Global Times Social Mobility

November 28th, 2012

Here is an article published by Global Times in the Beijing section of the newspaper about social mobility. I also copied the full article into my blog:

Social mobility

By Hannah Leung

 

 E-mail   Print

Indoor stationary bike races help pass the time until spring comes. Photos: Courtesy of Shannon Bufton

 

2

Indoor stationary bike races help pass the time until spring comes. Photos: Courtesy of Shannon Bufton

Bikers are cool, but actually riding a bicycle takes more energy or motivation than some of us have.  But luckily, winter is a prime time to infiltrate the biking community and meet those fit, fun and athletic people without having to mount a saddle.

Winter biking activities are a gateway into fun events, socializing and progressive ideas, so take advantage of the sub-zero temperature to warm up to the biking niche without breaking a sweat. Whether it’s visiting multifunctional bike venues like Serk or Natooke or participating in indoor events, get the social wheels rolling without chilly pedals testing your mettle.

All year cheer

Biking while drinking is a bad idea. But taken separately, what better place to have a drink then a venue where fit people tend to congregate? Serk, discretely located in Beixinqiao, houses coffee, drinks and bikes in a streamlined, open space with high ceilings.

„Biking in the winter is a big concern which is why we decided to have something other than bikes,“ said owner Shannon Bufton, who runs the space with his wife, a Beijing native. The husband and wife duo are also co-founders of Smarter than Car, an aptly named platform that favors greener alternatives.

At the front is the bar and cabin-esque café; look high for the assortment of bicycles hanging above. The gear and supplies are packed efficiently in the back. Novices can peruse through biking and outdoor adventure magazines on the side shelves, while serious bikers phase in and out.

„Serk is a very flexible space. We have a workshops for bikes in the back,“ Bufton said.  „People may put their bikes away in the winter, but they can still learn how to keep their bikes up in the summer.“

Active activities 

For those hoping to do more than sit around and take in the scene, winter biking options are surprisingly expansive. Serk is holding a thrice-occurring indoor bike competition in December, January, and March, called JISU PK. The event has two competitors race on stationary bikes for 30-seconds, an event fueled by alcohol.

For outdoor enthusiasts, the Beijing Bunch Ride is a group that rides all the way through winter. Organized by TriBeijing and Serk, the group meets early Sunday mornings at Serk, before heading out.

Natooke, which customizes fixed gear bikes, has already become, well, a fixture in Wudaoying Hutong, holding many events at all times of the year.

Owner Ines Brunn, originally from Germany, first visited Beijing in 2001 and witnessed first hand the progression of a city cycling culture upturned by a car society. This has fortunately shifted in the past two years, with the emergence of a younger generation of bikers.

On Saturday, Natooke held a Mini Fixed Gear Revolution, a winter indoor event at Long Art Space in the 798 District that featured indoor racing and relay races. All levels of bikers were welcomed.

„I thought it would be good to have a counter event to summer activities, [one] less competitive and more focused on having fun in the winter,“ said Brunn.

Despite being winter, there seemed no shortage of bikers, evident from the dozen enthused, well-dressed and mostly young Chinese locals that showed up around 11 am outside the shop prior to the event to ride up together.

Other events just require basic bike riding skills and a lot of zeal, including the Big Dirty ride on St. Nicholas Day, December 6, better known as the day foreigners dress like Santa and attract attention from locals.

„We’ll have a costume ride, like we had for Halloween. We’ll meet here at 8 pm and find Santa costumes for people who do not have them, then we’ll ride,“ said Brunn.

Mind the elements

One obvious way to get involved is to treat the bicycle as it was intended, as a mode of green transportation. Don’t be deterred from starting now.

„I’m always confused when people say, ‚I don’t cycle anymore in the winter because it’s cold,‘ and then they take the subway and walk forever. I find it much colder when you’re [waiting] for a bus or taxi for 20 minutes,“ said Brunn.

Novices and experts agree on dressing well.

„You can put bags over your socks, [which] stops the wind from going in,“ said Bufton, recommending sticking hot pouches (available at any convenience store) inside gloves and on top of the toes. „Always cover your ears,“ Bufton added, knowing the value of keeping warm, after his feet started to go numb a few years ago from winter riding.

And unless you want to counterweigh the benefits of biking, wear a face mask to shield against pollution.

Of course, not all run-of-the-mill bikers are convinced, though aesthetics play a convincing factor.

„All the international kids in the area, especially Koreans, have cool looking fixed gear bikes…I’m sure that pretty bikes are a great conversation starter,“ said Theresa Tong, a 26-year-old Australian studying in Wudaokou.

„But harsh wind is not my friend,“ Tong said, with no plans of using the bike as a social tool to sneak into the cool – no make that freezing cold – biking subculture.

April 12th, 2012

Here is an interview done by Joshua Samuel Brown during the Taipei Cycle Exhibition 2012 and published in the Bicycle Times magazine. I copied the text, but for the article with pictures please click the following link:

An interview with Ines Brunn, bicycle acrobat

By Joshua Samuel Brown

Hailing from Bavaria by way of Beijing, Ines Brunn has performed track bike gymnastics at bike shows and events around the globe. Our Correspondent in Asia caught up with Brunn following one of her performances at this year’s Taipei International Cycle Show.

How long have you been doing bicycle acrobatics, and how did you get started?

23 years. I was a competitive gymnast and wasn’t getting along with the Barvarian state coach and decided to leave the team. By coincidence I saw a lady who did tricks on a bike, and just got hooked.

What brought you to Beijing?

I’d been working a high paying job in telecommunications based in China and doing bicycle shows on the side. I found that working a full-time gig made scheduling performances difficult, so in 2008 I quit to open up a bike store in Beijing. My co-workers thought I was crazy! Now I sell bicycles from my shop in Beijing and perform whenever I want.

What’s your weapon of choice for the streets of Beijing?

A track bike with 48-14 gearing; one brake. What can I say, I like to ride fast. Road racing is kind of new in China, and it’s fun to ride a road bike race on a fixed gear. The road bike riders try to pedal into corners after watching me and hit their pedals on the ground.

Is Beijing a good city for track bikes?

It’s great. Flat as a pancake and bike lanes everywhere. Also, people are used to seeing bicyclists, so as chaotic as things get people are looking out for you. And the weather is completely dry for three quarters of the year!

What’s the fixed gear scene like in Beijing?

They’re catching on. I started a fixed gear club in 2007, the first in China. We had two members to start, and we grew to seven after I put the word out to all the bike shops to call me if they saw anyone riding a fixed gear. Now there are at least 800 fixed gear riders in Beijing.

Tell me a bit about bicycle acrobatics.

Well, I started doing bicycle acrobatics in Germany, where it is a rather technical sport. You need to tell the judges exactly what you plan to do in advance. It’s very precise over there, very…German! What I do at shows is more what I like to call artistic cycling, more of a free-form choreography which is a pretty new thing. The sport doesn’t exist in Taiwan or Mainland China, so people tend to be quite amazed here.

What’s it like performing in the States?

When I perform in San Fran and NYC I get a lot of bike messengers in the crowd, and they just go wild. Sometimes I think they’d be less impressed if I were a man.And the woman love that fact that some of the badass hard core male riders can’t even do the majority of my tricks.

What’s the overall vibe at bicycle shows?

People can sometimes be rather serious at bicycle shows. I mean, cycling is supposed to be fun, right? Yet at the business level it can be all so somber. I try to use my performances to inject some festivity into what rightly should be a very festive atmosphere. It makes me happy that people watching me perform have smiles on their faces, even if the smiles only last until it’s time for them to get back to business.

Is there anyplace else you’d like to perform?

I’d love to perform at Interbike, and I haven’t performed at Eurobike yet.

Final Words?

I believe that only things that give happiness are self sustaining, and I’m convinced that cycling is definitely one of these things. Cycling is not only good for the environment, but good for the world because it makes those who do it happy. This is basically the philosophy at the heart of everything I do.

In Beijing? Visit Natooke, Ines’s fixed gear shop at Wudaoying Hutong 19-1 (near Lama Temple subway) Dongcheng District, Beijing 100007, China.

TaipeiCycle Exhibition

März 7th, 2012

I just arrived in Taiwan yesterday and was at the TaipeiCycle 2012 Exhibition today.

VIP Exhibition Badge for Ines Brunn

The organizers of the 25th TaipeiCycle had invited me over here to perform every day. That is why I have a VIP badge. The performance schedule is printed in the Visitor’s Guide as well as in the Show Daily magazine:

TaipeiCycle 2012 Show Daily Magazine

I perform every day at the South entrance at 11:30am and/or 14:30pm:

Ines Brunn performs at TaipeiCycle 2012

After the performance I was walking around today. There were some nice new designs, like this neat and easy detachable fender:

Fender Design

Also I saw the SRAM automatic hub. I would like to try how an automatically shifting bike rides. And a small gadget was the iPhone hoister and amplifier for playing music while riding.

Automanic Hub and iPhone holder

I was happy to see that the bike trailer T2 designed by my Taiwanese bike polo friend Mark Chou received a design award at the exhibition. Congratulations Mark and the freeparable team with their dead old monkey (dom)!

DOM Bike Trailer T2

Another design which I likes was the brake that is integrated into the fork (for front brake) and the frame 9for rear brake). I bet that will help ride a little bit faster. Hope my next road bike will have that kind of brake.

Integrated Brake

After the exhibition closed the organizers invited for the TaipeiCycle night and 25th anniversary party. I was so happy to attend this party that was on the same day as the Natooke 3 year anniversary. Happy Birthday Natooke!

TaipeiCycle night and 25th anniversary party

kiDulty Article about Ines Brunn 伊泉

März 7th, 2012

The Chinese online magazine kiDulty published an entry about me and Natooke and my fixed gear bike. You can have a look at the article here.

They also took nice pictures (can you see how I was freezing…):

Ines Brunn wheely on kiDulty Magazine

Ines Brunn doing a Fixed Gear Bike Skid

Fixed Gear Bike of Ines Brunn

kiDulty asked me when and how I got in contact with fixed gear bikes. Well that was long time ago. I started doing gymnastics style tricks on fixed gear bikes in 1989.

They also asked who did the painting on my bike frame. Actually that was me and my assistant Doudou as I was playing around in preparation for a design exhibition under the theme „Awakening Spring“. I will be displaying a new bike with nice flowers painted on the frame.

They asked me to share my views on Fixed Gear. I think riding a fixed gear bike is a lot of fun, and it is  convenient. I also ride a road bike for cycling in the mountains or racing, but the feeling of riding a freewheel bike compared to a fixed gear bike is completely different. A fixed gear bike is very light due to its simplicity, riding fixed gear makes you feel one with your bike as if it is part of you. You can precicely control the speed on a fixed gear bike making it the best option for riding in traffic. Also on a fixed gear bike you can ride backwards, do fun skids and other fancy moves. I love to perform on my fixed gear bike.

At Natooke we custom build each customers bike. You can choose all the different parts to assemble your unique bicycle.

In addition, cycling is the most environmentally friendly way to travel. I love cycling through the streets of any big city of the world. It makes me very happy.
kiDulty also asked what I would say to young peopel that want to start riding fixed gear in China. Many people have the minconception that riding fixed gear means you cannot install a brake. But that is not true. I recommend everybody riding on the streets of busy Chinese cities to instal a safety brake, even if you have practiced enough and really can stop you bike at any moment without a hand brake, I still advise to have a brake. I find it sad to see some kids that started riding fixed gear and were all excited take the brake off their bike and then have accidents. Now they do not like riding a bike. That is a pity. Please ride safe and enjoy!

3 Years NATOOKE

März 7th, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATOOKE!

Natooke Logo

Our shop has been open for 3 years already. I cannot believe it. We started Natooke shop on March 7th 2009 in the center of Beijing. It has grown very big but we are still in the same traditional hutong building.

Natooke Shop Outside

We soon after started a Chinese twitter site. There are almost 5000 people following our daily updates in Chinese. Of course we organize many events and are happy to have so many people join.

Bikes in front of Natooke

We just started the Chinese Ebay (called Taobao) . There we are selling parts and bikes to people who do not want to come to the shop or live somewhere else. But still we have so much stuff in the shop.

Natooke inside

Volker in Natooke

Januar 5th, 2012

I love the coincidences making life so interesting! Today a Chinese woman came into Natooke. I was in the office and could only hear her asking my empoloyees. Isn’t your boss German? What is her name? I have a friend who says he thinks he knows her. My employee asked me to come down and I finished writing something and then reluctantly went down thinking this might be another Chinese person wanting me to teach their brother or child some German (which I of course do not do and never did). When I came down I saw Volker Zwack from Herzogenaurach. Oh my god! We had gone to the same school but I have not sen or heard from him since 1997. That was so cool!

But that of course by itself would not be too much of a coincidence.

They actually decided that they would have a look at Wudaoying Hutong as their friends told them it is becoming a really nice street to go. When they were walking past my shop he stopped and he remembered that he had read somewhere about 6 months ago that I have a bike shop, but he was not sure if I actually live in Beijing. Of course he also had no idea about the name or what kind of bike shop it is or where it is. They had the feeling it could be mine as we have a huge German flag hanging on the outside of Natooke. So they decided to come in and ask. So great!

Volker in Natooke

We went and had a nice hotpot dinner together and talked about the old times and some of the people we are still in contact with. Unfortunately Volker is already flying back to Germany tomorrow.

Video of Takao Bike Polo Cup Kaohsiung

Januar 5th, 2012

Two Natooke bike polo teams as well as our own Natooke bike polo coach went to Taiwan last December. We had a Natooke men and a Natooke girls team. Today I saw the official video of the Takao Cup of Asian Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships 2011 in Kaohsiung Taiwan. Watch on youtube.

I also stumbled across another video of our Natooke team dancing away and trying to get others to join in. it is hilarious. It is always fun with the Natooke guys! Here’s the link

My pictures from the bike polo cup are all on the Natooke website in this gallery.

Natooke Bikes

Januar 2nd, 2012

Last year we have been busy all kinds of amazing custom bikes for so many people. As we are re-doing our Natooke website I am uploading pictures of the bikes we built for customers, as well as our happy customers and friends. Here are just some pictures of Flying Banana bicycles.

Classic Flying Banana Fixed Gear Bike by Natooke

Aggressive Flying Banana Fixed Gear Bike by Natooke

Custom Writing on Flying Banana Fixed Gear Bike by Natooke

Watermelon Flying Banana Fixed Gear Bike by Natooke

White Flying Banana Fixed Gear Bike by Natooke

Green Flying Banana Fixed Gear Bike by Natooke

Happy New Year

Januar 1st, 2012

First of all: Happy New Year!

It has been many months since I last regularly wrote blog entries. Because some friends and some fans complained about that I decided for the year 2012 I will try to update my blog.

Natooke shop has been very amazing last year and I hope we can continue the same way in 2012. I am happy to have met so many interesting people that just walked in either by coincidence or because they had read about us or seen us on TV. Let us have lots of fixed gear riding fun together in this year.

Beijing Fixed Gear Ride on New Year’s Eve 2011

New Year’s Eve we had a Natooke fixed gear bicycle ride to end off the year 2011 and greet the New Year while cycling along Beijing’s streets. We waited for the countdown on a huge clock near Xidan.

Natooke Riding on Beijing Streets

Recently we have some really enthusiastic girls come to rides and events. Keep up the hard riding!

Doudou Riding her Flying Banana Fixed Gear Bike

Suan Suan Riding her Flying Banana Fixed Gear Bike

Beijing is getting colder and there are not many people on the streets at night. That made for a huge space for us cycling especially on the extremely wide bicycle lane of Chang’An Boulevard that goes right through the center of Beijing.

Riding Fixed Gear on the wide bicycle lane of Chang’An Boulevard

The remaining group did a very brief stop on Tiananmen Square before the guard came to tell us to keep moving on.

Natooke Fixed gear on Tiananmen Square

Then we went to get some early morning food at a small Chinese restaurant. We just stacked our bikes outside of the restaurant. Unfortunately a drunk driver in a SUV drove past and drove too close to our bikes so his car must have touched the most outside bike and the drove over that bikes‘ back wheel.

Bike Pile in Beijing

But we figured a bent wheel in the first hours of the year brings good luck. More pictures are all in this gallery.

Natooke and Ines Brunn in „China Today“ Magazine

November 26th, 2011

There is a nice German article on „China Heute“ about Natooke shop, fixed gear events that we organized in Beijing, bike tricks and me in the German edition of the online magazine called „China Today“. Read it here.

I also saw the printed article in the Spanish version of the magazine called „China Hoy“.

Ines Brunn in China Hoy Magazine