a bit about bikes4africa

for the second year running, the tweed run will benefit bikes4africa. it’s a charity that i really believe in. they take donated bicycles, teach inmates in uk prisons to refurbish them, then ship the bicycles — along with repair tools and skills/mechanical upkeep training — to the gambia, one of the poorest countries in africa.

in africa, the bikes are given (on a longterm loan basis) to students who have great distances to walk to school. many african children live in remote communities a long way from schools. there is no bus system, so these students have to travel extremely long distances to receive an education. bikes4africa helps the students to:

• get to school
• arrive at school on time instead of late
• begin the school day alert instead of exhausted
• stay for extra lessons at the end of the school day
• reach higher academic achievement
• arrive home earlier
• help their families more at home
• remain safe by travelling home from school in daylight

education, skills training and community support are one of the only ways to lift communities out of poverty and help them along the way to self-sustainability.

to date, bikes4africa has sent over 5500 bikes to africa. the tweed run is proud to support their efforts.

Periodic table of professional cycling

we’re told that january’s the start of the professional cycling season (i know, i know… already?!!).

to help you keep track of events, the chaps over at cyclocosm have done this spiffing table of the races.

click for higher resolution version. courtesy of cyclocosm

races ordered from top-to-bottom in order of importance; stage races tend toward the left side of the table, one-days toward the right, and colors correspond with UCI ranking of individual events.

we’ve looked, and we can’t find the tweed run on their either. i’m sure it’s an accidental omission that they’ll fix forthwith.

knog

the annual wallpaper* design awards list is out. this year, knog’s bullfrog light made it into the shortlist for reader’s choice award.

i have to say, i like these lights. i own a bunch of knog lights. they’re nice and bright, and don’t need special mounting gear. but the design of them is absolutely abysmal. i cannot count the number of times i’ve gone to fish for my lights, only to find that they’ve somehow turned themselves on and have been quietly flashing away at the bottom of my bag all day.

tokyo fixed gear shop (in… london)

seems like i’m doing lots of posts about friends’ things lately. here’s another one. tokyo fixed gear had their shop opening last night, in london’s soho. it’s a beautiful shop, (surprisingly) big and boutique-ey, and (unsurprisingly, knowing max) filled with lots of bike porn and candy-coloured bling. if you’re looking for one of them carbon-and-alu alan frames, a chromed colnago with fully pantographed groupset, or even purple anodized sprockets, this is your place. 4 peters street, at the bottom of berwick street.

photos courtesy yorgo at arkitipintel
(back to tweed-y posts after this, i promise)

pashley guv’nor plus four

we went to the bobbin bicycles press night last night. i’m a huge fan of bobbin (”the most beautiful bicycle shop in britain”), and of course you should go check them out.

for me, the highlight of the night was finally getting to see one of the limited edition pashley guv’nor plus fours in the flesh. these babies are made in reynolds 531, fully brass-plated, then the lugs are masked off and the rest of the frame is painted black, so it’s got shiny gold lugs! also, a sachs duomatic rear hub and speed drive front chain for four gears (plus four… four gears… get it?) and enough brooks leather to make a cow nervous. i love guv’nors anyhow, beautiful oldschool pathracer style. but these are pretty luscious. only 50 were made… and unfortunately they’ve all sold out.