This afternoon I took some pictures of our Natooke bicycle and juggling equipment shop. We are currently getting various products delivered and waiting for a lot more that we ordered before the Chinese New Year holiday. I uploaded all pictures of how our store looks like today to this webalbum.
Around Christmas Bruce Connolly did two radio shows about me and my bike shop in the up and coming Wudaoying Hutong. It was on the Beijing Radio NetFM in the Touch Beijing section. I cannot find the actual radio recording on their new website, but at least a short introduction about the contents and the pictures that Bruce had taken in my shop in December. Bruce came by today and gave me the CD with the both radio sessions that I am looking forward to listening to later.
Nico had been waiting for this Chinese chromoly track frame for many months. Finally it arrived. So he came to my shop to put the bike together with the parts he had chosen from my Natooke bike shop. Here it is:
It has golden Luma headset matching to the golden Formula Luma track flip flop hub, Lasco track cranks and chainring matching the front silver hub and white rim, Brooks B17 special saddle, white Oury MTB grips and a yellow PYC chain.
And here is the happy new member of our Beijing fixed gear group with his bike.
When we finally finished at 11pm I was slightly late for the party that had started at 8pm. And unfortunately there was no more food so I had to eat on the way as I was starving as hell. But the small Christmas party was still going on when I arrived.
My photographer friend Simon Lim came to my Natooke shop to take pictures of my bicycle parts. We started with the Taiwanese luma rear flip-flop track hubs produced by Formula for fixed gear and single speed bikes.
Then we did the matching Taiwanese luma front track hubs produced by Formula for fixed gear and single speed bikes.
We also took pictures of the various Taiwanese Lasco fixed gear and single speed cranks and chainrings.
Then he took pictures of the sturdy Taiwanese full CNC luma fixed gear cogs in sizes 13 teeth to 22 teeth.
And also the Japanese Shimano Dura-Ace cogs with NJS stamp.
All the pictures turned out great! It is so good to have a professional do them. Simon also has a blog about his adventures.
By lunch Julien and I had finished putting together his flashy fixed gear bicycle.
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.
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).
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.
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.
But otherwise we just had the bare frame without the matching fork. But he had chosen his colors for the various bike parts.
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:
Zack Jiang started making bamboo bicycle frames in Beijing. Bamboo agriculture and craftsmanship exists at a level in China that exceeds other countries but its use of bamboo in industry should be recognized. He wants to rewire the cultural acceptance of bamboo from historic uses (brooms, clothing poles and scaffolding) to new forms of product design. He wants to inspires others to rethink about the use of bamboo in design. That is why he made this single speed commuter bike. This bike was designed for urban city commuting on flat roads giving comfort, stability and shock absorption. At a green event in November this bike was up for auction and Wesley was the lucky purchaser. He brought it back to my shop and we converted it to fixed gear with new and better components. It was dark when I took the pictures of the final bike so colors do not come out as nice as they actually are.
The golden rims and cranks go well with the bamboo frame, the yellow chain goes well with the yellow grips and the dark green velvet seat cover goes well with the matching drank green hubs.
Jim came to my bike shop and we changed the chainring of his fixed gear bike to a complete white one matching his rear rim.
My friend Shannon had stripped down his old road bike and had it repainted in Australia. He brought it to China and came to my shop to get a fixed gear back wheel and new chain and convert it into a fixie. He did a good job. I think it looks great now. I especially like his choice of brake cable matching the back rim.
Today the German Center for Industry and Trade in Beijing had their 10 Year Anniversary celebration in the Landmark Hotel. They had well prepared the vent with a huge wall of pictures of the past 10 years.
They had requested me to perform on their tiny stag. It was very long but unfortunately very narrow and un-expectedly covered with a quite soft carpet making it almost impossible to do any bicycle tricks. I did what I could do on my trick bike. The following pictures were taken by the photographers of the German Center.
Our French friend and contact juggler Muakine also perfomed on an even smaller stage than mine.
There was also a Chinese face changing performer and a typical Chinese Kungfu group. Then Zack and friends played some nice Jazz music as the huge buffet was opened.
It was a very nice event. Here is a picture of the German Center management team in traditional German clothes and me wearing a Chinese qipao.
I cycled back home together with Zack. He now goes to his gigs carrying all his drums on his tricycle. And I was cycling home on my slow trick bike.
