Greetings

“Ladri di biciclette”

Bicycle Thieves warning, Tel Aviv. (photos © Ilan Goldstein)

Cycle chic – St. Petersburg

Ala and her son Mischa riding their bicycles only during the weekends. They ride on locally produced single speed bicycles, Mischa’s more stylish one, like BMX. Ala said they came from a distance part of the city to buy some apples in the center. Usually you don’t see any cyclists at all in the city center, there is no infrastracture for riders. Those who cicle along side of traffic lines are seriously risking their life’s, and the sidewalks are very crowded.

ХВЗ ТУРИСТ (CHA.VE.ZE. TURIST) – 70’s

Thanks to Jana Maurakh, she captured me on this mission with her camera.

I took this picture outside The Russian National Library in St. Petersburg where I spent last week. This is a legendary Soviet road bike “TURIST” from the late 70’s produced in the ХВЗ factory in Kharkov, Ukraine.

Eurobike 2008

Elad from “joy ride” just came back from Eurobike 2008 global show. Here are some highlights from his photoset. More about Eurobike 2008 on Urban Velo website.

CYCLESPORT wall calendar 1964

I found this calendar on the walls of an old bicycle shop that is no longer exist. CYCLESPORT use to sell Raleigh and Hercules bikes in the 60’s. The calendar is letterpress printed in black and red on cardboard.

My new single speed Raleigh bike

After reading Eyal Chernichovsky’s article about single speed and fixed gear bicycles as a culture. And meeting with my friend Morris Ben Mayor from whom I’ve recieved a grate deal of inspiration about single speed bicycle (his Peugeout carbolite), I decided to tray to make one for myself. I started with old Raleigh Winner from the 80’s that I’ve found in our neighborhoud, but soon discovered that the frame is damaged. Eyal kindly offerd me his fixie Raleigh Grand Prix that needed to be fixed. I then took it to my friend Dorons’ blacksmith workshop where he and Ami remove stacked bottom bracket from the frame. As Morris sugested I took it to the shop “Tel Aviv Bikes” run by Pasha and Arkadi they’ve made a wonderfull job on the bike. I’ve ride it yesturday for a first time, and its a great fun!!!

Long wheel base abandoned bike

Long wheel base recumbent bike

From Yishay Ben Adar: “I build this bike with inspiration from a guy from my home town. When I saw them I thought to myself I must build myself the same bike. This one is a simple to make bike, using two normal bicycle frames, and they called long wheelbase or L.W.B. I rode them once to Dimona (with intention to go to Eilat, but I preferred making coffee every hour and reading instead of riding). The seat is one of the most important parts of this bike (for comfortable riding for long distances) and its made from a metal frame and a fibertex net as a back rest”.

Di Blasi folding bicycle

This is the “classic” DI BLASI folding bicycle. In various versions, it has been known since 1974 as one of the quickest and easiest bicycle to fold. It reduces to a size of 85 x 22 x 60 cm in 5 seconds with three simple steps. In the same manner, it quickly and easily returns to being a comfortable bicycle. The model photographed here is R50 from 1984.