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I was down at Velorbis to have a coffee with my mate Kenneth yesterday and I saw a limited editions of the Victoria and the Churchill in 'post box red' - which is 'fire engine red' in other countries.

Beautiful. They are a special order for Hillerød County Council who have ordered them for their staff. Corporate bikes are big here in Denmark, with many county council and companies providing bikes for their employees.

The girl who owns the shop next door was sitting in the sun so we got her to test drive the Victoria.


Kenneth showed me a colour catalogue with the most amazing array of colours that bikes can come in. Chocolate brown, screaming orange, lime green, you name it. Black has been the primary bike colour for the better part of a century but now the bike lanes are rainbows with all sorts of new colours to be seen.

Tyres are the next on the list. Any colour is possible but tyre manufacturers are rather conservative. Their craziness extends to white, creme or brown. It would be great to see some more untraditional colours on the bike lanes.

I figured I'd check my archives for Red Bikes and a selection of photos follow. Some have been published here before so you might recognise some. Among the brands that make red bikes are Kronan, Old Dutch and Van de Falk.

But here's a question:

What colour would you choose for your bike if you could choose any colour at all?

Copenhagen loves you. And your bike. But mostly you on your bike.


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Photo: Gina Ferrazi / Los Angeles Times
You HAVE to love this article and photo from the Los Angeles Times about a guerilla gardener movement taking root in L.A.

They make seed bombs and toss them onto neglected lots and such, causing plant life to grow. What a groovy idea! And the photo is brilliant - Copenhagen Cycle Chic goes to Los Angeles.

The caption for the photo: "With the seed bombs stowed in her red bag, the stiletto-wearing Caroline takes off on her bike in search of vacant patches of public space. To plant the seed bombs, she digs holes with a trusty tool — the heel of her shoe. “Stilettos work really well,” she says, grinning."

There is a cool photo series about how to make seed bombs, from whence the above photo comes.

Thanks to David for keeping us in the loop by emailing this story. A propos the comments on the previous post about Choosing a Bicycle, he signed his mail: "David (who only owns one bike with a chainguard AND fenders)".
:-)Copenhagen loves you. And your bike. But mostly you on your bike.


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This time is was Aaron's turn to have one of his fine photographs immortalised for all all by the talented and prolific hand of Janet Karam.
Check out her website Funky Town Art. And be sure to check the latest on Aaron's cool blog about his life in Copenhagen - Something Rotten.

Fantastic, as always.Copenhagen loves you. And your bike. But mostly you on your bike.


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We figured a quick guide to bike commuting Copenhagen style might be interesting. We may be wrong, but we're doing it anyway.

In a previous post about Terminology Folly we tried to highlight how, in some countries, the bike industry love it when you buy into their tech-lingo. In Copenhagen it is a much simpler process.

Most of the features shown below are standard issue in Copenhagen and come with every new bike. You may have to piece together your own accessories, but here's the highlights.


In no particular order of importance:

1. Personalise Your Bike
Copenhageners, mostly ladies, have been putting flowers on their baskets for the better part of a century. There are many ways of personalising your bicycle and only the fantasy sets the limit. Stickers, funky bells or horns, colourful baskets. It's up to you.

Flowers you can do yourself and stickers can be bought cheap, but for funky bike bells in North America you have to google kids+bike+accessories to enter the realm of cool bells.
LINKS:
- Bike Bells
[Know other cool links? Leave a comment.]


2. A Bicycle Basket [Cykelkurv]
The all important bicycle accessory, the basket. I'd be interested to see a statistic about the net weight of everything transported in Denmark by bike basket on a daily basis. Handbags, groceries, dogs, oh my.

Many bike baskets are hang on the handlebars and can easily be lifted off and carried into a shop or on a picnic. See the first thumbnail below. This detachable design is sturdy and good for heavy groceries. Copenhageners choose traditional wicker baskets as a rule but there are many cool designs out there. As Wifealiciousness says, she couldn't live without her basket.

LINKS:
- Bespoke, hand-crafted baskets by David Hembrow, shipped worldwide.
- Carrie Bicycle Basket from Sweden.
- Henandhammock.co.uk - Basket made from recycled plastic


3. Back Rack [Bagagebærer]
A handy addition to any bike. You have all that free space right behind your bum, why not use it?

4. Kickstand [Støtteben]
You simply cannot exist in Copenhagen without a kickstand. There are many bike racks, of course, but sometimes you either can't find a parking space or you just need to stand it up, lock the wheel lock and off you go.

5. Gears [Gearer]
This is one issue that gets discussed quite often. Most bikes in Copenhagen have 3 gears. The most irritating sound I know is someone accelerating off the light in one gear and then clickclickclickclickclick, they hop past 78 gears to get to the one they want. Why not just buy a bike with the gears you need?

We often hear that three gears don't fly in hilly cities. Then get five gears. The vast majority of cities in the world can be cycled daily in 3-5 gears. Whenever anybody says, "Yeah, but my city is REALLY hilly", we just politely refer to European cities like Berne, Switzerland, where 25% of the population ride each day through a Alpen landscape. Or hilly Aarhus, Denmark's second city, or Gothenburg, or Trondheim, Norway. 3-5 gears and off you go.

6. The Weight of Your Bicycle
To be honest... who cares. This strange North American fascination with a bicycle's weight has got to be the most irrelevant tech-spec in urban cycling history. It's a hangover from decades of the bicycle being a product of the the sports/hobby industry. Those times are changing now. They can start putting kickstands, fenders, back racks and baskets back on now. We're not out to win the Tour de France. We just want to ride with style over speed to work or down the supermarket, thank you very much.

Just choose a bike that you like. If you have to carry your bike up stairs to your flat, is 5 kilograms REALLY going to make a difference? When you've seen petite Copenhageners lifting their bikes up onto the upper rack of a double-decker bike rack at a train station, you realise that weight is unimportant.

7. Bicycle Bell [cykelklokke]
See #1 for some links. We've included it here because you should check your local traffic code to see if bells are legally required. They are in Copenhagen. Lack of one results in a fine.

8. Bicycle Seat [cykelsaddel]
If you're going to ride your European style bike 100 km a day, go to a sports shop for a sporty saddle. If you're going to pedal around town, get one that is comfy and cool. Brooks England saddles are becoming standard on new bikes in Copenhagen. They're lovely.

LINKS:
- Brooks England.
- Selle Royal.


9. Bike Lights [cykellygter]
#9 is on the wheel near the front fork because so many people in Copenhagen now use Reelights. They're always on and you never have to take them with you. Once again, check your local traffic laws regarding bike lights and reflectors.

In Copenhagen they must be on one hour before sunset until one hour after sunrise. Newspapers have Bicycle Weather for cyclists so you can check the times. See photo below. Here are the Danish bike light laws for your perusal - over at copenhagenize.com.

LINKS:
- Reelight


10. Fenders [skærme]
Once again, a must have in a rainy, windy city. Who on earth wants water or slush sprayed up onto their lovely shoes and trousers/skirt? Front and back fenders, please.

11. Skirt Guard [frakkeskåner]
Standard issue on new bikes. There is no reason to get your skirt oily or dirty. Handy for men who cycle in long coats or trenchcoats - the word for skirtguard in Danish is translated as "Coat Protector".. As an added bonus, if you put a child's seat on the back, the skirt guard protects their footsies from the spokes.

LINKS:
- Make your own skirt guard
- Cambridge Cycle Company UK


12. Chain Guard [kædeskærm]
Another 'can't live without it' accessory in Copenhagen. Why on earth would you pay good money for trousers only to roll them up? And a slash of oil doesn't look good on an ankle in high heels. Cover that chain up.
Hard to get in North America, unfortunately.

LINKS:
- Beautiful antique chain guards
- US - Bike Front
- Canada - The Urbane Cyclist
[Thanks for the links!]


13. Did We Forget Anything You Might Want to Know?
Let us know.
Trouser Clips! This was mentioned in the comments. Sögreni Bikes has a cool design.Copenhagen loves you. And your bike. But mostly you on your bike.


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Smiling to herself.

Their eyes met across the bike lane.

Copenfamily.
Here's an article about 12 Bikes For Girls.Copenhagen loves you. And your bike. But mostly you on your bike.


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As always, thanks to everyone who sends guest photos in to Copenhagen Cycle Chic. It's wonderful to see images from around the world. We've had a bit of a backlog so we made a little montage du monde.

But first, above, a smashing image of Ottawa Cycle Chic, from Rachelle and her fiancé. Wonderful stuff!


The latest installment in the Copenhagen Cycle Chic Goes Global series. Nigel and his kids slapped a sticker on a lamppost near the Bishop's Palace in the City of Wells - England's smallest city. Thanks, Nigel!


A bevy of global cycle chic images, in one easy png file! Thanks to everyone!

And a bit of Eurofunkaliciousness from Milo in Vienna to wrap up the proceedings.Copenhagen loves you. And your bike. But mostly you on your bike.


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Let's get one thing straight. This strange North American tendency to call the kind of bikes featured on this blog "Dutch bikes" is odd, to say the least.

A Made-in-Netherlands bike is a Dutch bike, silly.
It's like calling cars "American vehicles". Our fine friends, the Dutch, must be giggling at this branding of classic European bikes as "dutch bikes", just because some tourist at some point went to Amsterdam and went home to coin the phrase. Yes, we're bitter. :-)

This is a Dutch bike. Only because it's made in the Netherlands. The Old Dutch.
And it's happening again, this time in a more modern, marketing orientated way, with the advent of the Bakfiets cargo bike import wave to America. All of a sudden a normal "ladcykel" or cargo bike, of which there are hundreds of makes all over Europe, are called Bakfiets, just because they are the first kind people have seen.

It's kind of like the first white man to visit a remote tribe in the jungle somewhere tells the locals his name is Bob and then all white people are called Bobs from then on. :-)

The Dutch don't even call them Dutch bikes, for heavens sake. In the Netherlands and Denmark we just call them bikes. In Denmark these bikes are sometimes called "bedstemor cykler" or grandma bikes, just as in the Netherlands they're called 'Oma' and 'Opa' bikes. On many bike brand websites they are often called Classic or Retro. But by and large they are referred to as "damecykler" and "herrecykler" - lady and gentleman.

Another Old Dutch Dutch bike from the Netherlands.
I like the British term "sit up and beg bike", which is lovely and descriptive, as I'd rather sit up and beg than hunch forward in some strange, unnatural position. If I'm racing in a time trial on Day 15 of the Tour de France, I'll want some hunched over aerodynamic goodness, but the rest of the year, I prefer a humane, ergonomically correct position. My mother taught me to sit up straight.

But I digress. Bikes from Dutch bikemakers are often seen in Copenhagen. They don't dominate by any means, but they are aesthetically pleasing additions to our bike culture.

The Old Dutch bikes above, as well as the DIVA at the top are all from Batavus. If you fancy going Dutch, Batavus is a great place to start. They have an amazing catalogue.

A propos brands that are only avaible in certain countries in Europe, Batavus have several models unique to Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. They even have a Danish Collection - "Batavus has developed certain models especially for the Danish market. The Danish bikes are carefully aimed at the demands and specifications regarding design and quality that many Danish cyclists have."

Visit Batavus' international website and click on the different flags to see the difference in products from country to country.Copenhagen loves you. And your bike. But mostly you on your bike.


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In the first post about The Bikes of Copenhagen we started with Raleigh of China [formally Nottingham], which was a bit silly considering the dozens of Danish brands that dominate the market here.
We'll rectify that tout suite. Many of the Danish brands only have websites in Danish, which really shows that they are content to concentrate on the local market.
Nevertheless, it's interesting to see their bikes and I've provided links after each brand.

VELORBIS

There are big players on the market in Copenhagen and Denmark but the new kid on the block is Velorbis. The very idea of starting a new bike brand in this market is, on paper, rather silly. But Velorbis are enjoying great success, not only at home but abroad. Their bikes are being bought by Danish county councils and city councils who provide bikes for their civil servants and they are making a splash in the UK and North American market.

We have a post about Velorbis in our Bikes We Like feature over at Copenhagenize.com. Michael at Drunk and In Charge of a Bicycle out of NYC blogs about his new Velorbis Churchill.
Velorbis Website - In English.
Velorbis North American Distributor: The Dutch Bicycle Company.
Made in the EU.

KILDEMOES

Kildemoes is one of the brands you don't hear about elsewhere, and yet they produce 100,000 bikes each year. They are the largest brand on the Danish market and call themselves Denmark's last 'real' bike factory. They have a massive selection of bikes, dozens of ladies bikes alone.
They have a long TV advert on their website which shows a lot of images of Denmark and cycling here.
Kildemoes Classic Ladies Bikes - In Danish.
Kildemoes Ladies City Bikes - In Danish.
Made in Denmark.

TAARNBY

Taarnby is another big player on the Danish market with a great selection of bikes to choose from.
Taarnby Cykler - In Danish.
Taarnby Retro/Shopping Bikes - In Danish. Click "Klik her for se alle retro/shopping bikes" to see their selection.

SÖGRENI

Upmarket brand with emphasis on design and style, as well as functionality. Very cool bikes to be seen on in Copenhagen. Read our BIKES WE LIKE POST about Sögreni.
SÖGRENI WEBSITE - In English.
SÖGRENI DISTRIBUTOR IN US - In English.

VIVA

VIVA bikes are designed by a Dane, Henrik Nørby, but I haven't seen much to them until recently. They seem very smart and stylish and are becoming quite popular.
VIVA Bikes - In English.

MBK

MBK Cykler are quite popular. They have a broad selection.
MBK Cykler - Ladies Bikes - In Danish.

EVERTON

Used to be an independant brand, now owned by Kildemoes but still produced under their own name.
Everton Bikes - In Danish.

JUPITER

A large chain of bike shops with both their own brand and others.
Jupiter Website - In Danish.
Jupiter Ladies Bikes - In Danish.

JAGUAR

I don't know much about Jaguar bikes, just that I see them quite often. They might not even be Danish, shockhorror!
An online shop selling Jaguar. In Danish.

MUSTANG

Mustang bikes are mostly sold in large supermarkets. Usually quite inexpensive compared to other brands.
Mustang Cykler - In Danish.

ROCKY

Another brand sold in supermarkets.
Rocky Cykler - In Danish.

There are many other brands, but these are the Danish brands that you seen most often on the streets. We'll cover some of the foreign brands in upcoming posts.

If anyone knows of distributors or websites where these brands can be bought internationally, please let us know.Copenhagen loves you. And your bike. But mostly you on your bike.


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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.Copenhagen loves you. And your bike. But mostly you on your bike.


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We've heard much about the Vélib' Revolution in Paris. Marie was down there for a visit a while back and now it was my turn, together with Wifealiciousness. I was looking forward to seeing how the bike share programme worked and how it fit into the urban landscape of the French capital.

In short, I was astounded. It's hardly been a year since the Vélib' was thrust upon Parisians and yet the Vélib' has already become an iconic addition to a city hardly lacking icons.

This first photo doesn't even feature a Vélib' bicycle and that is on purpose. The Vélib' Revolution has spawned bike culture. Vélib bikes are everywhere, of course. There are 20,000 of them in the city. But what amazed me was seeing so many normal bikes. I've read that bike sales have increased since the beginning of 2008. Parisians have tried the Vélib and now many are investing in their own bikes.

Ah... there's a Vélib'. Wifealiciousness and I were in Paris for three days - sans enfants. Friday was spent visiting old haunts and certain shops we love. All the while we regarded the flow of bicycles in the streets. Who was riding them? Was it easy or hectic?

What is fantastic is that there is no one demographic group cycling on the streets. It's men and women, young and old. Couples, families, you name it. The key to any successful bike culture is to get women onto bikes. They are the group that is most likely to ride and yet least likely to actually do it, especially in urban settings. But the Parisiennes are out in force. Vélib' is short for Vélo Libre and Vélo Liberté - Free bike and bike freedom. The perfect name.

Wifealiciousness and I hopped on our first Vélibs on Saturday and never looked back. It takes three minutes on the machine at any bike rack to set up a subscription. One day, seven days or one year. All you need is a credit card with a chip in it, but when even the Chinese have chips in their credit cards, that's hardly an issue anymore. We took the one day subscription and were issued a card with a number. Each time we wanted to take a bike we went to a machine, typed in the number and selected a bike. In under a minute we were cycling away.

It's even easier with an annual subscription. You get a permanent card and you just wave it in front of the card reader next to each bike and the bike is unlocked.

Once again, it is segregated bike infrastructure that makes bike culture possible. You cycle, by and large, along existing bus lanes, although there are many dedicated and segregated bike lanes around the city.

The most fascinating thing is that motorists have already figured out how to deal with all the bikes. The cars watch for bikes and the cyclists take it easy [Style Over Speed... :-) ] and watch for vehicles. This karmic co-existence is remarkable, especially so soon after the introduction of the Vélib'.

I've driven in Paris many a time and it used to be a witches cauldron of automotive chaos. You get used to it, but it was always a nervy experience. Second only to Roma in my experience for stress. Riding through the city on a Vélib, however, is no great feat. It is liberating, glorious and it is easy.


If chaotic Paris can adapt to the sudden appearance of 20,000 Vélib bikes and thousands of normal bikes, then it should be no problem for other cities. Bike share programmes, segregated bike lanes, ease-of-use. Off you go.

The mentality of Parisians and the French in general is a big plus, but Paris is now the yardstick that all other cities itching for bike culture have to measure themselves by.

I'll post photos and commentary all this week - La Semaine du Vélib' here on Copenhagen Cycle Chic.Copenhagen loves you. And your bike. But mostly you on your bike.


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