Adjusting Hugh & Saturation

I rode out to the airport in Copenhagen (which is no big deal) this morning, to meet this fine British chap, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. He was arriving from the UK to film a tv show about Copenhagen and Denmark and we thought it rather appropriate if we adjusted him immediately to Copenhagen life and saturated him in our bicycle-frienly city from the word go.

We chucked his bag in my Bullitt and he hopped onto a Velorbis and we cycled into the city centre - past Christiansborg (which the whole planet seems to know as Borgen, thanks to the television series), where I took this shot. I filled him in on all the aspects of a mainstream bicycle culture (which really is a non-culture), planning liveable cities with the bicycle as the most powerful tool for change, as well as the finer points of Cycle Chic.


We rolled casually through the city, hardly breaking sweat as we pedalled and chatted and I delivered him to his hotel.

It was almost orchestrated when we were leaving the airport and we saw this Copenhagen family arriving with their bags on bicycles, ready to head off on a summer holiday.

For Hugh, it was the perfect arrival in this fine city. Easing him into the city from the airport, down the cycle tracks that gradually grew more and more busy with bicycles as we got closer to the medival city centre. And all on a gloriously sunny day.

Welcome to Copenhagen, Hugh!

Vintage Cycle Chic & Design

Found this last weekend at one of Copenhagen's better flea markets. A vintage Danish magazine - Familiejournal (Family Journal) - from September 1947. Lovely vintage Cycle Chic. There was no article inside the magazine about cycling. It was just a lovely cover shot showing daily life. In September, too. Heading into fall, but the bicycles roll on.


Found me a vintage designer chair by the Danish designer Ole Wanscher, too. Now I'm going to have to find some more of the same. Simply because it fits so well on the Bullitt heading home and The Lulu fits perfectly on it, too.

Cycle Chic Super Cargo Dads

It's quiet in Copenhagen at the moment, during the three weeks of summer holidays. The numbers of bicycle users heading to and from work are still mind-blowing to visitors but it is clear to those of us that live here that most of the nation are holidaying at home, in their summer houses or off travelling.


Cargo bikes and Copenhagen are like a hand and a glove. With 40,000 cargo bikes in the city you're certain to see them everywhere. In the summer holidays the pace slows. Kids don't have to be transported off to kindergarten or school but cargo bikes still fulfill an important role. There are still beaches or museums to be visited, playgrounds to be explored.

Denmark is one of the countries in the world with the greatest level of gender equality. It's not just in business or politics - out of the eight polictical parties, four have female leaders, including the Prime Minister - but in everyday life. A simple phrase from other societies like "soccer mom", for example, seems rather odd and archaeic. We're just soccer parents.

We hear, however, the same thing from cargo bike brands and bike shops. When a young family is discussing getting a cargo bike, it tends to be the mother who calls the shots regarding brand, accessories, etc. Nevertheless, the bike becomes The Family Bike when it rolls out of the shop, as you can see in this article. Superdads just getting on with it. Rolling kids around the city.

Given our involvement in the European Cyclelogistics project, we have cargo bikes on the brain at the moment here at our offices. So here goes.


At left: Here are my kids napping on the way home from the beach on our Bullitt.
At right: My boy and two friends on our old Longjohn.






Christiania Bikes in action.







Nihola Bikes do their thang.


In Ljubljana and Montreal, too.




Bullitts from Larry vs Harry.


A no-name brand at left and an Winther Kangaroo at right. The flag reads "Go, Mum!" and they were riding alongside his wife as she ran the Copenhagen Marathon.

The iconic Triobike.


Bakfiets from the Netherlands.

Sorte Jernhest (means Black Iron Horse). The one on the right is available for residents to borrow from various locations around the city.

Then again... kids are doin' it for themselves.

Long Johns

The traditional Long John bicycle has a long history of heavy use in Denmark and Copenhagen.

The original Long John bicycle was a Danish invention by Morten Rasmussen Mortensen in 1929. Nowadays a modern fleet of offsprings has taken to the streets. Including the already iconic Bullitt, from Larry vs Harry.


The beauty of the Long John is the ability to carry large, heavy loads and still be highly manoeuvrable.


Longs Johns became very popular in Denmark with many makers churning out Long Johns for transport and delivery.


Today the main cargo seems to be children!

Happy Cycling!

Old School Messenger Cool

Last Saturday the Danish Cargo Bike Championships were held here in Copenhagen and here's the Copenhagenize Red Rum Team posing with my Bullitt cargo bike, together with my son, Felix.

These cargo bike races were a regular event for decades and decades in the city, up until 1960. The bike messengers in Copenhagen would race for bragging rights and honour on old long john bikes, massive cargo bikes and short john delivery bikes.

Our team chose to dress for the occasion. The messengers back in the day were well-dressed, with ties and caps and pressed trousers [we didn't bother with those] and were a smashingly handsome addition to the urban landscape.

They were nicknamed 'svajere' or 'swayers', because of the movement they made when pedalling the massive bikes. Swaying through the streets.

You can read about the dapper history of the Svajere in this post at Copenhagenize and see how frightfully well-dressed they were, especially in the YouTube film at the end. Wouldn't it be brilliant to see bike messengers dressing in style?

The races were a load of fun and it was a great day out. There was the 2 wheeled cargo bike championships, the 3 wheeled championship and the team relay. Copenhagenize Red Rum Team took part in the latter. We stuck to tradition in the races. Basically, you do one lap [1.3 km] with an empty bike and then you load two car tires and a bundle of newspapers onto the bike. Then the remaining three riders do a lap with the heavy load.

The Copenhagenize Red Rum Team in action. Featuring me, Tiago from Brazil, Joel from Ottawa and Jeff from Washington, DC.

We won our heat and then finished fourth in the final. Although we clearly won the style championships... :-)

For more shots from the Cargo Bike Races, check this longer post over at Copenhagenize.com.

The Family Zoo

At long last, the weather is improving. Goethe's last words were allegedly "Mehr licht..." or "more light..."

The Nordic tribes can agree with THAT half the year. Now spring has sprung it seems. Here's me and the kids outside the Copenhagen Zoo last weekend. Opted for the Velorbis instead of the Bullitt and put Lulu-Sophia on the bulldog seat between my legs. Strapped on a stroller to the back rack in case she got tired walking around the animal kingdom. The Boy Wonder Felix is on his own bike, with his partisan scarf and hat. Eight years old and already opinionated about clothes and style.

The Zoo is close to the city so we just treat it as a park, really. Riding up to hang out for an hour or two, looking at animals.

Brilliant to feel springtime in the air.

Klara, Larry and Harry

When you purchase certain products you often have a hope that the people behind the product are cool. When that product is kick-ass sound systems or cargo bikes it's a must that the people behind the product are cool. Enter Klara Geist of Berlin. Enter Larry vs Harry of Copenhagen.


A match made in heaven. Custom sound systems fitted to the cargo bike.

Nuff said.

Nice Coat

Not particularly cycle chic/fashion-oriented this film featuring someone you may, or may not, recognize and who was frightfully tired that day, but it explains a bit about our cycling infrastructure here in the World's Cycling Capital.

Although, on a fashion note, the coat is the best winter purchase I've made in recent years. A smashingly dapper coat from Danish brand Bruuns Bazaar. Thick wool and nice and long... perfect for cycling about my city.

Snow Umbrella and Cargo Bike Children

I gave Lulu-Sophia the umbrella not to keep her dry - she has a snow suit for that - but because the wind was whipping the snow along and it was considerably more pleasant for her not to have to squint into the driving snow. It was hard for her to hold the umbrella with her big old mittens, but she managed to hold it in place.

Same thing here, but this time Felix got to act as umbrella holder for Lulu-Sophia on the family Bullitt.

Aerial view of The Lulu on her way home from daycare.