Eva

Eva, our partner in crime from Cycle Chic Sundays and blogger at Eva-lu.com, is in Copenhagen at the moment. After lunch and on our way to a coffee, we decided to stop for a little Cycle Chic photo shoot.

Outside the Danish parliament buildings it was Cycle Chictastique. Huntington Beach meets Copenhagen. Match made in heaven.

September

Sometimes you just wish September would never end. Even though we often have lovely Indian Summers in Copenhagen in September, you still feel like you're on borrowed time and you're grateful for it.

Bike Shop Street Party in Copenhagen

You should never judge a party by it's beginnings. The latest Larry vs Harry street party didn't start well for me. Hungover from the night before, I needed to eat some nuggets and a McFeast in order to get rolling again. That's how hungover I was. As a result, the King of Cycle Chic was completely out of service and missed what could have been the Cycle Chic Epic shot of the century. See above. Am I losing my touch?


Things managed to improve, however. Larry vs Harry have started a tradition of hanging out on the sidewalk or in the shop and letting things develop from there. Beers and pizza and loads of banter. Every couple of months or so. For no reason or a good reason. In this case, Ole - on the right - was heading to Sweden after a summer in Copenhagen. He's Norwegian... oh nevermind. It was a good excuse, trust me. It started out casually one Saturday afternoon. Some of the owners of shops on the same block showed up. Beers were bought and off it went.


You never know how it's going to go, these parties. The shop is on the busiest bicycle street in the Western world, so loads of people we know are sure to ride past, stop up, drink a beer, head off again. The numbers ebbed and flowed through the evening. Parties should be organic and this one was.


People came, hung, went. Some stuck around. I think we had the pleasure of entertaining a dozen nationalities. Gin and tonics were bought, along with vodka and red bull. Pizzas were consumed.

The guy who bought my old Bullitt rode past and a Serbian girl hung out.

These two friends were heading off into town and we gave them a beer and a lighter to help them on their way.

More people showed up and it got cosier. The tire was punctured on this woman's Christiania bike so we - okay, Ole - fixed it for her. This girl on the right had a girlfriend on a leash and was asking for directions to where she could catch a number 40 bus. We helped her out (and regret to this day not going to that party...)

We started in the mid-afternoon and went quite late. People who stopped by for a beer earlier, before heading off to dinner, were soon riding home again.

Even the Danish Bicycle Ambassador got in on the act, inflating this girl's tires for her. At some point we ordered mojitos and daquiris from the bar down the street.

Some of the most fun people left way too early but we soldiered on. Later we ended up at a badasse street party, where I took these photos in this earlier post.

Thank goodness Larry and Harry don't have these parties every weekend, but we're all looking forward to the next one.

Late Summer Light

After a dreary August, September is flirting with us all coquette-like with sunny days and little wind. The light is just different enough to notice that autumn is on the way. The shadows grow longer.

But we're revelling in it.

Cycle Chic Global: Chicago

Cycle Chic in Chicago by 'Dream Dottie' on Flickr.

Cycle Chic goodness from the Cycle Chic™ Flickr group.

Cargo Couples

Couples enjoying city life together on cargo bikes. Soaking up the city and all the things that happen in it.

Cycle Chic Interview

On my recent visit to Melbourne for the State of Design Festival, the good people from Inframe.tv shoved me into a chair at Denmark House and engaged me in a chat about Cycle Chic. The origins and the philosophy and all that.

Poznan Stockholm

Cycle Chic continues to blossom and grow. The latest buds on the rose bush are Poznan Bicycle Chic, out of Poland. What is it with Poland?! Poznan's arrival on the scene puts the number of Cycle Chic blogs in Poland up to eight. Kocham Cię, Polska! Especially when you do stuff like this.

Dawid, from Poznan Bicycle Chic sent me these photos from the blog. Welcome!


Just across the Baltic Sea you have Sweden. While cities like Malmö and Lund in the south have inherited the Danish bicycle culture and embraced it, cities farther north like Gothenburg and Stockholm are still rising to the challenge. My friend Elin has decided to do something about that in the capital. She's launched Put The Fun Between Your Legs and is doing her utmost to capture Cycle Chic Stockholm. Wonderful!

Suitable Cycle Chic Bicycle Marketing

Brilliant Cycle Chic bicycle marketing from the Netherlands. It's from a Dutch advert for the bike brand Sparta. Read more about both the adverts in this post over at Copenhagenize.com.


And it gets even better! This Sparta advert spells it out in no uncertain terms. This bike will suit you. Urban living. The preferred transport for well-dressed businessmen. Brilliant marketing and Ultimate Cycle Chic. Hats off to de Fietsensmakers and Sparta. The advert is from de Fietsenmakers, a bike shop chain in the Netherlands. If you buy this bicycle, you get a 'matching' Morgan Stanley suit - with a value of €389 - free!

For the full text on the adverts, read more at Copenhagenize.com.

Maybe we could hook these to gentlemen up with their female Danish equivalents in this film produced for Biomega by Copenhagenize Consulting:

Cycle Chic dating... :-)

Cycle Chic Critical Style Mass in Mexico City

Finally. I got around to editing some footage from my Cycle Chic trip to Mexico City some months back. Here it is. The world's first Cycle Chic Critical Style Mass. Just a group of cool people on cool bicycles going for a bike ride through a cool city. No hardcore 'reclaim the streets' attitude accompanied by a Rage Against the Machine soundtrack. No geeky "bicycle enthusiasts" with outdated advocacy messages.

Just a cool bike ride. Winning hearts and minds with style and bicycles. Bicycle Advocacy 2.0, if you like.

Here is a post about this day and now the film is ready, above. What a city.

Check out the Mexico Cycle Chic tag here on the blog for more images.

Cycle Chic Global: Toronto

Toronto Cycle Chic from Dan on Flickr.

Cycle Chic goodness from the Cycle Chic™ Flickr group.

Bicycle Trolley

Ride your bicycle, absolutely. Do it daily. But don't underestimate the possibilities of using the bicycle for all manner of transport. Like in this lovely photo taken in the Nouveau Bo-Bo neighbourhood of Vesterbro. Kids and their supermum heading home from kindergarten/school.

Bicycle Paparazzi

Honestly. You simply can't move around this city without getting photographed on a bicycle.

In this case it was a friend and photographer, Nicolai, who was doing the clandestine shooting.

That's Hans from Larry vs Harry on the pink Bullitt cargo bike.

And some Cycle Chic guy in the hat.
Photography by Nicolai Perjesi

Cycle Chic Global: San Francisco

San Francisco Cycle Chic from Adrienne on Flickr and her Change Your Life, Ride a Bike blog.
Cycle Chic goodness from the Cycle Chic™ Flickr group.

Copenhipsters on a Bicycle Ride

Complete with gin on the basket. Wicked.

The blogger du jour in Denmark is called Copenhipster. He mocks and teases the hipster/jetset/wannabe scene with sharp wit and clever irony. He went for a bicycle ride with his friends and the pictures are worthy of Cycle Chic - albeit Tongue in Cheek Cycle Chic, but hey.

As he writes in the blog post, "High on gin, perfect selv-orchestration and pent up energy we flew across the summer landscape on our two-wheeled lovers."

Insert all the irony you want in that line, but it's still lovely to read.

"Style conscious cyclists! Match your socks to your handlebars!"

Check out the rest of the photos (and text if you do Danish) on Copenhipster's blog.