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 »

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 »

13.6.2010 von Ines.

This is the last day before my trip to New York and of course it was very busy. We had to take some bike parts to the international post office and because that included rims we decided to take the taxi. What a stupid way to get around in Beijing. Because it is mostly traffic jams. It took the taxi 20 minutes to get from my shop to where I live. By bike it only takes me 8 minutes. And then we found out that the customs office was already closed because tomorrow is the start of the 3 day holiday. So we had to take the taxi back too.

And I had some fixed gear friends drop by the shop to change a saddle and cog. Will had bought an Aerospoke front wheel for his Natooke bike.

This is a beautiful Flying Banana track bike with chrome front fork.

And this Flying Banana has a nice color.

And with 2 customer ordering very special Flying Banana’s at Natooke store I hardly had time to finish the bike for Thomas. So he had to help me put it together. I like his choice of the lugged steel Flying Banana in black with a BMX style front fork and fixed gear.

The special Natooke brand “Flying Banana” track bicycle.

At night there were huge thunderstorms that seemed to never end. So Fede who was trying to fly back from Inner Mongolia got delayed until very late. And when it stopped raining there were huge puddles everywhere.

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

11.6.2010 von Ines.

Brendan came back to give back the bike he was loaning from Natooke. We took a picture of him with the bike polo mallot he made yesterday.

Later Max dropped by with his new handlebar on his Flying Banana track bike.The track drop bars were too narrow so he switched to road bike drop bars.

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

9.6.2010 von Ines.

During my travel in Germany Fede and Samantha took care of the Natooke shop and actually built up many fixed gear bikes for customers. Until now we have never built up to identical bikes. Every bicycle is unique and reflects the customers personality. That is one thing that makes fixed gear bikes so attractive around the world. It is not just a bicycle. It is special. Here are some pictures.

Duncan’s stylish black Flying Banana with green hubs and retro tires.

He even wrote some blog entries about his first ride from our shop at Lama Temple to Wudaokou as well as a 50km ride he did on the second day. It is great to see people enjoying cycling through the city. Beijing is perfect for that.

Charles decided for a cheap aluminum frame a nice rims matching the hubs.

Mark also chose the aluminum frame and choose nice Velocity rims and expensive but classy seat post, stem and handlebar.

James wanted to stay with the black and white on this aluminum frame, even though he came back to change his tires to the full color DURO tires in red to match his grips. Here is the picture before that change.

This is a nice lugged chromoly Flying Banana frame and crown fork in a very light blue color with Halo tires and Modolo stem and handlebar.

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

25.5.2010 von Ines.

Wow, I have my first customer that asked how to attach a bottle cage to the frame so that he can carry water bottles when he rides. He is not a person focuses on the simplicity of the bicycle. Because what did made me laugh was the kickstand that he had now mounted onto his Natooke fixed gear bike. At least it was not a real Flying Banana but just the cheaper frame.

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

14.5.2010 von Ines.

Today a fan came. He said he watched my TED speech and he is now my fan. Then we took a picture together.

He then asked me to sign on the backside of a picture of a girl and put it back in his wallet.

Geschrieben in Natooke, Cycling, China, Beijing | Keine Kommentare »

13.5.2010 von Ines.

Today we finished another pink aluminum urban Natooke track bike for a customer. This one for Hao does not look bad either.

Today was the goodbye dinner for Nico & Katiushka before they leave for their 20 day bicycle Tour de Chine. We had it at in the Dim Sum place near the Ditan Park.

As they are going back to New York after their bike ride they distributed their last belongings like this flashy hat/lamp.

Then we went to my shop as Nico still did not have a helmet and I had a huge one that I donated to him. Doesn’t he look really fast with it. And now having a helmet he thinks he can ride bike with one eye closed.

Katiushka had the feeling her bottom bracket was loose so Nico did the final adjustment with love.

And then they were as merry as ever.

As I still cannot smell Julien convinced me to drink some beer. So here a unique and never seen before picture:

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