Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from March 9, 2008

building scenarios v1

building scenarios v1 Originally uploaded by Edward Melendez From Art of the Long View
momovelo, you are missed As I was admiring a fine commuter bike I saw on the street yesterday, I was reminded of the late, great momovelo. momovelo was a bike shop in Berkeley run by a guy named Kai and it was one of the most clever niche retailers I have ever seen. Kai put together bicycles to suit the flaneur crowd. momovelo used well made and unique components but had a classic quality; these weren't the showy, gadgety bikes you see the masses riding around in. These were objects of utility and beauty simultaneously. Kai's website featured pictures of them in urban settings – one bike, a spartan looking city bike in robin's egg blue was pictured with some type of squash attached by bungie cords to its rack, as though its owner was returning with an impromptu purchase from a farmer's market or roadside stand. Great stuff for those of us who see bikes as some cross between work tools and slightly mystical objects. His retail shop was a stylishly decorated bouti