Normally I only write about the most practical bicycles but here are some bikes (and other things) so beautifully impractical that they demand inclusion.

Frank Kloos, web-design extraordinaire of BUROFRANK fame turned me on to Chris Gilmour’s sculptures in packaging cardboard, the humblest of all materials. 

Gilmour sculpts iconic objects to an amazing degree of reality and often in life-size. Yet they are made of nothing but cardboard and glue, never containing any further supporting frame. I suppose there is more than a bit of irony in the re-creation of such timeless, durable objects in such a cheap material normally just used to package, protect and discard.

All photos from Chris Gilmour’s website. You can see much more on Gilmour’s own site here.

This poster in the city of Meunster’s (in northern Germany, near the Dutch border) Planning Office shows the amount of space taken up by cars, a bus, and bicycles used to transport the same number of people.

A couple comments:
– The photo of the cars has unfortunately been cropped, distorting the perspective somewhat and also not showing all of the cars.

– By American standards the cars in the photo are tiny. The largest auto I can discern here is a mid-sized Mercedes sedan of 1980’s vintage.

– In real use the cars would probably have to be spread out much more than the bicycles. Of course the single bus would remain a single unit. The same is essentially true when parking is considered.

From Core77, website for industrial design

This was actually a very typical moment for an Amsterdam bicycle commute but my work hours are strange so I don’t often find myself in bicycle traffic jams. Friday was an exception and the drawbridge over the Amstel River was opened so a couple ships could pass through. This bridge is actually quite high so it only needs to open for larger ships.

There are actually many, many such drawbridges in Holland, some even in highways (though these only open in extreme cases). In the city and countryside they open quite often to let freight ships, barges and larger pleasure boats through. The smallest drawbridges in villages are hand operated with a counterweight and a chain. Signs state the local “bruggeld” (bridge toll) which is generally collected by a local pub owner or retiree who hangs a clog from a fishing pole to collect the toll. I’m actually (for once) being serious here. See the photo below.

Generally the bridges operate very quickly but sometimes quite a few boats have gathered and the bridge will remain open for 5 or 10 minutes. Quite a few bicycles, trams, scooters and cars will then accumulate on either side.

Things to note in first photo:

– Schoolgirls with hockey sticks. Field hockey is very popular in Holland.

– The tram (the electric lines for the trams raise and lower with the bridges)

– Only city bikes, most of which have the usual white mudguard tail. No, wait… I spot one rear derailleur.

– Almost every cyclist has a bag slung courier-style over the shoulder

– The stop sign is painted on the road surface of the bridge

– No cars: sorry folks, too many cyclists, pedestrians and trams to have room for cars on this street. You’ll just have to take a longer route through the city.

I’m originally a New Yorker so its just music to my ears to learn that our sort of daily, just getting somewhere cycling is now hip amongt the “It girls” in New York. Apparently my mom was 40 years ahead of her time, riding her green Raleigh Sports 3-speed around with me on the back. Better late than never, ladies.

This article from the New York Observer describes the beautiful bicycle girls of New York and their preference for simple, old bikes with fenders to keep their dresses clean and baskets for their doggies and Prada purses.

Perhaps even better than the article itself is the raging debate in the comments that follow. The hardcore, helmet and wooly sock and mud stripe wearing “cyclist martyrs” decry the glam girls’ nonchalance, unlawful behavior and general enjoyment of life. Others, including one apparent glam girl, exalt the trend as a huge step in the right direction: They really are getting around by bike instead of SUV and further what these folks do, the rest will follow.

The Spokes-Models
Get a Helmet, Morning Glory! Beautiful—SCREEECH!—Roadkill! Who Are These Schwinn-Pumping, Flower-Shlepping Sirens? Where Do Gisele, Naomi and Chloë Think They Are? Shropshire?

by Gillian Reagan
This article was published in the September 10, 2007, edition of The New York Observer.

On a recent sunny Saturday afternoon, Vikki Eichmann was striding through the Union Square farmers’ market, one hand steering a sea-green, 1970’s Schwinn Breeze bicycle and the other tossing a curtain of silky brown hair over her bony shoulder. She was wearing a strapless plum-colored sundress and $400 Cole Haan knee-high boots. “They’re perfect because they’re sturdy and I don’t get scratches or bruises from the bike or anything,” Ms. Eichmann said, stopping to pick through a crate of peaches. “Plus they just plain look cute on a bike.”

Check out the rest of the article and the comments here.

Cycle Chic: Copenhagen Girls on Bikes is a nice site in the bakfiets-en-meer spirit.

The authors desccribe their site as “Social documentary in high heels”. Like I write about the beauty and everyday-ness of cycling in Amsterdam, Mikael & Aaron do the same about Copenhagen, DK… through the medium of showing beautiful women on bikes in their city.

Before you start lambasting us all as sexist, misogynist, backward pigs I’ll explain a little further. Everybody, male or female, looks their best on a bicycle; They’re in motion, muscles tensed. They ride by slowly enough to catch a shape, a smile and a flutter of hair but too fast to see less endearing details. Cyclists in the city are enjoying themselves and a smile or relaxed concentration does everybody good. Women are generally not afraid to do it with more flair and style.

There are exceptions to the “everybody looks good on a bike” rule: Unathletic people dressed like bicycle racers, for example. The racer’s snug-fitting uniform is perfect on the body its intended for. It varies from unflattering to ridiculous on anything less.

Mark Stosberg in Richmond, Indiana, USA sent a kind note asking a couple relevant questions worth public answers. The photo below I blatantly stole from Mark’s blog. It seemed appropriate.

Mark

Hello Henry,

Thank you for your blog which provides a unique glimpse into Dutch bike
culture for westerners like me who haven’t been able to visit yet.

As a new bakfiets owner in Richmond, Indiana, I have a couple things
I’ve curious about, which I think would make interesting topics for
future blog posts.

1. Accessories. In the photos I see of Dutch community bikes, there is a
noticeable absense of several accessories: Rear view mirrors, bike
computers, and water bottles.

If I had to guess, the answers might be:

– Rear view mirrors would be stolen (assuming they are detachable)
– For the bike computers and water bottles, perhaps they are less
important for shorter, urban trips, and also could either be stolen, or
would create another chore to carry the removable parts inside all the
time.

2. “Key Management”. The AXA Defender lock seems like it is somewhat
common there. If I attach the key for it to my keychain, I have to
leave the whole keychain attached to the bike when it is unlocked, and
my foot hits the keys that way. Are there common ways people avoid
this, and still keep track of their AXA Defender keys?

Unrelated, you may be interested in the stories and photos I recently
created about my new bakfiets. You can access that content through my
homepage below.

Thanks!

http://mark.stosberg.com/

(more…)

We just spotted this new rain canopy for cycling here in (rainy) Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its similar in principle to the partially covered scooters popular in Paris. Perhaps somebody developed the bicycle canopy out of frustration resulting from the constant rain this summer. There have only been a handful of sunny days in the past months.

Using a car in Dutch cities is hopelessly inconvenient and expensive so most people commute, do their errands and transport their kids by bike. Rain, thus, has little effect on whether people cycle or not. .. but that doesn’t actually make us enjoy cycling in the rain.

Bicycles with complete mudguards (“fenders” for you in America) protect the rider and passenger(s) from dirty road spray, but rain still falls from the sky. Until now its been a choice between rain suit, cycling poncho or umbrella to stay dry, or just accept getting wet. Unless its really raining hard the rain suit seems too much trouble. Carrying an umbrella for short cycling trips can actually work if you don’t also need to carry something else (flowers, grocery bags…) or talk on your mobile phone. But if its windy you can forget about the umbrella. Cycling ponchos unfortunately only work on bicycles with a sportive sitting position where you lean over the handlebars, and not on upright dutch bikes.

So the bicycle canopy would theoretically fill a niche somewhere between the other rain protection options. Cute idea, and quite nicely executed according to my colleague who saw it. Aside from looking somewhat silly the canopy would probably work about as promised. Add some Rain-Legs to keep your thighs dry and you’d be well protected from the elements. As a bonus the canopy would even provide some protection for a front child seat.

A couple questions though:

1. What do you do with the canopy when you park the bike?
2. How will it affect handling and efficiency in the Dutch gale-force winds?
3. Can it be stowed when not needed?
4. How easy and quickly can it be deployed and stowed?
5. Why is the fellow in the photo using the canopy on a perfectly nice day?
6. Will there be a pimped out version with tinted windows?

People often ask where to store big, tough Dutch bicycles and trikes. After all they don’t fit inside doll-house sized Dutch apartments and certainly cannot be carried up the ladder-like stairs common in Amsterdam buildings. Answer: Dutch bikes are outdoor dogs. Like cars you just leave them outside, ready to ride… after unlocking the massive chain that protects in from the bicycle thieves. That’s why the good Dutch bikes are made simple, tough and understated, with thick, strong paint and lots of stainless steel parts.

The challenge is that Amsterdam is an extremely densely packed city of 800,000 people and the average resident has more than one bicycle. This means that many areas of Amsterdam are simply overflowing with bicycles. The bikes are locked to ubiquitous bicycle racks, canal railings, stair railings, streetlight poles, signpoles, fences, scaffolding and anything else that stands still long enough. That might not sound ideal but its heaven if you figure that one car takes as much space as about 20 bikes. If the bikes were replaced by cars Amsterdam would spread to cover an enormous area of land that doesn’t exist, losing most of what makes it so wonderful.

But in some places there are so many bicycles that special bicycle storage facilities are necessary. There are many examples but the best known is Amterdam Central Station (train station) which counts the following bicycle storage facilities:

Fietsflat: Built a few years ago as a temporary facility to hold 2500 bikes while work progresses on a permanent garage to hold 10,000 bikes. In fact its estimated that there are often 4000 bikes crammed in to the present “fietsflat”. Parking your bike here is free but its usually filled by mid-morning.

Bewaakte fietsenstallingen: two manned, underground bicycle parking garages, each with a capacity of about 500 bikes. For about €1.50 per day you can leave your bike here.

Fietspont: this a a brand new bike storage facility for 350 bikes on a decommisioned ferryboat in the Ij river behind the station. It was painted and decorated by homeless people (who ride bikes too). Its free bike parking here.

Underground bike garages: Enormous new bike parking facilities to house 10,000 bikes at the station by 2009 are in the works.

Everywhere else bikes can be fit: As everywhere else in Amsterdam, there are bikes locked to every centimeter of fixed object and ground space possible in the station area. People can be very creative about how they find a place to store their bicycle: in a canal, hanging by a cable from a bridge, vertical on a pole… anything goes!