Hot Dog cycles + Pedal Project + Okolo = Headquarters

For those who don’t know, there’s a new bike shop in town. Hot Dog cycles (the 2 man tiny bike shop that was building bikes in Namesti Republiky), Pedal Project (designers, bike enthusiasts and magazine producers) and OKOLO (designers, bike enthusiasts and magazine producers) joined forces to create HEADQUARTERS. The new shop is now open for service and sales. Eventually, there will be a cycle cafe (coffee, beer and snacks) and a studio space / art gallery.
For more info, check out: www.headquarters.cz and www.hotdog-cycles.com

Volvo = douche bag

News update:
a new study conducted by scientists (A.S.W.H.O.L.E), shows that Volvo has now surpassed Audi as the car of choice for assholes. a comprehensive, long-term examination of the social status of over 4,500 assholes(a.k.a douche bags) from across the EU, indicates that assholes are now upgrading their burnt orange A4s to the new C70 cabriolet.

“In 2010, in Prague’s city center, there were only a handful of assholes driving Volvos,” said Patrik Arslanian, from Hot Dog cycles. “In the past six months, however, i’ve been in ten fist fights with assholes driving Volvos as compared to only one driving an Audi.”

because of this alarming new information, many cyclists have added Volvo to their list of cars (that normally consists of Mercedes, Audi and Maserati) to look out for while cycling.

-beware my friends…. beware.

 

UPDATE!!

This disturbing trend has been independently corroborated by peer review. Even more disturbing is the fact that, while Audi drivers display predictable signs of aggression consistent with male impotence, Volvo drivers may actually be physically and mentally too feeble to operate their vehicles correctly.

Cycling = Golf 2.0?

I’ve had a sneaking suspicion for some time now that cycling, specifically that lycra-clad, carbon fibered corner of the sporting garage, is steadily becoming the new golf. It starts slow, with the Bike Snob’s oft-mentioned, recondite Serotta/Dentist symbiosis, working its way through the professions until love of the sport snowballs to the point where, one day, we can all enjoy the cliche cycling to work will have become. Seriously, it’ll be a happy day, once it’s all growed up. It’s the meantime that’s the scary bit. We’re just one or two client service directors away from the critical adolescent mass of professional acceptance, and the video produced for the new bike line from Mario Cippolini speaks directly to the blandly-articulated desires of the wanky horde that is us. Mark my words. Next step: Caddyshack for bikes. Watch for it.

Witness the continental breakfast, the Tuscan wheat, the barely sublimated musical fratboy, straining at the bonds that keep him from performing the Helmet Dance… Things are gonna get weird – can’t wait for the damned snow to melt.

Boldog karácsonyt, ty vole…

As some of you might have noticed in the comments of our “Buy/Sell” section, the Herce-Hurca guys in Budapest have opened up a shop! They have a nice online assortment of bits and pieces and the prices are reasonable, so leave your wives/girlfriends/husbands/boyfriends/parents/dogsandcats a nice, subtle hint to check it out Christmas style 😉 It’s about as close to local as fixie shops get!

 

Momentary Lapses

Must have been something in the rohliky today, because I saw no less than 9 bike commuters on the way to work! Not couriers, hurrying to their lurking stair in front of the CSOB on Na Prikope, but actual, in the flesh cycle commuters with feral looks, fenders, ear warmers and big, bulky bags!

Nothing really to say, I was just sort of excited! Probably I missed something? Is everyone who cycles to work meant to get a half-day off?

Polo tomorrow?

Canada Goes the Way of the USA

It’s sort of a blog-crime to repost things that Bike Snob already pointed out, given that all 6 readers here read the Bike Snob first, but this video of some fat douchebag politician from Toronto is too sick to let go. I know it’s all stereotyping, but I really had this closely guarded illusion that, as weird as Canadians are, they are at least “progressive” in that that they aren’t generally outright evil. Wrong, I guess. This fat bastard was recently elected Mayor of Toronto, but could just as easily be mayor of Vysočany. Thank God for the triple bypass.

Speckled Green Map

The Auto*Mat guys, always adept at polishing up the edges of thunderclouds until they look something like chrome, have published this “Green Map”, which includes cycling-friendly spots in the center of Prague. It’s a vaguely situationist undertaking, and pretty cool to see. These folks really are trying to put a brave face on and start changing perceptions a bit. The map has some unique features, one of the most interesting of which is a time legend – a legend which shows how long it would take an average walker or cyclist to cover a certain distance. You can also use it to locate a bike rack in the center of Prague – the first person to photograph all five and post them here wins a super prize!

Auto*Mat are looking for partners and advertisers to help bring the map online. Given the stated mission of the undertaking, it sort of begs the question: why didn’t they save the paper and just put the thing online in the first place? Will another free throwaway map really help convert the great “over-washed” masses or just create more backpack lint and white space for Americans to scribble “eshtay yeden peevo proseem”? Either way, it’s got to be more effective than the graffito scrawled on the construction barrier at the ongoing experiment in urban vomit that is the Narodni trida metro plaza. “We Love the Auto*Mat” writ large in red spraypaint beside “Fuck Police Ganga Anarchist!” or whatever, only reaffirms to the Tesco-shopping public that anyone who cares about their environment is a young white twat with greasy dreadlocks, an underfed dog and too much free time.

Auto*Mat ought to organize a “rychla akce” down there this weekend to repaint a nice hippy mural on the construction barrier and weld some bike racks onto it as well.

 

In the meantime, “mainstream” Prague has responded:

Rainy Days

A friend passed this one along from BoingBoing and I thought y’all might appreciate, especially as the weather starts weirding and the drivers get ornery again. Has anyone else noticed that it’s the women getting all surly these days, flipping birds and honking horns? I was thinking to make up a bunch of those zacatecnik stickers with a ž for žena and start slapping cars…

If anyone is up in Cesky raj area this weekend, give a shout – I’ll be roaming around on the road bike, enjoying the rain 🙂

The Right Place?

I wanted to pass on a link to a nice little article in the Guardian today where a staff writer waxes nostalgic over a cycling trip taken by one of the newspaper’s early lead writers. The excursion took him from Manchester to London – a 19 hour trip, at the time. Today’s columnist, after all the requisite “I am not worthies,” propositions his readers for a few detours to help make the trip repeatable under modern circumstances.

Given the quickly encroaching ring roads, a few trips like this in and around Prague might not be a bad feature to add to the archives. In a few short years, a quick shot out to Zbraslav or a comfortable ride on small village roads to visit Svijany for a pint or two may well be practical impossibilities. On the other hand, the way things are heading with gridlock and pump prices, cycling might be the only way to go… Either way, a few well-planned and illuminated routes might not be such a bad idea.

To that end, I’ve started up an account on BikeMap.net which lets you create a cool little GPS route, complete with description, elevations, distances and detailed road conditions. Salo has been using it for a while now, and worked out some way to upload and download the GPS data to his Garmin. It’s pretty easy to do, so if anyone is interested in having access to the account, let me know and I’ll give you the password.

The Man in Japan

My man Adam is in Japan on a secret mission. He sent these pics of fixie riders in Tokyo and the cute girls that dig them despite their teeth and bruised up grills. More on his pages here. No Rob, he won’t bring you back any parts 😉

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