Melbourne Cycle Chic

Last time I was in Melbourne it was to hear Mikael from Copenhagen Cycle Chic give his Four Goals for Promoting Urban Cycling talk during the State of Design Festival.  Oh and a little Melbourne Bike Share Protest ride.... fun times for sure.

Little seems to have changed as far as the bike share scheme goes with mandatory helmet law still preventing the "spontaneous" nature of bike hire.  So there were sadly still too many bikes docked unused.  

I did see 3 being ridden and overheard a lady in the 7-11 ask how much the disposable helmets were.

(They didn't have her size though so she left.)

I did, however, notice an awful lot of nice looking bikes, especially around St Kilda and my sources tell me that a certain suburb a little further North is a veritable hotbed of lawless helmet-free bicycle bliss.

I shall leave that for next time..... unless someone wants to send me evidence?? :-)

St Kilda Botanic Gardens

Outside the Prince of Wales Hotel on Fitzroy St - Bands, Bars and Bikes, lovely

Bondi Beach Cycle Chic - Part 2

A little more Summer fun from my Sunday in Bondi, this time the guys - BMX boys and cute dad Grant.

Joyce rented her bike for the day from The Humble Vintage - a GREAT bike hire company that started in Melbourne and has now crossed the border to Sydney.

Wonderful old restored bikes that you pick up from cool cafes and rent for the day, the week or longer.

They do great custom maps and guides too so if you're looking for a bike for the next Cycle Chic ride, you know who to call!

Something from the Archives

My long suffering, loyal friend Miss Milou joined me for a trip to Melbourne in June for some glamorous protesting.  Now I know she's reading my blog - she's on it!

Milou is also possibly the only person I know who rides in Vivienne Westwood - apart from Vivienne herself obviously.

The Watershed Bike Library Launched!

This really is a wonderful idea and if it is to survive the 12 month trial period, it needs, and deserves our support.

A joint initiative between City of Sydney and Marrickville Councils, and in partnership with Bike Sydney, Australia's first 'bike library' consists of a small fleet of cargo bikes and specialist trailers that can be borrowed for up to three days.  Membership and hire fees are very affordable which makes this a perfect option for anyone needing to transport large items or small children [!] or indeed anything that your imagination can dream up.

Launched on Friday by Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP and Mayor of Marrickville, Sam Iskandar, there were jokes about them being able to fit a fridge.  But jokes aside, the Lord Mayor said "we are offering an affordable, convenient, healthy and environmentally friendly alternative to running errands in cars.  This unique library will encourage more people to use bikes to get around their local area".
Citing Alan Jones's anti-cycle ways campaign as hostile, her speech was well received by the group of Sydney's cycling advocates, local community representatives and bike business owners present.

With the Watershed's commitment to sustainable urban living, and Sydney's current push towards getting more cars OFF the roads and more bikes ON them, this has a definite 'right time, right place' feel about it.
Cargo bikes are used widely in Europe but they have yet to become commonplace in Australia, so what are you waiting for ?  Be the first to go and try one out, take your girlfriend/boyfriend/mother, move some stuff, do some shopping or just take the kids out for a spin - trust me they will love it!

Fee Schedule and further details on the Watershed's website here.

From Protest to Pinot (and everything in between)

5am Saturday morning, stumble out of bed in dark, shower, dress, throw various chargers into bag, rain in Sydney, cold in Melbourne where I am headed for a day of spontaneous Cycleiciousness.  Layer up with as much cycle chic as I can muster for this hour and out into the taxi waiting to take me to the airport.
9.05am arrive in Melbourne, Skybus it to hotel, check in and dump bags and jump in another taxi to first date of the day - the protest ride.

There's nothing I like more than standing up for what I believe in, a little political unrest does us all good and this was right up my alley.  Mike Rubbo from Sit Up Cycle had organised a ride to draw attention to the mandatory cycle helmet laws and why they will probably be detrimental to the success of the new Melbourne Bike Share scheme.  Of course it will hinder rather than help the scheme be a success, it doesn't take a genius to work that one out so the more attention this gets the better.  Will the laws be repealed as they have been in Mexico City ?
Time will tell.
It was a small but spirited turnout and snapping away in the midst of the crowd surrounded by tv crews was Mikael Colville-Andersen, in town for his much anticipated Four Goals for Promoting Urban Cycling talk as part of the State of Design festival.  He's disarmingly charming, passionate, funny, cheeky as hell and obviously loves his role as Denmark's unofficial roving Bicycle Ambassador.  Who wouldn't ?  He strongly believes in what he is doing as do I and it seems the thousands of fans of his various blogs Copenhagenize, Copenhagen Cycle Chic™ and The Slow Bicycle Movement to name but three.

So pictures were taken, the police did what they had promised to do and booked those who decided to ride helmet-less through the streets of Carlton - the horror - and news coverage was obtained from The Age and ABC.  Apparently we also made the ABC tv news in Melbourne but I've yet to get my hands on a copy of the segment.  With all the lively online commentary over the last few days it would seem the ride was a success.  Great to have been a part of it, now let's see the change hmmm ??

(more pics on flickr)

Next stop on the whirlwind bike tour of Melbourne was a quick trip to Gertrude St, spotted lots of nice stationary bikes (quite a theme of this trip) then off to Fed Square for Mikael's talk.
No doubt that it was illuminating and inspiring (and there's that screwball Danish humour again) and he really has hit the nail on the head.  His ideas so clearly point the way forward for bicycle culture - lessons to be learned whichever continent you are in.
It was however, followed by a rather dull panel discussion but I suppose that's to be expected when it consists of public service types talking about commuter cycling corridors..... WTF??!!
It left me, and I think the ragtag group of bloggers and bicycle advocates I was with a bit cold.  More action and less talk is always my view but hey, call me naive.  Is it not just simply about getting on your bike, as you are, going where you need to go in as fuss free a manner as possible ???

So conference over and off for drinks which turned into dinner and more drinks and well more drinks and stumbling back to the hotel at 2.30am quite a little tipsy.  A rather wonderful day followed by a rather seedy Sunday.  I took solace at the alter that is Rothko before heading back to Sydney, badly hungover but energized for some serious bicycle business.

Great to put faces to my fellow bloggers and tweeters too and meet the lovely Festival ladies on their beautiful bikes !
Tak Mikael for the hangover ;-)