Manchester

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Northern exposure this year!

Welcome to the Manchester Naked Bike Ride official web pages.

It all went brilliantly here in Manchester this year (2008), all good responses and between 80-100 cycled this year despite a very cold afternoon with rain and wind, we all went for it. See below for a complete ride report! Please join us or help with next year's great ride (2009).

Check out our photos to help you decide.

Questions? Contact Meg 07896 347 196 or email [email protected]

It helps to get an idea of numbers if you register your intent to participate in this ride by filling in the registration form at the main World Naked Bike Ride site.

Next ride

Date: Friday 13 June 2008
Time: 6pm assembly for 7pm departure
Location: Assemble outside The Basement, 24 Lever Street, Manchester, M1 1DZ/1DW? (off Piccadilly Gardens) – see map.

Ride details

Duration

The ride will probably take about an hour. Meet at 6pm and set off at 7pm or just after.

Dress code

In previous years, police have OKed the ride, so be ready to ride as bare as you dare. If you want to go for some kind of costume, think Friday 13th and really go to town, colourful and eye-catching. Spooky, be imaginative and creative. It's a lot of fun, the people of Manchester loved us last year.

Photography

Manchester prefers riders rather than photographers. Rider-photographers are OK but we will be using the London photography policy unless posted otherwise.

Directions

How to find The Basement? Look up postcode M1 1DW on mapping websites (eg: on Multimap).

Publicise the ride

Please help get the word out about this ride. Circulate leaflets. These may be available for collection from a central Manchester location (TBC) or get in touch with Meg (details above). We'll put a downloadable version here shortly.

Get involved

If you want to get more actively involved in the ride, please join the yahoo groups -

General UK rides discussion and/or Manchester ride planning.

Ride reports

2008

Well ....despite pretty nipply weather that gave some of us the willies, we still managed to have a great night cycling naked around our lovely city. Thankfully it didn't rain.

We've had lots of attention from the press again with a great report from Granada http://www.itvlocal.com/granada/news/?player=GRA_News_15&void=201440 Look out for an article in Manchester evening news and a couple of other local papers, plus lots of radio coverage. It was great to have people travel all the way from Liverpool, Bolton, Blackburn and of course the riders from the York ride, we even had a runner who had come all the way from belgium!

From applause on canal street, to teenagers running in excited fear, I think we all deserve a city wide cheer. Well done to all those who took part, it was a great atmosphere and I'm happy to say on final count we estimated there were about 80+ of us.

2007

Well the 2007 World Naked Bike Ride in Manchester was amazing! We had 55 brave riders join us for another hot evening cycling the streets of Manchester. The crowds cheered and photographed us and even posted videos on you tube for all to admire. We attracted a lot of interest with radio stations, the BBC, Granada, Channel M, Manchester Evening News and a nudist publication, not to mention all sorts of indie-media.

We saw the sights passing through the infamous Canal Street, our favourite and most popular hot spot! Waved our flags to the BBC, freewheeled along Oxford road to cheers of delight at Kro Bar, then down to Deansgate Locks for some celebrity support at the 'posh bars', along Deansgate past many a shocked and admiring face, tooting cars all the way, then up to the Town Hall for a moment of cobbled wobbles when we crossed Albert Square, with the breeze on our backs (among other things!) we were free to ride, with police by our side. Ringing our bells through Piccadilly Gardens, we finished with a standing ovation, before returning to our original location. We wished we could stay all naked and free, hoped that onlookers were able to see, our messages painted on backs and on bums, our hearts were still beating like happy green drums!

Media coverage

2008

• Manchester Evening News 15 June 2008: Naked cyclists ride it out by Mike Keegan
• South Manchester Reporter 19 June 2008: The Barefaced Cheek by Laura Thistlethwaite archived here
• G7uk.com 7 minute video

2007

(someone needs to google this and find the previous ride coverage)

2006

• Manchester Evening News, 12 Jun 2006: "Naked cyclists in pedal-power protest"

Photos

General links

• Flickr group: Manchester Naked Bike Ride
• Flickr search: manchester naked bike ride

2008

Add links here

2007

Add links here

2006

Add links here

Videos

2008

• G7UK: World Naked Bike Ride 2008: Manchester (blog, 18 June 2008)
• ITV Local: watch online or download 17MB video file (needs RealPlayer 11)

2007

YouTube:

• Naked Bike Ride Manchester UK 08-06-07
• World Naked Bike Ride Manchester: 8th June 2007 (1 of 12)
• World Naked Bike Ride: Manchester UK 2007

Links

Website/s

• Manchester This page (official site)
• WNBR United Kingdom (This page has FAQ info and links to the other UK rides)
• The Basement (ride starts/finishes here)
• I BIKE MCR - An amazing annual cycling festival and diverse events and rides in Manchester throughout the year. I Bike MCR seeks to promote cycling as a form of transport and as something fun.
• Multimap directions to The Basement

Discussion group/s

• WNBR Manchester Yahoo! group for people interested in helping to organise the ride
• WNBR UK Yahoo! group for discussion of all UK rides

See also United Kingdom page

Location information

• ViaMichelin Map of Manchester
• Entertainment and Accommodation in Manchester
• Information about Manchester
• Wikipedia: Manchester
• Wikipedia: Greater Manchester
• Wikipedia: Lancashire