I had the good fortune to spend a week in Beijing. The commuting bicycles were awesome! Bicycles everywhere, there are small repair stands every few blocks, and they've got as much infrastructure supporting bicycles as we have supporting cars.
The bikes were tanks, but they all had fenders, chainguards, racks, locks, etc.
Here's a link to some photos of Beijing bikes I took, and a picture of one commuter is below.
Very cool, and good work. Loved the pic of the plastic wheel with nested circles rather than spokes. I wish the USA bike market would support more artistry and quirkiness than it does.
There's a guy in our group at work who moved here recently from China.
Occasionally we talk bikes, partially because I'm apt to ride some strange bike to work.
He told me about his "Flying Pigeon" and some touring type rides he'd taken on it.
FWIW, I believe the bikes you see in those pics (great shots, by the way), are mostly copies of the old Raleigh DL-1 from around 1909. My understanding is they were built for a British military contract, and at that time the Brits had outposts in the far east. Consequently, the most produced bicycle tire size in the history of the world is (wait for it), the 28" (iso 635), although pretty rare in the US & Europe. Hundreds of millions of these over the last 100 years or so... Occasionally you find a new production Flying Pigeon or Eastman or whatever here in the states - nut and bolt compatible with ye auld Raleigh.
The brakes... I'm no expert, but my understanding is the rod-brakes also date from that time. The advantage being no cables to bind or slip, simple inspection, and they hold up OK to neglect that would make your hair fall out. The disadvantage being "casual" braking.
Hopefully relations with Cuba will be normalized sometime fairly soon. Supposedly the PRC has sent a whole bunch of Flying Pigeons there in exchange for sugar.
Great bikes, you'll notice though the "modernisms" creeping into those old-looking designs, such as the modern fork on the bike in the picture at the top of this thread (however on the same bike - it appears there's a very old fashioned band brake on the rear wheel).
I've always pondered about having my inlaws in India send me one of those roadsters.
Also about the history of the bicycles, the Flying Pigeon bicycle was inspired by pre-wwII Raleigh bicycles, but was not liscensed by raleigh. The bicycles that were common in India however, were actually built under liscense from Raleigh.
You were in Bejing and eating MCDONALDS?! My brother moved to Bejing recently. I still haven't been, but I'm definately gonna go. I could probably buy a bike while I'm there and sell it before I leave, but man I would miss my Ciocc.
Originally Posted by TechKnowGN
San Jose has to be the most boring place I've ever been. And I live in Ohio.
I'm surprised you did not include a picture of a bicycle with a bicycle engine kit installed. They're very popular in China for very long commutes. Grubee and others imported 7,000,000 of the Chinese bicycle engine kits into the USA before the EPA banned them from importation Jan 1 2006. They're so popular here there still being imported and sold illegally in the USA across the open border on weekends with Canada by the tractor-trailer load. Below is the link on how to install one of these engines on a bicycle. http://www.simpsonmotorbikes.com/48c...structions.htm
I did find a picture of an electric bicycle. It's the photo with the file name of bike-sleeves-visor.jpg. If you look closely at the rear wheel you notice it has a very large hub. That is the electric motor!
The image below is a Flying Pigeon with an engine kit installed.
I was in Beijing in January, middle of winter. There were still tons of people commuting, even in snow. Wearing puffy ski type jackets or cloth overcoats. The speeds were very slow as were the cadences used. Amazing amount of congestion. Same trip in Shanghai, two days of 45 degree rain did not dampen (sorry) the commuters' spirits. I saw very little raingear aside from plastic ponchos. I loved watching the bikes! If the weather had been better we would have rented bikes to tour the cities.
Tim
In Taiwan(Taipei) about 15 years ago when I was there, which was way more industrialized at the time(vs China), scooters had already taken over for bicycles. Scooters everywhere, lining the sidewalks and all over the roads. Typically at a freshly red light, there would be a car or two. By the time the light was green, scooters had swarmed all over any fresh piece of asphalt anywhere around the cars and in the general vicinity of the correct lane.
Apparently, obesity is becoming a big problem there now as well.
Great photos, edtrek! You really capture the feel of bikes in Beijing very well.
thdave, there are some bikes with derailleurs, but Beijing is the flattest place I have ever seen, so there isn't really a pressing need for anything with more than one speed. I don't know of *any* hills in the city that you can ride on, and the only two hills of any kind that come to mind are inside parks.
Cycling speed is generally very slow. Maybe 8 mph, often not even that fast. As for average commutes, I've heard it's not unusual for people to ride over an hour to work -- but of course that's only about 8 miles. Far fewer people commute by bike today than 10 years ago (the number I've heard is a 60% drop).
There are drop bars -- Giant sells a basic road bike for about US$70 (considered pricey for a bike), but as with the derailleurs, it's more for show than anything else. Bikes here are just transportation tools, and not terribly well-respected tranportation tools at that. The majority of drop-bar riders are younger men.
A friend of mine visiting China recently bought a brand-new top-of-the-line Flying Pigeon for US$35 and it's a beast: about 25kg/55 pounds. He took it back with him to Toronto, so if any of you Torontonians see a blue flying pigeon riding around, give him a wave . It's hilarious to ride, but I'm not sure I'd like one as my daily commuter. The rod brakes give me the willies.
Edit: I've posted this before, but since it's related to this thread I thought I'd repost pictures of my old commute
Originally Posted by krazygluon
Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred, which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?
I was in Japan recently and they still heavily use bicycles that look much like the one displayed for Beijing. That surprised me since some much our stuff comes from Japan and China so it would be easy for them to upgrade their commuters. However, they probably don't because I suspect they treat their bikes a basic transportation with mimal maintenance or care. I noted one bike with mom and 3 little kids in little kid sized chairs on it. One over front wheel, one on the frame in front of mom and one over rear wheel plus shopping baskets. What a load.
The other thing I noted was that most women rode with short skirts and most bikes were "womens bikes" and that included the bikes men were riding.
Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.
Not so, Mate. Guards for derailers have the rear section cut away.
Originally Posted by krazygluon
Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred, which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?
In Taiwan(Taipei) about 15 years ago when I was there, which was way more industrialized at the time(vs China), scooters had already taken over for bicycles. Scooters everywhere, lining the sidewalks and all over the roads. Typically at a freshly red light, there would be a car or two. By the time the light was green, scooters had swarmed all over any fresh piece of asphalt anywhere around the cars and in the general vicinity of the correct lane.
Apparently, obesity is becoming a big problem there now as well.
Yep, I lived in Taiwan 25 and 20 years ago, and have been back in Taiwan since Feb 2009. Back when there were millions of bikes, tens of thousands of scooters. Now it's reversed except for students. You have to be 18 to get a license but most college kids still ride bikes because they're easier to park on campus. Most jr high and high schools have huge bicycle parking areas.
"Pain is weakness leaving the body"......yea, right!
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Originally Posted by TechKnowGN
. It's hilarious to ride, but I'm not sure I'd like one as my daily commuter. The rod brakes give me the willies.
