Beijing « China, Asia, Climbing and Fixed Gear Bikes

Archive for the ‘Beijing’ Category

Wudaoying Hutong – New Shop Space

Mittwoch, August 26th, 2009

The hutong street (Wudaoying) of our bike and juggling shop is really nice. Most of the hutong buildings are still residential and we have nice neighbors around us who had been living there all their lives. But the Wudaoying Hutong is said to be the new cool street of Beijing – like Nanluoguxiang closer to Houhai. So down the street we have seen places be renovated and new cafes and shops and art galleries open up. It is a changing fast. But now they are even starting with the building across. Where will our neighbors go? I think this will turn into a new shop space…

Wudaoying Hutong Development

Posted in Beijing, China | 1 Comment »

Beijing Fixed Gear Get Together

Dienstag, August 25th, 2009

Our Beijing Fixed Gear group is growing. Every week we have someone new – either as a visitor or as a resident. Today we had a new fixed gear rider from Japan who now lives in Beijing. It was his first time to ride his nice Japanese fixie in Beijing’s messy streets at night. We went to the Worker’s Stadium to play around even though there was something going on and there were buses parked everywhere. It was probably some preparation event for the upcoming 60th anniversary of China. But we still found a spot to hang out.

Beijing Fixed Gear Bike Hang Out

JMing and the Mess guys did some photo shoot for new cool Adidas shoes. And as fixed gear bikes are cool they took the pictures of the guys on their bikes.

Adidas Shoe Photo Shoot for New Collection with Fixed Gear Bikes

Posted in Beijing, Fixed Gear | 2 Comments »

Natooke Hang-Out

Sonntag, August 23rd, 2009

Beijing Natooke: It is great to have a space for hanging out. Friends drop by for a chat when they are in the neighborhood. Interesting strangers also come to the shop and end up staying for an hour or so. People come and try out some of our juggling equipment. Others are fascinated by our tall bike and get persuaded to try it out. Other say they do not want to try it out because it is too tall and looks scary. Other people do their first ride on a fixed gear bike. I like the relaxed hang-out and come and play feeling of our Natooke shop.

Natooke Shop Fixed Gear Bike and Juggling Hang Out

Posted in Beijing, China | 1 Comment »

Natooke Fixed Gear Bikes

Sonntag, August 23rd, 2009

The Beijing Natooke shop has some fixed gear bikes that belong to it. This is my small pink bike that is using an old vintage Cinelli junior track frame. The front wheel is smaller so it can bar spin. It is great for doing tricks.

Ines Pink Fixed Gear Bike

This is my commuting and long distance blue fixed gear bike. It is a Corima Track frame. It has a front brake to ensure my safety in messy city riding.

Ines Blue Fixed Gear Bike

This is my 100% refurbished old Tianjin Flying Pigeon single speed bike that I converted to fixed gear. Unfortunately the fork width was more narrow than the hub I wanted to use. So it does not ride so nicely free handed. But it is great for riding in rainy weather as it has fenders.

Ines Flying Pigeon Fixed Gear Bike

This is Fede’s fixed gear conversion. He also took a Chinese Flying Pigeon. But his was a 28 inch one and he removed everything unnecessary. So it has the minimalistic fixed gear style. I think this is the cheapest fixed gear bike ever made in the world.

Fede Flying Pigeon Fixed Gear Bike

And here is the Natooke shop tall bike. It is made from two old Chinese bikes, one a 28 inch male and the one on top a 24 inch female bike. We were thinking of having it fixed gear but we thought for riding in the daily traffic it might be better to be freewheel. But it is colored in the Natooke colors and amazes every Chinese person.

Natooke Tall Bike

Posted in Asia, Beijing, China, Fixed Gear, Natooke | 4 Comments »

Goodbye Party

Samstag, August 22nd, 2009

Friends of mine are moving to Paris. Sophie and Ben had been in Beijing for a long time. They invited for a goodbye BBQ party.

Sophie and Ben Goodbye Party

It was nice to see them before they leave. It was a beautiful day today and great to be outdoors. And they had chosen a great location to have a BBQ in the city center. Some of their friends had children that enjoyed the playground. There was so much nice lawn that people sat on blankets.

Blue Sky and BBQ

Enjoying the BBQ Party

Posted in Beijing, Outdoors | 1 Comment »

Fixed Gear Meet-Up

Mittwoch, August 19th, 2009

Fede is getting better at whipping. The old Chinese guys showing him how to whip are in the back of this picture watching Fede whip the top. That is the big wooden thing spinning in the bottom left corner of this picture. But he still needs to practice to reach the old Chinese guys‘ level.

Fede Whipping the Top

The bike race for this evening was canceled. So I went to meet the Chinese Beijing Fixed Gear bike riders for a meet-up. We went to the an open space with lights and practiced some tricks there. Like backwards riding and wheelies. Some new guys were trying the skidding and track stands. GMing tried the surfing. I think he will learn it soon. He gave me a present that he found online. It is an iron on badge and it looks like this:

Proud German Biker Badge

I think I will actually put it on my messenger bag.

Posted in Beijing, Fixed Gear | Comments Closed

First Fixed Gear Bike Shop in China

Dienstag, August 18th, 2009

Yes, here it is: The first bicycle shop in China focused on fixed gear bikes! The logo is a green banana and the name is NATOOKE

NATOOKE Fixed Gear Bicycles and Juggling Equipment Store

This store is dedicated to urban cycling. You will not find a bike with gears in this shop, so no road bikes nor any mountain bikes. All bicycles are single speed and mainly have a fixed back wheel, meaning no ability to coast. Like the bikes used in the velodrome these are track bikes with horizontal dropouts in the back end of the frame to be able to adjust the chain tension. This is extremely suitable for cycling in the flat and nicely paved Beijing urban city. The shop has all the different parts required to build up a fixed gear bike like the fixed gear hubs, flipflop hubs, cogs, lock rings, rims, tires, seat posts, saddles, stems, handle bars, handle bar grips, chains, cranks, chain rings, pedals, cages, toe clips, straps… Each customer can chose what brand, what style and which color he prefers so that we can put together that one-of-a-kind unique bike.

This shop also has a huge selection on urban cycling accessories, like T-shirts, lights, bags, reflective bag covers, anti-pollution masks and other things related to cycling in the metropolitan areas.

Natooke Bike Shop with Urban Cycling Accessories

The NATOOKE store is even more unique: It is the world’s first shop dedicated to fixed gear bikes and juggling equipment! You can find anything here around the topic of juggling: Different sizes, weights and colors of juggling balls, glow balls, contact balls, acrylics, juggling rings, juggling clubs, devil sticks, diabolos, poi, fire juggling equipment, staff, yo-yos, frisbees, rola bolas (also known as balancing boards) and many more fun toys to play with. This is the best juggling equipment that you can get in all of China. It is mainly imported from Europe.

Natooke Fixed Gear Bike and Juggling Equipment Store

This fixed gear bike and juggling store is located in the center of Beijing city in the trendy new hutong called Wudaoying. That is right next to the North Second Ring Road just West of the famous Lama Temple. There are 2 subway lines that have a station here as well as many bus lines. So if you do not yet have a bike you can easily come by using public transport. Here is a map of the location of the NATOOKE shop indicated by the small green banana:

Posted in Asia, Beijing, China, Cycling, Fixed Gear, Green, Juggling, Media, Natooke, Performers | 1 Comment »

Queenstown – Huairou Peloton Loop

Samstag, August 15th, 2009

The road bike ride today started at Huairou at about 50m elevation. The ten „A“ riders cycled along the small valley northwards to the Jiao Je He Pass at 550m.

Cycling Huairou to Jiaojehe Pass

After that pass we continued on to the Queenstown pass at 900m altitude. It is a intriguing climb because in between it gives the impression you are already at the top, but you are not and it is still quite far. Here are the guys at the summit – all sweaty and wet due to the humid weather.

Cyclists Arrived at the Queenstown Pass

On the way down we stopped in a village with yard marked with a huge „商店“ (shang dian = store) sign to refill our water bottles. A Chinese cyclist on a touring bike stopped and said hi. It is still rather unusual to see real Chinese cyclists with cycling clothes and helmet. He said he is from Huairou and he rides every weekend. Very nice guy and packed as if he was on the road for one week.

Chinese Cyclist on a Day Tour

The next climb was along the national road up to the Yun Gu Shan with the pass at about 700m. The total uphill riding that we did today was 1466 meters with an average gradient of 2% and a maximum of 9%. Here two pictures just after that last summit. Yun Gu Shan Decent

Cyclists after reaching the Yun Gu Shan Summit

The average velocity of the A riders I was riding with was 28.5km/h. My average pedal revolution was only 69/minute. There are nice graphs of the elevation of this loop on the Cyclo Sports China website.

Posted in Beijing, Cycling | 2 Comments »

Fresh Bread

Freitag, August 14th, 2009

Bread making machines are a great invention. You just put in the ingredients and input at what time you want to have the bread ready. So for example in the morning you can wake up to the smell of fresh baked bread.

Fresh Bread

For dinner we had invited friends who are soon getting married. It was a nice Friday evening.

Posted in Beijing | Comments Closed

Finger Fitness and Juggling

Mittwoch, August 12th, 2009

The juggling workshop in the big space called „The Orange“ in the Village is great. The ceiling is so high and whatever you are practicing – like my friend Jib spinning staff – you always have enough space.

Beijing Jugglers Group - Spinning Staff

Today the finger fitness pro Greg Irwin showed up. He does special finger isolation training for musicians and magicians. It is amazing how he can coordinate each finger muscle. There are some great videos online.

Finger Fitness Greg Irwin