The Sneaker Co Bicycle Installer

Ok, so I might have underestimated the volume of a bumpout today. Just managed to fit this in the bike and travel a few kms to discard

The fashion capital, ha.
Anyone heard the Kid Carpet song "I don't believe"?

I don't believe fashion you get from the shops
I don't believe robbers I think it's the cops
Coz they've been telling porkies, telling me lies
I can't believe that's a burger, and it's chips, not fries

There's plenty more where that came from. Explore his work, I implore you.

Anniversary trail an amazing ride on the Silver Bullitt. If you haven't ridden Chadstone to Chandler, do yourself a favour.

The blue belt drive Spot doesn't get much of a mention on this page, but today it proved its worth by getting me to Waverley Park and back for a pissant little job for Mirvac. A beautiful way to travel.
Remember VFL Park? It's surrounded by townhouses now, but still a place of traning for the Hawks. That was the site for today's job.
So, why did I ride the best part of 90km for this? So many reasons, but my philosophy is that if you use a car to get to places when there is an alernative that doesn't involve burning fossil fuels, you're just a stupid bogan stuck in the past. Car travel is getting slower as congestion increases, and why move 2 tonnes of steel when there is no need. Get with the program, and ride creek and river trails instead of slow tollways

When the terrain exposes the limits of the cargo bike. For those of you unfamiliar with the Main Yarra Trail, there's a series of steps near Abbotsford. With a regular bicycle it's no problem to negotiate, but with this beast it bottoms out big time. Too heavy to continue safely I thought, but laughed as a jogger came up the steps and wondered what was going on. I had to back out and take the long road

Tuesday morning it's back on the Bullitt to Docklands to help make a new office space compliant, that's all. Boring job, but a nice way to travel

Monday morning I get up just a little hungover after a Neighbourhood Sunday Xmas BBQ but feel better riding the amazing Silver Bullitt to the MCG to update the Baggy Green list at the NSM with 6 new debutants! Holland, Ferguson, Mennie, Handscomb, Maddinson and Renshaw. Let's hope at least two of them hang around. I like Renshaw especially as test opener.
Then it's off to Collingwood for a small window covering, then straight back to the 'G to add a little sparkle to the carpark lift areas. Do you know that for every cigarette you smoke, God takes two minutes off your life and gives it to Keith Richards?

Hey, far too long between drinks for this page I know. I've been out and about heaps lately on the cargo bike, lazy with the facadebook entries, but loving every second of the experience.
So today I loaded up the Silver Bullitt with drills and other tools to head to the thriving growth corridor of South Yarra. Stuck a few signs up for whaddaya know, another poorly built (but marketed as boutique) apartment block. Headed home via the lovely but seriously undulating Yarra Boulevard. Spat me out on the Chandler Hwy where I had a great interaction with a driver who allowed me to change lanes, closely followed by what should have been an innocuous take off from the lights across Heidelberg Rd, but turned out to be the prick driver in the Land Cruiser practically running me off the road.
Of course I caught up with him at the rail crossing, coz if you don't know it by now, in peak hour even a cargo bike is quicker than a car. We had words through the open passenger side window, and he said "look at the bike", I said it's no wider than your average, he seemed to think that he had right of way, I told him he needed to reconsider his approach, but admittedly, not quite in those words. I'm not going to open the can of worms which is driver education in relation to cyclists, bacause, as we all know, it's kinda Raffety's Rules right now. You can paint all the lines you like on the road, but drivers just do what they did before the lines were there.......
Half an hour later my nerves were settled by a Coopers Stout traveller from the always cheap Psarakos Market, Thornbury. BTW, the Poultry butcher there sells great cyrovaced kangaroo from Orroroo, gonna marinate it for a BBQ Saturday night...... blah blah

Sourcing this new machine was a small but extended saga, but I gotta say well and truly friggin worth it. The new and improved Sneaker Bike is now fully functional, and such a dream to ride. Words kinda fail me sometimes, but damn, I'll try to find them. The engineering and design of this is incredible. You can carry weight without really feeling it, as it rides so smoothly. The brakes stop you on a dime. And, just like the old bike, people look. It's always hilarious to see tradies, especially older types, staring at this strange contraption going past, and I think most of the time they don't even know they're staring coz they've grown up with trucks and utes and horsepower and the alternative boggles their tiny brains.
I love it, and for now it's a great way to get around this decreasingly beautiful city

You can never have too many bikes in the family

So after a long day in Hawthorn last Thursday, I nearly managed to get home before dark. This was the scene down a backstreet in East Brunswick as I neared my destination, passing my new favourite house on the way

And so I ride the box bike to Albert Park last Wednesday so I can help some decent people make a living out of a horrendous event.
Enough said.
On Thursday I ride the same incredible machine to Hawthorn to help the amazing Rowena Martinich in her artistic endeavours.