A Bicycle Built for Two

Riding around town on your cute pink bike with your best friend....

 

 

Sounds pretty terrific to me!

Bikes I like

I have been a really bad blogger as of late.  Not to make excuses, but I have noticed that it seems to be happening to several of the bloggers who author blogs that I read too.  It is not that we haven't been doing good stuff that I take pictures of with every intent on showing to you...really.  We have had great trips to Italy and then to the German and French wine routes. Munich is always good at providing a funny or beautiful picture.  I am not sure what my deal is, but I have been building this collection for you of bikes I like that I see on the street for a little while, and I felt like an apology for my blogger's malaise would be well received between them.  Hopefully you agree...

More "bikes I like" and posts to come.  I think that I have broken the ennui with the pictures of these beauties.  Some new, some well worn, some with great accessories.  All of them I like, a lot! 

Thanks for hanging in with me.  Talk to you soon! 

Guarding precious goods

 

As the sun comes out in Munich, so do the bikes left on the street: locked to poles, street signs and just secured at the tire so that they can't be ridden away.  Munich is a very safe city-the only crime I hear about is an occasional bike theft (or as in the case of the Hub-the theft of the light on his bike--the nerve!) or bikes being tipped over by those that have been over-served as they stumble home.

So I thought that it was cute that this tiny bike had so much protection...considering that it could easily be lifted up and taken away....

Made me wonder if a lesson in taking care of one's things was being taught.  All in all, a good practice to start early, I guess!

Green Schwinn

When the weather started to warm up and the world in Munich started to thaw, I noticed this gorgeous green Schwinn bike locked up not far from the apartment, waiting for its owner to come rescue it for a ride. 

When I was little, the family gave my dad a blue Schwinn very much like this one.  It had a light with built in controls and an electric horn, also built right in to the frame. My dad would happily ride to his office and back for a quick lunch and then hop on the trusty Schwinn to go back to work to finish his day.  I can recall watching him ride away, wind in his hair, and although I couldn't see his face, I am certain that he must have been smiling.

The thing about that bike, is that it got stolen.  Twice.  And returned both times...not always right away, but today that Pee Wee Herman type bike of my father's lives happily in their garage in the states...waiting patiently for my father to dust it off and take a bike ride...

But back to this beauty.  Look at that seat!  That's more like a saddle! No sore bums from that one after an outing.  And the tires!  Whitewalls!  There is no way that you would get that tire caught in a tram track!  (another story all together...)  Those babies would scoff at the idea.  I am in love with this bike...

No Bikes Allowed?

I walked past this on my corner last week and it just cracked me up...someone had placed a sign saying "Standing Bicycles is forbidden" on this cluster of bikes.  You see these signs everywhere in Munich posted on the buildings in the city...typically on facades of apartment buildings and businesses.  But, it often doesn't work.  Bikes are parked EVERYWHERE in the city.  We are lucky that we have a special room for them in the basement of our building, and many other buildings nearby have a little spot for them in the courtyard.  With all of the people concentrated into small spaces, though, there are many more bikes than room available to house them so you see bikes locked to any available pole or fence or just locked standing on the sidewalk.  I guess someone got a little sick of seeing them everywhere and decided to make their feelings known...

Call a Bike

A sure sign of spring in Munich is the reappearance of these bikes sprinkled randomly around town.  Deutsche Bahn, the German rail system provides these bikes around town and to rent them you call a # on the bike and you are given a 4 digit code to open the locking mechanism.  You then type the code onto the touch screen to unlock the bike and ride away!  I think that the charge is incurred on your cell phone bill.  When you are finished with the bike, you press "return bike" on the touchscreen and then another code is generated by the bike.  You call that code into a call center, give them the code and the bike's whereabouts and walk away.

As you can see, these bikes are not so fashionable, but are very functional..there is a child seat on the back and long fenders for bad weather.  I think it is a pretty neat concept, and you do see people riding around town on them.  I know that similar programs have been attempted in the US in cities like Boston and Washington DC, but the theft of the bicycles ended up making the programs be scrapped.