Fort Worth Bicycle Fashion Show

Copenhagenize Design Company was in Fort Worth, Texas last week, attending Bike Texas' Texas Trails and Active Transportation conference. The good people from Momentum Magazine were there, too, and they put on a great Cycle Chic fashion show for the attendees. Showing cycling as normal, stylish and accessible to the 99%.

I kicked off the evening with a talk about the history of bicycle marketing and how lessons learned a century ago can apply to the modern situation.


The models were both locals as well as a number of conference attendees and it was a great event with a cool DJ providing the tunes. The clothes were sponsored by a local store and the bikes were of a great variety.

It was great to be a part of it.

Budapest Here We Come

Budapest, you beautiful thing. We're coming to see you today. Get your game face on. The Cycle Chic Bloggers Conference is about to start. Hosted by our good friends at Hungary Cycle Chic.

From Critical Mass to Cycle Chic in Budapest

Sometimes sudden news brings completely mixed feelings. This year's Cycle Chic Blogger's Conference will be held in Budapest in September. Heaps of events like a Cycle Chic breakfast for the Citizen Cyclists of the city, a fashion show, the conference and... the legendary critical mass ride held twice a year in the city. Nobody does a mass ride like the Hungarians. They can average 20,000 people on bicycles and have even hit the lofty heights of 50,000 and 80,000.

It was going to be one of the highlights of the weekend.

The organisers, however, have just decided to cancel the ride. Many people are disappointed but in their statement they say that Budapest has now reached a point of being a bicycle city with many daily cyclists. They cancelled it because they want the focus to now be on the amazing work done by the Hungarian Cyclists’ Club - Magyar Kerékpárosklub. The NGO needs more support in order to continue it's work and the critical mass organisers wished to place focus on the NGO by cancelling. What an accolade for the Hungarian Cyclists' Club, who are legendary for their positive promotion of cycling.

Budapest is one of the poster children cities for what they have achieved in just five or six years. They are legends.

The critical mass in Budapest, like in many European cities, is far removed from the North American versions. It is a celebration of urban cycling and a powerful tool towards pushing for a more liveable city with more bicycles, rather than a sub-culture peacocking through the streets, irritating the other citizens and doing little to win hearts and minds. Indeed, the critical mass ride in Prague changed it's name in order to disassociate itself with the negative North American brand.

In Budapest, politicians join in, people from all walks of life ride. It became an accepted and even anticipated event in the life of the city.

Back to the conflicting emotions. The ride will be sorely missed and we hope that it returns again. However, in their official statement, they explained their cancellation by saying;

"Even more powerful new engines have emerged: The Cycle Chic Movement, which is successful in increasing ridership and breaking down stereotypes with greater visual impact in the city."

One of the most humbling things to read in almost six years of Cycle Chic. Stunningly so. The most successful "critical mass" bike rides in the world handing over the reins to Cycle Chic.

It must be said that Hungarian Cycle Chic is a flagship among the members of our Cycle Chic Republic. Operating out of the Hungarian Cyclists' Club, they have been instrumental in mainstreaming urban cycling in Budapest.

I have been at meetings with them discussing our sociological, anthropological and marketing approaches. Despite the massive responsibility handed over by critical mass, if there is anyone in Hungary who can do the job, it's the Cycle Chic team in Budapest, as well as the Hungarian Cyclists' Club.

If your city had just half of the vision that the advocates have in Budapest, you'd be ten times farther along the road to mainstreaming urban cycling. That's how brilliant they are.

Here's hoping that the mass ride will return. And that we can live up to their expectations whether they do or not.


Budapest Critical Mass Sept 2009 from Copenhagenize on Vimeo.
Here's a film I shot during the critical mass bike ride in 2009.


I love Budapest. I bike Budapest. from Cyclechic hu on Vimeo.
Here's a film made by Hungarian Cycle Chic.

More from Budapest:
Bike Love Street Signage
Hungarian Bike to Work ads

Bicycles and Flowers in Riga

On a recent visit to Riga, Latvia, I was invited on two bike rides. One of them was probably the loveliest bike ride I could imagine. All around the world there are bike rides taking place. Celebrating the bicycle, riding in support of this or that cause. All nice.

In Riga, however, a local bike shop arranged a Bicycle Flower Festival. Encouraging people to decorate their bicycles with flowers and go for a ride.

For no other reason than bicycles and flowers are a match made in heaven and compliment each other brilliantly.

So simple, so lovely. We wish we had thought of it ourselves.















Getting a police escort for a Bicycle Flower ride is a fantastic irony.





The ride ended at the Dutch Bike shop for a barbeque and DJs. But there had to be a winner for most splendidly-decorated bicycle and here she is. What a brilliant decoration. She transformed her bicycle, using flowers, into a peacóck.

Cycle Chic® Social - Vancouver June 29

I am very much looking forward to being at this party in Vancouver on June 29th, 2012. Hosted by members of the Cycle Chic Republic - our friends at Vancouver Cycle Chic.

Brazil and Cycle Chicness

We're abuzz with Cycle Chic activity this year. It's off the charts. I'm particularly looking forward to riding a bicycle with the good Citizen Cyclists of Vitória, in Brazil. I'll be arriving on Saturday and on Sunday we'll have a smashing Cycle Chic bicycle ride in association with Vitória Cycle Chic. So... if you're in the neighbourhood....

Then it's off to Sao Paulo for work on this exciting project of ours - Bicycle Schools / Escolas de Bicicletas - with the City of Sao Paulo. Then wrapping up this Brazil trip in Rio for more Cycle Chic events.

Rio Cycle Chic Bike Ride

When I was in Rio de Janeiro last week I was picked up by bicycle at the airport and rode all the way into town on bike lanes. THAT is a sign of a cool city.

The next day my friends put on a fantastic Cycle Chic bike ride to celebrate the launch of Rio de Janeiro Cycle Chic. A 12 hour affair starting at five in the afternoon, we were around forty or so people at the peak. We rode along the bike lanes parallel to the iconic LeBlon, Ipanema and Copacabana beaches before heading around the bay to the monument commemorating the founder of the city where I gave a short speech about Cycle Chic and what it is all about and what it can achieve. After beers - and wonderful snacks provided by the bicycle-oriented La Biciclette Bakery in Rio - we moved on to various bars and nightclubs. A cracking event true to the Cycle Chic spirit. Rio is ready for Cycle Chic.

Here are some beautiful photos from the ride from our photographer, as posted on Sydney Cycle Chic.

We'll be posting some more shots from the city quicksmart.

Barcelona Bloggers

Barcelona is doing just fine as an Emerging Bicycle City. What a transformation this city has undergone over the past four years. It is a role model for cities around the planet.

Needless to say, our Cycle Chic bloggers fit right in to the city during the Cycle Chic Conference. What a brilliant bunch of people. So inspirational to hook up with them all.

The Cycle Chicsters:

Barcelona. Copenhagen.

Sydney. Vancouver.

Montreal. Rio.

Dublin. Budapest.

Bordeaux. Ditto.

Paris. Budapest.

Lisbon. Graz.

Cycle Chic Breakfast Winners!

The first order of business at the Cycle Chic Bloggers Conference in Barcelona was an event organised in conjunction with BACC - the Catalonia Bicycle Club. The Cycle Chic Breakfast was a part of the city's Bike Week. In the morning last Friday at three locations around the city red carpets were rolled out for the city's cyclists from 7:30 to 10:30. To thank them for cycling in the city and to make them feel loved. Free beverages and breakfast were handed out, too. The Cycle Chic bloggers were dispatched to the three locations to photograph the Citizen Cyclists. At the end of the brilliant day we selected winners in two categories.

The first is the Most Chic Cyclist and when you're in Barcelona that is a tough job to find a winner. But a winner was needed and it ended up being Paulette. The judges said:

"Cycle Chic is about looking fabulous on a bicycle but it is also about personal style. Paulette looks wonderful in her outfit and sunglasses and the fact that she rides a cool, old bike that she hand-painted herself made it easy for us to choose her as the winner."

Paulette is the proud owner of a cool new bicycle from Hood Bikes and a rain coat from Italian brand Abici.


In the Most Fun category, the winners were Raul and Greta. The judges said:

"This guy was brilliant. He really went to an effort to go crazy and we love his daugther on the back. We see it as cool irony that he is wearing spandex shorts. We have humour at Cycle Chic, and this guy has it all going for him. His daughter was adorable, too!"
Raul won a selection of bicycle accessories from cool Barcelona brand Ramonas and a rain coat from Bordeaux brand Nooc.fr.
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We're still working on the runners up, too.


Here's a slide show of many of the photos our Cycle Chic bloggers took on the day.

The Spanish newspaper El Pais featured this article on the event and this blogpost on the El Pais bicycle blog. TV Espana reported live from the Cycle Chic Breakfast, too. It's about 1/4 of the way into the clip. Txell from Barcelona Cycle Chic demonstrates how to ride in a skirt. :-)

Copenhagenize Consulting has more great Cycle Chic events and bicycle events on the way.

Bikes, Breakfast, Barcelona

So we're counting down to the Cycle Chic Blogger Conference in Barcelona on June 17-19, 2011. It's going to be great to meet up with some of the cool people in our network. We're making the final arrangements and getting ready to party.

Together with BACC - The Catalunya Bicycle Club - we're arranging a Cycle Chic breakfast on the 17th June. It's Bike Week in Barcelona so we'll be on hand to photograph the city's chicest bicycle users and hand out prizes.

If you're in town then, here's the Facebook event page!

The big question is... what bikes are the Cycle Chic bloggers going to ride? As we're not locals, we can't get a Bicing card so we're going to need some wheels.

Any bright ideas? Any bike brands that we can test drive? Let us know.