Radfahren in Wien -- a review of Vienna's new bicycle guide

"Radfahren in Wien" (Cycling in Vienna) is an extensive handbook with a lot of useful information about cycling. Although it is strongly related to Vienna, I can highly recommend it for a general German-speaking audience (in particular, if situated in Austria). This is, because it is an exhausting and wittily written, smart and neatly designed handbook on almost anything you ever wanted to know about cycling.

"Radfahren in Wien" by Alec Hager and Johannes Pepelnik

Bicycle Film Festival in town

Although I'm not, the Bicycle Film Festival is again in Vienna. I went there last year for a session of short movies -- so-called "urban bike shorts" -- and some of the excellent fun program in the afternoons (like Tall Bike Jousting, Alleycat etc.). For more information on the program in Vienna this year visit the official homepage. It takes place at the Urania cinema from September 17 - 20.

The Bicycle Film Festival is an international film festival organized by Brendt Barbur after he had been hit by a bus in New York. Now in its ninth year the festival is held in 39 cities worldwide. 250.000 people are expected to attend this year. The description on their webpage is as follows:

"The Bicycle Film Festival celebrates the bicycle in all forms and styles. If you can name it - Tall Bike Jousting, Track Bikes, BMX, Alleycats, Critical Mass, Bike Polo, Road Cycling, Mountain Biking Recumbents - we've probably either ridden or screened it. What better way to celebrate these lifestyles than through art, film, music and performance?"

Find out on bicyclefilmfestival.com when it is close to your location.

For an idea of what kind of movies to expect see "What's a girl to do" (link to YouTube), "There's a flower in my pedal" (link to an earlier post) or simply watch the 2009 trailer and follow the suggestions on YouTube:

Wien fixiert

Do you know what Fixies are? Fixie is a short form for fixed-gear bike, meaning that these are single-speed bikes that have no free-wheel mechanism. The faster you pedal, the faster you are. If you pedal backwards, you also ride backwards. You can't stop pedaling though, cause otherwise the rear wheel is blocked. Stopping and slowing down is much more difficult than on a usual bike, mostly done by skidding.

"Fixie Clemenso" by Philipp C. Jahn from Berlin

Fixies first appeared in track bicycle races. Then bike messengers picked them up. Nowadays everybody who is particular about one's appearance wants a Fixie. It's state-of-the-art, although not really practical for most people. But if you still want one, you should check out Fixie Inc. (cylces for heroes) or pay the Citybiker a visit (Bobo bike shop in Vienna 1070).

I don't have a Fixie. I'd love to try and ride one though, just to know what it's like. But it wouldn't be really useful for me since I live on a hill (Vienna is quite hilly in some areas) and I would never make it up and down there with a fixed gear. Well, uphill wouldn't be such a problem (I've even done this with one-gear Citybikes although it was a pain), but downhill would be because of the braking thing.

Wanna see a short movie about Fixies in Vienna? Well, then check out "Wien fixiert" (in German). You also get some impressions of Vienna itself. Enjoy it!

By the way, I've seen the premiere of this movie at the Bicycle Film Festival in Vienna last October. The festival was really awesome. I'm already looking forward to the next one :-). If you get a change to see it somewhere close to your place (it's a worldwide festival), don't miss it! Otherwise, check out the website for a few movies. They also sell some of the filmlets on DVD, don't know if online though. There's even some time left to submit a movie yourself - for this year's BFF the deadline is on the 7th of March 2009.