The little black dress – as a bicycle

At the end of last year I had the great pleasure of photographing a bicycle manufacturer in Freiburg for two days for their new website and also for the catalog. (The website was once again by Network combination built, which I already used Market pirates worked together.) In any case, I felt like investing in a new bike again after 30 years. Of course the client's bikes are All Terrain Equipped with particularly elegant parts and assembled with a lot of love. That's exactly why it's not affordable for a photographer, even if the price is absolutely justified.

Nevertheless, I couldn't get the thought of a new bike out of my head.

How I came to buy a bike…

I like to do some things spontaneously. So on Friday I took the opportunity to have a little more time and strolled into the bike shop in Sprinkenhof. I was just nearby. Nice chat with the people in the store. Racing bikes galore and 5-figure heights too. With my 92cm leg length and 195cm body length (measured in the bike shop), racing bikes have never been in my bag. I tried anyway. You know the saying about the monkey on the grindstone?

A black bicycle that stood rather stealthily in the back corner aroused more interest. The nice dealer almost seemed a little ashamed that I discovered what he thought was a rather ugly duckling. It didn't even have a croissant. Urban City Bike is the name of the variant of bicycles that invite you to enjoy daily sporty cruising on two wheels. It was the last piece. It didn't fit in the store. I immediately felt comfortable on the bike. I got it at a special price.

So what is the little black bike now?

The BMC Alpenchallenge is equipped with high-quality Shimano Metrea gears. 2 sprockets at the front and 11 at the rear ensure problem-free propulsion. The disc brakes are responsible for finely adjustable braking power. Very important in Hamburg: it also works in the rain. The cables are laid in the frame, which is made of aluminum. This makes the bike quite light despite its size – I took the XL version.

And what is the first driving impression?

After more than thirty years, I was unexpectedly beamed into the now. It's crazy how agile cycling can be. The Continental Sport Contact stick to the asphalt. The geometry of the BMC Alpenchallenge ensures fantastic agility. Suddenly I can take corners tighter at higher speeds. The gears are finely tuned and click into place as smoothly as butter. I control the gears using two buttons directly on the handlebars. One is for upshifting, one is for downshifting – it's as simple as that. Even pedaling is fun on a bike. Yes, I am pleased…

So what does this have to do with photography?

Now comes the photo nerd stuff. You might be wondering about the over-brightness of the lights in the photos. That is intentional. The effect comes from the Tiffen Black Pro Mist Filter. I used it at 1/8 strength for the pictures. The filter is usually used by video people to reduce the clinical quality of modern lenses. I think this works very well because the filters don't have any significant negative impact on the sharpness. You can see this well when there is no backlight in the picture. But the filter brings something especially when playing with the light. I like that. It's a shame that the Tiffen filters are obviously not available for purchase in Germany. I bought mine from Amazon USA. It works easily, only takes a relatively long time and is of course more expensive. If you are interested in this filter, click here Affiliate link. It doesn't make it any more expensive for you, but if you buy about 1000 of them, I may have refinanced mine. I haven't calculated that. And I don't calculate how many filters have to be sold via the link to afford a new bike...

I'm curious to see how long this bike will accompany me.