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 :).

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:

Are you a bike punk?

What actually is a bike punk?
A punk that bikes? Is that all? Is it about anarchy on the road? I don't think so. Is it a guy/girl that rides a fixie with spoke cards and that plays bike polo on the weekends? Far too stereotypical (e.g. mountain and road bikes are also commonly used), but getting close I suppose..

"hard court bike polo" by "kitty meets goat"

Do you have to (re)build your bike yourself to be part of the crowd? I guess that helps as it's also about creativity and spending little money. Are only bike couriers allowed? And what about clothing? Punk-like clothing I'd say. But is that all? Or is it not that at all?

How to be a bike punk?
Yes, there is even a funny How-to on the internet! So let's see what I fulfill:

• buy a bike and value it almost as much as your own life: done
  
• get committed: done, no car
• bicycle safety: learned, so fine
• bicycle as the primary form of transportation: what else?
  
• cycle in rain and sunshine: easy-peasy
  
• attend critical mass (see what that is here): if possible
  
• unique clothing: well, kind of, but probably still too mainstream
• ...
  

Hm, I don't own a fixie though, and I yet don't have any cards in my spokes (but a sticker on my top tube that says "one less car" -- does that count?). I also never played bike polo. Therefore I wouldn't consider myself as bike punk. But all of that is not mentioned in the how-to anyway. So maybe I am a bike punk sensu lato ;-). What about you?

Well, honestly, who really gives a shit? Whatever you are, cycle on!

I found that cool redo of the Clash cover on the Three Basics blog

A revolutionary bike light

Yesterday I checked out the website of the Citybiker bike shop in Vienna for new bikes. But what actually drew my attention was this:


Deadly, eh? ;-)

Check out the MonkeyLectric light on their website. The Citybiker sells it for 70€.

Weird bikes at the bike festival

On Saturday I rode to the 10th bike festival with a friend. It was a lovely sunny and warm day and it was absolutely packed! We got a lot of information about cycling in Vienna (like bike maps and one-way ponchos for free), trips to Lower and Upper Austria, the Neusiedler Lake, Slovakia etc., got our bikes registered by the police, saw some new bikes (e.g. cool e-bikes) as well as second-hand bikes (unfortunately they didn't really have a good catch in my size), watched parts of the Vienna Air King contest (an international dirt jump contest), bought bicycle-buttons of the great Motmot Shop and could try out some really weird bikes: tall bikes, penny-farthing bikes (high wheeler), swing bikes, fixies that are used to play bike polo and some other constructions that I can't even name.

Here are some impressions and us on some of these cool bikes. I can assure you that it was a lot of fun :-). It felt a bit strange to cycle back home on my "normal" bike though..

Handlebar is at the wrong position	In the beginning I didn't figure out how to ride the swing bike, but in the end it somehow worked :-).	Same problem with the tall bike which was even taller than me -- but once I got on it (without anybody else's help!), it was just awesome!
A bike with two gears: 1st -- pedaling forwards, 2nd -- pedaling backwards. Got it?!	Cheap second-hand bikes	Old bike with old bell and old front brake
Actually a bike for three	Amazing jumps	Although I don't want an e-bike, they might be useful to others.

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.