Cicli Berlinetta

We’re seven days shy of this Fall’s end and two weeks shy of the new year.  We can feel it and see it all around us. We’ve already been given the Berliner Fall gifts of rainfall in 1-2º Celsius, the joy slick wet October leaves, the pleasure of November black ice, and the 620 kilometers of bike paths and lanes that for at least the time being, seem happy to remain as ice-packed and snow covered as possible (if you haven’t seen it yet, there’s a picture of the snow covered storefront on Schönfließer Straße from this past Wednesday on Facebook here).  The beautiful machines that we take to the Brandenburg country roads when the sun is high in the sky, rest at best idly in our apartment hallways or hang patiently waiting from hooks in our bedrooms, and at worst they sit silently alone in our garages or basements, almost forgotten.  Simply put, its a lot different outside now than it was even one month ago.  The new Winter season of riding has started.

Although the new Winter season means that the weather is getting nippy and the streets are looking worse by the day, we’re still up on our steel steeds.  It’s okay to hang the race bike up once the salt and sand is strewn on the streets—in fact, we’d suggest it.  We’ve done just the same.  We’re riding our crossers and old fixed courier workhorses with Continental Cyclocross Speeds or Schwalbe Marathons (while visions of warm spring days spent with Vittoria Open Corsa Evo CXs dance in our heads…).  We’ve got our fenders on and lights that can actually light up the way.  We’re checking our chains every week and cleaning our rims and brake pads as best we can.  And that’s only the beginning of what we’re up to.

Along with this new season of riding and corresponding bike change, we at Cicli Berlinetta are starting a new chapter in our already storied existence.  Maybe you’ve noticed, maybe you haven’t, but as we’ve changed out our Summer race machines out for our faithful Winter companions, we’ve changed a lot of things both online and in the store, and continue to do so even now.  With all of these changes, we’ve been less than prompt with our emails and have certainly frustrated some of you.  For that, we are sorry.  We want you all to know however that we think the end result will be something that will be good for everyone!  We’ve taken our old .de website down, we’ve embarked on the expansion of our custom steel frame offerings, and have reorganized the shop.   The new website, which will include a webshop (we’ve heard you all, and are finally giving you what you want!), will give you a better overview of what we have in the store, along with, of course, a few surprises that should make for an all around more enjoyable experience.  Look for that to be up sometime in January.  In addition to the changes as of late, we’ve been lucky enough to be involved in a number of cool projects (bike builds with Adidas and Urban Motor, photo shoots with Brooks England and ic! berlin, involvement with the publications Zitty and Tour, and were a main contributor for a publication from Gestalten that will be coming out this spring).  Like we said, we’re super happy with all of these changes and are looking forward to their final and complete implementation!

But wait, if you know us at all though, you know that for us it pretty much comes down to riding, which means we’ve just digressed a little by getting into the details above.  We assume, in fact, that riding is why you’re reading this right now anyway.  So what does the above have to do with riding?  Well, it’s our way of making sure that more people are afforded the opportunity to explore our passion even more, and maybe, just maybe, once you take a look at what we’re about, you’ll get out there and ride a little bit more than before.  We’re in the position to give back to this wonderful sport what is has so patiently given to us in the last 30 years.  And that’s what we’re aiming to do with all of our changes.

We were at the Chrome Hub Opening Party / Alleycat last Friday (one of our Doppia Pista Track Bikes, pictured here, is featured in their pop up store at Torstraße 66)— we saw a lot of people who came out, embraced the changing seasons, rode their bikes in the ice and snow, stayed safe, and had a good time (although, we have to say, there were a lot of walkers / U-Bahn riders there, too ).  Group rides, night rides, and Alleycats have been in no short supply thanks to the boys and girls at Fahrtwind, who have been constantly engaged in keeping the bicycle culture in Berlin moving forward.  Our continued involvement in this culture—something that has been very important for us since we’ve been riding in Berlin since the early 90s—will be seen with our revival of a Cicli Berlinetta tradition, our Tiergarten Ice Race, sometime in January or February 2013.  We know that there are many reasons to not ride this winter, but not one excuse.  We’d be doing you a disservice if we let you forget that!

Anyway, enough already!  The Winter is coming and the streets are empty—there’s no better way to enjoy the season than to get dressed warm (but not too warm) and see what Berlin (or your hometown, wherever it may be) looks like when many give in to the U-Bahn and automobile temptations brought on by the brisker months of the year!  Besides, your co-workers will probably give you mad props—or think you’re utterly crazy—when you show up to work with ice in your beard or hair .

Just like us, change it up and keep riding!