Viva Vienna is coming!

I went for a short ride on the W&OD this morning, and preparations for Viva! Vienna! are well underway. If you've never been, it's quite an event... carnival rides, a wide variety of vendor booths, and an amazing array of food options, all rolled up in a street fair.  It runs for the duration of the three day Memorial Day weekend... check the website for more details:

http://www.vivaviennava.org/

The event blocks off Church Street from Mill Street to Lawyers road to all but foot traffic all three days, so it makes getting to us a bit trickier than usual. You might consider parking away from the event and walking or riding to see us.  We will be here for our regular hours, meaning 10 - 6 on Saturday, 12 - 5 Sunday, and CLOSED on Monday.

Carrying on another tradition

Once again we are dabbling in gardening here at bikes@vienna. Thanks to a certain special someone, we've got an assortment of lovely flowers and a number of tomato plants growing in front of the shop. There's even a pot of cat grass growing for Tim's cat, Tybalt.


There's also an element of suspense involved, as we don't really know exactly what sort of tomatoes these plants will yield!

Come on by in about a month and we might have some tomatoes to sample!

Bike to Work Day, cont'd

Well, we had a very good morning at the Vienna Pit Stop, right at the Town Green, where the W&OD Trail crosses Maple Avenue. Lots of riders turned out to ride, and lots came by to sign in and get their t-shirt (a deep purple this year!) and pick up other fun free stuff. We pitched in and provided some freebies, such as cycle computers, tire levers, locks, etc. A good time was had by all, and a fun variety of bikes and trikes rolled through.

More photos are here:  2011 Bike To Work Day, Vienna, VA

Bike to Work Day

At the Vienna Pit Stop we've got great weather and excellent turnout!

Brompton Colors

This Brompton just arrived from England today, and it sure turned out to be a pretty color combination! That's a Racing Green main frame with Sage Green "extremities" (fork, stem, rear frame). Racing Green has been in the Brompton lineup for a while now, but the Sage Green is new for 2011. The combination of the two is very sharp, and shows what can be done with tasteful mixing and matching.

But before you come rushing in to buy it, I have to tell you it's a special order for a customer... in fact it's his second Brompton in three years, so obviously he's a big fan. But if you want one for yourself, we'd be happy to order it for you. Or check out the bikes we have in stock, you might just find one perfect for you!

This one is a P6R, with SON dynamo hub and B&M Cyo headlight. A very nice lighting system indeed. The customer also requested the special "12% reduced" gear range on the six speed drive train, handy for steep hills and carrying loads.

Brompton World Championship - Time To Register!

That's right folks, as of this morning, registration is now open for the Brompton World Championship! This 13.1 mile race around the grounds of Blenheim Palace (birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill) is not to be missed. As you can see by my photo from 2009, all riders are required to wear "business attire" - dress shirt, tie, and jacket! The race is open to 750 riders, and rumor has it that it might fill up fast, so register now! It's a fun day at a beautiful location, and it's part of the larger Bike Blenheim Palace event, with various sorts of competitive rides, and all manner of cyclists and cycles around.


More of my photos from the 2009 event can be seen here:

BWC 2009

One of the stranger packages...

We've received here! We were all scratching our heads and speculating on just what Brompton had sent us, when I remembered they were sending us one of those rollup banners for display.

I liked Daniel's thought that it was a house for a squirrel, with a chimney!

The Bicycle Wins!

Yesterday was a big day... the Bike/Car/Bus Challenge out in Reston! An event where folks "raced" to get from A to B by each of three different modes of transportation. Our own Bruce Wright, longtime b@v employee and chairman of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling, was triumphant! Check it out at the links below.


http://fabb-bikes.blogspot.com/2011/05/fabb-chairman-arrives-first-in.html


http://reston.patch.com/articles/wright-on-a-bike-wins-commute-challenge

Brompton Meetup Ride a Success!

I didn't get the chance to join them, but the Brompton Bicycle Club meetup group had a great time this past Saturday.  The ride started and finished at our shop, and it was fun to meet some new faces in the local Brompton crowd.

Here they all are, posed with their bikes, after their ride out to Reston and back. They're all smiling, so they must have had fun.  Watch this spot for news of future rides, or join up here:

http://www.meetup.com/Brompton-Bicycle-Club/

Brompton Ride This Saturday!

This Saturday - a Brompton Bicycle Club Meetup group ride, starting at 11am at bikes@vienna! Bring your Brompton (or buy one!) and join the fun!


http://www.meetup.com/Brompton-Bicycle-Club/events/16704420/


The photo to the left is from the first BBC ride in March.

Bike Maintenance Class on Sunday

There are still slots open for our Basic Bicycle Maintenance and Repair class this Sunday. Topics covered include flat repair, brake and gear adjustments, basic lubrication, and performing a safety check on your bicycle. The cost of the class is $45, which includes a simple tool kit worth $16. Held in the shop work area. Bikes are not needed as there is not time for hands-on in the 2 hour class. Bruce will be teaching this class. Contact Tim at tim@bikesatvienna.com or call 703-938-8900 or stop by the store and sign up.

The Smooth Hound has arrived!

Well, in response to some inquiries from customers, and the generally favorable reaction folks had to the Soma Mini Velo, we decided to order a Dahon Smooth Hound, a bike based on the whole "mini velo" concept, but with the added feature of folding!  Dahon uses their "Lockjaw" system on this bike, which requires the use of an allen wrench to fold the bike. This results in a fold that  isn't as quick or convenient as their more typical latch systems. On the other hand, it does give you a bike that feels like it has a normal, solid frame. It's not the most compact fold out there, but it's certainly more compact than other "mini velos."



It's a nice riding bike. We all took turns giving it a spin, and everyone was impressed. And it's a fine looking bike as well, with the rather classy paint scheme, Brooks saddle and brown bar wrap on the moustache handlebars.

Come on in and give it a whirl!

At the Vienna Green Expo

Lots of vendors, contractors, and advocacy groups gathered to extoll the virtues of going green. We are here showing folding bikes tonight.

Closed Easter Sunday

Please note, we will be closed Easter Sunday, April 24th.

The other interesting bike...

... that came in last Saturday was this old Dunelt three speed. Back in the day these were known as "English Racers", despite the fact that they were built purely for utility. As I understand it, they became known as "racers" when the first showed up in numbers here after WWII, when the predominant US bike was the balloon tired "paperboy specials" made by companies such as Schwinn and Columbia and others. Compared to those heavy cruisers, the Raleighs and similar three speeds seemed downright exotic and racy.

What sets this one apart is the condition, which is remarkable for a bike built in 1960 (you can date an old English three speed from a stamp on the rear hub). The paint is in excellent condition, and is a color I've not seen on a three speed before. Black was the most common color of these bikes, which were mostly used in the UK for getting to and from work. It's one of the interesting facts related to these bikes that the factory workers who built them generally rode them to the factory, since cars in post-war England were pretty dear. Of particular interest to me (Tim) is that it's made by Dunelt, a relatively unknown British company that was the maker of my very first bike, which looked much like this one, but had a single speed, coaster brake hub instead of the three speed. Lots of good memories of that bike, even if it looked rather stodgy alongside my friends' Sting-Rays and Choppers.

For lots of good and interesting info on old English three speeds check out these pages at the late Sheldon Brown's site:

http://sheldonbrown.com/english-3.html


http://sheldonbrown.com/raleigh.html


http://sheldonbrown.com/sturmey-archer.html

Fun bikes at the shop!

Last Saturday we had a couple of folks bring bikes by the shop that I thought were both fun, in different ways.  One was the Soma Mini Velo, a small wheel, non-folding, "compact" bike of a style I hear is very popular in Japan and elsewhere. If you do a Google search for "mini velo" you'll find a number of variations on the theme. It's similar in concept to the Dahon Smooth Hound, but the Smooth Hound folds in half. The general idea behind the "mini" craze is that it's smaller and more compact than a conventional bike, and are easier to store and easier to transport or bring on trains and such, yet it rides very much like a "normal" bike. For me, I'd want to go the extra step and have it fold, but I guess some folks aren't sold on folders yet.  It's caused me to think seriously about getting in a Smooth Hound though.  Any thoughts?

Latest Vienna Patch Column is up!

Hey folks! As some of you may know, I write a bi-weekly column for the Vienna Patch online newletter.  The latest installment is on getting your bike ready for spring. You can check it out here:

http://vienna.patch.com/articles/tips-for-spring-tuneups

DC Brompton Ride was fun!

On Sunday, March 20th, the first ever Brompton Bicycle Club Ride was lead by Charmaine R., who bought her Brompton here at bikes@vienna, and has now raced in both the World and US Championship. 
The "club" is a DC area Meetup Group, made up of Brompton owners and riders.  The inaugural ride was great fun, taking us around some of the prettier parts of the city, with a stop for lunch on the river.  Of course, we had to pose with our Bromptons at various points, such as here at the Lincoln Memorial.

We got lots of comments and questions about our bikes throughout the ride.  People are fascinated by the look of the bikes, and even more intrigued by the folding and compact size.


The next ride is slated for Saturday, April 30th, starting right here at bikes@vienna, at 11:00 am.


Find out more about the group or join here:http://www.meetup.com/Brompton-Bicycle-Club/


(photos courtesy of Charmaine R.)

Congrats to Tom!

Congratulations to our own Tom Fritz, for his top 10 finish in the Brompton US Championship!  And to his wife, Beryl, for being team support and showing the bikes@vienna "colors" on the promenade ride to the start point!

Don't forget, this weekend only, in celebration of the BUSC (and Tom's finish), all in-stock Bromptons are $75 off, and  test riding a Brompton gets you a $1 off coupon for a pasty at Pure Pasty, our nextdoor neighbor from across the pond!

Big Brompton race results are in

First place same as last year. Best dressed same three as last year but over the top wit a costume change in middle of the race without DQ!!! My time 22:22. Putting me at 10th place.

Tom
Tlfflt1983@gmail.com