I’ve just wrapped up a successful weekend at the 2014 North American Handmade Bicycle Show. This year’s event was in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was there to promote BikeCAD Pro.
Being so busy with my own booth, I didn’t have a lot of time to explore the show, but here are some shots I took of the new builders section. Nice to see BikeCAD Pro users well represented here.
I recently received a screener copy of Stephen Auerbach’s Bicycle Movies. Bicycle Movies Volume 1 is a compilation of 22 bicycle themed short films from all over the world.
Many of the films in this collection are available on Youtube, so I had seen a few of them before. However, it was enjoyable to watch them all together in DVD format. The 22 films are:
The Man Who Lived On His Bike: I thought this movie was great. Making this movie must have been a lot of work, but at the same time, I’ll bet it was a lot of fun. After watching this movie, you’ll probably want to watch Guillaume Blanchet’s “Making of” video as well.
Love, Life, Bike: is a film by Ryan Van Duzer. Ryan Van Duzer claims to eat 3 to 5 burritos per day and likes to run races in his Scooby Doo outfit. I was a bit disappointed that this particular film didn’t feature any such hijinks. Ryan now hosts his own bicycle touring show on the Travel Channel. Here’s hoping he’ll break out the Scooby Doo outfit for one of those episodes.
Bike Thieves: by Toryn Westcott is a funny little piece with some amusing green screen moments. Toryn himself might have the funniest part when he appears on a scooter in the final scene.
Ironclad Racing Team: by Will Walle provides a glimpse into the world of the Ironclad Cycling Team. By presenting the team as a diverse cast of characters that share a unique bond through their experiences on and off the bike, this film succeeds in describing most cycling clubs and serves as inspiration for anyone to become more involved in their own communities.
Florida Ghost Bike: by Tony Blazejack explains the phenomenon of ghost bikes around the world, but focuses on the ghost bike and memorial ride for 44 year old Christophe Le Canne in Key Biscayne, Florida. It is a sad, but informative film.
Winter’s Edge: is a film by John Amunét, featuring poetry by his brother Samu Ainesmaa. John, is an avid winter cyclist from Finland. He got tired of hearing people claim they can’t ride in the winter. So he went out with a friend and shot this just to remind people that it doesn’t matter; sleet or rain or sunshine, the buzz and the feel of the ride is still there. Amen!
Dreams Of A BMX Rider: is a Red Bull MEDIA HOUSE production featuring Michael “Berry” Beran, the production values are impressive and the riding is beyond impressive.
Focal Point: by Bjorn Fisher presents a profile of mountain unicycling pioneer Kris Holm. The footage of Kris riding obstacles in downtown Vancouver and on the North Shore is amazing. Listening to Kris articulate his philosophy on life and riding nicely rounds out the film.
Right Hook: is a revenge fantasy by Mike Vogel. This movie was a bit extreme for my mild mannered sensibilities, but I’m still a fan of Mike’s work. Particularly his movie Doored – Fractured Skull, Broken Hearts.
Confessions Of A Pedalphile: SNL’s canteen boy went there, and so did the hilarious fourth season of Arrested Development, so why can’t Edward Valibus Phillips? Who am I to judge?
There’s A Flower In My Pedal: by Andrea Dorfman was runner up for best short at TIFF, 2005. It’s a poem accompanied by instrumental music and animation. It’s amazing!
Scrapertown: by Drea Cooper & Zackary Canepari is beautifully shot and edited and the story is inspiring. I appreciated Tyrone “Babye Champ” Stevenson’s philosophy behind Scraper bikes. This film came out in 2010 and it’s nice to see that Champ has been getting some recognition for his work since then. In 2011, he was named one of ten “GlobeChangers” by the Jefferson Awards for Public Service. Last winter, he was a customizer-in-residence at the Oakland Museum of California. To see some more recent scraper bikes footage, watch Scraper Bikes: “Bike 4 Life Ride”.
Fixie Boy: is a music video featuring Maya Dorn as MC Ladyfinger and the band Sweet Snacks. The song is quite catchy and the costumes in this video are hilarious.
How I Learned To Stop Worrying: by Winston Zirjacks is an examination of heckling in cyclo-cross and downhill races. The film, and the heckling that it portrays is clearly all in good fun.
A Bicycle Trip: by Lorenzo Veracini, Nandini Nambiar and Marco Avoletta is a beautifully animated film based on the true story of a bicycle ride taken in April, 1943 by Albert Hofmann the first person to synthesize, ingest, and learn of the psychedelic effects of LSD.
Bikes In Columbia: by Joshua Rainwater is a film about the perils of cycling in Columbia, South Carolina. I appreciated how all the cyclists interviewed seemed to be representative of the majority of reasonable non adversarial community members just trying to get to where they’re going.
Villainous Heist: by Lukas Pecinka was shot in Alice Springs, Australia: a place I never would have guessed would have so many skilled unicyclists.
Bike Vs. Boyfriends: by Marin Tockman & Emily Demarest takes what might otherwise be a disposable top ten e-mail forward but bolsters it with a timelapse video featuring some cleverly drawn illustrations.
I Rode My Bicycle Through My Fears: by John Akre is a poem set to animation.
Local: Riders On The Storm: by Michalis Aristomenopoulos is a film about Local Athens, a group of people into cycling, their city and art.
No Handed Bike Moves: is a professional display of 50 No Handed Bike Moves, many of them are pretty clever.
Having spent more than a month on the road, it’s been fun to pore over the video from our trip. In our travels from Southern Ontario to Southern Louisiana, we managed to cover most of the distance on dedicated bike paths or roadways such as the Natchez Trace which prohibits commercial traffic. Here’s a quick 7 minute compilation of highlights from the journey.
The notable trails we rode include:
Iron Horse Trail: Kitchener, Ontario
Grand Trunk Trail: Cambridge, Ontario
Cambridge to Paris Rail Trail: Cambridge and Paris, Ontario
SC Johnson Trail: Paris and Brantford, Ontario
Friendship Trail: Port Colborne and Fort Erie, Ontario
Western Reserve Greenway: Ashtabula to near Mosquito Lake State Park, Ohio
Portage Hike and Bike Trail: Ravenna to Kent, Ohio
Freedom Trail: Kent to Akron, Ohio
Ohio & Erie Canalway: Akron to Massillon
Holmes County Trail: Ohio
Mohican Valley Trail: Danville, Ohio
Kokosing Gap Trail: Danville to Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Ohio to Erie Trail: Ohio
Little Miami Scenic Trail: Springfield to Newtown, Ohio
Music City Greenway: Nashville, Tennessee
Natchez Trace Parkway: Nashville, Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi
It’s been ah great summer for renting unusual bikes here in Kitchener-Waterloo. While I typically continue to make the Bicycle Forest collection available through the fall, this year we’ll be closing up early. Tomorrow, we’re heading off on a bike trip. We’re departing from Kitchener and hoping to keep pace with the changing leaves as we make our way south.
Thanks to the craftsmanship of Hugh Black at True North Cycles, Natalie has this beautiful new bike for the trip.
I am happy to have finished BikeCAD version 10 before leaving. It’s good to see so many shops and builders have already downloaded the new update. I may not be as quick to respond to inquiries in the coming weeks, but I will still be making a point of checking e-mail while on the road. So please let me know if you have any questions.
Congrats to AeroVelo for winning the Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition. AeroVelo was officially awarded the prize after satisfying the following three criteria:
This is a neat video documenting the collaboration between Adam Eldridge of Stanridge Speed and a customer who wanted to be involved in the actual building of his bike. It’s nice to see them using BikeCAD Pro along the way.
The story of my adventures with Reverend Lugio has just been published in the book Moose On The Loose, Matt Jackson’s latest anthology of travel stories. This book should be in stores by the end of October.
The Reverend Lugio story, along with my business negotiations with the former Prime Minister of Cameroon and my correspondence with a wealthy investor from Ghana were all sufficiently comprehensive that I felt they warranted write-ups here in this blog. Meanwhile, I was recently contacted by another individual looking to make what seemed like a suspiciously impetuous purchase. Unfortunately, this exchange fizzled out just as things were getting interesting. Although it feels incomplete, I offer it here as a bonus feature to the Reverend Lugio story…
On August 2, 2012 I received the following e-mail:
Hello Sir/Madam,
Could you please email me back with the quote for the ProForm 705 ZLT Treadmill and also let me know if you do accept credit card as a form of payment. Please email me back with any similar treadmill you have in stock if my request is not available.Your prompt reply will be highly appreciated.
Regards,Robert William
In response, I wrote:
Thanks for writing. Unfortunately, we do not carry the ProForm 705 ZLT. Our only Treadmill related product is the Treadmill Bike. You can read all about our Treadmill Bike at: bikeforest.com/tread It retails for $2500.
Let me know if you are interested.
To which he promptly replied:
Brent,
Thanks for the reply. Could you please email me back with the total price excluding delivery of 2 pcs of the Treadmill Bike and also let me know if you do accept credit card as a form of payment. Your prompt reply will be highly appreciated.
Two treadmill bikes without shipping would cost $5000. Yes, we do accept credit cards.
Let me know if you’d like to initiate an order.
Brent,
Thanks and i appreciate your responses. I am interested in ordering the Two treadmill bikes. However, there has been a new development as at now when i spoke with my client. I had to come to Glasgow on a trip and I wont be at home to receive the order. I would appreciate if you contact the shipping company my client recommended for the shipping of the order. I want you to contact them ASAP and request a shipping rate and get back to me with it so I can arrange payments ASAP.
Contact Unc Express Shippers Service at: uncexpressshipping2000@hotmail.com
ship to :Janet Malone22 Tesano Street,Accra – Ghana 00233West Africa
I want this shipping company to pick up the order from your address or the pick up joint and ship out to my clients address direct. So contact them now and get back to me ASAP with subtotal or Grand total of the order with shipping when as soon as you read back from them. Your prompt reply will be highly appreciated.
Kind Regards,Robert
Hello Robert,
As it turns out, we happen to have a couple of Treadmill Bikes in London right now. As you are probably aware, Treadmill Biking is a demonstration sport at the London Olympics. We sponsored the Estonian team with two treadmill bikes for use during the games. We had been planning to have them shipped back to Canada after the closing ceremony on August 12th. However, the race is now over, so we could probably have them shipped down to Ghana whenever you need them. We could also hold them in London if you wanted to pick them up yourself on your way back from Glasgow. These bikes are lightly used and have the logo from the Estonian team painted on the side. However, you could save a lot on shipping if you took these bikes instead of having new ones shipped from Canada.
I’ve attached a photo of one of the Estonian athletes racing one of our bikes past London’s iconic Tower Bridge.
Let me know your thoughts and I will get in touch with Unc Express ASAP.
Brent,
I will be okay with the two bike treadmills games. Well kindly go ahead and contact Unc Express ASAP with the necessary information so we can proceed further. Waiting for your prompt reply.
regards,Robert
Robert was very eager at this point, e-mailing me back to ask if I’d heard from the shipping company. I did end up getting an e-mail from Freight and Logistics Manager, Mr. Chris John. I’ll leave out the lengthy details of the shipping quote, but I did forward that on to Robert along with this additional proposal:
Now that we are looking to ship two Treadmill Bikes out of Canada House at the Olympics, it’s tempting to take advantage of some of the other items that will be available for sale after the games.
I have just learned that the famous photograph of Canada’s Gordon Anquetil, who won gold at the 1948 Olympics also in London, will be up for sale after the games. It is currently on display at Canada House. I’ve attached an image of Canada’s own Ryder Hesjedal standing in front of this photo. This is a wonderful piece of Olympic memorabilia as it depicts the first time an athlete crossed the finish line clutching a Canada goose. This has become a well known tradition for Canadian athletes ever since.
Proceeds from the sale of the photo will go to Canada’s Olympic Legacy Fund. The asking price is $5000. Do you think you’d be interested in this piece? I’d be thrilled to see it on display in a country like Ghana, a nation with great potential in the sport of cycling.
Looking forward to your response.
Hello Brent,
Thanks a lot for the mail.I will like to do more business with you but lets get done with this and please email me back with the Grand Total Cost of the order which is the cost of the two bikes together with the shipping costs which is the £2,115.47 as soon as possible. Please kindly let me know if you will be able to pay the freight as i will make the total payment with my credit card and please let me know if you are ready for my credit card so we can proceed. Thanks a again and your prompt reply will be highly appreciated.
Regards,Robert
Before long, I found myself on the phone with Robert. His intention was to have me charge his credit card for the shipping costs so that I could forward this fee to the shipping company by Western Union. Prior to accepting any credit card info, I told Robert that I wanted to conduct a brief customer survey. A sample question from the survey was:
The treadmill bike can be packed into a box of dimension 6.5′ x 2.5′ x 1.3′ and a total weight of 80 lbs. I find that traveling with a treadmill bike on airlines and public transportation is very easy and convenient.
Robert didn’t have much patience for any of my questions, shouting out DISAGREE at every opportunity. I tried to understand why he would be so keen to proceed with this purchase when an assessment of his customer survey responses would only suggest he thought the Treadmill Bike was a total piece of junk. Alas, as you can probably guess, when I finally agreed to take Robert’s credit card number, I told him it was declined by my bank. He proceeded to send additional credit card numbers by e-mail, but I claimed to have no better luck with them. Along the way, I told Robert that one of the Estonian athletes was standing by to autograph one of the Treadmill Bikes. We just needed to know whether he’d prefer the signature to be done with a black Sharpie or a Green glitter pen. Robert never responded. And sadly, that is how this story ends, with an imaginary Estonian Olympian standing near a loading dock outside Canada House with a Sharpie and green glitter pen in hand practicing her signature on a scrap of cardboard.
![[Fe][C]ycles at NAHBS](/NAHBSFeCycles.jpg "[Fe][C]ycles at NAHBS")
