Posting about cyclists we meet on the streets of Dublin is part of Bear’s ‘How social is your cycle? campaign’. With this campaign Bear wants to highlight how social cycling is compared to sitting in a car. It is a great way to increase your social network!

“My fondest memory of cycling in Dublin was one summer night after a great session with friends.  I took one of the Dublin Bikes at 5 am going home, and went cruising through the empty streets, the sunrise was on the horizon and I felt like the city was mine…”

“I find cycling to be a very social activity especially when you have a different looking bike, other cyclists are quick to chat and ask about it. Cyclists are like dog walkers, quickly find a common ground and break the ice. My recipe against loneliness is simple: get yourself a cool bike and a dog!”

Paddy uses his bike for his work, he brings all his filming equipment on his front carrier. Curious about Paddy’s work? Check out his website: www.paddycahill.com

This post is part of Bear bicycles’ How Social is your Cycle Campaign to highlight the social aspects of cycling.

Writing about cyclists that we meet on Dublin’s streets is part of our How Social is your Cycle Campaign. So stay tuned for more social cycling stories!

This month Billy and the bear bicycles team will use the Facebook bike to cycle through Dublin, talk to Dubliners and make our social network bigger. We will write about the people we meet and post pictures of social cyclists. And we invite you all to participate in our campaign! So post your pictures that show how social cycling is to our Facebook wall. We give away 5 colourful ding dong bells for the nicest pictures.

Bear bicycles are organising the ‘how social is you cycle-campaign’ to illustrate how social cycling is. You’re outside on the streets, not locked into a car and can easily interact with other cyclists or pedestrians. That can be by chatting, or just a friendly smile.
If you see us cycling around on our Facebook bike, please say hello!

David, or Dave, is owner of ebow: Dublin’s favourite digital marketing agency. Dave and his team have helped the likes of Hairy Baby, GAA, and bear bicycles (forgive us for being vain and placing our name in that sequence) find a face on the web.

Dave understands digital marketing requires the right mix of design, art, creativity, technology and copywriting. On top of that, Dave is one of the few digital marketers to recognize the importance of offline presence for online companies. From our own experience as an online company, we know it’s not enough to simply upload photos into a web shop. To actually sell stuff, online companies also need to find a voice in the real world.

And that’s where ebow comes in.

One of ebow’s innovative approaches to giving online companies and real world presence, is Gallery Number One; an urban space on Castle Street that each season serves up a new arty exhibition for an online business. With that same gallery, ebow unlocked our Dutch bikes from their cyber prisons, and placed them in a light space with large windows, perched on a top of a hill, right across the street from Christchurch.

There, hanging from ceilings, standing on crates, or test cycling the area, our bikes got the chance to show themselves to the many Dubliners and tourists passing by. It has helped in putting our small startup on the map. We quadrupled our facebook fan base, we got active on Twitter (thanks to the webtips from ebow’s Elva), and our company got noticed by the Irish press.

As a result, we actually started selling bikes. For example: we sold a delivery bike to Steven in Belfast, and a red ladies bike to a lady from Brittany. But – and this really make us proud – we’ve also sold a bike to Dave himself.

So now, on top of affinity to art, Dave also has affinity to cycling.

In his recent blog on the 12 years of ebow, he even called out ‘the fact I can wear a Stones tee to work and cycle right up to my desk on my bike’ as one of the reasons he loves his work.

It is only logical, then, that Dave is also on board as a Jury Member.

We’re grateful to have him.

It’s no coincidence professional cyclists eat spaghetti for breakfast, before they start their Tour de France etappe of the day.

If you love biking, you will also love lovepasta.

Lovepasta makes fresh pasta, each day – and tops it off with delicious sauces. They are located in the old Harcourt Station Building, and they are hard to miss, thanks to their sleek branded bear bike.

If you’re around, drop by for lunch (or breakfast). You will love it.

Yesterday we saw Margaret Skinnider on TV, cycling one of our bear bikes.

Amsterdam is seen as Europe’s home of cycling. Even though it rains more there than it does in Dublin. To fully experience it, we took Ollie and Lisa (our friends from GreenAer) to Amsterdam so they could see it with their own eyes.

We had dinner on a house boat in the Amsterdam canals, we did a tour through the red-light district, but most importantly: we saw Dutch bicycles. Loads, and loads of Dutch bicycles. Our friends from Het Zwartefietsenplan (‘the Black Bike plan’; a shop selling Dutch bikes in Amsterdam) had even set up a tour through their business for us.

That tour, to us, was what a Bordeaux chateau visits must be red wine lovers.

Since you, our readers, like Dutch bicycles as well, we’re sharing some of our holiday pictures here.

It’s what bear bicycles and the Dutch Embassy Dublin organised this summer. Together with Amsterdam Choir ‘De Stemming’, bear went on a hit and run concert tour with its Dutch bicycles, performing on all sorts of public locations.

This video give you a good impression of the cycling symphony day.

Classical Music on Classic Dutch Bikes: Cycling Symphonies

This video shows you one of the songs performed by the cycling symphony choir.

Cycling Symphony: Choir de Stemming sings at College Green