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Darkblane

Winter Village: Bicycle Shop

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Winter Village Bicycle Shop

Approximately 820 Parts, 7 Minifigures

This is my entry for the Winter Village II contest.

It's an homage to one of my favourite sets growing up, the Motorcycle Shop.

The complete set, features a bicycle shop, a bicycle rack, a motorcycle and lamp post.

The bicycle rack is designed to be placed against the side of the shop, but is freestanding for additional flexibility.

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The shop is divided into three rooms, the main shop as well as a hallway and upstairs room.

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The interior of the shop features various bicycle relating products and displays.

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The bicycle rack, motorcycle and lamp post (as every official Winter Village set seems to include a lamp post).

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The minifigures include two motorcycle riders, the shop keeper and a hiker with dog (who really wishes he'd bought a bike)

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The hardest part of this contest was selecting only five photos ... so be sure to check out the full gallery on Flickr.

This includes some close ups of the hallway and upstairs room as well as a couple of shots with the light brick illuminating the interior.

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Great looking winter building....I wonder how bikes go in snow though 'Darkblane' ! :wink:

Good luck with your entry and Brick On in the snow ! :grin:

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This is a very nice entry Darkblane. I like the building and details you put into it. The minifig selection is well done. Great job on the pictures. I agree with the others that bicycles and winter dont match well. Perhaps the store can sell Skidoo's in the winter? Full points for originality!

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A great addition to the Winter Village. A very nice build that fits right in with the others.

I really like the detailing between the windows. I hadn't thought of that before, but it looks good.

The color scheme works really well.

Keep up the good work.

Good luck.

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That is awesome. The whole thing looks great, but my favourite bit has to be the outside bicycle shelter (on the right).

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I agree that it may not be immediately obvious why you'd get a bicycle shop in a winter village, but bare with me as I explain my logic.

Firstly, it seems likely to assume that the weather around the winter village is generally good. Obviously it snows, but only enough to coat the rooftops and the ground with a thin layer of snow instead of heavy snowstorms which cause deep drifts. If the snow was signicantly heavy in the area, then it would be an unlikely place for the village to be situated. The fact that not everyone is equipped with snowshoes, is another indication that the snow isn't that deep (as least not within the village boundaries). Bicycles aren't going to have any problems dealing with light snow.

If the village did experience heavy snowstorms, they would need to have vehicles designed to keep the roads relatively clear of snow (for example a snow plough), as the one vehicle we've seen (the post van) doesn't look like it's been designed to be go off-road or through deep drifts (for a start, it's wheels are quite thin). Therefore, wherever the post van can go in the winter village, a bicycle can go.

I also get the feeling that unlike the other town environments, the winter village isn't heavily industrialised. I think vehicles (like the post van) are only used where absolutely necessary, and alternative transport, like the horse and cart, are used instead. Ski's wouldn't be very practical in all parts of the village and bicycles would be quicker than walking. The other advantage of bicycles over other vehicles is that if they get stuck in the snow, they can easily be pushed, unlike a van or a car.

Now I've purposefully overthought that, but then I wasn't expecting it to be queried. If you Google for winter biking, there are a lot of results, and I don't think it's that uncommon. Wikipedia even has a page dedicated to cold-weather biking. It probably depends on each country. In the UK, we don't get that much snow, but when we do, it's sometimes actually easier and safer to bike than drive, especially for short distances.

Ha Ha :sweet: .

I would have nevr thought of this myself.

I just love it. I do think the upper floor just needs a little something

It's hard to see from the photo above, as the shadows hide most of the detail, but it does contain a few different things, including a sofa, a table with lamp and a coffee machine. There's also a grate in the wall which allows the heat from the stove on the ground floor below (again hard to see) to heat this room as well.

If you look at the Flickr gallery, there's a photo just of that floor with better lighting.

Edited by Darkblane

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