We have already been thinking about the bicycle as a significant accessory that can define a look. Buying one is like picking a pair of sneakers or a sweater; it can reveal a lot about your personality and taste. Choosing a model over another one means being closer to a certain type of lifestyle. But the lifestyle of bicycles is not just appearance, it’s a real culture community.
“Gestalten’s new Velo-2nd Gear: Bicycle Culture and Style book” is on the other hand a medium to showcase the most beautiful bikes around the globe, but also a narrative process that retraces the whole world behind the item, style included. Edited by Sven Ehmann and Robert Klaten, respectively the Creative Director and the Editor, the edition presents itself as a celebration of cycling, avoiding the commonplaces based on the green and healthy lifestyle.
The crucial aspect of this book is the way they tell the viewer the entire story behind the pictures, so that one has the impression of being part of the travel itself, and through the pages one can discover a street culture that is not just aesthetic but also cultural and technological, a continuously evolving millennial mean of transport.
You’ll find behind-the-scene photos of famous contemporary manufactures along with best shops and showrooms worldwide, as well as underlined all those inventions that improved – and still do – the structure of the bike itself, the most extravagant designs, the most special accessories and clothing, and importantly enough also the people who ride these wheels.
In a 256-pages edition the reader gets the chance to completely embrace the culture of a very complex and varied universe; not stopping only to old school fixies but also beach cruisers, light-framed racers, mountain bikes and a section dedicated to specialized tour routes.
