In an ideal world I will be cycling in...

So January is almost over, thank goodness. It's been bleak and somewhat depressing. Can't wait until February begins and spring starts to become a reality rather than a distant dream. Time to start looking ahead and planning the ideal spring cycling outfit. My first choice pictured above is this exquisite Mulberry anorak, (the skirt may be a little awkward though and one probably shouldn't hitch a Mulberry skirts in ones knickers)

This Louis Vuitton dress would be idea for spring jaunts on my pastel Blue Pashley Poppy.

 Loose fitting yet sleek and sophisticated, this outfit from Phillip Lim  would do rather nicely for cycling to the office.

The lovley Lady Velo trials our Handbag Hugger

If you've not come across her before Lady Velo is the blogger behind Velo-City-Girl. A girl after our own heart Lady Velo embraces the joyous link between bicycles and fashion and blogs about her advetures cycling around London town on her Pashley 'Frankie'.


She very kindly trialed our Handbag Hugger and took some great pics. We love the way she doubled it up with the wicker basket and adore her choice of handbag to be hugged. Read her full review here

Keep up the good work Lady Velo!

Windy blows and Rosy cheeks

Surviving the wind and the rain? Why not cheer yourself up with our top pick from the Cyclechic Sale. The lovely Rosy Cheek Red Bensimon Rucksack is now only £44.25. Having this cheery little rucksack on your back will put a smile on your face and a spring in your pedal.

A few tips for cycling in windy conditions
1. Keep both hands firmly on the handlebars, this is no time to be doing 'look Mum no hands' tricks
2. Avoid flowing dresses & skirts and hats that could blow off (I once lost my favourite tribly cycling in windy conditions)
3. Get your head down and bring your elbows in so you have a smaller surface area facing the wind.
4. Bit cheeky but try cycling behind someone. Or cycle with a friend and take it in turns to lead the way and face the gales!

Wrap up in style

From amazing blog The Sartorialist. I am so in love with her Camel coat.

Just because the temperature is dropping doesn't mean you have to drop your style standards on your bike. Having a mooch around some of my favourite blogs, here's some inspirational seasonal style...

Spotted on the fabulous San Fran blog Velo Vogue. The tartan boots and bags are to die for teamed with angelic cream sweater and Beret... the perfect outfit for the festive season.

Chunky knit cardy, retro Nikes and a lovely classic bike. This chap spotted on from Calgary Cycle Chic has got it right!

And from Copehagen Cycle Chic. This lady's green/grey beret is a perfect match for her eyes.

Free Delivery on Everything for 24 hrs!

Claqs £4, Ankle Claq £5, iPhone holder £5, Spokies £5 (set of 5)

 SpotMe badges £9.99, TwonFro Sash £9.99, Hooter £11.99, Dorothy Cover £19.99 

We'll pay the stamps baby... when ordering little stocking fillers online the postage can sometimes be as much if not more than the item and the whole things seems pointless. But until midday tomorrow you can order products from £2.99 to £200 and pay absolutely no postage, yay!

Shine on... Reflective gifts from £5

TwonFro Ankle Claqs come in Yellow, Pink, Silver and Neon yellow. Snap, shine and go, only £5 each.

Ding Dong indeed...SpotMe Reflective badges, £9.99 for a set.

TwonFro Reflective Sash for the Beauty Queen in your life, only £19.99

 Dashing Tweeds Reflective woolen legwarmers £40. Quite simply the most stylish way to reflect.

TieCycle £22.50. It's not often that vintage and reflective come together but they do with these fabulous customised reflective tie sashes.

Georgia in Dublin Basket cover, £ 19.99. Keep both you and your belongings safe on the road. A great pressie for the beloved basket-case in your life.

 TwonFro Reflective Vest £44.99. Our best selling Reflective item is sure be hit under the tree.

Reflective Spokies. Reflective tubes that slot onto your spokes. Your whizzing wheels will glow like a Catherine Wheel. £5 for a pack of 5. (great for the kids)

Po Campo spare pocket with Swallow reflective detail £23.99. It attaches to your ankle with a lovely leather strap and is the perfect size, for your cash, cards and keys.

Listen up ladies.. the Bern Lenox has arrived!

We always get excited when Bern launch a new helmet but the fact that the Bern Lenox is a women specific cycle helmet has us quite frankly beside ourselves. We are also the first retailer in the UK to have the summer Lenox available before it launches officially in the spring.
Finding the perfect cycle helmet is, I admit, an obsession of mine and I have a strict set of criteria. The Lenox is currently my top runner, here's why:

• Fully certified with EPS foam
• Flattering design with Visor
• Lighter, smaller shell to eliminate mushroom head syndrome
• Padding and new adjustable strap inside the helmet  for ultimate comfort
• Ventilation holes to prevent sweaty head
• Value for money. Two-tone colours (purple/white, turquoise/white, black/magenta) £59.99. Single colours (grey) £49.99

You can either go for the subtle Grey Lenox, a great colours for Autumn/Winter or try one of the bright  two-tones colours. I am loving the Purple with White Brim Lenox and am planning to brighten up my winter wardrobe with matching purple skinny jeans. Loving this pair at only £16.99 from New Look

Or for my annual 'New Year get fit' look I am thinking the White and Turquoise Lenox with these matching joggers from ASOS will give me that extra motivation to get out on the bike and burn the calories in style.

Christmas pressie idea 
Buying a Bern Lenox Helmet for your loved one this Christmas not only shows how much you love their precious head but also shows you know they are highly stylish and deserve nothing less than the coolest most ladylike helmet around. (Seriously chaps you'll score enough Brownie points to see you through to next Christmas).

Free Delivery On All Orders Over £60!

Whoopee, its FREE SHIPPING WEEK! Place an order over £60 and the delivery will cost you absolutely nowt! Get in there for helmets, panniers and accessories for yourself and your cycling nearest and dearest. Offer last until 1st Dec. Happy Shopping!

New in! SpotMe Badges

In our ongoing battle against ugly and offensive Hi Viz gear we are pleased to announce a new reflective product that is as cute as a button, quite literally.

The SpotMe Badges £9.99 are made of reflective fabric and have beautifully embrioded designs on them. They come in sets of 2 or 3 our faves are the Hearts, Stripes and the 'Ding Dongs'. They can be pinned onto your bag, coat, shoe to give you a sublte but effective reflective element when cycling at night.

These lovely little buttons are made by designer Kate Barton who when cycling to her central London studio soon felt the need to be noticed and began to make reflective accessories for her and her friends.

I have pinned 3 of the lovely heart shaped badges on my Bensimon Rucksack, they look totally sweet and they really do reflect well.



Gift Idea - The SpotMe Badges are an ideal Christmas gift and affordable too at £9.99 for a set. A perfect stocking filler.

The Bicycle Library comes to Hackney

 

The Bicycle Library, a mobile library advocating bicycles in the city, has migrated to London Fields for the Winter. The Bicycle Library is a decommissioned London double decker bus, stocked with bicycles, books and much more.

On the first floor visitors can enjoy a cup of tea whilst perusing through a host of sustainably sourced bicycle wear and accessories from the TWOnFRO range. Ascending to the second floor, visitors will find a well-stocked literary archive as well as a range of bikes that can be borrowed as you would a book. The Bicycle Library also doubles as an art gallery and cinema. Artwork is displayed on both floors and cinema screenings are set to take place on the second floor in the coming months.

Librarians are there to assist you with any questions, which are answered via their expertise, as well as the books and magazines in the reference library, which is a complete selection of all the best books on bicycle design, culture and history. There is also a set of IPads to browse all of our bookmarked cycling websites, which are organized according to the 7 sub categories of bikes we advocate for the city.

Cold Hands This Morning?

There is nothing worse than setting off on your bike on a crisp winters morning only to find 2 mins in that your hands are freezing, turning the rest of the journey into a battle against frost-bite. Even when wearing gloves the cold wind can blast through them and you find yourself trying to breath life into your hands at every traffic light stop. If this is a familiar scenario for you please read on...
This has long since been a problem of mine so this year I was determined to find some gloves to nip this in the bud.  After much searching we have found a solution in these stupidly warm Sheepskin Gloves £24.99, handmade in Glastonbury .
They arrived at our office this morning and I have hardly taken them off since (except to type of course). They are not only ridiculously cosy but are soft and flexible making them easy to handle the breaks and gears when cycling.
They are also made of REAL sheepskin so are durable, breathable and did I mention warm??!

Heads up Mum

This poster was designed by  husband and wife team Britt and Wayne Hanson who together write the blog Fantastic Family Fun. Wayne was knocked off his bike by a van and wearing a helmet saved his life so the couple are understandably passionate and spreading the pro helmet word. The couple have noticed they often see adults carrying children on their bike and whilst the wee ones are safely helmeted up, the adult is not.
So why is this? I think sometime as parents we are so consumed with our child's well-being and all the associated bits and bobs that we spend less time thinking of our own. But of course the safety of our own heads is just as important to our little ones....

Free Delivery on all Bike Lights!

 

If your bicycle lights seem to have grown legs and done a runner over the summer do not fear, we have some cracking light options to suit all bikes and budgets. And to top it all off we're offering FREE DELIVERY on all Bike Lights from Today, 13th October until end of the day Sunday, 16th October. Simply enter the discount code: therewillbelight when you check out online.

New in: Boom Boom, Boom shake the room with Knog's new BOOMERS. You'll hardly notice its dark with the Boomer front light (above), £19.99. lighting up your path ahead.

The Boomer wearable £19.99 rear light is not only ridiculously bright but has a magnetic clip that allows you to attach it to your clothes. Woo hoo!

Budget: The Classic Knog Strobe is only £9.99, comes in array of delightful colours and is plenty bright enough to get an 80's disco going on your bike.

Pretty and Practical: The Bicygnal twin lights (£32.99 for set) not only look sleek and sophisticated but they magnetically clip together make rather nifty hand held torch.

Spot the trend

Every so often we get a product that gets people super excited and flies out of our warehouse at a rate of knots. This season it's Sawako Furuno's Leopard Skin Helmet £84.  Leopard skin prints are never far from the catwalk or the high street shelves and with a trend for Leopard skin accessories this year, we can see why this helmet is causing a stir.

Fashion heavy-weights from Victoria Beckham to SJP and Kate Moss have been seen with Leopard skin bags and there are some fabulous Leopard skin shoes around. We love these flats, River Island at ASOS, they would look great with skinny black jeans and Sawako Leopard helmet for a chic A/W cycling look.

Uni Cycle

It's that time of year again when thousands of school leavers, pack their bedrooms into the back of their parents cars and head off to a random city for 3 years studying and partying.
But what the best way to get round once your parents have driven away? Cycling of course, it's a no brainer... Not only is it free but you will soon become the interesting, quirky one amongst your peers for turning up to lectures like a young Iris Murdoch...

A prime example is the wonderful Lilly Cole who does interesting and quirky exceptionally well. Throughout her 3 years at Cambridge she was often spotted cycling from lecture to lecture by bike. From her attire it's clear that she was a year round cyclist too... go Lily

Three rules for cycling at Uni:
1. A wicker basket is essential.
2. Don't cycle when you're wasted. Leave the bike at home on pound a pint night.
3.Get a second hand bike locally. Instead of trying to cram a nice shiny new bike in your parents boot, Look around when you get to uni and grab a local bargain.

Our wicker basket recommendations to perfect the Lily Cole/Uni Chic look:

On a budget try our Classic Wicker only £19.99

Or our new Picnic basket £49.99 with hamper style lid, ideal for keeping your books and sandwiches dry!

Dawn Porter hauls her cookies from London to Paris by Bike!

TV Presenter and old uni chum of mine, Dawn Porter, took on the huge challenge of cycling from London to Paris last week. Despite severe saddle sore, she made it and we were only too happy to kit her out with a helmet and panniers to help her complete the mammoth ride in style.

Dawn was not just doing the ride to tone her thighs, she was raising money for a charity dear to her heart, Breast Cancer Care. So in keeping with the pink theme we sent her Sawako Furuno Ribbon Helmet in Rose and two Pink Maripopas Panniers.

Well done Dawn!

My ASOS Autumn Essentials

Well there's no doubt about it, Autumn is well and truly here so time to start dressing accordingly on the bike. I have to admit to having a helping hand with my new autumn cycling attire from the lovely people as ASOS who gave me a £150 voucher to spend at my leisure, thanks ASOS. So what did I pick out?

I decided to go for an autumnal heritage look with Midi length Rain Mac, Pussybow shift dress and Cloche hat. The rainmac is ideal for cycling as its lightweight and the midi length keeps my legs dry. The chic shift dress also works well on the bike as it's a breathable fabric that doesnt cling and the cloche hat gives dash of vintage flair as well as keeping my locks protected from the blustery weather.
But it's not just about weathering the storms, it's important your autumn  look works both on and off the bike which is where this outfit comes into it's own. The Chic 1940's look is perfect for jumping off the bike and heading into a London pub for an after work drink with friends.