The Flying Pigeon Project

Letter From Spain

I have been sitting on this post for a while. Several months back I received a letter from Spain. It was sent by Antonio Rocamora, the European Flying Pigeon Importer and general all around nice guy. The contents of the letter were all the alcohol transfer stickers necessary for a Flying Pigeon export model.

Now, there are lot's of Flying Pigeons in China and many of them, while quite desirable, are in an awful state of repair having been used as workhorses for decades upon decades. Well, what if you wanted to restore one? All major parts are available, and of course chrome and paint can be had. But, as I was to find out, the decals are the one thing that CANNOT be had.

-Dealers in town want nothing to do with these type of things.

-E-mails to the factory go unanswered.

-But....Antonio comes through.

Even though my project pigeon has yet to leave the egg, I thought you'd be interested in what the stickers look like. There is only one that even Antonio was not able to lay his hands on: the "Tianjin, China" sticker on the chaincase.

The stickers are, clockwise from the upper left:

1. 1 Flying Pigeon chaincase sticker.

2. 2 Flying Pigeon labels for the front down tube.

3. 1 Flying Pigeon sticker for the seat post.

2. 1"Shield" sticker for the seat post.

3. 1 Small Flying Pigeon sticker for the seat post

4. 1 Enamel head badge

5. 1 Flying Pigeon  sticker for the rear mud guard

6. (Center) Made in China sticker for the top cross bar

Hat's off and thanks to Antonio! Be sure to check out his website!

The Bike Doctor is In

With so many bicycles on the road in China, you will have breakdowns, and somebody is going to have to fix them. In Beijing and most other Chinese cities you'll find regular bike shops that do repairs, but there are just not enough of these t handle the volume. Bike doctor to the rescue! On street corners and side streets you'll find these men and women with their carts or parts, read to fix a tire or replace a pedal.

If it is early, and the Doctor is NOT in yet, you can sometimes tell where they will be by some carefully placed tires.

But when the doctor is in, He'll be more than happy to help. Tube replacement costs about 35 RMB, or $5. Air is 1 RMB and to have a new cotter pin driven in is 2 RMB.

Of course, the bike doctor has other skills besides fixing bikes. Sometimes they watch a bicycle parking lot making sure nobody makes of with your ride. This will set you back 1/2 RMB. Seemingly, they often make keys and of course sell bike accessories. They will also fix electric bicycles and scooters. Check out the signage below.

Often they combine their trade with other street vendors, such as cobblers and food vendors to make an ersatz street corner Mini mall. In the picture below, you can see a street cobbler at work. Fix your shoes while you fix your tires! Now you're ready to go anywhere!!!

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)