Naked cyclists cop helmet warning

Two Kiwi men wearing nothing but their birthday suits have been issued with a warning for riding without protective head gear on a jaunt around a sleepy New Zealand seaside town.

Senior Constable Cathy Duder was patrolling Whangamata, a beach resort in the North Island, on a quiet Monday night when she came across the two nude men, both in their early 20s.

"They were more shocked than I was, trying to cover up their bits and pieces with their hands," Duder told AAP.

When asked for an explanation, the pair replied that "they wanted to experience total freedom".

"And I said to them `the way you're heading, you're going to experience total confinement'," the officer said, laughing.

She said the men appeared decidedly sober. "They didn't seem drunk at all. That's what worried me," she joked.

Duder issued them with a stern warning for not wearing helmets and then sent them directly home.