Anyone riding in Beijing?

I'm moving to Beijing this August for 10 months. No, not for the Olympics, if you've been to China before you'll already be sick of everyone telling you the Olympics is happening. People actually have it tattooed on their backs in some cases. Anyway;

I was in touch with Ines from http://blog.trick-bike.com/ who's riding fixed out there. She was saying there's only 7 of them out there at the minute, I'll hopefully soon make an 8th (although it's impossible to get a Fixed in Beijing, shipping from HK seems to be the only option at the minute and I don't know if I can afford to take anything over with me from here).

If anyone's going out there or knows of anyone who's already riding out there, let me know. I'd be up for starting an online community and getting it linked up with the global FG network.

I honestly think there'd be a huge market available for riding Fixed in BJ too. The Beijing art scene is incredible and the people behind it are your brothers from another mother.

You might find a few fixed rides here:

Might have a job prising them away from Hoy and the like!

I'll be there for August as well - working, but hoping to blag a ticket for some of the cycling!

i bet there's lots more people than u think riding fixed in Beijing. not track bikes tho, but u know what i mean..

Yes I suppose there'll be one or two on a fixie in that building. I'm hoping actually that the Olympics (despite slating it earlier) might encourage a few Beijing cyclists to get a fixed ride. Or at least get some of the local shops interested in it.

Yeah I know what you mean! Everyone's on Flying Pigeons too. Not literally obvs. The original Flying Pigeon factory is in Tianjin, about an hour by bullet train away.

I reckon a quarter of these bikes is fixed wheel. Most work bikes are fixed that I know.

beijing is pretty messed up as well as the rest of the china
i can hook u up with fixed in HK

Interesting presentation that Ines Brun (German trick cyclist) gave at a TED conference in Beijing recently....
http://www.slideshare.net/inesbike/changes-of-perception-bicycle-culture-in-china-2821506?

Yep very interesting indeed. I live in Beijing and know Ines well. Its such a shame that a city that was so famous for its bicycles has become a place where its becoming more and more frustrating to ride. There are however positive signs. Just recently the government has announced changes to try and increase cycling within the city. Just how much effort they will put into it remains to be seen as the auto industry is big business here in fact its just become the biggest market in the world for cars.

depending on the time of year, Beijing particularly has atrocious air quality too - it's a really hard place to ride any distance. oddly enough I didn't find any cities in China particularly difficult to navigate tho.

Agreed, most of the year it's pretty bad but with most things you get used to it. I don't cycle massive distances but you can definitely tell when the air is really bad. In terms of navigating Beijing is really easy to get around. Most of the road signs say which direction the street is going N, S, E or W and you if you get really lost you can always head one direction and keep going until you hit a ring road. Autumn is my favourite time of the year sunny everyday around 20 - 25C not too humid and perfect for a nice ride.