FIVE REASONS TO GO OUT AND RIDE YOUR BIKE RIGHT NOW
Ever feel like you’ve lost the motivation to ride? Got bored of your same old commute? Think it might be time to take up a new hobby? Well put down those rollerblades my friend, I’m here to tell you not to lose faith . There are plenty of reasons to spin those pedals one more time.
Cyclists live forever
That’s right, you read that correctly . It turns out some Dutch geniuses at the University of Utrecht have found that cycling for one hour actually extends your life by the same amount of time . Which by our elementary school maths means if you never stop cycling your heart will never stop ticking neither.
Weather
You know what, I bet if you pulled back those curtains and poked your head out of your dank bedroom for two seconds you’d realise it’s a bloody beautiful day . And even if it isn’t, there’s nothing more fun than riding in the rain. Get out there and feel the wind on your face.
Glorious day for a bike ride, eh, old sport?
Today is the first day of the first week of the rest of the month of your life . Or something.
You’ll only get one shot at this thing called life and as our man Elvis says in the video below, time is precious .
Trackstands .
#trackstands
Friend !
Remember, friends you make on the internet are not real friends . Get out and start rolling with your IRL wolfpack. Like these guys, wouldn’t you want to be mates with them?
CHILL BIKES RIDE JAMS #1
Sometimes you need a little bit of extra encouragement to get out on your bike, so we put together this playlist, guaranteed to put a smile on your face . Turn it up and hit the road.
MOVIE NIGHT – LINE OF SIGHT
You might not have heard of Lucas Brunelle, the crazy-ass American bike rider and film-maker, but every time you watch a GoPro video of someone hitting an impossibly tight gap in traffic – you’re watching something he had the idea for first . Before GoPro exploded in popularity, ole Lucas was out on his bike filming other riders as they screamed round city streets all over the world.
His movie Line of Sight came out in 2012 and is still, five years on, the closest thing to the pure adrenaline of riding a fixie on city street you can find on the small screen . Here’s the trailer, but if you want more be sure to buy the digi download for a bargain-basement $5 FROM HIS SITE .
WHY RIDE FIXED?
At Chill Bikes, we make some of the best fixed gear bikes in great colour schemes at more-than-decent prices, but why should you buy a fixie in the first place ?
1) Style
Fixies look great – it’s undeniable. The low cost of the few parts it takes to build a fixie means you can mix things up and experiment with colours, materials and shapes of the components .
Fixed gear bikes allow you to customise your ride
2) Simplicity
You pedal, the bike goes . Stop pedalling, the bike stops. No fancy levers or fiddly sprockets – the fixie is simplicity itself. You won’t find a fixie rider saying any of this nonsense !
3) Price
Have you got £12k to spare on a first-rate road bike with a carbon-fibre frame ? No, me neither. At a couple of hundred quid, the Chill Bikes Original is all you need to get on the road and riding, without any of the gimmicks.
4) Training
Riding fixed makes you a better rider – you’ll train harder (because you can’t switch down into granny gear every time you hit the hills) and your pedalling style will be smoother too .
5) Originality
The first bikes ever made were fixed gear. They’re the original and the best.
6) Connection
Riding a fixie is a feeling like no other . The bike becomes an extension of your body, rather than just a tool to get from A-to-B. You’ll actually start to become one with it over time – the more you ride, the stronger the connection.
RED HOOK IS COMING TO TOWN!
For petrol heads it’s the Grand Prix, for extreme sports its the X-games, but in the fixed gear world there’s one competition that towers above all the others – the Red Hook Crit .
Started in Brooklyn by a bunch of bike riders and cycle messengers, Red Hook began its life as a birthday party for founder David Trimble. Since 2008 it has grown to become the biggest street bike racing event in the world, with rounds in Barcelona, Milano and now, finally, London !
This video should get you pumped for 11 July! Let’s just hope the weather is better than it was at Brooklyn 2014.