eightybicycles

guided by bicycle clips since approximately 2015   #80bicycles 

[bicycleclipdiaries]

Classic Phoenix: an old fashioned ‘sit up and beg’ kind of a bike. It’s solid and sensible, with its sprung saddle and an upright riding position. You can tell it’s a Phoenix because it says so on the frame, mudguards, saddle and crank. Every component is made by Phoenix, in a factory in Shanghai, and you can tell it’s an SPB15 because of the double top tube, making it a sturdier version of a bicycle which is already incredibly solid. Strong enough to carry a pig, according to legend, and possibly to survive a zombie apocalypse. They’ve been making them since the 1950s, although its design, according to some bicycle historians, is based on a Raleigh roadster from the 1920s. You hardly ever see this kind of bike in the UK, even though they are still being made in China, and still being ridden in their millions throughout the world. The Phoenix is one of the most common bicycles in Syria, for example, where people sometimes strap small engines to them. Wherever they are, they tend to go unnoticed, these unloved, often battered, proletariat bicycles. Except by me of course. #bicycles #urbancycling #utilitybike #africa #zambia (at Mongu)

[bicycleclipdiaries]

Never had a hotel with an exercise bike in it before...if you adopt an Obree-style riding position it’s almost an anti obesity work station. I feel a Kickstarter coming on. #retirementplan #80bicycles #africa (at Zambia)

[bicycleclipdiaries]

Happy Birthday to me and it seems I’ve given myself the morning off. Blue skied an’ clear on the South Downs and rehydrating with a pint of Harvey’s in a pub which is playing Fleetwood Mac. Pretty textbook so far, even if I worry that I’m possibly turning into Alan Partridge on a bicycle. #nofilter as my legs actually are that pink. #tusk #neverbreakthechain (at South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA))

[bicycleclipdiaries]

Conversations about Africa’s urban obesity epidemic are focussed on fast food, but I’m interested in how inactive lifestyles play a part in those places where people who can afford to drive don’t walk or cycle any more. Here in rural Zambia, there are plenty of bicycles which convert to last mile portage as required. Charlie’s is a good example. Bikes here need to be solid due to the terrible roads, which spit out the second hand saloon cars people tend to drive here: 4x4s being too expensive for the majority. Also good in a fuel crisis, which can be useful here. Quite often singlespeed, not because it’s trendy - it seems to be hipster-free round here - but because they are easy to maintain. You push uphill. Nice bloke too, although he was definitely confused as to why anybody would take an interest in his bicycle. In turn, I wished I had something to ride here. I suppose I could be considered a #bikegeek. #80bicycles #bicycles #africa (at Solwezi, Zambia)

[bicycleclipdiaries]

Customisation, bright cable ties, riding a bike under African skies, brown paper packages, tied up in strings, these are a few of my favourite things* #bicycles #custombike #moshi #creative #80bicycles (* apols Rodgers/ Hammerstein) (at Moshi)

[bicycleclipdiaries]

To Peterborough, for Uncle Tom’s funeral; an excellent innings at 99, and the last of a generation of the Sunderland Allisons too. Tom served in the 51st Highland Division, who didn’t make it as far as Dunkirk. Pinned down by Rommel’s tanks, he was one of 8,000 or so troops who were trapped, then marched to Gulags. My main observation about that generation is the extent to which they defy stereotypes constructed by those who followed them. They were reluctant warriors. Uncle Tom stole a car in order to make good his escape, and he felt guilty about it for years. When they put out banners to welcome him home, he took them down: too many of his mates had been murdered by the SS for that, or killed in fighting. He knew he was lucky. My Nan, his sister, hated the rebranding of the War as a jolly old knees up. She said that one or two people cheered when a German plane was shot down, but most didn’t. ‘We knew that was somebody’s son,’ she explained. As we lose the generation who fought in the war, and who were ninja level at not making a fuss, we can still learn from them. I travelled to the crematorium by bicycle of course, mixing it with the train, so it had to be the Brompton. If I had more time I would have cycled the whole way, obviously, but the journey was interesting nonetheless. As it is, looking suitably respectful and smart on a bicycle after a downpour is a fashion challenge beyond me. To get to the wake on time I hitched a ride with Uncle Tom’s gardener - unconventional man, who enjoys jousting, fast motorbikes and a slightly gothic taste in jewellery. He has an excellent knowledge of military history too. He’d read Tom’s memoirs, which Tom wanted to call ‘an Ordinary Fellow’, and they would have cups of tea in his garden and chew the fat; I love this image. As I placed my folded my bike amongst his gardening equipment in the back of his van, he told me about the folding bikes used in the unsuccessful parachute invasion of Arnhem. They were painted khaki, of course, and had wooden pedals, no gears: considered disposable. You can’t fire a gun easily from a bicycle, which I consider to be one of its advantages as a transport. #cycling #respect (at Peterborough)

[bicycleclipdiaries]

This is what a slow bicycle looks like; whether you travel fast or slow, go carefully, use a front brake and respect other road users, even if they chose another mode of transportation to you. #cycling #utilitybike #80bicycles #zanzibar #singlespeed #africa #urbancycling (at Zanzibar, Tanzania)

[bicycleclipdiaries]

Quoting Rain, by Melissa Harrison, one of my favourite nature writers. Any other recommendations? #rain #britain #naturewriters #uk #writersofinstagram (at Preston Park, Brighton)

[bicycleclipdiaries]

'Most bicycle geeks tend to specialise in a particular area of recreational cycling […] personally, I will ride any bike and I’m interested in all them all, but I have a particular fondness for utility bicycles of the kind ridden by ordinary people as a form of transport across the world. Ordinary #bicycles like this one….' Bonus points but no cash prize if you can name the city. #80bicycles

[bicycleclipdiaries]

With a look this fierce, nobody is good by to shout 'wear a helmet' but in #Tokyo, as most places in the world, they focus their energies on not falling off rather than specialist clothing #80bicycles #bicycles #cyclechic (at Tokyo)

[bicycleclipdiaries]

Water. Such an integral part of Britain, its wealth and landscape, and yet we still flee it, even though we have the ability to embrace it as previous generations couldn’t, what with modern waterproof fibres being what they are. You don’t have to risk pneumonia and possible death by wandering on the rainy moors in the style of a Bronte heroine any more. You can nip out onto the tops in your waterproof jacket, stay more or less dry, and then have a nice warm bath when you get back, without any fuss. A whole gothic novel plot device has evaporated. The strange thing is that, after a while, it becomes normal. The rain and the landscape are so connected, the green of England in high summer is almost overwhelming, through the rain and condensation of your glasses, and gradually it feels less of an inconvenience, and more a natural, defining state: like eating oysters whilst looking at the sea, the precipitation feels right and natural rather than an annoyance. I think of Gary Gore-Tex who I sometimes ride with, the best equipped amateur cyclist of them all, how he relishes inclement weather in order to test the efficacy of his new gear. We decided that one day we’d open a museum of technical clothing, a celebration of one of the few things in life to be unequivocally improving over time. It would be situated in the Lake District and rival the pencil museum in Keswick.

the Bicycle Clip Diaries

[bicycleclipdiaries]

Sharing honeymoon photographs on social media is illegal and punishable by death for good reason, but when the #bicycles of #Marrakesh are involved it’s possibly okay? As I explained to my new bride, I was drawn to the contrast between the #luggedsteel fork on the older bike, with the over-engineered and unnecessary suspension fork on the more modern bicycle. 'Tell me more,' she didn't say. #vintagebicycles #nofilter #vintagebicycles #morocco #80bicycles (at Marrakech-مراكش الحمراء)

[bicycleclipdiaries]

“I felt like I had been guided by the bicycle clips in my decision to visit Colombia, even though at this stage I haven’t actually told anybody that I am making life decisions based on the accidental discovery of an obsolete cycling accessory; I didn’t want to worry them.

Instead I tell them I’m going to Colombia to research and ride utility bicycles, which I feel doesn’t particularly reassure people either. In fact I would go as far as saying it draws funny looks, and I sense a certain amount of innuendo, that people wanted to put ‘researching utility bicycles’ into air quotation marks with their fingers. Like it’s a cover for something else, like hanging out on the beach, maybe, or perhaps the kind of product for which Pablo Escobar was famous. Those are the reasons people visit Colombia.

‘But I want to visit a middle income country which is managing its rapid growth with enlightened urban transport policies, including cycling for transport,’ I explain, although I have noticed that when you mention multi modal mass transit and utility cycling at a party, most people seem somehow to not be in any way interested whatsoever. They adopt a listening face, but their eyes glaze over.

Obviously there are other middle income countries I could visit to ride bicycles, Latvia or Kazakhstan, for instance, but it is January in England, and I feel much more inclined to spend some of my dwindling savings on a trip to Colombia which only costs ￡444.64 - if you are prepared to fly with an unfashionable airline and hang out in airports a bit.

It feels right, not least because I have cycled on all the other continents, with the exception of Antartica, and a fair few islands too, albeit not in the circumnavigatory, heroic ‘in Pakistan I was chased by bandits who kidnapped me and in the Ogaden desert I had to eat my own shoe in order to rehydrate’ fashion that people expect when I tell them I’m writing about and photographing bicycles around the world. It has been a bit here, a bit there with plenty of gaps and war baths in-between.

Nonetheless people don’t traditionally go on cycling holidays to Latin America. The ancient Lonely Planet South America On A Shoestring I borrowed from the library pretty much warns against it, citing aggressive drivers and dangerous roads. Watch out for the Argentines and Brazilians especially, the book says, they are a ‘serious hazard’ on the road. If you must cycle in South America, definitely bring your own bike, it warns, because locally-manufactured bikes are ‘less sturdy and dependable’. But the message is clear. When it comes to bicycles, the entire continent is treated as somewhat backward.”

[bicycleclipdiaries]

'Sure it’s nice for a holiday, but there’s no point in going to the Caribbean coast to help with your crazy bicycle book idea.' That’s what the #colombians were saying. Whilst nobody could decide their country’s best place for cycling, pretty much everyone told me that the #caribbean coast was the worst. They aren’t into their #cyclesport, it’s too relaxed, too hot for lycra, too tropical, that kind of thing. The implication was that they sat around all day waiting for coconuts to fall, driven to a state of lethargy by the infernal heat. But when I got there, I found that there was an unpretentious, utilitarian DIY #bicycleculture, like nowhere else. In #cartegena their #bicycles seemed to suit the personality of the riders, and have nothing to do with marketing trends #80bicycles #colombiancycling (at Cartagena De Indias, Colombia)

[bicycleclipdiaries]

I hardly see any bicycles when I'm in Turkish cities, due to the terrible cycling infrastructure and lack of hipsters, and cycle sport hasn't taken off in a big way either. So when you see something like this locally-built retro roadster, it's a special treat.... #80bicycles #cycling #urbancycling #utilitybike #nofilter #gaziantep #turkey (at Gaziantep Özel Sani Konukoğlu Hastanesi)

[bicycleclipdiaries]

Nice to see that smoking whilst on a bicycle hasn't died out completely...Taken last year in #shanghai #cycling #smokingonabicycle #80bicycles #utilitybike (at Shanghai, China)

[bicycleclipdiaries]

^ thanks to #boneshaker magazine for publishing an extract from the book last year, and the excellent artist’s impression of me pretending to be Evel Knievel on a Raleigh Super Burner. Lots of deleted words later... the book is almost finished.