Tag: Cycle Show

September 27th – Returning to Birmingham from the somewhat disappointing Cycle Show at the NEC, I was reminded whilst walking a relatively short distance through the city centre that there really is a cycling boom going on; you’d never have seen cycles in such numbers around the place as you do now. And these are real machines, as opposed to the pristine new stuff that I’d seen that morning. Bikes of all ages, types and sizes, from BMX to fixies, all carrying the patina of their owners – the stickers, modifications, adjustments and dirt that go to making a bike your very own.

It’s good to see. 

September 28th – Other people’s bicycles. I’d been to the Cycle Show at the NEC. This involved a journey into Birmingham by bus – I hadn’t been on one for over 12 months, and hated it. Walking up Corporation Street from the University, I noticed this bike chained to the scaffolding. It’s a venerable old British Eagle, and someone loves it. Later, as I was leaving the show, I noticed this black fixie parked outside the entrance at the NEC. Sometimes the best bikes are the oldest, most loved ones.

September 30th – Today, I visited the annual cycle show, this year held at the NEC, Birmingham. There’s a writeup and a Flickr gallery on my main blog, but I’d just like to point out that to outsiders, cycling is a uniform thing. You get on a bike, you ride it. There’s actually a who ecosystem of subcultures going on in the cycling world – from utility cyclists managing family life and crying kids in safety, to the recumbent guys and their fascinating, specialist machines. That’s why I love the cycle show, it opens your eyes to different possibilities. The show is open until Sunday evening.