BMW | cyclostyle

There’s been big excitement in our house/street/town: THE OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY WENT PAST OUR HOUSE!!! The school children have been busy making Olympic torches, folks were checking the route and timings and there was a general air of excitement. Being summertime, of course it was raining heavily enough to warrant umbrellas, but despite it being 8.30am, spirits were high.

The Olympic torch enjoying a typical British summer

The whole thing reminded me of watching a stage of a cycling road race. First a phalanx of police motorcycles, then the official sponsors caravan, some more police, a press bus and finally the torch bearer themselves. Then it was all over, with everyone asking “was that it?” Just like the silence after the cyclist have all buzzed past and the crowds begin to disperse.

BMW are official vehicle sponsor and were there with a couple of BMW branded hybrid bikes being ridden. Typically car manufacturer’s efforts at bike design have been disappointing. These looked quite nice, although I expect they weighed a ton. A funky white aluminium frame, V brakes and some natty spoke lacing. The front suspension was probably unnecessary, but the anodised quick release skewers in BMW blue were a nice touch. With Olympic torches on eBay for £200 a go, I expect that some of these bikes might be listed soon as well.

My other bike’s a BMW

The Olympic sponsors played it very safe with their publicity vehicles. They could’ve learnt something from Tour de France publicity caravan which always sports a few funky vehicles. Come July, there’s bound to be someone driving round France in a motorised banana or an estate car converted into a bottle of pop as part of the publicity. I did feel slightly sorry for G4S truck with everyone shouting “got any jobs going?!” at the forlorn driver.