Incredible video created by Josh from Bali, he says:
I proudly present yet another self-glorifying fixed gear video, adding
to the erroneous plethora of useless fixed geared bicycle films
littering the Internet.
My latest epic release Fixed Gear Bali,
is the follow up to the ever-popular Fixed Gear Jakarta, a film that
went viral among my family. FGB is a transindental trip around the
"Island of the Gods," highlighting the various sects of the blossoming
partisan cycling movement.
Fifty years ago most Indonesians rode
bikes, and now thanks to clever marketing and a desperate need of group
affirmation, urban dwellers of Indonesia's major cities are
rediscovering their ancestry velocipede roots.
Within the past
two years Jakarta has seen an explosion from fewer than a dozen fixed
gear bicycles to over four thousand. Bali has also caught the bike bug
with fixies, junkers, cross, MTB's and foldables all taking to the
streets in slow moving packs of trendy yet bewildered cyclist.
If
anything I find great hope in this movement as it shows there is more
to cycling than lycra, and that through the acquisition of expensive
imported parts one can define their unique identity. But more than
anything it gets people off their exhaust belching motorbikes and out of
their air-conditioned cars to experience their beautiful island home
with a form of silent transport.
A little local politics -- As a
famous British guy said long ago, "In a democracy it's not our leaders
who let us down it's the people who let the leaders down." So let our
voices be heard and make our representatives represent our will. It's
time we all sit down with cups of over priced lattes and teh botel to
find a way to slow the sales of cars and motorbikes via higher taxes,
build an integrated public transportation system, enforce zoning laws,
and re-purpose areas of Kuta and Ubud into bicycle and pedestrian zones.
Let's turn Bali back into paradise, a place tourist come to be
inspired, and an example for the rest of the country to follow.
And
because people seem to be more fascinated by gear than the story line
(what story line?) let me state the technical details for the record --
Surly Steam Roller, Nitto Albatross, brake-free (because I am just that
cool), 700x38c tires. Canon 5D MarkII, Bogen C-clamp with ball head,
15mm, 24mm, 50mm, 135mm. Edited on FinalCut Pro, no toning, no
dissolves, nothing clever other than what was there.
Be a kid again - Go ride a bike
-Josh