So when this particular book arrived for review I jumped for joy. I devoured it from cover to cover and then passed it around the bicycle-mad family I’m lucky enough to share my life with so that they too could stare with wide eyed delight at the wonderful selection of images within. Before devouring it again. It’s an absolute gem of a book.

The publisher’s background is in grafitti art, so it comes as no surprise that urban, outdoor wall art features heavily, and it’s no bad thing. Fine art, sculpture, illustration, tattoo art, graphic design and even industrial design engineering are also covered in detail. Every page is a new joy.

Bike geeks like you and I will see this book as evidence of a resurgence in bicycle culture, reassured that we are not alone, that there’s a world out there of like minded obsessives, making art and riding bikes and mixing it all up in an explosion of creativity the bicycle world has never before witnessed.

Seriously. It’s fantastic.

If you ride a bike or if you like art (and who doesn’t?) you’ll like this book a lot.

But if you’re a bike geek…  you will love it. That’s a promise.

BIKE ART – Bicycles in art around the world By Kiriakos Losifidis is published by Publikat. ISBN: 978-3-939566-37-3

You can buy BIKE ART here..

This is the cover blurb…

” The bicycle is one of the most popular means of transportation around the world. It gives us the possibility to be as free as we want to be. We use it for transportation, sports, and fun. The equipment can vary from cheap to expensive, from athletic to comfortable; for each need you can find a bicycle that meets your expectations.

Within the last years more and more people have been addicted to bicycling. Some because they want to move along eco-friendly, others because they rediscovered the fun and action one experiences while riding stunning trails or tricky fun parks challenging ones fitness and competing with other riders. Or just because it is the most flexible vehicle in car-crowded cities. For those people the bicycle is not just a means of transportation. It represents their way of life and their individuality.

Author Kiriakos Iosifidis is author of the MURAL ART book series. This time he managed to unite artists and people of different disciplines who all share one passion: bikes! BIKE ART is an effort to support the bicycle as a means of transportation, a statement of sustainability, as well as to celebrate it as a lifestyle that exists throughout society and across borders. “

For a very long time I believed that a mountain bike was the ultimate all rounder. But then, slowly, mountain bikes changed out of all recognition. In the beginning they were steel. they were rigid. And they came with eyelets. Modern mountain bikes are rarely steel, invariably suspended at one end or both and you can’t fit a rack to them.

The mountain bike boom came and went, and the manufacturers in their panic threw everything at us in a desperate attempt to find the Next Big Thing. We got flat-bar road bikes, twenty types of mountain bike and, as the market fragmented into ever smaller niches, the Touring Bike became an ever more elusive machine. I worked in bike shops for over twenty years, and for most of that time the shops I worked in didn’t stock a tourer. And very few of the brands we stocked even made one.

Meanwhile… my friend Tom who owns a second hand bike shop in Bristol can sell any Dawes Galaxy he can get his hands on. Irrespective of age and condition, if it says Dawes Galaxy on it, it’ll command top dollar.

Dawes have been producing touring bikes for A Very Long Time. Their Galaxy is still the benchmark by which all British touring bikes are judged. There is a class of cyclist, men usually, of  ‘a certain age’ (55+) for whom the Dawes Galaxy is still a dream bike. My friend Tom is kept in business by them.

So here it is. This handsome machine a second-from-top-of-the-range Super Gal, just under the Utra Gal. At its heart a Reynolds 653 TIG welded frame which comes fully equipped with all the rack, fender and bottle eyes you could want. A rather nice adjustable ahead stem/system. Shimano throughout with STI integrated shifters.

The first time I’ve sat on a touring bike since mine disappeared under the front of that Audi in 1987. I rode it to and fro work over those last few sunny days, but the funniest thing happened within ten minutes of leaving work the first time. I stopped to take this pic:

I became immediately surrounded by a gaggle of the aforemention ‘men of a certain age’ who wanted to know all about it, picked it up (after asking politely of course) to coo about how light it was.. And generally drool all over it. One was on a Dawes Horizon of uncertain vinatge, another was on a Dawes Windsor of uncertain structural integrity and another was on a fairly newish (ie less than ten years old) Dawes Galaxy. Their friend was on a Giant, but he held back from joining in too eagerly into what was quickly becoming a Dawes appreciation frenzy. We talked of different (Reynolds, of course) tubing, a comparison of the pros and cons of welding versus brazed lugs, and then they all saddled up and pedalled off into the setting sun. Four old chums out on bikes. Nice talking to you chaps.

Before they left I snapped them all together:

It really was a delight to get in the saddle of a proper, sorted touring bike after so many years away. The position was spot on, it felt like a bike I could have spent all day riding, fast rolling and comfy. Which is just about everything you want in a tourer. The only thing I didn’t like was the Shi**no integrated shifters. The picture I have in my mind’s eye of a touring bike still has bar-end shifters which are lighter, cheaper and less fragile than STIs. They consume a very big chunk of the bike’s total cost, money I’d rather that Dawes had spent on a front rack. Would I buy one? Yes I would. Oh, and the chain-ring guard. I’d probably lose the chain-ring guard, even though it saved my jeans, it’s just too ugly.

And here it is bagged up:

One of the best builders who attended the show didn’t have a stand. In fact he turned up unannounced and wandered around on his own. The ‘bike’ he brought to the show was one of the most innovative and forward looking I’ve ever seen. But he left it locked up to a railing outside where passersby largely ignored it. Over the last few years Steve Parry of SP Designs has produced a small fleet of innovative small bikes largely based on Bromptons. When I worked in a Brompton dealer in Bristol he would pop in from time to time to show us his latest machine. Steve is a man seemingly possessed. His purpose in life is making the Brompton folding bike better. I should add that Brompton are not great fans of his work. He’s made ‘Bromptons’ with Titanium frames, with front and rear deraileurs, with carbon fibre forks and seat posts and ‘Bromptons’ with disc brakes. He’s made ‘Bromptons’ which weigh a fraction of the weight of the bikes which roll out of Bromptons own factory. Parry’s bikes may or may not be suitable for production. Perhaps there is no great market for hand made super folders. Whatever. They might never make it to production but it warms my heart to know that there are people like Steve out there pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the world of pedal power. He’s a man on a mission.

The thing he rolled up on is no less innovative than any of his previous machines, and true to form it uses Brompton components. Its an electric scooter which folds. And it’s a brilliant, brilliant thing.

Folks in other parts of Europe have embraced scooters for their short distance convenience. They fill the void between walking and cycling perfectly. An electric one makes a lot of sense. I goes without saying that I want one…..

]]> http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/stuff/bespoked-the-last-word/feed/ 1 http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/cyclorama/the-tribe/ http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/cyclorama/the-tribe/#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:58:29 +0000 Mick Allan http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/?p=2951 When I was packing to head off to the Bespoked Show in Bristol last weekend I trawled through my collection of T-shirts to find the best ones I’ve got. Only the rarest and coolest would do. Seems I wasn’t the only one!

The following are just a tiny percentage. Maybe next year we should run a competition! Sorry about the blurry images…. cant get the staff…

More tomorrow folks!

More tomorrow folks!

Available to buy now – Follow the link..

Enjoy!

But the best thing about this one is not the larger premises nor the hugely expanded exhibitors list. No.. It’s that Cyclorama will have a stand there this year. And on that stand will be our new book! I’m so excited I can barely focus and I keep having to go for a lie down.

As a gift to show visitors we’ll be selling the book at just £10, a saving of £2.99. And if that wasn’t enough, if you buy a book we’ll sell you a Cyclorama t-shirt for just a £iver (while stocks last).

See you there!

The Cyclorama book has been signed sealed and delivered electronically (oh! the wonders of modern technology!) to the printers, We await its return, piled high on shipping pallets sometime next week. Those that wants one soonest better get their selves down to Bespoked Bristol where we’ll be selling them at a great promotional price.

Feedback has been very encouraging so far, from those who’ve followed the book’s creation on line. I am sooo looking forward to having an actual copy in my actual hands.

Which is why it’s all been quiet on the blog and Cyclorama website. And boy, have things been backing up! We’ve close to sixty new manufacturers and their products to upload to the product listing section of Cyclorama.net, new articles for Bike Culture and a growing pile of products which want reviewing on this here blog. Including a Dawes Super Galaxy, Carradice Super C panniers, The Hornit bicycle horn, a really neat origami mudguard from Sweden and a groaning shelf-full of books including Bike Art, One Gear, Bicycle Mania and  latest edition of Cutting your car use by Anna Semlyen.

All very exciting! And if that weren’t enough we’ll be at The Scottish Bike Show next month and possibly even Germersheim.

Awesome.