I was in Shanghai for a while and bought 2 bikes there (both got stolen).
This was the first one made by Forever
Singlespeed with rod brakes and big bell.



It was stolen when I was in Hong Kong for 2 weeks. That wasnt too bad since its only $30 and
I had an excuse to buy another one
This time I went for a work bike with a massive golden rim in the rear that they also put on the
work trikes. The bike was really heavy and solid but I still managed to bend the crank on the
first day trying to pedal up a little ramp. The right technique to go uphill on these bikes is shown
here by a gentleman Hong Kong.





Cycling in Shanghai is just awesome. They still havent sold their soul to cars completely like
in Hong Kong. You can get anywhere on a bike very quickly. Nobody seams to follow any
traffic rules but it still feels safer than in lots of other cities because everybody rides pretty
much the same speed and its like being in a flock of birds.



Here on the lower right side you can see the street where I bought the bikes.





bikes rule...




here are some more pics of Shanghai:

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2
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Nice photos! Those old school bikes with one solid brake lever mounted along the handlebar are a treat. I like the fat golden rearwheel rim.

Great pics. Thanks.

That's fantastic. I remember seeing a massive amount of bikes in the bike/bus lane during rush hour in Shanghai. Some of the loads coming out of the construction sites were enourmous (imagine your bike with the rider shouldering 20' long sections of 2x4).

Great photos!

My first "grown up" bike was very similar to that, and yes sir, it had cottered cranks.
And fenders, and chain cover, and rod brakes, and it was 20 kilos or more, and I got rid off all those things, slapped a coaster brake on that thing, and it rusted, and it kept running for 12 years.


... and I wish I was in shanghai now

Gorgeous photos Sohi. Nice recap as well.

On a technical tip - lens and equipement used?

beautiful shots from the 20d ... do you carry it around with you on the bike? i haven't yet mastered portability for my d70

Beautiful shots and thanks for the info.

But yikes, that city is not eye candy. Damn Mao!

thanks for the kind words.

absntr: canon 20d with the 18-55mm lens that came with it. the night shots with a 85mm
prime and a few with 50mm I think.

food: I had the neckstrap of the cam fixed with the straps of my backpack so it wasnt
bouncing around. works pretty good.

skitbra: for me it was full of eyecandy and a big adventure playground. The highrise
appartment blocks are not as run down as in lots of western countries. they are
spotless inside and a bit like vertical villages. There seams to be always somebody
to take care of every bit of the buildings, overpasses and streets. I dont know enough
about the life there because I dont speak mandarin but it seams to me like the city
is full of very optimistic people. For me as an outsider its like an utopia from the
50ies and 60ies come true. of course with a price like insane pollution and hard
conditions for the mayority of the country but its hard for me to make a judgement from
the outside as it might be the right way to bring prosperty to the country. I havent
even understood who is behind all those skyscrapers because most of them look emty
at night.

its easy to mistake shanghai for paradise. If you go as a tourist or expat, chances are you didn't see the 'real' shanghai. It is a amazing place full of riches, but like every major city, its also full of poverty and it being china, it can be harsh. I was mostly at the nice parts and expensive places because of who I was visiting, but I did get to see some of the less grand areas, and its dirty and still old china. I liked shanghai a lot, but would love to experience it more as a local and less as an expat. I was slightly disgusted at times by the expats living in china because of their attitue towards the workers and the place they are taking for granted.

sohi, did you go to other places besides shanghai?

great pics, sohi. thanks for posting. That last shot of the guy riding down the wet night street is very Wong Kar-Wai/Doyle. (yeah, I know it's not Hong Kong. whatever). In any case, it's eye candy to me.