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!

We started in October 2008 collecting information about urban mobility solutions, that are available in Portugal. This lead us to the conclusion, that a lot of work could be done and a lot of products – already available in the rest of Europe – could be interesting for that market to indicate solutions and practical hints. As we realized soon, there is a very active and courageous community in Portugal already working on the subject. There is a big movement in the society that comes along with individual transport, alternative vehicles and traffic solutions. But unfortunately no one out of Portugal noticed this so far.

We have many Blogs, we have a lot of idealistic bike dealers, activities and – last not least – we have a revolutionary bike rental and mobility concept for students! But this is maybe known in some parts of Spain and for sure to some individualists in the rest of Europe. But generally these facts were not so well known as they should be!

 So we decided to use this blog in the beginning as a collecting tool for links, sites, activities that are already known and practiced in Portugal. To tell the rest of the world of bicycle blogs what goes on in this country. Therefore the blog appears mainly in English. To let people from abroad be part of what is going on in Portuguese bike-scene. And to initiate – vice-verse – a interchange of information about bike culture and products.  Of course: PRODUCTS! Means, bikes, accessories, tools, services and so on..
Gotcha! Commercial targets! Yes! But not only for the things that we sell on www.cargobix.com. As well for everyone who feels free to present something really new or innovative or his own company. Take it as a platform and let us see, how it works!

Independent from this we are always looking for guest editors, who are interested in publishing Portuguese content as a additional feature for the future! Subscribe yourself as an author or send us a mail with your suggestion!

So far this Blog will link to other famous bike blogs in the world – I think, I already mentioned some oft them..

BTW: recently there was a famous bike race, that the World MUST have noticed! It took place in Copenhagen, a harbour city with not ANY curve in it! Would it be a real challenge to invite Marc from http://www.amsterdamize.com and Colvile Andersen from http://www.copenhagenize.com to shoot this out again in Porto or Lisbon?

Cities with a landscape to fall in love and some decent curves:

I will get them!

So far, take a look at this:

BTW: I know.. we are a little bit delayed with our shedule, but promised:
This was the third (and last announcement).. now content is following..

It is a week ago, that a big truck brought a large box from Denmark. Inside were two Cargo Bikes “Bullitt” from LarryvsHarry/Copenhagen.

I will start this story with the documentation of  completing the bikes and doing the first ride!

So: stay tuned!

The story:

Hamburg-Oporto

..Orange!	no sports!!
really British!	admiring the Dutch...
A guy from Robin Wood!	bikes and deeds! (another stupid play of words?)
Outside Silbersack - St. Pauli	Inside Silbersack - St. Pauli
It was cold...	..very cold!
white Bike - white House!	Camouflage
Team Moskau-Debitservices	..Ristorante Cuneo/Reeperbahn - St. Pauli
the fifth Beatle!	at the T.I.R. terminal in Hamburg!
..on their way to Southern Europe!	..two bikes in a box!
...a big truck arrived!	..and dropped off the box from Hamburg!
..with content!	..what a glance!!
A 2-bike-kit!	X-mas?!
work progress!	Nr. 2 is waiting!
Nr. 2 is nearly ready!	The old Brooks-Leathersaddle shows off!
the two of them!	Nr. 1 and 2 are alive!
First roll-out!	Beauty of the night!
nice BUTT!	Child in a box
or two loads of beer!	Finally: 30.01.2009 Porto, nice & sleacy!

Picture copyright: Bernd Otten

LISBONIZE?

..maybe in the tradition of copenhagenize.com? or amsterdamize.com?

In November 2008 I started on YouTube to show some of my videos, taken during the introduction of my new project “Urban Mobility” in Portugal.

Getting soon a lot of feedback in relation to the short time that these clips were online, I started a small Blog at Google Blogger.

Meanwhile a friend recommended me Word press-blogging as much more sophisticated and powerful and..

…so I am here!