The Bicycle Safari

The Viscount is head of the badges.

2011-05-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

So after an epic break in posting, here's a little something to keep the gears spinning, the pedals turning and all moving parts well greased. I only keep this blog for fun and to share the cool stuff, so when my work load goes crazy, I don't want it to become another chore.

But here's a Viscount head badge!

Neat neat neat! Normal posting will resume soon, with the usual mix of retro, vintage and weird bikes, as well as three new bike builds and details of an exciting pan-European bike trip!

Ride old bikes forever!

Peugeot Nouveau Folding Shopper Bike

2011-04-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

Another bike from the bike sale on the green today. This one's a little 20 inch wheeled folding shopper bike from Peugeot... the Nouveau!

One of the nicest old Peugeot logos I've seen for a while.

Some 'Nouveau' touches!

Old Peugeot bike lettering.

And a neat little lamp.

A sensible vintage Peugeot folder!

Hercules carries on commuting

2011-03-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

A good old fashioned bike logo for you today, from Hercules bike co. One of the local second hand bike shops brought their stock onto the Nottingham campus the other day, and this old 'commuter' stood out as the oldest... and most interesting!

Tatty but rad logo on the headtube.

Declaring its commuter intentions.

A nice old piece of steel. That should serve someone well for many a year yet.

Dave Quinn fixed gear retro dose

2011-03-24T13:36:00.001-07:00

A crazy work schedule is keeping me away from the Bicycle Safari at the moment, but here's a little retro fixed gear treat for you. I've posted an awesome looking Harry Quinn bike before, but this is a Dave Quinn frame, and I don't fully understand the relationship between the two. Maybe someone will chip in on the comments!

Really nice lettering, just like on the Harry Quinn frame.

Yep!

A nice little touch on the seat stays.

A neat classic looking modern bike!

Peugeot Raider, classic day-glo mountain bike

2011-03-19T13:03:00.001-07:00

This is not the first time I've seen a super crazy pink Peugeot bike sitting around Nottingham! Strangely.

This is the first vintage Peugeot mountain bike I've come across though, which makes a change from the usual Peugeot classic town or road bike.

A great old Peugeot bike logo on the head tube.

This one is the Peugeot Raider.

Again being built with the Peugeot direct brazing system, that I have seen before!

Neat neat neat. I feel like some of the day-glo-ness of the colour might have been lost with time, but you can feel it's something a bit bold!

Yeoman Envoy is diplomatic about its job

2011-03-14T02:03:00.000-07:00

Continuing the never ending trawl through the world of obscure bicycle brands, today we have a Yeoman Envoy to take a look at!

Super clean design on the headbadge logo. Quite unlike most of the other much busier old bicycle logos of the 70s and 80s.

This particular one is a 20 inch wheeled, folding shopper bike. This were strangely popular back in the day in Britain, I guess because of their low cost and ability to tuck away in an awkward place.

Whoever owns this one certainly seems to want to hold on to it judging by the big lock on a small bike!

A neat little vintage bike!

Classic Triumph Racing Bike

2011-03-09T13:26:00.000-08:00

Here's a nice slice of classic British racing bicycle for you today. It's an old Triumph, looking resplendent in red!

Awesome old fashioned head badge up front.

Some nicely ageing vintage lettering on the down tube.

A very nicely looked after bike!

With some graphics that look like they're spanning the gap between the classic striped graphics of the 60s and 70s and pushing into the more fluid abstraction of the 80s and 90s! Thanks to some recent good weather here in Nottingham, the bike racks are filling up with interesting steel, dragged from people's sheds. So expect some more good bikes soon!

Classic Condor, a lugged, hacked and loved? bike

2011-03-03T14:16:00.000-08:00

Using an old bike as a daily commuter is very cool. It's sustainable, practical and sometimes classy. Especially when you've got a sweet lugged classic Condor frame like this!

The usual rad head badge logo!

Twice!

I say it's a nice Condor frame, because some of the great details like this hand painted seat stay end.

And old Condor logo text, don't seem to fit with what you see on the rest of the bike!

Sticking out from the cockpit like a branch off a tree, is this bar grip shifter! A strange addition to a classic road bike you might think.

But when you've added a modern internal hubbed gear on the back too, it makes a bit more sense! How great to keep an older bike going through the modernisation and upgrade of some select parts! Ride Old Bikes Forever!

A Human Powered Vision of the Future

2011-02-28T06:48:00.000-08:00

Regulars here at the Bicycle Safari will notice the two new ad banners on the pages for Vision of the Future. But rather than this being some smart company buying in on the ground floor, it's my new project! I had the idea for making a shirt celebrating the choice of being human powered, whilst maybe staying a bit more stylish for the bicycle lane fashion parade, knocking around for a while, and it felt like the time to give it a try and see how it goes!

They're printed on sweat-shop labour free ringspun cotton t-shirts, and are screen printed by hand in the UK using only waterbased inks to avoid the toxic by products of chemical printing inks.

It's called Vision of the Future, and have a click over the new site, to see what you think!

How to find a puncture using a mudguard

2011-02-25T09:56:00.001-08:00

Here's a little change of pace from the usual old bike logos that make up the bread and butter of The Bicycle Safari. It's a little trick I stumbled into when my Hateful Raleigh Beater bike took a puncture yesterday morning. Strangely I haven't heard of it as a tip before, and google isn't showing much, so maybe this will be new to you too!

Rear tire was completely flat when I went to take the bike out, so tried my usual tactic of re- inflating the tube and seeing if I could hear the air coming out from anywhere. Unfortunately, no luck, and I didn't fancy taking the wheel and tyre off to do a more thorough job of finding the hole. But then I had a little brain wave.

Being my everyday commuter, it's got proper mudguards (fenders, if you like) and the rear one is a decent tyre enclosing full length affair. So I fetched a glass of water, and with the bike upside down, filled the fender!

My fender runneth over!

With a quick spin of the wheel, a tell-tale stream of little bubbles appeared from a near imperceivable hole in the tyre, now submerged in my flooded fender!

So then I was able to lever off that one section, pull the tube out for a quick patching, then back together for a speedy repair! Pulling this trick off with the much shorter front mudguard would be a bit more challenging, but maybe one day this little hack will help you out!

When your bike meets a snow plow!

2011-02-23T14:14:00.000-08:00

A while back I shared a picture of a bike absolutely buried in a snow drift in snowy Sweden. At the time I joked this might be a good alternative to a lock, because no one's going to bother digging your bike out. Well here's the retort to that idea...

As spring starts to melt the giant snow drifts left by the snow plows in Sweden, this mangled wreck appears out of the ice.

I guess this is why...

...you shouldn't trust your bike to be safe in the snow!

Is it an old bike, or is this just retro?

2011-02-21T12:38:00.001-08:00

Pashley are a strange bicycle make, as they remain as basically the only large scale domestic bike manufacturer in the UK, but their dominant product are bikes modelled on old bikes.

Which makes it strange when you see a Pashley, because you don't know if it's an old Pashley bike form back in the day, or a modern version which is built almost exactly the same.

The rod brakes on this one makes me think it is at least a few decades old, but who knows.

The Concorde Lepper saddle from Holland does answer anyone's questions.

When Car Companies Build Bikes

2011-02-18T03:19:00.000-08:00

A great number of car companies have dabbled in bicycle production. In fact it's where a few car companies started out from! These companies might be better thought of transport companies, and some have held a very good reputation in the push bike world for their products. You only need to look at The Bicycle Safari's long archive of classic Peugeot bikes to see what I mean.

But there are also some surprises in car-to-bike production, such as the not very convincing looking Bugatti bicycle I saw back in Lund, Sweden. But here are two more that I've spotted around Nottingham, England.

Kia might not be the first people you think of when looking for a bike, and I guess this was a promotional tie-in, or give away bike. The slogan 'Think before you drive' though.... well, maybe that wasn't the best slogan for a car company to use!

Kia bicycle, wants you to reconsider driving your Kia car.

Quality wise... not so great either.

Daewoo on the other hand were a sprawling company to begin with, covering car to firearm production. So the appearance of a Daewoo bike probably shouldn't be too suprising.

It's another uninspiring mountain bike, so beloved by anyone looking for a bicycle in Britain in the 1990's. It does claim however to be a genius.

Maybe the secret plan was for people to find cycling these so dull that they would get back in their cars!

Carbolite Peugeot Classic Racer

2011-02-14T07:15:00.001-08:00

Peugeot Carbolite frames have been shown here before on The Bicycle Safari, such as this awesome yellow one littering the streets of Nottingham. Old Peugeot bikes just seem to have a great big dollop of style and class about them, so their pretty reliable Safari bike hunting targets.

Again today we find some Carbolite.

With the addition of this quite cool dealer sticker from 'Priory'? shop in Birmingham.

Peugeot vintage bicycle logos and graphics at their best.

Good old Peugeot bikes being all awesome and stuff.

$6 image making POV spoke lights

2011-02-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

If you're into bikes, and sometimes read about them on the internet, which you're doing now, you've probably seen spoke lights before. They're the small strips of leds that attach to a spoke on your wheel and when rotated flash at the appropriate speed to make an image or pattern appear on your bicycle wheel using the persistence of vision tricks (POV). You see some pretty impressive examples around, boasting full RGB spectrum, sound reaction even USB compatability! But at the other end of the scale are the cheap POV lights you might spot on online auctions or import sites.

These clearly aren't in the same league as the full blown Monkeylectric or Ladyada versions, but they only cost around the £4 mark including delivery from Hong Kong to the UK, so what could I do but order one, strap it to my hateful Raleigh beater bike, and see how it goes!

First impressions are maybe how big the light itself is. This thing takes three AAA batteries side by side, accessed through a waterproof door on the back, so it's not the deftest of things. This initially made me think that it would create a wobble in the wheel by throwing the weight off centre, but in real life it wasn't perceptible over the usual road surface wobbles.

But practicalities aside, what it does as a POV toy is much more fun. They're capable of 14 patterns, which are pretty eye catching. All quite bold and simplistic in nature they work well on a speedy bicycle.

You'll notice I also run a set of battery powered Christmas lights on my bike as an additional light thrower, but maybe that's a story for another day.

One neat trick that these cheap lights do is project words and numbers. Here it's counting the number of wheel rotations since last power up. Other tricks are telling the time, saying 'hello' and the amusing 'I (HEART) You', but with no option to choose which pattern is shown other than the automatic order it does, you do occasionally find yourself professing your love to a random standing at the bus stop!

For a little toy off Ebay, I've been pretty impressed with this little light. It's been on my bike for about 4 months now and it's still holding up well. The leds aren't ultrabrights by any stretch of the imagination, but they throw out enough light to be very noticeable at night. Day time though... well if you look back at the first image, you'll see it's actually on in that picture too... after you've been told.

But for dropping a small bit of cash and crossing your fingers for a parcel dropping onto your doormat from Hong Kong, these cheap POV wheel spoke lights are a fun addition maybe to your commuter or beater, especially if you're on a budget and just want a cheaper version of the impressive POV light systems available.

The P.T. Helleberg Trygg from Lillehammer

2011-02-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

Here's a bit of a mouthful for the non Nordic readers of The Bicycle Safari. The Trygg bicycle by P.T. Helleberg from Lillehammer!

One reader in Sweden sent this classic Norwegian steel bike in to The Safari.

Founded in 1897 P.T. Helleberg made these kind of bikes and bike accessories up in Lillehammer in Norway.

Lots of nice details, like the great badge on the font, and this nice little 'flying' emblem on the front fender! If you see a nice classic bike you like, why not send it into the Bicycle Safari?

Puch Mini shopper bike bags up best spot

2011-02-02T12:03:00.000-08:00

This is a little Puch 20 inch wheeled shopper bike. Quite a nice set up overall, it's got that feel of a bike that was kitted out back-in-the-day with some lights, a front rack, white wall tyres, the works. But one that has since slipped into disrepair and the gradual return to iron oxide.

But I don't think that's any bad thing really. Perfectly preserved bikes are the bikes that don't get ridden. This is obviously serving a very utilitarian purpose, and so someone's getting a lot more life out of it!

The usual rad vintage bike logos adorn this one.

This one also carries a 'made in Austria' badge, for Puch's old manufacturing base.

But talking of this being a shopper bike, let's share that sweet advantage at the shops that a bike has over a car. You can park it a fair bit closer to the door! haha

Ride old bikes forever!

2011-01-31T08:20:00.000-08:00

This is my new bike.

Although when I say new, what I really mean is, new to me... obviously.

Old bikes get a lot of love here at the Bicycle Safari, sometimes for the awesome bike logos and graphics, other times because they're some vintage masterpiece but equally often because they're a rusting pile of steel tubes. Regardless of these reasons though, I think there is something inherently good about riding old bikes. You're certainly not over whelmed with features, as perhaps the best boasting point on my new Hercules is the logo'd lamp bracket on the front.

But what you get has pretty much stood the test of time. Not to say that all old bikes were made well, carefully thought out or looked after since! But they are at least tough enough to still be rolling today which is a good sign.

Practical considerations aside though, the feeling of riding an old bike is definitely different, I think you remain very aware of the history involved in your bike and that you're extending the life span of a manufactured product into a new century. Or maybe old bike are just rad, either way, may this Hercules ride on for many years to come.

Improvise your way through a hipster winter

2011-01-28T10:51:00.000-08:00

If you ride a fenderless fixie and are suffering from the road spray this winter, why not take a page out of the book of this rider, who's improvised a rear guard out of a water bottle jammed into their seat stays. At least I presume that's what it's for?

Obviously if you run a rear brake, your success may vary!

Hercules from Nottingham with retro bicycle logos

2011-01-26T13:06:00.000-08:00

Hercules is another old British bicycle brand that started off well, allegedly producing bicycles strong enough to deserve to bear the name!

With the dominance of Raleigh in the 20th century though, the brand eventually got bought out and it became one of the many brands being made in Raleigh's enormous Nottingham factory, which at the time was the largest bicycle factory in the world.

With the decline of the British bicycle industry though, came the end of Hercules for a while. But through the brand has now been revived by an Indian manufacturer who seem to have applied it to a highly customizable mountain bike.

So to round off these photos of a nice vintage Hercules with some rad old logos. Here is the opposite.

Taken from: http://www.bsahercules.com/cycle-customiser.asp

Vintage Dawes has a sparkle in it's wheel nuts

2011-01-24T03:21:00.001-08:00

Something this bicycle has surprised me with, is that it's the first Dawes I've inducted into the Bicycle Safari hunting cabinet. Dawes is a pretty massive brand here in Britain, and from taking a look at the ever lengthening list of bike brands over on the right, you'd presume it'd be up there with the Monarks, Peugeots, Raleighs and Husqvarna bicycles that have been featured here before.

But it's not! So here's the first Dawes, with a nice embossed head badge, stuck to the classic lugged steel frame, in this case finished in perhaps a questionable shade of brown.

But I think the nicest little touch on it is the starred wheel nuts. Quite a nice vintage touch, which you from time to time.

Puch produced picture perfect pedal cycle

2011-01-19T14:58:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I get some photos of the rad old bikes I spot around the world that I really do like. In the case of this old Puch bicycle, I got two!

Puch made some really sensible town bikes. Steel framed city travellers that seem to have stood up well to the ravages of life on the street judging by the number living in Puch section of the Bicycle Safari over on the right. With the addition of nice details like the Puch name plate on the rear fender, they're worth a shot for the Safari collection.

When they have neat little reflectors built into the handlebar ends, even more so.

Built of original 2500 high tensile steel? How nice! I love a good original 2500 high tensile fork blade I do.

Puched!

Awesome Vintage Peugeot Racer Bicycle

2011-01-17T10:35:00.000-08:00

Peugeot are usually the least disappointing bicycle for me to spot when I'm out thinking, hmm probably should find something rad for the Bicycle Safari. You see some brightly coloured graphic heavy racer, like this unbelievably pink Peugeot I saw a while back, and all it's logos, lettering and stripes are great. Here's another example to add to the Safari archives. Another headtube to be mounted on the wall.

Peuegots of this era just have so much class about their design.

They're often built of vague and interesting materials, such as Carbolite 103 in this case!

They seem to remain strangely clean, I'm not sure what that means about the owners, but it's not often that I see a dirty one.

They're suitably proud of being a Peugeot...

..stripes and all!

And they generally outclass anything else left in the bike rack. In this case watch how easily this Peuegot outshines my hateful Raleigh mixte beater in the background! Have a click on the Peugeot section on the left to see the whole Bicycle Safari hunting collection of classic Peugeot bikes.

Vintage Triumph Racing Bicycle Badge

2011-01-14T11:02:00.000-08:00

Classic, standard, everyday vintage bicycle logo post for you today. This is what I'm finding a million of sitting around the streets of Nottingham. These older vintage racing or city bikes that were made in the city back when it had a manufacturing industry. Relentlessly classy logos abound.

In this case, Triumph have been doing their thing. You can see the decline though. What would have used to have been an enamelled badge, now a sticker on the head tube. Nottingham really lost its way back in the day.

Some of the Triumph bicycle lettering on the down tube.

And this is the whole deal. I feel like I should really explore the old bicycle industry here in Nottingham. How an industry can go from sending bicycles out of the city, to countries around the world (like this Raleigh I saw in Denmark) to just being the administrative headquarters, organizing the plants more recently in Vietnam and Cambodia and that now churn out the bikes with the minimum of labour regulations and industrial safety. A sad story of the prioritization of short term profits over long term corporate sustainability, as demonstrated by the decline and fall of every old Nottingham bicycle company.

A Raleigh Twenty aged 40

2011-01-12T07:36:00.000-08:00

So here's a little Raleigh Twenty 20 inch wheeled shopping bike, which for the sake of argument I will suggest is from 1971, thus making it forty this year. What caught my eye on it, was the neat little rear fender with the integrated dynamo light, sooo much classier than most modern LED bike lights you can get. That was the inspiration behind my efforts to convert an old dynamo light into an led one, which you can read here.

This Twenty though is a little more rough and ready. All the bikes here are currently wearing a fairly unhealthy coat of winter dirt and grime.

Still, it's getting someone around Nottingham though!

And this blurry I-don't-really-want-to-stand-in-the-rain-and-take-pictures photo shows the neat Twenty graphic text on that super low top/cross bar.

Aspice Christophorum et Tutus Viam Carpe Bicycle Bell

2011-01-10T13:39:00.000-08:00

Aspice Christophorum et Tutus Viam Carpe bicycle bell. Apparently it means something like 'Look at St. Christopher and travel on safely'. Haha quite a funny idea. I'd like a range of different deities, saints and figures to urge me on my way though.

This is how they got everyone cycling here

2011-01-07T12:51:00.000-08:00

Might have to write the photo off as a 'looked-more-interesting-when-I-was-there' kind of job, but what we have here is three rented 'Ucycle' bikes locked up in an accidental row.

The Ucycle scheme is something that runs here in the city of Nottingham, in which students at the local universities are offered to rent a bicycle for the year for £50. When I first heard of the scheme I was a little sceptical about it, thinking that they'd suffer from neglect and abuse very quickly, or just fail to catch on. But the proof really is in the numbers of them you see locked up everywhere! Perhaps not so many now in the middle of winter, but even now you can see them filling the racks as above.

Bike wise, they're pretty smart choices. Sensible solid steel bikes with the mudguards, lights, reflectors and initial assembly completed, factors which are often disregarded on other students' bikes.

Perhaps ironic that Nottingham, once the centre of bicycle manufacture in the UK, now needs schemes like this to get people cycling again. But whatever it takes! The more ways and routes people can take to getting back on a bicycle the better!

The Bicycle Safari is back and brings you a snow bike

2011-01-06T01:43:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I took a massive break over the 'holidays' without a post here at The Bicycle Safari, but now I'm back, hopefully with the usual blend of vintage, interesting and destroyed bicycles I find sitting around.

So in my usual Scandinavia hopping way, I was back in Stockholm, Sweden for the last week and thought I'd hunt down a few of the rad steel framed vintage beaters that I documented so extensively back in the early days of this Safari. But what I actually found was this...

... and when bicycles look like that, there's not much more to say really. Perhaps only that this is perhaps one of the most effective ways to lock up your bike, because I don't think anyone is going to bother to dig your bike out for you. Rust and crushed-by-snow-plough risks be damned!

Some where in this drift is a steel framed Mustang, gently crying.

Motoconfort Single Speed Conversion

2010-12-15T13:33:00.000-08:00

So after the singlespeed On One bike of Monday being a bit of a turn of focus for the Bicycle Safari, how about this for some kind of middle ground. Just like the Motoconfort I spotted whilst over in Barcelona the frozen snow covered Nottingham also has one to offer!

Proof that this is a Motoconfort frame.

A Junior Sport GL to be precise.

But one that's been converted over to be a modern styled single speed with some reasonably tasteful deep V white wheels.

I think they pull it off well! You still have these great old bike elements, like the logos the graphics and general style.

But as an old bike rider myself I know the day-to-day hassles faced by running an older bikes mechanicals everyday, so maybe a nice simple modern re-interpretation is a good way to extend the life of an older bike?

On One dorky singlespeed

2010-12-14T03:48:00.000-08:00

Technical difficulties have kept me away for a few days, but I'm back now, and I brought something a bit different with me. When I started this blog back in snowy Lund, Sweden, it was going to be about just the random interesting bikes I saw sitting around, and so be a comment on what's going on where in the world in terms of cycling. Recently it's been very focused on the vintage logos and graphics that live on many of the bikes I spot, but not wanting to get too pigeon holed, here's an On One singlespeed commuter!

Not vintage!

Lots of hip colourful parts on this!

Throw some purple anodized parts on it!

.... and a handlebar mirror?.... haha, okay so I have no problem with people using mirrors on bikes, they're sensible and hopefully increase safety. I just thought it was funny to see one on what otherwise seems a bit of a hipster commuter bike, but maybe the full mudguards should've have tipped me off this wasn't the usual singlespeed cool fest.

Steyr Clubman perfect vintage town bike

2010-12-08T13:45:00.000-08:00

It never ceases to amaze me the bikes you find sitting around. This is a near mint condition vintage Steyr, apparently being at least occasionally used as someone's daily transport? Unusual and brilliant.

In particular it's the Steyr Clubman!

Some nice foil on the logo graphics.

Rad rad rad.

The brakes also seemed worthy of a mention.

But then again, so did the rear mudguard!
A bit of time warp.

Bicycle Safari Navigates to Nottingham

2010-12-06T13:27:00.001-08:00

So after a couple of weeks taking in the sun, the sights and the bikes of Barcelona, The Bicycle Safari has once again packed its trunks and headed back up to cold old Nottingham England.

And what better way to celebrate being back in what used to be the centre of bicycle production in Britain than a classic Raleigh racing bike.

Nice vintage bicycle graphics on the seat tube.

Vintage lettering and the usual bicycle logos.

And a nice welcome back to blogging the old, interesting and rad bikes sitting around rusting up the streets!

Rabeneick vintage bicycle

2010-12-02T10:31:00.001-08:00

Another day, another new brand. Rabeneick today who are a German firm. Raising ever more questions about the migration of national brands of bicycles around Europe.

Faded and damaged vintage logos.

A practical basket on the back.

Motoconfort is a classic French bicycle

2010-11-29T15:16:00.000-08:00

For being in Barcelona, can't say I've spotted many Spanish bicycles. A new brand today, the Motoconfort of France.

Nice lugged frame.
The usual vintage bicycle logos.
Pretty tidy bike!

Missouri makes a bicycle

2010-11-26T12:25:00.000-08:00

A short one today. This lettering was on an un-remarkable 90's mountain bike, and was even missing its front wheel.

Despite these shortcomings, what a nice bit of lettering for the strangely titles Missouri bicycle!

Bicycle Registration Plate

2010-11-24T15:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a bit of an unusual one. Someone with a registration number for the bicycle! Now I know this must be common practice in a few countries round the globe, but not ones that the Bicycle Safari has gone to visit yet! So seeing a plated little 20 inch wheeled folder in the middle of Barcelona was an interesting find!

The date on the bicycle number plate is from 1978, so doesn't seem like they're keeping up with their links to the system!

It's sitting on a very neat little folding bike, nicely customized.

Especially with this strange little skull sticker, which I've spotted on a few bikes over here in Barcelona. Anyone know where it's from?

Peugeot Mirage in Barcelona

2010-11-23T02:42:00.000-08:00

More from Barcelona! Here's a good old vintage Peugeot for you to sink your teeth into! The Peugeot Mirage.

Looks like it's been subtly modified by the owner, with a few stickers here and there.
Like these!
But the great old vintage bike logos are still there shining brightly in the Spanish sun. Also note the strangely square back tyre, very odd. A good old Peugeot bicycle anyway though.

Union Holland Flamingo 22 Vintage Bicycle Logos

2010-11-19T07:56:00.000-08:00

So here's another dose of some vintage bicycle logos for you. Ironically for being in Barcelona at the moment, here's a dutch city bike! Made by Union Holland (I think) and called the Flamingo 22 it's a pretty standard small wheeled city shopper bike, but with some standard pretty graphics and bike logos.

Unionised bicycle production is the best bicycle production.

It's been maintained by the Vakhandel Service! Who for their love of spark plugs, are perhaps not the most appropriate people for the job.

Sweet little detail on the 20 inch fenders.

A little Dutch bike in Barcelona!

Corbetta Fixed Gear with Lovely Lettering

2010-11-17T01:50:00.001-08:00

The Bicycle Safari has become pretty focused on older bikes recently. It's not always been this way. Previous spots include a quite architectural full carbon mountain bike, bikes stolen from a city renting schemes and even a nice garage for a bicycle. So let's get a bit modern and have a look at this Corbetta fixie!

Ok, so what really made me look at it was the lettering down the seat tube!

And a nice Corbetta head badge to boot.

Modern single speed fun, not sure how long those white tyres will last though!

Bicycle Safari is Bound for Barcelona

2010-11-15T00:39:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of the Bicycle Safari, it's no good sitting around waiting for bicycles to come to you. So for the last week the Bicycle Safari equipment has been packed into steamer trunks, we've donned our pith helmets and jetted off to Barcelona to bring you a slice of bicycle culture from a another fruit of the world.

It's a great place!

What's more is the prevalence of cycling as a form of transport means there's plenty of interesting and destroyed bicycles sitting around on the street corners. It's interesting the motorcycles are also very popular though, so I do wonder if there's a upward scale people go through in life from their bicycle, to a scooter towards their goal of a litre class motorbike.

But's lets start this Barcelona special the way we will continue. Here's an awesome bicycle side car being used to ferry a presumably blind dog around! Never heard of the Amadeu brand before, but then I've never actually seen a bicycle side car before either. Massive problems in terms of cornering, rolling resistance and being as wide as a small car, I presume. But offset nicely by just how cool this colour coordinated outfit looks. Great stuff

Carlton Racer is 'Race Proved' and proud

2010-11-12T08:28:00.000-08:00

This is a vintage Carlton racing bike that I spotted on the streets of Nottingham. But now you're going to need to click on the picture below.

That's because it's rad. It's a really really great little logo. This Carlton is 'RACE PROVED' and it is proud, as it should be, about it. Awesome.

Throw in some classic lettering on the down tube.
A busy little headbadge.

Some little finishing touches like this cool little 'C' logo'd seat post clamp bolt, and the elegant brake cable mount, and then you've got a super stylish vintage racing bike. Bike designers take note, this is how it's done.

Premierelle Line Peugeot Logos

2010-11-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

Peugeot bicycles are always popular here on The Bicycle Safari. Usually because they have some super nice feature like this unbelievably pink Peugeot from a few weeks back, or this light green Peugeot with a tiny little front rack that I spotted in Sweden one time.

Back in Nottingham, this black Peugeot popped up at one of my usual haunts.

It's the Premierelle! Erm, which is nice! Well at least they wrote it in a nice way.

Actually they also made it in a nice way, with their new 'Peugeot Direct Brazing System'! Which as you can see, does actually make for some nice tube joins. I guess this is Peugeot making a bold step away from the world of lugged bicycle frames.

And stepping closer to some funky 1980's graphics.

A Peugeot Premierelle. Have a click here to see the rest of the Peugeot bikes that have been collected here on The Bicycle Safari.

Locking bicycle fork

2010-11-08T07:34:00.001-08:00

I've seen one or two of these around before, but not taken a picture of them. I presume there's some kind of flaw to their design that makes them massively dangerous.

But if there isn't, they do seem a smart way to lock a front wheel. Perhaps eliminating the need to carry two locks with you.
Quite a neat bicycle overall.

Bikes reflectors good, three reflectors better!

2010-11-03T13:47:00.000-07:00

On a simple numerical basis, this rider has upped their game with the addition of two extra front reflectors.

Can't really fault that.
Off to find some reflectors!

A literal fork crown

2010-11-01T09:34:00.001-07:00

A U with a crown. Beyond that... I know nothing.

Triumph 20 with matching luggage

2010-10-30T03:35:00.000-07:00

Delayed from yesterday when I was mad busy, here's a little Triumph 20 shopper bike. These 20 inch wheeled bikes were made popular back in the day, and really they make a lot of sense. By having these smaller wheels you do reduce the potential top speed of the bike, but with that trade off you get much better acceleration from a stop and a reduction in the force needed to progress along at lower speeds. Ideal for city use then! It's why the folding bikes being made now by the likes of Brompton and Dahon with the smaller wheels make so much sense.

I really appreciate the matching luggage that came with this old Triumph.

A sweet little 20 inch rear fender with that nice round reflector...

And the usual awesome Triumph bicycle logo!

Some nice lettering...

And a claim of being a registered design, tops it off!

Raleigh Criterium Racing Criteria

2010-10-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

How about this for a racing criteria, you need to have sweet retro bike graphics all over your bike or you can't come and race it.

This Raleigh Criterium looks smart, I like the continuation between the stripes on the top tube and the seat tube. Neat.
Raleigh racing showing their stuff.

Here is the Raleigh Criterium.

And here's a photo which should have been awesome if I had taken it properly and in focus! Yuck! Anyway, following on from the 333 Special Carbon frame from Monday, here's the classic 501 Reynolds sticker, and a colour coordinated mountain bike pedal on this vintage Raleigh racing bike.

333 Special Carbon Tubing Graphic

2010-10-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

Total lazy post today. I didn't even bother taking a picture of the whole bike because it was nothing special, and neither is 333 Special Carbon Tubing anymore I guess. Still rad graphics from a time when industrial stuff had a more vocal place in culture.

Commuter Wars IV

2010-10-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

I've spotted some bizarre bikes being used as commuters before, like this Swedish steel three speed with aero bars, a fully carbon designer mountain bike and a sit-up-straight town bike with an aero cut-out. But this is perhaps a bit more understandable, because presumably this person bought a bike to compete in time trial or triathlon events, and then realised the really just wanted to cycle around town.

So they hop on their painfully psychedelic 1990's bike saddle.

Grab the fully prostrating aero bars, finished in tasteful camouflage bar tape.

And blast their way to the shops on their time trial bike! Awesome.

Beige Bicycle Logos by Triumph

2010-10-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

So The Bicycle Safari has become a bit focused upon vintage bike graphics of late, but with these kind of vintage bicycle logos sitting around on the pavements it's hard to resist. Take a look at these I spotted on an old 'Triumph Traffic Master' bicycle made right here in Nottingham.

A rad badge up on the front.

Some suitably brown graphics on the down tube.

A pretty incomprehensible logo for the Traffic Master name on the seat tube.
But overall it's a classic bit of brown and beige bicycle heritage. Extremely practical and suitably simple, my only improvement might be some hub gears.

Huret Heart Shaped Bike

2010-10-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

I'm getting back into my old bad habit of not taking a picture of the bike these bits were stuck to, but I don't think it matters too much in this case, and the details are the best bits.

These Huret tube shifters rest upon the cutest little heart shaped tube stop I've ever seen! I don't know if I even saw it when I took the picture, as I was pretty interested in the lettering on the shifters themselves, but WHAT a nice touch it is.

And a shot of the rim logo for good measure!

Devon Flag Flies Downwind

2010-10-16T03:00:00.000-07:00

Had to rack my brain a bit to remember what flag this is. But it's Devon, one of the English counties. Nice idea to have some flags on your bike. Regular posting schedule will resume next week.

Harry Quinn Quality Logo Win

2010-10-14T03:18:00.000-07:00

How's this for a quality logo! Let's see what's going on here then, we've got: a crown, the helmet from a suit of armour, a shield, some nice lettering, a scroll and some kind of plant in the background! Haha what a great logo from Harry Quinn.

Perfect lettering!

Some fun touches on the seat stays, and a nice seat post just sticking out of the frame there.

What an awesome bike!

Raleigh Racer Equipe Equipped Rationally

2010-10-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

Another day another Raleigh bicycle from here in Nottingham. This one doesn't have the awesome vintage logos we've seen on others, but does have a questionable teal and pink colour scheme.

Nice bit of banding on the top tube.

Questionable bit of colour coordination on the bars, with that vintage Raleigh badge in the middle.

The cleanest bar set up ever

2010-10-08T04:06:00.001-07:00

Spotted this and had to share. Clearly a new bar tape job, because I doubt a white tape can last long in the wild whilst staying this clean. By while it does, let's enjoy how nice looking it is.

The bike also benefits from some vintage Campagnolo down tube shifters which look awesome next to that nice lug work.

The rest of it is ok too, but the brilliance is in the details here.

The Falcon Road Bike

2010-10-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

Check out this Falcon head badge. Absolutely awesome! What's going on here... a fire, a falcon, olympic rings, some trees and a signature! Wow! Kicking rad.

Nice foil logo on the seat tube!

The Falcon logo is pretty cool too.
Not brilliantly locked up, but I think the owner does care for the bike and that's really nice.

Perfectly pulverised Puch

2010-10-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

Spotted this old Puch bicycle in one of my local bike racks. What didn't strike me at the time, but seems ever more bizarre the more I look at this, are how many little chips there are in the paint! I can only assume that someone regularly parks it under a cliff face where many small stones fall off daily. Or perhaps the owner throws little stones at the bike, to... find it?

Whatever the reason, they haven't managed to erode this cool stripe from the seat tube yet.

Whether they should remove what I can only describe as this epic metal pie plate is perhaps more personal choice, I think it's a bit rad in a funny way.

Here is this funny, heavily chipped, beige Puch bike with a massive pie plate.

Perhaps the pinkest Peugeot pushbike pictured

2010-10-01T06:32:00.001-07:00

Unbelievably pink! This catches your eye from a good 100 meters away.

An unfortunately blurry overall picture as I didn't really want to stand in the rain photographing a bicycle carefully.

The Aerospace Contour - Raleigh Pulsar

2010-09-30T01:48:00.000-07:00

This 'aerospace contour' sticker is living on an oldish Raleigh Pulsar, I don't know the story behind it, but wow do I suddenly want a space shuttle graphic on my own bike.

It comes with the usual guarantees of supposedly quality tubing, in this case 18 - 23 controlled carbon.
Regular viewers will notice this has been locked up in exactly the same place as that classic Raleigh town bike I posted the other day. That's one thing I'm noticing that's different between Nottingham and Lund. Whereas in Lund there was a mass of locked bikes that sat indefinitely in the racks around the town, bikes in Nottingham move. After a certain time in the evening, most bikes have disappeared off with their owner (well you hope with their owner). Perhaps it is just a prevalence of bike theft that keeps the locked bike population down?

Raleigh Vogue is hardly posing

2010-09-28T03:29:00.000-07:00

Raleigh Vogue could have been a name for some super stylish bike...

and perhaps this was when it first came out. But the passage of time hasn't been very kind to the style of these graphics.

So perhaps less vogue, more retro.

The Classic Nottingham Raleigh Bike

2010-09-27T03:52:00.000-07:00

I've been talking about the kind of bikes that you find in Nottingham. The old Raleigh factory works means that there's this huge amount of classic British steel sitting around in the local bike racks. I spotted this one, and just thought, what a great example of the breed!

This little detail on the front fender is great. I've seen a few examples of brands putting little mascots or emblems on the front fender and this has that same feel.
This era of Raleigh's all carry the Made in Nottingham badge somewhere. Even if it wasn't always 100% true!
A very golden version of the Raleigh head tube logo.
From Nottingham, this bike was taken to London to be sold by E.Q. Bates cycles, and then later brought back up to it's place of origin haha.
Some casual pinstriping.
And there we have it, classic British Nottingham Raleigh.

The Marlboro Stiletto is neither smoke nor shoe

2010-09-24T00:40:00.000-07:00

Another day, another bicycle manufacturer. Today's spot is this Marlboro Stiletto which ticks some new boxes for me. Seems to be following a pretty classic British bicycle design which is always made a little better when it's presented in black.

Here's the Marlboro head badge, the addition of the front reflector seems a modern after-thought.
A simple chain guard.
And here's that strange name, the Stiletto. Maybe it'd make more sense if this was a women's framed bike?

Moulton and Land Rover collaboration

2010-09-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

Ok well maybe not a full on collaboration, but a little more in the cooperative spirit than the Bugatti and Pininfarina rip offs, that I've posted before. Land Rover has licensed their brand for use on bicycle quite a lot, but I hadn't heard of a Land Rover Moulton before I stumbled across this one in Nottingham.

The design of Moultons' is brilliant, the amount of thought that went into them was fantastic. Anyone interested in the work behind them should really take a look at this lecture that Alex Moulton gave a while back.

Here's that suprising Land Rover decal.
And here's that proud Moulton head badge. On a side note, you can see what the owner really values in life by the size of the small cable locking the front wheel, and the massive lock on the Brookes saddle haha.

The Bicycle Safari travels north to Nottingham

2010-09-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

I've been moving around quite a bit recently, from Lund, to Stockholm and then to London, and where I go, The Bicycle Safari comes with me! But now once again, I announce that bicycle hunting duties are being shifted on to their next somewhat more permanent home!

The Safari is off to Nottingham, England. Now this might not seem the most exciting place to take a Bicycle Safari, but the initial impressions of Robin Hood and a forest are a bit misleading. Nottingham was recently declared the least car dependent city in England, and part of this (as well as plentiful buses and trams) is because of the amount of people cycling around. Coming from Lund, Sweden where 45% of the inhabitants commute every day by bicycle it's hardly going to set the world on fire, but it's a good start.

The second reason why Nottingham is going to be interesting is it's historic role as a bicycle producing town. For nearly 100 years the Raleigh bicycle company produced bikes here, and quite a lot of them are still sitting around the streets! Even when The Safari was in Denmark, this Raleigh popped up with the 'Made in Nottingham' badge on it...

So this is what there is to be found in Nottingham by the bucket load. It should be good!

BSA blast from the past

2010-09-12T03:03:00.001-07:00

Last week I posted this BSA Sport bicycle that I saw chained up in London. I mentioned the heritage of BSA as the Birmingham Small Arms company, but strangely it wasn't until a few days later that I remembered another BSA that I was familiar with. My BSA.

This was in fact the last bike of my childhood, that last mountain bike of your young teens that for a lot of people signals the end of the cycling life, but for me led to a transition into road bikes and other bits and pieces. This particular BSA isn't of any notable vintage though, it seems to come at a time when BSA had a become a subdivision of Raleigh bikes, although still being manufactured in England. The head badge is a sticker, and the whole experience is a bit underwhelming.

The local bike shop did include a nice badge of their own though.
So here it is, the last bike of my youth and a bit of a sad end to the BSA brand.

Kalkhoff becomes an alkhof

2010-09-10T04:31:00.000-07:00

Oh the problems of photographing tubes. This Kalkhoff vintage bicycle logo has become a bit less of an obvious brand.

BSA Sport Bicycle

2010-09-06T03:53:00.000-07:00

A company called the Birmingham Small Arms Company might not seem the most obvious manufacturer of bicycles and motorbikes, but they did used to be very good at it.

Maybe this large racing bike being ridden by a not quite so large rider isn't their crowning glory.
But they did sort the lettering out nicely.

Beautiful Peugeot bicycles of the world

2010-09-03T06:34:00.001-07:00

What better way to start The Bicycle Safari's stay in London than with the distant relative of a bike we saw back in Lund! The wonderfully green twin sitting on the streets of Sweden sported a fun little front rack and even stylish brakes, but this London version is a lot more straight forward.

I think the stuck on lug patterns are super kitsch, but they do add the bike. Especially with such a nice Peugeot badge up front.

The Peugeot lettering is doing better than the poor fender which seems to have suffered a fold!

'Record du Monde' , a world record... in, something?

A nice touch on this English cousin is the use of the classic Sturmey Archer three speed hub and shifter. These are everywhere in Britain, and makes the Peugeot a little more Anglified.

Living on the mean streets of London.

The Bicycle Safari is on the move again

2010-09-02T06:58:00.000-07:00

When the Bicycle Safari first set up camp and started hunting old, interesting or gross bicycles found on the streets, the action was focused on the southern Swedish town of Lund. This was great, because it was full of rusting old heaps of bicycles.

Next up was a little trip to the Danish capital of Köpenhamn (Copenhagen) where we spotted an old English bicycle and that was pretty rad too. There were also a lot of super interesting modern urban bicycles, but I didn't take any pictures of those, so you'll just have to follow the link in the Copenhagen post if you want to look at those.

After a quick stop back in Lund again, The Safari ventured north to the Swedish capital of Stockholm, where this Bianchi was a nice spot, and this Husqvarna proved popular.

But now... now, we take to the sky and to a whole new island. The Bicycle Safari is setting up it's tents, unpacking it's ~~rifles~~ cameras and taking a look around the city of London.

Vintage Purple Puch Bicycle

2010-08-26T04:02:00.001-07:00

Well maybe not very purple, maybe more maroon.

Only when I was resizing these to post did I notice that this particular model seems to have something called 'Weinmann Semi Automatic' brakes? Or perhaps just the cable adjustment is semi automatic, either way, it does not seem to be something that has caught on. A little light googling suggests because it leads to uneven brake usage over time, and therefore crashing! Good luck to this rider then.

Here it is, in it's up till now un-crashed state.

The Monark Sport Racer

2010-08-23T00:23:00.001-07:00

Well, I think it's the Sport Racer. Obviously the logo is showing some signs of wear and tear but the awesome band of Monark crowns is still looking... awesome. Whether it's a 'racer' is really a different question altogether.

The great Monark vertical badge gets a look in on the down tube. Which has been mentioned, quite a few, times before on this blog. But it still looks good, so here is another variation.
The Svenskt kvalitetsfabrikat logo also pops up on the seat tube. It's a shame it's so torn up. This time it reads 'Svenskt kvalitetscykel' - 'A Swedish quality bicycle'. It's great the pride that used to be behind the manufacturing process for these old bikes.

How to make a retro LED bike light

2010-08-19T09:02:00.001-07:00

It's quite easy to come across very nice looking vintage bicycle lights. They usually are a part of an old dynamo system, which if working properly is a great addition to a bike, but often are completely non-functional. This is a step-by-step guide of how to convert these old dynamo lamps into modern LED battery powered lights for next to nothing. The conversion below cost me only £4 (€5) as I already had the old lamp from an even older bike I used to own.

Here's my chosen lamp. It's a sleek little streamlined thing! Originally this was made for a little 3w lamp bulb, but now it's getting something a little better installed.

The old bolt for attaching the dynamo wire will come in handy for placing a new switch on the body.

I'm going to install the innards of this £3 LED battery torch into the lamp.

Then use this little switch as the new controller.

After removing the old bolt that the dynamo wire used to attach to, the small switch fitted surprisingly well into the hole with no adjustments.

The torch has a switch built into the screw on end cap, this is no use for the new light it's going into, so it's going to be wired with the new switch instead. The black part is the battery holder for 3 AAA batteries.

One wire goes on the end of the battery holder.

And then to the switch.

I broke my trusty soldering iron out, and made a bit of a mess of it as I'm not very good at soldering! But it doesn't matter, because this is too easy to go wrong!

A second wire is soldered onto the other end of the battery holder.

I then hacked off the body of the torch to make it fit into the new housing.

Again by some strange luck, the head of the torch fitted perfectly onto the reflector of the vintage bike lamp.

The second wire I soldered onto the battery holder was then soldered onto the spring inside the torch head that the battery holder used to press against.

A third wire goes from the switch...

To the torch head body, which acts as the second connector in this torch's design (your mileage my vary). I drilled a small hole in the torch head to make sure the wire stays in place.

Done!

It lives! I was still genuinely happy not to have broken anything.

I covered everything in a bit of hot glue to reinforce it, and make it a little bit water proof.

The torch head got glued in place.

Then everything placed inside the old light body.

The switch installed nicely.

And there we have it, a super simple, crazy cheap vintage LED bike light to go on your ride. Keeps you safe and stylish.

I made a little clamp out of some random connectors I had from an old chain case, to give the light a test fit on my old Raleigh 3 speed. Overall I think it looks pretty great!

I will need to make a better bracket for it later as this didn't hold it very tightly, I'll probably also make it with quick release too so I don't get super sad if someone steals it sometime on the street. If I was making it again, I'd mount the LEDs further into the reflector to spread the beam out a bit more, but it still provides a very bright light to get you seen.

Good luck with your own light! It is honestly quite hard to get it wrong.

The Puch Calypso Bicycle

2010-08-19T03:44:00.000-07:00

Perhaps Puch was trying to soften its image a bit when it brought out the Calypso bicycle.

Perhaps the friendly happy 'Calypso' graphic was meant to make the bike extra fun and appealing to young people?
The flowery surround for the normal Puch badge, meant to soften the edges, invite you to have fun?

Really though it just looks like another very sensible, reasonable and straight forward steel framed 3-speed. We've seen another sensible, reasonable steel Puch on the Safari before and this one is just as nice, and I do like the Calypso graphics really!

Husqvarna Bicycle Stockholm Survivor

2010-08-17T05:08:00.000-07:00

The Bicycle Safari has had a bit of a revamp! What do you think? Let me know if it all looks broken to you! Once you've finished having a poke around why not take a gander at this old Husqvarna bicycle sitting in the rain on the streets of Stockholm.

A lovely text of the Husqvarna logo for the seat tube.

A bit of a ratty badge up front.

But overall a pretty nice looking sensible steel framed bike for an abusive life on the streets of the Swedish capital. This particular one seems to a civilian version of the old style Swedish military bicycle that is still massively popular with people in Sweden. Husqvarna were involved in their production in the past (although completely out of bike making now) and if you have a look around their website here you can have a look at some of their old bicycle adverts from the 50's, great stuff!

The Pininfarina Designed Bicycle

2010-08-16T05:57:00.000-07:00

Sticking with the green theme of the last post, I came across this Pininfarina designed mock full suspension bike just sitting around on the streets of Stockholm the other day. That's right, just like the Bugatti bicycle I found last year in Lund, here we have another big brand name beingused on bicycles.

Unfortunately I was saw excited about seeing this (or desperate to get out of the rain) that I was shaking my camera with anticipation whilst taking these.

Is this a Pininfarina Bicycle? Well, no. These bikes seem to happen when Chinese bike factories are producing no name bikes and are a bit stuck for what stickers to attach to them. Just like the Bugatti bike below (or here for the full post), the bike manufacturer will put on a big name brand without much fear of reprisal from the lifted brand as the production might only last for one run or the difficulties in pursuing a trans-national intellectual property case are too great compared to the return.

Either way, sometimes you end up spotting some ratty Pininfarina pretend full sus'ser or a battered Bugatti in the bike rack, and I think that's pretty funny.

I see a red bike and I want to paint it... green.

2010-08-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

An advertising bike I saw in Stockholm. I take it that it's green to attract people's attention, but whether that works beyond people who look at bikes for obscure blogs is rather unclear.

The light is rendered quite useless by the process.

The job done on the Monark badge reminds me of the pink King bicycle I saw ages and ages ago. Except a bit more thoroughly!
A strange fate for a bicycle.

Stockholm Special - Bianchi Beater

2010-08-09T14:14:00.001-07:00

The Bicycle Safari is doing a lot of shifting around, travelling the globe, repositioning its cameras and general moving about at the moment. Today we come from the capital of Sweden, Stockholm where you can find a delightful range of old bikes, gracefully rotting away in the street.

Here's a fairly modern Bianchi city commuter.

Bianchi's one of my favourite bikes brands even if this isn't a stellar example of the breed.

"Foderi Forcella Bianchi Formula Columbus", no idea what it means, but no doubt someone will end up on this page after searching that phrase some time, so if you are that person, hello to you.

BKC Bicycle Company

2010-08-01T02:13:00.000-07:00

Not the best logo ever, but I think it's improving with life in the wild.

Crescent Världsmästarcykeln

2010-07-19T03:16:00.000-07:00

The labels Världsmästarcykeln and Svenskt kvalitetsfabrikat pop up on quite a few of the older bicycles that have been made in Sweden. They do hold some cache in terms of the manufacturing process that's behind the bicycle. But mostly I think they're pretty funny for non Swedish speakers to try and type into google... 's...v..e.n..s...k...t... wait no, is that right?', even better when they then realise that to avoid Särskrivning the whole thing's got to be written as one word!

Vintage bicycle logos by the bucket load

2010-07-15T05:33:00.001-07:00

Ok so here's something a bit different from the usual collection of rad bicycles found on the streets of Sweden. This blog has become a bit focused on the graphics and logos that you find on these great old bikes, so why not celebrate that by actually turning them back into sweet graphics. Getting rid of the rust, scratches, abuse and grime that they face on the streets.

To appreciate where these are from click the link below them to see the original bike rusting and rotting away somewhere.

This red Monark goes back to when I first started collecting pictures of these bikes it remains one of my favourites.

Svenskt kvalitets fabrikat badges are always great to spot around.

Super simple but effective Fram king logo here.

This British Raleigh was seen on the Bicycle Safari expedition to Copenhagen earlier this year.

Again another less usual kind of logo from Weserkrone, but one that does really work for it's differences.

India also gets a look in, with this Hero cycle that somehow had made it from the subcontinent to the harsh streets of Sweden.

The Double Header

2010-07-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a rad Rex logo I spotted sitting around in Lund.

And here's a rad Mustang logo I spotted not so long after.

Because this is how they're living. Two lots of awesome all nestled up against each other.

The Crescent Positron

2010-07-07T16:54:00.000-07:00

Bicycle naming usually does not become extreme, you'll find a lot of 'city rider' or 'explorer' or maybe even a 'tour de luxe'. But in this case Crescent has broken new ground.

I had to look up what a Positron is, as my particle physics knowledge isn't too hot. But naming your new bicycle design after the anti-matter equivalent of the electron.... that's good work. Even better to have reached number 5 in this series!

The carnival leaves town

2010-07-05T11:43:00.000-07:00

I should have posted this when it was a bit more current, as the Lund Karneval finished a while back now. But after the tents had been packed up, the sideshows closed, the stages moved, the circus performers rounded up... one object got left behind.

Maybe it was used in some test your strength, or spin your speed challenge, maybe it was used to power something? Whatever its history, now it just sits next to a bush, unmovable and useless, but still looking happy.

Super Clean Signum

2010-06-30T03:54:00.000-07:00

Continuing the never ending list of small bicycle manufactures, let's take a look at this Signum bicycle.

What really stands out for me, is just how clean this bike is. Ok, so there's a few little dirt spots, but this would seem to be a very fair weather bicycle, one that probably hasn't seen the winter months.

But the best bit, the really great bit, is this awesome golf sticker.
The cycling equivalent of a 'I'd rather be playing golf' sticker?

The Bike Tube Logo Wallpaper Giveaway

2010-06-28T03:04:00.000-07:00

So here's something I thought I'd just give a try to. Seeing as the tube logos I get are all such similar sizes, why not put them together into one nice stripy picture? I've included it as 1024x768 and 1280x800. So just in case you have the same resolution monitor as me (or less), and want to make it your wallpaper (Yes you do!), enjoy! But otherwise it's just here to have a look at as a collective work of tubes.

Bicycle Welfare Checkup

2010-06-25T03:32:00.001-07:00

I posted about the bicycle drowning in snow during the long Swedish winter.

It didn't seem to be doing too well.

Well here's a spring time update for you.
Someone's picked it up, brushed it off, and left it in the bike stand to rot away in peace for many more months to come! It stands today as a celebration of the fact that even in a bicycle theft capital such as Lund, a really terrible bike will simply not be stolen.

Many Monarks make a Monark Museum

2010-06-23T06:05:00.001-07:00

Ok so this might not quite be a Monark museum yet, but the never-ending fascination with vintage Monark bicycles does persist, especially with examples like this just sitting round every corner.

Svenskt kvalitetsfabrikat is a label you see on quite a few of the older bikes in Sweden, usually accompanied by this awesome logo!

I even remembered to take a general picture of the bike!

NSU bike logo

2010-06-21T03:04:00.000-07:00

The Safari is a bit less punctual than usual at the moment, and for that, I am sorry.

Impala small wheeler

2010-06-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen an Impala around before, and it's always nice when you spot something new.

I really like the circle-triangle graphics its got.

Small wheels are a sensible thing, more on this later I think.

Bicycle Safari goes overland to Copenhagen

2010-06-16T03:58:00.001-07:00

Normally the Bicycle Safari posts from Lund, in southern Sweden. But in the spirit of a real safari we've been travelling recently. Taking the super massive Öresund Bridge over to Copenhagen (Köpenhamn) we travelled overland and took a look at the local bike scene whilst there.

The similarities to the very nearby Swedish towns was obvious, if more biased towards Danish brands. There were a lot of very interesting modern bikes knocking around, mixing modern design with being very practical city bikes. Very interesting stuff. Take a look at the Avenue bicycle company to get an idea of what I mean.

More interesting to The Safari side of things though was the proliferation of Nottingham built Raleigh bicycles. Not sure what the connection is, but Copenhagen is full of them. Here's a black Tourist De Luxe. Great English style!

From better times of British industry.

Old, gold, Puch bicycle

2010-06-10T00:54:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd give the spinning bar effect another go, so here's a rotating Puch for you. It turned out quite confusing to look at.

Murky Monark Bicycle graphics

2010-06-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

Monark are a bit of staple diet here on The Bicycle Safari. Their old graphics were pretty consistently good, as seen here and here. This is a rustier example, but with some great striping on the front fender.

That fender.

The vertical Monark text, with a physical crown on top.

The whole package.

Two Bell Special

2010-06-07T14:49:00.000-07:00

Two nice looking bike bells I've got left over from other bikes I've posted before.

A lion from a Peugeot.

A crown from the Brilliant bicycle.
Not forgetting the brightly coloured tri colour one I saw a while back.

SCA is keeping you clean

2010-06-04T13:53:00.001-07:00

Every bike here in Lund is equipped with two full size fenders/mudguards (depending where you're from in the world). Perfectly sensible, and makes people more willing to ride whatever the weather. Especially useful when everything gets covered in snow a lot!

A DBS gets moving

2010-06-02T07:18:00.000-07:00

Here's something a little different. Well a nice DBS logo to start with.

But sometimes it's difficult to photograph a logo on a round tube, so here's something new I thought I'd try. A little animated spin of the tube! It's an animated gif, so your mileage may vary depending on browser what-nots and computer flim-flams. Give it a click anyway.

Ironically the bike in real life is not moving. New saddle time.

Shiney stallion you are a Mustang Bicycle

2010-06-01T04:06:00.000-07:00

Foil printed champion horse logo. That's great.

The Brilliant Bicycle Company Logo

2010-05-31T05:03:00.001-07:00

How nice to call your bicycle company, 'The Brilliant Bicycle Company'! Maybe a little optimistic though, as other than the smart looking logos, there wasn't much else going for this fairly standard womens framed commuter.

I forgot to take an overall picture of the Brilliant bike, so here's another shot of Friday's Perfekt bicycle instead! An ideal sticker for your next cross border road trip!

Commuter Wars III

2010-05-28T03:04:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned the strange bikes people decide to commute on before. Whether they're 'hip hop' carbon mountain bikes, or aero cut city crawlers, they seem to take it a bit seriously.

A three speed with aero bars on a high rise stem seems to fit the broken mould.

The Perfekt Norwegian

2010-05-27T02:54:00.000-07:00

Special for today is a Norwegian bicycle. This Perfekt de Luxe proudly states its Norsk origins.
I figured I should also post pictures of the whole bicycle more often. Less visually impressive, but gives a better idea of what's going on in the streets of Lund, and where I find these rad logos.

Supreme Monark

2010-05-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

An old Monark is always a good place to spot a great old bicycle logo like this. Deterioration at its best!