Brompton Bicycle has collaborated with Vic Lee, a designer from Clerkenwell, Central London, to create a limited run of gloss black Bromptons, featuring a motif inspired by a love of their home city. Vic’s design of an exclusive white decal will be applied before the parts are given three further coatings of clear lacquer, and then returned to Brompton’s west London factory for assembly.

The designer said:

“I initially worked with Brompton on a one-off, hand-drawn design for the prize bikes for the 2011 Brompton World Championship. These got a lot of attention so we started to investigate if there was any way we could do something similar on slightly large scale. I have been creating this style of London-inspired schemes for a couple of years now; it is great to see this translated into the London Brompton.”

Along with the artwork on the main and front frames, the bikes come fitted with a limited-edition vinyl graphic on the flap of the accompanying S Bag, also designed by Vic. The bike design has been further enhanced by the use of black mudguards and leather Brooks grips and B17 saddle, both also black. The bikes will be supplied with a numbered certificate of authenticity, along with a limited-edition Vic Lee print (unframed), signed by Vic and, like the vinyl graphic, not available elsewhere. Only 500 London Bromptons will be built, supplied with 500 vinyl graphic flaps and 500 prints.

Brompton’s Sales and Marketing Director, Emerson Roberts, said:

“In a year when the world’s eyes will be turned on London, we wanted to come up with something really special to celebrate the personality of this great city. We’ve been fans of Vic’s work for a while and he was the obvious choice for this limited run of London Bromptons: Vic lives and breathes this city and that was important to us as it’s where every Brompton is made and assembled.
“The final result looks fantastic, and it was no surprise to me that every one of the 500 was snapped up by our trade customers within two days of the factory reopening last week; consumers wishing to buy a London Brompton will have to be very quick.”

Brompton No.11 is available NOW from Velorution, Brompton No.12 is coming soon. the RRP for the London Brompton will be £1,475, reflecting both the cost of the additional componentry and accessories, and the extra processes required to apply the artwork to the bike.

BE QUICK! WE ONLY HAVE 2 VIC LEE BROMPTONS FOR SALE AND THEY ARE SURE TO ROLL OUT THE DOOR IN A MATTER OF WEEKS.

We are launching an exciting initiative which:

• will save you money when you buy a new bike,
• will mobilise Londoners to improve cycling conditions,
• will give you the opportunity to use your skills and channel your frustration with present conditions into making something constructive.

Here is how it works:

• You decide to buy a new bicycle at our shop,
• Velorution offers you a ten percent discount on the bike, if you commit to a number of hours of voluntary work for a cause, which you can select from a portfolio we have prepared,
• you choose the project; we will forward your details to the project manager; it is expected you volunteer a minimum of one hour per £10 discount received,
• London will be a better place to live, thanks to your contribution.

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To start off the initiative we have teamed up with Sustrans and the London Cycling Campaign. Both organisations have a “Champions Programme”. See below details of Sustrans’ “Active Travel Champion” programme. The LCC has a “Go Dutch” Champion Programme.

We welcome proposals by other organisations or individuals of other projects and activities that will benefit from the eclectic and high-level skillset of our customer base.

What are Sustrans Active Travel Champions?

Active Travel Champions are people who like walking or cycling and can help other people
make more of their everyday journeys by foot or bike. They volunteer from their community,
workplace or university to highlight opportunities for people to travel actively
e.g. letting people know about good cycle routes; and/ or create new active travel
opportunities for people e.g. organising a group bike ride.

Why be a Champion?

There are loads of good reasons why it’s a good use of your time but here are the top ones:

• Learn new skills: The Active Travel Champions programme is supported by a whole
  training programme. This includes training on how to organise a group bike ride and
  running a travel clinic.
• Be part of the Olympic & Paralympic Games- ok so it’s not in a stadium BUT our
  project has been awarded the ‘Inspired By’ Olympics mark. This mark is for a few
  selected projects that will help to create a buzzing and active city and assist with
  achieving the London 2012 legacy of a sustainable and active London.
• Join Sustrans, the UK’s leading sustainable transport charity
• Feel warm inside: help people become healthier and happier whilst tackling climate
  change.

Champions’ Activities

As a champion you can select which volunteering activities you organise or take part in.

These activities include:

• Holding an information stand
• Organising group rides or walks
• Creating an information display
• Arranging travel advice clinics
• Giving talks
• Setting up bike user groups or walking groups

Or, if you have your own ideas for activities the champions’ support team can work
with you to develop them.

Image via La stazione delle biciclette

All black, ready to dance. By Franz-Michael, via Copenhagen Cycle Chic

Image by the Sartorialist

Image via UrbanRider

Instagram shots of couples, a project by Tiffany.

Via Garance.

We have always been saying that the number of children on bikes is a litmus test on the livability and pleasantness of a city. It is also a sign of the paranoia of a society.

All parents should read Tim Gill‘s No Fear: Growing up in a risk-averse society.

Tim has been invited to give the next Street Talk.

It is often said that kids today grow up faster than they used to. As a statement about their everyday freedoms, nothing could be further from the truth – as we know from the seminal work of Mayer Hillman on children’s independent mobility. Anxious parents are often blamed for this shift to a more captive childhood. Yet parents have to deal with the environment that is around them. For decades, transport and planning policies have worked against creating the kind of compact, liveable neighbourhoods that help parents to untie the apron strings.

The everyday lives and neighbourhoods of city children were a key focus of the work of great urbanists like Jane Jacobs (who devoted a whole chapter of Death and Life of Great American Cities to the topic) and Kevin Lynch (who, after his seminal Image of the City, went on to spearhead UNESCO’s international Growing Up in Cities programme in the 1970s). Recent years have seen lively debate about both the future of cities and the changing nature of childhood. Yet there have been few serious attempts to join the dots.

Tim Gill argues that this has to change. Join us for February’s Street Talk to explore why children’s everyday freedoms matter: to them, to communities, to policy makers and to the planet. Just as with the salmon or the house sparrow, children’s presence in public space should be seen as an indicator of the quality of their habitats. Is the outdoor child becoming an endangered species?

Upstairs at The Yorkshire Grey, 2 Theobalds Road, WC1X 8PN at 19:00 (bar open 18:00) on 7th February.

Picture of Shirley Temple via Rides a Bike

One of Tattly‘s temporary tattoos.

And then ask yourself: “Do I want to be swindled and cheated by Johnson for four more years?”

In essence, the redesign of the Blackfriars Bridge junction was sold as required ” to accommodate the [expectation of] hugely increased pedestrian flows.”

If you don’t know this junction, note that there used to be a pedestrian crossing where you see all the people dodging cars. Of the four sides of the junction it was probably the most used one, because that is where people want to go to. What TfL has done, is to remove the pedestrian crossing where there was demand for it, and reconfigured the junction forcing people to follow a circuitous route. Note how few people walk on the far pavement by the green hoarding, the TfL preferred route.

Sooner or later, someone will be injured, and TfL will blame the pedestrian and maybe erect barriers. Is this the city you want to live in?

TfL and Johnson are not stupid. They will lie and risk people’s lives just to implement their agenda.

A young racer on a Like-a-Bike Jumper. Photo by Blake Jorgenson.

Imagine what he will do on a LikeToBike 20″.

The crossing of York Way / Pentonville Road should be a “Manslaughter Scene”. One young lady has died because of the negligence of Transport for London and Boris Johnson.

According to TfL’s own London Cycling Design Standards, the section of road above, narrow, narrowing and bending, requires special treatment to protect people on bikes:

Chicanes and pinch-points 3.6.4
It is important to ensure that the feature is designed in such a way that cyclists are neither squeezed nor intimidated. Options include:
• raising driver-awareness of cyclists with an advisory cycle lane (with or without coloured surfacing) and cycle-symbol road markings through the pinch point
• providing a clear one-way width in accordance with figure 3.1
• a cycle bypass that allows cyclists to travel past the obstruction without losing priority or having to ‘give way’.

TfL is disregarding its own safety guidelines, refusing to install any of the above features because of the effect it fears they may have on traffic flow.

Please read this excellent article by William Perrin (the photo above is by him), describing in detail the wickedness of TfL.

Danny draws the conclusion that this criminal neglect of safety standards has been masterminded by Boris Johnson.