The Flying Pigeon Project

Pawnshop Princess

A few weeks ago, I pawned my Forever rando. At the same shop was a very interesting bike. An NOS Phoenix/ Feng Huang step through from the 1980s' or so it was claimed. The light & dynamo combination was clearly a new addition.

 
Honestly, I could not tell much difference between this bike and a brand new Phoenix being sold a few doors down. But you would expect that: The bike is essentially unchanged.

Nonetheless the shop manager made much ado tapping on the fenders as if to prove they are a thicker guage of metal, and pointing our a detail on the crankarm, which was never clear to me. He and his assistant of course pointed out the packing paper still attached to the chain stays. Apparently the factory switched to plastic packing some time back.

 
So the 950RMB question is do I really think the bike is NOS?  Yes I do. On the down post decal, there was one small area of sun-fading. As if the packing paper had been ripped off to inspect the brand , and then the bike was left in some sunny attic for a decade or two.  I would say it is also nicely outfitted with twin rear reflectors, circle lock, Dynamo and headlight, a nifty seat color and a chaincase trim ring. These things would not make a new bike worth the 950 RMB the shop wanted, but for a bike of some age, sure. It just depends on how much the vintage is worth to you.

Hutong Tour

Beijing is famous for it's Hutongs. These are the tight alleyways of the old city. The last 50 years has not been kind to these historic streets and the buildings around them. During the population boom of the 50's, 5 families were often allocated to a courtyard home that had previously belonged to only 1. Of course, now they are being torn down to make way for high rise apartments and offices. But still, they make for interesting little jaunt.  Yes, now it is cold and bitter, but in the warm days of August I decided to go for a little ride. With streets so tight, a car is a bit of a nuisance... A bike, by far is the best way to tour the hutongs.

The Blue Phoenix of Axum

Axum, Ethiopia to be exact. Tom Furtwangler from the excellent blog Bikejuju sent me these photographs of a set of iridescent blue Phoenix roadsters he found in Axum. As mentioned before, Africa is one of the main export markets for Indian and Chinese roadster manufacturers. But enough talk. Let's look at the photos.

The first picture shows what appears to be a 26" Phoenix leaning on it's sidestand outside a cafe. It is equipped with a light and bottle dynamo, which are infrequently seen in China.

 

Beixinqiao

 

If you are in to Beijing, and want to satisfy a bicycle hankering, you must head to Beixinqiao. Bicycle heaven. Take the 5 subway line to the Yongehong stop (Lama Temple). Visit the temple which is one of Beijing's great landmarks, and then go to the nearby Natooke fixie shop, if that is your desire

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If not, walk back to the main street, Yongehong Nan Da Jie and then head south.

 

At Jiaodouku Lu, cross the street.  Now you are approaching bicycle heaven. If you go west, you will run into a strip of local shops and a Giant bicycle super store.

 

   

  

 

I'll say this for the Taiwanese Giant  brand, they know how to do a bicycle shop up right! The have a huge stock of proprietary bikes, nicely displayed with upscale components including Shimano and Campy conveniently located nearby. From the looks of things, I'd say that the French "Randonneur" style of bike is coming back into vogue.

 

 

On the north side of Jiaodouku Lu is a Giant eCycle super-store, if you'd rather let the volts due the pedalling.

 

 

If you head back to the corner of Jiaodouku Lu  and Yonghehong lu and head south, you'll see are the Pawnshops, one on either side of the road, followed by some more local shops. The road is now called Dong Si Shi Tiao

 

 

 

 

The pawnshops usually have a good selection of roadsters:  British, Japanese and Chinese, of course.

 

South of that on Dong Si Shi Tiao are several local shops sell new roadsters: Flying Pigeon, Phoenix, Forever. There's a lot of folding bikes and eCycles mixed, in there of course.

 

 

  

 

There are also several street side bike doctors in the area.

 

 

At the extreme south on the map is a shop selling high end German and Chinese bikes, particularly the Merida brand. If you feel like a carbon fiber race bike, you can find them here.

I would then turn around and head north again to the junction of Jiaodouku. Then turn east. You are now in a section of the street is called "Gui Jie", or Ghost Street. It is wall-to-wall restaurants for about a kilometer and a half, many of which are open all night. The "ghosts" in this case are the diners who come in at 3 AM wearing pajamas for some late night hot pot.  I've been at 1:30 AM and many restuarants still had a waiting line outside! At any time, this is a great place to get some good food and a Yanjing beer.

 

(Map credit to Google Maps)

Lhasa Roadsters Part 1: Work Bikes

A recent trip to Tibet gave me the opporunity to take in some high altitude roadsters. Most bikes in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital see some use as work bikes, like this 26" Flying Pigeon. Also note the chrome chainring guard.

 

This bike also had a strange package rack maybe taken off a Flying Pigeon electric bike. I have not seen one like this before. The Tibetan penchant seemed to be to carry packages in a roll on the back and many package racks had specially welded tabs to hold the rolls.

 

Then there was this Forever which was working hard carrying propane.

 

Here is another 28" roadster, posing  next to someone's shop. Care for some melon?

 

We can tell from the fork decal it is a Phoenix. The sign says it is for sale at 150 RMB ($20). But before you put down some money on this fine ride with good patina, you had better check it over....

 

...oh wow! The seat looks painful! I saw alot of these tire rubber seats. Apparently comfort was not the owner's first concern. Maybe we should pass this one by.

 

OK. This 28" step-through Forever looks more forgiving. Like I said, they really stack things up on the rear rack!

 

And then there was this 28" double-bar Forever at a noodle factory.  Ready to make a delivery, or just stopping in for lunch?