Flying Pigeon LA is a company, started by two brothers, located in the Highland Park/Cypress Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Flying Pigeon LA sells, maintains and evangelizes the Flying Pigeon brand bicycle in Los Angeles.
The video segment below was captured by an alert Olympics fan (cycling was broadcast super late at night) and sent our way. In this segment, Lester Holt, of NBC, got Team USA cyclist Mike “Meatball” Friedman to test ride a Flying Pigeon on the Olympic Velodrome in Beijing in August of 2008.
Below are some frequently asked questions and links to other sites we’ve found helpful in our journey. We hope to see you sometime in our shop where we have a hot pot of tea ready, and a good Kung Fu show on the TV at all times!
- Where are you located? – The Birds’s Nest is located at 3714 N. Figueroa St in Highland Park.
- Dim Sum rides, that’s genius. How do I get in on it? – Well we took Josef’s love of bicycles, Adam’s love of food and mixed them into our weekly shop ride. Every Sunday at 10 a.m. we meet at the shop for a leisurely ride to Chinatown for brunch. We’ve actually found a way to make this about 90% downhill. Following brunch we head back to the shop on bikes or the Gold Line which stops just behind the shop. If you don’t have a bicycle we have a limited number of test bikes to let you use. Costs are usually about 10-15 dollars (please bring cash) and we are trying to explore as many good brunch places as possible
- Why should I buy a Flying Pigeon from you? - We know that there are options when you buy a Flying Pigeon. We want to earn your business by including things that the other sellers simply can’t. First, we assemble the bikes in our shop and run them through a stringent road test (generally riding over to the local fruit vendor and back). Before delivery, we tighten everything down, making sure that everything is ready to go and when we deliver the bike to you (in person at our store or through our delivery) we take the time to show you how to adjust, lubricate and tune up your new bicycle. If you have any trouble with the bicycle, we want to help you get it running the right way. Call us or stop by the shop during our open hours and we will get you rolling.
- How much do these bicycles cost? – Friends, we sell these amazing bicycles with all the accessories for $299.88. We do have to charge sales tax of 8.25% on the bikes to help pave the roads and pay the fine folks of Los Angeles (www.lacity.org). As recently as the early 1980′s Chinese folks paid four month’s wages for a Flying Pigeon. If only we could convince our wives this was a suitable wedding gift!
- We want to rent some bikes for a photoshoot/commercial/Hollywood blockbuster. What can you do for us? - We are complete novices in the world of Hollywood (despite some bit parts in random films) and are happy to help your production in any way we can. We can provide you with 1-50 bicycles with short notice and are interested in lending bicycles for displays in stores and locations around Southern California. If you have an idea please send an email to info@flyingpigeon-la.com and we will have our agent call yours. (just kidding about the agents of course)
- Where do these bikes come from? – The answer first is that they come from Tianjin, China which is a small town of 11.5 MILLION people first settled in 340 B.C. (i’m not making this up – look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianjin) Among other things Tianjin is known for is being the sister city of Clarence, New York, heavy involvement in the opium wars and making great bicycles.
- No seriously, where did you get these? – Sometime in the past year, we met a great friend (ironically enough she shares the name ‘Fei’ with the Fei Gei bicycles) from Shanghai who helped is arrange for the purchase and importing of a shipment of bicycles. With almost no prior international shipping experience (we’ve sent postcards home from trips abroad) we managed to take delivery of a container truck. The bicycles are made by the original Flying Pigeon company ( www.flying-pigeon.cn ) in Tianjin and we are proud to sell them fully assembled and ready to ride for only $299.88
- This IS Los Angeles, what celebrities are riding these things? – It gets no bigger than this friends. Click on this link to see the man who played the head of the CIA, a president of the Untited States, a college baseball player, an Army pilot and a successful investor. http://www.flying-pigeon.cn/images/history00.gif of course, Mr George H.W. Bush did it in real life and did it all prudently.
- Some of the sites we’ve found to be great sources of information:
www.flying-pigeon.es Awesome site, cool pictures and it’s all en Castellano
www.clearfreight.com – The fine folks at Clear Freight took great care of us throughout the process
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_38/b3900077.htm – Story from Business Week about adapting to the changes in business for Flying Pigeon China
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092651/maindetails – The Cyclist movie, a story about a man riding his flying pigeon in circles for hours and days on end.
http://www.david-carradine.com/ – How could we not put this guy here. Trade us some links David. And come by the shop as you wander the world.
http://grubinla.blogspot.com/2007/06/follieros-pizza-favorite-east-side.html – our favorite local pizza shop. Good for sausage pizza’s, carafe’s of San Antonio Chablis and good times. So much better than the Little Ceasars the kids eat these days
http://highlandpark.wordpress.com/ – Highland Park’s Very own blog. Site with some great pictures.
http://www.cyclewaycoffee.com/ – Want Great coffee with a dose of “What if”? Stop by the Cycleway coffee shop and imagine how a cycleway from Pasadena to LA could be a cool thing
http://www.chickenboy.com/ – Seriously, just click the link
http://www.laweekly.com/restaurants/ – essential guide to eating well in Los Angeles. Jonathan Gold is one of Adam’s hero’s. if he ever joins us for a dim sum bicycle ride it will fulfill one of his goals for opening the shop.
http://www.labikepaths.com/ – All the bikepaths around town. Plan out your trip, see where things can improve.
http://www.bicyclela.org/ – Who knew? The Los Angeles Department of Transportation wants us to ride bikes! They even have a link to their City Bicycle plan, from 1996…
http://www.bicyclekitchen.com/ – The best, most awesome bicycle shop/commune/hangout in LA right now. Great help for fixing up your bike, good people and a great network of folks.
www.hammer.org – If you have not yet seen it, the Lautner exhibit is awesome and Thursday nights are fantastic
http://www.bob-taylor.com/links_local_points_of_interest_northeast_los_angeles.htm – Can’t find a much better compilation of local stuff than what Mr. Bob Taylor has put together.
www.clippers.com – They are coming back strong this year. No doubt about it
http://www.quixo.com/donald_t_sterling_graphic_design_foundation.html – If you read the LA Times regularly (and we do) you can’t help but sneer at Donald Sterling’s ads. of course he owns the Clippers and half of the towers in Koreatown, and some beach club but does he really need to give himself the Humanitarian of the Year Award, every month?
la.curbed.com – great site about Los Angeles
www.whatshebuys.com – Need a Kettler tricycle, some perfume and a new mattress in one shop? The guys and gals at What She Buys are the number one seller of Kettler bikes and can help you get on delivered to your door in a few days. Great shop and one we want to emulate
www.dailycandy.com – want to know what’s happening NOW around town. check out the daily candy
www.urbandaddy.com – want to know what the dudes are doing this weekend. Check out Urban Daddy
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/feb/12/local/me-localgovtqa12 – Josef, helping The Man get things done right.
http://www.cicle.org/cicle_content/pivot/entry.php?id=520 – Roots.
