Friends

I just happen to love this photo. That's Philip on the left, holding hands with Joni from Amsterdam Cycle Chic and that's Aron from Hungarian Cycle Chic up front.

Ah, Budapest.

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 :-)

I Love Budapest I Bike Budapest

A film of cinematic brilliance from our lovely friends at Hungarian Cycle Chic. Nuff said.

Cycle Chic Hungary 2010

What a fantastic film from our friends at Hungarian Cycle Chic, wrapping a year of cycle chic in Budapest.

There are a handful of cities out there that serve as an inspiration to the world in the way they have gone from no bicycles to an armada of bicycles and Budapest is one of them. (Paris, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Seville are among the others). A mere five years ago the city was as car clogged as anywhere else and the percentage of people cycling hovered below 1%. Now they're at 5% and rising. It has been a combination of implementing the all-important separated bicycle infrastructure and passionate advocacy based on promoting cycling positively.

Bicycle planning consultants will usually say that getting from 0% to 5% bicycle traffic is the hardest step of all for a city. After that it's a bike ride in the park. Getting from 5% to, say, 15% is much easier. Cars still dominate in Budapest and the traffic makes a North American city look calm and civilised but change is in the air. The revolution is underway.

Budapest has adopted an approach that is close to our hearts and that is something we write about over at Copenhagenize.com - promoting cycling positively and aiming the promotion at Citizen Cyclists - potential bicycle users, as opposed to the existing sub-cultures. Cycle Chic Hungary works closely with the Hungarian Cyclists Club to develop campaigns that sell cycling to the mainstream. Just look at the kind of films they produce - they're brilliant.

The film, above, is a testament to the hard work the bicycle advocates are doing in Budapest. Citizen Cyclists - and a whole lot of Cycle Chic - are redefining the urban space.

Budapest is also famous for its Critical Mass, or rather Civilised Mass. There are two of them a year and the one I rode in featured 20,000 people on bicycles. It was a slow day. The record, I believe, is 80,000.

Cycle Chic Fashion Show - Hungarian Style

Our lovely and hard-working friends at Cycle Chic Hungary just sent us this film, hot off the catwalk. They understand the concept. Bicycles and Fashion, not bicycle fashion.

There are great and inspirational films encouraging people to cycle to work over at Copenhagenize.

Cycle Chic in Copenhagen and Beyond

New film from the very good people at Streetfilms.org about the fantastic development of the Cycle Chic 'movement' that started right here on this site oh so many years ago... :-)

Wonderful to see Kristin [Charleston], Witek, Henrietta and Kristin [San Francisco] doing their funky thang.

'Xander from Toronto was meant to be in it, too, but the birth of his second child was a bit more important. :-)

We're rolling closer to the third anniversary of the Cycle Chic - Copenhagen blog, in mid-June. This is a lovely way to start getting ready. Thanks to Streetfilms.

[Disclaimer: I don't normally look THAT tired... :-) It was in the middle of the Climate Conference last December and I was working hard, it was cold, blahblahblah]

Budapest Winter Cycle Chic

It warms our hearts to see this little film from our lovely friends at Cycle Chic Hungary showing people cycling in the winter. Budapest rules.

To see how brilliant the Hungarians are at marketing urban cycling for Citizen Cyclists, have a look at these wicked cool films over at Copenhagenize.com

Critical Fashion Mass

Budapest does it again. Critical Fashion Mass, baby.

Critical Mass Cycle Chic 02

Some more shots of people on bicycles from the recent Critical Mass in Budapest.



Using her bike light to keep her hair up. Nice touch.

Critical Mass Cycle Chic 01

This is my favourite couple from the recent Critical Mass ride in Budapest, where over 20,000 people on bicycles took part.

It was a lovely ride around the city. No aggression, everyone stopping for red lights, a real festival atmosphere. A fantastic experience.

Gentlemen Cyclists in Budapest

Okay, ladies, I don't know how Hungarian men rate in the global sexy lists, but I was pleasantly surprised to see decent amounts of dapper chappies in suits or nice clothes on the streets of the Hungarian capital. Above is a man riding home on the bike lanes with his suit jacket hanging off his backpack.

This chap was taking part, rather absentmindedly it seems, in a Kidical Mass - a bike ride for kids and families before the main Critical Mass bike celebration ride.

This is was my voice in Hungarian. He was the interpreter at the conference making me sound good in a foreign language. Hopefully.

This gentlemen is legendary. Laszlo is the president of the Hungarian Cyclists' Federation and my god is he ever inspiring to talk to. So passionate about mainstreaming cycling in Hungary and promoting cycling positively.

Here's a gentleman in his 'kippah' rolling confidently through the streets.

Here's a Dane on the right, my colleague Troels, who was also speaking at the conference. One of Denmark's most experienced traffic planners for bicycles, together with his Hungarian counterpart, Peter.


And here's yours truly in a demonstratively slow exhibition of Style Over Speed doing a lap at the Millenaris Velodrome. Slow Bicycle Movement indeed.