When John Brooks heard Henry Ford’s famous offer of his Model T in any colour the purchaser wanted so long as it was black, the Birmingham saddle giant must have allowed himself a wry grin. Because traditionally, most saddles leaving the Brooks factory have also tended, in colour at least, towards the conservative.
However, you may have read recently on the Brooks Blog about our Limited Edition and commemorative saddles. Occasionally we release these Editions in colours that mark a departure from our usual understatedly classic darker tones.
A flavour of L’Eroica’s 2010 instalment from the Tweed Run‘s own Ted Young-Ing. (Bregan and Tim doing their best for the camera)
“The organization will not admit riders with farcical or ironic clothing or behaviour.” (Excerpt from the 2011 Rules and Regulations)
As autumn approaches, 500 lucky non-Italians are doubtless polishing their first generation Campa Gruppos, Proofiding their leather helmets and scouring vintage stores for a decent woollen maglia. Yes, Siena’s l’Eroica is once again soon upon us!
Mikael Cycle-Chic Andersen loading up his cargo bike at the Danish Championships last week. The outstanding photoset from Anders Hviid can be viewed here
Alright then, hands up. Who knows what a “Svajerløbet” is?
Of course, no one does. Alright then, on with today’s post.
Beady bicycling eyes were trained on Copenhagen last week for more than just the latest offering from the man who has given innumerable cities the gift of Cycle Chic. The World Cycling Championships were underway there since Monday (well done Mr. Cavendish!) and if this wasn’t already enough, the third annual Danish Cargo Bike Championships or “Svajerløb” took place over the preceding weekend, curtain raiser to the fun and games on offer from the UCI.
Readers will recall last month how we mentioned our planned involvement with Intelligence Squared on their ‘Cycling Festival’ project at the Royal Geographical Society.
With the evenings getting shorter, and surfaces wetter, it will soon be time for Bike Polo players to withdraw to their natural winter habitat, the multi-storey carpark. But there are still a couple of big tournaments scheduled to be played under open skies in 2011. One of them takes place in London mid-October and is the first to actively search out, invite and promote all-lady teams.
Newington Gardens in East London will be the setting for Hell’s Belles Vol. 1.
And all of it for the greater glory of mallet heaving on two human powered wheels.
Sleep-deprived in Seattle. “Play Hard, Play Hard” is how they roll in polo circles.
The World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championship has thrown up new titleholders. Five days of tooth-cracking, mallet-wielding, beer-shotgunning mayhem in the city of Seattle, Washington last week saw Canadian combo Crazy Canucks edge out France’s very own Call Me Daddy, at the end of a tournament which as a showcase of spirit, skill, athleticism, and organisation has taken this old-but-new sport to the “next level”.
Brooks collaborator Ben Wilson was recently invited by the Crafts Council and the Victoria and Albert Museum to furnish them with a piece for their upcoming exhibition “The Power Of Making” which runs 6 September 2011 – 2 January 2012 at The Porter Gallery at the V&A.
The exhibition opened last week, and Ben’s “Pocket Rocket” (shown above) is now on display, along with ninety-nine other “exquisitely crafted objects”. (Well, a hundred if we were to count the one-off Brooks Swallow separately.)
Interbike, a large gathering of people from the bicycle trade, starts today in Las Vegas; we’ll hopefully have some news from there before the week is out. But first, the largest bicycle trade fair in the world, Eurobike, took place earlier this month on Lake Constance in Friedrichshafen, Germany. And though this is undoubtedly our most hectic time of the year, we have managed to somewhat report on this important bicycle industry phenomena.
When the young William Webb Ellis spontaneously caught the ball and ran with it during phys. ed. at the Rugby Boys’ Public School back in the 1820′s, he can surely have had no inkling at the myriad chains of events he would set in motion.
There is certainly much sporting history we can trace back to his actions. But surprisingly, one little piece of it, at least, is bike-related. So with the seventh instalment of the Rugby Union World Cup having kicked off in New Zealand this morning, we wish to draw your attention to two people for whom today marks the end of an eighteen month long cycling journey to be there. And we’re still not sure if they have tickets.
Brooks was once again on board at the Brompton World Championship last weekend, which took place at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. Close to 700 smartly attired participants rolled over the start line, with 8000 equally well dressed spectators in attendance. It was the most visited Championship in the event’s history.
