Tuesday 29 May 2012

New Webiste and our best selection of helmets ever...



We are very excited here at Cyclechic HQ having just launched our new website and to have the best selection of stylish bike helmets we have ever had....

My main motivation when I first started Cyclechic.co.uk was to find a cool bike helmet for women like myself. And I am pleasesed to say that 4 years on, we have not just found one but many beautiful bicycle helmets...

Thank you to all the lovely ladies who took part in our 'Hot in a Helmet' photoshoot for our new Home Page, they all look wonderful and we will have full profiles on them all coming to the blog soon. Here's who's wearing what...

Rebecca wears Sawako Furuno Leopard Helmet
Coralie Rose wears Bern Lenox Helmet in white
Kathryn wears Yakkay Tokyo Helmet Blue stripe

Sawako Furuno wears Sawako Furuno Leopard Helmet
Katie wears Lazer helmet in Red
Caz wears Bern Lenox helmet in Cranberry

Jasmine wears Bern lenox in purple with white brim
Natalie wears Lazer helmet in green
Lavinia wears Bern Lenox in White


We will also be launching our Hot in a Helmet facebook competition soon so you will have the chance to share photos of yourself rocking your helmet style.

Friday 18 May 2012

Win tickets to Tour de Latitude


Fancy doing a music festival this year bit not sure which one, well if you fancy a bike ride before the frivolities begin, this could help you make up your mind.
 
Latitude Festival and Marks & Spencer are excited to present an adventurous way of traveling to the festival in 2012 – the Tour de Latitude!  This initiative is set to encourage festival goers to reduce their carbon footprint by cycling their way to the festival in Suffolk, whilst raising funds for the charity Kenyan Orphan Project which supports orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya and Julie's Bicycle who help make environmental sustainability intrinsic to the creative industries.
The Tour de Latitude will take place on the first day of the festival Thursday 12th July, giving festival goers the chance to get from one of the three start points along the route, on a tour of country villages from London to the Latitude site, before the entertainment begins in the evening.

Be in with a chance of winning a pair of tickets by emailing us the answer to this question: What is the second starting point for the ride?

Go to the following competition link to enter your answer and details and a winner will be picked an announced on 4th June. Good Luck




Hot in a Helmet Campaign


Here at Cyclechic we are running a campaign this summer to help people get over there helmet hang-ups. Women in particular are put off cycling altogether because they don't want to wear a helmet and are too scared to cycle without one.

In our ongoing mission to promote cycling as a desirable lifestyle choice we want to prove that a cycle helmet doesn't have to be a plastic monstrosity that leaves you crying in shame. You can find a helmet that not only protects your head and gives you confidence but that also looks good and suits your style.

We talked to Helmet designer Sawako Furuno about Helmet style and how to combat helmet Hair:

What bike do you ride?: Currently a Pashley Sonnet Bliss, but thinking of buying a foldable one..

How do you feel about wearing a helmet? It makes me feel much more confident on road, hence quite necessary! And it doesn't have to be boring or nasty, we can have more fun wearing it. That's why I started my brand, giving style conscious cyclists more options and adding fun & fashion to cycling!

How do you make sure you look good while/after wearing a helmet?
Wearing a helmet correctly and comfortably is an obvious but very good start to look good. make sure to fit all the straps and size adjusters very well.


Then treat the helmet like a cool hat! Our helmets come with visors which make them look even more like normal hats. You can even flirt a bit looking up coyly from the edge of the visor!
After wearing a helmet, 'helmet hair' can often be an issue.  Before an important meeting, I sometimes wear this magic powder called Mega dust from Matrix, which instantly adds the volume to your hair.  Make sure that your hair is quite dry and sprinkle this magic dust, hand comb...and that's it! 


Check out Sawako current range cycle helmets. New summer range coming very soon.

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Who gets your Vote?

 
It’s the eve of London mayoral elections, and more than ever before, each candidate’s cycling policies have become a major election issue. So, who gets the Cyclechic.co.uk vote? Well, reluctant as we are to pigeonhole our customers (who come from all walks of life and enjoy varied political affiliations!), the conscientious, eco-aware cyclist naturally leans towards Green. And sure enough, Green Party Candidate Jenny Jones offers by far the most comprehensive pro-cycling policies. She is fully committed to the LondonCycling Campaign’s “Love London, Go Dutch” initiative, which aims to establish a continental-standard cycling infrastructure in the capital, as well as having strong policies on reducing traffic and establishing 20mph zones on all streets where people live, work and shop.  

Of the two leading candidates, however, Ken is by far the better option, in that he has also committed to the “Love London, Go Dutch” campaign and, significantly, has pledged to appoint Jenny Jones as his cycling policy adviser, should he be elected.
While Boris may be the “Cycling Mayor” in the public perception, in reality his policies sell us all short. In 2008 he promised us a “cycling revolution”, yet one of his very first moves when he came to office was to slash funding for the London Cycling Network, an attempt to create a large-scale cycling network across London, and then the road safety budget.
When the news broke that he had run up a £4,698 taxi bill in his first year alone for short hops across London, we started to get suspicious. Was Boris, always a master of controlling his own image (don’t fall for the bumbling fool routine), merely using cycling as a means to convey that he was one of us and not the  toffee-nosed Bullingdon Boy he really was? And meanwhile, when the cameras weren’t rolling, was he just whizzing around London in a black cab? 
Even the lauded “Boris Bike” scheme, it turns out, was Livingstone’s idea, which was inherited and implemented by Boris, albeit, we admit, to great success. However, his continued policy of high fares for public transport will make it cheaper to travel by car and do nothing to promote safety on the capital’s roads.
 
Perhaps Boris’ true colours were revealed by his ill-judged speech this week at the cyclesafe hustings organised by The Times newspaper, in which he told the assembled cycling crowd: “I can humbly say to you, I may not conform to your idea of a stereotypical cyclist: I do not have whippet-thin brown legs or dreadlocks, I do not charge around in lycra, I do not jump lights… ” Cyclists, he continued, believe themselves to be “morally superior”. The indignity!

So, while Ken’s apparent narcissism might be a turn off to a lot of us, of the two frontrunners, he’s far more committed to cycling issues than the so-called “Cycling Mayor”, who seems to think we’re all a bunch of lycra-clad traffic light-hoppers. He clearly hasn’t visited this blog.