Blackheath Bike & Kite Festival

Agree with cliveo to some extent - whole thing was rather overhyped - although the small vcc display tent had some interesting early day trikes. But some good stuff going on for kids - if only I was seven again!

Had a good ride though from North London, apart from getting lost in Canary Wharf and ending up in square full of BMW cars and salesmen - nightmare!

MAD were doing bike tricks most of the afternoon. I was oversubscribed and you could barely see any of the tricks. There were several kites on the go when the wind was up and when it got going it was very pretty to watch.

Like most of these sorts of events, its just a good excuse to lie in the park.

I went, I watched MAD, looked at the vintage bikes, had a beer and a burger and then buggered off.

Hello to WVM and Not4sale, good to see you there.

Lots of families with young kids - when I suggested this event to my teenage son he said it would be crap and he said it was crap when there. Not many bikes ( I think there were more plant stalls than bike stuff) .And candy floss is shit.
That MAD display thing was quite funny the second time round.
Nice to see Dammit and Fenella :).

I was there on Saturday with the London Cycling Campaign local group. We ran 3 'family rides' each day going to the Dome, or Surrey Quays farm or the Olympic site. It's really hard work cycling slowly trying to heard a load of kids, mums and dads through Greenwich town centre.

I went.

No wind.

No bikes.

I came home again.

That's like sarcasm, yes? Cos something was keeping the line of 40-foot black cats in the air, and it wasn't the power of prayer as far as I could see.

I got pics and video, but they are from my camera phone (wide-angle lens) and don't do the event justice.

There could have done with a lot more bike stuff and to have known more about what there was there beforehand - I'm sure I missed a load.

My kids loved it, but they definitely would have liked to get more involved in activities etc. What went down best with them was the little arena where you could try all manner of weird and wonderful bikes. My daughter wants a Skike now (freak!). I want a 2-wheel tag-along from U-plus-1, that was fantastic to ride with.

There wasn't too much bike stuff, and the wind on sunday wasn't great. Saturday was pretty awesome though. I couldn't believe some of the kite displays. Must take a fair bit of planning and practice to do sychronised flying to music.

I know some of you were there on Sunday, because when the MC of MAD asked the crowd "now keep your hands up if you can stand still on your bike like robert here..." and for the first time several fixies hands stayed up in the air.

I arrived around noon on Sunday just as the announcer was complaining about the difficulty of doing a commentary when there was no wind. As I rode off the wind did return and I saw, in the distance, a four man team flying.

Used to go to this and the Hackney Marshes festival years ago when Airkraft flew. I bought my kites from High as a Kite on Stokey Church Street - Jeremy Boyce and also some direct from one of the Robertshaw brothers. I still have a single line 7 metre inflatable frog which I bought after a Blackheath festival in 1997.

here are some photo's but these are mostly for my boss; http://www.flickr.com/photos/yt/sets/72157619732943899/

Streetcar/van are excellent - I've been with them for 3 years .More and more locations appearing all the time ( can we have a few at the top of Shooters Hill please ? )

Haha, I needn't think you should worry about locations... ;)

Whilst I'm here I might as well tell you all. This weekend we launched the first ever plug-in hybrid Carclub car.

and 7seater VW Tourans....

and we announced we'll pay your congestion charge for you....

as well as give you unlimited free petrol on bookings over 48hrs....

Neat eh? If you're not with SC by now, you're really behind the curve. PM me if you want a membership with some free credit :)

I was up there, and it was more kites than bikes. Liked the MAD show. Pissed off down to greenwich for lunch soon after though.

Streetcar: I hardly ever use my membership. Could do with more polos an less golfs in my opinion ...

Streetcar: I hardly ever use my membership. Could do with more polos an less golfs in my opinion ...

Yeah, we're trying to rescue the Polo's, they're not used an awful lot, and at the moment most of our customers that do use them, say they only use them to avoid the CC, which we now pay. The Golf is a more 'all-round' car.... But I too, enjoy driving a smaller vehicle around town...

well, I never got access to one in the first place ... then pounds a day makes a huge difference if you'd ask me. But so does tube travel just to get to your car. Anyway, since I ride I hardly ever drive :)

That's what SC is for though, people with brains who understand that they don't need to power around a huge metal box, just to get where they are going!

Nevertheless, for the last 100 years we've designed our environment and society, around the car. So occasionally we need one, and that's where carclubs step in.

Yeah, we're trying to rescue the Polo's, they're not used an awful lot, and at the moment most of our customers that do use them, say they only use them to avoid the CC, which we now pay. The Golf is a more 'all-round' car.... But I too, enjoy driving a smaller vehicle around town...

I'd defo use a Polo BM if there was one near me... but the 4 cars I have as Local ones are all Golfs.

My closest BM is about a 0.8mi (at the bottom of a really steep hill!)... so it's far easier to walk 0.2mi on the flat to the Golfs.

Streetcar: I hardly ever use my membership. Could do with more polos an less golfs in my opinion ...

"well, I never got access to one in the first place ... then pounds a day makes a huge difference if you'd ask me. But so does tube travel just to get to your car. Anyway, since I ride I hardly ever drive :)"

You can get a bike in the back of a Golf - I have - ( 62 cm frame but 'clean' :) )

I'd defo use a Polo BM if there was one near me... but the 4 cars I have as Local ones are all Golfs.

My closest BM is about a 0.8mi (at the bottom of a really steep hill!)... so it's far easier to walk 0.2mi to the Golfs.

My closest Golf is at the bottom of a really steep hill (Shooters Hill down to Royal Arsenal) . Driving up the hill has never been a problem :)

My closest Golf is at the bottom of a really steep hill (Shooters Hill down to Royal Arsenal) . Driving up the hill has never been a problem :)

Indeed, driving up the hill, no hassles... parking the car at the end of the hire then walking back up the hill at 5am after being our clubbing for the evening... Not so good.

Indeed, driving up the hill, no hassles... parking the car at the end of the hire then walking back up the hill at 5am after being our clubbing for the evening... Not so good.

:O! I hope you have a designated drivenger

:O! I hope you have a designated drivenger

Yeah, it's her - I can't drive..!!

Mind you, she never drinks when she goes out to clubs, so it's not that much of a problem.

/attachments/11423 /attachments/11424

These are the best I have, from a camera phone. The row of cats, getting progressively larger was really impressive. Surprisingly, they weren't being flown by people though - the lines were tethered to a Land Rover.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/yt/ SC pics here (mostly for boss)

I'm Lazarus-ing this thread, because no one seems to have started a new one!

http://www.blackheathbikeandkite.com/ It's on again this year, 12 & 13th June

Who's thinking of going, it was Brilliant fun last year, and now, I have a better camera to take pictures of the kites!

Yeah it was good last year, the Land Rover bike stunts lot were seriously impressive. Will probably head up there with the kids on Saturday (my kids, not the kids, if you know what I mean).