The Life-Sized City Blog

Yesterday I took back ownership of my own Bullitt cargo bike, when The Lulu and I picked it up at Larry vs Harry . You might have heard it was stolen back in March . After a week or so, I resigned myself to never seeing it again. I lived in hope, because another time it was stolen , the Danish internet helped me get it back . On Sunday evening, I got this photo sent via MMS and on Facebook. WTF. My bike parked outside Larry vs Harry. It was found at Christiania by a guy named Danni and taken from there and put outside Larry vs Harry. An amazing story. I called Danni and he was all like "no problem...". I got the details of the story yesterday when we picked it up from Claus. And it is amazing. I realised I know Danni. I chat with him every year at the Svajerløb - Danish Cargo Bike Championships and I chatted with him at the recent bike flea market . Ironically, about whether or not I had found my Bullitt. Danni's own Bullitt is well-known here. He extended the...

No, it wasn't my Bullitt , unfortunately. But two weeks before the Bullitt got stolen, my other bike - pictured above - was nicked. It's a 1955 Swedish Crescent. Bloody irritating. Vintage bicycles are in high demand at the moment, fetching a high price. Bicycles that only three years ago wouldn't even garner a second glance by bicycle thieves are now targeted. I was sad to see it go but didn't bother blogging about it. However. A month or so ago, Hans from Larry vs Harry was standing with Claus, who works at Larry vs Harry. Hans spotted a bicycle rolling past and noticed that it was the Crescent. It's an incredibly unique bicycle and it's hard to miss. Hans mentioned it to Claus. Claus - the reigning Danish cargo bike champion by the way, we call him Copenhagenthighs - took matters into his own hands. He hopped onto his Bullitt and set off after the Man on the Crescent. He gave him a bit of a shock braking hard next to him and shouting "Where the...

Photo by Diego Franssens - from interview in Belgian magazine Knack. Here we go again. Some of you may remember the fairytale ending the last time my Bullitt cargo bike got stolen, back in May 2011. What started with this blogpost ended happily with this one . Last night, it happened all over again. I have just moved flats - last Saturday - and this real estate agency have not yet given me keys to the backyard, where there is a bike shed. It's a secure backyard, requiring a key to get in or out. (nor have they given me a key to the postbox, so if you've sent me a postcard, I haven't read it yet...) In lieu of being able to park the Bullitt in the backyard, I parked it on the sidewalk outside the flat. It is a busy street, right next to a busy intersection and a bus stop. I bought an extra lock - super thick Amsterdam style - and both locks secured the bike to a metal railing. Not optimal, but hey. This morning, the locks lay curled on the sidewalk like sleepin...

So we got ourselves a new government in Denmark. When the government is formed, the tradition is that they pop down the palace to let the Queen know. She provides tea and biscuits. All very ceremonious. Here we see the leader of one of the coalition parties, Margrethe Vestager of the Radical Left (not very radical, not very left, but hey) arriving in style at Amalienborg Castle, followed by the other ministers from her party. Not a BMW/Audi/Mercedes in sight. Only elegant Velorbis bicycles for gentlemen and ladies alike. The bicycles are part of a large Velorbis bicycle fleet available for politicians to use for getting to and from meetings at various locations in central Copenhagen and are adorned with the logo of the Danish parliament. And here is Manu Sareen. This is not the first time politicians have arrived by bicycle for this, but it's the first time one of them was riding a cargo bike. In this case a splendid yellow Bullitt . Here's an earlier post about him camp...

Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. I recieved a text message from Christian (at left, above) saying that he had spotted my red stolen Bullitt in his backyard in the Nørrebro neighbourhood. I called him instantly. (I mean INSTANTLY) and we went over the details on the bike. There was no question it was The Missing Bullitt. My friend Andreas and I hopped onto our bikes and flew off from Copenhagenize Consulting's offices in the centre of Copenhagen to meet up with Christian. Sure enough, there it was. My primary means of transport. Not locked to anything, with just a cheap wire lock through the wheel and frame. Christian had locked it with his own lock to the railing, just in case. The guy who nicked it peeled a few of the stickers off - the Bike Portland ones, the Cycle Chic one, but left the main stickers on the sides intact. DUH! The little seat where my daughter sits on the crossbar was gone, as was the wheel lock, but that's about it. Almost completely as I last saw ...

Photo by Diego Franssens - from interview in Belgian magazine Knack. Saturday morning, 11:30. Came out of the flat with the kids, heading for a toy store to buy a present that Felix would then take to a birthday party. Lulu-Sophia and I would then run some errands and hang out in the backyard. All of this would happen with my red Bullitt cargo bike. Which, I discovered, wasn't where I parked it. First thought... "Hmm, I thought I parked it there..." Second thought... "Maybe I parked it in the other spot..." Third thought, gradual realisation... "It's been nicked..." Not a foreign line of thought. Hell, I've had loads of bikes stolen before. But the fourth thought really says all about the role of the bicycle in Copenhagen - and in my life: "Shit... how I am going to get around today?!" Standing there with two kids - Felix was on his own bike - with things to do, places to go and stuff to buy and the cargo bike rug was pulled out from...

Just when you thought you had seen everything in the Copenhagen bicycle culture, the Sperm Bullitt appears on the cycle tracks of the city. Yes. The Sperm Bullitt. This is brilliant. If you're cycling around Copenhagen, keep your eyes peeled for this bike. Nordisk Cryobank (European Sperm Bank) is one of Europe's leading sperm banks and the company was looking at environmentally-friendly alternatives to how they could transport their sperm samples to the fertility clinics around Greater Copenhagen. The company's CEO, Peter Bower, says, " The first idea was how we could deliver to the fertility clinics in a C02-friendly way. Shortly afterwards followed the idea of a custom-designed bike with a cooling system. Now, six months later, we can cycle around the city on our sperm cell bike. " The text on the side reads Become a Sperm Donor in Danish. The bike is more than just a rolling billboard for the company aimed at increasing awareness of the need for d...

The thaw continues but the icy remants of the many snowstorms are useful on occasion.

There are very few things that can't be done by bicycle in Copenhagen. We often blog about the various cargo bike variations in this city. Meet Jacob - aka The Bikeman . He's a bike mechanic with a rolling workshop. He has everything he needs in his cargo box, including a portable stand for suspending bikes. He'll go anywhere you need him to on his Bullitt in the city centre. Jacob also has arrangements with various companies. He comes out during work hours and the employees can go down and get their bikes adjusted, tuned, de-squeaked, whatever you need. No need to sacrifice your bicycle for a day by chucking it into a bikeshop. Brilliant. The professional bikeshop comes to you. If you're in Copenhagen and need to get a hold of The Bikeman , ring 28 40 35 67.

I experienced a strange little behavourial shift in myself recently. I use my two bicycles rather equally - the Velorbis and the Bullitt cargo bike. When not transporting kids, the Bullitt cargo bay is a respository for my bag. I just chuck it in, instead of having it slung around my shoulder. I discovered that I missed this ease-of-use when riding the upright Velorbis. I stuck the bag, Copenhagen-style, on the back rack under the rat trap. Which is what I've always done and, indeed, what most people without baskets do. Then I got a front rack put onto the Velorbis. These front racks have been a main feature for over a century, especially on Short Johns or delivery bikes/chimney sweep bikes or whatever you want to call them. Interestingly, they're experiencing a bit of a revival these day in Copenhagen. As soon as mine was on, I noticed that I was just slapping my bag onto the front rack and securing it with a bungee cord. Super quick and easy. Then I realised that the damned t...

With all the travelling I've been doing lately comes the fact that I have borrowed a number of different bikes. I often consider taking my Mobiky folding bike with me, but since I invariably meet up with readers or like-minded people, there always seem to be bikes nearby. On my recent visit to New York, Johnathan was amazingly kind enough to let me borrow his Bullitt TNT cargo bike from Larry vs Harry . Johnathan flew to Copenhagen earlier this year just to buy one and ship it home. He provided me with not only the bike but two locks, a pump, a map of the city and a tool kit. Totally brilliant. He cycles in cycling shoes so the only hitch was that I had to adjust to pedalling on clipless pedals in my regular shoes, but that was no big deal. It was amazing how many conversations I struck up with people when I rode around on the bike. I'm on the Manhattan Bridge, stopped to take some photos, and a couple of workers on the railway shouted at me to come over. They wanted to know a...

This is so bloody irritating. On a visit to Larry vs Harry we were discussing what the world needs. We have a Cocktail Bullitt , a Newborn Baby Bullitt , a Bathtub Bullitt , a Karaoke Bullitt , a Sustainable Bullitt , a Rowboat Bullitt and a Dog Bullitt . We decided that a Stripper Pole Bullitt would save the world. Embedded video from CNN Video Then Kelly, in NYC, sent this link. It ain't a Bullitt, but damn, it's a stripper pole on a bike . It comes near the end of the CNN piece. Nice.

Last November I blogged about The World's First Fixie Cargo Bike - my Coolville Bullitt by Larry vs Harry . Some photos dropped into the inbox this morning from Andreas in Stockholm. After reading about the bike on Copenhagenize.com, he decided that he simply must own it. So he hopped on the X2000 express train to Copenhagen and bought it. There was little argument. He was itching for it. Finally I get to see my baby in the Swedish capital, where Andreas is a bike messenger. Thanks for the photos, Andreas, you madman! :-) Andreas also participated in the 14th European Cycle Messenger Championships 2009 and came in 5th on his Bullitt in the cargo bike race. Here's a little film from the ECMC 09 with focus on the cargo bike category. Damn, I wish I could have been there.

Got a call from Larry vs Harry the other day. One of their customers had converted a Bullitt cargo bike into a power station with a wind turbine and solar panels charging a battery. That's something I had to see for myself so I called Ulrik Bing from HumanBattery.dk and met up with him and his colleagues last week. The bicycle and the wind, in Copenhagen anyway, are often at odds with each other. It's a frightfully windy city and it always seems like there is a headwind. The very idea of combining the two is fantastic. Creating a Bullitt with a wind turbine and solar panels is just one of many ideas on the go with Ulrik Bing, Carsten Koch [the construtor] and Claus Nørregaard. With the UN Climate Conference on the horizon in December 2009 they have a thick idea catalogue with ways to bring climate consciousness to the people. Speaking with them and hearing their enthusiasm as they rattle off their many idealist ideas is infectious. The Bullitt cargo bike is a flagship for th...