BLACKBOOK Jan-Willem
BLACKBOOK Jan-Willem Sintnicolaas – founder of Dutch bicyclemakers J Guillem – hits the road Mostly, Chinese food is the cuisine THAT DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME. Somewhere along the way, it chic. how integrated cycle culture is becoming to urban living. The clothes and clubs, rallies and road races, style and saddle sores all point to how what was once considered a thirdclass, vaguely antiquated mode of movement has been reappraised at some unexpected confluence of fashion and environmental awareness. Derailleurs have become de rigueur. But, thinking big, it’s in the very remodelling of our cityscapes that the bicycle is most boldly making an impression: barely a city doesn’t now have a bike-share scheme and/or project to install some form of cycle-path network, and not least because, in a time-pressured and health-obsessed world, bicycles are also seen as a key way of cracking growing congestion, keeping economies moving and hearts pumping. It’s in the very remodelling OF OUR CITYSCAPES that the bicycle is most boldly making an impression Such projects are not without controversy: London’s pioneering “cycle motorways” have infuriated devoted drivers and some cyclists alike, the latter because the cycleways so often seem to just tail off in the face of traffic. Mexico City’s no-nonsense approach to tackling killer air pollution – making all major roads cycling- only lanes every Sunday – has not pleased everyone either. But dividing opinion has not stopped an onslaught of impressive and widespread cycling-friendly town planning, often with adventurous solutions that help separate car and cycle altogether. Xiamen, in southeast China, recently launched the world’s longest aerial cycleway, whose 7.6 kilometres run in part underneath the city’s transit bus line, so cyclists don’t even have to get wet when it rains, and operates a sensor system that prevents too many bicycles from crowding onto it. China is also pioneering what is being described as Uber for bikes, app-based systems that allow anyone to hire a bike and then leave it wherever their journey ends, rather than a docking station; Mobike, the market leader, which operates over a million bikes across 33 cities in China, launched in Singapore this year. J Guillem’s Major road bike CRAFTING PERFECTION Such is the uptake in cycling that the world is certainly no longer short of hand-built makers; in Bespoked, the UK even has an annual show dedicated to 150-plus of them, each offering their own take on ride and style. But for sheer classicism, there are the bikes made to measure from Minnesota’s Dave Anderson of Anderson Custom Bicycles (andersoncustombicycles.com) – his ACB 4 Season Stainless is straight out of the 1950s in looks and will look just as good in another 70 years too. More hi-tech-minded is Jamie White, the builder behind Utah’s Métier Vélo (métier-vélo.com), its bikes being all carbon-fibre tubes and 3D-printed titanium lugs. And somewhere in between is J Guillem (jguillem.com). That’s the new venture from Jan-Willem Sintnicolaas, founder and then seller of the Van Nicholas bike brand. All-Dutch modernist in styling, it’s in the build that the £4,000-plus price tag is justified: unusually, Guillem prefers the durability of hand-welded cold steel over trendy, mould-poured carbon fibre. That, no doubt, is why each of his bikes confidently comes with a 100-year warranty. © J. GUILLEM BICYCLES 36 DEPARTURES-INTERNATIONAL.COM
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