­Cycle Chic, run by Caz Nicklin

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LOOK round London and you will see a cycling revolution taking place. In every borough, fashionistas are gliding through the city on fixed-gear riders, mountain bikes, or vintage-style ladies’ cycles.

Owning a bike used to be about saving money and getting fit, but now it is a style thing and Londoners who make up the 545,000 bike journeys a day drive an industry ­centred on looking good.

Although there is still an army of cyclists decked in Day-Glo and hi-vis wear each morning, many of London’s two-wheelers are opting for a more unique, stylish look, which involves more than just reflective gear and weather-safe shorts.

Partly driving this is the fad for fixed-gear bikes, and the interest in sub-culture sports such as bike polo. London’s bike polo devotees, who play three-a-side matches on ball courts across London, will lock horns at the European Bike Polo Championships at Southwark this weekend. Around 40 teams – four of which are from London – will take part. The event, as much about looking good as it is about winning games, will even have a best-dressed team award. This fashion, whether from classic cycle website Rapha, or the laddishness of Chunk’s bike polo range, is inspired by demand for style.

In east London, Cyclodelic has designed feminine “bra bags” fitted to suit the shape of the body so they don’t move when riding, while Bobbin stocks tweed flat caps which reflect the light of

drivers’ headlights.

In Notting Hill, Two n Fro designer Karta Healy has made a reversible tuxedo which on one side is a dinner jacket but on the inside has the pockets, zips and reflective hi-vis qualities of a ­cyclist’s jacket.

Amy Fleuriot, 23, from Dalston­, who created her Cyclodelic range in 2006 at London ­College of Fashion, has seen the market for cycle fashion ­explode. “I have seen it grow from the cusp to be a mainstream fashion trend.”

Ergonomic elegance

Cyclodelic Dalston

The brand, launched from Amy Fleuriot’s Dalston­ front room, has already­ had a line in Topshop Oxford Circus and is sold in ­Fitzrovia’s Velorution.

The line includes silk cycling caps, wool sweaters with reflective details and ­panniers which unclip and can be worn as a shoulder bag. The key to the ­success of the brand, says Fleuriot, 23, is its ­attention to ergonomics. “We test it all. We have bags which hug the bodyshape so they don’t swing around while riding and ­riding capes which look very elegant but have special fibres which reflect car headlights.”

Cyclodelic is aimed at women aged 25 and 35, says Fleuriot, who buy big sellers such as bejewelled ankle clips. “We have lots of interest from City women as we do bespoke bags designed to fit the Brompton fold-up bike.”

Best buy: Ladies’ cape (£230)

Vintage elegance

Bobbin Bicycles Islington

19 Arlington Way, EC1

Bobbinbicycles.co.uk

Bobbin Bicycles, founded in 2007 by husband-and-wife team Sian Emmison and Tom Morris, is the hub of London’s vintage bikes scene. Floral-designed bikes hang on the wall and riding capes are displayed in the windows. The look, ­inspired by the elegant “sit up and beg”-style bikes created by Bobbin and fellow cycle-maker Pashley, is a whole new fashion.

“The bikes have a cachet about them ­because they have a heritage,” says Sian. ­“Because each bike has a chain guard, women can wear beautiful flowing dresses, and young men – doctors and lawyers ­particularly – can wear suits and trousers without bunching them up at the ankle.”

Fashion magpies after the vintage look have been snapping up “Dashing Tweed” flat caps (£55),Yakkay fashion helmets designed to look like trilbies (£90), and Moody & Farrell­ sailor collars (£65) which reflect headlights.

Best buy: Moody & Farrell bib (£90)

Revolutions in clothing

Rapha Kentish Town

Kentish Town rapha.cc

Founded in 2004, Rapha is the grandaddy of the cycle cool scene, creating stylish road wear for the discerning rider.

Chief executive Simon Mottram says: “It’s no longer uncool to ride a bike. Ten years ago I would be derided for walking through an office in Sidis and a cycling jersey. These days it’s a positive image.”

Once the preserve of road-race obsessives, the Rapha look has been adopted by bike polo players and even City fixed-gear riders.

Best buy: Classic Sportwool Jersey (£125) and the flat-peaked cap (£25)

Cycle Chic Shoreditch

58-60 Rivington Street, EC2

cyclechic.co.uk

At the forefront of the cycle revolution is ­Cycle Chic, run by Caz Nicklin. A brand wich combines femininity with functionality, Cycle Chic started life as blog in 2007, before Nicklin realised the gap in the bike fashion market, opening a store in May last year.

Nicklin says its rain capes, stylish panniers, “ding-dong” bells and breathable ladies­’ vests and knickers are changing cycling­ from “a blokey, unsafe way of travelling” into something stylish.

“Our main market is women in their 20s and 30s who are fashion-conscious, though blokes are regularly banging down our door asking for more fashion,” says Nicklin. “Being in Shoreditch, we do get a lot of ­people coming from trendy design companies, and young professionals.”

Cycle Chic’s top lines include fingerless leather cycle gloves with “Love” and “Hate” written across the knuckles, and peaked Bern Muse helmets. But what Cycle Chic specialises in is beautiful Velorbis bicycles (from £899) and designer panniers.

“The cyclist’s main problem is how to get your stuff from A to B with style,” says Nicklin. “When we started, the only panniers on the market were dull, waterproof affairs. Now you have range – be it floral, leather or traditional satchel looks.”

Best buy: “Love” and “Hate” cycle gloves (£29.99)

Polo parody is a big hit

Chunk Tottenham

www.chunkclothing.com

Capitalising on bike polo subculture is the irreverent Chunk. Designer Matt Bibby has made a punk parody of the Ralph Lauren logo. The label launched its summer range featuring shirts, cardigans and hoodies at the start of the year in Urban Outfitters, House of Fraser and Asos, but the lot sold out by April.

“We thought there’d be a subtle uptake but we cleared out,” says chief executive Martin Howard. “Everyone wants to be ­associated with an anti-establishment game.”

Best buy: Limited-edition bike polo shirt (£38). Only available from ehbpc.org

Two-wheeled polo

They swap jodhpurs for jeans and have enough tattoos to get banned from a Cartier Polo event, but London’s representatives in tomorrow’s European bike polo championship in Southwark lack nothing when it comes to taking their sport seriously.

I join in at a court in Dalston­. From the “off” the players rush to be first to the ball in the middle of the court. Whoever gets there first wins possession. Then it’s a free-for-all.

According to Matt Vidal, 36, a lecturer from Dalston­, the only rule is “don’t be a d**k”. This allows room for riders to swipe each other’s mallets and do any amount of jostling to put off the other players. It’s no wonder the teams competing in the finals have names like the Malicious James Brown Experience and the Rotten Apples

The game is typically played with a street hockey ball and players make mallets out of lengths of water pipe. If a player puts his foot on the floor, he has to go to the side and “tap out” before he can return to the game.

Unless you are a keen and fearless cyclist, you will spend most of the game on your backside or cycling in circles.

But then, says John Hudson, 35, a Dalston­ bike courier, the game is as much about “having a smoke and a beer on the sidelines during breaks in play”. Amen to that.

The EHBPC will be played this weekend at Marlborough Gardens, Union Street, SE1. Games on Sat and Sun. From 9am

Check out our best cycling buys in our gallery above...