Nova Magazine. August 1971.
When dreams turn to nightmares
We may be betraying our age here, but we'll continue regardless. How many of you remember Lego? Not the present no-imagination-required incarnation, but the original piles of connectable varicoloured blocks of thermoset plastic; all acute corners and circular lugs.
If you do, like us, the childhood day would have come when you set yourself the ultimate goal - to make the best, most fully-featured, machine/robot/boat/tank/monster ever. Ever.
The task took hours, as you frenetically tried to assimilate the functioning fantasy figure located in your head. Yet, when the final, all-too-diminutive wheel was pushed home, into that creaking monolith, one of life's first major disappointments arrived - having it all sometimes isn't quite the reality we thought it might be. Our Frankenstein creation had presence, but was ultimately a grotesque violation of our ideals.
This short, adolescent allegory was revisited courtesy of last night's BBC4 program - Ride of My Life: The Story of the Bicycle - in which author Rob Penn traveled the globe, collecting handbuilt parts for his dream bicycle. We found the bike history sections of great interest. And could have happily watched an hour of footage just showing how a Brooks saddle is made. Sadly, the fabulous seating component, presented to Mr Penn after his visit to the Birmingham factory, was scheduled to be combined with a variety of other, incongruous elements, in the name of a 'dream bike'.
Other sections of the journey provided a steel frame made by Brian Rourke, the renowned British frame-builder; a pair of wheels handmade by Steve ‘Gravy’ Gravenites, of Marin County, California; a bar and stem from the Cinelli factory in Milan; a crankset from Campagnolo; tyres courtesy of Continental in Germany.
The manufacturing footage was fascinating, notwithstanding Penn's 'schoolboy in a sweet shop' dizzy eagerness. Yet, as the tuck shop goody bag began to bulge, one couldn't help but think the end result would be one of self-inflicted nausea.
Employing Penn's rationale, imagine creating your 'dream work of art' It might include the head of Warhol's Marilyn, the body of Picasso's Jacqueline with Flowers, the legs of Henri Matisse's Icarus... you get the picture.
So cohesion is the key. And if bike-building is in any way considered an art form, one must leave matters of creativity to those with the gift. DIY culture, and the many image-making tools at our disposal these days have armed the populace with a misguided self-belief that we're all architects of the aesthetic. Yet, such perception could not be further from the truth.
"The bike is the loveliest thing I’ve ever owned," says Penn, as he rides off into the sunset. Dream on.
on
28.7.10
"Brainwear for smart people"
Form and function. Supply and demand. All good practice for a successful business venture. And both such maxims must surely have entered the conversation, perchance over a danish pastry or two, as Denmark-based Yakkay came into being, in 2008.
To that list add safety and style - both oft prescribed, but seldom attained. Specifically, we talk of the cycling helmet, and surely the most common reason for its invisibility on our traffic-congested streets - lack of style. Here lies the form and function paradigm which keeps many from protecting their most vital asset. Of which, whenever asked "Do I need a helmet?", our response is always the same "It depends how much you value your brain."
This NÖ assertion dovetails with the Yakkay manifesto - with their 'high quality products for people who appreciate safety and style' and an 'insight into contemporary people’s specific wishes and issues'. This insight is then 'transformed into obvious and beautifully designed solutions', with the production of a 'new smart bicycle helmet concept that allows the urban pedalist to keep his/her dignity and attention to personal appearance'.
Such enunciation arrives at a very neat and well-executed solution - an A + B = C device - where A is a standardised, rigid hard hat, B a self-expressive touch of style, and C 'Brainwear for smart people'.
With names such as Tokyo new jazz, Paris herringbone and Cambridge gold, the many and varied Yakkay helmet 'covers' allow a Yakkay Smart One to customise their urban exhibitionism on an ad hoc basis. In the process, those short, point-to-point urban outings (the ones most commonly responsible for injuries or even fatalities) can be undertaken with some degree of savoir faire, and an even higher degree of safety. Chapeau indeed.
Yakkay have used their assets to arrive at a product who's target market grows by the day. And because they're Danish, you know the design will leave you thinking "That's so simple. So stylish. So functional. Why didn't I think of it?"
Available in the UK at:
50cycles, Richmond, London
Bikefix, 48 Lambs Conduit Street, London
Bobbin, 397 St John Street, London
Cyclechic Ltd, 58-60 Rivington Street, London
Lock 7, 129 Pritchards Road, London
Robertsbridge CA, 12A Station Road, Robertsbridge, East Sussex
on
27.7.10
Good for you
Earlier this year the London Transport Museum and Association of Illustrators ran the Cycling in London Competition. Its first prize was £2000, in addition to the winning design being liberally applied across sites throughout London's Underground network; with an availability-to-buy at the Transport Museum shop.By chance (given our prevailing mode of access to the capital being a two-wheeled one), we were perusing the posters of a given Underground tunnel, when our eye fell on an item of singular riches - Illustrator Rachel Lillie's winning entry to the Cycling in London Competition, which went up this week.
The erstwhile elegance of 'Good for you. Green for London' sits in stark contrast to the crass commercialism of its neighbouring advertisements; a refreshing vista against the mundane marketing monotony that is the wallpaper of our world. Chapeau Rachel.
on
26.7.10
Spot the difference
So you can now register to get (buy) your 'Key to the streets of London'. Casual use is, for the present time, unavailable. And of course, no opportunity being lost, your key bears a nice big Barclays logo. Watch the video below, and see if you can spot the only bank visible on the London Streets...
on
26.7.10
"Once more unto the breach..."
We've been sent an email from the Amaury Sport Organisation - organisers of the Tour de France and Etape du Tour Mondovélo.In it they are canvasing opinion, via on online survey, as to the viability of a 'new cyclo-sportive'. It would seem the ASO are not satisfied with breaking the bodies and minds of Etape entrants, now they want your bike. As you may have guessed, the 'new cyclo-sportive' is the Paris-Roubaix!
on
25.7.10
"“Barclays Cycle Hire” – a tag as clunky as the bikes are."
This weekend's FT Weekend Magazine features an honest precis on the "BorisBike", written by Channel 4 News presenter and CTC president Jon Snow. Here are some short snippets:
The colours of the bike itself are grey, black and the unmistakable Barclays blue. Wheel, crossbar, basket – there’s not an opportunity missed to advertise the scheme’s sponsor. Transport for London even calls the entire scheme “Barclays Cycle Hire” – a tag as clunky as the bikes are.
When I was at university I spent many hours outside our campus branch of Barclays protesting against the bank’s involvement with apartheid South Africa. Forty years on, here I am cycling round Westminster’s Parliament Square on a mobile Barclays billboard.
In truth, the very idea of anything more than 30 minutes on the Boris Barclay bike is pretty daunting. I count myself as a fit and fast urban cyclist. Not on this machine. The gears are low, the amount of tyre in touch with the road considerable. These are fat, bungy tyres allegedly filled with nitrogen. This is a sit-up-and-beg-life. It is not uncomfortable, but it is heavy and slow.
But will Barclays’ £25m over five years in sponsorship look like a joke or a snip? Using the BorisBike, I suspect, will become rather like flying Ryanair. If you stick to the rules, it will work for you. If you don’t, you could find unexpectedly large sums turning up on your credit card bill. Indeed, Transport for London even suggests you go to a proper bike-hire company if you want to cycle in London for hours at a time.
The colours of the bike itself are grey, black and the unmistakable Barclays blue. Wheel, crossbar, basket – there’s not an opportunity missed to advertise the scheme’s sponsor. Transport for London even calls the entire scheme “Barclays Cycle Hire” – a tag as clunky as the bikes are.
When I was at university I spent many hours outside our campus branch of Barclays protesting against the bank’s involvement with apartheid South Africa. Forty years on, here I am cycling round Westminster’s Parliament Square on a mobile Barclays billboard.
In truth, the very idea of anything more than 30 minutes on the Boris Barclay bike is pretty daunting. I count myself as a fit and fast urban cyclist. Not on this machine. The gears are low, the amount of tyre in touch with the road considerable. These are fat, bungy tyres allegedly filled with nitrogen. This is a sit-up-and-beg-life. It is not uncomfortable, but it is heavy and slow.
But will Barclays’ £25m over five years in sponsorship look like a joke or a snip? Using the BorisBike, I suspect, will become rather like flying Ryanair. If you stick to the rules, it will work for you. If you don’t, you could find unexpectedly large sums turning up on your credit card bill. Indeed, Transport for London even suggests you go to a proper bike-hire company if you want to cycle in London for hours at a time.
on
24.7.10
A date for your diary - Tuesday 27 July 2010
You won't need to carb-load. You won't need to pack a rain jacket. And forget the spare tube and Power Bar. Just slip on your best smoking jacket, coax open that bottle of Mascarello Bartolo Barolo 2004 you've been saving, and sit back for a three-hour-plus evening of bike TV.
As part of BBC Four's The Call Of The Wild series, you'll be treated to a repertory of two-wheeled theatre, commencing with Britain by Bike - in which Clare Balding 'sets out on a two-wheel odyssey to re-discover Britain from the saddle of a touring cycle'. Having watched episode one of this five-part 'odyssey', we found its fulcrum of Harold Briercliffe's 1940s cycling guidebooks a bit tenuous. Yes, Balding is seen riding Briercliffe's Dawes Super Galaxy, but the whole concept does fit rather loosely around what is ostensibly another of those 'there's nowt so queer as folk' travelogues, when the quaint and quirky denizens of UK backwaters get to tell their tale.'Balding tires' might have been a more appropriate title, as the host's speedy entry to meet each potential interviewee sits in comic contrast to her transparent avoidance of any real odyssey-making roadwork. But who knows, by episode four she might be sprinting up the Yorkshire Dales like a pro. Using a bygone piece of literature as a tour route-finder... who on earth thought of that?
Next up Author Robert Penn takes us on the Ride of My Life: The Story of the Bicycle - 'the story of a journey to design and build a dream bike. En route, Robert explores the culture, science and history of the bicycle. From Stoke-on-Trent, where an artisan hand builds his frame, to California, home of the mountain bike, where Robert tracks down the perfect wheels, via Portland, Milan and Coventry, birthplace of the modern bicycle, this is the narrative of our love affair with cycling. It’s a tale of perfect components – parts that set the standard in reliability, craftsmanship and beauty. It tells how the bicycle has changed the course of human history, from the invention of the ‘people’s nag’ to its role in the emancipation of women, and from the engineering marvel of the tangent-spoked wheel to the enduring allure of the Tour de France. It’s the story of why we ride, and why this simple machine remains central to life today.' This accompanies the launch of his book It's All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness On Two Wheels.
Then, at 10pm you might want to entertain a bottle of Cotes du Ventoux Cuvee Persia 2004, for the schedule intensifies with Death on the Mountain: The Story of Tom Simpson. And if you've not peaked there Thoroughly Modern... at 11pm, shows some Edwardians being smart on bikes.
Chapeau! You've made it to the end. Celebrate with a Tulip of Armagnac Ugni Blanc 1976, and retire to bed.
on
23.7.10
"Patterns of bicycle usage"
Fancy coughing-up £45 to partake in a month-long feasibility study?
Thought not.
With the Banker-Bike Hire Scheme primed to debut any day now, Londoners will be eager to jump onboard and test out the much-publicised venture for themselves. Except they can't, unless they join. And do so via a membership fee. For a month.
"Building on the experience of other cities who have launched similar schemes, we and Serco will use the first month of operation to learn more about how Londoners engage with the scheme, including patterns of use, how we can best support customers and to enable the scheme to bed down," say TFL.
Maybe some will therefore be persuaded to engage with the scheme by spray-stenciling the Zimbabwean flag on a docking station, or two. That might make a nice pattern. Or how about a small cameo of Robert Mugabe, à la Banksy?
Either way, membership keys cost £3, £1 for a 24 hour membership, £5 for seven days and £45 for an annual membership. Which does mean there will be some bedding down of funds streaming into the TFL piggybank, should we decide to register in numbers. This does also suggest any data gleaned from what will be a non-representative bunch of early-adopters, can in no way build useful profiles or patterns of bicycle usage.
"I'm sure that the cycling revolution taking place in the capital will rapidly become the envy of the world," says Boris.
DID YOU KNOW..
The bikes used in the London Bike Hire Scheme are manufactured in Canada, then shipped across the Atlantic.
The Stratford-upon-Avon company Pashley, Britain's oldest cycle manufacturer, was rejected as a manufacturer for the scheme, even after providing a prototype. “The people who asked us to be involved with them as a British solution were swept aside when Serco were in the frame. It would have been nice if part of the contract had stipulated a certain amount of British content, to help manufacturers," said Pashley sales manager Lee Pillinger.
Where's that stencil card...
Thought not.
With the Banker-Bike Hire Scheme primed to debut any day now, Londoners will be eager to jump onboard and test out the much-publicised venture for themselves. Except they can't, unless they join. And do so via a membership fee. For a month.
"Building on the experience of other cities who have launched similar schemes, we and Serco will use the first month of operation to learn more about how Londoners engage with the scheme, including patterns of use, how we can best support customers and to enable the scheme to bed down," say TFL.
Maybe some will therefore be persuaded to engage with the scheme by spray-stenciling the Zimbabwean flag on a docking station, or two. That might make a nice pattern. Or how about a small cameo of Robert Mugabe, à la Banksy?
Either way, membership keys cost £3, £1 for a 24 hour membership, £5 for seven days and £45 for an annual membership. Which does mean there will be some bedding down of funds streaming into the TFL piggybank, should we decide to register in numbers. This does also suggest any data gleaned from what will be a non-representative bunch of early-adopters, can in no way build useful profiles or patterns of bicycle usage.
"I'm sure that the cycling revolution taking place in the capital will rapidly become the envy of the world," says Boris.
DID YOU KNOW..
The bikes used in the London Bike Hire Scheme are manufactured in Canada, then shipped across the Atlantic.
The Stratford-upon-Avon company Pashley, Britain's oldest cycle manufacturer, was rejected as a manufacturer for the scheme, even after providing a prototype. “The people who asked us to be involved with them as a British solution were swept aside when Serco were in the frame. It would have been nice if part of the contract had stipulated a certain amount of British content, to help manufacturers," said Pashley sales manager Lee Pillinger.
Where's that stencil card...
on
22.7.10
You can't beat augmented reality
It's not just Toy Story 3 and Avatar that rocks to the 3D experience! Grab yourself a bag of salted popcorn, flick on the webcam, pull on your shades and head on down to TFL. Here you'll be wowed by some 'augmented reality', and a movie showing some bikes, where they shouldn't be.In addition, there's a strangely oxymoronic suggestion that you'll be "Seeing the blindspot". Go figure.
on
21.7.10
