Slow Biking Singapore

Cycling is like cakes. There are Pandan cake, cheese cake and chocolate cake. All cake but different taste. This is one genre of cycling "cake" which I like too. Slow slow relak type. I was very glad that Bing Cheng agreed to share more on what he and his friends does "slowly" .....  Read on! 

Slowing Biking Singapore (SBSG) rolling down a quiet alley - Photo Credits SBSG 

SBSG folks - Photo Credits SBSG

Slow Biking Singapore, or SBSg, was established in late 2011. Our group name is directly inspired by the Slow Bicycle Movement.

Snooping around - Photo Credits SBSG

Slow Biking Singapore was borne out of a desire to meet fellow cyclists here who share the same outlook towards bicycling - as a simple, casual yet elegant and dignified way of getting around our city. Bicycles, to us, are tools to help us 'take it slow and easy' in our daily lives, an enjoyable way of getting around.

slow roll - Photo Credits SBSG

Slow down, feel the breeze and chat- Photo credits SBSG 

We believe cycling should be regarded as a "normal" thing to do. A "normal" way of getting to work, to meet friends, to have errands done, to get to the places we want to go, to do the things we want to do; a viable form of personal transportation - and not only regarded as purely a sport or leisure activity.

Sari of SBSG - Photo credits SBSG 

As a group, we aspire to encourage non-biking friends to join us in "slow biking" as well. To the best of our ability, we show to skeptics that, by our own examples, "No, it isn't too hot, it isn't too hard" to cycle in Singapore - we can all do it within our own pace and effort. As such, we are not restricted by how fast we have to ride, or any special 'equipment' we have to use. Actually, we already have some real-life examples here of "slow biking" we can observe daily - aunties and uncles on their way to the market n coffee-shops with their 'market-bikes', mothers ferrying their children to schools on their 'mama-charis'. People going around to places "normally" and with little fuss on their bikes. That is what we set out to emulate.

Our group meets are also a great way to show friends how we can all have a good time together - and we all got there on two wheels! Our unofficial motto is "We ride to meet!" (as opposed to cycling-dedicated groups who "meet to ride together" instead.)

If you share and embrace the same philosophy as we do for bicycling, or would like to find more, we welcome you to join us! We can be found on Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/slowbikingsingapore/

Thank you, Ride Safe and Have Fun!

Foot note on the  Bing Cheng(Founder of SBSG) 

Hi all, I am Bing Cheng, author of the above article, and a photographer by profession. Taiwoon da-ge has insisted I should also talk a little about myself as a cyclist (and my bikes), so here I am!

My primary use of the bicycle is as a personal transportation tool - be it to get to the studio for work, to meet friends for chilling-out, or to run personal errands. As such, I have a preference for 'workhorse' do-it-all bikes that demands little fuss, something I can put away after using without losing sleep over. Some of the bikes I have owned (and let go) over the past 1 1/2 years include 2 fixed gear bicycles, a vintage touring steel bike that I converted into a commuter, a foldable bicycle, and now a '90s vintage hard-tail/rigid fork mountain-bike. I have two other bicycles at home belonging to my wife and dad - a ladies step-through city bike, and a cruiser. I have enjoyed riding them all, they are beautiful and unique in their own ways.

I enjoy cycling as a way of getting around. The basic principles behind the bicycle have remained largely the same for decades, even century. I believe a time-traveller from early last century would have little problem learning how to ride the bikes of today (and vice versa). There is satisfaction behind the knowledge that, not only do I have a connection to history and tradition whenever I get on a bike, I have gotten to where I want to go purely by my own effort. The freedom, beauty and joy in the simplicity of riding a bicycle is something one has to experience it for him/herself to truly understand and appreciate. So if you are a non-cyclist who is thinking of starting….don't hesitate anymore, and come join us!