Fashion’s flirtation with the bike may have been confirmed as full-blown love affair after Vogue featured chic cycling gear on the Trend page of its October edition.

The endorsement follows a season of stylish women on bikes all over the press and designers including Channel and Gucci launching their own luxury cycles.

Lauren Pyrah reports on a Darlington project which aims to get more women cycling.

CYCLING, it would appear, is a fashion pack favourite for a second season at least – but on the street it seems to have a slower take up.

New research commissioned by Cycling England shows biking is still struggling to rid itself of the image of an aggressive, hairyarmed, sweaty man in tight lycra, ignoring red lights and shouting abuse at innocent motorists.

The survey found that almost two-thirds of women say they never cycle and just two per cent cycle every day, while men are three times more likely to cycle.

The poll also suggests that women are put off cycling because they believe it is hard to look good during or after and they lack confidence on the road.

In a bid to counter these issues, an innovative project, designed to get teenage girls and young women in Darlington cycling, has completed its first fashion shoot in the town’s Pedestrian Heart.

About 20 girls and young women – including, much to the amusement of some of my male colleagues, me – are involved in the Beauty and the Bike project, which is being run by Darlington Media Workshop.

As well as creating a collection of portrait pictures, the project will record the participants’ highs and lows of cycling around the town in a documentary film.

A dialogue with girls in Bremen, Germany – a city where cycling is trendy and bike is the transport of choice for many young people – will also be opened via video messages and diaries sent through the internet.

Despite being held on a cold autumn day, the first shoot went well and produced some excellent footage, although the sight of so many girls on bikes did seem to cause a bit of a stir.

“Wow, chicks on bikes,”

smirked one lycra-clad gentleman to his sniggering friend. I’m not sure if the tight clothing was restricting the blood-flow to his head, but he certainly needs to work on his chat-up lines.

Anyway, whatever his problem was, he should certainly get used to girls cycling in Darlington, because the project is now applying for funding to establish a bike pool for members to borrow for long or short periods so they can decide which bike is right for them.

With any luck, the group will have an answer on whether they’ve managed to secure grants by the start of next year, so regardless of whether the fickle fashion industry and cycling chic stick it out longer than the honeymoon period, girls in Darlington will hopefully have been given a more lasting legacy.

■ Beauty and the Bike is still looking for teenage girls over 16 and young women to take part in the project. For information contact http://bikebeauty.mediaworkshop.org.uk/contact.html