Still hot on the trail of the fabled ice-bike, and making progress!
After a few days of the trail going cold, I ran into this fellow. He was really helpful and talkative, but unfortunately he spoke so quickly I didn’t understand much of what he said. However, he did get me pointed in the right direction.
Better still, I have successfully enlisted the aid of a local in my ridiculous and quixotic search for one of these ice-bikes. Her name is Gaby. She works at the New Zealand embassy, speaks English fluently, and is a bicyclist, too! She tells me that every Saturday morning there is a women´s group ride that meets at a monument on Reforma, and they even have mechanic´s classes for women.
She is currently experimenting with bike-commuting, which is still pretty unusual in Mexico City and more or less unheard of for women.
It appears she has found me a welder who may know how to make these things, so I am heading off to meet her there now. Wish me luck, everyone!
Erik Ryberg
December 30th, 2008 at 11:41 am
I hope you find the elusive ice bike. Have you talked with the ice companies? I would think they would have an idea of where these bikes come from since they seem to be so specific in their purpose. Good luck in your search.
December 31st, 2008 at 9:15 am
Good luck! I’m all about the quixotic bike quest. I don’t expect other people to fully understand why I love the particular bikes that I do, in fact, I prefer that they don’t. It’s personal.