Echo Park-based SHIFTY line of cycling jerseys are now available at Flying Pigeon LA
We recently added some ladies cycling gear to our shop from SHIFTY, all of it designed and made in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, and instantly got picked up in an article in the Business section of the LA Times, “Urban cycling spawns its own peddlers” by Cyndia Zwahlen, published on August 30, 2010.
Photographer Gil Garcetti has captured the everyday grace and beauty of citizen cyclists in modern day Paris.
At Flying Pigeon LA, we’re big believers in “Bicycle Culture 2.0” – the idea of people riding their bikes as they do normal, day-to-day things. It is funny to some that this type of activity even needs a special name, but in our experience (born and raised in Los Angeles), it helps to explain what our shop is all about.
Words, however, can only go so far.
Pictures can do a much better job, and that’s where photographer Gil Garcetti and his wonderful book, “Paris: Women and Bicycles“, come into the story. We’ve snagged a small share of time in Garcetti’s busy, globe-trotting, schedule and he’s agreed to do a talk and Q&A at our shop on Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
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An older chicano fellow, in his late 50′s or 60′s, came into the shop a while back and needed some help with his bike. We messed up the initial repair and kept him off his bike for almost a week while waiting for parts to arrive to make everything right. The parts arrived, and we installed them to his specifications, at no extra charge. We threw in a bell (of his choice) to make everything right.
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Steve Campos delivering the Blogdowntown Weekly for Flying Pigeon LA.
Our distribution of the Blogdowntown Weekly continues! Look for the latest issue at coffee shops, lobbies, etc. in and around the Downtown Los Angeles area this Thursday, August 12, 2010.
In July of 2010, Flying Pigeon LA bike shop assembled a collection of cargo bikes and a couple of friends and headed Downtown for the monthly Art Walk. We rode around en masse, hollered out that we were offering free rides on the pedicab we’d brought along, and generally had a good time.
Now that we’ve got two Nihola cargo bikes housed Downtown (doing distribution of the Blogdowntown’s weekly paper), the half-restored pedicab in my garage, two bakfiets, a Yuba Mundo, and God knows what else – we can really take the streets of Downtown by storm!
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Eric Richardson of the blogdowntown came up with the idea to deliver his new weekly paper, “blogdowntown Weekly”, via bicycle. Through a Facebook image post by a mutual friend, Stephen Box, the Flying Pigeon LA crew contacted Eric and gears were put in motion to have this new paper distributed around Downtown Los Angeles using two Nihola Family Cargo tricycles.
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From Henry of WorkCycles in Amsterdam:
A little bit of bike rap Courtesy of the City of Amsterdam who is finally waking up to the fact that bicycles are one of the Netherlands greatest attractions and on e of the strongest reasons it’s just such a darn lovely, peaceful place to visit or live. The incredible cycling mode share enables very high population density without the typical urban noise, danger and stress. Much of the 17th and 18th century city remains not as a museum but as a living, breathing, charming city as the city was once defined: a place for people. We love riding our bikes here… with our kids, dogs, SO’s, to work, to the pub, to school or just for the sake of riding!
Here in L.A. there are plenty of people in town trying to make this city a little bit more like Amsterdam (when it comes to bicycling), and I’d encourage you to get involved with any of the following organizations:
CicLAvia
C.I.C.L.E.org
Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition
BIKESIDE LA
If you want to ride a real “fiets”, come to Flying Pigeon LA! We carry a host of bicycle brands straight from Holland to the streets of L.A.: Gazelle, Batavus, Achielle, Velorbis, Nihola, and many more.
This past Sunday, July 11, 2010, in the wilting heat of the San Fernando Valley, the second of four Coaster Brake Challenge off-road races took place.
The Coaster Brake Challenge is a an off-road, unsanctioned, bike race organized by Atomic Cycles in Van Nuys. Competitors can use any type of bike frame they like in the race, but are only allowed to use a coaster brake (common on childrens bikes and beach cruisers) to bring their bike to a halt.
Competition was fierce, with 2009 Coaster Brake challenge champ Dingo emerging victorious yet again. Charlie from Team Flying Pigeon came in second place. Dingo and Charlie placed in the same positions in the first race of this series, setting up something of a rivalry for the trophy in the remaining two races.
Another member of Team Flying Pigeon sent in a report of the first race in the series, which took place on July 4, 2010. DJ Chicken Leather emailed a massive missive via email:
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It has been a good run but, unfortunately, we haven’t been able to sell quite as many Nihola cargo bikes as we’d expected. So, we’re going to put them on sale: all Nihola cargo bikes at Flying Pigeon LA now have no tax, no shipping/delivery fees, a free carriage cover, and a free seat cushion included in the deal.
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Dingo, Charlie, and Msr. L'auteur at the first of four Coaster Brake Challenge races being held in the summer of 2010.
Another summer, another Coaster Brake Challenge.
The coaster brake challenge is a non-sanctioned off-road race on bicycle equipped with an old-fashioned coaster brake as the only means of stopping the bike. It is organized by Paul Choppercabras of Atomic Cycles in Van Nuys.
For the past three races, the Flying Pigeon LA bike shop has sponsored riders in the race by giving them our signature Flying Pigeon Racer to use in the competition.
