There is a good reason for that. In September, I was being asked, if I wish to rent a small shop at Oporto seaside. A shop, where I left my vCard some weeks ago and forgot about it, because I was not really expecting any feedback. But then – all over sudden – the owner contacted me. The rest is already part of history, we agreed upon the renting and I took a closer look on the surrounding of my new place…

I wasn´t aware of the ideal position, it has. It is located at the main cycle lane, directly at the seaside in a recreation and nightlife area at Foz do Douro. Thousands of people (and potential customers) are passing there every day, and on the weekend it will be even more. Not to forget about the thousands of car drivers, who are stacked in the traffic jam, every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, like an always repeating procession throughout the year.

We were discussing in the company the need for a showroom already for a long time, but we always ended up with the conclusion that we might need it, but we will not have the time to promote it. After this new opportunity came up, we had to realize:

That place is the solution we were looking for, without knowing that it already exists.

The area itself was until August 2010 one of the ugliest short links to pass the old centre of Foz do Douro the fast way. No parking area, no cycle lane, a two lane inner-city road without any beauty (beside the sea view). You can still see it on the old Google Street View recording. Meanwhile it was transformed into a ONE WAY lane with parking areas, cycle lane and a pedestrian crossing directly in front of the shop. Take a look on the actual situation here.

Conclusion: There came up a lot of unexpected work on top of the schedule we already had: To start our distribution for Germany´s top cycle brand Kalkhoff and some other accessory brands, that we contacted on Eurobike, like Busch und Müller and Speedlifter for. ex. That made me stop any social network activity, I was just glad to continue some postings on Facebook. But don´t worry, I will not continue where I ended in September and bore you with Eurobike re-views.

There are others, who made this work for me in a very professional and extended way, so please take o look at the article in the famous blog of our good friend Henry Cutler from Workcycles, Amsterdam. What his professional eye registererd on the fair represents exactly the subjects, I would have mentioned. Even when I do not always share his opinion (especially concerning the weight and the handling of modern cargobikes.. I recommend his blog-post and his pictures on Flickr) Well done Henry, I should consider sending him again next year…

Another subject, concerning our blog:

Many people asked me about the future and the target of Lisbonize.com. I initially started this blog to keep people from abroad in touch with Portuguese UrbanMobility. I was asked to do this in Portuguese language, but I refused. There are meanwhile a lot of other quality blogs in Portuguese language, as for ex. LisbonCycleChic so that I will continue my target, to keep the non-Portuguese speaking community in touch with our developing country on the edge of Europe in English language.

People from Portugal are always invited to follow us, the information we are spreading is mainly orientated on national subjects – with the small,  little difference, that our main language will be English. Any guest authors, who wish to publish on our blog in Portuguese are welcome to join us. Just register as a user and I will give you publisher rights to start over!

What? Yes, this is the new reality - The secret masters of “Copy & Paste” do not wish themselves to be copied! Seen on Eurobike opposite of our booth in A 6. A nameless company from Thailand presented a very simple copy of an e-bike - coincidentally very similar to a model made by a larger brand from Holland. Even the stem shifter, the frame design and the chain protection were 1:1 copies of the original. But – and this is very self-ironic – they asked for not being “shot” by visitors..

Hey people from Thailand: This is an international fair..  people are coming to see new stuff and for sure they will take photos! But the emphasis is on the word “NEW”.. so don´t worry, no one – apart from some lawyers will be interested in your stuff and take unauthorized photos.

And.. one last word – my dear Thai Copy-cats:

No one never-ever will copy a bad copy.. you already did it so nice, for sure someone in Old Europe appreciates giving you the inspiration…

What else happened?

A lot of things, I nearly spent 2 weeks in Germany. I have not yet finished my “sort-out” process of checking out the new stuff from the very new stuff, the interesting and funny stuff from the boring stuff and so on… so please give me one more week and I will post my personalized overview of the Eurobike 2010. I promise to try not to be boring…

What happened?

Apart from working end developing E-Mobility.pt as a reliable brand for electric bicycles, cargo- and commuter bikes in Portugal, we used our bikes a lot for pleasure (see illustration on the left-hand side) and for demonstration purposes.

We organized several presentations and let people try the difference of well-engineered bicycle solutions for daily use.

The Cargobix.com product range:

We tested the first Yuba Mundo bicycle that came to Portugal via USED-HQ from Germany. (We decided to have an own retail brand apart from being distributor for other brands - no brand development, no B2B, just selling a good product)

A first client was found immediately, (convinced by me – driving his family around..) others had already an eye on that multi-purpose bike from the US. Recently we delivered two bikes in the city area of Porto – we just banded them on the back of the Yuba.. Great cinema!

Like this, the Yuba Mundo – in it´s new version 3.0 – fits fine into our product range of sophisticated cargo bikes, that we already brought to this market. It was a quite logic decision to complete our bandwidth in that direction. It is affordable, has a reasonable weight and an enormous max. load. (up to 300 kg)

After the Gazelle Cabby - a more lightweight and stylish alternative to the old-fashioned and heavy “bakfiets” from Holland – we brought the Bullitt from Denmark, the fastest cargo bike in t he world – Tokyo CMWC championship winner 2009 – a frame made of aluminium and a steering and brakesystem – that – apart from winning races  serves for hauls of more than 200 kg.

To line up with standard dimension cargo bikes for daily use, we introduced the Heavy-Duty range from Gazelle and the stylish UrbanCargo from Bionicon.  Finally for people who are looking for a three-wheel solution, we have the Winther Kangaroo in the industrial version, a trike with the best and smoothest steering system available on the market. Made out of lightweight and durable aluminum as well, designed by the famous Bullitt designers. For us, a cargo bike should carry a load – but not it´s own weight, therefore (and for other reasons) we considered the brands above mentioned.

The Transformer arrived!

A mobile music unit with a set of 2 high-end amplifiers  to be used as a PA on bicycles – yes! That was a dream and will be a tool for our events in 2011.

2 x 600 W in a Kenwood active system, 12 V supply, powered by high-capacity batteries and mounted on our E-Bullitt with the famous BionX HT-Engine is a unique reference for this kind of equipment in combination with a cargo bike. The Bullitt carries 250 Kg and it is still “rideable” in an acceptable way. We had not yet the time to promote this fantastic toy in the way it deserves, but you may count with a “bang” in 2011! ..for sure…

Some impressions are already on Facebook…

E-Mobility in Portugal…

..will be one of the hottest issues in 2011 – as it already is in the rest of Europe ! Means: 20% increase effect on the bike market in Germany and other countries. What product brought this effect before? The re-creation of the wheel..

Therefore we decided to go for the distribution of the German market leader in that product area – the company Kalkhoff (Derby-Cycle Group) a company with a more than 90 year-old experience in bicycle manufacturing situated in Cloppenburg/Germany.

E-Bikes “Made in Germany”, based on three propulsion concepts:

The Panasonic center engine, the Panasonic front engine and finally the BionX rear engine in specially adapted bicycles, each designed for it´s purpose.

..and finally:

EUROBIKE 2011!

I am already on the departure, therefore this post will be continued on Saturday when the fair is over..!

1. We finished our UrbanMobility Exhibition in the center of Porto. We received a lot of guests, we did show (hopefully) to some of them, that “UrbanMobility” is more than just a slogan. And last but not least we sold some bicycles. I know it is an ugly, business orientated world, but someone has to face it. Or in the words of our good friend Bruce W.: “It’s a dirty job but someone’s gotta do it!”

2. We built up “The Transformer” Bullitt. The most outstanding music machine – made by KlaraGeist – that ever rolled on that part of the western hemisphere. This is not only a “superlative” – it is the truth, but please convince yourself. A 1.200 W stereo high-end mobile unit, that serves to entertain an area of a small football ground or up to 5.000 people. It is part of our mediabix.com advertising concept, that integrates bicycle based advertisement and spontaneous event sessions. As well mobile DJ´s or beach bars could be interested in such a tool. But independent from all this – it is just “cooooooooooooooooool” or in the words of a Portuguese bicycle magazine editor: “This is very beyond of everything I saw on a bicycle so far…” We leave these words without a comment..

3. We established our first retail bicycle brand, the Yuba Mundo. Why did we do this? Didn´t we have enough work with implementation of our own brands that we distribute? Yes we have a lot of work, but regarding that product there was no denying, we had to agree we with Dan + Bob from USED GmbH about the delivery of 3 test bikes. Meanwhile the first is sold and we realized that we were not wrong, when deciding to enlarge our range. The Yuba is an affordable way of using a transport bicycle in a not yet developed city area. It is stable, well designed and manufactured and it is a long tail cargo bike, a range that we so far didn´t recognized as a serious alternative. But we changed our mind and we must confess: Long tail bicycle transport is an option, even when you do not have the perfect structure regarding bicycle lanes etc. as f. ex in Copenhagen or Amsterdam.. and on top of all for a very interesting price. So here we ride our Yuba!

4. What else happened?

The world lost some great voices and characters, in the persons of Ronnie James Dio and Dennis Hopper. Both died of fu…ing cancer and too early for their families , their fans and their work. Let us remember Dennis and Ronnie with some samples of the greatest stuff that they left.

5. What´s new in bicycle biz?

A new city bike brand came up. Sports Nut went “nuts” and launched a new brand with interesting stuff, the CremeCycles. We were in touch with them already but now we will have a closer view on them, when we visit EuroBike in Friedrichshafen in September. Another great bicycle brand from Germany was seen on the horizon, Kalkhoff is entering business in Portugal seriously. We will come back to this after the summer.

6. Final news.

An American city prohibited bicycle circulation. What? Yes! Please read the whole story here.

Any questions so far? No! Nothing – concerning America – surprises me after that environment disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. A nation of professional liars,  gamblers and stupid managers and ahead of all a president who is not able to fight for his targets, that brought him into the position that he actually has. What remains, are the words of our good friend  Colville Andersen: Gas pumps are so last century!

Anyway, we thought what is good for Royals can not not even be good enough for us and so we ordered a Gazelle Miss Grace, the noble and stylish derivative of the Gazelle NL Heavy Duty. We brought the bike to our exhibition “Mobilidade Urbana” that is currently running in OPorto at Belomonte20 Gallery. When arriving, I left the bike outside the gallery to attract people and to make them curious to step inside. That was the best we could do, a lot of people stopped, saw the bike, came to see the exhibition and we had “Full-House”.

Even a Dutch couple came in to have a look on bicycles from the Netherlands - 2.800 km away from home. (Do they suffer, the Dutch people, when they don´t see any bicycles longer than one week..?

But they were very interested and they noticed our little project and appreciated much to learn about activities of Urban Mobility community that are actually happening in Portugal. When I told them, that we started our business inspired by a visit of Amsterdam in 2008, they were happy!

BTW: Our exhibition will continue until 15 of May, we are changing from week to week some pieces and we are planning different activities. On 25 of April I will meet the people from “Movimento Alternativo” and check out, if some of them are interested to visit our place on the day of their annual meeting. Next Friday (30. April) I will join “Massa Crítica” in OPorto, to invite them as well.

At least some actual picture od street-working “Miss Grace”: