There's nothing wrong with buying a bike in the middle of the winter

Maybe you remember my test ride on the Retrovelo Paul in November. It had a little poll in the end asking what kind of color you would choose for a Retrovelo Paula. Surprisingly enough the traffic white bike I was testing did not get any votes. On the other hand -- and that's now also the time to reveal my choice -- the pigeon blue came in first with a vast majority of 26%. I had actually already decided what kind of colors I would pick before I asked the question. However, it was really interesting to see that many people (Filigree, Carinthia, Justine, Trisha etc.) voted for the same bike and also mentioned the creamy tires and brown saddle and grips.

Well, here I proudly present my new beauty:

Pigeon-blue Retrovelo Paula (for the specs click on the picture)

I ordered the 7-speed version last week and am looking forward to receive my new bike some time in January :). In the meantime I just have to find a place to park it.

Many of my friends I told about my new steed already placed a reservation for a test ride which, of course, I will gladly offer. For the rest of you I can at least recommend Retrovelo's homepage and their catalogues (both in German and English)...

By the way, regarding benefits of cycling in the winter, I read in the news today that physical activity prevents depressions: "Bewegung beugt Depressionen vor". Psychiatrists claim that the lack of exercise leads to anergia and isolation, especially among young people. It's not only about prevention though, they also recommend physical activity, a regular day-night-rhythm etc. as part of a therapy in many such cases. The WHO tells us the following about physical (in)activity:

"Physical activity is defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure. Physical inactivity, (a lack of physical activity) is an independent risk factor for chronic diseases, and overall is estimated to cause 1.9 million deaths globally.

Regular physical activity – such as walking, cycling, or dancing – has significant benefits for health. For instance, it can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and osteoporosis, help control weight, and promote psychological well-being. Everyone should engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day. More activity may be required for weight control."

From my personal experience I can also tell that that cycling makes me a happier, more efficient and well-balanced human being (see "Is cycling addictive?"). I also see that many people don't care enough about their physical health which also effects their mental health in a negative way.

I'm curious if you have similar experiences to mine, especially if you only started everyday cycling recently. Did you notice a difference in your overall way of life?

Enjoying a ride on a Retrovelo bike

Last Saturday I went to test ride some bikes with Filigree from the Lovely Bicycle! blog. I tried a Retrovelo Paul (the male version of the classy Paula) and Filigree a Specialized Globe Haul (a Mixte for heavy loads), both of which were gladly lent to use by the Citybiker bike shop on Lerchenfelderstraße.

The Retrovelo Paul in the Schmerling Park in Vienna (more pictures on flickr)

Patience pays off

A few months back Maff's old city bike broke down because an ownerless dog ran into his back wheel when he was cycling along the Danube bike path. Although he would have liked to have a new bike immediately, he decided to pick a more substantial and well- equipped bike this time. He choose the Fahrradmanufaktur T-300 in emerald green. Fahrradmanufaktur is a fancy bike producer from Germany. I haven't heard much about them beforehand, but they seem to build a lot of high quality city bikes and I can see more and more of their bikes on the road these days.

I don't know all the details, but the T-300 has an 8-speed gear hub (Shimano Nexus), a hub dynamo (which can be used in on/off/auto mode) and hydraulic caliper brakes. It comes with all essential accessories like fenders, carrier, chain guard, bell and even a small bicycle pump. It doesn't need reflectors on the spokes as there are built-in reflector bands on the tires (which nowadays is almost standard). If I'm not mistaken Maff only paid 700€ for this marvelous bike!

Unfortunately, at the Cooperative Fahrrad in Vienna and even at the Fahrradmanufaktur, they didn't have that bike in his size ready, so he had to use his cyclocross (a Kona "Jake the Snake", in emerald green too) in the meantime.

Well, but patience pays off! Look at that catch!

Maff and the Fahrradmanufaktur T-300 on the way back to Linz (by bike and by train)

By the way, the people at the Cooperative Fahrrad are very competent and have almost everything a cyclist can possibly want (including folding bikes, tandems and even penny-farthing bikes!). What I also like is that the young sales clerk keeps telling me that I have a cool bag. I guess I should introduce you to my messenger bag some time in the future, too ;-).

A question of balance

Actually, on the trains from Spain to Vienna I couldn't cut my videos cause all the trains (except the night train) didn't have sockets and my laptop was shortly dead. Instead, I read my new book again, "Das Geheimnis des Fahrradhändlers" (the secret of the bicycle dealer) by the cartoonist Jean-Jacques Sempé. It was masterly translated to German by Patrick Süskind whoose book "Perfume" you might know. The original French title of Sempé's book is "Raoul Taburin". I don't know if it's also available in English and other languages, but I guess it is.

Anyhow, the book is about a famous bicycle dealer that can repair all kinds of damages and is therefore highly regarded in his village. He has a secret though -- he can't ride a bicycle. First he tries to avoid bicycles and comes up with all kinds of excuses, but at one point he can't keep out of harm's way anymore..

I won't tell more in case you want to read it yourself. It's a nice little book though, more like a fairy tale with lovely cartoons and therefore also suitable for children.

It made me think too. I have many friends in Vienna that don't own a bicycle and who, according to themselves, can't ride a bicycle. Maybe they learned it as a child, but they never cycled in their teens and later.

But it's not a problem if you can't ride a bicycle, cause you can always learn it!

There are two simple steps:

1. cycling as a question of balance
2. cycling in traffic

The first is just a matter of training. I remember that I had training wheels on my bike when I learned it at the age of 3. Nowadays, this seems to be not the preferred method anymore. Here, the Puky learner bike is state-of-the-art for children. Choose a park or a quiet area where cycling is allowed. Sometimes it's handy to have a second person that can hold you in the beginning and give advice. Read also how to ride a bicycle (but please don't consider the things they think you need -- they only constrain you).

For the second step, make sure that you know the traffic regulations well, especially if there are exceptions for cyclists. It's generally not enough to hold a driver's license, cause for that you only had to deal with car-related regulations. As there's much less traffic on weekends (especially on Sundays) it's advisable to start riding in traffic then. Assure that you already feel confident with braking and hand signaling before you hit the road though. You may also want to read an earlier post of mine about positioning on the road.

Ruby Tues... ehm Thursday!

Today I was cycling without gloves the first day! We got more than 15°C (59F) in Vienna, let's celebrate!
As for the title: there was a lot of red involved in my "bike clothing" today, but see yourself..

Did I mention that I love my bike? Maybe I should get another red one, like the Velorbis Dannebrog. But maybe also a refreshing green or light blue. Or simply an elegant black? Oh, life can be so cruel!

By the way, don't miss the bike festival at the town hall square in Vienna if you're around this weekend.

Le tour d'Autriche

As a saying modified after one of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's poems (famous German writer) already suggests,

"Why wander around in the distance, when good things lie nearby?"

I'm going to check out local bicycles before getting lost in the international market.

KTM Univers 7 Lite Simplon Kagu R8 Kraftstoff Sissy Steirerbike Holzbike

Unfortunately, Austrian bicycle producers are more on the sporty side and don't offer a huge variety of urban bikes -- most of them being either not well-equipped or simply ugly. There are exceptions though. Let's just have a look.. In fact there are only two internationally relevant bicycle producers in Austria nowadays: KTM builds beautiful road and mountain bikes, but their city bikes are rather ugly. Well, they are quite cheap though, and well-equipped. Simplon at least has the Kagu that has refreshing colors and balloon tires, but imho the ladies' version looks rather clumsy. The standard version doesn't have lights, fenders nor a rear rack, but it can be attached easily. Simplon bikes are far more expensive, but the quality is excellent. Beside these two, there are smaller brands like Kraftstoff with their lovely monarchic series -- but again nice bikes without lights, fenders and rack (except the male Siegfried balloon bike). Otherwise I would definitely go for the Sissy although it is pricy. And there's Steirerbike which builds a wooden bike and some relatively cool, well-equipped and fairly cheap trekking bikes. But I really don't need suspension forks and fat tires in the city.. Steinbach, Newton, Capo and Hrinkow produce mainly road resp. mountain bikes. Furthermore, Team Schmidt builds customized bikes and also recycles second-hand bikes. They make refreshingly many different types of bikes -- road, mountain and urban bikes, fixies, tandems and cargo bikes ;-). MeinRad does a similar thing and rebuilds your own old bike to a new (single-speed) bike. Ok, I know this sounds like a lot, but most of the companies I only know because I did some research for this article. Unfortunately none of the bicycle producers focuses on urban bikes although there is a high demand for cool such bikes here. I have the impression that after Puch went bankrupt nobody built useful and elegant bikes for the masses anymore :-(.

Saddle up the horses

As you already know from an earlier post, I want to buy a new bike as at the moment I only have a rather unsuitable mountain bike for my city rides. There are many similar types of bikes -- city bikes, cruisers, comfort and commuter bikes etc. To keep things simple:

I'm looking for an urban bike.

I love old bikes, in particular the old Puch bicycles. But I also want new technology, e.g. hub dynamos. I don't know if I want a retro bike though. However, this is a discrepancy. And maybe I will end up buying a cool second-hand bike first before I settle for a robust new bike because I can't resist the temptation ;-). For sure I want fenders, a rear rack and all the other good stuff. Parking space is limited though -- actually not available. In my house there is no dedicated space to park bikes and therefore most bicycles are illegally parked in the hallway. That's why I procrastinated the need for another bike. And it's still an unsolved problem. Even parking my bike in the flat is impossible because I live on the 5th floor and the elevator is too small to fit a bike in there. Maybe I will disassemble the mountain bike and put it in our small compartment in the basement, but that's not really a satisfactory solution. I also want to have a second bike so that I can lend one to guests -- and not to collect dust :-(. But I will just go ahead now and find a solution later. You must know that I'm really an indecisive person, though settling for just one bike will be a tough choice anyway. I will keep you informed about the bikes I look at and I'm of course grateful for any advice. Today I had a look at Bobbin Bicycles from Britain. They sell some nice retro bikes with up to 5 gears that I definitely need if I don't want to push my bike uphill every day. Unfortunately some bikes only have a bottle dynamo and a rear battery powered light. The bikes in this post are from Electra (California), Gazelle (Holland) and Pashley (Britain). By the way, the Bobbin bikeshop sells great accessories too.

The Puch Clubman

Puch was an Austrian company located in Graz, Styria. Since 1889 they produced bicycles, scooters, motorbikes and cars. One of their most famous products was the Puch Maxi scooter. They had to shut down in the late 1980s due to financial problems. The name has been sold several times afterwards. That's why you can still get Puch bicycles, but there is no connection to the old ones whatsoever - so I don't know if their quality is still as good.

I just know the old bicycles. My mum owns a Puch Cavette, and my dad a Puch Clubman. Both have this nice metallic blue color that I like so much. By now the bikes are more than 20 years old. My mum stores hers at the attic (it's a little bit broken and she never got it fixed). My dad still uses his Clubman although some parts are not original anymore, e.g. the shift levers and the saddle. I quite liked to ride the Clubman cause it has a dropped bar and small tires, but still fenders, a (rear) rack and all other essential parts of a city bike. The gear levers are (as usual for old bikes) mounted to the down tube.

As I mentioned in the previous post, there is also a Puch Clubman parked in front of the university building where I usually park my bike. It has been there for months now with a flat rear tire. But all the rest of it looks quite ok since the parking space is canopied. It's not in such a bad condition as other abandoned bikes that spent the winter outside. Well, it is a little bit rusty too of course.. I want that bike! Well, I can't steel it and I'm not a person who would ever think about doing this. But it is a pain to see it every day knowing that nobody uses it anymore and I still can't have it. I think I will leave a note there next week, asking whether the owner would sell it to me. But unfortunately it's not very likely that s/he turns up there ever again..

The left and right pictures show the Puch Clubman in front of the university, the middle one is my dad's.