Sustainable and Sociable

As ever, cycling in Copenhagen is a sociable affair. You go on dates on your bikes, to the cinema, a café, to work and home again. It's physical. You ride close to each other and can talk freely. You're both in motion, moving forward. Talking. Listening. Being together.

Bike. Bus. Both start with B. Coincedence?

Here's another poster available on our online boutique. This one features images of Copenhagen's bike culture. Capturing a mood, a style, a way of life.

This poster and the first one will be featured in an upcoming exhibition that will travel around the world. More on that as we get the detailed information.

Casual Copenhagen

A cyclist completely at ease with herself and her role in the life of this city.

I've noticed a few funny groups on Facebook regarding bike culture:
From Sweden - My Bike Was Stolen In Uppsala / I Stole A Bike In Uppsala.
"Let's all just work this mess out." Thieves and the thieved. Together at last.
From Denmark: [translates as:]Hey! Is there a sign on my bike reading 'Trash Can'?
For people who get tired of their baskets getting filled with trash.


Just your average Copenhagener.
Here's a great historical quote on cycling in the Take Back the Bike Culture category:
The whole nervous system is highly benefited by bicycling. The rider must constantly use the senses of hearing, seeing, and feeling in order to avoid collisions, direct his machine, and keep his equilibrium. This exercise, therefore, is in a high degree apt to draw the mind away from its usual pursuits and cares of daily life. It is highly exhilirating and promotes sociability, since it is both pleasanter and safer to ride in company than alone. In women it is apt to overcome the impulsivenness and whimsicality which render so many of them unhappy. ...Bicycling is no longer a mere fashion that may fall into disuse and give way to a new one. It is a wholesome and inspiring exercise, and has provided of practical value as a means of rapid locomotion.
--Dr. Henry J. Garrigus, in the January Forum, from Public Opinion, 30 January 1896

I whipped up another poster. For those who love bike frames. Available at our Online Boutique, as always.

Copenhagen Life Cycles

What I love about this shot - and many aspects of bike culture in Copenhagen - is that it is quite timeless. This could be my mum in 1948 or my wife in 2008. It's neither, but you know what I mean... a Copenhagen life cycle.

I'd been toying with this idea for a while and finally found time for it:

It's available as a poster on our little online boutique. In all it's full-size glory it measures 87.5 cm x 62.5 cm [that's 35 x 25 inches, apparently]. It's available in a small poster size, too.

I call it Copenhagen Life Cycles. Loads of moments of clarity from the bike lanes of Copenhagen. Here's a little slice of detail:

A Number of Things

I don't really look at the stats of this blog too much. Once in awhile it's interesting. For ages there was only 1 visitor from North Dakota. Now, out of the blue, there are four. I'm fascinated. It's a massive statistical increase. Copenhagen Cycle Chic is BIG in North Dakota. North Dakotans! Come forward! Let us salute you!


After a splendid exchange of comments regarding chainguards, skirtguards and fenders, I took a photo of all the fenders in the bike shed. There are four bike sheds outside our flat, but I only took photos in the one. I was well chuffed that the Great Joe Breeze popped by for a comment. (okay, I had to google him, but my American mates filled me in... what a career he has had!)



"Bicycle posters flatter the liberated woman and her beauty and independence compliment the product's quality. In addition, the artwork shows how easy it is for the feminine sex to handle the bicycle, just as the women pictured are a testament to the femininity that isn't lost, but rather is increased, by cycling.

"The era's modern man, in sporty outfits, also features on bike posters but he is often given the role of the unlucky cyclist with a broken chain or a puncture. More often than not he rides behind the woman, who either overtakes him or is in front of the peloton.

"At the moment the concept of the Danish Cycle Girl was created, the bike poster visualised her more convincingly than any other medium."
Lars Dybdahl in "Den danske plakat" - The Danish Poster.

And remember, bloggers and blogettes! Nobody like a whiner. :-)

Like-minded Individuals

I've made the acquaintence of many like-minded individuals through this blog and now I'm met one close to home. I was contacted by Marie, a fellow Copenhagener, and we met to discuss our passion for Copenhagen bike culture.

She wrote her thesis from the University of Copenhagen last year called "The Modest Democracy of Daily Life - An analysis of the bicycle as a symbol of Danishness".

For those who understand Danish, there is an interview with her on Danish Broadcasting's website. Click on the name Marie Kåstrup to hear it.

The thesis makes for fascinating reading. The short of the long is that we are now collaborating on a book about Danish bike culture and it's all very exciting. Not to mention odd that it hasn't been done before. Working title: 'Cykelkultur' - I don't need to translate that, do I? :-)

But despite the lack of books on the subject, she confirmed what I had long suspected: that Denmark has more songs, literature and poems dedicated to the bicycle than any other country. Not even our happy, singing, poetic Dutch friends to the south can compete.

And indeed, the concept of "cykelpigen" - or "the cycling girl" was well established from early on and it remains an iconic symbol of Danishness even today [this blog, for example]. "A unique front figure for the democratic bike culture", as Marie writes in her thesis. "She is, all at once, a modest, charming and everyday representation of Danishness."

Poets and writers and songwriters have sung the praises of the Copenhagen cycling and cyclists for over 120 years.

In his famous documentary from 1935 simply called 'Danmark', Poul Henningsen filmed cycles in the city, including these 'young cycle ladies' and wrote the final song in the film - "Cykelsang" wherein he mentions 'Sweet shoes on pedals [...] Cycle girls... lovely girls!'. Here's a still from the film of a cyclist in a summer dress pedalling through the landscape:


And here is a hastily made Short visual history of Danish cycling:



More to follow, along with the usual content... don't worry.

Denmark Land of Smiles and Peace, Apparently

Retro tourism poster from the 1950's [we think] promoting Denmark as a tourist destination. Using that quintessential icon of Danishness - Woman on Bike. Once again, once again... it's not just us. We are merely continuing a century long tradition with this blog. The child's seat in the artwork is still in use today. Great to have the kid up front as opposed to sitting on a plastic contraption behind you.

'The Spirit of the Wheel', above, was one of the many images celebrating the bicycle's liberating quality back in the bicycle boom at the end of the 1800's.

Ironically the artwork is from the cover of the New York magazine 'Truth' back on 22 August 1896. Something went horribly wrong 'over there' between then and now.:-)

And while we're on this retro journey, here's a film still from Hitchcock's 'Topaz', filmed in Copenhagen and, not surprisingly, featuring a girl on a bike.