Polo, soul and rubber chickens.
You bring me sunshine. The colourful world of Electra.
Angela, the Odoni stand and an interested party.
I’m not sure work has ever been this much fun. Sure, the day job has its moments. Oiling the production cogs is rewarding. Formulating IT strategy is stimulating. Problem solving is gratifying (if there were no problems to begin with of course). But this is fun, proper fun. At one point yesterday our stand was flooded with people with one or two circling to land. 9 hours zipped by in the blink of an eye. From a work perspective, day one alone more than vindicated our decision to come. But the attractions of the London bike show extended waaaay beyond the commercial. This is a dangerous place for me to be. Surrounded on all sides by cycling exotica and with Angela’s favourite mantra ringing in my ears- ‘it’s easier to seek forgiveness than gain permission’ (the rock solid advice of fellow cyclist and fell runner Chris Gildersleve) – I’ve had the opportunity to talk dirty with the On-one boys (Yes Alan, I do like the new 29er and want one quiet badly), drool at the Pinarello stand (“it’s Bling Jim, but not as we know it”), fawn over the the
Check out the drop-out(s) - Craftsmanship from Chicken frames
funkadelica of Foffa single-speeds (pick n’mix for the one cog generation) and been genuinely blown away by the sheer craftsmanship of Chicken Frames – beautiful frames fashioned from steel and crafted in a container on a farm near Brighton. Meeting John, the artisan behind the welding mask of chicken frames was a real pleasure. We share the same desire to see smaller businesses flourish and both hanker for a commercial world where products are judged on a range of criteria and proper craftsmanship rather than uber low import prices. Once the exhibition is over I’ll spend some time elabortating on these themes, but for now, with a bellyful of chimichanga and a very long rewarding day behind me, I’ll leave you with some of my favourite images so far.
Pinarello - bling.
Chicken frames - Soul (and a rubber chicken).
Plesiosaur - Not a bike.
Tomorrow – or rather later today, it’s well past midnight – I’ll be taking a brief break from the show to catch up with the delights of plesiosaurs, giant sloths and sequoia cross-sections at the Natural history museum. But I’ll be looking forward to being back at stand LB64 on Sunday, refreshed and ready to convert the world to a life of two wheeled freedom.
Andrew and Angela will be manning the Odoni stand on Saturday the 14th Jan, free of my inane chatter.
Even Bike polo.
Loving’ the updates from Excel, cheers for the good work.
Thanks Estudio27. The Excel certainly lived up to its name! Highly recommended.