The Flying Pigeon Project

Importer Profile: Antonio Rocamora

There are a lot of good people in the bicycle business, and there are a lot of good people riding Flying Pigeons, but few are better than Antonio Rocamora, the Spanish Flying Pigeon Importer. Hold on...make that the importer for the EU. Our European readers are lucky to have a guy like him. The rest of you will just have to discover him on the web at http://www.flying-pigeon.es

In any case we've decided to make him the subject of our first business profile.

Name: Antonio Rocamora
Country/Market: Spain/EU ..
Been in the bike business since: 2006 (when I start with homologations and so on, launching in 2007)
Been importing pigeons since: 2007
Yearly sales volume?: Don’t know yet, but nothing spectacular… More spectacular would be hours and money invested!
Do you like your Hot Pot, spicy or mild?: Very Spicy
Your personal Pigeon model: PA02
Strangest China experience: Discovering that karaoke in China is really different than karaoke in Spain!!
Best Pigeon experience: Visiting the factory and see how they make a bicycle starting from a piece of single steel tube (see picture)

Film at.... Forever

I caught this film crew at a roadside "Bike Doctor" shooting film. It would seem they are using the 28" Forever in the foreground as a prop. It is tough to tell from this distance, but the bike has 32 spoke wheels. The spokes are stainless.  It also has the heavy duty rear stand rather than a sidestand.

This picture was taken on October 13th on Sanlitun Nan Jie. If anyone knows more details, please post. In anycase it's emblematic of how bikes are still important to Chinese culture and media. And also an important part of how people view China. OK...now I'll let the Forever puns rest for a while.

The post man always rings... Forever.

Previously I had posted about bicycles being used for utility purposes. Here are some pics of post office bikes in action. In Beijing these all seem to be Forevers, in post office green, of course. The all seem to have the optional bell shaped fenders, which in my mind make them one of the most attractive bikes on the street. All the bikes use 32 spoke 28" tires but the frames can be single or double bar diamond frames or step through models.

Note the bubble wrap on the bikes above. These are "new" but not fresh from the crate. This post office is on my way to work and these bikes have been wearing bubble wrap for several months. I guess the postmen are trying to keep them new looking.

Note the bike above has a font package carrier not a basket. It also has the side pannier supports.

A double bar postal bike. Note the truss bars supporting the fork.

On another note, while most of the traditional bikes have lugged frames I have noticed that some of private delivery bikes are WELDED. Could this be a trend?

Of course all the bikes have at least one nice bell...which rings once, twice, or ...um... Forever. This pun will eventually get old, but not just yet.

Motorized Bicycles

Let's say you want a little more power POWER in your Pigeon, a little more FORCE in your Forever, how would you go about getting it? One way is with a motor. An old rod brake bicycle makes a prime candidate for motorizing.The frame is tough and can put up with a lot of stress. A favorite method is to mount a small 2 stoke motor in a 22" diamond frame bike. As chance should have it, I was able to photograph two such conversions with in a half hour of each other in the historic and newly revitalized Hepingmen area of Beijing. You can see that these  conversions were done quite sometime ago. One is a Forever and the engine is currently non-functional, but it still makes a useful platform for selling sugary snacks.

The other bike is a Phoenix and the drive train looks to be in working order. The bike is started with a pedal start which cranks the engine. The running engine then drives the rear wheel from the LEFT side while the right side chain freewheels.

Another way to motorize your bike would be to use a "Hongdu" motor. This is an almost exact copy (licensed or otherwise) of the old French Velosolex motor. This mounts on the fork and drives the front wheel directly through a friction roller. The normal front tire is replaced with one with a flat profile. The advantage of this setup is you still can pedal the back wheel. Typically though this is seldom seen on bikes, but more often seen on trikes.

As an end note, anyone attempting one of these conversions would be hard pressed to justify it financially: A new electric bicycle can be had for as little as 200 RMB, less than a Pigeon. Plus, they are far more durable and reliable...perhaps that is why these conversions seem so "old school" 

What the Plumber Rode

Utility bicycles are quite normal in China. Fire departments, Postal carriers and other public utilities all use them. Private business too. And with good reason.  In Beijing, often they are the only vehicles that can access the tight confines of the cities historic Hutongs and Siheyuans.

Take for example the Plumber's bike parked out side a courtyard home in Dongsishitao. It is a testament to the toughness of these old bikes that they can serve for decades and decades in such a way. Sorry for the fuzzy focus.