bike profile

While my friend David was in Botswana last year, he began taking pictures of the everyday cyclists he met while riding around Gabarone, and asking them a few questions. I’m pleased he’s sharing the images with Bikejuju, and I’ll be doling them out in the coming weeks.

Kelly Kontsenyane:

I ride for 30 minutes to get here to work. I ride my bicycle for exercise. It is not dangerous to ride here because I go away from the road. I get fresh after riding, not tired. I get strong. I have the power, so I do not get weary or tiredness. I feel energetical after riding. Even if I am in work, I can still patrol. On Sunday in the morning when I don’t work, I will ride on my Humber to the border of South Africa with my little brother for exercise. I have used my bike for a life time. I paid 400 pula for it.

Well maybe “exclusive” is an overstatement. My friend Andrew David Watson’s short video, The Broad Street Bully, has been in a few festivals and also has been available on his website for a while. But I convinced him to migrate it to Vimeo, so that I could post it here (exclusive!), and the rest of the blogosphere could embed it (hint hint). It deserves to be seen!

Continuing this week’s theme of awesome stills-and-voiceover films about personal transformation through cycling, Bikejuju presents a lovely little slice-of-life character piece about the kind of everyday cyclist America needs more of. Enjoy.

The filmmaker Andrew says,

I met Fred years ago while working in a bike shop . Fred has had many nicknames over the years but “Broad Street Bully” comes from the fact Fred can usually be spotted riding up and down Broad Street, the main North/South Avenue in Philadelphia. I spent two days (and probably over 100 miles) riding around with Fred to shoot this story. This piece and my friendship with Fred exemplifies how the common bond of biking can transcend age, sex, race and pretty much any other divide.

PS: Happy birthday Fred!

Ever since I first saw the link to this Fixed Gear Gallery “Grocery Getter” contest winner, I have not been able to stop thinking about it.

I am experiencing one part jealousy that someone has the skills to make a bike like this, one part jealousy that someone has the time to make a bike like this, and one part jealousy that they ended up with this bike to take to the store!

David Mahan of Ojai California took this:

and turned it into this:

But the craziest most awesome part is that the back wheel/seat of the bike detaches leaving the front to be used in the store as your shopping cart!

Nice work, David! (The other entries in the “grocery getter” contest are here).

This 1962 Schwinn Tiger caught my eye at the West Seattle street fair. There’s something about the swooping line of that mid-century Schwinn frame that always attracts me.

I spoke to the owner, Jeff Bengston, of Bengston Woodworks, who was selling cutting boards and other woodworks made from salvaged hardwoods, and hails from Portland. He told me he got the bike in trade from a friend after doing some work, that it’s all original except the seat, and that he dated it by the serial number.

Sweet ride!

I went to visit my parents in Salem, Oregon, and my mom was excited to show me her new bike. It is a Trek Lime, which is a bike I had never seen before, with an electronic three speed automatic shifter in the rear hub, powered by a generator in the front hub.

My mom, who is seventy-something, was visibly enthused about the Lime, which she rides around their flat Salem neighborhoods: to her piano jazz improvisation lessons, Pilates class, tennis foursome, pool, library, and coffee dates with a circle of older women who call themselves “The Dames.” (Yeah, she’s a rockin’ woman-about-town, my mom. You should hear her play Ain’t Misbehavin’ on her Steinway grand piano).

Mom takes up the story:

On the Lime it I feel both comfortable and confident. Previously, I had a hand-me-down bike that had been turned in at the local bike shop by an older woman.  I think it had ten gears. I never felt comfortable with the gear shift and (sad, but true) got easily confused about whether to move the gear up or down, left or right.

Power to the hub = power to the people!

At our neighborhood pool, I described this problem to my friend who is the manager of Scott’s Cycle, and he remarked the latest thing is this automatic shift bike, with coaster brakes. Within a week I was at the store trying it out and instantly just felt comfortable.

It’s light enough I can bring it inside at the tennis center so I don’t have to worry someone will steal it. I can ride it with ease and real pleasure, pretty free of anxiety. What a boon! It’s pretty, too.

So I ask you, what could be better than having a bicycle you love so much that it just calls out to you to ride it, a bike so fun that you look for excuses to leave the car in the garage and ride to your destination?!

That’s bikejuju!