5 April 2009

Round the World Cycle Chic


Thanks to Raquel from Gratis Total - the Spanish fashion blog, our intrepid correspondent, for her latest installment of Iberian Cycle Chic. This time from San Sebastian.

Thanks to Rhys, in Manly, Australia, for these photos of bicycle culture in his town. Featuring his Danish girlfriend on the left.

The very latest shots, hot off the bike lanes, from our friends Witold and HuBar at Lodz Cycle Chic in Poland.


Thanks to our reader, Will, for these cracking shots from Mardi Gras in New Orleans.


And thanks to Kristoffer for these great shots of our neighbours in Stockholm.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

eh....so much for cycle chic. Please don't ram the financial crisis down our throats in every which direction we turn, give us a break and leave us a few inches of free space to breathe beauty, thanks! Just gotta love the anonymous urgent messenger kind of guy.

Regards
Jens

Unknown said...

From the UK - Interesting article on cycle-chic getting mainstream

Kiwehtin said...

{
Warning;
Rant;
Maybe "Anonymous" #1 thought this place is all about the "down cycle" - who knows?

One thing that grates on my nerves, though, is the attitude of the subgroup of Americans who this poster typifies - and let me say right now that many Americans and most of those who I have known personally don't suffer from this cognitive dysfunction - that everything revolves around their provincial, blinkered, US-centric world view. We see this especially in the helmet debates, for example, from those who frantically insist on helmets because "biking is especially dangerous", completely ignoring all evidence from elsewhere that points in exactly the other direction...
endRant;
endWarning;
}

};-)
===

OK, the real reason I came to this page to comment here:

If I may be so presumptuous as to pass judgment on the cycle-chicness of the photos, I think I would vote for the Stockholm pictures as the best, both for the smart streetwear and the sensible bikes, as well as for the excellent cycling roadways.

After that, the Basque city of Donostia (San Sebastián in the pictures): smart clothing, smart bikes, though the narrow two-way painted bike lane could be improved on. The Łódź ones are just about equal with their friends off to the southwest, I think.

Then the ones from Manly in Australia, for riding bikes and without helmets, especially in that country and both, each in their way, exuding a relaxed unhurried sexiness on their bikes. I notice though that two of the three bikes seem to be "sport" bikes rather than utility urban bikes. (By the way, who on earth dreamed up those weird yellow walking trousers signs?)

Lastly, even though I like the Mardi Gras costumes in the New Orleans shots and a couple of neat bikes, not one of them is actually riding their bike! :-(

OK, maybe I'm being too critical here... so what are other people's preferences?

Unknown said...

Kiwehtin, the Mardi Gras people are simply using the bikes to help stay vertical.
San Sebastián (Donostia) is my fave on the style scale, Lodz not far behind, Stockholm also well up there. Australia (Sydney - Manly!! ) lagging well behind, especially in the male section. But I am impressed with his surfboard-holding technique. Has the guy got a third, mega-long arm? The woman is perfect, but she's Danish so that's only half a point for Australia there. Mardi Gras sort of fits into another category, doesn't it? Not sure which, but SOME other category.

Gratistotal said...

thanks for the analysis (not financial crisis, of course)