Red: Then and Now

A long forgotten photograph from the Cycle Chic archives, rediscovered by accident today. Lovely morning light.

And a red theme from last week to match. In the late evening light.

Supermums

Been a while since we've featured some Copenhagen Supermums.

They rule.

Even if they're from Catalonia... :-)

Summer Night

I just like this photo. That's all there is to it.

Late at night, in the neverending light of the summer Nordic sky, the people of Copenhagen move about on bicycles.

Two Kinds of Smile

Two kinds of smile.

Both of them lovely.

Tour de France for Cycle Chicsters

THE YELLOW JERSEY

The Tour de France started yesterday and while it's a thrilling three weeks of sport, it's a fashion nightmare. We here at Cycle Chic thought we'd present with the favourites for the different coloured jerseys that are up for grabs. Firstly, the all-important Maillot Jaune / Yellow Jersey that the race leader gets to wear.

Here are Cycle Chic's two favourites.

THE GREEN JERSEY

Then there is the Green Jersey, worn by the rider with the most points in sprints. It's a tough call between the flock from Mr Green here in Copenhagen...

... or this Copenhagener looking all summery in her green dress.

THE POLKA DOT JERSEY

The polka dot jersey is worn by The King of the Mountains and should, technically, be red with white dots. We're flexible.

Here are our two favourites for the polka dot jersey.

THE WHITE JERSEY

The white jersey is worn by the best youth rider. Youth is a relative term, of course. We've got our eyes on these two Citizen Cyclists for the white jersey this year.


LANTERNE ROUGE

The rider who is in last place at any given time during the Tour de France is called the Lanterne Rouge - The Red Lantern. Not very thrilling in the French race, but here at Cycle Chic, where our slogan is Style Over Speed, the Red Lantern can be an honour.

Football And Bicycles

Yes, yes... we know Denmark crashed out of the World Cup. Sigh. Nevertheless, when we do play in the big tournaments, we get right into the mood, like anywhere else. Here's some shots from the last match against Japan, taken on and around the City Hall Square where thousands watched the matches. The shot above was taken after the match, when Copenhageners headed out into the city for a night out.

This was taken before the match. Heading off somewhere to watch it with friends.

Another Copenhagener heading home - or out on the town - after the match.

After the match the tricky bit can be finding your bicycle. When more than 20,000 people converge on the City Hall Square - most of them on bicycles - good luck! This girl got away early.

As did this one.

But this girl was looking around all the bike racks for hers. She found it eventually.

Cycle Chic Testdrive - Velorbis Leikier

Here's a bicycle that Cycle Chic has been riding around on for a few weeks. It's fun to test drive new bicycles in the ongoing search for cool urban transport. It's an ocean out there, filled with schools of groovy rides.

Taking a bike for a test drive is great, but I don't think you really get a sense of the bicycle by staring at it intently and riding it around the block or on a parking lot or at a bike fair. The best way to test drive a bicycle is to use it for a longer period.

A short test drive places all your focus on the bicycle and is a bit nerdy. Because it's not about the bicycle. It's about you on the bicycle. So here at Cycle Chic we figured we'd test drive bicycles for a longer period. In order to become comfortable with the machine and, in a way, to forget the bicycle.

Once you ride a bicycle around for more than a couple of days, you don't notice it. You're looking around your city, going from A to B. Then it's possible to return to thinking about the ride.

The bicycle featured here is the Velorbis Leikier. It's a co-branding effort between two Danish companies. Lars Leikier is a respected bikesmith, located here in Copenhagen. Together with his business partner he produces that proud workhorse of the Danish cargo bike fleet - the Sorte Jernhest, or Black Iron Horse.

Here's a Sorte Jernhest in action in Copenhagen.
Lars Leikier is inspired by the American choppers from the 50's and 60's and the Leikier is an offshoot of this fascination. On their website it's described as a Stately City Floater [statslig byflyder]. He crafts 15-20 of these bicycles each year in his bikesmithy. Totally con amore.

Now Leikier and classic Danish brand Velorbis have entered into a co-branding of the bicycle. Taking it to the next level. The result can be seen here.

So what's it like to ride? First of all, the bicycle is a real headturner. You can't pedal anonymously through the city on this puppy. Men, women and teenagers notice it and admire it as you roll past.

I've found that the description "Stately City Floater" is a perfect way to decribe riding the Velorbis Leikier. You sit grandly upon the saddle. The design makes your mother proud in the way that you're sitting up straight. I've discovered that it's virtually impossible to ride with two hands. One hand is magically drawn away from the handlebars to hang casually at my side or to glide into a pocket.

You feel like a king on this bicycle. You rise up above your city and survey it from a two-wheeled perch. All desire to go fast is removed from the design - although with 8 gears you can get up to speed if you need to. It is the poster child for the Slow Bicycle Movement. And it looks bloody fantastic, too. Oh, and super easy to find in bike racks filled with hundreds of bikes. It's the tallest bike around.

I like it when you ride a bicycle and just kind of forget about but somewhere, somehow you just feel good on it. If you notice your bicycle too much, it's not necessarily a good thing. It's like holding hands with someone you fancy. It should be natural. You should know exactly how you both like to hold hands and when your fingers intertwine it should feel nice for a moment and then just become natural.


During the Velo-City Conference 2010 I loaned the Velorbis Leikier to my friend Joel, from Ottawa. A good choice. He dressed for the bicycle.

- The Velorbis Leikier is available from Velorbis - www.velorbis.com.
- It retails for 10,000 kroner - $2995 in the States. There are only 15-20 of them hand-made each year at the moment.
- They come in two colours; black and silver.

The verdict? Cycle Chic approves.

Old School Messenger Cool

Last Saturday the Danish Cargo Bike Championships were held here in Copenhagen and here's the Copenhagenize Red Rum Team posing with my Bullitt cargo bike, together with my son, Felix.

These cargo bike races were a regular event for decades and decades in the city, up until 1960. The bike messengers in Copenhagen would race for bragging rights and honour on old long john bikes, massive cargo bikes and short john delivery bikes.

Our team chose to dress for the occasion. The messengers back in the day were well-dressed, with ties and caps and pressed trousers [we didn't bother with those] and were a smashingly handsome addition to the urban landscape.

They were nicknamed 'svajere' or 'swayers', because of the movement they made when pedalling the massive bikes. Swaying through the streets.

You can read about the dapper history of the Svajere in this post at Copenhagenize and see how frightfully well-dressed they were, especially in the YouTube film at the end. Wouldn't it be brilliant to see bike messengers dressing in style?

The races were a load of fun and it was a great day out. There was the 2 wheeled cargo bike championships, the 3 wheeled championship and the team relay. Copenhagenize Red Rum Team took part in the latter. We stuck to tradition in the races. Basically, you do one lap [1.3 km] with an empty bike and then you load two car tires and a bundle of newspapers onto the bike. Then the remaining three riders do a lap with the heavy load.

The Copenhagenize Red Rum Team in action. Featuring me, Tiago from Brazil, Joel from Ottawa and Jeff from Washington, DC.

We won our heat and then finished fourth in the final. Although we clearly won the style championships... :-)

For more shots from the Cargo Bike Races, check this longer post over at Copenhagenize.com.

Dublin's Cycling Chic Ladies

Here are some more shots from the streets and bike lanes of Dublin. It was amazing to see how many were cycling on the two days I was there. There are many bike lanes in place and people were using them. It helps that the city implemented 30 km/h zones in many areas, to keep the motorized traffic slow and civilised.

Enjoy the beautiful people of Dublin on their bicycles.

Dutch Couple in Dublin

I met this Dutch couple at the Cycle Chic Fashion Show in Dublin. Dressed to the nines and riding sensible upright bicycles. Actually, the girl is importing Dutch-made bicycles called Bear Bicycles From Amsterdam. Just started. Keep your eyes peeled on the streets of the Irish capital.


They were kind enough to loan this Danish Bicycle Ambassador one of the bicycles for the ride to the post-fashion show party at the Residence club.


Which meant, of course, that he doubled her for the journey.

Gentlemen Cyclists of Dublin

Like I've said, what Dublin is doing to encourage Citizen Cyclists to ride is amazing. Dublin was once the third great cycling city in Europe, after Copenhagen and Amsterdam, back in the day.

As we can see here in this shot from 1961. By all accounts, Dublin is returning to the mainstream cycling fold.

Here's a series of Gentlemen Cyclists in Dublin. Suits abound, ladies.