Cool couple

Saw these guys cycling through Cannon Hill Park on their way to the park, wish I had got a better shot of them from the front as they were both looking pretty stylish. Have to start getting more confident in asking to take peoples picture.

Time for a nice jacket

Sitting here looking at the piles of rain which seem to be falling in Birmingham my thoughts are turning to the idea of getting a decent jacket to handle the British Autumn and Winter. Unfortunately most brands seem to think you have to be in a day glow colour to ride and stay dry but there a few nice ones out there.

These are my five favourite, a few you might need to save up a few pennies first though. They are all short to avoid getting in the way when pumping uphill, waterproof and pretty darn stylish. That way you'll arrive at work warm, dry and still looking debonair.

1. Surface Aquaphobic - from £79.99



2. Burton Fisherman's Jacket - £65

3. Rapha Tweed Softshell - £400

4. Brooks Criterion - £869

5. Asos Multi Pocket Jacket - £60

Portland Design Works Cupholder

Not sure why it's taken me so long to find out about Portland Design Works but I managed to pick up one of their Bar-ista Cupholders for my commuter bike this week. As the colder mornings and evening draw in I think this is going to be one of my best buys ever. It works very well and holds the cup very firmly in place.


The product inspired me to look into PDW a bit more and it turns out they have a whole host of awesome bike accessories. They set up business to produce 'beautiful, simple products for urban cycling' and seeing as they work out of one of America's best cycle cities they seem to be flourishing. I'm really interested in getting one of their 'Little Silver' pumps, just need to find a UK stockist.

Birmingham Bike Trains

Birmingham Friends of the Earth are organising 5 bike trains to run into the City Centre on September 22nd to celebrate World Car Free day. Along with Sustrans and Birmingham based Pushbikes they aim to provide a safe and fun environment in which to ride to encourage more people to commute to work by bicycle. They have some more info on their site along with a map of the routes and a registration pack.

Plus, Craig from the awesome 6/8 Kafe will be there to warm you up with a nice cup of Joe once you reached Victoria Square.Unfortunately I don't work in town but it sounds like a great excuse to ride in to work in style and at a leisurely pace.

Two generations of stylish cyclists

I went to Cambridge for a stag do over the weekend and amongst the drunken antics I was happy to see so many cyclists around. The whole place feels very European in its approach to cycling with all ages of people on bikes doing everyday things, and barely any Lycra. I'm still trying to figure out why cycling is so much further forward than other British cities in cycling uptake. It can't just be because it's flat.

Artcrank London

More cycling and art related goodness, Artcrank are making their annual trip to the UK in a couple of weeks and will be co-hosting their opening night with the launch of the new issue of Boneshaker.


Display and selling cycling posters (all for under £30) by UK artisits 'ARTCRANK uses creativity to change how people look at and think about bicycles, and grow the cycling community.'


The opening party is on August 19th at the apparent mecca of London cyclists, Look Mum No Hands, and the exhibition will run till September 9th. I'm hoping to pop along at some stage to add to my ever growing collection of cycling related prints. Plus the print by Milltag will feature some of my own handy work which you can see here.

thebicycleisart.com

I'm guessing if you're on this site that you have an interest in cycling and bikes. Well if you also like art and more specifically art featuring bicycles you need to check out thebicycleisart.com 


They curate some fantastic photography, illustration and artwork from across the web. Watch out though it has the potential to draw you in for hours. 

Il Soigneur Tweed Musette

The guys behind (il) Soigneur, makers of some very nice musettes, have posted a sneak preview of their next colab with Freshtripe. Harris Tweed mixed with reflective material woven into it sounds pretty darn good to me. Freshtripe make some awesome bikes so I can't wait to see the finished article.

Headsetpress.co.uk

Headsetpress.co.uk is a newish website featuring some great cycling based writing and photography/design. They were also good enough to send over a set of their Tour de France themed business cards, go have a read you won't be disappointed.Their current coverage of the Le Tour has really got me back into watching pro cycling, that and Cav wearing the green jersey.

The one that got away

Couldn't quite catch up with this guy, think he wanted to get to wherever he was going before the rain started again.

Crayonfire Tour de France illustrations

Really like the illustrations over on Crayonfire by Neil Stevens. He's attempting to do a new picture for every stage, Stage 2 is my favourite so far. 

Sayed

Cycling to a wedding

via jensfh on flickr

I have a friend getting married in a few months and think this is how they should get to the church! Stylish and environmentally friendly. What more do you need for a wedding vehicle?

Vintage rebuild with fantastic details

via Delightful Cycles

New post from the guys over at Delightful Cycles showing off their most recent rebuild. It's a very stylish bike with a stylish looking owner as well. I really like Delightful Cycles Dream Bikes ethos of taking a vintage frame and restoring it in line with the clients needs and ideas at the forefront. The details in this build are incredible, I love the quality in elements like the grips and cupholder. I'm not really one for drooling over Campag groupsets or ridiculously expensive wheels but these details are awesome. The photography is really impressive as well. 

If you live in Oz make sure you consider going to these guys before you spend a fortune on a Pashley. Every one of their customers looks very happy they did

Bespoked Bristol - My favourites

These are a few of my favourite shots from Bespoked Bristol, more pics over on flickr.

Brother Cycles

Il Soigneur

Velobici

Demon

Donhou Bicycles

Lee Cooper and a pair of those wooden mudguards i want!

Brum to Berlin by Bicycle by bombastic Brummies

I'm planning on a charity to ride from Birmingham to Weymouth in memory of my brother in September and the 154 miles still seems a lot to me so 900 miles sounds like a crazy distance. But a group of dedicated Brummies are doing just this by cycling from Birmingham to Berlin and only stopping in places being with B. They hope to complete the course in 11 days and are doing it in aid of Cancer Research, you can donate via their JustGiving page or check out their progess at their Facebook page.

Good luck guys and hope you enjoy that first beer in Berlin.

Bespoked Bristol

I went down to Bristol today to the first Handmade and Boutique Bicycle show, Bespoked Bristol. Had a great time, saw some very nice bikes and meet some very cool people. More pictures to come once I've sorted them all out.

Nice Trek Type

Like the look of this new Trek District, mainly for the nice type and belt drive.

Art and Bicycles - Papergirl Birmingham

PAPERGIRL 5 - Festival documentation from Papergirl on Vimeo.

A project combining Art, Bicycles and unexpected gifts which initially started in Berlin is making it's way to Birmingham. Papergirl is:


THE IDEA of the project is to open the art world to people who often don’t instinctively or actively seek it out; to surprise people and bring them into contact with art in their everyday life.


The Birmingham group is in the early stages but they have a blog and a facebook group set up to get local artists and cyclists involved. So if you've got some artistic skills or have always fancied reinacting some Paperboy antics by handing out a few surprise bundles of joy to passers by then get in touch.

Bicycle wheel of the future - The Copenhagen Wheel

I might be a bit late to this seeing as it was announced back in 2009 but I've just read about it. The picture above is of The Copenhagen Wheel developed by MIT and Ducatti. The exciting bit is in the stylish red disc you see on the rear wheel, within this hub there is whole host of tech which monitors air quality, distance travelled, calories burnt, noise level and more and it also acts as a motor to help you cycle up the hill home. The motor uses a system similar to the KERS system in Formula 1 which recaptures energy from braking and stores the electricity to give you a boost when you need it.

You can then feed all the data your hub has collected back into a central data bank to help guide policy of the future or just show the busiest, dirtiest and noisiest streets in your city. Then share all of that information will fellow citizens to show them quickest or safest route home. 

As part of MIT's SENSEable City Lab project, which aims to look at how our cities can be enhanced by technology and crowd sourcing information, The Copenhagen Wheel could be an incredible leap forward for both bicycle design as well as urban data collection. As a keen cyclist and an analyst this excites me a lot.

Photos by Max Tomasinelli http://www.maxtomasinelli.com/