Big and small - Cinelli and FreeBird Velo

When we're not tinkering with our bikes, cleaning and polishing them, adjusting that tension screw one millimetre to the left or to the right, checking the tire pressure and heightening the saddle two millimetres we are always on the lookout for improvements to our bikes and new projects. A new saddle or new pedals to put on one of our existing bikes or a completely new frame, which marks the start of a completely new project, a new bike. We think it's the same for most cyclists. Actually we know it's the same, just judging by the number of bicycle manufacturers and suppliers of bicycle related products. Not to mention the discussions on various internet forums about everything from the exact composition of the carbon in a bike frame, to the taste of an energy bar. It is a bit of fun, surfing the internet, seeing what's going on in the cycling world, but perhaps we should try to forget what riding bikes is really about: Getting outside and doing it. Swinging a leg over the bike and start pedalling, whether it's a dusty old bike or a shiny new one. Yeah, sometimes we actually ride our bikes too! Perhaps we should try to think about the environment too and ask ourselves if we really do need that new bottle holder or those new wheels. We only have one earth, people, and the natural resources aren't infinite.

Dreaming, however, is just fine. In fact we think that people should dream more. We dream a lot, and some of those dreams are about new bikes and new clothes to wear while riding our bikes. Here are two of our favourites to dream about:

Cinelli

Cinelly has quite a following in the... well, should we say in the fixed-gear and single-speed world, among the connaisseurs or among the hipsters? A lot of people who ride fixed-gear and single-speed either do it on a Cinelli or want to do it on a Cinelli. And we don't blame them - Cinelli bikes are really good-looking! Take a look at these frames, for example:

This is one of their track/fixed-gear/single-speed frames, the Vigorelli. And the logo isn't misprinted - it's supposed to look like that. (We borrowed this picture from Cinelli. Hope that's OK!) 

And this is the Zydeco. (We borrowed this picture from Cinelli. Hope that's OK!)

Beautiful and supercool. Cinelli also makes components like handlebars and bottles, and they make clothes. And while the clothes are good-looking, sometimes they feel a little bit too aimed at posers. Or maybe it's the other way around? Maybe it's the posers that wear Cinelli, that make the clothes look really trendy, but not quite genuine? So we like Cinelli, but we're not superfans of some of the things that you sort of get into the bargain. But simply put, Cinelli is one of the bigger actors, with a real passion for cycling.

One of the smaller actors that we really like is FreeBird Velo.

Jenny Wilson, who runs the company, doesn't make bikes but clothes, mostly t-shirts. We love her designs, though we have no words to summarise them. Some t-shirts prints are just weird, others are simply genious. We really don't need more t-shirts, but either we might make an exception for FreeBird Velo just to have one or we'll buy one from the company next time we do need one.

We think this t-shirt is cute. (We borrowed the picture from FreeBird Velo's Etsy page. Hope that's OK!)

These socks are simply cool. They're sold out, which is unfortunate because we could really use a new pair of socks. (We borrowed the picture from FreeBird Velo's Etsy page. Hope that's OK!)

So maybe you're riding a new bike, maybe you're riding an old bike. Maybe you wear old clothes which work just fine or you've gotten a new wardrobe. Remember to have fun.

Ride safe!