign women in Beijing and how hard it is for them to find a date. I could relate with the four female characters. It is so hard for us strong willed Western women here in Beijing. The Western and Chinese men prefer the fragile Chinese women.

Short Play called “Sex and the forbidden city”

A very interesting but slightly confusing short play was called „lovely country“.

Theatrical Triathlon short play called “lovely country”

Funny was the beijing version of the musical „West Side Story“. The short play was called „Lao Wai Story“ menaing the foreigners in Beijing. It was a fight between the foreign students living in Haidian district of Beijing and the foreign Expats living in Chaoyang district of Beijing. They sang songs of the musical with altered funny lyrics only understandable to Chinese or the foreigners living in Beijing.

Short play “Lao Wai Story” - Beijing version of “West Side Story”

This was the last time for Anna Grace to be on stage in Beijing for a while. She is moving to New York city. So this was her goodbye performance. I hope she will be back to Beijing with many new ideas and inspiration.

Anna Grace goodbye performance in Beijing

Posted in Beijing, Performers | 1 Comment »

Julien’s Fixed Gear Bike

Sonntag, Dezember 13th, 2009

After the ride Julien and I started to work on his bike. The wheels that we gave to bike mechanics around lunch time were already finished.

Julien’s Fixed Gear Wheels

But otherwise we just had the bare frame without the matching fork. But he had chosen his colors for the various bike parts.

Julien’s fixed gear bike frame

Of course we ran into some issues like getting the headset cups hammered into the frame or not having the right size seat post holding ring (even though I we had the right one in the Natooke shop). So we were not able to finish the bike. For now it looks like this:

Julien’s half finished fixed gear bike

Posted in Fixed Gear, Natooke | 1 Comment »

Beijing Fixed Gear Ride North

Sonntag, Dezember 13th, 2009

Again a cold winter day and only foreigners came for the Beijing fixed gear bicycle ride out North of the city. Now the rivers like here at the North 5th rind road are starting to freeze.

Beijing Fixed Gear Group at North 5th Ring Road

We cycled along empty roads. Beijing is vast and not as crowded as many people outside of China imagine it to be. In many places it is actually quite quiet.

Cycling on empty Beijing roads

We then went into a park along the Qinghe River and stopped for snacks (longevity nuts and homemade bread and youzi) in a pavilion.

Snack break in a pavilion

Then we cycled around the huge and empty park.

Shannon fixed gear cycling in park

Katiushka and her bike in park

Ricky and his fixed gear bike in park

Of course the cold weather made us a bit cold and we were sharing our thoughts on best ways to keep the finger and toes warm. Shannon explained his multi layered plastic bag inside and outside of the sock approach to keep the feet warm. I might try that next time.

Explaining the use of plastic bags for warm feet in winter cycling

Then we cycled on to „Leisure Square“. I uploaded my pictures to a webalbum.

Cycling on “Leisure Square” in Beijing

Abandoned Building on Leisure Square in Beijing

Nico and Katiushka took some really nice pictures again. Here are two of their pictures of me balancing a track stand on the concrete structure of the abandoned building.

Ines Track Standing on Fixed Gear Bike

Ines Track Standing on Concrete Structure

Posted in Beijing, Fixed Gear | 1 Comment »

bao160.com: 伊泉：Fixed Gear Bike的开拓者

Samstag, Dezember 12th, 2009

There was an article on the bao160.com website. They did not interview me and I think they just collected online information about fixed gear. Here is their original article.

伊泉：Fixed Gear Bike的开拓者
Ben说：“我从没想到在北京会遇到伊泉，我在 6年前就在网上看到过他表演的视频……”张宸说：“伊泉可是车店老板重点推荐给我的玩家……”如此你知道伊泉有多大的名气了吧，其实她真是一名德国花样单车的演员，她可以在Fixed Gear Bike上做出很多花式动作，把Fixed Gear Bike当作BMX玩，这不是任何人都能做到的。

◎我来自国家队

初见伊泉，她递给我一张名片上面就直接写着：“TRICK BIKE SHOW”，采访间隙伊泉在Fixed Gear Bike上原地玩着各种动作，记者真以为她是个职业表演者。当我确认这个想法时，伊泉才不好意思地拿出另外一张名片，原来走下自行车她是一家外企的亚太区经理。

这样伊泉就生活在两个世界里，Fixed Gear Bike世界和没有Fixed Gear Bike的世界。伊泉原本是一名体操运动员，入选了德国国家队。在德国，如果体操运动员到13岁的时候没有更高的造诣，就要放弃这个项目，而伊泉就是在 13岁遇到了自行车运动，她觉得自己可以在自行车上施展体操才能，就这样，自行车表演成为了她的主业。后来她也入选了德国自行车表演队。

◎Fixed Gear Bike是我面前新的高峰

去年，伊泉在纽约第一次见到了Fixed Gear Bike。第一感觉就是这辆车太酷了，造型简单却有着惊人的速度，最重要的是没有一辆车是相同的。就这样伊泉的车架是靓丽的粉色，这是她精心挑选的颜色喷绘到淘来的古董车架上的。

Fixed Gear Bike是带有手工艺元素的工业产品，因此在欧洲的价格很高。作为一名自行车老玩家，伊泉深得全世界采购Fixed Gear Bike零件的心得，她会给想接触Fixed Gear Bike的人更好的建议。

伊泉在采访间隙总是要摆弄她的自行车，调试各个零件一丝不苟。伊泉说：“我还要适应并且调试这辆车，我觉得Fixed Gear Bike也有很多拓展性，我要把它挖掘出来。”

Fixed Gear Bike圣经
来自旧金山的世界知名顶尖Fixed Gear Bike潮流单位MASH近期发售的这“MASH SF DVD”，是各位想接触Fixed Gear Bike的朋友或Fixed Gear Bike Rider的必看Video。
影带里每个团员都有各自的影响力，除了各自展示他们高超而有型的Fixed Gear Bike技术，也含概了Fixed Gear Style的衣着及单车改装风格等！这张DVD在MASH的在线购物网开始发售，随DVD附上一本120页印刷精致画册。 详情请登陆：http://www.mashsf.com/

Fixed Gear Bike也ID

Pedalmafia 是日本东京以Fixed Gear单车文化为主的设计单位兼品牌，他们的网站上更有一项非常好玩的“PEDAL ID”。有玩过NIKE ID网站的朋友应该就知道，PEDAL ID就是在网上有不同颜色颜色及款式的零件让你自助组装成一辆独一无二的Fixed Gear。来这里体验Fixed Gear Bike ID吧：http://www.pedalmafia.com

Fixed Gear Style

Message Bag：
邮差包是Fixed Gear Style的必需品之一，因为不要妄想简单的Fixed Gear Bike车架会能让你放上背包，而Fixed Gear文化由邮差而来，随身物品一律装在包里，所以玩Fixed Gear Bike必须背Message Bag。
现时持续于东京都占据前列流行位置的自行车搭配Messenger Bag的造型，依然是新季度的潮流指标。而在云云日本流行包包品牌当中，就以HEAD PORTER的Messenger Bag作品最受欢迎。

Vans Sneaker：
Vans 鞋适合Fixed Gear Style的原因除了简单方便意外，其尖头造型适合将脚部伸进Fixed Gear Bike的脚蹬里面，以保证骑行的安全性。而原本Vans就是众多街头运动的潮流装备，在异军突起的Fixed Gear Style中怎么少得了Vans呢。

Posted in Beijing, China, Fixed Gear, Media | 1 Comment »

Andi’s Fixed Gear Bike Conversion

Samstag, Dezember 12th, 2009

There are many people in Beijing that miss Andi, like me. He lived here in 2005/2006 and found his mountaineering passion here after I took him to come rock climbing with me in the freezing cold of Chinese New Year. And now what? He bough a vintage French road bike.

Vintage French road bike

And what did he do: he converted it to fixed gear. I have the feeling he is trying to copy me. Just joking! Look how beautiful his fixed gear bicycle looks despite the front and back brake that he needs for riding in the hilly town of Heidelberg:

Andi’s beautiful fixed gear bicycle

Andi’s beautiful fixed gear bicycle with front and back brake

It would be so cool to have him back in Beijing but it seems there are too many places in the world for him to be.

Posted in Fixed Gear, Germany | 3 Comments »

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