Bikes: the new face of bling in China

Many new bike shops, both high and low end are prospering in my city, the following report backs that up with what is happening in Beijing. Apologies is you do not have Great fire wall avoiding tech where you are, I have transcribed the piece below.

Source: Reuters TV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxgKGVxzTcM

"A symbol of china's past, once the bike was the only way of getting around. China today pedals to a different pace: Bikes are out and cars are the new status symbol, but for a growing number of uber-wealthy Chinese bikes are making comeback. But these aren't your ordinary working-class wheels.

Jane Lanhee Lee Reporting: "To get to know the luxury tastes I'm going to go biking with Yu Yiqun. Yi runs a successful ad agency, he told me hw would come meet me on his cheapest single gear bike. This is it a handcrafted Italian Gios, it's worth nearly $2,000 US. He's not sure which of his 30 something bikes is the most expensive, but several of the frames alone cost well over $30,000 US".
Yu Yiqun: "For people who don't understand bikes they ask 'are you out of your mind?' 'You could buy a car for the price of this bike!' We just have different ways of looking at things.

Cycle brands are flocking to China to offer its rich the latest in cycling bling. Iconic British folding bike, Brompton just opened its first store over here (China). A couple of these (Brompton folding bikes) will set you back a couple of thousand dollars. Alex Moulton is known as the Rolls Royce of Bikes, Joseph Lee runs a luxury bike shop in Hong Kong and is expanding into Beijing to meet the growing demand.

Joseph Lee: "We once had a customer looking for a top end bike who walked into our shop with two questions; the first was: 'Is this the best brand?' The second was 'Is this the best model?' So it's no surprise fashion house Shanghai Tang, BMW or Ferrari are enjoying the ride, far from an outdated relic the humble bike is looking like a symbol of China's high consumption future.

I saw in Melbourne Australia a business man brought in and started selling your average single speed basket on handlebars rack on back China transport bike(well they were 10 years ago)

They have now become the latest must have bike and he's selling lots now and not just in Melbourne.

A few years ago, I had one of those "transport bikes" - in black, of course. The thing weighed at least 20 kilos. Bought/sold it for around 200 rmb, if I recall correctly. Was an interesting bike to ride - once you got up to speed in a bike lane, bringing the monster to a stop was a challenge with the bike's "brakes".

Interesting blog here.

Riding (on a motorcycle) around the mountains surrounding Beijing, I often see bicyclists tackling the ups/downs. Sometimes large groups of 20 or more cyclists. While I am definitely not an expert on brands/models, I know enough to see that their "rides" are exquisite machines.

http://www.wearefactoryfive.com does some great custom bike builds in Shanghai using vintage and retro bicycles....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou

Riding (on a motorcycle) around the mountains surrounding Beijing, I often see bicyclists tackling the ups/downs. Sometimes large groups of 20 or more cyclists. While I am definitely not an expert on brands/models, I know enough to see that their "rides" are exquisite machines.

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In my area the bikes are mostly domestically made 3000-5000 yuan mountain bikes with Ta*wanese branding. I imagine this could be changing in Beijing. Each group has a "Da Ge" that sets a bike standard, distance and location.