Dapper in New York

Renaud Dutreil, the chairman of the North American unit of the luxury and fashion conglomerate LVMH, on his bicycle in New York, as he does every day.

Read the article Whose Bike Are You Wearing? on the New York Times website, from whence the photo originates.

Renaud is a fine example of how we are slowly but surely giving the bicycle back it's status.

Vintage Cycle Chic For Your Wall

For the better part of a century we knew how to market cycling and bicycles. We focused on marketing freedom of movement, enjoyment, practical transport and effortlessness.

It all went wrong for the past three or four decades in many countries, where cycling strangely was relegated to merely a sport, a recreational activity or a child's toy.

The graphic design of vintage bicycle posters is brilliant and the message it is selling can't be beat. We have a lot to re-learn about marketing bicycle culture and these old posters are inspirational.


Now you can look at them every day on a wall near you. This poster features 56 of our favourite bicycle posters.

As always, it's available at our online boutique.

Or have a look at all the Cycle Chic et al goods.

Cycling in a Skirt?

The Guardian has a piece about cycling in a skirt. I guess the writer missed the epic, soon mythical, Cycle Chic Guide to Cycling in Skirts and Dresses... :-)

Gender Gap?
The New York Times has a piece today about how the Gender Gap persists in America. Women are a minority. Mikael was interviewed for it but only a single sentence made it past the scissors. :-)

Copenhagen - Tokyo

After ten days spreading the Cycle Chic word in Japan and Moscow, there are many lovely reasons that I always love returning home. Like the summer traffic at 07:30 in the morning, for example. Poetry on wheels.

But we have unfinished Tokyo/Japan business:

Splendid red shoes and a cracking hat near Harajuku.

Cruising in style in Harajuku. The Gearheads would have a fit in Japan. So many people ride low on the bicycle. Perfect for city riding and, really, the great thing about bicycles is that there is no wrong way to ride them. Whatever turns you on.

Standing Room Only in two stylish versions.

News From New York:
Here's an article from Reuters about how New Yorkers are getting on their bikes in style.

"New York should have not only the most bicyclists, but the most stylish ones as well," Patti Harris, the first deputy mayor of New York, told a news conference.

Indeed. But the competition is tough from Copenhagen and Tokyo, dear New Yorkers. But a fashionability competition is a splendid idea! Bring it on!

But then there's this piece from The New York Times. All about designing "cycling clothes". Some people just don't get it. Whatever you wear for walking is suitable for cycling. This is just another example of corporations trying to capitalise on a trend by overcomplicating a simple issue. All you need is a bicycle. All you've ever needed, since the Safety bicycle was invented 120 years ago, is a bicycle.

Come to Copenhagen!
The website Denmark.net has a competition for bloggers.

Denmark Jazz Weekend
One blogger can win a trip to the Copenhagen Jazz Festival in July. To enter, write a blog post about what's cool about Denmark and win a trip to the Copenhagen Jazz Festival. Out of all submissions, the Denmark.net jury selects the most interesting, funny, creative, or weird. Fifty bloggers will receive Denmark t-shirts, mugs, or mousepads. One lucky winner is going to Copenhagen on July 10th, enjoying the weekend in a five star hotel.

Get blogging!

Copenhagen Cycle Chic International Roundup

Photo: Ruby Washington
The New York Times has a little slide show they call A Field Guide to the New York City Bicyclist wherein they feature five cyclists from the city. One wears lycra, but behold the others! Thanks to the readers who fired off the link to us.

Photo: Ruby Washington


A little splash of Copenhagen Cycle Chic as seen in lovely Karlskrona, Sweden. Thanks, Joel!


A bit of Berlintasticness from Der Spiegel.


Thanks to Andy for this fine example of Springfield Cycle Chic!


I've had this photo on my harddisk for ages and ages. I think it's a publicity stunt for The Bicycle Film Festival.


GQ's Taiwan magazine have a cool print edition with loads of my photos this month and here's a little online teaser for their Scandinavian design feature.

Cycle Chic Roundup

It's not surprising that when Facehunter ended up in Copenhagen, a photo of a bicycle was involved. And of course it was taken with The Lakes in the background. Quintessential CPH.

Even the dreadfully dull Times has tried their hand at men/fashion/bicycle. Yet another journalist reluctantly forced by his editor to cover this strange phenomenon called "bicycling". At least he tried his best.


ACNE of Sweden have teamed up with Bianchi for a new collection, according to Swedish ELLE. I suspect a healthy dose of dark, vodka-induced Swedish irony is in play here. Combined with a biting bitterness at the Swedes' worst Olympic performance in over 2000 years.

Meanwhile, back in Gotham City...

A New Yorker shows us the way forward in one of Bill Cunningham's photos.

Steel Town Cycle Chic & NY Times Article

One simple and yet brilliant guest photo today, from Larry Strung in Hamilton, Canada. Larry is a photographer with a wonderful photo series called Hamilton365. Here's what Larry says about why he took this photo and why his project is important:

Hamilton is mostly a "blue-collar" town, which means working class people that for the most part have been employed in the steel industry. That industry is in decline, so there is quite a bit of poverty while the city changes its economic direction. It has so much potential, but the biggest difficulty is changing attitudes. The really poor ride bicycles (if they are fit enough) because they can't afford a car. The new "industry" in the city is centered around a very good university that has it's most recognition from work in the health care field - so there is lots of new work related to this in local hospitals as well. The university and health-care people are the ones interested in using and promoting cycling. The former steel workers cannot get employment in this new industry, so there is a resentment present. The bulk of the population relate riding bikes to either the new "white collar" workers who are displacing them, or people so poor that they cannot afford a car. So they tend to be aggressive towards cyclist when driving in their cars...

My project, www.hamilton365.com , is an attempt to change the attitudes about the people of Hamilton. From the outside, Hamilton has always had a reputation of a "tough" town - something to be avoided. Even from within, people have a poor attitude about themselves. I have found that if you can get beyond the outside appearance, in most cases the people have a very warm and open heart. So the goal is to change the perception of being a city full of threatening people, to a city full of "people of character". When the perception is that people are full of character, they become interesting to get to know instead of to be avoided.

For cycling, the city is just about perfect. It is a harbour city - on Lake Ontario. In an east-west direction the city is perfectly flat. In a north-south direction, the city is bisected by a "mountain" - it's actually just a big hill. We have a land form here that is referred to as an escarpment - a single hill that goes for hundreds of kilometers. It's the same land form that Niagara Falls goes over. So we can practice our hill-climbing skills on this escarpment, and commute to work along the flat without building up a sweat. The World Cycling Championships were held here in 2003.

I think that Hamilton will come around in terms of being a cycling city, but it will take a few more years and a few more confrontations yet.

One little note from me: There is a great opinion piece by Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times today, about Denmark and the things we do which can inspire others. Have a read.