The Flying Pigeon Project

Beijing Bicycle Car, Part 2.

A while back I posted about a home built bicycle car that I sometimes encountered on my lunch time walks. Well it would appear that there is another car in the garage.

Flying Pigeon LA Customs

As we have seen in previous posts, the Flying Pigeon and other Asian roadsters make a great basis for a custom bike. Perhaps nobody does this better than Josef and Adam Ali-Bray at Flying Pigeon LA, one of the North American importers.

Right now they are offering several customs right out of the box, or spec your own. Above, you can see their "Flying Pigeon Racer". Stripped down for speed, the Pigeon loses it's fenders and chaincase. It also loses the cottered crank and the brake rods.

Beijing Bicycle Car

Often times, if the weather is nice in Beijing, I'll take a little stroll to a nearby restaurant for lunch. So it was when I found this bike In an apartment compound near my office.

From the first pic we can see a few things.

1. It is a side-by-side with two driven wheels,so the passenger also pedals.

2. It has two child seats. This is odd as of course, there must be special circumstances for you to have two children in China: Twins, Ethnic minority, etc. 

3. It's completely home fabricated, but the base bike seems to be a good old brake rod roadster, possible a FlyingPigeon. I make this assessment based on the black "FP" style seat.

Note the fork trusses and interesting reflector (Not a light). You can also see on the rear wheel that this bike sports a gearhub!

Child seat #1 has a second set of non-operable handlebars.

Child seat #2 has a steering wheel to help keep everyone entertained. Nice touch.

A couple of welded on baskets makes for a convenient "Trunk". This shot also allows you to see the wheel size of the right side "Bike". Looks like it was based off a folding bike.

Ingenuity knows no bounds. I'd love to see this bike in motion.

Flying Pigeons: Singapore Customs

As an inexpensive bike by western standards the Flying Pigeon and other Asian roadsters make an excellent base for customization. Thomas Yang of Singapore demonstrates what can be done with a little imagination, a selection of choice parts and a healthy dose of good taste.

I'll let Thomas describe the customization process:

Firstly, we are a bunch of designers who love customizing bikes. How did we start the modification?
1. We bought them in bulk.
2. Then the bikes were sent for re-spraying in the colors we liked.
3. We ordered many parts online but some were also bought locally.
4. The crank, for example is a Sugino Crank. Freewheel hub. Not fixed gear.
5. The whole process took about 1 month.

Additionally, the cream colored bike pictured has Velocity White rims, Dimension Grips and a "Charge" saddle. 

Thomas makes it sound easy, right? So get cracking on your own custom! Fantastic job, Thomas!

You can see more of Thomas's two-wheeled creations, as well as his excellent photography, at his blog, Blinkbikes.

Indian Roadsters Part 5: Spice Up Your Bike

Of course it's no fun if your roadster looks just like every other of a billion roadsters in the country so why not spice it up!

Let's take a look at the bike below. First let's add some pillion foot rests and add some tassels to that. Then a day-glo reflector, seat cover, various mirrors, hub polishers, a horn, an Indian Flag, decals, spoke decorations including a fish, a strange handlebar mounted package rack, garlands of flowers, and to top it all off, not one,not two but THREE mudflaps featuring Bollywood actresses! Hey, Aishwarya Rai can ride on the back of my bike anyday!

 

Or maybe you want to take a different path: Wrap your tubes with pictures of Bombay Beauties and put some CDs in the spokes.

Or you can take a more modest approach. Like this spray painted image of the Hindu god Ganesh found on the rear fender of a BSA. Swastikas are also often similarly applied as they are a potent and ancient Hindu totem. Finally, take a look at the brass mandala "wheel of life" charm. Is it coincidence that it looks like a chainring...or is it karma?

 

PS: Note the small top bar child seat behind the on the bike with the Mandala charm.