A perfect match for the tiger bike!

A while ago Anna spotted a tiger bike in Vienna. She claimed that it's "the one and only" which is true, but there's another self-made "one and only" in my city! She's often sighted in the city center locked in street lights, trash cans or bike racks. So far I haven't been lucky enough to sight the owner of the bike, but one day I may stay hidden stalking the bike until I spot her ;)

I have difficulties determining the species of this one. It could be a hybrid of feline species such as tiger and leopard. If you have a theory, please let us know! So here it is: let me present the Safari Bike!

Self-made Sunday: paint the frame

You're right, today is not Sunday. But hey, I took these pictures on Sunday, so I hope it still counts. In fact, I even saw the motif on Saturday on my way to the grocery shop...

What? Well, a bicycle!
Nothing special, you say, you see bicycles every day?
Well, not this one!

This one is special because it is personalized. Here I present you the one and only tiger bike.

  

A short story about the back pedaling brake

Yesterday I saw a nice video clip about the pros and cons of a back pedaling brake (also known as coaster brake) in one of my favorite programs called Karambolage on my favorite tv channel Arte. Arte stands for Association Relative à la Télévision Européenne and is a quality European culture channel. They broadcast in German and French. Many of their own programs can also be viewed online on arte.tv. Unfortunately I could not find Karambolage. But the text of the clip (here in German and French, by Corinne Delvaux) and the pictures are available on their website. It roughly translates to the following:

Wir sind in Berlin. Das sieht man doch am Fernsehturm im Hintergrund, oder? Gut, dieser Herr ist Franzose und er freut sich, denn seine Berliner Freunde haben ihm ein Fahrrad geliehen, um die Stadt zu besichtigen. Super.

We are in Berlin. That's obvious because of the tv tower in the background, isn't it? Well, this gentleman is a Frenchman and he is happy that his Berlin friends lent him a bicycle for sightseeing. Great.

Bicycle calenders for a good start in the new year

Last year I ordered a calender from Copenhagen Cycle Chic. This year there are even more options available. Let's start with the classical one -- the Cycle Chic 2010 Calender:

This time Mikael Colville-Andersen also started another project and produced the Copenhagenize Bicycle Infrastructure Fetish Calender which probably suits someone like me better:

My favorite bike-related calender, however, is homemade :). It's this year's Bike Messenger Calender produced by Andreas Stückl (photographer and messenger from Graz):

On his website botenkalender.meinblog.at he also has other nice things, e.g. a bike messenger memory game (simply click on the picture, print, cut out, laminate and play :)):


For ordering any of these calenders, simply click on the respective pictures. If you know and/or prefer any other calenders then let us know too!

A stroll through Schönbrunn

There are so many nice places in Vienna that I never bother mentioning them -- simply because I hardly ever go there, but also because I am so used to them, that I do not consider them so special. However, it's always nice, to take a walk around the center (it's a pedestrian zone) or other parks. Filigree has once mentioned the Augarten as her favorite park in Vienna. Now here's one rather touristy place that is also very enjoyable:

Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn

The Schönbrunn palace (with an umlaut written as "Schoenbrunn") is the former residence of the Habsburg monarchs and the whole area very very pompous, both the palace and the surrounding gardens. If you're interested in the historical background I recommend to visit the offical website of the Schönbrunn palace or Wikipedia (and Vienna :)).

Soon after the end of the monarchy the population of Vienna discovered the park as an attractive recreational area, which it is still. In December 1996 the Schönbrunn Palace was put on the list of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites.

Map of the palace (the yellow thing in the South) and parks at Schönbrunn

How to leave bikeprints on the street

First something you might already know: Contrail invented a system to leave a faint chalk line behind the bike while riding it. See the official website or the homepage of the studio gelardi (the creators) for more information. They claim that by leaving road marks like that cycling would become safer as cyclists see which routes are frequently used (after all they create a bike lane themselves) and hence cycling is safer there. Well, I am not so sure about that and I also don't think this is something that should be used largely (I don't like dusty air when I'm cycling), but every now and then it could be fun.


However, this product only exists in theory and not yet in real life. On the other hand I have tried a real bicycle painting tool on the closed down Andrássy street in Budapest:

They took a fixed gear bike, mounted sponges to each of the tires and connected them to bottles filled with colorful paint. Well, a certain area of the street was covered with paper for the painting purpose. Still fun to leave some bikeprints.

Me on the painting bike

But don't be sad if you don't have the opportunity to ride a painting bike. Just wait for the winter and leave your bikeprints on uncleared roads in the snow :).

Putumayo and bicycles

Putumayo is my favorite world music record label. But their CDs don't just contain great music, they also have lovely covers that go with it. Here I've picked some of them that feature cyclists and bicycles as an integral part of life. Simple but impressive. I like it.

Putumayo Kids presents music for children.

Photography and cycling

Despite cycling photography is another hobby of mine. Well, I do a lot of pictures with my cheap digital camera, but so far haven't bothered much about taking quality pictures (I'm actually more into analogue photography which is not so good for snapshots). But I do like other people's pics :-).

First of all, there is the Copenhagen Cycle Chic blog with lovely pictures from the cycling capital in Denmark which most of you already know. I also really enjoy the photos on Change Your Life. Ride A Bike! and many other blogs.

Apart from that there are of course also a lot of photographers I like that occasionally take pictures of bicycles and cyclists. As I recently saw a documentary about her, I want to mention Annie Leibovitz's great picture of a bicycle in Sarajevo that she took during the war in the 90ies. Quite expressive and sad.

Sarajevo: Fallen bicycle of teenage boy just killed by a sniper, 1994, by Annie Leibovitz

Actually Annie Leibovitz is well-known for her work for the Rolling Stone magazine and Vanity Fair. She takes outstanding and impressive portraits (famous are pictures from a Rolling Stones Tour, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the pregnant Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg in a bath of milk and many more).

Lance Armstrong, 1999, by Annie Leibovitz

Yehuda Moon is back!

Finally, after a few months of absence, Rick Smith continues his great daily comic strip on yehudamoon.com. A must for every city cyclist! Welcome back Yehuda, Joe, Tistle, Fizz, Bike Ninja, Fred (well, he's probably not coming back), Councilman, Carbon Rider, Shakers, kids ... I missed you guys a lot. You definitely make my days.

Here's one of my favorite strips:

Valve caps

Well, what's so interesting about valve caps that I want to write about them you might ask. I don't want to talk about the ordinary plastic ones though. On velosophie.at they presented really special ones and I just can't resist to share this catch with you ;-).


They can be bought at beachcruiser.de (starting at 6.50€ for a pair) and several other shops. I might as well get some although I kind of fear that they will get stolen soon. Well, for the moment of glory!

Subversive fair in Linz

Linz is the European capital of culture 2009, and last weekend a subversive fair (Subversivmesse) took place in the harbor.
Our friends from Vienna's bike kitchen had a stand there, and also had taken their workshop with them to repair, pimp and up-cycle bicycles. My friend Daniela and me joined on Saturday to construct a chopper bike from some old bikes. Special thanks to Max and Oskar from bike kitchen for their support and next time I'll take the chance to build a tall-bike!


On Sunday afternoon some bike competitions took place at the Danube. Sadly I missed bike bungee but was there for tall-bike jousting and bike jump.


I had a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy these pictures!

Curious pictures with bicycles

I would like to share some curious paintings with bikes with you, I hope you enjoy them! :)

1- This image was painted by the famous painter Salvador Dalí. Dalí had the genius to paint really good surrealist pictures, and this is a good example. Should you happen to go to Figueres (north-East Spain, bordering France), were he was born, visit his museum. And pay visit to me as well ;)

2- This is another picture from the Catalan Modernist painter Ramon Casas. Have you ever thought of trying a tandem? Since I saw two people riding one when I was a child, I want to try. Who want to "tandem"? By the way this image is very famous around here ;)

3- I do not know whose that image from. But it is a curious bike. I think it is also a modernist (or art noveau) painting.

4- The last image is dedicated to a very well-known character. At least for certain in Spain everybody knows about him (I learnt the first lines by heart when in highschool). I do not know who had the idea to paint this, but is very original. Though there weren't bikes in Spain up in the 17 century...

Anna from BCN