Paris. Printemps.

Paris in the springtime. Isn't that a song? Thanks to Roy for the guest photo.

Tina Dickow - Cycle Chic Music Video

Sharon from The Nightfly blog sent us the link to the video for Danish singer Tina Dickow's Sacre Coeur number. Classy Danish singer cycling chic in Paris on the Vélib bicycles. Deux villes - deux roues - in heels. Brilliant.

Check the tags below for more Tina Dickow.

Paris Trois

Regular readers know I love that launch moment when the bicycle is pushed into motion. Here's two and half moments in Paris, feat. Vélib.


Here's the same girls at the next light, discussing where to go. Ahh, urban cycling is sociable, lovely and fine.

Cobblestones

A cobblestone series from the everchic streets of Paris last week. Stand and Deliver in style.

Trés parisien.

Dappercool.

Ready to Roll in Paris

We had both grabbed a Velib bicycle at the same time and were both ready to move out into traffic.

Paris Flow

Paris... she flows.

Les hommes de Paris

I rode around Paris in the middle of the day. I know that in the mornings there are more people cycling to work, including more 'cyclistes sportifs'. But during the day it really is amazing to see great numbers of, not least, well-dressed gents on Velib bicycles or their own.

There is no age or wage restriction. There are studenty types and frightfully elegant older chaps in frightfully expensive shoes.

Most are riding alone - transporting themselves quickly from A to B in the city which is the whole point really, but some ride together.

Paris really has this Bicycle Culture 2.0 figured out.

This chap was with, I assume, a colleague. They were chatting avidly in the dense, almost stationary, traffic along the Seine. Just a part of the traffic equation. We were in a bus lane at this point, which cyclists can share if there isn't separated infrastructure. Ahead of us the traffic was immobile. The bus behind us dinged at us - the busses have cute little electronic dings that sound like bike bells! - and we all turned to stare at the bus driver. There was nowhere to go, not even room for a bicycle to squeeze through the merging car traffic. He just shrugged Gallic'ly, as did we.

When a hole opened up, the bicycles zipped through it, leaving the bus behind.

Wall Street Journal Goes Cycle Chic

Article in the Wall Street Journal about Cycle Chic, with focus on Paris.
'New Cyclist Styles Pedal Their Way Into Paris'

Nice to see the old WSJ with their finger on the pulse. You can read our take on Paris Cycle Chic and the transformation of the city right here.

Revisiting Paris Cycle Chic

This time last year Wifealiciousness and I were in Paris and we used the brilliant Vélib bike share programme to get around the entire time. Here's a little 'Paris Cycle Chic Revisited' post. To read more about Paris Cycle Chic, read the original reportage here.


Paris' blossoming bicycle culture certainly gives Copenhagen a run for her money.


I made this little film about our trip to the city. Music is 'Bello Ciao' by my friend Jason McNiff.


Cycling in style.

And cycling sociably.

See more photos in the set on Flickr.

Paris Revisited

Here's another great shot from Paris from 'Dev Null' on Flickr.

If you haven't read our little reportage from Paris, here's our take on the city, the Vélib' bike share programme and the amazing bicycle revival.

Paris Cycle Chic & Celebrity Cycle Chic

How can we not blog about this wonderful French blog called 'Bike in the City - Ma vi(ll)e à vélo'. The tagline means "My life/city on a bike" and it's all about a character called Leah, who lives a cycling life in Paris, both on the Vélib' and her regular bike. It's nothing short of brilliant and we especially love it because it is frightfully chic and it portrays an urban cycling life in regular clothes.

The illustrations are by Didier Néel - or Le Did - and the concept is the brainchild of Patricia Gallot-Lavallée at Kenazart Strategy Interactive.


The blog is a non-stop chic-fest featuring our protagonist living, loving and loving it as a 'Vélibiste' in Paris, with all the trials and tribulations that involves. Handsome men, silly motorists, rain and sun, flat tyres, you name it. All while portraying urban cycling just as we do here on the blog - as a normal, enjoyable, effortless transport option.

Brilliant stuff. I couldn't RSS the site fast enough.
Here's some links to our Vélib Week series from our visit to Paris back in May:

- La Semaine du Vélib' et du Vélocouture Parisienne
- Joie de Vivre Avec Vélo Libre
- Vélib' - Sociable and Sustainable
- Paris Cycle Chic pour hommes

CELEBRITY CYCLE CHIC
From the other side of the Atlantic a reader sent us some celebrity photos of Hollywood stars doing their cycling thang. I don't give a toss about the celebrities, but it sure is important that they are setting good examples for their fellow citizens. And looking good doing it.

Vélib - The Movie

What better way to wrap up Semaine du Vélib' here on Copenhagen Cycle Chic than with a little video tribute.

The music I used is courtesy a friend of mine, Jason McNiff. The song is called 'Bella Ciao' and it's from his latest album 'In My Time', which is available on Amazon.co.uk
He used one of my photos from New York for his album cover:

Which is lovely, of course. My son and I run around the house singing Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao Ciao Ciao! :-)

I love that it's an Englishman singing an Italian song in a Danish film about the French capital. Vive l'Europe... :-)

Cycle Chic pour hommes

We're getting ready to wrap up our love affair with Paris and Les Vélibs this week. There are a couple of things left, however. Firstly, some photos of les hommes doing their casual thang in the French capital.

Fly by.

Still going strong. And I just love his driving gloves.

Le shopping.

Any bike will do. Even if you have to borrow it. :-)

And then there's this chappie. Zipping along the Seine on his [what are they called?], casually smoking a cigarette. Tres cool. Trop cool.

Vélib - Sociable and Sustainable

One of the best things we noticed about cycling in Paris was that Parisians have understood how sociable cycling is. Cycling in couples is a common sight in Copenhagen and by all accounts Parisians have embraced this sociability as well.

Couple contemplating directions.

Pere et fils in the bike box at the traffic lights.

Casual moment. He was pointing out various buildings to the girl as they rode.

A flock of Vélib's on the bridge.

Chic couple at an intersection.

An interesting aspect of this bike life in Paris is that the Vélib is seen on the streets at all hours. The metro closes early, compared to other cities, but the Vélib is always there for you. Nightlife in Paris is made so much easier.

Joie de Vivre Avec Vélo Libre

Riding Vélib bikes - shouldn't we just call it Vélib'ing? - around Paris is a breeze. I'm sure that to some the above photo, however, looks a trifle perilous.

Not to worry, though. Busses in Paris have frequent stops so you can usually stay
ahead of them. If you find yourself next to one at a light, they provide ample room for cyclists and, most importantly, they know the cyclists are there. Wifealiciousness and I were overtaken by busses a few times, but they drove slowly and gave us a wide berth.

Taxis in Paris use the bus/bike lanes, too, but even on speedier stretches along the Seine or Rue du Rivoli, taxis slow when overtaking bikes. Brilliant.

There is a sincere sense of 'joie de vivre' present in Paris these days, thanks to the bicycles. The system itself is so easy to use and the massive number of bike racks means that you're always within spitting distance of a Vélib. As the map below shows, Vélibs are widely available :-)

One thing that we noticed was that with the Vélib you get to see parts of Paris you would normally zip past on a Metro deep underground.

One evening we rode up to Sacre Coeur. It's a long climb up the mountain, especially the last stretch, with all the cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix combined with a Haute Categorie climb in the Pyranees. The Vélib bikes have three gears, like most normal bikes in European cities, and while getting up the mountain required a bit of muscle, it was no problem. The real hell was all the tourists up at Sacre Coeur, but we were the only ones on Vélibs, which was quite cool.

We didn't fancy running the gauntlet of tourists to get back down so we merely followed the road that cars take, down the backside of the mountain. We realised that neither of us had ever been on the other side. Who has? Millions of tourists climb up the front and back down again, like so many camera-toting Dukes of York. We discovered a hidden corner of Paris that we would never have visited without the Vélib.

The whole time we rode down streets we've never seen before, discovered cool shops previously unknown to us and generally experienced a whole new Paris.

Joie de vivre, indeed.

Paris je t'aime... et Vélib' aussi

After three days in Paris with Wifealiciousness [just got home], I have only rave reviews of the Vélib' bike share programme and the Parisians who use it.

Prepare yourself for Semaine de Vélib' here on Copenhagen Cycle Chic where we salute the French capital for getting so many people onto bikes. And with style.

Watch this space.

Guest Photo: Vélib' bike in Paris

This photo wraps up our guest photo backlog for today. Bruno, from Valencia, thought of us when in the French capital:
"I was in Paris last week-end and enjoyed seeing so many people riding bikes with the new rent-system called Vélib'.
The weather was just great for the season and I just couldn't resist to send you this picture I took Saturday night, near Saint-Germain-des-Prés, one of the most interesting areas in Paris.
And let us enjoy some more nice pictures from Copenhagen, a paradise of bikes for us living in Spain!"
Thanks, Bruno! We're working on more photos from Copenhagen. Stay tuned!