It’s good to see good news about Germany and cycling, and the ever interesting Copenhagenize blog has provided some with News that the German government has started a campaign called “Kopf An, Motor Aus” (‘Brain on, Motor off’) which is appropriate as I seem to see drivers doing the exact opposite every day.

That’s enough of my cynicism. Several cities are involved at the moment, trying to get people to walk or cycle for distances of 6km or less, instead of using their car. Posters are “cheeky, fun, ironic or serious” according to the website and “found wherever cars are” Dortmund’s massive poster  “A huge thank you to cyclists” is catching most of the limelight for sheer drama, but my personal favourite is the flag Karlsruhe are using by cycle parking areas: “Reserved for climate heroes”. Of course, Karlsruhe is one of the better cities for cycling and public transport, so it’s fair enough in their case.

This year there are four cities involved: there is a competition for 25 more next year and some are local to us. But Stuttgart and Ostfildern are not. What a surprise. I expect if I ask we’ll be told the usual excuses a valid reason for this.

Another  initiative is free hugs for cyclists, pedestrians, and other climate heroes, but as the video shows, drivers need not apply.

I can’t help feeling that more infrastructure would be more profitable long-term, and the cynic in me resurfaces when I remember this is the same government that was paying people to buy cars earlier this year, but at least there’s a growing awareness that getting people walking and cycling is good for cities and for people. You never know, the tide may be changing. If things carry on like this, Ostfildern may even notice.

The website is at http://www.kopf-an.de/

The youth centre I work at was having a clear out and I ended up tidying the workshop. No-one else wanted to do it, but then, no-one else wanted to scrounge  lots of plywood offcuts and funny shaped bits of metal for creative projects. I think this is because they have a social life. So I parked the Bakfiets outside the door and loaded up while everyone else was sweeping. This is the second load, the first being about 60kg of firewood delivered to a friend. The third was enough dowel and aluminium tube to make a steampunk oil refinery.

You could shift this in a car, but why bother?

Beautiful Wife on the way home from shopping in the next town. Despite my whining, we can get to most places we need to go in Ostfildern using traffic free routes like this, or residential and traffic calmed streets. Even better, it’s predominantly uphill to the shops, which of course means the return with a full load is easier.
Of course this may get a bit harder soon as Ostfildern has yet to wake up to the notion of clearing these roads in winter and we’ve yet to see how the Bakfiets responds to snow. There was a promise last year that the newly-employed park ranger would keep the roads clear of mud and snow, but as there are about 50km of these routes and the same ranger also has to look after the forests and other areas in Ostfildern I never believed that one, and I’ve not been dissapointed.

Most of the official (Blue circle) cycle lanes are kept clear. In one bizzaire case last year the council ploughed the lane for about 500m and then stopped. The point where the plough stopped was where the cycle lane runs out of sight from the road. Not that that has anything to do with it, of course.

Fortunately the Xtracycle seems to enjoy hard-packed snow, so I’ll just let the illegal cars pack it down for a day, then carry on as normal. Cars do have their uses after all.

From our apartment we can see the hills in the distance, and they’ve gained a light dusting of snow, so we sould get our turn soon…

This blog has been temporarily taken over by the ministry of propaganda to make an important announcement:

You are entirely powerless to change anything.

You are not individually created, deeply imaginative beings capable of finding solutions for yourselves, so stop trying. After much consultation with people who are more important than you, we have a far better understanding of any given issue. It is therefore pointless for you to research anything yourself: you cannot possibly understand it. Mainstream media can provide all your information. remain scared. Do not get involved in change.

You are not capable of developing your own localised low-cost solutions to environmental problems. If you want to care for the environment then you must buy products designed by the industry because they know a lot more than you. Riding a bike shows that you are different: invest your savings in a hybrid car so that we can keep the motor industry alive. Don’t get ideas about building your own beautiful house for less than it costs to buy a new car: buy an industry made eco-house for twice the cost of a normal home and take out a 30 year mortgage to cover it. Going ‘off grid’ is too difficult. Remember: you are not an expert, you are not creative. Buy more.

‘Living simply‘ means returning to the dark ages. Community is overrated. It is very important that you keep looking for more, bigger, better. Following desires implanted in you by marketers is freedom. Things that are free are of no value. Do not enjoy the sunset outside. Go and buy a plasma TV so you can watch films of sunsets, and get an even bigger one next year. It is important to keep up with your neighbours. Where you live is boring: go to exotic places for your holidays: this is the way to fulfilment. Do not develop meaningful relationships with friends over home-cooked food: go to expensive restaurants to be seen so that your social status is increased. And drive there. You can’t help the environment anyway, so stop trying. Loneliness is normal. Normal is good.

Big Business will look after you -as long as you do as you are told. Stay scared and buy things you don’t need. Accept the decisions of those in authority without question because they know much more than you. Do not think independently: you may decide to be different. Being different is difficult. People who live differently become labelled as strange and you don’t want to be strange. You want to be normal.

Thank you for your attention. Now go and buy things.

Photographed on arrival at our home. It can only get better.

Hopefully this will soon be a beautiful bicycle for Beautiful wife. Eventually. We found it in a cellar where it’s languished for at least 12 years, unwanted and gradually gathering dust . It’s a bit of a wreck a complete wreck. It’ll be a while before we can even make it ridable. A few months ago I wouldn’t have looked twice, but talking with people here and reading things like the old bike blog have got me interested in having a go at a full bike makeover.

Those brakes will have to go. It needs dusting too...

And this will be a full makeover: the gears are shot, the bottom bracket is a mess , a complete crank is missing and the tyres are shredded, but it’s still what I’ve been looking for since I started the blog: a steel small framed bike with metal mudguards, a luggage rack, and most importantly, 26″ wheels. And it was free.

Ghastly colour scheme and remains of Bottom Bracket

Beautiful Wife has laid down one condition: I can do whatever I want with the components to make it ridable, but it needs to be a different colour. First. Before anything else. I’m in full agreement as I think the current scheme could frighten horses. She wants a dark coffee brown, matt. A friend has access to a paint shop and I’m waiting for him to cost some paint.

Front end with odd handlebars.

So that looks like my winter project. I’m no expert though so I’m open to suggestions and ideas: What would other people suggest I look out for? What would be a good place to start on the renovation? And what suggestions would other people have for replacement parts?

All suggestions gratefully received…

Coming home from the circus school with Eldest Son and JQ.

Apparently this is a highlight of JQ’s week: when I asked her mum if JQ would cycle home with us, she replied “She’s talked about this more than the circus school.”

Who dares drive through the depths of the mystery puddle?

This journey is 98% on traffic free roads or traffic calmed residential streets, otherwise it would be a near nightmare. As it was we delivered JQ bouncing with independence and the achievement of transporting herself home.

She wants to come again next week.

Many thanks to those who answered the questions in the last post: I’ll be working on the Xtracycle (and post how I do) as soon as I can, but that annoying thing called work is encroaching on reality again. It’s a bummer, but there you are. I’m also enjoying getting out on the bike(s) as we’re having a beautiful November right now, and I’ve a couple of other bike-related projects that I’ll tell you about when I have time to write about them.

And my birthday prresent was delivered yesterday…

Mwahahaa…

The Xtracycle is a great bike, but this is the Achilles’ heel. The Free Radical kit doesn’t have an attachment for cantilever brakes, so I had to use a V-brake.  As I’m not about to throw away my very good shifter/brake levers to I had to try and fit this little beastie in to make the V-Brake on the back side fit with the cantilever-compatible levers up front. It’s called a  Travel Agent, and in theory it reduces the force produced by the levers so that the Xtracycle stops smartly but gently when I pull the lever, instead of locking the back wheel and throwing me over the handlebars. The problem is that it’s a pain to adjust, and usually results in the rear brake being as effective as a bowl of jelly. Usually I end up using the adjuster at the front to get any bite out of the thing at all. So I’m wondering about alternatives. If anyone has any pearls of wisdom in response to these questions, please feel free to comment:

1. The point is to reduce the force on the brake blocks/wheel when using cantilever levers. Is there another, less awkward way of doing this, like another piece of kit to fit on the cable?
2. Is there a way to fit cantilevers on an Xtracycle?
3. There is an adjustable travel agent. Could this mitigate the problem?
4. Am I missing the point? Do V-Brakes simply feel soggy compared to Cantilevers?
5. And the potentially dumb question: I know it goes against all published wisdom, but what difference would it make if I just used the v-brakes directly from the brake lever, (Especially as it’s on the back of a long heavy bike, not the front) Would it just lock the back wheel?

]]> http://workbike.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/achilles-heel/feed/ 5 Andy in Germany Achilles Heel http://workbike.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/happy-shadows/ http://workbike.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/happy-shadows/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:17:22 +0000 Andy in Germany http://workbike.wordpress.com/?p=1250 ]]>

Riding home with happy boys on the Xtracycle after a long playtime in the next town (The playaground is bigger than in our village). If you haven’t guessed this week was a break from work to be with the boys and fix all the things in the house we’ve not got around to since we moved in summer. I’ll be back next week with details of this and other stuff. Happy cycling and thanks for reading along…

Aarg.. sometimes someone tells a story so well, I’m just envious.

This is in German but with English subtitles. Wait until the end, it’s worth it.

(Via the European Christian Environment Network)