Raleigh Topshopper

Topshop’s in on the act. Cycling’s cool – with petrol at £1.25 a litre it’s better for today’s fashion-conscious woman to give up her car than stop buying clothes. In fact Topshop are keen for you to buy more clothes because no self respecting lady is going to get on a bike wearing what Evans has to offer.

Their website’s got a little video showing girls in short skirts weaving around London’s backstreets riding Pashley bikes. For visitors to their website, Topshop offers some routes for young women in short skirts and hotpants.

As ever – more people cycling is a good thing. I find it interesting and slightly disappointing when big business and retailers latch onto cycling as the “next big thing” for their own ends.

Form follows Finland

Having just returned from a very enjoyable holiday in Finland, I was impressed by the variety of bikes being ridden out there. Of course it’s easy to be envious of the miles of segregated bike lanes, covered parking facilities etc

What really impressed me was the Jopo bike - something that looks like the mongrel offspring of a Raleigh Chopper and a Raleigh Shopper. These it turns out are perfectly suited to the Finnish climate. Sensible mudguards for the rain, pedal back brakes to avoid the salt munching through the rims, plenty of clearance to allow for snow tyres. Also they’ve got an integral rack, kick stand and wheel lock.

They were originally designed in the 60's with the objective of being suitable for any rider - can't really imagine a bike manufacturer aspiring to such an idea these days. The design's been resurrected and they're back in the shops - read all about it and buy one if the sterling:euro exchange rate goes up.

It must be all those long winter evenings and sitting around in saunas that make the Scandinavians so good at design – they’ve simply got more time to think.