Cyclechic USA launches today

Our US online store Cyclechic.com is now open for all your wonderfully stylish cyclists in the USA. We have the same exclusive range of Chic cycling accessories but products will now be shipped from our base in San Francisco so shipping will be much cheaper and quicker.. horrah!

Please help us spread the word and email, twitter the link to anyone you think might be interested. http://www.cyclechic.com/index.htm

I have had a marvelous time in California,its great to see how the cycling culture is really blossoming over here. I hope we can encourage more women to take to 2 wheels and ensure you look good doing it!

Santa Barbara style

My US travels now bring me to sunny Santa Barbara for their Cycle Chic fashion show tomorrow. I was invited by the lovely Christa of blog, Bike by the sea and have the great pleasure of modeling in the show, along with a whole host of Stylish Santa Barbarans!

Profile: Adrienne Johnson of Change your life ride a bike

Having blogged about cycling and women a fair amount, cycling and children is still unknown territory to me. Although my daughter is now one I have not yet got a child seat sorted and taken to the streets on my bike at 2 instead of 1.
However meeting Adrienne Johnson from San Francisco based blog, change your life ride a bike and cycling with her and two of her 4 kids gave me a so called 'kick up the ass!'
She made it look like a doddle and what more made it fun as she guided us through the streets with her son Declan on the back of her Dutch bike and 10 year old Una holding her own behind. I think a lot of people fear cycling with children but Adrienne is an example of someone who has mastered the art and reaps the benefits in her life.

Quick Q and A with Adrienne on her & bicycles and where she gets all the energy from...

Caz: What bike do you ride?
Adrienne: A 2007 Batavus Socorro. It is called "the Bat" and is also known as my "land yacht" unless it has just fallen on me and then it is called all kinds of things you probably do not want to print on your lovely blog.

C: Why do you cycle?
A: I could probably write a blog about that : ) I ride because it is the only way I have found to get from A to B that makes me feel better about myself.

C: What’s the best thing about cycling in your city?
A: San Francisco is tiny- 49 square miles and only 7 miles wide at its widest point. I see people I know all over the place all the time. Seeing friends and neighbors all over the City makes me feel grounded. That does not happen in my car- the best I can hope for when I drive is that I see a friend's cars pass by.

C:Do you think cycling amongst women is on the increase in USA?
A:I can't speak for the whole country. It is certainly on the rise in the SF Bay Area. I do not really focus on women and cycling vs just people and cycling. I get more excited about kids and people who are perceived as "disabled" being out on bikes for transportation. One thing I can say is "lady's bikes" or "bikes specially designed for women" turn me off. The marketing for them is horrid and it usually means a poor quality bike, at least here in the US. I rode 5000 miles last year, half of the time with a 45 lb child and groceries on it- I need a tank, not a "lady bike".

C: What’s your favourite outfit/style to cycle in?
A:Whatever I have on that day. I admit that my wardrobe has changed a bit since I started riding as my primary means of transportation- not my style so much as how my wardrobe functions. No super tight skirts (too hard to ride comfortably), no cotton sweaters (they get sweaty), no skinny jeans (I hate how tight denim feels when I am active)... To be honest, all of my favorite clothes have that designation because I can nap in them- no buttons, lots of stretch, no wrinkling.... funny that I occasionaly blog about cycle style. Ah well, those who can't do, teach. Can I just live in yoga clothes?

Profile: Kristin Tieche of Velo Vogue

In the lead up to the launch of our US online store, which goes live early May, I have been interviewing some of the key female cycling bloggers over here in the States.

First up the lovely Kristin Tieche from fabulous blog Velo Vogue

Caz: What bike do you ride?

Kristin: My most frequent ride is my Motobécane mixte - the bike I call Le Rouge et Noir. My friend Bike Man Ben just fixed it up with new handlebars and new pedals, so I'm much happier and more comfortable on this one now. I also just got a folding bike, the single speed KHS Latte. Doesn't go so fast, but it's very practical and super cute.

C: Why do you cycle?

K:Personally, I cycle because it's fun. I love the feeling of exhilaration you get when you're flowing along. I also love running into friends on the bike lane, which happens quite often in San Francisco. So it's very social, whether you're riding for fun or even commuting to work and back. I also know that I'm doing a great deed for the environment and my city by riding a bike.

C: What’s the best thing about cycling in San Francisco?


K: The best things about cycling in SF - because there are so many - are 1) the friends you make in our very active bicycle community,  2) all the great views to take in on the most simple of rides from point A to point B, and 3) all the little details you notice that you might not see if you're traveling by bus or car. Biking gives you a whole new perspective on the world and on your life.

C:Do you think cycling amongst women is on the increase in USA?

K: I do believe cycling among women is on the rise in the U.S. Though I can't quote any statistics, I feel like I see more women wearing normal street clothes and work clothes on their bikes going to work or play. I also know that I've met - both in the cybersphere and in person - more amazing and inspirational women who are committed to cycling through keeping up with my blog.

C: What’s your favourite outfit/style to cycle in?

K: My fave outfit? I will have to go with my Diane Von Furstenberg dresses. Everytime I wear one of her patterns and designs, I feel so uber-womanly! And then coupling that feeling with being on a bike brings the Wow! factor to a entirely new level. It's riding with confidence all the way to my destination!

Sunday Streets with a few stops along the way...

Yesterday my Pashely and I had the pleasure of joining some of San Francisco's best loved cycling bloggers for a day of leisurely cycling.
Velo Vogue's Kristin and Shelly from Riding Pretty and I met for morning coffee at cycling cafe Mojo. After our caffeine fix Kristin guided us through the city to the Bayview area for the Sunday Streets event. Its a fantstic initiative, basically every few weeks in the Spring/summer a certain ares of the city is blocked off to traffic and cyclists and pedestrians are King of the road.
Along the way we met up with Adrienne, author of Change your life, ride a bike, and her two kids and then stopped for a iced tea at the Oasis that is Flora Grub.
Thanks to the powers of the internet and the sociability of the cycling culture. I was able to come half way around the world, meet up withe lovely group of ladies and ride and chat in the Sunday sunshine... thanks guys!
A few pics from the day: Stopping at Flora Grubs we had a bike swapping session, Adrienne's daughter, Una, looking right at home on my Pashley (above)
Shelly's sensational Raleigh 20 soaking up the sun

Shelly and Kristin guiding me to the traffic free streets

Drink stop

Bloggers unite, Myslef, Adrienne and Shelly

Cycling the streets of San Fran

The last week has been somewhat of a whirlwind. I got married last Friday, which was wonderful and then it was on the plane with my husband and my little one to sunny San Francisco.

A couple of days in and having just about conquered my jet lag and got my bearings it was definitely time to get myself a bike and have a ride in this beautiful city.
Those lovely people at Pashley had arranged for me to pick up a pastel Blue Poppy from cooler than cool bike shop Citizen Chain. My challenge now was to cycle back to our apartment in Haight Ashbury. Now having never cycled in the States and only ever visited San Francisco once before I was a little nervous. It makes you realise how used to your local roads and route you get a commuting cyclist and when faced with a different city, a different road system it feels kinda daunting.

I acquired a cycle map from the San Francisco Cyclery, put my Pashley in the lowest gear possible (San Francisco has a lot of hills) and off I went. The roads feel much bigger and wider over here which initially made me feel quite vulnerable but following my map I soon found some great cycle lanes and began to gain confidence. I was also encouraged by my fellow cyclists, San Francisco has a really healthy cycling culture and there's nothing better than other cyclist on the roads to make you feel safe and proud to be on your bike.
I arrived back to meet Robert and Florence for a much needed early evening drink at our new local Magnolia. A great ending to an exhausting but wonderful week.

Springtime Sunshine in London

Loving this picture of Victoria Todd, posted to our facebook Group. Such a lovely springy feel, cycling through London's Dulwich park, floral frock, wicker basket and flowing locks...
I have just arrived in San Francisco to get our US site Cyclechic.com up and running, will have pics and more news on the blog very soon.

A Girls Guide to the Tweed ride

So ladies it is well and truly Tweed ride season, the London run is fast approaching (Sat 10th April)and there are forthcoming rides in Sacramento, San Francisco and New York. Have you got your outfits organised? If not here's a few pointers to get you suitably attired for the day.

Outerwear - A Tweed jackets or cape is essential and forms the basis for your outfit. The only exceptions ladies is if the weather is particularly clement then a simple shirt or blouse will suffice. I recommend having a hunt around the charity shops and vintage fairs. I picked up my Harris tweed hunting jacket, pictured above, from a vintage fair for £25, proving it doesn't have to be a costly purchase.

Outfit Accessories
A neck scarf is ideal to give your look a hint of femininity and catch the eye of those those Gentleman tweeders as you go by.
We also recommend a pair of Dashing Tweed legwarmers to add some flair to your overall outfit and to cover some leg for those of you wearing a shorter skirt. Be warned though girls to much leg on show may be a safety hazard as could take the tweeding chaps eyes off the road. Remember, less in more.
A pair of ankle spats can also keep your feet dry if it should rain during your ride.
You can bring a flash of colour to a neutral tweed outfit by sporting a cheerful bonnet or perhaps some brightly coloured hosiery.
Pipes, monocles and pocket watches can also enhance to your overall look.

Skirts or trousers
A Tweed skirt will give you an air of sophistication and elegance but you must ensure it is not too tight that it makes bicycling uncomfortable or awkward. Another option is a pair of plus fours, pictured above, ideal for cycling and teamed with a tweed jacket and brogues will look very smart. Jophurs and boots could also work for the Katherine Hepburn look.

Bike accessories
A Good pannier is a must, you may need to pack a picnic, hip flask and other essential items. We recommend the deluxe shopper, pictured above or the safari double.
We also have the perfect helmet to complement the neutral tones of your tweeding outfit, the Matt Cocoa Bern Muse has an elegant, equestrian feel for the safety conscious tweeder

So where ever you are tweeding this spring have a jolly good time and please post picture to our Cycle Chic facebook group. We will be sure to showcase some of the best outfits on the blog.

New in this Spring!

Spring is my favourite season, I love the lighter evenings, warmer weather and the sense of hope before the disappointment of the British summer. Its also my favourite season for cycling. I firstly started cycling in London in spring and have lasting memories of cycling over the Albert bridge and looking over the Thames on a crisp, clear spring morning.
We always like to get some new exciting products up for spring, these are a few on my favourites...
We are always on the hunt for bags that are not cycling specific but work wonderfully on the bike so was delighted when I came across Kate Sheridan's collection at London fashion week last year. the barrel bag, goes across the shoulder - messenger bag style but is far more attractive and feminine than most messenger bags. And the vintage style rucksack is completely adorable and so comfortable to wear. Both are canvas with super-cute black cloud print and have real leather straps and trims.
We also have the rather smart handbag carrier. This is perfect you those of you who just like to leave the house, jump on your bike and go and not have to worry about too much paraphernalia. Its is really easy to attach to the handlebar stem and then you simply pull back the metal hinged frame and it locks your handbag in nice and securely. It positions your handbag between you and the handlebars so no one pinch it while your riding. I think Gucci and Mulberry would approve!

Flowery bike loveliness

I got a rather fun offer last year to style a Raleigh 20 for the company, Small wheel Good. The flowered-up Raleigh Twenty bicycle, pictured in the photos is a Cyclechic one off, created with loving care by Small Wheels Good. I chose an intricate, vintage style floral fabric and suggested the accessories and Simon Carter (the retro-velo-phile behind Small Wheels Good) brought the idea to life. With a couple of yards of daintily flowered cotton and lashings of secret-formula glue.

We decided to take the bike to the canal and take some snaps with our equally pretty model Coco. I really like these pics. There have great feeling of feminine spring time loveliness.


Small Wheels Good revive, renovate, and re-imagine small-wheeled bicycles from the 60s and 70s. If you want to order a bicycle like the one in the photo, or find out more about Small Wheels Good contact Simon at simoncarter134@googlemail.com

Sawako Furuno's new spring range

The perfect spring time helmet! Sawako's new range has something for everyone. Go all out girly and pretty with the Hanabi or Ribbon or the more urban femininity of the Ran or Chandelier.
See the full range on our helmets page, scroll down to the bottom. Let geeky helmets be a thing of the past....

A bike fit for a Gentleman

The lovely people at Velorbis gave one of their devilishly handsome Churchill Balloon bikes to test-ride. Although I could appreciate its rugged charm from a far, we needed a fella to saddle up and give us the low down, so over our Cyclechic chap Matt Smith...

I’ve been riding the Velorbis Gentlemens’ Churchill Balloon, on and off for four months now. It’s on loan from Velorbis, and every so often it has to go off somewhere to be put on show, and I have to go back to my bog-standard hybrid bike, a perfectly good bike, functional, practical, cheap, but absolutely nothing special. Riding it gets you from A to B and I wouldn’t be able to think of a single other thing to say about it, other than it’s grey.

The Churchill Balloon by contrast, is about as far away from bog-standard as you can get. Riding it actually makes you feel different, somehow improved, enhanced, actually pretty cool. In real life I’m not a cool person at all: I have zero fashion sense, no individual style, I’m not flash by nature and to be honest I usually avoid doing anything that will make me stand out in the crowd. But when I ride around London Town on my Velorbis I get looked at, pointed at, talked to, admired, even revered. That is a pretty remarkable effect when you think about it, for what is after all only a bike (I’m not vain or stupid enough to think it has anything to do with me by the way). And it’s the main reason I love it and recommend it to all the people who stop me and ask me about it.

There are other, more concrete reasons why this bike is great. It feels smooth, solid, expensive. It’s got luxurious Brooks leather handles for instance, and a matching Brooks seat. The built in dynamo lights stay on for a while after you stop pedalling. It’s got a hook at the back you can hang your shopping on. It makes a lovely efficient whirring sound as it goes along, and although it’s heavy, it’s stable and easy to ride. It’s also strangely relaxing, the stresses and strains of busy city life just don’t seem to matter as much and you get a sort of detached-yet-incredibly-smug feeling as you cycle past all those mugs crammed miserably into yet another bendy bus at rush hour. And finally there are those big, thick, awesome Fat Frank tires which deserve pride of place in some design gallery.

Downsides? Well, it’s a bulky and frankly a bit of a pain in the arse to park and lock up, and lock it up you must or it’ll surely get nicked. And you really never want to be in a hurry on it, it just doesn’t do fast (I see this as a positive actually, but if you’re one of those people who’s always running late you’re in trouble).

Other than that, it’s splendid and whilst it’s not exactly cheap, it is remarkably good value for money. Highly highly recommended.

A Bicycle prize to get excited about...

Bicycle orientated prizes don't come much better than this. Radley (yes the company that make the cute bags with the scotty dog tags) have designed a limited edition beautiful leather pannier and, wait for it... are giving them away strapped to the back of a Pashley Sonnet along with divine recycle wool picnic blanket.

Radley fell in love with the Pashley bikes while using them for there SS 10 campaign and were inspired to join forces with them for this beautifully British prize.
To be in with a chance of winning one of these babies, all people need to do is head in to one of Radley stores or log on to www.radley.co.uk throughout March and April to enter the prize draw.

As a self-confessed Pashley lover myself I have just arranged for a Blue Pashley Poppy to be ready for my arrival in San Francisco in April to launch Cyclechic US. The perfect set of wheels for an English girl abroad...


Follow us on twitter for more details on Cyclechic US

Cycle friendly Fashion from London Fashion Week AW10

From Vivienne Westwoods tartan mini skirt suit with pink tights, to Aquascutums's paper bag waist trench, here are some of our favourie Autumn/Winter styles from London Fashion Week that we think would work fabulously for cycling.






Designers; Modern Classics, Jaeger, Mulberry, Vivienne Westwood, Aquascutum, Betty Jackson. See LFW website for full collections.

Cyclechic's little black book: Bells Bicycles, Hastings

We are always interested in new bike shops that have charm and originality so Bells Bicycles in Hastings is certainly ringing our bell. I visited Hastings a couple of years ago and although I was not particularly taken with the main town the Old town is fabulous. Lots of wonderful vintage and brick-a-brac shops and some really great old pubs and cosy chippys. I was therefore very excited to here about Bells bicycles launching in the vicinity.

"Founded and run by Meg Williams-O’Mara, a twenty four year old vintage bike enthusiast, the shop contains an ever-changing selection of bicycles. From the super fast fixed wheel track bikes of the 40’s, the ultra elegant Dutch loop frame of the 20’s to the very simple town bikes made in the 70’s/80’s.
Bell’s is a cornucopia of elegance and engineering. Even the names of these bicycles conjure up another world- the Hero Royale, the Raleigh Caprice, Cameo Classic, Carlton Reynolds, the Auto-Mini."



So if your in the area, pop in between pubs and brick-a -brac shops and check some of these beauties out, I am particularly keen on the pink shopper..

You can visit Bell’s from Wednesday to Sunday, 11am – 5pm at 49 High St, Hastings. TN34 3EN.
For more info email Meg at hello@bicycleinfo.co.uk or call 01424 443033.

Know any other up and coming bike shops, let me know?

Don't try this at home kids...

Loving this image from Diesel new campaign. Perhaps not the safest way to take your sweetheart down he pub but for those lovers who can't bear to be apart, it could be an option...

The Multi-tasking helmet for ladies who ski and cycle...

For all you active gals who both cycle and ski the Bern multi-tasking helmet, will be right up your street (or slope). The Muse, Baker and Watt all come with snuggly knits that attach for cold weather keeping your ears and neck warm and then unclips when the sun comes out.
It strikes me that skiing and cycling have a few similarities. Both give you a tremendous sense of freedom, both make you feel like you've done a huge amount of exercise without having to do that much work and both have a glamorous history generating some beautiful vintage posters.

Bicycle Brides.. part II

Now this is taking Bicycle Brides to a whole new level!!! These fanatical filly's have been so in love with their bikes they've declared it to the world by marrying their trusted steeds. Thank you to Kirsty and handlebarsandhandbags for alerting me to the happy couples, full wedding albums for Elicia and Steph at BikePortland's flikr page.

Bicycle Brides

I was flicking through a wedding magazine last week , only to find 3 photos of ladies on bikes, this one being my favourite of Bride and Groom with the beautiful pink Pashley Poppy. I am getting married in April and as a proud owner of a blue Pashley Poppy, (the perfect wedding bike if such a thing exists!) I am currently trying to work out as which point in the day we can jump on our bikes. I think cycling to the wedding could be dangerous as may be too nervous and cycling home afterwards is definitely not a good idea as we will have had a few drinkees, so I'm thinking we should cycle to the reception, after the ceremony. It may not be the most practical way to travel in a rather delicate vintage wedding dress but it will be fun.
I've found some great photos of like minded couples who have saddled up for the big day on great blog Green Wedding Shoes





Has anyone else pedaled their way to marital bliss?

Miss Dior's on her bike

Doir uses the bicycle's modern yet classic elegance to promote their new Fragrance, Miss Dior Cherie. We love the bright pink coat and purple Beret, not sure how far she'll get with that big bottle on her lap though...