A Swedish entrepreneurial team calling themselves Bike By Me is responsible for this. Actually, they provide a template for designing your own bicycle, thus the name. I absolutley love it! The pastel colours are just what a bike needs to brighten up the dull traffic situation. It’ll be just as nice on the road as on the wall!
Do not get this design if you live anywhere near Stockholm, this is mine.
I had the opportunity to try out a Tesla Roadster Sport yesterday. I’ve heard lots of great things about this car and was looking forward to an enjoyable test drive. However, an electric car needs juice to run and it’s not like you can just stop by a filling station and be fully loaded five minutes later. This is not news, but it’s something that bugs the hell out of me.
For some unbelievable reason, an idiot with the large energy company Fortum, had asked to borrow the car and infringe upon the total of two testing days that we were initially promised. Instead of delivering it first thing in the morning, the little idiot decided to act busy and have some “business meetings” so the Tesla didn’t reach us until barely noon. Fine, we thought, we’d still have a few hours before returning it. Nope, turns out the schmuck had not charged it, so any possible driving time that was left was spent “filling up” so we could make it out to the airport to return it to the Tesla representative.
And therein lies one of the problems with electric vehicles. No matter how great the product may be, you’re still hampered by the time it takes to reload. Unless you can switch out the entire battery pack, you’d better have a sexy woman around to help you with your frustazione.
To add insult to injury, Fortum has been broadcasting commercials about there being charging poles all around the city for the cars of the future. Well, it’d be pretty damn good if you didn’t have to visit with Fortum in advance to get a key to be able to use them. Such stupidity!
So, about the Tesla then. Well, I’ll have to get back to you on that one as I had to drive in energy saving mode the whole time. However, I can say this: it’s a pretty great little car, albeit eerily quiet. The ride is smooth and sporty and the seamless power delivery takes a while getting used to. Torque delivery is quite awesome and makes for super quick acceleration times, provided you have enough electrons running free.
Did Logitech provide the steering wheel? It kinda feels like it came off the Logitech G27 racing wheel. The thing costs twice that of a Nissan GT-R but they both share the interior of a videogame, the Tesla a little less gimmicky than the GT-R.
I admire Tesla for trying to do great things but they’ll never win me over. I need an engine, a beating heart of some sort. This thing’s as lifeless as your average radio. Perhaps I shouldn’t drive it again, I might change my mind.
Do you live in Stockholm? Do you have a kick-ass bike you want to have featured in a fashion story? Is your bike a chopper/bobber? Does it resemble any of the following bikes whose pictures I have stolen around the Interwebs?
Then please contact me. jens @ thecartorialist . com (remove the spaces)
The shoot is Saturday June 5.
The pictures are “borrowed” from SouthSiders Motorcycle Culture and Wrenchmonkees.
Too much?
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The car belongs to world famous freeskier Jon Olsson.
How I love people that dare to step outside normal boundaries but still manage to retain the style vital to their persona. A matte black Murcielago isn’t really what most people would consider appropriate but I’d say it’s a hell of a lot better than this crap. I have long been a proponent of matte paint jobs as they differ from the norm without retorting to flames and trucker motifs, like naked ladies or fairytale figures (he must really love Zorro).
Another aspect of matte paint is that you can’t get pigeonholed like you would in a Range Rover Sport that Project Khan style-raped (drug dealer) or the preposterous Porsche (idiot), although you need to be careful with just what you colour in matte, or else the whole system will turn faster than King Midas’ ugly cousin turned things into crap, instead of gold. A matte sports car (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Koenigsegg), fine but steer clear of tarting up a Rolls Royce, Maybach or Bentley as that’s the equivalent of hair plugs – tragic.
The fact that he has also mounted a ski box, matching the car’s colour goes to show that creativity takes you a long way. Let me hear the grandfather, a survivor of the Great Depression, say that skiing is an honest job. Didn’t think so. Sure, an RS6 could’ve probably gotten the job done as well, or better, than a Murcielago, but that’s beside the point, in that Jon Olsson’s trademark is doing what no one has done before, be it big air jumps or fitting ski boxes to Lambos. Yes, I said Lambos, plural. He had (or still has, not sure,) a Gallardo also fitted with a ski box, and the whole sha-bang was painted in snow camouflage.
An article I wrote for JamesList
Black is a colour that fades and eventually turns into grey, thus making the need for a replacement imminent.
In an economy where every day is a struggle and opulent consumption may be regarded as somewhat suspicious, the lavish extravaganza of ostentatious consumer behaviour has switched to smart buying.
In the sixties, AmEx awarded success gold status, in the eighties it was platinum and finally, in 1999 came the Centurion Card (or black). Black spawned a revolution in marketing where everything all of a sudden was black this or black that, and while this was once the epitome of success, it’s now seen as remains of a bygone era. Instead customers will look for smarter ways of looking wealthy and affluent by turning to brown instead.
Just like the luxurious Brown’s Hotel in London is understated and discreet, the new era of brown will involve less Champagne partying and more sophisticated mingle with a cocktail; less Euro Disco and more Beat Bossa; less trinkets and more substance; less being the scene of the party, more not even being seen at parties. Think of it like the difference between Posh Spice – Black, and Tina Fey – Brown. It’s not enough to just be rich and able to brag about it, now you need class too and that is not something you have with a fist full of cash.
It’s now also time [sic] to forget about the huge slabs of metal poised upon the wrist of many a swaggering man. Gone are the days where the Rolex Yacht Master was an enviable piece of man jewellery, instead the Prince or a simple Datejust is the wrist accoutrement to enjoy. For all the bearers of oversize watches like the Cartier Santos 100, Hublot Big Bang and Audemars Piguet Offshore, use a watch that doesn’t reflect the size of your ego as there must be more you have tooffer the world.
In 2008 Porsche re-launched the classic brown metallic on the 997 Turbo Cabriolet and others soon followed suit, the latest being the Mansory Bugatti Veyron Vincerò, however Bugatti themselves came out with the Veyron “Fbg par Hermès” about a year ago already and are now returning to their roots with the classic Bleu Royale colour from the iconic Type 35. Hermès has also collaborated with Eurocopter, resulting in the magnificent l’Hélicptère and the Costes YachtingPerle’ is a joy to behold in its sobriety of natural colouring. Of course, they’re all featured in brown.
Brown is not only a new concept, but the muted tones of brown also convey a feeling of subdued elegance, a tactful way of exploring the quality of life and if you still insist on sitting with a Cristal Jeroboam at your local establishment, you had better have a face like Doutzen Kroes, or you will be very lonely.
By the way, I am looking forward to the new Brown Card from any major credit card supplier, and it shan’t have money as its foremost requirement, but style.
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