Cykelköket

Cykelköket - The Bike kitchen - is an organisation that is as unaffiliated with Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb as below mentioned Krister Isaksson (see our latest post), but of course we think that it's a great organisation. They salvage old, unused bicycles that just stand and take up place in sheds and bike storages, donate them to people who want them and teach people to fix them themselves. They also donate bikes to unaccompanied minors. That's supercool.

If you hang out in Cykelköket you get the chance to meet people from different places and in different situations. That's cool too.

At the present Cykelköket exists in Malmö, Göteborg and they want to start it up in Stockholm too. You can find them here:

http://cykelkoket.blogspot.se/ (Malmö)

http://www.cykelkoket.org/ (Göteborg)

http://gladjeligan.wordpress.com/ (Stockholm)

Get involved!

Breaking News: Stockholms stads cykelutbildning

We have no affiliations with bicycle blogger Krister Isaksson (nor has he any affiliations with us) except that he too likes to blog about bicycling and the way bicyclists are treated in traffic. And this is just too funny to withhold from you:

http://www.bicycling.se/blogs/kristerisaksson/breaking-news-stockholms-stads-cykelutbildning-avs.htm

Obstacles, part 3

If your car breaks down and you have to call someone to tow it, what do you do with the car in the meantime? You park it on the bicycle lane, of course!

And what do you do when you come to tow a broken-down car, where do you lift and fasten the broken-down car? You do it on the bicycle lane, of course!

You know, it's exactly this kind of attitude that create bitter bicyclists, who write angry letters to the press (and angry blog posts). Yes, I understand that you thought that you would have been in the way and that other cars would have had to slow down and drive around you. But we bicyclists have just as much right to our lanes and roads as you motorists do! Imagine a bicyclist standing in the middle of a (car) road with a flat tire, waiting for a friend to come by with a new tube and a pump. How would motorists react to that?

Good idea to avoid accidents involving bicyclists and buses.

Here in Sweden it is Midsummer Day today. Which naturally means that Midsummer Eve was yesterday. In Sweden Midsummer Eve is traditionally celebrated in the countryside, and involves a lot of eating (new potatoes and pickled herring, traditionally) and drinking alcohol-containing beverages. Which, again, naturally means that a lot of people spend Midsummer Day with a hangover. (Or with a coppersmith, as we say in Finland.) Not us, though! Parts of Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb has spent a part of the day having a bicycle school, of sorts.

And today we also have a tip for Västtrafik - the company who runs public transport here in the region of Västra Götaland, Sweden. Or for anyone else who thinks that it's a good idea, for that matter. We saw this sticker on a bus in Stockholm. The text says "The hidden-angle! The bus driver can't see you here." A cautionary word for rush hour in the city. A really simple, yet brilliant idea!

Lately...

we haven't been blogging. (Obviously.) We've been busy racing, working, flying helicopters and whatnot. However, our club still exists and so do this blog. We are preparing new articles so stay tuned, ride safe and take some time to contemplate this bicycle.

The "classic" Itera plastic bicycle. It was a complete flop. The bike was heavy, wobbly and, as you can see, really ugly. This one is apparently the "racer version", complete with Campangolo components. What to say?

Oh, and again we didn't take this photo, so thanks in advance and respect to the originator.

Tomorrow

... is the Swedish national day. You can celebrate it in Gothenburg by participating in the Nationaldagsloppet bicycle race. Parts of Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb will do just that. Representing Finland. Not hating anything, just representing ourselves.

(We didn't take this photo, so thanks in advance and respect to the photographer and to Lapin Kansa, on whose page we found the photo.)

Obstacles, part 2

And then there are those who simply don't care...

What we think is a bit interesting is that if they had parked two meters to the side, on one of the walking lanes, they would have had two meters less to walk with heavy furniture. Instead the chose to block the bike lane. The whole bike lane. People are strange.