Bicycles (3)

A good place to park your bicycle


A6000 + E50/1.8 OSS

Thanks Addy, I took the photo in Antwerp, and on the official Belgian sign the bicycle has indeed mudguards: See here

A colourful bike in Tilburg, I especially like the blue tire


A7ii + M-Summaron 35/2.8

Edited by pegelli - 07 December 2023 at 12:34

My bike in February 2021 - had the film just now developed, hence the snow in August


Minolta XD5 | Minolta MC 35/2.8 | Ilford Delta 100

This is not quite random but, as I scrolled through my Flickr account, it was the first that leapt off the page and grabbed me.

This post is also a test of Argote's flickr app. It seems to work really well but, as it logs images from page one, it's time consuming when you have thousands of images available to the public. It seems it's worth spending time logging all images current and then updating that every month or so.

There's More Than One Way Across!


Camera Make: SONY
Camera Model: ILCE-7R
Focal Length: 18 mm (must have been with my Zeiss 16-35mm lens)
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 0.077 sec (1/13)
ISO: 160

onsplekkie wrote: Love it's motion, and the huge smile on the guys face! Overgrown

Thanks. I'm always looking for different ways to shoot the same thing and I have done a lot of mountain bike racing photography. For these, I used rear curtain flash sync with a shutter speed of around 1/15-1/60 sec.

You're Dutch? I imagine there are a lot of abandoned bikes there. Whn I see these, I think about recycling

There are a few charities here who recycle kids bikes and sell them at the cost of repairs or donate them to under privileged kids through schools. Most bikes, like yours pictured, only need bearings and lubrication and perhaps a chain to make them really useful again.
I see this shot as a sad commentary on modern humanity's throw away society.

Edited by Idleidolidyll - 04 October 2021 at 19:58

onsplekkie wrote: Myself, I own 4 bikes (no car): A pedelec for my commute to work A vintage fixy for round town fun A sturdy travel-bike +panniers for my roadtrip/camping adventures throughout Europe And a folding bike for a commute in NL where a combination with train is neccesairy (folding bikes are seen as luggage, and travel free on trains) Wife & kids also ride bikes, so family total comes to 8 bikes, and yes I do all maintanance

Sadly, New Zealand is not geographically or socially set up well for bicycle commuting. Yes, some towns, like Christchurch, are relatively flat with wide streets, and are havens for bicycles. However, a place like Auckland is hell on earth! Our roads are crowded, drivers are angry and hate bikes. We have far too few cycle paths and when they do give us some; it's usually just a painted line on the road that only makes car drivers angrier. Public transport is terrible as other forms of transport were never really considered. Our transport system is built for cars and trucks and that shows.
Only in the last few years have councils and government started to pay attention to other forms of transport: bikes, scooters, skateboards etc and they have started building 'some' paths away from roads.
We do have a fantastic network of cycle trails around the country and one plan to join them up over the length of the country. If you like mountain biking; that's where we do win.
It's illegal to cycle on footpaths here but many people, me included, do it. We do that because the alternative is to ride on the narrow roads with angry car drivers. I've never been stopped by the police for this: I believe they understand the problem. However, my wife HAS been struck by a car coming out of a driveway when she was riding the footpath.
So, like you, I have lots of bikes but only mountain bikes. A road bike is of little value to me. My eBike has been great for my mentality as I struggled to walk after multiple surgeries. I could walk maybe 1km but could cycle 10! A while ago, I had a mountain bike built from bamboo. I love that bike and keep it well maintained. As I get fitter from my eBike riding, I'm more able to ride my bamboo bike. I probably have another 4 or 5 bikes, titanium and aluminium mainly but my injuries had prevented me bending over to work on them all and I now just keep the eBike and bamboo bikes running. I am quite skilled at servicing them and once imported bike frames then build the new bikes up as specials for sale so I have all the tools.
Photographically, the eBike, and my eScooter, have been the best tools I've had for mental health. If I didn't have them I can see I might have become depressed at my disability but, as long as I can sling a camera over my shoulder and make images, I am never really unhappy (sometimes a cannabis joint helps me forget the pain too ).
We inculturated our grandkids into cycling. They live in a mountain bike 'Mecca', Rotorua. One of NZ's most famous mountain bike areas. So, every time we visited (200km one way), we would bring our mountain bikes and take them riding. We bought them bikes from their ages of 3 up and they love it. My son seems to like cycling only because that means he gets to ride with his kids. He suffers asthma and struggles to keep up even with me, his 62 year old dad.
My current goal is to get fitter on bikes and the long term goal is to ride as long as I can. I'd love to still be riding well into my 80's and to always have a camera with me.
A long one I know but sometimes it's good to rant


Bamboo, flax and reson (no metal inside this part)

Bamboosero detail by Michael J Breen, on Flickr

Bamboosero after its refresh:

Bamboosero. Bamboo construction 29" mountain bike by Freddy Salgado, New Zealand by Michael J Breen, on Flickr