The 2nd Manila Folding Bike Festival

This is a super late post. Last June 21, Folding Bike Pilipinas (FBP) and other bike clubs around the Metro held the 2nd Manila Folding Bike Festival at Tiendesitas mall in Pasig City.

There were many retailers selling bike related products like helmets, jerseys, shirts, bike parts and leather accessories.

But the main draw of the festival was the bike show. There were different categories of all wheel sizes, from as small as 14 inches up to 26 inches. For some weird reason, there were a lot of Brompton entries. 

Photo courtesy of Tonnette Jacinto.

As an FBP member, I volunteered for the festival and got assigned to guard the bike show entries. Not much work really, just made sure the bikes were properly entered at the registration booth and they were set-up on the right place.

Photo courtesy of Tonnette Jacinto

The festival ran the whole day that Saturday, but I wasn't able to stay 'til the end because I had another activity with my family. Anyway, aside from the bike show and the trade booths, FBP also also ran a raffle, giving away all sorts of prizes. 

Congratulations to the event's organizers. You know who you are! Job well done, and can't wait for the next folding bike festival scheduled for 2016!

It's back! The 2nd Manila Folding Bike Festival is on June 21, 2014!

The 2nd Manila Folding Bike Festival will be held next month (June 21, 2014) at Tiendesitas Mall, Pasig, Metro Manila. If you are new to folding bikes or are interested on buying one, then this is the perfect activity for you. You can meet other folding bike enthusiasts and join a club. You can also see the different kinds of folding bikes out there. I know some bike shops who sell folding bikes will have their own booths there, and you can buy from them directly.

There will also be a bike contest. If you want to enter your folding bike, here are the rules:

1. Participant is allowed to enter a maximum of five (5) bikes.

2. The categories are:

• Best 12" wheel size folding bike
• Best 14" wheel size folding bike
• Best 16" wheel size folding bike
• Best 18" wheel size folding bike
• Best 20" wheel size folding bike
• Best 24" or 26" wheel size folding bike
• Best Off-size folding bike
• Best Brompton folding bike

3. Early registration fee is P250.00 per bike, until June 16, 2014. On-site registration on the day of the event is P300.00 per bike.

Deposit payment to:
Account Name: Jose Ma. Kanlapan
Account No.: 380172577

4. Email a copy of the deposit slip as proof of payment to foldingbikepilipinas@gmail.com along with the following details: 

• Name
• Address
• Contact numbers
• Bike Category
• Bike brand
• Bike model
• Bike color
• Year manufactured

5. In the alternative, you can click on this link to register on-line.

6. Bring your bike to Tiendesitas on June 21, 2014, at 8:00am, and look for event organizers from FBP. Bring your deposit slip and one government issued ID.

Winners will win prizes. I don't know what they are yet, but I'll update this entry when I find out. This activity is organized by our friends from Folding Bike Pilipinas (FBP).

For those of you  who are curious, the first folding bike fair was held back in 2012 at The Collective in Makati City. 

See you in Tiendesitas! Save the date! June 21, 2014!

Video: Brompton World Championship 2013

Well, another year has gone by, and again I miss the Brompton World Championship. This time due to on-going studies here in New Zealand. So today, we have no choice but to settle with watching this video of BWC 2013.

Hopefully, next year I will be able to participate!

The Tern/Xtracycle Cargo Joe folding bike

Photo grabbed from www.bikerumor.com

An Xtracycle cargo bike THAT'S also a Tern folding bike? Oh my God, I want this!

BikeRumor.com recently wrote about the new Cargo Joe folding bike unveiled by the two bike companies in Interbike 2012. It's not yet on the Tern website but Bike Rumor reported that the bike will retail for US$999 (or PhP 41,600.00).

 

The wheels are 26" so the fold will be anything but compact. But at least, the bike will be small enough to fit the trunk of a mini-van or at the back of a pick-up truck. Besides, you can uninstall the Xtracycle cargo extension and attach the standard Tern rear wheel to convert it into a regular Tern folding bike.

 

I've always wanted a cargo bike, and with this new folding bike hybrid from Tern and Xtracycle, I'm sold. I imagine being able to carry both my wife and daughter on the rear rack to go to the grocery store! Can't wait for the Cargo Joe to be available here in the Philippines! 

Some photos from the 2012 Manila Folding Bike Festival

Sharing a few photos from the recently concluded 1st Manila Folding Bike Festival held at the The Collective in Malugay Street, Makati City.

The 1-day event was hosted by Folding Bike Pilipinas (FBP) together with Polkit, WOW Pinay, Brompton Club of the Philippines (BCP), Cainta Mountain Bikers, Sugimura Club of the Philippines, Firefly Brigade, PMTB and other cycling clubs. My friends Abel, Nitya, Al, Ariel, Pia and Paul took the lead.

We held a lot of activities, including a bike exhibit that showcased different kinds of folding bikes--from vintage to brand new, small wheels to big wheels, one-tone to multi-colored bikes.

We had a bike flea market ("ukay-ukay"), which I manned with Jeans, Dennis and Echel. I helped out in selling all kinds of used and brand new bike parts and accessories. We even sold whole bicycles!

We had a program hosted by Pia and Ace. First, our bikes were blessed by a pastor. Then, we held folding bike contests: Fastest to unfold a Brompton (13 seconds); Fastest to fold a Brompton (9 seconds); And similar contests for Sugimura and Peerless bikes. The contest and raffle prizes were courtesy of our sponsors (LifeCycle of Singapore, Junni, Dahon, JJRM, Peerless, Tryon, Dakila and Yadu, among others). The grand prize was a Dahon Jack folding bike! Thanks, guys!

We conducted a bike clinic in the afternoon where invited speakers discussed different topics related to bicycling. I was asked to talk about bike-touring / bike-packing.

And that's not all! Our other sponsors provided free souvenir shirt printing and photo booth! At 5pm there was a free concert! Everyone had fun!

The event was such a success that immediately after it concluded, people were already talking about next year's folding bike festival!

Thanks to all those who organized this activity and volunteered their time and energy!


Special thanks to Diane Flaviano, Al Castillo and Bobby Leyeza for a few of the photos in this post. For more pictures of the folding bike festival, please visit: www.facebook.com/ManilaFoldingBikeFestival

Video: FBP on GMA News

Here's an 8-minute segment of GMA News-to-Go, taken Wednesday morning (June 20), featuring folding bikes. Paul and Froi of FBP explain to TV reporter Kara David.

Good job, guys!

1st Manila Folding Bike Festival

On June 23, 2012, we'll be having the 1st Manila Folding Bike Festival. It's going to be held at The Collective on Malugay Street, Makati.

Last year, Paul and Pia spearheaded Kuklos also at The Collective. That event was a bike fair for all  kinds of commuter bikes, including fixies, BMXs, folding bikes, vintage bikes and low-riders.

This year, Nitya, Abel and several other friends wanted to organize a bike show focused on folding bikes. So you'll see Dahons, Stridas, Peerless, Gogos, Giants and, ofcourse, Bromptons. This event is going to be a great time for folding bike enthusiasts to exchange notes and ideas. There will also be retailers/LBS present who'll sell bike parts and accessories. I'm sure the MFBF will be fun!

Hope to see you all on June 23!

Interbike 2011

Photo courtesy of http://www.urbanvelo.org/

Interbike 2011 is on-going at Las Vegas, Nevada this week, with manufacturers showcasing their new or updated bike-related products. I am drooling over the new designs of Bern helmets!

Kuklos: a bike fair

Last Saturday, I biked to the Collective at Malugay Street, Makati, to attend Kuklos, a bike show co-organized by Tiklop Society of the Philippines.

3.5 km bike ride

Brommie Skywalker parked next to Steve's yellow folding bike.

Lady volunteers from WOW Pinay.

My kailian, Al Castillo, his wife Din and daughter Aldea--a true biking family

Dennis' and Ricky's stall selling Flamingo and Strida bikes and accessories

A cute white Flamingo folding bike.

A yellow Strida folding bike.

A yellow Dahon racing folding bike.

Some more Dahon folding bikes.

Brznf's Peerless folding bikes

Accessories for those into fixed gear bikes ("Fixies") and bike polo.

Now for the bike show. There were a lot of participants and a lot of bikes.  There were also a lot of activities including an exhibition show and a contest.

the bike show

A purple low-rider bike. 

A BMX bike.

A bamboo bike.

Classic Dutch-style bikes.

A 1982 blue Dahon folding bike.

The minority for that day:  mountain bikes and road bikes.  Hehehehe.

Some more low rider bikes.

That green bike is a Moulton.

I would have wanted to pimp up Brommie Skywalker and enter it in the bike show, but I was there for less than an hour, so I just parked it.

It was a well-organized event with lots of bikes and lots of participants.  I'm glad it focused on "other" bikes (i.e. folding bikes, commuter bikes, BMX bikes, fixies, low-rider bikes, etc.) rather than the usual mountain bikes and road bikes.  For one day, "other" bikes ruled!