The Life-Sized City Blog

Photes via:  Michel & Augustin We kick off another great year for cargo bikes with wonderful news from France. The City of Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, is launching a project called 100 Triporteurs - 100 Cargo Bikes - in Boulogne-Billancourt. It's a project that Copenhagenize Design Co. loves and it is perfect inspiration for our Cyclelogistics.eu project. The company Michel & Augustin is known for both its creative marketing and its delicious cookies. They were looking for a new media to communicate through and that can contribute to a positive paradigm shift in urban life. Together with the Danish cargo bike brand, Nihola , they are launching a cargo bike project aimed at changing peoples perceptions about how to get around the city. Thanks to this project, citizens in Boulogne-Billancourt can buy a Nihola cargo bike for €1000, instead of €2600 . They can also be a part of the new community of Citizen Cyclists who want to make some life changes and a...

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...

We blogged about The Bikeman last year on this post right here . Now here's The Bikeman - The Movie! I'm nearing completion of a photobook featuring 500 photographs of Copenhagen Cargo Bike Life and all the ways the cargo bike, trailers and trikes are used in a 21st Century city. I'll keep you posted when it's available.

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.

We're used to selling stuff from cargo bikes in Copenhagen but this is such a lovely shot from Mexico City. A man selling wares from the back of a bicycle.

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.

I found this brilliant sign over at Will o' the Wisp, a website featuring four Dutch mothers who blog about life in the Netherlands with sharp, entertaining wit. (now defunct, it seems.) They didn't cut any corners when writing about Dutch bicycle culture. Like the sign above says, "Please refrain from reading newspapers while cycling". I often see people riding with books here in Copenhagen and lament daily the fact that I have, as yet, been unable to catch a photo of one. [I'm still waiting for the shot of a cat in a basket, too] Newspapers would be frightfully tricky to control on a bicycle, however. Well, unless you were selling them, of course: . Although the Italians figured out newspaper transport on bicycles decades ago . I do have a photo of Felix reading a book on our Long John - back when we had the Long John - on our way to football training: This is a common sight. Kids in cargo bikes reading books on their way home from school. The ar...