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The Art of Britain's Bespoke Bicycle

By Jeremy Dunn • 16th September 2010 10:59pm • Posted in Events

Tuesday evening saw the opening of a new exhibit in our gallery.  Entitled ‘Speed, Style & Comfort: The Art of Britain's Bespoke Bicycle”, the show features vintage bikes from the collection of Michael Lebron. With selections from P.T. Stallard, Dawes, Johnny Berry and more, the collection is a beautiful representation of 1930s to 1950s era British racing and touring bikes.

Included in the show is the unique photography of Bijou Le Tord. Ms Le Tord is a French artist who put together an amazing series of photographs - “Going the Distance". For the show, she documented the 2009 Tour de France daily as she witnessed it from her studio in France. Each resulting frame was the culmination of both anticipation and split-second determination, then stylized to reveal the art within the image. They are truly haunting portraits of the glory, suffering, and pageantry of the Tour. We have 10 of her photos for sale.

We also gave over one wall of the gallery to our friends at Flat Vernacular who came up with a stunning damask/bicycle-themed wall covering. It sits behind the Le Tord photos - and alongside the vintage bikes providing the ideal canvas to link the past to the present.

The Rapha Cycle Club NYC closes for good on September 30th. Make sure to get in and check out these unique exhibits before they are gone. See the slide show below for more photos of the bicycles.

Comments

Mike Owen

17th September 2010 12:39am

Photos off the TV? I'm not sure if that counts - if I take photos of my Seventh Seal DVD it doesn't make me Ingmar Bergman…or perhaps more relevantly A Sunday in Hell and Jorgen Leith.

Ben Kosmider

27th September 2010 05:49pm

Kudos to Rapha and the fine staff at 352 Bowery for this effort that is regreatably coming to a close this week.
I was walking past, saw some bikes in through the window, thought: 'wow, a new bike shop', then found myself in a little homage to the glories of road racing, complete with a stone-age 'sag wagon' taking up the back room.
Once I found out that I missed essentially all three key European racing events (which were broadcast daily here on their large-screens), along with impossible to find racing documentaries, I was looking for the nearest cinder-block wall to bang my head against.
I've already told as many people as I can think of to check out the vintage road bikes on display.
My only request, if this is possible, is to provide a new blog post with a link to the rest of this photoset of these machines: only a handful are shown above.
I know many people who'd love to at least see these pics, as the collection will soon be gone from NYC.
Thanks to the staff for the reminder that time does indeed fly, with your showing of Breaking Away last Wed: that was a real treat to see (digitally cleaned-up) after 30 years.
Best of luck with your next venture: keep us apprised!

Dave Wyman

28th September 2010 08:40pm

Last we, I visited my daughter in Brooklyn. I made sure to visit the Rapha Cycle Club NYC, too.

For me, a highlight was the collection of metal water bottles with flat-topped stoppers, mounted to the handlebars of the vintage bike collection. My 1962 Follis – I'm the original owner – road bike sports a similar set-up. (I'm a far stronger and faster rider on that bike than I was at age 14.)

My visually artistic take on the exhibit is here: http://davewyman.net/rphnyc.jpg

I hope you reopen Rapha NYC next year.

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