Copenhagen/Malmo

I went to Copenhagen a couple of weeks back with Ratty. I've wanted to go to Copenhagen for years for it seemingly awesome bike culture, and friendliness towards crusties.

We found this super dope spot which was like a concrete downhill run of super slick super skate spots. It was all berms, gaps, ledges, banks and sub boxes down a 1 minute run. The spot had a chilled chinese garden vibe, no security and could be sessioned indefinitely.

In Christiania we saw a lot of crusted shit but they're not so found of photography since drug dealers openly trade and they don't want their faces recognised. I took a photo on the sly of this bike rack made from old steel bike frames welded together.

Inside the main bike shop in Christiania I got speaking to one of the mechanics and I told him I also followed the same trade as he. He showed me about the back of his shop and let me see his 4x bike. I told him I only really rode street but he still gave me a comprehensive list of every dirt jump spot in Denmark. I was mostly interested in his system for hoisting bikes up for repair in the work shop. The system worked with a pneumatic pulley that pulled rope which was routed through a complex series of runners on the ceiling and then had a hook for handle bar and seat at the end. One flick of a button lifted bikes up to any desired height and the mechanic sat down to work on a wheelie chair similar to how some formula one mechanics work. This pneumatic system would prove ideal when working on bakefiets cargo bikes or really heavy amsterdam cruisers as they're a bitch to get in a conventional work stand. You couldn't really free rusted in bottom brackets or anything requiring lots of torque or purchase because of the swinging nature of the beast.

There was a huge power station in Copenhagen called 'DONG ENERGY' after meeting up with Daz E and Aleisha we realised this was where they had parked their camper van.

Innercity campervan parks have a weird vibe and a strange eggy smell of chemical toilets.

As if you'd drop the street luge on this in full view of anyone walking by. Its a different culture over there as Ratty reminded me for the millionth time.

Street beater.

Happy campers.

We went to the Malmo ultra Bowl IV skateboard competition in Malmo Sweden in the camper van. There was a free heavy metal show going on outside. This band were absolutely going for it in mid day heat for almost 10 spectators.

The Bowl contest was pretty dope and dominated by American skaters. We searched high and low but could not find Pontis Alv, we didn't even see any D.I.Y. concrete.

I love guacamole, it's second only to pease pudding. This however was guacamole style dip from Netto and for some reason it contained cheese?

Street Tomato

Malmo is to Sweden what Hartlepool is to England, beautiful historic quay.

Spot. It's funny that Malmo is known for D.I.Y. spots when it is already infinitely skate-able.

Bikes

There was a mega ramp set up in the street as part of a free music festival in the centre of the town. No wonder everyone was happy.

I've drank beers in the doorways of most of the major cities in Europe, and I'm working on Scandinavia now.

STOOPXRATTYXDAZ

Woolen coverings on all the street furniture in Malmo as part of the festival. It looked pretty cool.

Ratty found a brand new pair of nike sb's and they just happened to fit me, only one of them was spray painted a heinous green colour.

Back in denmark by the sea.

Bag of carrots in a field, Ratty drops the bunny rabbit lunch.

The Campervan caught a flat tyre on the way back to Copenhagen and because the spare was rusted solid to the underside of the vehicle it meant we had to wait for 4 hours plus by the side of the highway. Not stoked.

In all the bushes surrounding the highway were lurking these giant black and yellow spiders. I'm not much afraid of spiders but Aleisha seemed pretty nervous.

Ratty as the sun went down, normally I'm all into sunsets but this one seemed to spell impending doom as light was lost and the camper still sat on the hard shoulder of the road.

Mega spider number 2

Finally the road assistance dude showed up much to the relief of Daz and he had us on our way in a matter of minutes. His tools were a lot bigger than ours.

Nocturnal BMX storage while we slept in the camper.

Street yoga

One of the only non skatepark based BMX bikes we saw while in Copenhagen. I'm digging the whole set up, mud guard, 80s loop tail, rear only pegs and a quilled stem way way past the minimum recommended insertion.

We rode this super dope basketball court.

It was like a science fiction super sport arena in zero gravity. I could imagine armoured warriors throwing a steel ball at the hoops while riding hover boards up the banks.

Gabe was an Australian skater who was staying at the same house as us, he showed us a bunch of spots, sketched about with bolt cutters at night, designed high end fashion and ended up getting swellbow.

Pipe smoker in a narrow and fast skatepark. Not a good place to stand.

Skate house kitchens all look the same.

Bikes en masse.

Another skatepark. Ratty loved this place and he tore around it like a man possesed. His intensity was at the highest I have ever seen and he rode more here than I have ever seen him ride before.

We were staying in the meat packing area of Copenhagen, this chinese restaurant is housed in a converted abattoir as are all the new businesses there. Its a weird mix of old school slaughter houses juxtaposed with design studios, clubs and fashionable eateries. This chinese restaurant has 4 things on the menu: pork dumpling, veg in a box, something I didn't understand and pancakes. The pancakes are really eggy and cooked with spring onion, they fill the pancake with a bread like tofu, sprinkle it with sesame seeds and cover it in a flavoursome hot sauce. So good.