As French daily La Tribune (pay-per view article) recognises, rather than the Little Mermaid, the bicycle is really the symbol of Copenhagen, a city where 36% of people cycle to work and, according to Majbritt Kjeldstrom, a local government spokesman, 60% of people use the bike daily. And the queen of this cycle fairyland must be the Christiania tricycle.

Competition in the tricycle market has heated up, since the entrance of the curvyNihola trike seven years ago. Recent entrants in the market have included :

Christiania has been coping with the competition very well. For instance, they have been working on a Split model for a few years and they are likely officially to introduce it next year. However I am not convinced about the practicality of the concept. Yes, on paper one can see taking the children to school on the trike, then leaving the cargo box there, fit the front of the bike (stored at the school), and race to the office. In practice that sounds quite impractical; the real successful evolution in the past few years has been in making the Christiania a lot lighter and swifter, resulting in a vehicle that is pleasant to ride for much longer distances. Next year will also see the introduction of the Racer (pictured); in this case however I am somewhat sceptical about the introduction of external gears: any improvement in speed will probably be offset by more maintenance. I would rather see Lars continue in his very successful upgrading of features of the standard model: on my wishlist is a better bracket for the front light (which I believe is on its way).