Nasu: Summer in Andalusia – Cycling meets japanese anime

I bumped into this trailer recently via Headset Press. This movie looks so awesome that I am willing to forgive its portrayal of us Spaniards as obsessed eaters of pickled eggplants. All the cycling related details are simply spectacular – you will even recognize some familiar faces from the pro peloton! I especially love the use of areal “shots” to follow the race (La Vuelta a España) through a very convincingly depicted Andalusian landscape. I was not surprise to discover that Kitaro Kosaka – the director – is a hard-core cycling fan himself.

I have been able to find the full movie online (thanks, YouTube!), but only with Spanish subtitles. I would be interested in finding it with English subtitles as well, so if anyone knows where, please, give a shout.

Seo Young Deok 서영덕 – Dystopia

Fixsters are getting pretty fancy – Next level performance from Hors Cycles!

A labour of love you MUST check out. w/ video

THE coolest thing EVER built. Period., posted with vodpod

So, San Francisco is hot. Art, culture and bikes are booming there and dozens of my friends seem to be moving there. In fact, Hayley is on her way shortly. (Best of luck, Hayley!) If this video is any indication of the passion, creativity and ‘good-times-vibe’ that exists in that city right now, maybe I understand why.

The piece, created by Scott Weaver, is titled “Rolling through the Bay” and has taken some 35 years, 3000 hours+ and over 100,000 toothpicks to create. It appears to currently be in the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts, so if you’re in the city, and everyone seems to be, go and check it out!

A Visit to the Brodie Framebuilding School

Tim, Stephen and I went out to visit the Brodie framebuilding school at the UFV aerospace facility at the Abbotsford airport last night. It was an informal open house, but it was great to see the facilities and just how set up Paul is out there. It’d be one thing to learn framebuilding skills from a local legend like Paul, but it’s another thing to have the potential to learn in such a well outfitted facility. Paul has a serious collection of jigs, milling machines and a good collection of “tricks-of-the-trade” to create a top-notch environment for learning. He even got the interest high by letting those who wanted to get a free first lesson.

I’ve got to admit, I’m pretty tempted to make the investment before Paul takes his handbuilt 18th-century full suspension “Whippet” to NAHBS and the program enrollment explodes. I met Paul years back when I was doing my thesis bicycle project at Emily Carr. He’s a chill guy and he knows his stuff, and he’s completely open to doing new things… or in his case, really old things, from 1888.

For more info about the course: www.ufv.ca/bicycleframe