I don’t think we’ve featured any BMX-related products for a while, so to redress that balance, how about this BMX tote bag.
This Natural tote is made of 100% cotton and lined, measures 13 inches x 15 inches and features a big and bold silk screened BMX image, along with logo of designer Noonworks. Note that the straps are actually black (not red as in the picture).
Available now, you can pick it up for $25 (which is around £14).
Find out more at the Day-Lab website
Apparently, Paul Smith was a wannabe pro cyclist as a youth, but an accident put paid to that – and he moved into fashion. He still owns his original Mercian cycle – and is now working with the company, producing a range of bikes in Paul Smith designs.
Two models are available in collaboration with the vintage bike-maker, the Mercian Track and the Mercian Tour bike, each available in six custom colour schemes. The Track is designed for road training and track racing and is finished with colour split frame and finest, up-to-date fixtures and fittings. The Tour bike (pictured above) is for touring in the city or countryside – or in other words, for everyday use. It’s finished with a handcrafted saddle and bar tape made specifically for Paul Smith by Brooks.
Not cheap – prices are just short of £3,000. You can buy online via Mercian or from a Paul Smith store.
For full bike specification and more images visit Mercian Cycles
Most car merchandising doesn’t get much further than a novelty key ring or a bad baseball cap, so three cheers for Mini, which has brought this fantastic Mini Car Cuckoo Clock.
The chrome clock is based on the speedometer of the car, with the hours and minutes replacing the mph. That would be good enough, but there’s one other thing – every full hour, a detailed miniature of a red Mini (1:93 scale) emerges from the "garage" at the bottom and circles around the entire clock, accompanied by an original engine noise and horn.
Ideal for any Mini obsessive, you can pick one up online or from Mini dealers for 99 Euros, which is around £65.
We’ve not had any retro-styled cars for a while, but as there’s a car show on right now in Paris, there was always a chance of a new one. And here it is, the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione.
Few Alfa Romeos of late have lived up to the badge or stylish grill, but this one fits right into the future classic mould. For the technical amongst you, it features a 4.7-litre Maserati V8 engine with 444 hp, a carbon fibre body over steel chassis and a six-speed robotised gear-box with five settings (manual-normal, manual-sport, automatic-normal, automatic-sport and "ice").
Alfa Romeo has said it’s producing the car in limited numbers, but hasn’t said how many, when and how much. I suspect the answer to the last question is "if you’ve got to ask, you can’t afford it".
Still pining for the old Mini? Or just refusing to pay the hefty price tag of BMW’s new models? Well, you’ll soon be able to pick up a new car that seems more than a little inspired by the original Mini – the Daihatsu Trevis.
It’s what’s generally known as a city car, doing 49 miles per gallon, but still having plenty of room to load in the shopping (and indeed people – this is a four door car).
They’ve probably missed a trick inside, a couple of retro-styled speed dials and a leather steering wheel, but apart from that, it just likes your typical budget runaround. Shame that.
But we can hardly complain, because this should be a cheap motor. The European price quoted is from £6750 (probably slightly higher in the UK), so one to consider if your budget doesn’t stretch to BMW’s latest.
You don’t need a time machine to see a showroom full of bubble cars, you just need a trip to Lincolnshire (in the UK) to the Bubble Car Museum, which is dedicated to the microcar.
Microcars are anything under 700cc and usually derive from the 50s and 60s, made by UK makers such as Bond and Berkeleys of Biggleswade and European manufacturers such as Messerschmitt, Isetta, Vespa and Heinkel.
The museum has over 70 exhibits on show, along with technical data and memorabilia – and you can even drive some of the cars around the countryside too. And if the short drives get you thinking about owning a bubble car, you can also buy one from the museum. A range of vehicles are currently for sale, including a 1960 Messerschmitt KR200 (similar to the one pictured). The price? A whacking £7,950. But don’t worry – other models and restoration projects start from around £500.
