The Cycle Chic Republic Calendar for 2014

Just in time for winter. The first snow fell on Copenhagen today. The bicycles rolled on.

Almost by coincedence, we launched The Cycle Chic Republic Calendar for 2014 at the same time. It's the sixth annual calendar from us here at Cycle Chic and this year we have featured photography from a whole bunch of the great people with blogs in the Cycle Chic Republic.


Almost by another coincedence, we spotted the first christmas tree of the season(of many) transported by bicycle here in Copenhagen.

The Cycle Chic Republic - and a Webshop!

From left: Mary (Copenhagen Cycle Chic), Gaze (Berlin Cycle Chic), Annabel (Vienna Cycle Chic), Joni and Philip (Amsterdam Cycle Chic), Aron (Hungarian Cycle Chic), Dora (Vitória Cycle Chic) and Mikael (Copenhagen Cycle Chic). Photographed in Budapest on the occasion of the 2nd Annual Cycle Chic Conference.

It's no secret that Cycle Chic has gone from strength to strength since November 14, 2006. According to our records over 200 Cycle Chic blogs have appeared on the internet in cities on every continent. Many of them ended up inactive but a core of passionate people remain and a couple of years ago we formed The Cycle Chic Republic.

Cycle Chic may have started with one person but it quickly became a community. That community has strengthened over the years and become a group of good friends, with more people joining as we go along.

In 2011 we held the first Cycle Chic Conference in Barcelona, with Cycle Chic representatives from Bordeaux, Graz, Paris, Lisbon, Vancouver, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Sydney, Amsterdam, Budapest, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro.

In 2012, we repeated the success in Budapest. This is where we took the group photo, above. Tongue in cheek, of course. We thought it fun and relevant to highlight the fact that we are far from the old school, granola-crunchy bicycle advocacy in "certain" parts of the world who - for reasons beyond us - think that Cycle Chic is somehow haute couture. Those of you who have been following the blog(s) know that it's just opening your closet and wearing whatever you'd wear as a pedestrian or a bus passenger. Style (your style) over Speed.

This year, at the Velo-City 2013 bicycle conference in Vienna, a group of cycle chic bloggers were in attendance and, no surprise, we hung out. Cycle Chicsters from Gdansk, Copenhagen, Budapest, Vienna, Belgium.

It's brilliant to have a such global network representing Cycle Chic and even more brilliant that we continue to have such fun and love each other even more.

The newest development is that we have finally bowed to the pressure and opened up a global webshop. For many years people have been emailing us and asking about the accessories they see in our photographs. We decided to start The Official Cycle Chic Republic Webshop.

We ship out of our warehouse in Amsterdam to any postbox around the world. We're thrilled that it's been a success from the start and we will continue to expand the selection of goods as we go.

So, Cycle Chic continues to expand and grow and it doesn't look like we're going anywhere anytime soon. We're having too much fun.


Mostly because while we share the same passion, we remember not to take ourselves too seriously.

Cycle Chic Calendar 2013 - Out Now!

For the fifth year running, the Cycle Chic Calendar 2013 is out! We're pleased to present this calendar and hope it can get places in time for Christmas... and January 1st.

This year the calendar features Cycle Chic photos from Copenhagen (no surprise) as well as Montreal, Rio, Sao Paulo, Vitória (Brazil), Amsterdam, Budapest, Zagreb, Dublin and, Berlin.

We've even chucked in a velomobile in a moment of craziness! But the guy is the most dapper chap ever to grace a velomobile and he rides past our offices every day. If that's not crazy enough for you, we even feature a tall bike and drop handlebars!

Enjoy. It's available over at Lulu.com.

Cycle Chic Bloggers Conference - Budapest

This just in from Cycle Chic Conference 2012: Budapest is Cycle Chic'tastic.  Ok, this isn't exactly "just in" as we've gotten to know Budapest for a while now from blogger Aron Halasz' Hungarian Cycle Chic, but last weekend we got to experience this bicycle lovely city firsthand.

The Budapest conference kicked off Friday morning with a breakfast for people cycling on their way to work, which also launched Budapest's bike to work week.

- 7 breakfast stands located in Budapest
- 14 total in Hungary
- 50 kilos of carrot bread at every station
- an equal amount of coffee
- no hungry cyclists in Hungary



Accompanying the breakfast was a photo shoot.  With the breakfast right next to the Opera House, it was not a bad backdrop for a photo shoot.  Not bad at all.


Many thank yous to János László and the Hungarian Cyclists' Club for arranging the bike breakfast...

And of course to Áron from Budapest Cycle Chic for arranging, well, everything... 

Last year's conference was in Barcelona where we hosted the first ever Cycle Chic Breakfast. Meeting all kinds of inspiring people, experiencing all sorts of inspiring cities, and witnessing the bicycle movement happen in cities around the world. Budapest was no exception - it was filled with warm, wonderful, and inspiring moments.  That we're going to be blogging the rest of this week :-)

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

Double Up Cycle Chic - From the Republic

COPENHAGEN

LISBON CYCLE CHIC

TORONTO

AMSTERDAM

VIENNA

SYDNEY

BUDAPEST

BARCELONA

CARACAS

CRACOW, POLAND Cracow, Poland

STRASBOURG