The Life-Sized City Blog

A friend has a photo book of "Naughty Vintage Danish Postcards". Most are from the late 1800's/early 1900's. Loads of rubenesque ladies in sultry positions and then there were these. Bicycle Naughtiness. So risqué. :-) Probably NSFW in some countries... watch out.

"Five o'clock Rush, by John Fischetti" Carlton Reid tweeted about these today. Travel sketches from the John Fischetti Manuscript Collection at Columbia College Chicago from the BibliOdyessy blog . In 1949, Mr Fischetti couldn't help but notice the five o'clock rush of bicycles in Copenhagen. This one is just odd... Loads more sketches from many places over at BibliOdyssey .

Tom Vanderbilt over at How We Drive was playing around with Google's Ngram Viewer in his post about pedestrians . As he wrote: "As I’m sure most of you know, Google’s NGram Book Viewer provides an invaluable window, via written texts of the last century or so, onto what the culture was collectively thinking. Not surprisingly, there’s much to be gleaned here from an urban or transportation point of view." Cool idea. So I put a few search phrases through the machine. Above we have "Bicycle" and how many times it was mentioned between 1800 and 2000. A peak in the 1940's, a fall and then a rise again in the 1970's.  I was interested about the English slang "Bike" and found out that it really has had an interesting journey. As well as having a root farther back than I would have guessed. Here's the graph for "Cycling". Again, an interesting journey. It really came into its own as a word in the 1970's. "Velocipede...

The Dutch national bicycle council - Fietsberaad - has published a paper called "Bicycle policies of the European principals: continuous and integral". In it they compare and analyze the bicycle culture and infrastructure in five Dutch cities and five other European cities. Among the latter, Copenhagen. I've included the chapter on Copenhagen here. It's a long post, but worth a read. As is the entire paper. The link to the .pdf is at the bottom of this post. It's interesting and curious to read what foreign eyes see when looking at the bicycle life in Copenhagen. There are some discrepencies in the stats and opinions in the paper and I've included my own comments in red. Most of the paper deals with the CITY of Copenhagen, which is a small city, and not the entire Copenhagen metropolitan area/urban sprawl. It can often be misleading if you've never been here. The text below is an abridged version. Read the pdf for the full text. Off we go: ----- Unlike mos...

When I was in Helsinki to give a talk a couple of months ago I also had a meeting with the City's bicycle planners and urban planners at their offices. They are keen to transform the city into a more bicycle-friendly area. There is a network of bicycle infrastructure but most of it is hopelessly out of date and not designed particularly well. There is a respectable number of cyclists using it, especially now what with the renaissance of the bicycle. But challenges lay ahead. I was interested to hear that the city used to have a fine network of bicycle infrastructure back in the day. My colleagues at the City's bicycle office sent me these two maps, both dating from 1937. The map above shows the bicycle infrastructure marked in red. A lot of it mirroring Copenhagen's cycle tracks, like this stretch in 1955 . Tracks on either side of the street along the main arteries. This map shows a bicycle count done in 1937. It's not clear from looking at the map, but the City's ...

For Cyclists As there has recently been a rather tactless criticism directed towards us cyclists, it must be permitted for me to bring some modest, if not harmful, proposals for a new traffic etiquette for cyclists and other wheeled persons. Let us begin at the beginning. You set yourself up on the bicycle, have a good look around – first up and down and then from side to side – wherefter you rest for a moment whilst regarding the road ahead and behind. Do this several times and take your time doing it. Therefter you push down on one pedal and up with the other. The bicycle is then propelled into motion. You can, of course, repeat this process, but experienced cyclists rarely need to. You will now find yourself in the so-called traffic, unless you are riding on the island of Saltholm, but we'll assume you're on a busy street. As soon as you've run over the first person you come across you immediately accelerate and try to dash across the intersection while the yellow light ...

By coincedence I've found myself explaining Cycling's Secret Sect to a couple of colleagues on two separate occasions over the past couple of months. Bicycle planners the both of them. Neither had heard of the group before and in both situations the discussion was whether or not countries like America and the UK would ever get on the bicycle bandwagon in any great numbers, as well as why they haven't done already. Especially considering the fact that so many cities and towns in Europe have rapidly and impressively increased the numbers of everyday cyclists of the course of two short years. The secret sect I'm referring to is known in some circles as Vehicular Cyclists and is largely unknown in most international circles. I've had a draft of this article for a while but reading this post over at Crap Cycling in Waltham Forest yesterday made me dig it out. I explained this Vehicular Cycling theory to my colleagues in brief. Saying that this group fight tooth and nail...

A while ago... I'm guessing over a year and a half... I recall a reader emailing me with a request for a post about a bicycle culture tiny detail in Copenhagen. The little hook thingy found on most back racks. It's a practical solution to a question that arose about a century ago. How to transport your briefcase on your bicycle? While I'm quite sure this isn't a uniquely Danish thing, it does however seem to live on more in Denmark than elsewhere. The Dutch evolved a culture for using pannier bags while the Danes preferred the basket. Not many men used a basket and for the better part of a century, briefcases were what men carted around. In the style of the one in the above photo. Soft leather. Widespread use of these briefcases - I'm making a qualified guess here - faded away in the late 1960's. When the grassroots movement to reinstate the bicycle on the urban landscape started in the mid-70's it was borne, by and large, by the flower power culture of the ...

Great shot of a man marking off the position of another bicycle lane/cycle track in Copenhagen, ca. 1915. Nice and wide. Just like we like 'em, even today.

Historical photo of a rolling advert for the Svajerløb - the bike messenger races - back in the 1940's. A sign attached onto that iconic cargo bike - The Long John. Here's a Long John in action the other day.

Hey! Bikes are everywhere, now cars are here... let's combine the two! Thus thought a certain Herre Holger Møller in a moment of misguided inspiration. His "Autocykel" never caught on. The design of the upright bicycle just couldn't be improved upon.

A historical photo of two classic figures in bicycle history. Two knife sharpeners. They rode about both the countryside and the city, offering their blade sharpening services to anyone who would pay the price. The usual setup was like the bicycle on the left. The back bicycle wheel was rigged with an external cog onto which a strap was attached so that they could sit stationary and pedal whilst sharpening knives, scissors and all manner of blades. The chap on the left as a similar but seemingly more complex system. The last time I saw one was in the city centre about ten years ago. Parked in a courtyard behind a trendy café, he was handed knives from the chefs through the window and he would mount his bicycle and sharpen them to perfection. Here's a more recent version from the streets of Africa. Wonderful. Thanks for the link in the comments.

This text was seen on posters circulated in London back in 1908. Quite visionary. Time for history to repeat itself? Time to reclaim our streets, not just for cyclists, but for all citizens? As read in the book Death on the Streets - Cars and the mythology of road safety , as mentioned in the previous post.

Photo by Marie. You see this truck quite often around Copenhagen. It's from the Københavns Cykelbørs - Copenhagen Bicycle Exchange - who rent bicycles to tourists as well as selling bicycles and doing repairs. The truck transport the bikes around to various locations where and if they're needed. The text on the artwork " Det er et yndigt land... " is the opening lyrics to the national anthem and translated it works out as: "It is a lovely country..." To hear what the national anthem sounds like when sung by 42,000 men, women and children at a national football match, click here . There is a lovely land with broad, shady beeches Near salty Baltic beaches Its hills and valleys rise and fall its ancient name is Denmark, And it is Freya's hall This land is still as fair, the sea is blue around it, And peace is cherished there Strong men and noble women still uphold their country's honour With faithfulness and skill Anyway, there have been various owners...

Ah, the wonders of the internet. After having blogged this post about the Danish Army's Bicycle Battalions a while back, Jens sends me a link to this little youtube video about the history of them.

Photo courtesy of and © Copenhagen City Museum / Københavns Bymuseum . This is not a photo of my dad. I wish it were. I wish I could have found a photo of him while perusing the photo archives of the Copenhagen City Museum but those odds are quite astronomical. While it's not him, it almost could be. During the Second World War my grandmother - my dad's mum - died and one of his aunts took care of him. He moved from Northern Jutland to Roskilde, near Copenhagen at the age of 15. He got a job, like many Danish boys, as a bike messenger boy in the town. Not long after, he got a job in Copenhagen, working for a green grocers on Gothersgade. Again, he was a bike messenger, riding out to the so-calle 'Vegetable Square' - where shops stocked up on wholesale greens and fruits in the morning - on a Short John like in the photo or a large three-wheeler. He also delivered goods to customers during the day and he lived with the family who owned the shop. So this photo, for me, is ...

Here's a travel film from Copenhagen in 1937. The first third and the last third are all about our bicycle culture. What's interesting to note is that in the 1960's and 1970's, car culture was killing off cycling in the city and it was first really in the early to mid 70's that we started giving it a heart massage to get it back up to speed. We've never achieved these levels since, though. But we're working on it. Regarding the film, there's a bit of outdated speak that rings quite racist in our modern ears. The speaker mentions also that there is one bicycle for every three citizens. These days there it is 1:1 and then some. After the first couple of minutes there is a section about Copenhagen and Denmark in general and then we return to "a demonstration of bicycle traffic that is unparalled in any of the world's great cities." It starts at about 6 minutes in. Beautiful footage and watch for the sofa being transported on a cargo bike!

On a visit to Budapest last week I was taken on a tour of the oldest velodrome in Europe that is still in use. Millenáris in Budapest , from 1896. It was fantastic to hear the entire history of the place from the chap behind the bike above, Péter Tarapcsák. Indeed a storied velodrome. Kristof from KMSZ was my guide and interpreter. One interesting thing was that in the 1970's and 1980's, there were many different national teams who used the velodrome for training, up to the Olympics in Moscow '80, for example, but also other international competitions. Western nations had trouble getting visas for most Eastern Bloc countries, but not Hungary. As a result there were many times that Americans, Cubans, East Germans et al were gathered in one place at the height of the Cold War. The mood was festive and sport was prioritised over politics. The bike above is for racing behind motorbikes. Certain things were lost in translation in the storytelling, but Henry from Workcycles str...

Thanks to Alex in NYC for letting us know about Worksman Cycles . He was doing a bit of research about NYC's pizza delivery bikes - the ones with a box on the front - and stumbled upon this company. Founded in 1898, Worksman Cycles call themselves the oldest bicycle manufacturer in the USA. They produce human-powered transport for industrial and recreational use and it is wonderful to see all the cargo bikes and trikes they build. The photo above is from their Photo Gallery , featuring an IBM repairman ca. 1957 on his cargo bike. Here's an interesting variation on the kid carrying theme. I love the cosy canopy. Worksman Cycles state on their website that " Worksman Cycles has long been known as the world-leader in Industrial Cycles (Bicycles and Tricycles) ". A bit farfetched perhaps... what is the yardstick? Most bicycles sold? The most recognisable cargo bike brand in marketing surveys? Who knows. Maybe they could follow Carlsberg's lead. Their 'Probably th...