bikes and things

Just when you think skating videos have been done and there’s nothing that can be added.

Customer service doesn’t have to be hard but it’s amazing how many brands completely fuck it up. But rather than moan about the bad lets praise the good.

My rear triangle came loose on my new Brompton recently when riding up the Grand Union and back. I’d done it up and then done it up again a few weeks later. It’s not a simple operation but I had assumed that it was in need of some thread lock.

Yesterday I was up at silly o’clock to get to the office and then get a train to Oxford to 9am. On the ride in I could feel it coming loose again. In my boredom on the train I tweeted at Brompton asking if I was doing something wrong. Within an hour I had a reply from their Twitter person who directed me to their technical email. Within 30 mins I had a reply with an informed response and a plan of action to sort it out. No asking for proof of ownership or pushing it back to a dealer etc.

Hi Andy,

Unfortunately once a bolt comes loose it can continue to do so frequently (as you have discovered), to resolve this we will need to replace the hinge spindle too. This is a fairly unusual occurrence and we expect the bolts to stay tight for the lifetime of the hinge bushes at the very least which is usually a minimum of 2 – 3 years.

If you could let me know when it would be convenient for you to take the bike to our Brompton Junction store I will call them and let them know to expect you and have the spindle replaced. If you need to leave the bike with them I will arrange for you to have a courtesy bike until yours is ready, however it may well be possible for them to do it while you wait.

Then followed a few more emails updating me on when they could do it in the store. I popped down and was offered a free coffee whilst they swapped the necessary parts out, which only took 20 mins. No hassle, no suggestion I’d done something wrong, just simply dealing with the issue and sorting it out in a quick and efficient manner. The offer of a loan bike was also a particularly nice touch. Thanks Nev and Marlon! Other brands take note.

I still can’t forgive them for spelling espresso with an x though.

Lovely stuff by Wes Anderson.

I’m sure it’s no coincidence but it reminds me of this previous post on Kubrick’s use of single point perspective.

I got the train to Oxford yesterday morning and these two got on. They sat down and the dog proceeded to wrap himself around his owner to make sure he knew he was there. He barely moved except for when the announcement was made for a stop when he proceed to prompt his owner. They were getting off at the next stop so he told the dog to wait for the next one. As the dog felt the train slowing down for the correct stop he got his owner ready by standing up and moving him to the door. Mind blowing stuff really. It must be reassuring to have a companion like this with you all the time if you have issue with your sight.

In my opinion everyone should support Guide Dogs for the blind.

I absolutely love this. A super slow mo video shot from a tube train of the occupants of the platform as it pulls into the Shinjuku station in Tokyo. The layering and flicking of the fluorescent tubes are incredible. It’s almost like a series of passing portraits. So beautiful!

Edit: You can read more about his process and work on this article. He’s a serious tech wizard too by the looks of it. He certainly not using an off the shelf camera and Lightroom/After Effects for this.

And there’s a video of the photographer talking about his work.

Impressive stuff, which is obviously due to the law of conservation of angular momentum – of course!

The trick begins with a tight backwards flip, which happens quickly because all of the weight (human + bike) is distributed close to the center of gravity. By opening his body up in the middle part of the flip, Roberts slows down the rotation, just like a figure skater, diver, or ballerina would by throwing out their arms or legs. And then he gathers himself back onto the bike, which spins quickly again because the weight is all back close to the center. Boom, physics.

Via Kottke.org

I’ve been a big fan of Crossing Paths for a while now and have really enjoyed seeing Niall’s images appear after his travels around the UK.

I’m generally skeptical of street photography as in my opinion an excuse for quite lazy and cliched work. Often this is of the back of people’s head against amusingly cropped bill boards or someone smoking in an alley. There are exceptions to this but good street photographers seem to be rare. There’s also something about that magic moment which is so crucial to street photography that most are unable to catch, again all in my opinion. I was also never really a fan of the sartorialist street photography, but mainly because I’m not a fashion junkie, having said that I was completely in awe of Bill Cunningham having watched his film and appreciated his dedication and engagement with the New York fashion scene.

Having said all of that Niall’s work seems really captivates me and seems to have blended these two genres into something personal to him and at the same time far more inspiring and touching. Having thought about this for a while I feel that it’s the difference between being an observer and someone who engages with their subject which makes one have more value to me. Niall’s work perhaps veers more towards portraiture than street photography yet with it also has this wonderful feeling of serendipity.

Niall manages to capture something unique of the personality of the person in their clothing, location, stance, their expression and character. The relationship of colours to the backgrounds he chooses always fascinates me. There’s so much to get out the images and what is nice about the above video is that you get to see some of the engagement that goes in to making these photos and how he relates to the people on the street. Part of the reason I am in awe of this project is that chatting to people on the street is hard, I don’t mean in a raised eyebrows nod, huh, shared event style but actually stopping someone, asking about them, taking an interest in them as a person and then taking their portrait. The act of making a portrait seems to be a incredibly intimate process which is what elevates this from other genres of street photography for me. There’s also a form of celebration of the ordinary person and the UK as a whole. We’re pretty bad at celebrating our uniqueness but the video seems to highlight how much delight Niall seems to take from this island of ours and all the fascinating people that inhabit it, a kind of love letter to the UK if you like. I can’t wait to get hold of a copy of the book!

There’s something really nice about knowing someone has a photo or two of yours on their wall. A while back I did two prints for James, at cost, but completely forgot about it. They were from our trip to Dungeness in January. Then recently this picture popped up on Instagram. It’s a great feeling seeing them framed and ready to go on the wall and the images seem to work well together too. Nice bed spread James.

The original images are below.

Another ace Tumblr to add to the list. I really should do a post with great Tumblr pages and just update it regularly.

Anyway, yes, beards are good. Get one.

betterwithabeard.tumblr.com

And here’s me before and after a wee trim. I cut it when Emma says it’s looking “…a bit pubey“.

Probably the most insane skate boarding video I’ve ever seen. Spine tinglingly good.

Via Alex.