Coming home to Melbourne in 2009 after a few years in London, I remember thinking that nothing had really changed very much. A new apartment building had sprung up in my street, some previously boarded-up shopfronts had been transformed into trendy cafés and my favourite bar had a new name… but by and large, everything was much the same as I’d left it.
Except for one big difference: it seemed like everyone was suddenly riding bikes!
Whether repairing old Dutch-style frames they had bought off eBay or buying brand new fixies from the local cycle shop, everyone I knew appeared to be simultaneously re-discovering the joy of travelling on two wheels. And Melbourne isn’t alone in this… from Perth to New York to Paris, all things bike related are undergoing a massive renaissance right now.
Springing up to fill the corresponding magazine shaped void is Treadlie, one of our favourite new mags. Published by the same folks as Green magazine, Treadlie is—admittedly, despite the odd smattering here and there—a cycling magazine for people that wouldn’t be caught dead in lycra. Unlike the other cycling titles on our shelves, this mag is more about the joy of cruising down a hill on your ten speed than it is about how to whittle another few grams off your carbon fibre racer.
Issue #2 contains reports on a fixed gear Nullarbor crossing, bikes made from bamboo, Japanese bike manufacturer Tokyo Bike plus all kinds of other wonderful two wheeled bits and pieces.
One of my favourite little touches is that the contributor’s page eschews the customary mugshot in favour of a rider’s-eye-view of each contributor’s various bikes.
Love it! Available in our Australian stores now.
