A visit to the 'Cycle Revolution' at Design Museum and Red 338

Visitors get acquainted with the nuts and bolts 

On Friday I took in the exhibition at the Design Museum which as a follow up to 'Life on Foot' it seems pretty logical as the topic is around  another way of getting around - Cycling.



Boardman -It's got his name on it

The last time I'd seen the 'cycling'  exhibition was about two weeks ago when  it was in its final preparation mode and the transformation in that time  pretty phenomenal - it's now full of great exhibits and with what is (to me) a logical flow which  lends itself to a selection of themes to entice visitors into finding out more.

The exhibition has six key areas, four of which are tribal along with  workshop and future displays.

A Revolution on 2 wheels

One approach is that of the individuals who are and have made a difference to cycling, one of the great examples is Chris Boardman Olympic Gold medal (1992) winner  who in one of many video clips in the exhibition makes clear his belief in cycling as a public good.

Another inspirational cyclist is Shanaze Reade  who with her place in the 'Thrill seeking' section is seen providing a role model for young women who want to take up cycling in an exciting way.

A theme that stood out to me was the idea of parts of London being associated with cycling, Peckham and its cycle park for one and the Brompton Bicycle company with its home in West London (currently Brentford).

Safety gone 'mad'

I liked too the way the bikes were shown with details of the materials used and this helps see a design development  where performance bikes are now using carbon fibre in the frame construction this providing the mix of strength and lightness -



The Donky bike an alternative to the van?

The 1888 Rover Safety Bicycle had solid tyres and as far as I can see making it's Safety title a bit of a misnomer absolutely nothing in the way of  brakes.



As well as there being an area contrasting bicycle usage across some of the world's major cities and showing prototypes that were stretching the idea of bicycles there was a great revelation on the use of 'Cargo bikes' .
[Which was one of the themes John Thackara had made much of in his talk at the Design Museum on 'The next economy' earlier in the year.]

All in all quite a bit for to get my teeth into for my upcoming short guided tours through the exhibition.

Red 338

more of natures lovely reds

I'm blown away