Osku and Elisa

Moving around in Oulu, where we live at the moment, is by far easiest with bikes. There is a relatively vast network of cycling roads, taking you practically anywhere you need to go. It's usually also faster than with the local busses (well, maybe not if it's Elisa biking...), most of which go between the university and the city centre. Apart from that route you need to change busses and wait almost surely a quarter of an hour between all changes. And owning a car is expensive as we all know (besides being uncool and not hippyish).

So, bike it is for us. I used to get by with old granny bikes, with their bendy frames and generally rusty parts, changing tyres every two weeks or so. My previous bike I actually took from a pile of trash on its way to be recycled, kicked the tubes straight, changed the chains and a few other parts, and cleaned everything. It has now served me for a year without too many problems considering its background, while Elisa used my previous previous blue (!) granny bike. But.. we felt it was time to step up our biking experience a bit. So what did we get? Not less than the all new and shiny remake of the true Finnish classic...

Jopo, an abbreviation of "Jokaisen Polkupyörä" or "Every ones bicycle", is a small-wheeled bike designed and manufactured by the finnish bicycle factory Helkama. The original model was released in 1964, and was hugely popular in the sixties and seventies. Like the name suggests, Jopo is bike for every one, and also every situation. It is simple and durable, unisex in essence. Despite its small wheels it rolls really good and is perfect for city environments. More than 10 kilometers starts to feel a bit too much like sport though.

We've now had the Jopo for a few days and we've been really happy with it, although the wether hasn't been exactly ideal for biking around. We're just a bit concerned about bike robbers. So.. if you're interested in robbing this one, beware that I will break your legs at the very least if you do it.