Bike Love on Valentine's Day!

What do we love on Valentine's Day?  We love bikes, we love the people who ride them, we love cycleways and we love Clover Moore!  So what better way to show our love and appreciation than to stalk a busy Bourke St Cycleway intersection armed with flowers and lollipops...

A few people were a little afraid of such positive enthusiasm aimed their way, on an early Tuesday morning (this can be an uncommon occurence in car-heavy Sydney), but we got lots of smiles and waves soon enough!

It was great to interact with the bikelists that you normally just pass by and we did enjoy seeing bike traffic at the lights!

There was no alternative motive for us other than to share our enthusiasm for bicycles and to capture some of our community in action using the cycleway... 

And while we were there, what better time to deliver one's own Valentine to their love... S-boy travels on Bourke st each day, so we waited and waited...

Then spotted...

And delivered.  Ahh romance and bikes!

And to top off a happy, love-filled morning who did we see?  Clover Moore - Who could love bikelists more?

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day to you and your bike!!

xxxxxx

Bicycle Bliss!

When I first decided to buy a bicycle in Sydney, 2 years ago, the selection was limited.  Bike shops held much of the same stock and finding a nice dutch-style bike was difficult.  J-bot bought her beautiful Electra from E-bay at that time, and when I was looking none of the bikes really jumped out and screamed "BUY ME"! S-boy and I ended up buying two cheap bicycles on line, as we weren't sure if we would use them enough to warrant the spending.  

Well we used them excessively and then decided to upgrade because bikes had become part of our life.

Last May, I got rid of my car and purchased a beautiful Gazelle Toer Populair with 8 speeds.  I couldn't be happier with my bike, it is beautiful to ride and the service I have recieved from Gazelle Bikes Australia has been excellent.  However I am amazed now, even less than a year after purchasing my beauty, how many new brands of bicycles have come on the scene.  The choice... the variety!

As artist William Morris put it  “Not on one strand are all life's jewels strung.”

The most exciting bike store that has recently opened can not be outdone in terms of the variety of  jewels it contains within.  Even better, the bikes are very reasonably priced due to their loved history.  What do I mean?  Well Omafiets Dutch Bicycles imports second-hand dutch bikes directly from the Netherlands, this means lots of different quality brands that you may have never heard of and won't find anywhere else in Oz.  

Like Omafiets on facebook here.

When it came time for S-boy to upgrade we headed there, even before the official opening.  We were like kids in a candy shop.  So much choice and features to admire and test ride.  We decided on a beautiful Koga Miyata bicycle and bought it there and then.  This is a popular brand in Holland but we had never heard of it.  I rode it home and am pleased to say I beat S-boy home (him leaving at the same time by car)!

So if you are looking for a bike, Omafiets should be on your list to visit. Here are a few of my faves from their current stock...

http://omafiets.com.au/store/product/133

 

http://omafiets.com.au/store/product/176

 

http://omafiets.com.au/store/product/177

 

http://omafiets.com.au/store/product/49

BVP at SFFN 2012

If you're in Sydney you'll have noticed that after a week of debilitating humidity, the rainy weather has closed in again, spoiling any "Summer" we might have hoped to experience. For a week or two though, in January, if the clouds didn't necessarily part, the weather at least partly relented, and we enjoyed Sydney Festival.

Like last year, Sydney Festival First Night, with the help of Sydney Cycleways and Bike Sydney set up free Bike Valet Parking, trying to encourage people to leave their cars at home. Considering that a large chunk of the city around Hyde Park and the Domain was closed off to make way for stages, roving performers, swing dancing, etc... two wheels were definitely the preferred mode of transport for a lot of Sydney-siders.

K-star and myself had such a good time last year, we made sure to volunteer early for a shift at Bike Valet Parking. The sun was miraculously out for the day, we had a picnic loaded up to enjoy after our shift, and we had Milky Joe "spoke cards" (read: postcards) ready to "distribute" (read: pimp) among the bikes we parked.

Our two hour shift flew by, almost too fast. We hung out with uber awesome bike peeps, like David from Bike Sydney and all time bike guru, Yogi. We met heaps of people, parked heaps of bikes (perved on heaps of cute bike boys- well, at least I did...) and had heaps of fun. When our shift finished it was only late afternoon, but between our station at Hyde Park and the BVP station in the Domain hundreds of bikes were parked for Sydney Festival First Night! Go Sydney! Towards the end of our shift we whipped the cameras out to take some close-ups of some of the good looking bikes and bike accessories we spied, as well as share the Milky Joe love...

After BVP it was time to relax, hang out with other Sydney-siders in the Domain and enjoy the sunset and the Festival First Night concert. More of these days please!

j.xoxo