Today we braved the weather and went to the Velo Berlin bike show. The show was definitely geared toward city cyclists, which in many ways was nice. Too often, at these kinds of events, there's a lot of posturing around mountain bikes and road bikes, with the mere civilian feeling like they're just not cool (or dude) enough. This show was very citizen-friendly (although I'm not sure how I feel about all the electric bikes).
Vintage bike 1914
Vintage child's bike
Surprise! Vintage.
That doesn't mean there weren't some very cool bikes. I liked the bikes at Paripa, very sleek and quite sexy as well as the Schindelhauer bikes. What was really great was the variety of brands represented. In the States/Canada it seems like there are a few giant bike companies (e.g. Trek, Specialized, Cannondale) that have eaten up a lot of the independent brands, and then there are the custom builders (be still my beating heart). It may be that I just don't know enough about the bikes I saw today, but it seemed to me that there were all kinds of rides we North Americans have never heard of.
But then, there was the bike that I've been (perhaps not so quietly) lusting after - the Batavus. The Batavus Old Dutch Plus, to be exact. It would be the perfect addition to my bike stable (read about justifying a growing collection of bikes here). I could do the grocery shopping on it, ride it to the studio, etcetera, etcetera.
An Old Dutch (not Plus), but the colour! Oh, the colour
This is my sad face.
We also got to see the first, second, and third place winners of the Velo Berlin Film Award 2013. First place went to a Canadian, Guillaume Blanchet from Montreal. You can watch the all the films online until April 30th.
While we were watching the films, I noticed someone who seemed familiar, and then the ladyfriend confirmed my suspicion - it was Erik Spiekermann from the movie Helvetica (well, that's where I "knew" him from).
I was star-struck! He is a font god! A rock star of fonts! But I couldn't speak to him. Yes, I am a bit shy. I thought that if I saw him again, maybe I'd say something. But what would I say, "Hi, I saw you in Helvetica and think you're a font rock star. Can I take a picture with you?" I actually did see him a couple more times, but I left him alone. What would a photo do? Make us friends? Make me cool? Of course I was not surprised to see him eyeing a pretty sweet single-speed (can't remember if it was a fixie or not).
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