Crossing bridges

Wow! Take a look at this Critical Mass ride in Budapest. Romanian bridge builders must be so much better than Kiwi bridge builders - look how many cyclists and walkers are on that bridge (Note the absence of worried bureaucrats spreading doom and gloom).

High Street cycling

I spotted a couple of 'tres chic' cyclists in High Street yesterday ...


This is the way to shop in High Street - fabulous style and no parking space required!


Another styley shopper with a very cool look

The next day I saw this bicycle in the window of one of the shops ... I'm intrigued ... is this the same bicycle? Is the bicycle on loan or is this the owner of the shop? Does the bicycle have a shoe fetish?


Bicycles displayed in shop windows seems to be catching on ... I wonder if it's something to do with the worldwide trend towards the return of the bicycle as styley urban transport? ... just a thought

See also:

• Bicycles behind glass
• Fashionable bicycle in blue

Diverse activists - Harbour Bridge

This is the 5th and final post from the Harbour Bridge mission - this post will self-destruct in 15 seconds ... (not really).


This lady matched from head to foot with her beautiful vintage bicycle - check out the styley panier


(apologies for the lycra)
I think this must be the bicycle version of a muscle car - interesting ... but one wonders 'why?' It's probably a 'boy' thing.


Just plain cool

See also:

• Clustered activists
  
• Gentlemen activists
• Activists in skirts
• Small activists

Clustered activists

This is the 4th post in my 'Harbour Bridge Activists' series. These activists were clustered so may appear more threatening ...


His and Hers in orange.


Listening intently to the excellent speeches


A couple of stylish sweaters here - hand knits?


If this is a date ... she'll be impressed!


Wow! - way to go girl .... now this is how to do flouro.


Pretty girl + bicycle = male attention


Protesting - fun for all the family!

See also:

• Gentlemen activists
• Activists in skirts
• Small activists

So far behind, we're ... behind

If this is possible in New York city, why can't we do it in Auckland. Queen Street would be perfect for this - imagine strolling between pavement cafes, listening to the buskers and browsing the shops on both sides of the street without fear of being sideswiped by a kamikaze bus driver or deafened by a muscle car vibrating to it's stereo output.

Gentlemen Activists

Cool gentleman activists from the day we crossed the Harbour Bridge - yahoo!!!


Looking ultra cool in my favourite colour



They came from far and wide - Waiheke Island gentlemen


Presumably this is a heavy goods vehicle - will the Harbour Bridge take the load?


Good to go Houston control


Oooh! are those for me?


Flowers and the paparazzi ... will NZTA role out the red carpet?


Apologies for the hint of lycra but this bicycle was dead cool!


These bicycles must play havoc with your posture


This guy's lost a wheel but can't remember where
..... it's behind you (as they say in all the best pantomimes)

See also:

• Activists in skirts
• Small activists

Activists in skirts - Harbour Bridge

Knickerbocker glory


Lady in red... she's looking at me....


With handbag and gorgeous shades



Oooh! - with staw boater and wicker basket


With big smiles!

See also: Small activists-Harbour Bridge

Small activists - Harbour Bridge

Well what can I say - I'm still buzzing!

It is the Auckland Harbour Bridge's 50th birthday and today Aucklanders walked and cycled across this 'car/truck only' bridge to urge the powers that be to provide access for cyclist and pedestrians. The crossing was completed by all with great panache and style and the sheer numbers certainly made a statement, both visually and politically.

The trip across and back was fabulous ... I want to do that again ... regularly! Here are a few of the snaps I took of the younger 'activists'.


Kicking the tyres with Dad


Very nice colour coordination here


Back seat driver


Very nice helmet, jacket and backpack ensemble


This little lad had the brightest smile of the day


Nice wheels!

Other 'activist' grouping to follow...

Less 'Mass' and more 'Critical'

This was the turnout for the University of Auckland critical mass event - as you can see it lacked 'mass' although we were quite 'critical' of the level of promotion (zero) AUSA gave to the event.



Apologies for the fluoro jacket in the foreground. I try to make this site lycra and fluoro free but, where 'mass' is the issue, I thought I might be forgiven for including 'Fluoro boy'.

I noted this very nice single speed bicycle forming a significant part (1/5) of the 'mass' - but that saddle looks lethal!

Not hard to beat

So I've already been outdone by this post from Hungarian Cycle Chic - check out the understated bicycle clips.

Almost a suit

This is the closest I've got, in Auckland, to spotting someone riding a bicycle in a suit. I know it happens all the time in many European cities (Armani and the like), but in Auckland I think this almost qualifies. And yes I know he's not actually riding it, but he looks like a man with strong intent to ride it soon.

Tropical love

I saw this beautiful machine on Queen Street on Saturday



It had gorgeous details like this matching panel on the saddle



Oh, and check out the bell ...



Maybe the rider had matching Hawaiian board shorts?

Oranges & Lemons

This guy really brightened my day. He was very tall with a winning smile and was definitely out there to be seen. You can't quite see it in this picture but his handlebars were taped in red leopard print - nice touch I thought!

Statistics (no this is interesting, really!)

Further to my last post (Handlebar Safety), I found this rather interesting link - check out the info for New Zealand. Certainly makes you think.

Carrying on in this vein, I also found some stats on bicycling safety in general. Granted this stuff is from America, but surely our streets are at least equivalent or safer than theirs. I was fascinated to see that 'living' is more dangerous than 'cycling' - how does that work? I generally 'bicycle' whilst 'living' so is the risk compound?

Handlebar safety

This cyclist appears to be well endowed with helmets - just not on his/her head


This is a trend I have spotted recently (see earlier post).


This guy was cycling in the rain - would common sense not dictate wearing the helmet just to keep the rain off?

Although, I have to confess that I do have a tendency to wear my helmet on my handlebars too - but never if it's raining. If there's one thing worse than flat hair, it's flat wet hair!

Top Brass

These gorgeous brass disks punctuate the paved area around the viaduct indicating the this is a bicycle friendly zone (props to Auckland City Council for this one!). Very styley; perhaps we could have more of these - around Britomart? the Aotea Centre upgrade? These would have been really nice along the extra wide pavements on Symonds Street.

Bicycles behind glass

An update to the post Fashionable Bicycle in Blue - Bicycles in shop windows are obviously catching on. The Romanian Bike Culture blog has also featured bicycles behind glass. However, I'm not sure why, as my Romanian is a little rusty!

Not cars

I found this video on YouTube and felt that I had to put it on this blog. It is not strictly about bicycles but more about 'not cars'.



In Melbourne they are planning a Paris-style bicycle system for the city.



It seems that Auckland is a very very long way behind other cities of it's size.

Saturday waterfront

In between showers of Autumn rain, city cyclists were enjoying the sunshine on the waterfront.



I almost missed this guy - I was looking at the boats and picking out my 'when I'm rich' yacht.

I have to say, I'm very envious of the bloggers on Copenhagen Cycle Chic - photographing cyclists must be like shooting fish in a barrel. Where as, in Auckland, you have to find a cyclist first. Then, once you discount the lycra and fluro crowd, you're left with fairly slim pickings - so I hate to let one escape my lens.




This lady has just been to the City Farmers' Market at Britomart to pick up some provisions. BTW love the cape!