Jared Bloch
Amsterdam, The Netherlands (GenevaLunch) - When I recently asked a friend in Holland if we should load our bikes on the car for our family visit, he answered hesitatingly and after about two full breaths of silence “Ah jah, sure…” by which I understood the idea of shipping bicycles to the “Low Country” was roughly akin to taking a travel coffee mug on the Paris metro, or… taking coals to Newcastle.
During a few short days on the country’s Northwest coast, I fell in love with Holland’s bicycle sensibility.
To a cycling enthusiast, the country’s omnipresent dedicated bike paths are nirvana.
Mother and child - Sunday shopping on two wheels
Two lane highway, for bikes
Funnily enough, it doesn’t seem to be at the expense of car culture. Read more…
Jared Bloch
1965 Honda S200-Timeless esthetic (click on photos to enlarge)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – What has 606 cubic centimeters, room for 2 and loads of caché?
That would be a 1965 Honda S200 soft-top, on display in an exhibit at the Charmilles Commercial Center honoring Swiss racing legend Clay Regazonni.
This piece of automotive mastery joins examples of Formula One cars that Regazonni rode to five Grand Prix wins, as well as a 59 Austin Healey Sprite, also driven by Regazonni.
But while the Formula cars appear as mastodons materialized on a moonscape, the Honda and Austin appear to me as timely and elegant as the day they were produced. Read more…
Jared Bloch
Lamborghini Aventador - 255,000 Euro for 12 cylinders, 700 hp and a hard seat.
Geneva, Switzerland – I think the first car I ever dreamed about was a Pontiac Trans Am, shortly after Burt Reynolds “product endorsed” the black Firebird in the utterly cheesy ”Smokey and the Bandit.”
The next twenty years of my life were spent dreaming about and scheming to own a muscle car, and sadly, when I could afford to own one, my pragmatism nixed the idea.
That is kind of how I felt viewing the lineup at the 2011 Geneva Auto Show this week.
I couldn’t help but lust the busty lines of the new Lamborghini Aventador – I am a man after all – but honestly the cars I found truly sexy, were among the wide array of new small to mid-size economy minded vehicles.
A nice example of new thinking in modest cars - Hyundai IX-20, starts at CHF 18,000.
This is not just about getting older – I continue to be a motorcycle fanatic, partly I’m sure for the adrenaline rush – it is also about the sea change in cultural attitudes and sensibilities about what is cool, sublime, sophisticated, radical, intense and all of the other marketing indicators that are used to inform the car manufacturing industry.
Jared Bloch
On the road from Austin to Albuquerque on my 1984 Kawasaki 700 - Chinese travelers will log hundreds of kilometers this week returning to work following the New Year, on motorbikes a fraction of this size.
Geneva, Switzerland – One of the largest human migrations in the world, including what must be the largest concentration of motorbike travelers, will be replayed in reverse this week as Chinese head back to work following a 15-day New Year holiday.
Looking at scenes of the incessant biker traffic, particularly from the southern industrial zones, racing to arrive home before the start of the Lunar New Year earlier this month, I remembered what it is to be frozen to the seat of a two-wheeled vehicle with hundreds of kilometers laid out before you.
Listening to the interviews, I was struck by the sheer audacity of the Chinese travelers, logging 8, 9, 10 hours on motorbikes a fraction of the size I have toured on.
On one memorable trip from Austin, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico – I made the 1,200-km trip several times over a three year period – I drove for five hours through a blinding rain storm, until the water crept up past my ankles and I was forced to pull over at a rest area to wait out the night in a public restroom.
I was traveling on a motorcycle for much the same reason as the Chinese trying to get home for the New Year, namely it was the only transportation I owned and I was too broke to buy a plane or bus ticket. And the first four or five hours of that trip were pure adventure, until I met up with a West Texas rain storm, and swore I would never do it again.
Jared Bloch
My bike buried under snow in Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland – The 30cm chute de neige of the past 3 days has left me nostalgic for the snowbound days of my youth, when a good storm could leave you holed up for days in a home tens of miles from the nearest convenience store. Often there was nothing to do but break out the board games, and enjoy whatever company you were marooned with.
Resignation to nature’s whim was a reality; I remember some winters making the 3 km walk up the hilly road to our house, when cars became just so much metal, your legs were your best asset.
Aside from the inevitable accidents this windfall has brought, I have enjoyed the slowed pace of the city, and the forced reliance on foot traffick when even public transport has been forced to a standstill. For me, the slow down has meant moving from two wheels to walking through the carpeted city.
Jared Bloch
Bike I fished out of the river
Geneva, Switzerland - The theme this week in my French class is environmentalism, which means something different to everyone. To me it means intelligent use of resource, which is why we are big re-”cyclers” in our household, which leads me to my first law of environmentalism: it works best when there is personal interest involved.
After rehabbing a friend’s vandalized bicycle last weekend he clued me in to a great Geneva environmental effort, the Grand Nettoyage, or big cleanup of Lac Leman, where lakeside municipalities organize a once-a-year dredging of the shallow waters bordering their towns.
The event held on September 25 in several Lake Geneva region locations, nets everything from shopping carts to, yes, my favorite, bicycles.
Jared Bloch
(See our full photo album here)
DB6 & MG
Morges, Switzerland - If you were lucky enough to visit or join in the 19th Swiss Classic British Car Meet in Morges, you were privy to some of the finest examples of vintage British cars and motorbikes to be assembled in Western Europe. The event, brainchild of British motoring enthusiast, Keith Wynn drew a dizzying array of British motoring history, for a one-day-affair on the shores of Lake Geneva Saturday.
This year’s meet featured British carmakers Riley and Triumph and boasted nearly 1600 examples of privately owned vintage cars and bikes from Switzerland and all over Europe.
The event is made possible by generous sponsorship from private Swiss businesses and lots of leg work by founder and organizer Wynn, with help from his wife, daughter, son-in law, friends and a corps of volunteers.
Swiss Classic British Car Meet founder and organizer, Keith Wynn in a 1937 Riley Special 9
Part of the charm of the meet, which is free to visitors and participants alike, is its relaxed and non-commercial nature and focus on pure motoring.
I caught up with Wynn amidst his busy Saturday schedule to talk about the show and his love of classic British cars.
“Ever since I was a kid, I have liked cars, and always hankered after a TR3″ Wynn told me – he owns a 56 TR3 as well as a 36 Aston.
“I have always wanted to have the cars from my youth that reflect a way of life and of well-being gone by. There’s a sense of belonging to Brittain, the cars take you back to the glory days”. Dressed in a tweed flat cap and jacket, Wynn himself evoked another time and place as he posed for me in a 1937 Riley on display.
Jared Bloch
Inexpensive Mtn/City Bike with good geometry, ie comfortable
Geneva, Switzerland – In an ill-thought out plan, I recently purchased a “cheap” new bike for commuting to work. I knew better, but couldn’t resist a shiny new bike, albeit with geometry that didn’t fit my body or riding style.
Inevitably, as my wife predicted, I sold it 3 weeks later, finding the bike heavy and uncomfortable.
Good does not equal expensive. And while this maxim is certainly true, it is also true that not all bicycles are created equal.
I fix and sell used bikes as a hobby and incredible as it may seem, some bikes are not built by or for bike lovers.
I have owned bikes picked from the rubbish pile that feel like another appendage, and as in the above case, have had new bikes that feel like lugging cement blocks uphill.
There are plenty of inexpensive bikes with mediocre components but good geometry that will get you to work fine.
And if you hunt around, Switzerland is rife with well-built old road bikes that will take you around the lake in comfort.
Inexpensive, well built bike
Brand can mean something... or nothing
Your body will usually tell you on a quick trip around the block if a bike is a good fit or not. Listen to your body, it’s always right.
If you have the means to purchase the new bike of your dreams, more power to you. For the rest of us, the following are a few local resources to help you locate a cheaper but still sweet ride: the bicycle classifieds in Anibis, and Ricardo.
Another good source for second-hand, re-cycled bikes is the Grottes-based bike association, Peclot13.
Jared Bloch
I have always had a symbiotic relationship with my motorcycles
Geneva, Switzerland – One morning last week, I woke up to find my neighbor taking apart his motorcycle in the parking lot in front of our building. Before I had a chance to say good morning, he looked up and said, “You’d better check out your bike, they almost got mine last night.”
I lifted up the cover on my motorcycle, and sure enough, some miscretin had cut clean through the main ignition wire, and shaved two more in an aborted attempt at making off with my bike.
I have written about my symbiotic relationship to every motorcycle I have ever owned; I felt sick physically, and pure rage, imagining the butchering of my bike. Theft always draws an emotional response, but rarely have I felt such raw anger for an anonymous nemesis. Or maybe it was the anonymity that drove me crazy, the complete inability to charge anyone.
Jared Bloch
New to cross-country motorcycle riding
Geneva, Switzerland – Since the first time I hopped on a motorbike at age 19, I have dreamt of how to make a living out of riding and talking about motorcycles. As so often happens, life got in the way, and humanitarian work has claimed my professional ambition.
Every so often though (once a week on average) I still find myself daydreaming about motorcycle adventuring as a livelihood.
A dear friend I spoke to recently rekindled my passion with tales of his work as a product promoter for Harley-Davidson’s corporate headquarters in Milwaukee.