26 May 2008

Cycle Chic Guide - The Bikes of Copenhagen #4 - Sweetly Swedish

Skeppshult of Sweden press photo 2007
Like most European countries, Sweden has a proud bicycle making history and many of the classic Swedish makes are seen regularly on the streets of Copenhagen. Sweden is, after all, only four kilometres away from Denmark at the narrowest stretch of sea. You could almost throw a bicycle from one nation to another, so it's not surprising that Swedish 'cyklar' are a part of our bike culture.
Skeppshult of Sweden Press Photo 2008
The hottest brand in the bespoke end of the market is the Skeppshult, seen in both the above photos. We'll save space here by merely saying that we have a write up about the cool brand over at Copenhagenize.com.
Skeppshult.se - in Swedish and English.

Kronan The Barbarian
Sleetstorm Kronan
You can't muscle your way past the Kronan if you're discussing Swedish bikes. This former Swedish Army tank on two wheels enjoys a revival these days. It's still heavy and looks laboriously clunky but it has a certain retro appeal and is updated for the modern market. Meaning it is much smoother to ride. The number plates on the back are, by the way, a retro design addition. Bikes aren't registered like cars. That would be a silly idea, as we discussed over at Copenhagenize.com.
Pinktastic*
Especially now that other colours are available like this pinktastic version. They're pretty reasonably priced compared to other brands, which we suspect is because they tend to appeal to the young studenty crowd. Kronan do a line of prams and strollers, as well. On their website the call it Kingdom of Kronan which we reckon is heavily borrowed from the Republic of Fritz Hansen marketing angle, in the hopes that a bit of golden design association will drift their way.

Kronan.com - in Swedish and English

CRESCENT

Crescent
When in Sweden you notice many bikes from Crescent, one of the largest bike brands and one with a lot of history. In particular their old school chainguards are quite fetching.
Crescent Cyklar from Sweden With Love
They also have a long line of cool retro posters like the one above.
Crescent.se - In Swedish

13 comments:

my hyggelig said...

Appropriately timed - today I am off to Sweden. This series has been really useful. Thanks!

Colville-Andersen said...

Have a lovely trip! [although constantly lament the fact that you're not in Denmark... :-)]

Anonymous said...

*gasp*

Those Kronans are TO DIE FOR! RED RIMMED TIRES!!! Once again, I wish I had known about this blog and all its links to amazing European bikes when I bought my new bike last summer. I feel positively unstylish now! :-(

The Crescent cycle guards are also just beautiful.

*sigh*

Anonymous said...

Swedish bicycles are so great, but completely unavailable in Brasil, where I live. By the way, almost all "old-fashioned" bikes, which in Europe are just up to date, are impossible to find here. We've just mountain bikes and speed bikes, and we must customize them to have more complete models.

Colville-Andersen said...

The Kronan's are cool in their own special way.

Livia... time to order by post!

Stéphane Brault said...

Thank you very much!
Theses bicycles are perfect for north american cities. Nobody need 21 speeds bikes for shoping and nobody need a Hummer in a city.
Mange tak! or tak sô mükè, to share whith us this unique outstanding cover of bicycles from another planet.

Excuse my bad english, danish and swedish!

Anonymous said...

howdy, i spent a few months in sweden last winter and would see crescents everywhere. when researching the brand a little bit, it turns out that the company was originally(maybe 100 years ago) from america, but was heavily exported to sweden. the importer eventually bought the rights to the company and moved production to sverige. just a little european history, from an american...hehe.
love the site by the way!!!
jeremy from texas

Anonymous said...

the link:
www.cykelhistoriska.se/crescenteng.htm

jeremy

Unknown said...

Hello,

I love the poster but can't find them on the crescent site. Care to provide a link?

- Bue

Anonymous said...

can anybody tell me the price of a bicycle in sweden

Colville-Andersen said...

Thanks for the history! Very interesting.

I don't have a link to the poster, i only have it in the resolution it's in when you click on it.

For a decent bike in Sweden you're looking at 3000-3500 kronor, new.

Unknown said...

Pilens
http://www.pilencykel.se/
is another Swedish brand that I only learned about recently. They've only been going 10 years but make old-school type bikes. Look good, you could say in between the kronan and skeppshult, both price and stylewise.

Happy riding or, as they say in Norway,
Gå på tur, aldrig sur!

Colville-Andersen said...

Pilen... of course! i see them once in a while but didn't know they were Swedish. 'Pilen' is also a Danish word - The Arrow.

Thanks for that!