Cycling gets chic: Rise of London's pedal culture

Ride a bike in London and it'll change your view of the city forever.

As more cyclists clamber on, the city's cycle culture is developing, underpinned by a packed calendar of cycling events, an evolving breed of cycle cafes and a government with £1 billion ($1.54 billion) to spend on making London a bicycle city on par with Europe's best.

The number of cyclists in London has doubled in the past 10 years, according to the London Cycling Campaign.

Yet when you compare the British capital with, say, Amsterdam or Copenhagen, where strict laws preserving cyclists' rights have created near-utopian bicycling cities, London still feels like a car town.

That could change, however, with Transport for London's recent announcement of a £1 billion investment in cycle lanes and cycle safety, Kazinform refers to CNN.

From proliferating cycle cafes to themed rides and protected cycle lanes, London is showing all the signs of being on the verge of a "velorution" -- to borrow the name of a particularly trendy London cycle store.

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