Pimp your Ride!

デコチャリ Dekochari-Japan

Ah the 70s! Flared trousers, platform shoes, the disco craze and in Japan the Dekochari  デコチャリ 

The dekochari (i.e. bike decoration to resemble giant trucks) was  inspired by another craze: the Dekotora (Truck Decoration). Think of Mr T in a truck form, and you'll get the idea: an over the top decorated giant truck - very bling bling! . When this craze happened the kids transferred it to their bicycles resulting in giant over the top decorated bicycles to resemble those trucks! Plywood, lights, and hi-fi systems! all packed on a bicycle! 

A dekochari gang!

A dekotora

Dekochari in the Year 2020 from Charlie Hope on Vimeo.

Scraper Bikes - Oakland
Nowadays, we still see some bike pimping. Check out the Original Scraper Bikes 

 

Scrapertown from California is a place. on Vimeo.

Queens, NY 

...and ofcourse the mother of all pimped up bikes is found in Queens, New York! Check it out! 

Janet Bike Girl

This is Janet Bike Girl, who makes awesome bicycle stencils. You can see the stencils on her flickr

Positive vibes to road users!

The past few months we have seen some great changes in London city: smooth cycle lanes, the London cycle hire, bike cafes and shops popping up and a stream of famous people promoting cycling. Even my friends and acquaintances  have been convinced to start riding; bicycles have even featured as birthday present surprises and statements of love. All these people have joined the cycling mania - but it has left me feeling a little bit uneasy as i often catch myself worrying about them! Are they going to be fine riding in the thick traffic of central London's narrow streets? Are the crazy taxi drivers going to treat them gently? Are they going to remember to wear their helmet, carry their lock and switch on their lights at night? I know, they are adults and my worry is unreasonable and slightly resembling my parents' paranoid and over the top attitudes to life! But, sometimes i cannot help worrying; because i feel it is not just cycling lanes that we need and docks to hire bikes from to be safe. I feel the whole London culture of drivers Vs cyclists needs to stop to truly accommodate cyclists in the city. Drivers need to learn to give cyclists enough space and treat them respectfully: they are after all  in a much more vulnerable position than drivers. I am not saying cyclists are always "right" - i have seen cyclists doing some very stupid things...but i have not seen aggression by cyclists; whereas with drivers i have seen both stupidity and aggression and this is a very bad combination to have on the streets!

Last Sunday, good old Facebook delivered some of the news i always feared. A friend, hit by a car ended up hospitalized for almost a week: a broken skull, colar bone and shoulder. And all these happened  while riding on a cycle lane - a car tried to overtake and hit her from behind. The good news is that she is recovering well and no further damage seems to have occurred. Thank God!

So, if you are a car driver please be careful out there. Give cyclists space - they are much more vulnerable than you and yes drive slowly! Be patient! 

Sending healing vibes and love to S. 

xx

[stencil by Janet Bike Girl]

bike + shoelace = ground

The difference between riding fixed and free wheel is that with freewheel you can coast and when your shoelace gets wrappped around the inside of the pedal you can back pedal to unwrap it! With fixed gear you can't and i know this by experience!

On Monday night, at around 10:30 pm I had my first comical fall on my fixed bike; my right shoe lace wrapped around the pedal; each turn made the lace tighter and tighter - and only when the pain increased was when i realized what was happening; of course i could not back pedal or coast to stop it wrapping; so there was only one solution - to stop cycling.  Ofcourse simply stopping was not the end of the adventure as my foot was still on the pedal, and a side ways gentle fall was the only option! So there i am on Holloway Road, on the ground with my foot still on the pedal - it took me around 5 minutes to take the shoelace off the shoe to free my foot, and another 3 minutes to unwrap it. A few people passed by, who pretended i was invisible - i guess being Holloway Road that was a good thing - at least i did not get mugged! But, i was slightly disappointed that no one offered help or checked if i was OK. And i felt a little bad asking the youth, if they carried a knife (to use to cut the shoe lace!)  - i mean i did not want to insult them by assuming they were knife carriers!

Anyway, in case you are wondering, i managed not to break my ankle, not  even a scratch. My workmates have enjoyed the story and giggled to it, so all in all a happy ending and a lesson to learn:

Kids, tuck your shoe laces in your shoe before you ride your bikes!

London Cycle Challenge: presenting the 3rd prize!

This is what we got when our team came 3rd in the London Cycle Challenge. As it is a pain to divide by 10 (!) we thought a picnic would be a good idea - but is it really picnic material? tea bags, pineapple, cookies and bananas!  and since its arrival the weather has gone rainy! boo! I love the handwritten note though! the personal touch is awesome!
(photos by team leader Helen!)
At the moment, Helen has the prize - she will hopefully arrange a get-together. Part of the prize is in Alan's belly. Alan is Helen's flatmate. 

Join The Cycling Revolution! (but which one?)

The first time i joined Critical Mass was probably back in 2003 in Manchester, UK. I remember  its exciting times when 150 cyclists joined and its quiet times when the attendance was 3 people (a ginger boy who fancied my ex, his silent best friend who became an extrovert once on the internet) and I; usually those critical mass rides were under the Mancunian clouds. Despite the uneasiness, of such situations I always felt critical mass was an important part of the cycling revolution. An autonomous group that "celebrates" and "promotes" the bike and acknowledges the need for change; the car culture and some drivers' "ownership" of the roads was and still is something i dislike. But I also felt that to truly incorporate the bicycle in cities, the "mainstream" had to embrace it, and i have been unsure whether critical mass could always reach the mainstream.

On Friday 30th July 2010,  the same evening as the July London Critical Mass, cyclist (and London Mayor) Boris launched the Cycle Hire scheme, which i think will make cycling a more mainstream activity: we have suit-wearing mayor and chic celebrities, and hire bike docks taking over the city! The great thing about London's Cycle Hire is that it hasn't been done half-heartedly: 400 docking stations and 6,000 cycles is impressive. 

...but something leaves a bitter taste! Boris's self-branded "cycling revolution" comes with a Barclays  branding, and as you can see in the photo below people have already responded to the Barclays branding (click photo)

Barclays has also managed to paint the city in Barclays blue as the Cycle Highways are also sponsored by Barclays. Blogger London Cyclist highlights the Barclays take over: "The £25 million Barclays paid will give them branding on the bicycles, maintenance support vehicles and on the uniforms of maintenance staff. As well as on all marketing and communications."

So, maybe this is not the Cycling Revolution we were expecting...rather another corporate win despite their unethical record...

"Barclays is listed as the company most heavily embroiled in weapons manufacture and trading"  John Hilary (War On Want's executive director)

(Thank you Mordecai for the photo above)