Cycle Chic - the book!

It had to happen. There could be no better way to document the Cycle Chic movement than by compiling some of the many thousands of inspiring photographs from the blog into a glossy book.

The collection of images by Cycle Chic/Copenhagenize founder Mikael Colville-Andersen (and a handful of other gobal Cycle Chic Republic bloggers) is just gorgeous and perfectly encapsulates individual style.

It's launched world-wide today, published by Thames and Hudson and available online here.

Happy riding!

Cycle Chic Cargo Bike Nicked!!!

And so it was that just before Christmas, the time of goodwill towards our fellow humans, some sods decided to get the bolt cutters to Mr Chic's Kona Xtracycle and ride it away from Kings Cross Parking Station in Sydney.

Not only is it one of a kind and loving built by Mr Chic but it has stunningly, sustainably transported all manner of Sydney Cycle Chic stuff and kids to events across the city and we need it back!

Will we be as lucky as Mikael in Copenhagen and his stolen Bullitt???

If you see it please email me and call Kings Cross Police on 02 8356 0099 who have the report.

Muuse Meets Cycle Chic

Everybody's making films with bicycles in them these days it seems - it's certainly a very powerful way to spread the bike love.  This gorgeous filmette is a collaboration between Copenhagen Cycle Chic and Muuse.com, a brilliantly ethical, sustainable clothing label.  Featuring beautiful Velorbis bikes - who could ask for more.

More on the making of here.

Tak Copenhagen x

So today around the world at precisely 8.43am my fellow Cycle Chic bloggers are out on the streets looking for the photo that epitomises cycle chic in their city.

It was this time exactly five years ago that Mikael Colville-Andersen took this iconic "photo that launched a million bicycles" and created what has now become somewhat of a cult.

The hardcore bloggers in the ever expanding family thought it might be a nice little tribute....

Mikael, we thank you.  For your passion, your idealism, your humour and your tireless pursuit of chic :-)

What a ride hey?

I was 5 minutes out but whoever you are Bondi girl on bike - I reckon you pretty much sum up Sydney Cycle Chic so thanks for crossing the street when you did!

Global Cycle Chic - Copenhagen

And so we get to Copenhagen Cycle Chic - the original, the orchestrator of our obsession and where it all started.

[photographs courtesy Copenhagen Cycle Chic]

What the *#@* is Cycle Chic™?

I've been getting a little feisty over at Sarah Wilson's blog today in response to the replies she received on her post What to Wear On A Bike - Part 2.

Surely we have all earned the right to wear whatever we like, on or off our bicycles without judgement?
Why is it that some women find it necessary to dismiss frocked up female riders as frivolous and silly because they sometimes like to wear dresses and heels while riding?
I wear whatever I would wear normally and get about very well thank you and yes if some days I wear f*$@ off heels, so what?

Over in Copenhagen and indeed many places in the world, women of varying ages ride in all manner of clothes as these photographs from Copenhagen Cycle Chic so beautifully illustrate.

It is in emerging bicycle cultures that we are constantly forced to explain and justify our clothing choices.

Which brings me to that question I am asked so often - "what is cycle chic™?"

When Mikael Colville-Andersen first coined the term back in 2007, he was using it as a way to describe his fellow Copenhageners as they went about their daily business on their bicycles.  Devoid of any "cycling gear", just in regular clothes, doing regular things, a concept that was and still is to some degree, thought of as a little extraordinary.

In Sydney, we do cycle chic our way, we're not Copenhagen after all, but the aim is absolutely the same.

To show how the bicycle can be "an integral, respectable and feasible transport form, free of sports clothes and gear, and how it can play a vital role in increasing the life quality in cities.

... to highlight that bike culture is an effortless pursuit. No lycra needed. No fancy gear. Just get out and ride. Style over Speed. Man or Woman."

    

  

The photograph below is not overtly glamorous. The "photograph that launched a million bicycles" as it has become known, is just a nice spontaneous shot of someone probably heading off to work one day.

As is this - the eminently majestic stylist Catherine Baba on the job in Paris. And frankly, if she can ride in those heels more power to her!!!

So when people say "I want to ride but I don't have anything to wear?", I paraphrase Mikael and say "of course you do, wear what you're wearing right now".

I like this cheeky photograph from Copenhagen Cycle Chic.

So at Sydney Cycle Chic when we get together for a ride, we come as we are.

We don't NEED to dress up to prove a point - or do we?

"Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel...the picture of free, untrammelled womanhood." - Susan B. Anthony, American Suffragist, 1896.

French Film Cycle Chic!

Great shot of Jeanne Moreau and Henri Serre from Francois Truffaut's classic film Jules et Jim courtesy of our favorite vintage bike photo site Rides a Bike.

A little gallic chic to get us in the mood for tomorrow's Cycle Chic ride to Moonlight Cinema to see French biopic Gainsbourg.

Hope you can join us - bicycle or no bicycle!

RSVP to the facebook page or email so we know you're coming.

A gorgeous Copenhagen Cycle Chic Calender will go to the most suitably attired chic rider there so don't be shy to show your chic'ey side...

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

Beach Cruisers on Bourke Street

Ah Sydney Summer and beach cruisers on the Bourke Street cycle way, what more could you ask for?

Will be heading down to Bondi tomorrow for some cycle chic snapping with Miss Joyce from Cycle Style who's visiting from Melbourne.  

I've promised her lots of Bondi beach babe bike action and we have a reputation to keep up!

And yes Copenhagen, there might even be some bikini bike shots to warm you up if you're really lucky...

Sounds of Summer - Corinne Bailey Rae

I'd completely forgotten about the gorgeous girls on bicycles in this clip until Mikael posted it on Copenhagen Cycle Chic this week.  So as Copenhagen cools down for winter and Sydney warms up watch and enjoy.  I know how I'm planning to spend my Cycle Chic Summer of Love!

Someone Left the Cake Out In the Rain

Buggar, drats, and sod it all.  Looks like today's ride is officially cancelled then.
We waited until 11 for some sort of miracle but it's not to be, sadly.  After yesterday's incredible storms and the rain that's still falling heavily, a picnic in the park is not looking like a particularly fun idea, even with the suggestion of a game of water bike polo.....

I mean I like riding in the rain as much as the next person and I'm pretty good at riding with an umbrella, see below for some gorgeous rain inspiration from Copenhagen Cycle Chic, but it's not everyone's cup of tea.

So Sarah Maddox, I'm sorry, I wonder what you would have done?  Probably ride on regardless or perhaps you would have huddled under a tree with a cup of tea to wait out the storms.  Either way, we will all simultaneously raise a cup of Darjeeling and scoff a scone at 1pm in your honour.

Damn, and I was making my lovely flourless chocolate cake too.
Next ride details soon - perhaps a waterproof poncho making working bee?

The Cycle Chic Manifesto

Perhaps you've never read this, perhaps you can recite it by heart ?

Either way, it always makes me smile and on the eve of the next Cycle Chic Sundays Sydney ride it's good to remind ourselves what this cycle chic thing is all about.

So read and enjoy.  Mikael Colville-Andersen wrote it "with a hint of seriousness, a splash of poetry and a dash of playfulness" which is how we choose to take it.

See you all tomorrow for some serious cycle chic fun in Surry Hills!