Some pics of my bike from around town. First, the gratuitous shot of the front of Forbidden City taken from the bike lane on the Tiananmen side of Chang An Jie. The secret here is to take the pic when the traffic light is red so no cars appear in the photo. At first, the police tried to move me along, but it was pretty obvious what I was doing, so I just waved my camera at them, and they waved back.
Next a shot from near the southwest guard tower.
From here you ride to the western gate of Forbidden City and pause for a minute of reflection.
But why stop there? Just keep going! Yes you can take a bike into Forbidden City...at least part of the way. This next is taken in the south forecourt BEFORE the ticket station.
Yep, Beijing has plenty of photo opportunities and is extremely bike friendly by western standards.
You know... with my photoshop skills.. I could stick one of my machines in there too! ;-) Just winding you up a bit. Most excellent pictures, sir! As I've come to expect... your adventures are always most interesting.
Waving a camera at police.... yikes! Reminds me of a tale of a friend who was visting in (at the time) Communist USSR as a part of a flying model competition... he was innocently taking pictures of his fellow competitors when they were all rounded up by armed military and arrested as spys....
Yes... unbeknownst to him... far off in the background was some Soviet military stuff that was absolutely NOT... to be photographed by ANYONE...
Quite the hair raising event for him, rest assured.
Anyhow... I digress.... wonderful imagery... as always!
Cheers!
Larry "Boneman" Bone
Dingmans Ferry, PA, USA
Posted by: Larry Bone | July 08, 2009 at 07:58 AM
Hello this is Joe from Miami. Compliments for your blog, I like it very much. Lots of info, pics and Bicycles!!!! I have a question, if you could answer to help me lower my ignorance: I saw in a few of your pics what I can explain as front "forks" with and without springs. Can you please tell me what they are for? Their correct name? When were they first used? Thank you in advance for your answer.
Posted by: Joe | August 26, 2009 at 06:55 AM
Joe-
You are referring to the fork trusses. All bicycle forks are made by the designers to have a bit of flex. However, if the bike is a work bike with heavy loads, or the road conditions are very bad, the forks can flex too much and bend or break.
Fork trusses transform the fork into a "bridge" type construct which can better handle the weight. The springs allow the whole thing to still flex a little while providing some downforce. They also make it easier to install the trusses.
Trusses are pretty common in both China and India.
Posted by: JS | August 26, 2009 at 08:36 AM
Hello Jeff, this Joe from Miami. I just saw your answer. Thank you very much. Please keep going with your Blog!!!!
Posted by: Joe | September 14, 2009 at 06:29 AM