The Cambridge Bicycle Doctor

Behind The Bike Shed

Welcome to my new Blog, ‘Behind The Bike Shed’ .As The Cambridge Bicycle Doctor I’m always ‘thinking bike’ and have decided to share some of my inner musings with you. Be it topical bike subjects, tips on maintenance, or just good fun I hope you enjoy the read and leave your comments.

As it happens, the first installment will be just good fun, or perhaps, as many of us have felt, a reminder of rather heart-wrenching times.

“Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold”

William Shakespeare (English Dramatist, Playwright and Poet, 1564-1616)

The Bicycle Thieves (c1948)

I enjoy a good movie as much as the rest, people with a keen eye for bicycles will always spot the bike in an old flick and admire the once taken-for-granted common use of them as private and trade transport. For a film spectacle of vintage bikes, it doesn’t get much better than Vittorio De Sica’s ‘The Bicycle Thieves’.

Shot in Italy’s (cycle friendly at the time) city of Rome, the film depicts the post-war depression of Italy and it’s work force of men, now desperate for work. The story tells of one (at first) lucky man who lands himself a job, but on the condition he must have a bike. The job, circulating the city, pasting up advertising posters is as good as gold dust and his wife sells there only valuable possession (bed Linen) to fund the purchase of a bike. All seems bright until disaster strikes and the bike is stolen on his first shift, now the film really starts.

The leading role,Antonio is played by Lamberto Maggiorani, cleverly cast as an untrained actor, he brilliantly depicts the despair off having his bicycle stolen and sets off on a search to get it back, assisted by his young son Bruno,(Enzo Staiola).

He’d witnessed the theft and could remember the culprits face, the frame number was logged and every detail of the much loved bicycle noted. His first port of call, the Police, you must report a theft after all. They deal with it in a casual manner, it’s not the most important of matters to them, but to him, it’s top of the agenda. Oh how this rings true of modern times, the reporting of a bike theft in Cambridge is a good as a chocolate tea pot, but we all do it, with a look of despair on our faces and a vain, self convincing hope that ‘it’ll turn up’.

Next, the search. Rome is, and was then, a big place, full of bikes. Similar in ways to Cambridge, especially the number of bikes. He spends hours out there, scouring the bike racks. So long, they all become a blur, some at a distance looking like ‘the one’ but a dash towards proves not. How frustrating, how sole destroying. This period is possibly the worst, your mind’s flying, the anger, the sadness, the denial. Again, many of us have felt this, still we continue traipsing around until the point of exhaustion. This may go on for weeks maybe months, the odd glance of something familiar, is that my…?

Eventually a team is brought in, surely this will work, many eyes make light work etc. They scour the bicycle market district of Rome (this being our, used bike shops) looking for any sign. One trader is busy painting a frame, suspicion sets in. This is one of the final throws of emotion, the suspicion of a painted frame. Sometimes even the most obviously different bikes can warp into a freakish beast of your bike painted. Crazy conclusions are drawn to it’s identity, but as expected, it’s not his (your) bike.

I won’t spoil every detail of the film, especially the ending! All I can say is that it’s well worth a watch. And sometimes we all need a bit of self reflection to laugh at.

So, what’s the moral of all this then, don’t loose hope, thieves get their comeuppances, insure your bike? I don’t know ,I’m not into casting philosophy, all I can say is keep on cycling and I hope you enjoyed the first installment ‘Behind The Bike Shed’

Frank.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 3:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.