29.7.2010 von Ines.

Today a nice article about my person was printed in the China Daily newspaper. The interview had been done a few days ago by William Axford. The online version of the China Daily article is here. The pictures I gave them were taken by the photographer Simon Lim. On the cover of the metro Beijing section of the newspaper it says: Peddling her Love of Bikes - German cyclist wants to share her two-wheeled passion.

Here is a copy of the online article:

Freewheeling acrobat peddles love of bikes

By William Axford (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-29 07:48

Merely peddling her bike from A to B isn’t enough for Ines Brunn.

In addition to navigating her way through traffic, the German-born cyclist likes to perform gymnastic moves while zipping around on her bike.

She says for her, her bike is like a mobile balance beam. “I quit gymnastics when I was 13 because I wasn’t happy with the coach,” she said. “By chance, I came across trick biking and I’ve been doing it for 21 years.”

From performing a handstand on the seat to standing on the handlebars, the acrobat, who has impressed countless audience, has done things most people would think impossible on a moving bicycle.

With the fusion of her gymnastic talent, Brunn has even created new tricks and her rare skills have taken her all over the world.

“Once I cooked dumplings for a segment on CCTV while riding my bike. It took a lot of picking things up, putting them down, building up speed and then going back to cooking.”But such impressive feats come with a price.

Brunn says that an extensive amount of practice has to go into mastering the moves. A wrong mindset or the slightest mishap can be devastating.

“You have to be focused. During one performance in Beijing, I tried to tell people I needed space and taped off a circle. Someone didn’t listen and I crashed, chipping my tooth on my handlebars.”

She hasn’t let the experience ruin her passion.

“My tongue touches the chipped tooth every five minutes or so, reminding me to keep my cool.”

Brunn stretches herself and rides her bike constantly in order to practice her amazing feats. Even the weather can’t keep her from peddling around.

“I rode my bike from the Fifth Ring Road to the Second Ring Road in the rain for a meeting recently,” she said nonchalantly.

“My colleague was baffled but I didn’t mind. I love riding my bike.”

Brunn brought her enthusiasm for the fixed gear bike to Beijing by opening Natooke, China’s first fixed-gear bike and juggling shop. With the ability for customers to pick out every part of their bike and customize it to their liking.

Brunn predicts fixed-gear biking will become more popular in the coming years and she hopes that her shops and bike outings with other enthusiasts will rekindle an interest in bike riding.

“My friends and I just want to inspire others to ride bikes again,” she said.

“It’s so environmentally friendly and a real smart thing to ride.”

Q & A

Q: What makes fixed-gear bikes so special?

A: The back gear of the bike is fused to the wheel, so the bike is capable of pedaling forward and backward. The petals turn with the wheels. There’s no gearshifts or cables.

Q: Have you ever had an accident that made you think about quitting?

A: No. I think some things are addictive. People told me that I would quit after I got a job. If you have a passion for something, you’ll do it.

Q: What are some tricks that people commonly do?

A: One is called skidding, where you lean forward to stop the bike, causing the back wheel to come off the ground while riding. There are competitions to see who can skid the longest. There’s tricks too involving putting your legs over the handle bars, riding one handed and switching your feet on the pedals.

Q: Where do you get your parts for the bikes?

A: We order them from all over the world - America, Europe, Australia. Most of the parts have come from Taiwan but more are starting to be made on the Chinese mainland. I don’t like mass-produced bikes that are one color and just one style.

Geschrieben in Natooke, Media, Performers, Cycling, China, Fixed Gear, Beijing | 1 Kommentar »

28.7.2010 von Ines.

2010 BEIJING FIXED GEAR REVOLUTION II

The Fixed Gear Revolution II will be held in Beijing on August 13th to 15th 2010. This is the second time that there is a domestic professional Fixed Gear competition held in the capital. The Fixed Gear Revolution II is divided into a SCRATCH race, an ALLEYCAT race, TRICK CONTEST-BUNNY HOP CONTEST, JISU PK (gold sprints) competition with party and BIKE POLO match. These major competitions mainly for Fixed Gear bicycle fans (only bike polo is open to any kind of bike) are interesting and huge prizes are waiting for you! The ALLEYCAT race includes a game at each of the eight unknown sites, each site will have different difficulty and cultural characteristics. The map and the address of the eight sites will be distributed 1 minute before the start of the alleycat. The other three competitions also have great prizes waiting for you. Or just come and watch the event.

On the Friday August 13th at night there will also be a 19km fixed gear scratch race where it is just a matter of cycling speed and no knowledge about Beijing is required to win it. The fastest will get prizes.

Fixed Gear Revolution II Event Schedule

Friday August 13th
Event: SCRATCH RACE around the Olympic Forest
Location: North 5th Ring Road Northeast Corner of Olympic Forest
Time: 10pm

Saturday August 14th
Event: ALLEYCAT RACE
Location: Start at Worker’s Stadium East gate, then 8 undisclosed stamp points in Dongcheng District and Chaoyang District
Time: Afternoon

Saturday August 14th
Activities: TRICK CONTEST-BUNNY HOP
Location: Workers Stadium Southwest gate, open space outside of MGM Garden bar
Time: Evening

Saturday August 14th
Event: JISU PK (goldsprints) & PARTY
Location: MGM Garden bar (Worker’s Stadium Southwest gate)
Time: Night

Sunday August 15th
Event: BIKE POLO Match & FAIR
Location: To be determined
Time: Early Afternoon

Note: All participating bicycles must be Fixed Gear (no bikes with gears or freewheel), except for the BIKE POLO. Any bike can be used for BIKE POLO. If you know who you want to play with please sign up for BIKE POLO as a team of 3-4 people.

If you would like to participate (for free) in the Fixed Gear Revolution II, please contact Maggie to register or send me an email.

Registration phone number: 010-64075030 (Maggie 12pm-8pm)
Information required for registration: name, phone number, city

Special thanks to: adidas, motorola, SAG, Mess, Natooke, Flying Banana, STC

大家期待的Fixed Gear Revolution 2将于2010年8月13日至15日在北京举行。这是在国内第二次举办Fixed Gear专业性比赛，比赛分为ALLEYCAT、TRICK CONTEST-BUNNY HOP、极速PK、BIKE POLO四个大项，其中ALLEYCAT作为参与性最强的一项比赛被很多Fixed Gear爱好者所期待，这同时也是最具有趣味性与难度的一项比赛，丰厚的奖品正在等着大家！比赛里我们安排了八个站点，每个站点都会有不同难度和具有北京文化特色的游戏需要你完成，为了公平起见比赛的路线图和各站点地址将在比赛前1分钟公布。其他三项技术性比赛同样也有丰富的奖品等着大家，希望各位喜爱Trick的骑手们踊跃报名。

2010年8月13日晚上还有Fixed Gear自行车19公里比赛.

Fixed Gear活动日程安排

活动日期：8月14日

活动内容：ALLEYCAT
地点：东城区，朝阳区内共8站

活动内容：TRICK CONTEST-BUNNY HOP (技术比赛)
地点：工人体育场西南门空地

活动内容：GOLDSPRINTS (极速PK) & PARTY
地点：MGM花园（工体西南门）

活动日期：8月15日
活动内容：BIKE POLO (自行车马球)
地点：待定

如果您想参见本次比赛，请速与我们联系报名（免费）

注意：所有参赛车辆必须是Fixed Gear,参见BIKE POLO可以使任何自行车，但尽量请大家在比赛前以3-4人一队的形式报名

报名电话: 010-64075030(Maggie 12:00-20:00)
提供资料：姓名，电话，城市

特别鸣谢：adidas、motorola、SAG、Mess、Natooke、Flying Banana、STC

Geschrieben in Natooke, Cycling, Fixed Gear, China, Beijing | 1 Kommentar »

20.7.2010 von Ines.

I heard that there will be an alleycat race in Erlangen (a bicycle city that I used to live in and also the origin of Siemens company) and that has been published in all newspapers. So I was thinking “wow, a real alleycat race - why on Earth did they publish that in the public newspapers”. Because usually these races are more underground and only people that ride fixed gear bikes know about it. But then I found the website for the “Bikenite” and saw that it is rather a ralley than a real fixed gear only race. So it is more to get the word out to the public about riding fixed gear bikes and having a ralley where anybody needs to find and cycle to certain check points in the city. I hope that will increase the acceptance of fixed gear bikes in Germany.

Geschrieben in Germany, Fixed Gear | 1 Kommentar »

19.7.2010 von Ines.

Tom from the Peloton sent this link to a funny movie. It shows what happens if you are a cyclist and asking your wife or husband if you can go out for a ride. There is also the follow up movie of what kind of discussions you might encounter after your bike ride.

There is construction across from my shop so I assume there will be a new shop. I asked one of the guys from Wudaoying hutong and he said that someone wanted to open a bike shop but he did not allow that. As if I were to believe that. Does he really think that could frighten me?

Having a bicycle shop in Beijing makes you get the interesting as well as strange people come in suggesting various things. Especially Chinese people surprise me. I have been asked if I sell flags of various countries, or if I can help get some antique model trains from Germany. Advice has been to give my customers good customer service by requesting them to come back after 3 months and then open all the bearings and grease them so that they do not brake after 4 months. That would probably be a good idea if I were to sell the mass produced cheap low quality bikes that you get everywhere in China. A funny similar suggestion was to provide service to the elderly bike riders to repair their old bikes for free so that they like coming and then will buy a bike from me. That would be so funny of all the over 70 year old Beijingers would start riding flashy fixed gear bikes. I am happy the old cyclists already come and chat with me just because they know I love bikes and especially nice old ones. Another great suggestion was to do advertisement in the newspaper to get children to start the sport of trick cycling. That would be wasted money, I prefer to continue to perform in schools and show the children what trick cycling is and see if someone is interested. Another funny suggestion was to hire the Chinese cycling acrobats (that just stand together on one freewheel bike) to get more people interested in fixed gear bikes. Ha ha.

But a good suggestion of one of my Chinese friends was to find people to work for us. We are currently looking for an intern to help us with our website and office stuff. But we also are looking for a fixed gear bike mechanic or someone that wants to learn about single speed bikes to help us build up all the bicycles. Of course an intern is welcome. If you know someone that could be interested just contact me.

Tonight I went to the Beijing Jugglers meet up in Yuging Yishan bar. It is a bit dark but it is great to be able to use the space for free.

It is great to see that the group is growing and attracting beginners and professionals at the same time. It is really fun as everybody helps each other.

Geschrieben in Juggling, Fixed Gear | 1 Kommentar »

26.6.2010 von Ines.

Saturday in the store with 2 guys.

We got some bikes ready for the bike parts swap meet tomorrow. One was this pink girls bike.

The bike that was almost sold and the almost customer requested to have the horn added.

Or Quinn’s converted bike that he sold back to us when he left China.

And we also some special beautiful bikes like this red Flying Banana with Modolo wheels.

A group of young Chinese fixed gear riders came by and hung out at the shop for a while. The one kid is 15 years old and just won first place in the Chinese National drawing competition. Samantha is asking him to draw the shop for us. His friend has this bike.

And onother friend has this bike that we built up here at Natooke:

There they went.

In the evening we went to a rooftop party in Chaoyang district of Beijing. It was a great night to be outside.

From here you have a great view over the city and the central business district. And we could even see the moon that is on the top left corner of this picture.

Geschrieben in Natooke, Fixed Gear, Asia, China | 1 Kommentar »

25.6.2010 von Ines.

Mark passed by the Natooke shop with his elegant matt black Flying Banana fixed gear bike.

I like the Oury lock on grips that he chose to have on his bike. Actually after taking this picture he decided for a new more classy Selle Italia seat.

Due to the upcoming bike parts swap meet on Sunday we decided not to do the monthly STC Friday Light Ride tonight. But next month we will have it again on the last Friday of the month.

Geschrieben in Natooke, Fixed Gear, China, Beijing | Keine Kommentare »

24.6.2010 von Ines.

My friend Tomity-san who is a professional track cyclist in Japan recently wrote this email to me:

I’m fine and still training everyday, Keirin racing every month. It’s long time no see. I’m sorry for the long time no message.

I am emailing you because I’d like to tell my retirement. I retire Tachikawa Keirin race (24-26th,June) this month and it retires from Keirin rider at the end. It ends about the history of my Keirin rider of 29 years.

It was you and everyone’s assistance that Keirin rider had been continued to me long. I wish to express my gratitude very much for it. Thank you very much.

The race of my remainder is only Tachikawa Keirin race. I am training toward it. I plan to help Fuji cycle show room studio that the friend starts after it retires.

Hereafter, I want to associate with you through the bicycle. Picture with my team mate at Matsudo Keirin race (2,June)

I wish him all the best for this last race. And that your projects for the future go well.

Geschrieben in Cycling, Japan, Fixed Gear, Asia | 1 Kommentar »

22.6.2010 von Ines.

My last few hours in NYC. I had to use this time to upload videos to facebook and youtube. Just outside the cafe that had horrible non-coffee drinks but free wireless internet were two single speed bikes. One of them was very colorful.

Then I went to a very nice and friendly bicycle shop that I visited a few days ago. It is called Metro Bicycles and is quite big and nicely sorted with very friendly staff. I needed to get some last few things before leaving the apple. Goodbye and hope to be back here soon!

I also tried to get in contact with the Transportation Alternatives group of NYC. They have worked a lot with the local government on setting up bike lanes and ensuring more safety for cyclists. Their work really shows. I see such a difference than 3 years ago. I wish that we in Beijing with our Smarter than Car initiative can also receive positive changes for Beijing so that the number of cyclists will increase as much as it did in NYC.

Geschrieben in Cycling, USA, Fixed Gear | Keine Kommentare »

20.6.2010 von Ines.

Today morning after a long interview for the COG magazine on my trick cycling background and fixe gear bikes I went to my first class of flying trapeze. It was at the Espana Streb institute in Brooklyn.

They also had space for other aerial disciplines and people were practicing.

The flying trapeze was fun but less exciting than expected. It was not too difficult for me with my long gymnastics background and anyway the uneven bars and flying between had always been my favorite element. The class was first doing swings and then some figures and preparing for the fly. Then a catcher went on the other trapeze and actually caught me. Of course for this easy one there is no real feeling of flying because I just take my hands off my trapeze and he catches my arms. Here is the video of my fourth flying trapeze back end split with catch.

I will go again tomorrow and hopefully learn something more. Too bad that there is no school in Beijing.

Then I rode fast to get back to Manhattan to be part of the first screening of bike films. The bicycle film about me called “Riding in the Circle” was screened in this session.

My friends had come to watch this movie. After the screening we went to a nearby cafe to have some lunch together.

When I went back to the movie theater the was a gathering of girls that were about to start the “girls only” alleycat bike race. This was a picture before the handout of the manifest with the addresses of the checkpoints.

Then the girls checked the maps on where the alleycat checkpoints are.

Then the girls had to place their bikes on the opposite side wall.

Then there was a picture with all alleycat girls before the bike race started. These are the cool and fastest bike girls of NYC. Keep the rubber side down all the time.

The guys on the other hand were hanging out in the movie theater. I watched a lot of movies today of which some were quite disappointing.

Geschrieben in Performers, Cycling, USA, Fixed Gear | Keine Kommentare »

19.6.2010 von Ines.

Today the different movie programs of the BFF were well attended. Especially the “Urban Bike Film”. There was a huge line in front of the movie theater.

And when we got in all the seats were filled up.

There was an alleycat race today and the prize ceremony was held before the Urban Bike Short films started.

And then there was a bikes rock cheering for the 10th year anniversary before Brendt was sent on some movie theater crowd surfing.

It was funny to see this bike outside with this huge spoke card.

I liked this card for a pregnant woman. I think if I am pregnant I will hang one on each of my bikes too.

The bicycle film festival girls had arranged the great after party on this Saturday.

I  did a late night performance in the hope that the people watching the second screening of the urban bike shorts could also come in time to watch. But I think only a small fraction of those came in time. And the one DJ lady forced me to perform exactly at 1am.

Here is the video of my bicycle performance that Nora took capturing the feeling of the event. I love the song Fire by Jess Meider.

Geschrieben in Performers, Cycling, USA, Fixed Gear | Keine Kommentare »