Svajerløbet - Cargo Bike Race

Larry and Harry are to competetive guys, many of us got the witness this at the CMWC in Chicago where Harry took 1st place at the Cargoraces this year. When the old rumour mill started going about the Svajerløb things got exciting in the shop! Preparations was made, white shirts was ironed and sidi-shoes was shined! No cargobike owner in Copenhagen (or the world) want's to miss this!

The Svajerløb, for those of you who don't know, is the Danish Open Championships in cargobike racing. Back in the day, when bicylces still dominated the streets of Copenhagen the bikemessengers of that day was called "Svajers", because the swayed on their heavly loaded cargobikes. Once a year the dapper young cargobike riders gathered togheter and raced their bikes in order to crown the fastest Svajer of the town. The winner would get bragging rights for 1 year and such is the rules today.

For the second year in a row the Svajerløb was held at the old Carlsberg factory in the lovely burrogh of Vesterbro in Copenhagen, people from all over the world had traveled to our fair hometown in order to race their cargobikes, drink a feew beers and meet likeminded friends from around the globe. Since svajer always has been a suave personality we where very pleased to se people taking this part of the race seriously and dressing up for the occation. We saw bowties, suspenders and blinding white shirts... and this to a bike race!

Kilt, cleats and MTB-shoes - a wining combination


Last years winner Claus, showing of some Svajer-style!

Riding hard... in style

People came not only from around the world but also on all kinds of bikes, old and new. We loved watching the Old Timers-race and seeing the bikes from before the war battling it out on the course. Even though the bikes are old, some of them heavly attacked by rust and weighs a ton they brave riders still knew how to push the pedals to the max!

Birthe, participant in the Team Relay race and the "premie-pige" of the day

As the day progressed in the blazing sun more and more people turned up, as is usual in copenhagen cheerful mix of people. Children, parents, messengers and cargobike owners (yeah, just regular copenhageners), met up and had a great day in the sun. Our guests from the US, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Italy, New Zeeland and all other places had a great time. As the day drew to a close most the participants got togheter and took their cargobikes around the corse and helped to dismount the course and to gather all the stuff togheter. This is after all copenhagen and here we use our bikes!

Ladies Finals - Charlotte in the middle was the winner.

Jimmie Jumbo from By-Expressen - winner of men's 2-wheel race. in the background Claus from Team Bullit.

The bride-to-be Birthe and her team-mates from "Team Love"

Brave riders racing their Bullitt's through the sand-pit

Cargobikes and cargobike races from all over the world!


Last but not least, proud winners of the Team Relay race: Team Bullitt Hangover!

Greetings from Apple

Last summer Larry and Harry had a visit from the States.His name was Apple and he had saved just enough money to visit Copenhagen and to buy a Bluebird´71.Yesterday Harry received a mail from Apple and it went like this:

"I love my Bullitt. I ride it much more than I expected. It has become my main bicycle. I hardly ever ride the other two. I ride it to work everyday which is about 19 miles round trip. While it is good for hauling groceries and my girlfriend, I really like that the bike makes me relax. The first few weeks I was riding it fast. Working hard to run about 15 mph. I realized that I can take it easy and enjoy the bike and the ride much more at 12mph. So the bike is helping me to be relaxed when I get to work.

Here in Indianapolis (not Minneapolis) there are no other cargo bikes around. People stare and ask questions all the time. Often guys in truck and rednecks have a bad attitude towards bicycles. The funny thing is those same guys love this bike. I have walked out of a shop and had construction workers come over to look at the bike. The guys in trucks seem to understand the bike better than most people who ride bikes. Other times I will pass someone and I can tell by their facial expression that they just realized that a bicycle can do far more than they ever expected. It's fun for me to watch people's reaction."

Larry and Harry surely loves Apples!

Århus-København 2012

The first of September next year a danish bike-classic will return: Århus-København.Starting in Århus,crossing 2 straights on bridges normally closed for bikes,and finally ending up in Copenhagen.375 kilometers,a fair ride for a racingbike but a serious mouthfull for a Bullitt.So a Bullitt-ride it will be for a very dear friend of Larry and Harry,our own Claus Andersen aka Copenhagenthighs.With a calculated average speed of 28 km/h he will arrive Copenhagen the same day at 7.30 PM.
If you happens to be in Copenhagen that day,come and join Larry and Harry celebrating this viking returning from the west.

Team Bullitt Hangover

Finally it is a fact:the worlds first cargobike club is now training!The goal is of course to win a lot of races but most of all it is about spending a couple of hours weekly with friends.Today was the first official training and five fine fellows appeared at the meeting point under Lange Bridge.Despite a cold and strong wind everybody survived the 50 kilometer ride in 2 hours.Following the five fine fellows were awarded with a visit at McDope.
Hope to see YOU a sunday in a nearby future!

Melvin from Bristol

Today Larry and Harry wants you to share a story about one of their new friends:Melvin from Bristol.
Melvin has just started his own business and among other stuff he needed a vehicle.Though Melvin is not a young hipster he is a man with modern ideas and he decided to go for a Bullitt,more precisely a Clockwork.To learn a little more about his new purchase and to see some beautiful parts of England,he went to Telford and picked the Bullitt and rode home.108 miles in 12 hours!
Quite impressive,Melvin!

It´s Superfly

A week ago,Larry and Harry declared,that the world should be aware of the upcoming Superfly.So,what was it all about;what was behind the hype?Surprisingly it was a bicycle,a new Bullitt,technically top of the line and beautifully designed too.Another icon from the supreme duo,this time in a warm co-operation with the design duo,Tombola.
More important,than all the technical issues (11-speed Alfine groupset,Supra rims,Schwalbe Marathon Supreme tires etc) was the fact,that the bike should be launched and celebrated at a great party in the shop in Copenhagen.And what a party it was!Excellent coffee served at the sidewalk by Ole from Kaffecyklen,cold beers elegantly delivered by Tuborg,Bullitts of all kind (including the first customized Superfly) and a lot of great people made it a night to remember.The night was in another word:Superfly!

Le copycat

If you ever copy a Bullitt Larry and Harry and Super Lawyer will find you and eat you for breakfast,no excuses!And then again there might be cases where the Deadly Trio let you live:
A brilliant french gardener decides that he wants a Bullitt.When he realizes that he can buy over one hundred liters of redwine for the same money he decides to build the Bullitt himself.OK,he is a great gardener and one hell of a handyman but he is not really a bikebuilder.Today his Milk Plus is more a Milk Minus and it still only runs on the back of his pickup truck.Marcel,in this case Larry and Harry and Super Lawyer pardon you (but in any other case...)!

King of the alleycat

It has been a crazy bike-week in Copenhagen.The World Championships in road racing took place in the center of the city,closing down automobile traffic for almost 4 days.More will follow about this story.
As an event to celebrate bicycling,Rapha,WHC and Larry and Harry organized an alleycat in the late night streets of Copenhagen.The danish cargobike champion,Claus,participated on his Bullitt.If it wasn´t for a taxidoor he might even have won.Instead the winner must be this bloke;after two puntures he wasn´t able to continue and therefor he rented a citybike and fulfilled the race.That´s the spirit!

Land of milk and honey II

A great person celebrated her birthday yesterday.Elsa,the neighbor of Harry,turned one hundred together with a crowd of family and friends.She has managed to stay alive by being alive and she surely is an example to follow.Harry wishes you a happy birthday,Elsa!

Land of milk and honey

It was a beautiful Copenhagen morning when a local girl turned 125 years.The Irma girl,the representative of the supermarket Irma,was celebrating her birthday by handing out ecological carrots to the passing bicycles and pedestrians.This is just as sweet as it can be (actually there were two Irma girls with carrots which made it double sweet)!

Election

In Denmark election was announced yesterday at 11.15 AM.The rule is that you are not allowed to put up posters for the politicians before the election is announced.At 11 AM there were no posters in Copenhagen,at 12.30 PM thousands of posters were hanging all over the city.How could they be that efficient?By using cargobikes for the transportation,stupid!
On the photo you see Søren on Nørrebrogade putting up posters for the social democrat,Ida Auken (both participants in the 2010 Danish Cargobike Championships).
Please note that the danish premier minister officially choose the date for the election so it wouldn´t interfere with the Racebike World Championships in Copenhagen.We therefor bring a photo of him to show how serious he is about biking,his choice of date probably shows how unserious he is about politics.

Summer party

Yesterday Larry and Harry had their annual summer party in their shop in Copenhagen.And what a party it was!Therfor they would like to thank the following:Svajerduoen for bringing music and an incredible amount of energy,Daniel from Byman Cykler for bringing his portable music machine and for trying to skid the fixed Bullitt,the sidekick Claus for taking care of the shop today,Charlotte and Maja for being able to drink vodka and shooting photos,Microsoft Gay Pride for sponsoring the beers,the neighbors for their patience with us,Anna Nichole for showing her nice legs and lingerie,the danish police for being so polite and sober at 2 AM,Mads for being so welldressed,the guys from Soigneur for good sportsmanship,Jeppe from Maduro for being the funniest guy alive and last but not least to all those who dropped by for a beer and a dance.Larry and Harry love you all!

The Bullitt and the sportscar

A while ago this blog had a story about a good friend of Larry and Harry,the fabulous british gentleman Ken.At the same time as Ken had got his first Bullitt TNT an old friend of his had fulfilled his old dream and purchased an Aston Martin.Following the two friends realized,that of these two magnificent vehicles it was the Bullitt who draw the most attention from the girls.
This weekend a funny similar incident took place.The bavarian gentleman Florian (yes,another gentleman and another great friend of Larry and Harry) had a call from his cousin.While standing in front of the Brandhorst Museum in Munich he had seen a Bugatti Veyron,one of the most wonderful cars in the world.When the car passed the museum he was distracted by two parked bikes.He had forgotten the car and instead focussed on these beautiful pedal-powered vehicles.Do we need to say which vehicles it was?
Bullitt;can´t keep your eyes from looking.

The new bikelane

Today The King of Asphalt and his crew finished the final surface on the worlds busiest bikelane,just outside the shop of our two legendary friends.Looks fantastic,nothing is going to stop the bikes!Oh,maybe the fact that this magnificent bike highway goes from two to one lane right here...
Come and chrash at Larry and Harrys crib!

A good friend of Larry and Harry,Pierce Brosnan,was in Copenhagen recently.To visit Copenhagen requires a bikeride,that counts for everybody.Therefor our good friends were asked to find a bike that would fit the former James Bond.Obviously they did not choose the Bullitt. Pierce should ride something exclusive,something that was danish,classic and suitable for an irish gentleman.In order to get a vehicle like that,Harry called another great gentleman,Ivan from Baisikeli.He knew exactly what Harry was asking for and told that a bike of that describtion could be picked up at his house.And what a vehicle:an original Hamlet from 1952 with only one owner before Ivan.It just needed a little air in the tires and then it was ready.
Under the wings of a Copenhagen angel,Mrs Bullitt,Pierce rode his Hamlet for 6 hours around the beautiful town.Even James Bond had to surrender to the bikes when he was copenhagenized.

Posterboys