So many wonderful things about Barcelona, not least of which is the metro bike scheme…these are the bikes! Little and red and perfect. Unfortunately I couldn’t hire one as they are only for people living in Spain (and they only cost €35 per year, brilliant.) But second best for a day of two-wheeled cruising was this…
hired from Green Bikes for only €2 an hour. Magic.
Barcelona is little bike heaven, they are everywhere, here are a few that I managed to catch standing still
I am assuming the missing seats are an extra security measure, not the result of a seat thief…
East Village, Manhattan, New York
Mon 22 April…
Bonnington Square, Vauxhall, London
Wed 24 April…
Does this count?
Well looky here, 2 days in the beautiful city of New York in Manhattan, retro bikes on every corner, but nary a little bike to be seen. Not a one.
Then 20 minutes in Brooklyn and what do I spy on Union Ave…
Not only an elusive Peugeot, but orange, my favorite colour.
Meanwhile, back at the apartment where I am staying, tucked in under the stairs waiting for me to notice…
More orange folding gorgeousness.
Brooklyn:2, Manhattan: 0
Just when I’d thought I’d seen all the folders there were to see,
just before I head off on a two-month adventure over three continents,
just while I have a million little jobs to do before I go,
what do I spy on the corner of Westgarth and Brunswick Streets in good old Fitzroy?
This little beauty…
Have a look at these lovely old hard-plastic grips
and the gear changer
chain guard
folding mechanism
looks like it’s British made – by Apollo
Sweet.
By the way, about that trip? One of two things will happen, Little Bike Blog will be quiet for a good while, or I will work out how to post from my smartypants phone, (or how to make my smartypants not-an-iphone talk to my fancypants mini ipad) and who knows? Anything could happen, depending on the little bike population and the little bike blogger’s inclination.
Stand by.
It’s been all quiet on the Little Bike Blog front here in lovely autumnal Melbourne (our best season), but you can be assured that little bikes are not being neglected out there in the real world. Here’s proof: Lisa of the tip-find Malvern Star has sent me this…
I have finally finished my bike project. yay! here are the images for you of before, through and after. The first image is off your blog I think- its what my bike looked like when I found it.
The bike had was in a pretty bad way, with only part of the Malvern Star sticker showing.
I had to google “vern sta” to try and find out what kind of bike it was and that’s how I found your blog and what brand bike it was- bless your little cotton socks!
It was an amazing project. I could not believe how well the chrome shined up from a little TLC and elbow grease.
My partner is a painter/decorator, and a gem, so he helped me out with the new sexy red paint job.
The only thing I have replaced on the bike are the handle grips and the MS stickers which I found on ebay.
All in all I am so happy with the finished product. 
I would love to keep it but I have 2 bikes already that I am “doing up”. It makes me sad but I have decided to sell it rather than have 3 bikes, and hopefully someone else will get as much joy out of it as I have.
Lovely! I’m always so impressed by people who have the time and the patience to fix up bikes. It looks gorgeous, (though from here is also looks like the chain could do with a little loving, just to finish off the job, but that might be a trick of the sparkly Queensland light – note Lisa’s lush garden with ferns and bromiliads giving away her location and her green thumb.) Thanks Lisa, I hope it finds a rider to love it as much as you have.
To finish off, here’s a little bike spotting observation for those of you so inclined – the rack on this has only a single reflector
not the signature Malvern Star alien face. 
For more on bike parts looking like cute aliens, click here…
Bike lovers - we have a reader contribution!
And just in the nick of time… I’ve been in the grip of blogger’s existential angst and just today was considering pressing pause on Little Bike Blog when I came home to find a message from Stuart in my inbox
This is Stuart’s wife’s new bike as found…
And this is what he he transformed it to…
and this is what he had to say about it…
this is how it ended up! rechromed and rebuilt original wheels, new 2 pack paint, new decals, everything polished. I think I like riding it more than my wife! The back story is that she wanted a retro bike like some of her friends had, but I promised her I would do something a bit different, and restore a genuine French retro bike. it is all original, even the lights work. I had a lot of enjoyment restoring it, and it gets heaps of comments! I love looking on this blog, have been lurking for a while, there are some real nice bikes on there. Nice work!
(Note how I left in the bit about how he likes the blog…was that wrong?)
And here is what I have to say about it:
1. NICE RED! (everyone knows red bikes go faster)
2. love the addition of the congratulatory beer in the photo
3. did you take a leaf out those make-over shows when you were taking the ‘before’ shot? Not really showing it in its best light crammed into the workshop, unflattering angle etc.
4. very exciting to see a non-folding small wheeled Gitane – it’s a Little Bike Blog first
5. hooray for Stuart, you have restored my faith that we little bike folk like to see what each other are up to.
