Search Party

While walking through Ferrara, Italy, I was snapping photographs of the many bicycle users. I snapped snots of these two.


Moments later I realised they were looking for each other and caught the moment when they made visual, rather than telephonic, contact. And off they went on their bicycles together.

The Dapper Gents of Ferrara

We're not going to let the Fantastic Female Cyclists of Ferrara run off with all the Cycle Chic glory. Their male counterparts have it ALL goin' on, too. Here's a tribute to the stylish older gents of the Italian city.

Ferrara's Fantastic Female Cyclists

The City of Ferrara - Italy's leading bicycle city with 30% modal share for bicycles - is rather extraordinary in many ways. One of the sure signs of a healthy bicycle culture is the so-called "gender split" featuring an equal number of female and male cyclists. In cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen there are more women on bicycles than men and in Ferrara, the statistics match those two cities - 55% women and 45% men.

While Ferrara has over 20,000 students at the university and the nightlife is suitably lively, it was amazing to see so many "older" bicycle users in the city. Men and women alike. In fact, I've never been anywhere in the world where I've seen so many elderly bicycle users in one spot. Dutch and Danish cities would be hard pressed to match Ferrara on this point.

This has been the case for many, many years but having influential female politicians certainly helps maintain it.

We met with the vice-mayor of the city - at left - and the president of the Province of Ferrara - at right - while in the city. The vice-mayor joked that they don't have a female quota in their politics - but rather a male quota.

Here are some photos of Ferrara's healthy and fabulous bicycle users over "a certain age". Brava!

Impeccable style in traffic.

Red rush with splendid hat.

Still going strong.

Heels and wheels.

Brilliant coat.

Rolling to the market.

Flowers on the basket.

Banking on Ferrara

Just got home from a visit to Ferrara, Italy's great bicycle city with 30% of it's citizens moving around by bicycle. Like in the previous post, banking is done from the saddle.

Rome Cycle Chic - Bicycles

It was most encouraging and pleasing to see so many cool bicycles in Rome. Loads of vintage rides that are still going strong. Seeing flowers on baskets was more common than I would have thought, and it's so lovely every time.

This one isn't vintage but that backrack and basket add to the mainstream bicycle culture flavour.

This is old school parking. For decades this is how people parked their bicycles. Leaning them against the curb with the pedal. Probably not a good idea in cities that are getting used to the return of the bicycle, but the bike, above, stayed standing.

Rome Cycle Chic 002

We're not quite finished with Rome Cycle Chic just yet. We have a few photos to get out of our system from our recent visit.





What a cool lady. Riding down the Corso, hand on her thigh, taking it easy like the poster woman for Citizen Cyclists everywhere.

Rome Cycle Chic 001

Just back from Rome and here are some Rome Cycle Chic photos for your consideration. It's a mad city, Rome. Most Citizen Cyclists ride carefully and intelligently through the witch's cauldron of traffic. In classic Roman style, of course.

Cycle Chic is Off to Rome

by Brittany Leigh Photography on Flickr.
I'm heading to Rome next week, to speak at a conference with my Four Goals for Promoting Urban Cycling talk. Here are some cycle chic photos from Flickr from the Italian capital. Definately looking forward to visiting the city. It's been a few years since I've been there.

Can anyone tell me where some good spots are to photograph cyclists in the city? Certain streets? The University? Please drop us a line in the comments.


by Chylle on Flickr.


by kiwiggy on flickr.


by Antonio H Foto Arte on Flickr

And then there's this photo, which wasn't 'shareable' on Flickr, but it's lovely.

Shoppy Bike - Italian Bicycle Style and Design

At Cycle Chic we're loving this a) advert and b) cool new Italian bicycle.

It's called Shoppy Bike, a revolutionary and exclusive unisex city bike that combines innovation, functionality and style. It's on the market shortly.

Manufactured in the heart of Tuscany by Officine Meccaniche Sereni, Shoppy Bike is a high-tech bicycle made entirely in aluminium and with toothed belt drive. With its sleek design and avant-guarde mechanism, Shoppy Bike is a comfortable and elegant means of transport, the perfect way to tackle the daily hectic city traffic in style and to enjoy slow-paced moments of relaxation.

Shoppy Bike offers a colour range that goes from classic red and black to the more trendy shades of lilac and green.

Concept: Michele Lazzaro/Design: Rudy Hoffmann.

Cycle Chic is Cicloeleganza!

Oh goodness. Oh goodness me.

Cicloeleganza. by Cigno.

Thanks to Velorution, London's coolest bicycle shop, for the link.

Cigno is celebrating spring/summer 2010 with Seventy, its latest creation, liberally inspired to the legendary bike Graziella, icon of the sixties and seventies, considered by many as Brigitte Bardots Rolls Royce. The main feature of the new Seventy is its extraordinary practicality: thanks to the chrome frame easy to fold via a central hinge, the small wheels and removable handlebars and saddle, it can fit very comfortably in the trunk of a small car. Compared to older models, it is much lighter thanks to its components completely redesigned in aluminum, which also confer a more up-to-date design. Furthermore, saddle, grips and pump covered in leather, remain faithful to the luxury DNA of the Cigno brand.

Seventy is the unconventional bike for unconventional people who want to enjoy the freedom of the road, just like the good old Graziella, symbol of the psychedelic-tinged and carefree spirit of the sixties. Seventy comes in six exclusive colour variants inspired to cities and destinations of the youth revolution of the past 40 years and is available in London Green, Formentera Beige, Saint Tropez Blue, Amsterdam Orange, Paris Pink and Mikonos Purple.

Begging For Your Vote Again Again

And, if it's not too much trouble, please consider casting your vote over at Treehugger.com where Copenhagenize.com is nominated for Best Bicycle Blog Twitter Feed and Copenhagen is nominated for Best City to Cycle In.
Follow @copenhagenize right here on Twitter.
And the Official Cycle Chic Twitter feed is right here.

Bologna, Copenhagen

I just love this shot from Bologna.

And here's a late night shot from last Saturday here in Copenhagen. The Metro runs all night here. It's a beehive of activity from 2 AM when people move on to bars and nightclubs from cafes and parties. Girlfriends, bikes and beer. The night is still young.

Forza Cicloeleganza!

When I coined the Italian phrase for 'cycle chic' - Cicloeleganza, this is really what I meant without even knowing it. Brilliant photos by the Italian photographer Silvia Baglioni.

The photos were taken for the monthly fanzine for the Italian football club Arezzo AC.

Political Cycle Chic [Cicloeleganza]

Brilliant. Italian Minister of Equal Opportunity, Mara Carfagna on her summer holidays in a bikini, kaftan and a supersize bag. Ms Carfagna is a former model and showgirl but the little weasel Berlusconi brought her into the political limelight by appointing her as a minister in his cabinet.

This kind of photo of Ms Carfagna on a bicycle is the reason that I coined the word 'cicloeleganza' - the Italian version of Cycle Chic.

Grazie mille to Massimiliano for the heads up.

The Secret Bicycles of the World

Just as there are 10 or more popular Danish bicycle brands that people outside of Denmark have never heard of, there are bicycle brands out there that exist below the bicycle fashion radar.

Perfectly splendid bicycles that are only available in their home countries and a few neighbouring lands. Bicycles that should be seen on bike lanes all over the world.

Over at Copenhagenize.com we've had a category called Bikes We Like for over a year now, wherein we blog about such hidden pearls of fashionable and cool bikes.

The Cicli Adriatica bicycles, above, were recently discovered in a foreign fashion magazine by Wifealiciousness, so I dutifully sought them out. Merely because they're beautiful, normal bikes for everyday use in all urban landscapes. Mostly because they're beautiful. I scoured the website but couldn't find any idea of what they cost, only a list of shops in Italy that sell them. So I'm content to just regard them for now. Let me know if you find a price.

Some other Secret Bicycles of the World that deserve a wider audience:
Japan
- Frackers
- Arrow

Italy
- Umberto Dei

Sweden
- Skeppshult

Cicloeleganza in Milano

Our intrepid - and frightfully fashionable fashionista - friend Raquel from Madrid was on the Cycle Chic beat in Milano recently, recording a series of cicloeleganza shots for us here at the blog.

A splendid series of shots of citizens enjoying a cycling life in the Italian city. Cyclists who are clearly feel safe and secure and who know that taking it easy is the safest way to ride.

Cicloeleganza

Sometimes you just have to coin a phrase to make sense of things, to give them a description that works. 'Cycle chic' regarding cycling style made sense when we invented it last year. The cycling women of Italy, however, deserve their own phrase.
Cicloeleganza.
Above, in Milano, by Amenove.

Another example from Milano, also by Amenove.


Ravenna.


And in Pisa, by John.


Roma.


Cremona.