London’s Tweed Run Comes to Beijing in the City’s First Vintage Bicycle Ride

Tweed Run, a London produced group bicycle ride in which cyclists dress in traditional British attire and ride vintage bicycles around the city, has arrived in Beijing after sweeping over many cities like New York, Pescara and Berlin. The first Beijing Vintage Ride took place on April 20, a shiny Saturday afternoon, and clocks seemed to have wound back in time. About 150 passionate cyclists and fashionistas, who were lucky to get one of the limited spots for the event, started from the Worker’s Gymnasium in Sanlitun and gathered at the 798 Africa Center for a fashion show after riding a 10-kilometer journey across the city.

700BIKE, the major host for this event, encouraged people to dress in vintage Chinese clothing, and of particular interest was the Mao Suit, which, according to history, “almost every rider was wearing in the hey day of the bicycle in 70′s and 80′s”. The Mao tunic suits are also called Zhongshan suits, and it became the first choice of the many foreigners who participated in the event.

As the car has become the major means of transportation in Beijing, bike riding is now seen more as means of marking one’s personal style and individuality. But regardless of whether one sees it as a nostalgic trip into the past, or as a creative line-up of Beijing’s “hipper” residents, the Beijing Vintage Ride has made a definite impression in Chinese fashion circles, and its next installment promises to be a bigger and more exciting event to watch out for.