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The Bicycles of Madrid

My good friend Cristina was in Madrid for a weekend break last month and she heard a strange sound outside her hotel. Bell ringing. Ding ding. She was quite surprised to look out the window and see a Madrid version of the critical mass rides. It took 20 minutes to pass by. They rode at a nice, casual tempo but there were many of them. Anybody know the number of participants? The pictures speak for themselves. But here's me wondering why these kinds of rides are so popular in large European cities that have yet to re-embrace the bicycle. There is none of that agressive, sub-cultural attitude that one usually associates with the North American versions. There is more of a festival mood. My friend Hynek in Czech Republic [I'll get around to blogging about it, Hynek...:-)] says that in their version, they even changed the name from 'critical mass' to something more festival'y so as not to be associated with the negative vibes from 'over there'. I have been criti...

Motoring Helmets for REAL High-Risk Transport

Cool, light and comfortable. Let's just get one thing straight right off the bat. This is a real product, produced in Australia in the 1980's by a company called Davies, Craig . And I'm so pleased to know it exists. Chris from the CTC - Cycle Touring Club - which is Great Britain's cyclist advocacy group with 130ish years behind it, has this helmet in their offices and my mate Chris was kind enough to send me photos of it. I can't describe the calm that has now settled over my soul now that I know true safety exists. The box reads: "You have made a sound decision to purchase your Davies, Craig Motoring Helmet. Wear it and don’t feel self-conscious. Driving even for the most proficient is dangerous. Ultimately, motoring helmets will be commonplace, but in the meantime, you will be a leader whilst those who may consider your good sense misplaced, will follow." Finally, with the quality Motoring Helmet, we can now begin active advocating of helm...

Saturday Morning Ride to IKEA on the Cargo Bike

One of life's necessary evils is a trip to Cheaptown - aka IKEA. Like everywhere else on the planet, IKEAs in Copenhagen are located in big box areas outside of the city. There are two within 10 km of our flat and I headed out to one of them to buy some boxes for my son's room. He has 15 kg of LEGO and when we redid his room we figured some stackable shoe boxes on the wall would be great for the LEGO. If we need some bigger things from IKEA, we will usually grab a car from our car share programme . But on a Saturday morning I hopped on the Bullitt cargo bike and headed off to get the boy his boxes. As you've probably gathered by now, there are separated bike lanes basically anywhere you want to go in Copenhagen. Even places you DON'T want to go, like IKEA. Here's a little photo series of my Tour de IKEA 2009. In the above photo an onramp leads to one of the main motorways into/out of Copenhagen. The bike lane I'm on continues down under the ramp, while the cars...

British Men in Suits With Fancy Titles Learning About Bicycles

Bike and Trains Study Tour, Netherlands from Quickrelease.tv on Vimeo . Carlton Reid at Quickrelease.tv featured this video of some highlights of a visit to the Netherlands by Members of Parliament and Lords of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group. Studying up on bikes and trains. Here's hoping they can influence change in the UK. Via a reader Christopher, who got it via Cyclelicio.us who got it via Quickrelease.tv . In other related "British men with fancy titles" news, here's the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, George Grubb, with a gift from Denmark - The Danish Dream on Wheels - a Christiania Bike. It was presented to him at the Dreams on Wheels Exhibition in Edinburgh a couple of months ago. At the conference in Edinburgh, his official car was outside with the motor running while the Lord Provost was inside talking environmental messages. "The bicycle is C02 neutral and I'll do my best to promote Edinburgh as a sustainable city", he promised. Des...

Danish Helmet Propaganda

A number of readers spotted this on the internet today. It's a fake viral film from our Danish Cyclists Federation . Slowing chipping away at Danish bike culture without worrying about facts and science. It's also funded by Aalborg County - who should be spending their money on better infrastructure an education instead of fearmongering - and the police, who should be spending their strained resources on clamping down on speeding motorists. [our source 'Deep Throast' suggested that it was our car-centric Road Safety Council who was behind the viral film, but we've corrected that. Same family of fear-centrics, though] It's funny and well-made. But imagine what good they could do if they used their energy to promote cycling instead of making cycling appear dangerous here in the world's safest bicycle nation. Instead, they are quite keen on selling cars. As many readers pointed out, there is no fitting of the helmet, no instructions on how to wear it properly, ...

Strangely Positive Article on Cycling in Denmark

Now I've been keeping an eye on the Danish press over the past year or so. I always make a mental note of any article about cycling and several friends are good enough to send me or mail me articles on the subject. It was strange to read this article from Søndagsavisen - a free, national newspaper that everyone gets through their letterbox whether they like it or not. It was strange because I had to read it twice to realise that it was completely positive. No fear-mongering, no 'oooh it's dangerous', no helmet rhetoric. Just a positive article about cycling. I'll buy the journalist a beer if I ever meet them. The Danish media has engaged in one big blood orgy over the past year or more, focusing on anything and everything negative. For example, this post earlier this week . This article above is a ray of sunshine. It's about Bech-Bruun, Denmark's largest law firm. I translated it roughly and briefly. Barristers on Iron Horses [Danish slang for the bicycle] ...

Scaring the 'Skit' Out of the Swedes

A Swedish reader of Copenhagenize.com sent in this photo of a billboard in Stockholm. It is paid for by a non-governmental organisation called Nationalförenigen för trafiksäkerhetens Främjande [NTF] or The National Society for Road Safety . There is no mandatory helmet law in Sweden for adults but these NTF seem to think there should be one. The billboard reads: "A helmet law protects in more ways than one" Notice the bird shit on the helmet. You know you don't have a solid scientific case when bird shit is your best Unique Selling Point. Anyway, our reader doesn't fancy seeing fewer Swedes cycling - which is one of the primary consequences of a helmet law. A drop of 20-40% in the number of cyclists, which has been the decrease in all the regions with mandatory helmet laws, would be a catastrophe for Sweden. Our reader took the liberty to inform people of the dangers of a helmet law. The grafitti underneath the message "A helmet law protects in more ways than one...

Copenhagen Police Bicycle Unit

As strange as it may sound, Copenhagen just got a police bicycle unit last week. Why we haven't had one before is beyond me. There was a media frenzy about it and the 8 officers paraded about town in the sunshine, showing themselves off. Many other cities in Europe have had bike units for ages and ages, so it it about time that we joined the crowd. My mate Theis saw them and snapped these photos. The cyclist above ran a red light. Boy, did he pick a bad day to do that. Two of the cops, including the blonde, set out after him and pulled him over. They didn't give him a ticket - you can't hand out tickets on your first day for heaven's sake, that's just not cricket - but instead let him off with a smile. The photo reminds me of a passage in a travel writing book by Bill Bryson called Neither Here Nor There , where he travels through Europe. He loved Copenhagen, and was convinced that we send our elderly and ugly people away during the summer. On the City Hall Square h...

You're Safer Than Ever in Danish Traffic

I was sent a link to a paper from the Technical University of Denmark's Dept of Transport . The paper was published in November 2008 and I was surprised I didn't see it. I was less surprised to realise that this paper was not covered in the press here in Denmark. The media, egged on by various organisations, has revelled in an orgy of violence over the past year. The main headlines on the news have been a constant stream of horror and destruction. It isn't suprising that a headline like this - Safety in Traffic Continues to Improve - doesn't fit in well with the bloodthirsty angle the Danish media has promoted of late. The paper from DTU Transport [ available here in Danish as a pdf ]shows that the risk rate in traffic fell between 2000-2007 for all users except for scooter riders. And this fall is a continuation of the fall measured between 1992-1999. Improving risk rates for cyclists between the ages of 16-74 between 2000-2007. Good news. Great news. Did it get into ...