China, Asia, Climbing and Fixed Gear Bikes

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.

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.

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.

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.

Yeah, finally! Elaine finished to convert her bicycle to fixed gear.

That was after a lot of trouble. Especially with the bottom bracket. But with Fede’s great idea we did finally manage to get that fixed. And also things like the seat post that had this very special size of 25.6 mm so that the more typical 25.4 mm would just be too small. The frame is an old steel road bike frame made by the American company Ross. Elaine got it from her good friend in New York City that wanted to throw it away. In memory of her friend and husband she is now calling it the „Hot Sash“. And it is beautiful.

Elaine wrote her own impressions here.

Many customers come to my Natooke shop and are overwhelmed by the fact that they can chose their own colors and parts for their own very unique bike. Dong Dong is one of them but I think she is coming closer to finding what she wants. Here is what she is thinking of because it reminds her of a special tree in Beijing that currently has that green color and such pink blossoms:

Today we also finished a bike for Ran. He would have likes a different color frame, but we are out of cheap frames so this pink one was the only option. But I think with the blue and black and white it actually looks more male.

And here is a picture of the white beauty Flying Banana fixed gear bicycle with a riser bar and temporary saddle. Isn’t it really beautiful?