Birthday Haul

Well, another year, another birthday. This year, despite being off the bike, I received a good haul of bicycle related presents and things.

There was a copy of Cycling Plus, a copy of Rouleur (which I now have a subscription to thanks to one of the founding members of the highway Cycling Group, my step-mum Helen), Graham Fife’s the Beautiful Machine and to top it all off, Laura sent me a bike mag from Japan called Funride, not for my birthday specifically, but it arrived at the right time. Fantastic. Reviews of the mags and books will go up shortly.

Rivendell Revamp

I’m a little late on the update here, but Rivendell Bicycle Works from the USA have finally completed their revamp of their site. It looks really, really good. What I particularly like is the breakout box that comes up when a product in the shop is clicked. Then you can ‘look at it’, ‘read about it’ or ’see related products’ – really simple but very effective.

I also love the Bike Camping section. You know that they’re not going to sell you anything crappy at Rivendell, they totally believe in all the products or they wouldn’t sell them. Integrity is the watchword here. There is a nice recent interview with Rivendell founder Grant Peterson here at Momentum magazine, it’s worth a read. Grant and Rivendell are all about just riding your bikes and having fun, although they’re pretty serious about bike set-up and geometry, passionate in fact. I recommend buying a Rivendell membership, not least because you’ll help keep them going (and if you’re passionate about bikes you’ll be sorry if they stop trading, you don’t know it yet but you will) but also because you get copies of Grant’s nearly quartlerly magazine The Rivendell Reader (although at the time of writing Grant appears to be suffering from RSI so a new reader is a few months off). Get over to the Rivendell site now and have a good browse.

Lance worked in my office

Actually that’s not even slightly true, however we did receive this at our office one day…

It was actually addressed to Lance Armstrong Competition, Ottakar’s PLC… we were running a competition to coincide with the paperback publication of It’s Not About The Bike.

This seems like as good a time as any to reveal my favourite Lance Armstrong advert:

Japan Cycling II – and the best bike bell in the world.

More lovely looking cycling in Japan courtesy of Laura (Coop). Look at those lovely roads! I am so jealous, not least because I can’t ride at the moment.

Japan of course is a mecca for bike part manufacture, Nitto, Shimano, various small frame shops and bicycle works from around Osaka which produce beautiful pieces like this bell.

This bell sounds like a Tibetan singing bowl or something, the resonance on it is astonishing. One ting and it rings for a good fifteen to twenty seconds before the sound dies away. It brings smiles rather than scowls on the towpath. So serene and peace inducing is its sound that inner calm explodes from within with every ‘ting’. A masterpiece of Japanese craftsmanship.

Available from Rivendell Bicycle Works in America for 8 USD. I recommend it most highly.

Bicycle Film Festival London 2007

Tickets are now on sale for the London events at this year’s Bicycle Film Festival – looks like some good films and events.

Click here for details.