NATOOKE SHOP SCHEDULE
THIS WEEKEND
13/01: Shop will close at 5pm
14/01: Shop will close at 3pm
15/01: Shop will close at 3pm

CHINESE NEW YEAR
22/01 until 25/01: Shop will closed on Chinese New Year’s Eve as well as the first 3 days of the New Year. We wish you a Happy Year of the Dragon!

13-15/01 UCI Track Cycling World Cup > 老山场地自行车馆 Laoshan Velodrome
There are no tickets required to watch the event this year. So just go by yourself and watch the fun. Or come with us! Be aware that there is nothing in the stadium: No food stall, no drink stand, no little shop – just nothing. So bring your own drinks and food (hide the beers somewhere in your jacket or hoodie as the security check will not allow you to bring them inside the stadium if they are in your bag).
13/01 @ 18:30pm – 22:15pm

If you want to cycle with us to the Laoshan Velodrome then please be at the shop at 5pm or let us know where along the way we should meet you. There might be some people going by subway so that is for those that think it is too far.

14/01 @ 19:00pm – 22:15pm
We will be cycling there earlier as some people want to play polo. Meet at the shop at 2pm for that.

15/01 @ 17:00pm – 20:35pm
Meet at the shop at 3pm to cycle together.

BIKE POLO
14/01 @4pm > 老山场地自行车馆外 Outside Laoshan Track Stadium
As we are going to watch the Track Cycling World Cup we will cycle to the stadium and bring mallets and balls and play at around 3:30pm or 4pm. So if you just want to come for polo, just come to Laoshan.

2012 Rides
We have been meeting up and having some events in the past few days! We did not yet have time to upload them to our website but be sure to check our website gallery in a couple of days for more pictures.

Happy New Year!

FIXIE GATHERING TOMORROW
04/01 @7:30pm > Natooke – 隆福寺 Longfusi
Even in the cold you can still learn how to track stand or skid. Join us Wednesday evening for a bike hang out at Longfusi and a dinner together if you want.

BIKE POLO
07/01 @1:30pm > 工人体育馆东门 Worker’s Gymnasium East Gate
Meet us at 1:00pm at Natooke or directly at the Worker’s Gymnasium at 1:30pm. BTV will come and film us having fun so clean your bike and comb your hair.

SUNDAY RIDE
08/01 @1pm > Natooke – Ride around Beijing
Beijing TV Youth channel wants to do a program about fixed gear bicycles. They want to film fixed gear riders having fun on their bikes so that more people get interested in riding fixed gear bikes with us. Beijing TV will chose a few people to interview. So although the weather is getting cold, let us just go riding and have fun together !

13-15/01 UCI Track Cycling World Cup > Laoshan Velodrome
Come with us to watch track cycling world cup races with cyclists from National teams from around the world here in Beijing. Please inform us if you want to come and watch the races with us by email or call 8402 6925.

Ines & the Natooke Team

New Year’s Eve Ride
On the evening of December 31st, fixed gear riders met up at Natooke shop and enjoyed the happy, peaceful and festive atmosphere. The group headed out through the cold Beijing night riding along the Chang’an Avenue, passing Tiananmen Square, the National Opera House, then to arrive at building with a huge clock near Xidan. Under that building we did the countdown 5-4-3-2-1. People cheered “Happy New Year!”. Even though the clock bell did not ring everyone’s mood was high! For more pictures go to our website gallery.


Stolen Bike
The rare occasion happened: One of our fixed gear bikes got stolen! This one is a very colorful one: bright red frame, yellow back wheel, bright green front wheel, green/red handlebar and yellow saddle. Most of the parts are special and they can only be bought in our shop. If you see this bike anywhere around Beijing or any other city of China, please inform us immediately, tel: 010-8402 6925.


Tricks Session
It is getting very cold, but that does not dampen our passion to practice bike tricks, right? Look, we have loads of fun, and everyone quickly progresses. So come and quickly join us and improve your bike handling skills. Check our pictures from last week.


Custom Natooke Bikes
Here are some pictures of new bikes made by Natooke. If you want to see more just click here.

It’s almost the end of 2011 and today saw the second snowfall in Beijing. If you haven’t made plans for New Year’s Eve, we’ve got some events you might be interested in:

FIXIE GATHERING TONIGHT
29/12 @7:30pm > Natooke – 东四 Dongsi
Just got your new fixed gear bike and wanna learn how to skid or do some simple tricks? Or have you been riding for a long time but never found the opportunity to improve on your bike handling? Join us tonight and get acquainted with your bike or hang out with us for a beer or two at an open space near Dongsi. Call Ines at 135-010-88728.

BIKE POLO
31/12 @1:00pm > 工人体育馆东门 Worker’s Gymnasium East Gate
Read more below.

NEW YEAR’S EVE RIDE
31/12 @7:30pm > Natooke – 刷长安街 Ride along Chang’An Boulevard
Wanna do that last sprint on the last day of 2011? We’re leaving for dinner at 7:30pm before going on a bike ride along Chang’An Boulevard. Join us at your own speed while we stop to gather people at different points along the route. Call Dou Dou at 150-1146-3998.

Wishing you all the best for the New Year！

Ines & the Natooke Team

P/S: For those who understand German, here’s an article about Ines and Natooke in China Today.

See you, my friend…
There are always new people moving to Beijing but also some moving away… We’re going to think of Jess while playing bike polo and miss her fast and hard riding spirit. Meanwhile, Fede has also left Beijing temporarily, even though that could mean five months. We hope that he comes back soon as we all miss him already.


Bike Polo
Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, as long as you own a bicycle (and we mean any kind of bicycle – fixed, freewheel, or even a Flying Pigeon), you’re welcome to join us this Saturday. For more space, let’s go back to the Worker’s Gymnasium East Gate (not Stadium). Bring your bicycle and we’ll provide the mallets and balls. Meet us at Natooke first or see you there!

We are constantly looking for a better location where we could play bike polo regularly, so please let us know if you have somewhere in mind.


A Fixie X’mas
It was such a happy Christmas Day as we played bicycle games and whizzed past tourists at the Gulou Square. It was a lot of fun playing round after round of bicycle tag and working up a sweat!


Custom Natooke Bikes
Revamping our Natooke website is a really big project and we are gradually adding more content and features. For now, check out our new bikes here.

Merry Christmas!

BIKE POLO
Satuday, Dec 24th @1:00pm > Ditan Park West Gate
Bike Polo is the best Christmas gift for everyone! Come and meet us as usual!

CHRISTMAS BIKE EVENT
Sunday, Dec 25th @1:00pm > Drum and Bell Towers Square
Put on your Christmas hat and costume! Let’s play a new game!

Ines & the Natooke Team

Tianjin Alleycat
Last Saturday Natooke team went to Tianjin with a great team of 16 riders. Not everybody participated in the Alleycat but we all had a good time depsite the low temperture and the crazy traffic in Tianjin. Kirby from Natooke team was the fastest girl in the race and was happy to win a bike frame. Check our pictures in this gallery.

Brooks Colors
Brooks has new products with colored leather. There are amazing colors like apple green, blue or orange. Not only the B17 saddles but of course also the leather bar tape comes in these amazing colors!


New Bikes

It’s cold and windy in Beijing today but we still keep riding. How about coming to Tianjin with us for a fun alleycat race?

TIANJIN ALLEYCAT RACE
Saturday, December 17th @1:00pm > Tianjin Olympic Center
The race will start at 1 o’clock at the south gate of the Tianjin Olympic Center. There will be seven check points around the city of Tianjin which have already been posted (see map with details of all the checkpoints here). If you wish to register by yourself, please contact Mr. Li at 15620937347. You can also check out this Chinese twitter.

If you’d like to come with us to Tianjin, then either:
a) Come on Friday evening (we will be open until 8:30pm) to take your bike apart and bag it up. Then meet us on Saturday 7am at Natooke to try to take the subway with our bikes in bags to the Beijing South train station. We might need to ride our bikes there, or at least half of the group.
b) meet us directly at the Beijing South train station at around 8:30am.
We then will take the fast train to Tianjin.

Please let us know in advance if you need a bike bag.
We’d still love for you to join us even if you don’t wish to race.

BIKE POLO
Sunday, Dec 18th @1:00pm > Ditan Park West Gate
As the Tianjin race is on Saturday, we will have polo on Sunday this week. Coach Tom brought us some new mallets from Taiwan which are bamboo and much lighter! We are looking forward to playing polo with them!

Ines & the Natooke Team

Taiwan Bike Polo Cup
A group of Natooke riders went to Taiwan Kaohsiung to participate in the Takao hardcourt bike polo cup. The Natooke men’s team consisting of Jake, Julien and Garth played very well but unfortunately only made 9th place. The Natooke girl’s team consisting of Jess, Jo and Ines played together for the first time. Coach Tom tried his best to give them a lot of advice and training but they only made 3rd place (which was the last place actually). But everybody had an amazing time and we’re definitely looking forward to more bike polo tournaments in Taiwan.


Shenzhen Madman
Natooke was in Shenzhen for the first Madman fixed gear event. Congrats to Yu Shui who participated in the Madman alleycat race and came in 3rd place! There was also a bunny hop contest and a backward circle contest. Ken and Yu Shui had a Natooke tent displaying some of our products but before leaving, squeezed in time for some cycling action around the city with Jason.


New Bike
We’re really excited that the number of fixie-riding girls has been increasing and our inventory controller Carol isn’t going to be left behind. We present you the proud owner of a spanking new Flying Banana inspired by watermelons…

Today we have the first snow in Beijing, please ride more carefully these days!

Sat Dec 3rd 1:00pm > Bike Polo > @Parking lot of East of Landao and North of Chaowai SOHO
Since the Ditan Park is still unavailable, we will keep playing at the parking lot of east of Landao and North of Chaowai SOHO, if you don’t know the place you can come earlier to the shop and we can ride there together! Wear more clothes!

The shop will be closed on Dec 10th and Dec 11th!

Ines & the Natooke Team

Bike Polo
Despite the fact that we had to suddenly change the location for bike polo last Saturday still a huge amount of people showed up. And even better: Many new people came to play polo for the first time. It was great to see so many girls on colorful fixed gear bikes show up too and also practice track standing and skidding. we will try to keep playing throughout the winter so you can come whenever you have time.


Niurenku Party
It was a blast! We had so many fixed gear friends bring their bikes into the club which was already full at 9pm when the party was just about to start. We did fixed gear bike skid curling, then a few rounds of track stand twister and then tried to play last man standing but as the club was crowded everybody was rather track standing than riding around. But it was still fun. Thank you to all of you that came out and played with us. We will soon have more pictures on our website!


New Bikes
This bike’s gotten so much attention while it was in our shop. Indeed, simplicity is a unique feature of fixed gear bikes, and vintage is eternal fashion!

Thank you for blue sky days, thank you for careful drivers, thank you for all the cycling fun, thank you, and you and especially you. Happy Thanksgiving.

Sat Nov 26th 1:00pm > Bike Polo > @Ditan Park West Gate
Let’s play some Bike Polo as well as do some technical games to improve ball handling techniques. We welcome beginners as well as advanced players. Just dress warm as it is getting cold.

Sat Nov 26th 8:00pm > Niurenku Party x Natooke > @Lantern Club
Niurenku (Kick Ass) is holding a huge street style party on November 26th. See details below.
If you want to ride there together with us, come and meet us at 7:45pm in the shop.

Please mark you calendars:
Tue Nov 29th every x:55 > CCTV13 > “Beijing is my Home”: Beautiful short movie clip about Ines Brunn and how she feels about Beijing and bikes. It will air on Nov 29th every hour of the day at 5min to the hour on CCTV13.
Dec 10 & Dec 11 > Shenzhen > Fixed Gear Event in Shenzhen: The first Madman Race (part of the 4th Shenzhen Bike Carnival) is coming on Dec 10th. If you wish to participate, please provide personal information: name, telephone number, email address, nationality, passport or ID number (for free insurance), and the game you’d like to join (for bike polo, you have to register as a team). Please call 13828484190, or email 11518359@qq.com to register.

Ines & the Natooke Team

Niurenku 2-Year Anniversary Bash
In the past two years, Niurenku, or the “House of Kickass people” has been filming hidden talents and rising stars all over China, covering major events and discovering indie music gigs. With over 400 videos in action sports, independent music, cool technology and urban culture, Niurenku is truly living up to its name of being a ‘house of kickass people.’ Now that they’re turning two, they would like to call out to all their fans out there to come and join in for a night of celebration and jaw-dropping performances from some of their favorite kickass stars. Natooke and fixed gear lovers are one of them and have been invited to the Niurenku 2-year Anniversary bash. We will be organising some bike games that everybody can participate in. So don’t hesitate, come and enjoy the electronic music, fixed gear and parkour party!


Bike Polo
Last weekend we of course played bike polo to get ready for the tournament in Taiwan. It seems that Natooke will at least have 1 men and 1 women bike polo team! But we might even get second teams to come along. Bike Polo!


Fun World Travellers
David Goldman and his wife Amy and 3 daughters are travelling around the world. He is an ex-gymnast and likes unicycling and wants to learn more tricks on bikes. So Ines took him to meet Lao Zhou and Lao Sun, brought her trick bike and showed him some crazy tricks. He wants to get an artistic cycle and learn tricks when he is back home in Detroit. Good luck for the rest of your travel!


Fede and Inline Skaters
Yeah! Fede is back from Italy! Despite the freezing cold winds that swept over Beijing at the beginning of the week Fede and Ines went to meet the Beijing Happy Inline Skaters and show them some bike tricks. It was not so easy to get the bikes inside the Olympic Park but we managed. It was great fun to ride around despite hands and feet freezing.


New Bikes
The past week Natooke had fun building up many colorful and fresh bikes that our customers chose despite this cold weather. Looking at their bikes gives a feeling of spring and summer soon to come, especially the cute green bike. Some combinations are stylish e.g. white and pink with a little bit of gold. Or the marine blue with a little bit of gold. I am amazed how many new color combinations our customers come up with.

We had some amazing autumn days in Beijing with blue sky and sunshine. It was really fun to ride through all the colored leaves. Hope we will have some more great days before the temperature drops.

Sat Nov 19th 1:00pm > Bike Polo > @Ditan Park West Gate
Let’s play some Bike Polo in the fine afternoon sunshine at Ditan Park West Gate! Last week we still had 10 players (= 3 teams and 1 coach) and great fun!

Please mark you calendars:
Sat Nov 26th 4:30pm > Niurenku Party x Natooke > @Lantern Club
Niurenku (Kick Ass) is holding a street style party on November 26th. Natooke and all fixed gear cyclists can come with their bikes. We will have some fun games inside the Lantern Club for everyone to join.
Tue Nov 29th every x:55 > CCTV13 > “Beijing is my Home”: This is a very beautiful short movie clip about Ines Brunn and how she feels about Beijing and bikes. It will be played again on Nov 29th every hour of the day at 5min to the hour on CCTV13.
Dec 10th & 11th > Takao Bike Polo Cup HBPC 2011 > Taiwan Kaohsiung. We can still register until the end of November. Currently we have 5 people from Beijing that want to go. If we find at least 1 more then we can have at least 2 teams. There is also a special girls tournament so if any girls wanna come to Taiwan (no matter if you ever played bike polo or not) let us know! Some students would like to go but are looking for sponsors. If any company is interested in sponsorship let us know too.

Autumn Polo
Last Saturday we had 10 people show up for the bike polo. The coach gave great instructions for everyone to improve their level, even for the beginners who also had great fun. Bike polo is a sport for people of all ages and riding any kind of bike. We were happy to have some cyclists that were passing by stop and try hitting the ball with the mallet. By the way, most of our polo mallets are sponsored by Eighthinch. We love seeing people smile while being on their bike no matter what kind of bike!


Club Bike Tricks
Last Saturday we had a rehearsal at the Lantern Club for the upcoming party on Nov 26th. Natooke fixed gear riders went inside the club and checked out the space for doing tricks, track stands and fun games like even skid curling. It was a bit dark for taking pictures without a flash but lots of fun especially skidding into the black darkness.


Autumn Riding
It is a lot of fun to ride through the colored leaves of autumn. Unfortunately Beijing has a short autumn period and there are too many street cleaners so that the leaves are soon gone. But if you do find a patch of leaves it is loads of fun to skid through them. Just take care it might be moist and slippery!


MEGA Forum
Natooke had a “booth” (well… a table) at the China Entrepreneurs MEGA Forum for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The other booths only had flyers or maybe a banner and looked very empty compared to ours. Of course the Natooke booth was the most colorful and fun. Carol and Gloria explained a lot about fixed gear bikes and how to protect yourself from pollution to everyone that dropped by. Ines joined the forum conference. And she was given a Top Entrepreneur of China award.


New Bikes
#1. Purple fits bikes very well, and now it is very trendy!
#2. More people now choose matt finish! Matt purple = two birds with one stone.
#3. Some fresh air with a zebra saddle and horn.
#4. Choose from the heart and you will get a dream bike.
#5. This bike reminds us of Fast Freddy, how are you buddy?

Let’s take advantage of the sunshine and get together for some polo.

Sat Nov 12th 1:00pm > Bike Polo > @Ditan Park West Gate
Let’s play some Bike Polo in the fine afternoon sunshine at Ditan Park West Gate!

Sat Nov 12th 4:30pm > Rehearsal & Fun > @Lantern Club
Niu Ren Ku (Kick Ass) is holding a party on the 26th, we fixed gear cyclists and the Heat Parkour Crew got invited, and we will have some performance and fun games there. So tomorrow we will have a some sort of rehearsal at Lantern Club, the parkour guys will also come. Let’s go together after the polo and have some fun together!
Location of Lantern Club: 100 meters north of the West Gate of Worker Stadium.

This is the first week since we started our weekly newsletter that we are not organizing any events ourselves. If you have a bike with gears (either road bike or a mountain bike) you can go to the race a friend of ours is organizing this Saturday. It is only 20km long but in the mountains.

Sat Nov 5th 9:00am > Road Bike and Mountain Bike Race
It starts at 10:15am on the North of Beijing. For details check this website.
But be aware this is not for fixed gear!

There are 2 events coming up both on the weekend of Dec 10th & 11th
1. Takao Bike Polo Cup HBPC 2011 in Taiwan Kaohsiung. See details below. You can register now until the end of November.
2. Fixed Gear Event in Guangzhou Dec 9th to Dec 11th. They are currently working on the details but intend to have tricks competition, race, and maybe bike polo. Here is a link to an article about last years event.
Please let us know if you want to go to one of the events.

Keep riding despite the colder weather. When you ride your bike you are much warmer than waiting for a bus or walking to the subway. In winter the Beijing streets are more empty so it is nicer to ride.

Ines & the Natooke Team

Dec 11 Takao Cup
Polo-tour Day–>10, Dec Sat.
9 am: Guided tour around Kaohsiung and play polo in some nice courts.

Tourney Day–>11, Dec Sun.
8:30 am registering @ Glory Pier. 9:30 game on. Maps here…
If 16 teams, we go Double E. If less or more than 16, we go Groups and Final 8. Girls can have their own tourney.

Court Size: 33.6 X 19.2 m. Asphalt pavement. 30 cm hight’s fence.
Currently Registered: 3 teams of Glory C (Taipei), 2 of TCC (Taichung), 5 of KBPA (Kaohsiung). And 2 girls teams. 12 teams in total now.


Halloween Bike Ride
The fixed gear riders got all dressed up for an udderly fun Halloween! Natooke Banana stole a pirate sword and went bananas taking out ghouls and ghosts (first picture) while Saint Thomasina blessed the souls of the dead. We even had Amy Whinehouse grace the occasion leading the riders over to the Veggie Table from Drum and Bell tower! The second picture shows the “Banana-Milk-Shake”.


Books & Magazines
Do you know that Natooke sells books and magazines? Of course they are all related to bikes and might be a good idea as a holiday gift. We have books around bike design and bicycle culture, mostly focussed on pictures, some also have text in English. We currently have the COG and the Urban Velo magazines.


New Bikes
#1. Female frame for the cute girls
#2. Fixie couples, you are so lucky
#3. Charles is back! (his bike got stolen before)
#4 ~ #8. Even though recently the weather has been foggy and hazy it seems no fixed gear rider got influenced, most of the bikes have a feeling of fresh flowers and romantic days!


Fixed Gear World Tour
Keith Thorarison, a Canadian track cyclist, riding his fixed gear bike around the world came to our shop. He raced road bikes but didn’t quite like the fact that after 150km the guy who can sprint fastest wins. He is an amazing sprinter so decided not to do the 150km, but just sprint. So at around the age of 18 he started track racing and is really good at it (e.g. see here and here). He decided to go to Australia for some track racing and then cycled across Vietnam on a fixed gear bike. He then decided to cycle around the world on his packed up fixed gear bike passing by all the interesting places he wants to see. From Natooke he cycled to the China Bicycle Museum. We wish him all the best for his future travel.