Thursday, 31 July 2014
Wednesday, 30 July 2014
Schwinn Bikes X UNIQLO
A collaboration between Schwinn Bikes and UNIQLO resulting in some rather cool retro looking t-shirts...
Cheers to our east Japan correspondent Hiroshi for the photo.
Yanagi Cycle
A few more detailed shots of the Yanagi Cycle bikes we saw at the Handmade Bicycle Meeting in Kyoto last week. We were lucky enough to test ride this gorgeous 29+ Trucker model. It is light, fast and seriously smooth. The bike just rolls and rolls and rolls...
Hanging inside the shop was this elegant and understated Camper frame. The details are just beautiful...
You can keep up to date with the Yanagi creations via their blog or follow them on Flickr. Or should you find yourself in Tokyo drop into their Shinjuku based workshop.
Hanging inside the shop was this elegant and understated Camper frame. The details are just beautiful...
You can keep up to date with the Yanagi creations via their blog or follow them on Flickr. Or should you find yourself in Tokyo drop into their Shinjuku based workshop.
Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Bicycle Parking Is NOT A Crime!
Spotted out in Osaka yesterday, this well ridden 3Rensho track bike. A usual suspect for the kind of bike we would take snaps of and post here. It wasn't until we uploaded the photos that we noticed the extra lock on the bike. The note on the lock is basically a threat telling the owner if the lock is broken then it goes to "the next level"...
This bike was parked tucked away at the rear of a car park in downtown Osaka. It wasn't blocking any sidewalks like many of the bikes we see around town. Obviously the shady fucks who "own" the car park are getting a bit heavy handed in their dealing with cyclists. Be warned people and be very careful where you decide to lock your bike. Either that or carry around a huge set of bolt cutters with you!
Monday, 28 July 2014
Nara Keirin
Back at Nara Keirin yesterday to catch the final two races of a three day FII meeting, no real stories to report. A little spill in the 9th but other than that here's the better shots we got of the action...
Sunday, 27 July 2014
Saturday, 26 July 2014
Friday, 25 July 2014
Handmade Bicycle Meeting, Kyoto
OK. Here we go. A round up of the photos from the truly amazing Handmade Bicycle Meeting in Kyoto. The event is being held at the small but super friendly Kaleido Cycle Shop in association with the Build Your Own Bike Factory from Tokyo. We arrived on a scorchingly hot Wednesday afternoon and were relieved to step into the air conditioned store, even more releived when the owner offered us all a cold beer!
Both inside and out were examples of gorgeous frames and bikes...
Along with the associated necessities for building such frames like braze ons...
And lugs...
And, of course a choice of tubes and finishes...
There are also some pretty cool luggage on display from Ripa...
And parts from the super cute Kaostem...
Camera straps and belts from Gunung...
The Build Your Own Bike Factory were offering brazing demonstrations and lessons out in the street...
The bikes man, what about the bikes? Well, they were all stunning, just stunning. Next week we'll put up some of the detailed shots but because the show is still going on we will just post a few photos today. Starting with this Abukuma...
A beautiful Shin 29'er...
A classic looking Stubborn single speed...
A simply perfect Doobat's...
A cute Katsuo work bike...
A very cool Gifted funny bike...
Our personal favorite was this Yanagi. We were lucky enough to take this beauty for a spin and boy is it smooth and surprisingly super light weight...
The craftsmanship that goes into some of these build is just jaw dropping, just check out this Ace Bicycles motorised cruiser/cafe racer...
And this Sunrise Cycles really should be on the wall in some kind of high end art gallery....
The paint job on this Monkey Workshop frame is so damn nice (we're running out of adjectives here!)...
And the kid in all of us would be all over this little 20" MTB also from the Monkey Workshop...
And last, but most certainly not least this elegant Bakansu Cycle cross/monster crosser...
There were a few bikes we missed so we may well pop back to Kyoto over the weekend before the show ends. We would strongly advise anyone reading this to do the same. An amazing show where you get to see some of the world's best bicycles and share a beer with the guys that built them. A big thank you to Kaleidocycle for their hospitality and a personal thank you to Toshio-san from Guell for his navigational skills in finding the show!
