London Cyclist Autumn 2024

A VISION FOR LONDON

SHARING THE JOY OF CYCLING MEET THE CAR SWAPPERS GOING DUTCH IN THE CAPITAL CYCLE BUDDIES EXPANDED PROTECTING YOUR BIKE

> 14 With a new mayor and government, what do we want to see from them on active travel?

> 34 A Dutchman who’s cycled 55,000km in London looks at how his adopted city is doing on ‘going Dutch’ E-BIKES >

EDITORIAL

The start of something big?

Photographer: Andrew Yates/Tern

Location: Greater London

LONDON CYCLIST

Unit 206, The Record Hall, 16-16A Baldwin’s Gardens, London EC1N 7RJ n 020 7234 9310 n lcc.org.uk

EDITORIAL

SIINCE WE last met there’s been two hugely important elections — the first returning Sadiq Khan for a record third term as London Mayor and the second bringing a national Labour government to power for the first time in 14 years. Khan increased his victory margin compared to 2021, emphasising the far-reaching support for his active travel plans, ULEZ and proposed climate action. Likewise, within days of entering Number 10 Keir Starmer’s cabinet was busy reversing many of the regressive and divisive environmental policies of its predecessor. The new transport secretary even stating: “We will get straight to work on our plans to make public transport and active travel much more attractive choices.”

So lots of positive noises after a protracted period of culture warmongering. And, hopefully, a more respectful atmosphere for engagement between activists, campaigners, local officers and ministers going forward. With that in mind, LCC is currently pulling together its new ‘vision’ for the city, including new mini-Hollands, car-free Sundays, quicker trial schemes and more. Read our lead feature, starting on page 14 — there’s exciting times ahead.

Finally, on behalf of the London Cyclist team, I’d like to salute Duncan Kennedy, a good friend and the man behind Surly bikes in the UK and other brands at Ison Distribution, who passed away earlier this summer — our thoughts are with his family.

John Kitchiner Editor

LCC MEMBERS’ LEGAL HELPLINE

Osbornes Law is the official legal partner of LCC, providing members with exclusive access to a legal helpline. If you’re involved in a collision or have a cycling-related legal issue, phone the cycling team at Osbornes for advice on 020 7681 8672.

Editor: John Kitchiner (london.cyclist@lcc.org.uk)

Design: Anita Razak

Contributors: Simon Munk, Melanie Etherton, Tom Bogdanowicz, Mike McSherry, Tom Fyans, Carlton Reid, Patrick van Ijzendoorn

ADVERTISING

Allie Gill (allie.gill@lcc.org.uk)

SOCIAL MEDIA

TWITTER: @london_cycling

FACEBOOK: @LondonCyclingCampaign

INSTAGRAM: @london_cycling_campaign

Editorial, copyright, membership

LCC is not aligned with any political party. All views expressed in London Cyclist are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the editor, nor do they necessarily reflect LCC policy. All material is copyrighted and may not be reproduced without the written permission of the editor. Editorial content is independent of advertising. All LCC membership offers and discounts are presented entirely at the discretion of the provider.

London Cyclist is published by LCC.

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£100,000 COMMUNITY

CYCLING FUND LAUNCHED

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH LIME

London’s grassroots cycling communities set to benefit from new project backed by shared bike hire operator

LCC HAS teamed up with Lime and Loud Mobility to launch a new £100,000

‘Share the Joy’ fund to increase cycling within under-represented groups. The fund will support organisations and community groups who are improving accessibility and inclusion, health and wellbeing, and skills and connectivity, through cycling.

Funded by Lime, this community cycling initiative will be managed by London Cycling Campaign, with support from Loud Mobility.

The first cohort of fund recipients are each receiving £2,500 to support things like core expenses, project costs and new equipment. And the first recipients of funding include Cycle Sisters, London Bike Kitchen, Wheels for Wellbeing, and Londra Bisiklet Külübü, a Turkish and Kurdish focused cycling club that provides cycle training sessions and bike maintenance sessions to community members. The fund is designed to support smaller

organisations and community groups, and LCC will be encouraging applicants for upcoming rounds to work with local LCC groups, and vice versa. The grants have to be used on urgent work within six months of receipt.

For example, London Bike Kitchen will use the money to help reopen its DIY workshop: an affordable space where Londoners of all backgrounds can learn skills to fix their bikes. The Bike Project will use the funding to distribute more refurbished bikes to refugees and people seeking asylum on their waiting list. And C86ERZ will use its grant to provide much needed storage space to help distribute items by bike to serve the basic needs of people experiencing homelessness across London.

This is just the start of a very exciting project. The next round of fund grants will take place shortly, with three further rounds before the end of 2025.

n To find out more head to: lcc.org.uk/sharethejoy

in

Londoners made highest % of trips by active travel in England; 27% by public transport. (NTS mid-2023)

Car trips down by 9% in England compared to 2019, pre-Covid, (346 per person), but a little up on 2022.

URBAN HILL CLIMB 2024 — BOOK YOUR PLACE TODAY!

IT’S TIME TO secure your place and get ready for the next edition of Urban Hill Climb. The event returns to Swain’s Lane in Highgate, on Saturday 28 September, and promises to be a fun-packed day for riders and spectators alike.

One of the only hillclimb events within Greater London, there’s something for everyone to enjoy whether you’re racing or not. Lightning-fast climbers on featherweight bikes rub shoulders with people on cargobikes, e-bikes and folders — absolutely everyone is welcome and encouraged to take part in this quirky and much-loved event.

The spectacle of cyclists taking on the climb will be accompanied by local companies offering food, drink, bike checks, cycling advice and more.

n lcc.org.uk/urbanhillclimb

WANT TO BECOME AN LCC TRUSTEE?

There are two vacancies in this year’s election to the LCC Board. Those elected will serve for three years between the 2024 and 2027 AGMs. If you wish to stand in the election, please complete and return a nomination form (lcc.org.uk/board). Note that candidates are required to be nominated by two other LCC members and are asked to provide a supporting statement of up to 500 words.

LCC is keen to encourage nominations from people who are part of groups under-represented in cycling and our organisation — and this year we would especially welcome nominations from younger people, women and people from London’s diverse communities. We are also keen to receive nominations from people with professional experience and expertise in Human Resources. Completed nomination forms must be returned to the LCC office by 9am on Monday 4 November. Full details of how to do so are on the form.

If you would like to find out more about being a trustee before applying, please email agm@lcc.org.uk and a current member of the board will contact you to arrange an informal conference call.

SAVE THE DATE FOR LCC’S AGM IN NOVEMBER

THE ANNUAL general meeting of the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) is an important occasion. It gives members a chance to discuss LCC’s performance and future plans, engage with the board of trustees, staff and fellow members, celebrate success and build momentum for the year ahead.

This year’s AGM will be held on Wednesday 20 November, 6.30-7.30pm, at Covent Garden Community Centre, 42 Earlham Street, WC2H 9LA.

Motions to the AGM

Members are invited to submit motions for debate and voting at the AGM. To submit a motion, please email it to agm@lcc.org.uk before 9am on Monday 21 October. As per LCC’s rules, which can be found online, all motions will be subject to a process of scrutiny and possible amendment prior to the AGM. Members proposing motions will be invited to attend a scrutiny meeting, in advance of the AGM, to discuss it with trustees and staff.

n lcc.org.uk/lcc-agm

Daring to dream

As a plan forms to pressure the mayor on his cycling legacy, we want to hear your ideas says Tom Fyans

LIKE MUCH OF the country

I spent the early summer dreaming a little as England reached the final of the Euros. And while that didn’t end the way we wanted, I’ve also been focused on the kind of cycling legacy we should be pushing for from Sadiq Khan as he embarks on his third term — it’s what, for now, we’ve called our ‘Dare to Dream’ project. With a little help from our friends in the cycling and active travel world we’ve been busy exploring some very exciting ideas, including a car-free West End, free hire bikes all weekend, car-free Sundays, earmarked community cycling funding for underrepresented groups, and next generation ‘mini Hollands’ in outer boroughs (read more on page 14).

Whilst I’m enjoying the policy roundtables and deep thinking we’re doing on how to maximise the political opportunity we must take to keep London on course to become a world-class cycling city, I’m also loving my first cycling summer at LCC. This has meant getting out on rides to meet with our amazing local groups, members, partners and wider cycling community as much as possible.

Saturdays in July are always great for bike-related activity and added to the calendar this

year was our first ‘Share the Joy’ festival in Camden, mixing rides, music, food, and other fun for all ages. Plus it was a chance to meet up with some of the inspiring organisations benefitting from the new community cycling fund we have set up with Lime and Loud Mobility. The £100,000 in the pot already is to increase cycling within under-represented groups and deliver equitable access to its beneficiaries. It will support organisations and community groups who are improving London’s accessibility and inclusion, health and wellbeing, and skills and connectivity through cycling.

Record numbers cycling

I’m proud that London is leading the way in cycling in the UK. But we need to ensure as many people as possible — regardless of age, income, background, experience or ability — feel cycling in London is a choice available to them. This is where the fund can help, by providing support to those working

“To get more people cycling, we need to keep asking who isn’t cycling and why?”

Tom Fyans Chief Executive of the London Cycling Campaign

closely with their communities to overcome specific barriers.

More than one million cycle journeys are made in London every day and almost 50% of us already cycle here or want to start. This didn’t happen overnight. People used to think cycling in London wasn’t safe or for people like them. We generally focus on how we cycle. Do we have access to safe cycling infrastructure? Is there somewhere suitable and convenient for us to park or store our bikes? How can we identify and fix dangerous junctions?

These will always be important questions and we still have progress to make here. And it is important to celebrate the hard work and campaigning that has delivered this progress, not least by LCC members and supporters.

But as we seek to get even more people cycling we also need to keep asking who isn’t cycling and why? To continue London’s cycling transformation, it is important that we reach new audiences to share the benefits of cycling with. So let’s all dare to dream and share the joy at the same time, because London really does love cycling.

n PS — I dare you to share your dream for improving cycling in London with us, so please do get in touch at campaigns@lcc.org.uk.

Parisian possibilities

While the cities’ governance differs, Toby Hopkins believes London can learn from a bold Paris vision

THE OBSERVATIONS are coming thick and fast.

“Listen, we can’t hear traffic — there just isn’t any noise pollution,” says Danny. “Look, an urban forest where there used to be five lanes of traffic,” adds Emily. A little later, Christian: “Can you imagine? An actual law that says if you have a 30km/h one-way street the local authority must provide a cycling contraflow?”

There are a dozen of us visiting Paris on a fact-finding mission — UK cycling activists, including three LCC trustees — and it’s fair to say that we’re blown away by what we see in the two days that we’re guided around. We can’t agree on our favourite bits, but we do agree that Mayor Anne Hidalgo has transformed the city inside a decade. Between fixing our punctures and showing off their city, our new French friends tell us that progress has not been smooth and has a way to go. They have had to pressure Hidalgo to speed up delivery of schemes and not compromise on quality. But to us the transformation is remarkable, for the quality and quantity of cycling infrastructure it has introduced — and even more so for its boldly stated and successful intention to reduce motor traffic. In sharp contrast to London, authorities happily

remove on-street parking, and within central Paris cycle journeys now substantially outnumber car journeys. The ambition and success of the Paris mayor appears to outstrip her counterpart in London.

Sometimes the wind has been set fair for change — pandemic and lockdowns presented Hidalgo with opportunities — but it was the political will to pursue those as much as the availability of funding that has allowed Paris to press ahead.

Big, bold ideas

The mayor’s writ does not run everywhere. There are mayors of arrondissements who resist change in their areas. Just like in London, west of the city centre there are prosperous areas where streets are still congested with cars. While we ourselves did not hear culture war-style rhetoric on our trip, after our return to London our Parisian interlocutors were very worried about what success for the far right in national elections might mean for street design.

“We do agree that Mayor Anne Hidalgo has transformed the city inside a decade”

There are some political lessons for Londoners. We saw a refreshing approach to consultation: authorities engaging with residents and adapting schemes where they can be improved. But as one deputy mayor said, “the big consultation is the election”. Consultations are not referenda on whether schemes should go ahead.

We’re then briefed on a remarkable campaign to bring change beyond the city centre where cycling modal share is low and infrastructure thin on the ground. For the 2020 local elections activists combined to draw up a ‘desire map’, in the style of a London tube map, to show a potential cycling network for the metropolitan region. This had so much cut-through it was adopted by multiple mayors and authorities, and the first of its ‘tube line’ cycle routes are being built now. This sort of bold vision, built by collective endeavour and dynamically expressed, has great campaigning strength.

Paris does not provide a perfect vision for any of us visitors, but it does inspire us all. If you go bold you can bring radical change to a global city within ten years. Right now that’s the challenge for Sadiq Khan: how, in the next four years, will he take his commitments on active travel to a much-needed level?

Toby Hopkins is an LCC trustee and co-founded the Cycle Buddies programme

Celebrate the joy

As he’s midway through a new two-wheeled adventure, Carlton Reid pauses to salute the pleasure of pedalling

IT’S BEEN GREAT to see much of LCC’s recent campaigning around the ‘joys of cycling’. As a cinéma-vérité photographer who likes to grab shots of real cyclists in the wild, however, let me tell you that, while in the act, riding a bike often doesn’t appear smileysmiley. Generally, the happiness isn’t visible. If anything, most people grimace a little, and not just when puffing up hills.

Yes, those on electric bikes are said — by sales folks generally — to be wall-to-wall grins, but that’s largely on the first power-assisted pedal. After that, it’s back to the standard gurn. Anti-cycling Victorians called this ‘bicycle face’, an affliction they griped was “characterised by a hard, clenched jaw and bulging eyes”. In 1895, an article in Literary Digest dismissed cyclists as “usually flushed, but sometimes pale, often with lips more or less drawn, and the beginning of dark shadows under the eyes, and always with an expression of weariness.” Bikelash is nothing new.

When my wife rides to work on her e-bike, she’s not smiling. She’s concentrating on not getting knocked off and, when no motorists are near, thinking about the day ahead. She, like many others, would rather cycle to work than drive because it’s simply more pleasurable

to pedal. And healthier, and all the other benefits. If only more people tried it.

The joy of cycling might not always be obvious, but it’s there, even on a cold, wet commute. Or a bike tour such as the one I’m on now, a 4,500-mile ride around Britain’s best bits. I’m researching a book, and taking photographs, including with my heavy drone — there’s a gallery on bestbritishbikerides.com and a Strava-powered map of my daily progress for those interested.

Big ride time

I’m riding solo, and while I frequently laugh out loud at my own (dad) jokes, I’m still probably not smiling a great deal. Nevertheless, I am enjoying myself immensely. And even on 100-mile days in horizontal rain, I’m experiencing an oddly compulsive masochistic form of joy. Three months of such joy.

This joy was very noticeable to me when I rode around Mousehold

“The joy of cycling might not be obvious, but it’s there, even on a cold, wet commute”

Carlton Reid is a book author and leading transport journalist

Heath in Norwich, my childhood home, on the southern England leg of my trip. I had pannier bags attached and was riding a £3,500 gravel bike with a top-of-the-range GPS unit on the handlebars, among other digital wonders. Yet I very much remembered the simple joy of cycling in those woods when I was younger, riding basic cheap bikes fitted with zero technology.

I remember flying through the air, with my younger brother riding backie, as we hit a downhill lump at speed. That sensation of flight, likely briefer and shorter in reality than in memory, was intensely joyful. (Somehow we didn’t break any bones.)

Back on Mousehold Heath in the present, I was probably smiling as I weakly attempted a few for-oldtimes’-sake low jumps on my fullyloaded, high-end modern machine. I spotted a bunch of young teens swooping down the tracks I used to tear down; none were smiling, but I bet they loved being in the moment, messing around on their mountain bikes with their mates.

Paraphrasing that much-used HG Wells quote — “When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race” — I think similar, but for children. It fills me with joy that new generations love what I love.

A NEW VISION FOR LONDON

With

Sadiq Khan

and

Keir Starmer both

winning

big this

summer, what should their active travel policies look like? Simon Munk proposes a new vision for the capital and country...

IT’S BEEN AN historic year so far at the ballot box, with Mayor Sadiq Khan returned for a record third term in London, followed immediately by a landslide general election win for Labour under Sir Keir Starmer. In the tumult, not only did we see much of outer London, despite predictions to the contrary, vote for Khan despite his ULEZ expansion, but in the general election we even saw areas such as Uxbridge — scene

of a very narrow Conservative byelection win in 2023, supposedly due to the unpopularity of ULEZ — turn red.

Pundits of all hues have taken it in turns to discuss the dog days of the previous government, the Reform vote surge and low turnouts among many other things, but it is hard to see the voting patterns in the capital — with a huge swing away from Conservatives and a big rise in votes for Greens, etc — as anything

other than a mandate for more progress on active travel and an end to the divisive culture war rhetoric.

Just as nationally, it’s hard to make a case that the last administration’s late stage attacks on cycling, LTNs and ‘green policies’ landed well.

The previous government’s pro-driver stance has already been jettisoned quite extensively, with new transport minister, Louise Haigh, within days of the election putting forward five priorities for the UK’s transport:

rail reform and improvements; bus services; infrastructure for the whole country (“promoting social mobility and tackling regional inequality”); greener transport; and integrating transport networks. Of those, at least three directly represent a shift away from ‘more cars’ transport planning. It seems likely then, that not only is there party alignment between London’s Mayor, more of its MPs and the national party, but that there is likely to be support from national government for Khan’s pledges on transport and active travel.

Prior to the mayoral election, Khan recommitted to his aim to make London a ‘net zero’ city by 2030 — just two years after his latest term ends. To do that, the report he commissioned on decarbonisation says he’ll need to cut motor vehicle distance driven by 2030 by a quarter from pre-pandemic rates. That, in turn, likely means bringing forward

his Transport Strategy targets by 10 years, from 2041. The aim for that date would be a mode share of 80% for active and sustainable travel modes, and an end to serious and fatal road collisions, as well as completing the Strategic Cycling Network across all of London. No small order. Particularly given Khan took ‘pay per mile’ or other forms of smart road user charging off the table in the run-up to the vote, pledging not to introduce such a scheme in the next four years.

Funding constraints

Of course, both national and London politicians face one very big issue coming out of their elections that really makes the Mayor’s pledge to avoid ‘pay per mile’ in London limiting — the current state of the economy. In his manifesto, Khan restated his intention to continue spending at the current rate on active travel as

a minimum — but without more funding for London from ‘pay per mile’ he will really struggle to deliver radical change to achieve his decarbonisation, transport and active travel aims. There does, however, remain the possibility that the Mayor’s counting on a Labour government to introduce ‘pay per mile’ faster than anyone else anticipates.

Even with constrained cash there is much Khan can and should do to get us towards net zero, to dramatically cut road collisions, and to enable a massive shift of journeys away from private motor vehicles and towards other modes. A majority of motor vehicle journeys in London, according to TfL data-crunching, could be taken differently — short journeys, with light loads, point-to-point (without stops), single occupancy trips, and more. And most of the potential to shift modes goes

Photo: John Kitchiner

from cars to cycling — millions of journeys daily across the capital.

So the stakes are high. The Mayor has little money to play with, has taken a key funding scheme out of the equation, and internally at TfL it’s clear that there’s infighting and siloed thinking, particularly around buses, to contend with. He and his deputy mayor for transport, Seb Dance, will need to achieve much to stand even a chance of achieving Khan’s stated aims. Luckily, he’s not alone.

In July, LCC convened a ‘brains trust’ of experts and organisations to consider what Khan could, should and must do for London over the next four years, and what that could mean for the legacy of his mayoralty when ULEZ is done and dusted. We can’t reveal all of the brilliant ideas that we’re discussing with the Mayor’s team yet. But here’s a few key ones to whet your appetite, with more to follow this autumn.

Outer London: mini-Hollands return

Both electorally and in active travel outer London is a huge issue for the Mayor. TfL’s Cycling Action Plan makes clear that to really grow and diversify cycling — for it to hit its potential, and also to reduce car ownership and use — outer London is key.

Superloop buses represent one example of TfL increasingly thinking smarter about outer London’s transport woes, where there’s less public transport, more car ownership, and areas where bike is still a four-letter word.

On top of Superloop, we want

Khan and the team to consider the success of Waltham Forest’s 10-year-old mini-Holland programme. While both Enfield and Kingston also show how outer London active travel programmes can work, it’s Waltham Forest that’s picked up multiple awards and been toured extensively by visiting officials.

We have a secret idea for how the Mayor can really revitalise the approach of schemes centred on an outer London town centre and its surrounds, but what is needed is a bidding process or quality bar that sees more schemes that look like Waltham Forest’s in coherence, boldness and pace.

Car-free Sundays everywhere

Currently, closing a central area to motor traffic for the annual RideLondon FreeCycle is clearly hugely expensive — with extensive barriers, signage and marshals. But could a similar approach using

closed roads, or a mass participation ride with marshals, turbo-boost a vision of a London and/or your nearest town centre — places where cycling and walking come before cars, where it’s easy, safe and comfortable to cycle, where streets aren’t for boy racers, but children dinging bells and making chalk drawings on the Tarmac? Doing so monthly might be feasible, in the same way that Paris initially closed the Seine riverside.

Central London: ‘car light’ West End

There is, of course, an alternative to closing huge swathes of central London to motor traffic once a year, or even monthly — and that’s closing it every day. The pandemic period’s Soho al fresco scheme was hated by some residents (for noise and other antisocial behaviour), but given most of Europe can manage it, it’s surely not beyond the wit of our Mayor, MPs and councils in central London to deal

Photo: Crispin Hughes

with the downsides and create an alternative to dangerously overcrowded pavements, non-stop motor vehicle noise and fumes, and iconic areas and landmarks marooned in a sea of taxis, motorbikes and vans?

Removing ‘through’ motor traffic from the West End, pedestrianising some streets, using ‘bus gates’ or ‘bus and cycle only’ sections on others, and timing deliveries for the late evening or mornings across the area is entirely feasible. It’s past time the West End got a big boost to enable it to stay relevant and attractive to visitors in the modern age, by putting people above cars.

Rogue boroughs

The arrival of a matching red Mayor and government, along with more Labour MPs in the city raises the tantalising prospect of Khan finally getting support to tackle boroughs who can’t or won’t make positive changes for walking, wheeling and cycling.

The Secretary of State can, in theory, approve the Mayor taking over strategic roads — and while that is a ‘nuclear’ option that’s

never been used, if the government and the Mayor want to achieve their goals, then a few London boroughs holding up any progress on strategic corridors need to be urgently looked at. Most notably this would mean Kensington & Chelsea council and Kensington High Street.

Trials, not delays

It’s not a ‘big idea’, like delivering cycle tracks on Kensington High Street, but it’s one that works and where dropping it as an approach has played directly into the hands of those who want less active travel. We’re talking about giant ‘Lego-style’ blocks or, simply, trials using temporary materials.

The approach taken by many councils and TfL during the initial pandemic period of 2020 was to put in schemes on a trial basis, monitor them and see if they worked, amend them, and later consult and make them permanent. This approach gradually became more and more controversial because residents often felt uninformed, unable to raise concerns, even ‘railroaded’ — and because some in the tabloid press particularly used

those concerns as a culture war attack angle.

Since the pandemic eased, trials of schemes using temporary materials, such as big red or white plastic blocks or ‘wand’ cycle protectors, still visibly dotted around the city, stalled, then ceased entirely. Instead, we’re now hearing of TfL schemes held up for years again due to extensive modelling cycles, and redesigns over and over to suit consultees and ease ‘concerns’. The issue is, though, that slowing down delivery in a climate crisis is bad enough, it’s doubly dumb when the fast-paced ‘trial and test’ approach worked.

The vast majority of trialled schemes have been retained, and made permanent since, with upgrades. Many were tweaked or improved in situ before being made permanent. The issue then is often people’s expectations that any changes to their streets or lives will be made with years of advance notice — something that doesn’t happen, of course, with emergency roadworks, extreme weather events and other scenarios.

London leads

We’ve also already written to London’s MPs to say that there is a national approach they can take that will help the Mayor and Labour’s ‘missions’. This is to fund active travel and TfL properly, with a longer term settlement; and more, be proud of what London is achieving as we reduce car use, emissions and collisions, and roll out a safe cycle network for all. The learnings from the capital can then be used to deliver similar across the entire UK.

HAL STEVENSON

London Cyclist speaks with Lime’s Director of Policy about the new community fund and the future of shared cycle hire schemes

What prompted Lime to initiate the Share the Joy community fund?

The Share the Joy campaign and fund is about celebrating why we all cycle and sharing its benefits with new audiences. The fund will help local community groups and organisations spread cycling joy across London as we continue to work together to build a world class cycling city.

What role do you see Lime playing in the cycling culture of London?

More than 1.2 million cycle journeys are made in London every day and almost 50% of us already cycle here or want to start. London wasn’t always like this though. People used to think that cycling wasn’t safe or for people like them. TfL, London boroughs, community groups and campaigners have worked together to make huge progress to change this.

At Lime we see ourselves as part of this transformation, and part of the fabric of cycling culture in London. 60% of our users are more likely, or much more likely, to cycle after using our service, and 49% of Londoners aged 18-34 reported using a shared e-bike at least once per week.

How important is the continued installation of cycling infrastructure to the success of shared bike schemes?

Quality cycling infrastructure is

critical to the success of shared e-bike schemes. We’ve made huge progress in developing safe riding infrastructure across London, but investment in the number of places you can park a bike is lagging behind. We want to work with boroughs to identify and implement thousands more parking locations across London, helping to build a reliable and convenient network for shared e-bike users.

We also want to fund thousands more cycle stands for shared and private cyclists. Please get in touch with us if we can work with your local LCC branch to submit a funding proposal to your borough.

What are your hopes for the community fund in three years time?

Just like our bikes, the community fund is made to be shared. We have provided an initial investment of £100,000, which will be distributed to community groups over an 18-month period. We can’t wait to see what the fantastic organisations we are working with, like Wheels for Wellbeing or Cycle Sisters, do with it.

We hope to be able to make further investments in the fund after this initial period and welcome additional donor contributions to help even more community groups in London spread cycling joy.

In central London shared bikes now seem as common as buses. How much growth has there been in terms of number of bikes, users, trips and distances travelled and how much more growth do you expect?

Over the last six years we’ve worked with council partners to expand our shared e-bike scheme across 17 boroughs, building a network of more than 1.5 million people who rely on the availability and convenience of our service to make hundreds of thousands of trips a month.

Users are now able to cycle from north-east Hackney to Hounslow, or, more likely, take a quick 10-minute trip to a nearby tube station, high street or office.

The growth — in users, trips and partner boroughs — is only set to continue, and we look forward to working with TfL, boroughs and community groups to get even more people on bikes and making more active and sustainable travel choices.

Do you think that shared hire bikes are disrupting or changing perceptions of the need or desire to ‘own’ a vehicle? Can you see the model of shared use taking off in other industries?

Different people and trips require different modes — whether that is a shared e-bike, private bike, public transport or even car. I use shared e-bikes every day but still own my own bike. And while I might prefer to cycle a Lime around Richmond Park at the weekend, it probably isn’t the best mode for the purpose of that trip!

Ultimately, any mode that can boost active and sustainable travel rates and reduce unnecessary car journeys in London should be encouraged.

How does growth in dockless bike use in London compare to other cities?

London is well on its way to becoming a world class cycling city and the usage of shared e-bikes here is reflective of that progress. We’re focused on working with our partner boroughs and TfL to continue that growth and ensure that we are able to deliver a network of shared e-bike parking locations that can keep pace with, and further increase, that demand.

Where are you seeing most usage of dockless bikes in London and what do you think drives usage?

We see really high usage rates right across the city. The areas of highest usage include boroughs which have set up more flexible parking rules to make the service as easy to use as possible. This includes boroughs such as Southwark and Wandsworth.

What transport modes are dockless users switching from?

Shared e-bikes are one of the most convenient and enjoyable ways to travel in London. Over 30% of our trips are commuter journeys and 10% replace a motor vehicle. One in three start or end near a public transport hub.

While Londoners in inner London boroughs now have wide access to Lime, Forest and Santander bikes, outer London is still poorly served by dockless or docked bikes. What will it take to change that and are operators prepared to invest in less dense areas?

Lime runs successful services across a range of London boroughs, including less central areas like Hounslow, Ealing, Haringey and Lewisham. We welcome the opportunity to expand into outer London and work with boroughs to design services that are able to operate successfully in these areas. Key factors include high vehicle availability and flexible parking rules — which are critical to developing an easy-to-use and popular scheme.

There are numerous complaints about Lime bikes littering pavements. What is the company doing to stop this and has there been progress on a London-wide shared bike parking regulation with designated parking spots?

Ultimately, any mode that can boost active and sustainable travel rates should be encouraged

We understand the importance of preventing pavement obstructions across London and have made a number of investments in our technology — such as GPS to control where a vehicle can be parked or mandatory end trip photos, and an onthe-ground team to help improve this.

The most frequent complaint we now receive is

about overcrowded parking locations, rather than individual vehicles being left where they shouldn’t.

We are working with boroughs to address this by identifying and funding new locations, including the proposed use of under-capacity cycle stands to provide additional parking. We don’t want to take space away from private bike users so for every cycle stand our bikes are able to be parked at, we will fund two more for that borough.

It makes sense for London e-bike regulations to be simplified and for bikes to be required to be left in designated locations in central London. However, city-wide proposals won’t work unless there is flexibility regarding different parking rules for more and less central boroughs. It doesn’t make sense for the same parking rules to apply in Westminster as Merton.

Can so-called ‘corrals’ or mandatory parking zones for shared bikes work both in inner London and outer London, or do we have to have different regulations in different zones?

Growing into a city-wide scheme:

Lime’s bikes are available in 17 London boroughs

Mandatory parking rules can only work in areas with very high parking density to ensure the service is still convenient and easy to use. If mandatory parking rules are enforced in areas without sufficient parking density people will either not use the service or abandon bikes out of agreed areas because they need to walk too far to pick up or park bikes.

Transport consultancy Steer and thinktank Centre for London recently published a report on this topic. They recommended a minimum density of 25 locations per square kilometre for central London boroughs that use mandatory parking rules and flexible parking in less central areas. Flexible parking means that dedicated locations are still provided in high footfall areas, like transport hubs and high streets, but users can park non-obstructively elsewhere.

An obvious part of the problem is vandalism — people are knocking over bikes that have been parked correctly. How can operators deter such vandalism?

Actually we see very low rates of vandalism across London. Of course, with any 24/7 on-street service there can be issues with poor behaviour, but we have robust hardware mechanisms and an extensive onthe-ground team to help prevent it.

How ‘sustainable’ and durable is the current generation of Lime bikes?

We are the only shared e-bike operator to independently design our vehicles.

Lime’s Gen4 e-bikes are manufactured using more than 45% recycled materials. They have an independently certified lifetime of more than five years and are 97% recyclable at end of life, which helps us achieve nearly 100% landfill diversion. Our London warehouses and swappable battery charging is also powered using only 100% renewable energy.

Users of dockless bikes complain about the high cost of trips — often more than a tube fare — can operators make bikes more affordable yet run a profitable business, or are current prices as low as they will ever be?

Shared e-bikes are one of the most affordable ways to travel in London. You can travel for 30 minutes for as little as £3.99, and an hour for £6.99 via our ride passes (available to purchase in-app). We also offer 50% off our pay-as-you-go rate to emergency service workers and other concession pass holders via our Lime Access scheme.

Our pricing is set up to deliver a well managed, long-term and financially sustainable service, which we can continually re-invest into. Initiatives such as our £1million parking infrastructure fund, or our new Share the Joy fund, would not be possible without this.

Do you think a city like London can sustain more than one dockless operator?

Demand for cycling and shared e-bikes in London is continuing to grow. We are focused on working with TfL and our partner boroughs to continue that growth and ensure that we are able to deliver a network of shared e-bike parking locations that can keep pace with, and further increase, that demand.

Sharing the joy: shared bikes are helping more people swap transport modes

You currently only offer one style of e-bike — do you think there’s scope for shared cargobikes and is it something Lime is considering?

Lime’s mission is to help build a future of transport that is shared, affordable and carbon-free. As part of this, we need to work together to prevent as many unecessary car journeys as possible.

Some of the reasons people might not be able to use shared e-bikes at the moment include needing to carry additional passengers or cargo. We are constantly reviewing our vehicle offering and want to ensure we are able to cater for as many different journey types as possible.

Does dockless technology allow you to limit bike speeds in shared pedestrian zones and are you doing that in London?

Shared e-bike operators have the ability to change how a vehicle can be used, including enforcing go-slow zones, as well as no-go zones. While this technology exists, it is important it is only implemented where absolutely necessary to avoid the mode becoming difficult to use. Generally, people using shared e-bikes should be able to ride wherever a private cyclist can.

As per national regulations, Lime e-bike pedal assistance is also limited to 15.5mph.

THE CAR SWAPPERS

Switching journeys from car to bike doesn’t just save money, it changes lives and places. Melanie Etherton meets a handful of converts

GARY FANNIN

Age: 55

Borough: Hammersmith & Fulham

What prompted you to change?

About nine years ago I had to sell my car for financial reasons. On the day I sold it, I cried. I grew up in Texas where car was king — you absolutely had to have a car, there was no public transport and no choice. When I moved to London that was my headspace. I lived in Zone 2 and I would drive the 15-minute walk to the tube station, then spend 10 minutes driving around looking for a parking space.

What were you most worried about?

I had all the fears — how will I do my shopping, how will I get around? But more than that I felt like I was losing a part of my identity, losing status. Eight years later, I laugh looking back at myself.

What journeys have you switched?

Everything. When I need a car I’ll hire a Zipcar, I use the e-bikes a lot too, Lime and Dott and all that. And I walk. The slower-paced journeys mean I’m discovering so much more of my neighbourhood. It was such an eyeopener for me. When I was in a car I didn’t notice things.

The need for carers to drive is an argument I hear made often by the driving lobby. But I’m a carer for an elderly friend of mine out in Tooting. I cycle down to see him and it takes 20 minutes, zipping past all the cars. When I take him to appointments, I hire a car, I get an Uber, I get a taxi. We’ve been sold this idea that driving is essential, that the car is freedom — look at any car commercial, driving down empty city centre streets — and it’s just not true.

How has your wider week changed? I’ve set up and run the Wandsworth Bridge Road Association, liaising with the council and community about

making our area better. Even when I formed the association I was very ‘anti’ Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. I knew nothing about induced demand or the science behind traffic. But now our association has planted our flag and we want to deprioritise cars; we’ve got a new 20mph speed limit, we’ve got an e-cargobike hire scheme, we’ve run three full-street closure events. I’m really proud of how far we’ve come.

What are you most enjoying about being car-free?

I have a slipped disc from around the same time I gave up my car, due to all the stress. All the physical movement I now do helps keep me pain-free.

What’s the financial impact?

I did a very methodical calculation and I reckoned I saved roughly £2,000 a year by getting rid of the car. And I don’t take £2,000 worth of Ubers so it’s definitely saving money.

JIM BUSH

Age: 58

Borough: Croydon

What prompted you to change?

The £2,000 ULEZ scrappage scheme. My car was ancient. Every year with the MOT there was something that needed fixing and when I put the registration plate into webuyanycar. com it was so old they weren’t interested. So if someone was going to give me two grand for scrapping it, that seemed like a good deal. I went for £1,600 cash, plus a free annual bus and tram pass.

What journeys have you switched?

I used to drive 250 miles a year so I wasn’t using it a lot anyway. The main

journey was driving to the swimming pool because it’s at the top of a hill. So now I plan my swimming sessions around the tram strikes.

What were you most worried about?

I worried about my parents who live in Oxfordshire. My dad’s 90 next month: what if I need to go at short notice or to ferry them around? But it’s fine. The rest of family live nearby, so there’s plenty of help available.

What are you most enjoying about being car-free?

Not having to worry about parking. We’ve got 19 parking spaces in our cul-de-sac and it’s often full, and I still check out of habit to see if I can park,

but of course now it doesn’t matter!

More broadly, I have been an amputee for 30 years and realised early on that cycling is great as it’s non-weight bearing exercise. I avoid walking as much as possible, but cycling gives me mobility. That’s partly what led me to London Cycling Campaign, where I’ve done part-time bookkeeping for more than 10 years, and I’m also a regular volunteer with Wheels for Wellbeing.

What’s the financial impact?

All the general costs that come with fume-belchers: MOTs, insurance, vehicle tax. The £2,000 from the ULEZ scrappage. And I’ve stopped having to pay attention to petrol prices — what do I care now?

Age: 37

Borough: Redbridge

What prompted you to change?

The Cycle Sisters ‘Switch Your Journey’ initiative — it’s a campaign this summer asking us to try switching one of our normal journeys to cycling. Switching is a process and unless we get a push like that our family wouldn’t want to try out something new.

What journeys have you switched?

I switched my school pick-up and drop-off from car to bike, and now I ride to and from school with my daughter. Before this I would take the car to go to my daughter’s school, even though it’s less than one mile. I didn’t actually think I would switch, but Minha’s eight, she already had a bike and she did some

cycling last summer. I told her she’d have to get her bike out. The first day she was excited, she came along and we started just like that. Since then we take our bikes together and go to the school, and we’re always early!

What were you most worried about?

The routes. When I ride with Cycle Sisters we’ll find a quieter, slower route, but there have been times this month I’ve needed to go direct and it’s just not safe enough.

How has your wider week changed as a result?

I hope this change is for good. It’s just a few weeks left until school closure and I hope I shall continue cycling and drive less, including for the monthly family food shop, but all those things that are

near like getting milk and the school run I can do with the bike.

What are you most enjoying about being car-free?

Particularly I like some more mumdaughter time: Minha enjoys cycling along with me. And my husband is enjoying me not constantly asking: “Oh, will you go do the school run?” He’s really happy that he’s also not having to drive her, so he gets some time back in his day.

What’s the financial impact?

I don’t see the cost of the petrol, my husband is the one who takes care of putting the petrol in the car. But he seems happy!

n Find

ISSATH BANU & HER DAUGHTER MINHA

TONY LA CAILLE

Age: 55

Borough: Southwark

What prompted you to change?

It wasn’t by choice! Before I joined Man Maid all my previous handyman jobs were driving jobs. But it became so stressful. The same route might take one hour or four hours, depending on the traffic. The driving rather than the work became the hardest aspect of it.

What journeys have you switched?

When I started at Man Maid, they used trikes for all their handyman jobs around west London. I was a bit unsure of the whole concept, to be honest with you. But I’ve taken to it, it’s brilliant and now I’m not sure why people don’t use trikes more. They fit an ideal range where you’re carrying a fair amount, but not a tremendous amount.

What were you most worried about?

The handling. I’m old school: I grew up cycling in London when it wasn’t fashionable – Raleigh Choppers, racing bikes. But I’d never ridden a trike and I was a bit sceptical if it would actually take the weight. But they handle fine. The effort it takes to cycle them is minimal, and you’ve got the electric assist uphill as well.

How has your wider week changed as a result?

Although a van is quicker on paper, you have to give at least 15-30 mins leeway — you can’t ever really predict the traffic. Whereas on the bike, if you’re running five minutes late you cycle faster! You can keep to allotted times and you’re not at the whim of the traffic, so it makes timings with customers a lot easier.

What are you most enjoying about being car-free?

Less pressure. You’ve got the wind in your hair and you’re cycling along. It’s just great.

What’s the financial impact?

Going back to a van now wouldn’t be financially viable. Because of ULEZ, you can’t just pick up an old van so it’s at least £20,000 for a larger-type model, whereas a cargotrike is about £6,000. Then the van’s £1,500 a year to insure. Plus if you go electric you need a charging point, whereas with a cargobike you just carry the batteries upstairs. And with a van you’ve got to park it. I like the electric vans but I don’t think it’s a practical answer to a lot of the issues, whereas a trike is.

n Tony works for Man Maid, a bespoke handyman service in west London who travel to and from all their jobs by trike (man-maid.co.uk).

Age: 57

Borough: Waltham Forest

What prompted you to change?

We were thinking about moving out of London and wanted more access to the countryside. A couple of years ago my partner passed her driving test and bought a car to share with her brother. At the same time I was struggling with our two boys and my singlespeed bike. Seven months after buying an e-cargobike my only regret is not doing it sooner.

What journeys have you switched? Holidays, and journeys to and from

school. Walking takes about 30 minutes. Now the round-trip takes less than 10 minutes with them both on the bike, so it’s saves a lot of time and stress.

What were you most worried about? Getting it in the lift at the station. There’s a real patchwork quilt of services when it comes to integrating the cargobike with train journeys. But after careful prep we have managed to take it with the boys on a trip to Suffolk.

How has your wider week changed? It gives me more time; after school drop-off I can get a swim in. I feel we’ve now got more quality time as a family.

What are you most enjoying about being car-free?

People’s reactions! I’m about 5ft4in and the bike with two kids on is quite big. I’ve lost count of the number of conversations it’s started.

People say things like: “Who needs a car?”. Or “Love it!”, or “I think it’s brilliant.” And I’ve even been filmed by a Russian woman while waiting outside the hairdressers!

It’s great to have these positive engagements with people while I’m out and about — I’m just a woman in my 50s riding around in normal clothes and I feel like I’m an ambassador for everyday cycling.

HELEN BOOTH & HER SON EDEN

ELISABETH MINKNER

Age: 59

Borough: Bromley

What prompted you to change?

We had a company car in the Netherlands, and then we moved back to the UK and carried on doing everything by bicycle and public transport. The car was just standing around, so I gave it back. Now the driveway is empty. Living in Zone 6 in Bromley this is very unusual: most families have two or even three cars. Our children going to university was the final push. We just didn’t need it.

What journeys have you switched?

Everything. I find it much more pleasant to cycle in central London than round here in Bromley, but I won’t be deterred. There’s a local

music centre maybe two miles from my home, and I’m the only one from our choir of nearly 80 people who turns up by bicycle. Everybody else drives. They complain about lack of parking, but don’t think that they could do it differently. I feel like an activist every day just by getting on my bike. It’s shocking.

What were you most worried about?

Having to cycle everywhere because there is no alternative has taught me that the British weather is not actually as bad as its reputation. I have rarely gotten completely soaked.

How has your wider week changed?

People round here wonder how I can manage without a car. Well, quite well, actually! We’ll take the train and walk.

I’ll take the bike on the train and cycle to my final destination: it’s much nicer than sitting on the tube. I work from home a lot of the time anyway.

For shopping I’ve got big panniers so I can carry fairly heavy loads, and of course I get supermarket delivery. Yes there’s the odd taxi journey, but that’s within reach because we don’t have the monthly outgoings from the car.

What’s the financial impact?

What we save on car expenditure we spend on nice holidays now. Because of our lower outgoings we splashed out on the holiday of a lifetime — we went to Indonesia, diving in the Raja Ampat islands, and a cultural tour in Sulawesi. It was a really big adventure and the most spectacular holiday imaginable.

AHEALTHY BREAKFAST

with a real croissant, a piece of Spanish tortilla, or some strong Italian cappuccino — that’s a typical start to an S-Cape cycling day. Leaving your luggage at reception, you say goodbye to the friendly staff at the hotel and then pedal quietly off into the distance, following our user-friendly navigation app. A few hours later, you’ll arrive at a small village where a shady terrace awaits and an opportunity to enjoy a delicious lunch of fresh local products with a glass of good wine, or locally-crafted beer. Sounds good doesn’t it?

Europe is one of the most diverse and multicultural regions on earth, and the best way to explore it is on an S-Cape tour. Every trip is created by in-house cycling experts who want you to experience their country, with their own distinct

DISCOVER EUROPE BY BIKE

Cycling travel experts S-Cape are ready to welcome you on a classic tour

customs and cultures, culinary specialities and outlook. The unique programmes feature hand-picked accommodation, natural parks and destinations of great beauty, as well as cultural interest. Plus all logistics are taken care of, including transfers, luggage transportation, travel documents, preparing road books, maps and navigation guides.

Enjoy local delicacies

In the afternoon you pedal further on, conquering a selection of challenging hills from time to time, enjoying the downhill sections more and more as you go. And when you arrive at the next accommodation, your luggage is waiting for you, as well as an aperitif in the hotel garden before dinner. If you have any issues with your bike, S-Cape can tell you where to go to get it fixed or send a local mechanic to help you out. High quality

bike rental, including e-bikes, is available too. Just pick the date and S-Cape will do the rest!

S-Cape Travel offers handpicked accommodation, daily luggage portage, detailed digital roadbooks, 24/7 phone assistance, and a ‘pilgrim’s passport’ if you choose one of the Camino tours.

ROUTES

n The Rhone River (FR)

n Camino del Norte (ES)

n Coast to Coast Path (UK)

n Amsterdam to Paris (NL-BE-FR)

n Via Francigena (IT)

n Alentejo & Algarve (PT)

n Rhodes Island (GR)

S-CAPE’S TOP CYCLE

GOING DUTCH IN LONDON

Who better than a Dutchman who has pedalled more than 50,000km on London roads in the last seven years, on a Dutch bike, to assess how his adopted home's cycling compares his homeland?

Patrick van

IJzendoorn reports

ACOMBINATION OF both surprise and bemusement showed on the face of my friend when I popped around for a cuppa, having informed him about my 30-mile round trip on my Gazelle, from Greenwich to Kew Bridge and back. "What? You've cycled in that attire?" he queried, with his eyes immediately falling on my khaki trousers, leather shoes and doublebreasted winter coat. Suitable for the media lounge at a football match, the earlier destination of my outing, but not, according to him, not for cycling in the British capital. He found it remarkable that I barely sweated.

For me, it was just a joy ride, a ride that saved both time and money as well. In the four hours on the road I could see the cycling landscape in London in all its glory.

The youngsters in Camberwell doing wheelies on their mountain bikes, the colourful pelotons of commuters on the Embankment, the tourists on their Santander or Lime bikes near Stamford Bridge, and mothers on their cargobikes in Chiswick. London, inner London at least, is fast-becoming a cycle metropolis, although getting on your bike is not yet a way of life, as it is in Holland, but a more purposeful activity and mainly performed by men.

For a Dutchman it is exciting to see how London is changing. I love the annual Tweed Run in spring and the offer of cycle hire schemes. Every weekend I ride to football games, from Wembley to West Ham, and notice that bike facilities there have improved. Working with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking,

the Dutch embassy is doing great work to promote the ‘get on your bike’ philosophy. And luckily even the new transport secretary, Louise Haigh, seems to be more interested in cycling than her predecessor Grant Shapps, who at one point was flirting with the idea of having speed limits for cyclists.

In the early nineties, I first cycled on English soil. The journey went from Harwich to London, followed by a roundtrip via Canterbury, Hastings, Brighton, London and back to the ferry. I felt like the cycling equivalent of Dr Livingstone, exploring the cycleless home counties and the urban jungle of the capital. Motorists kept a distance from me, as if I was carrying a plague. After a puncture at Whitechapel I spent a couple of hours looking for a repair shop. My English friend Peter thought I was certifiable. How things have changed.

In 2003 I settled in Forest Hill, a dwelling on a steep road, and quickly bought a bike from a woman who had moved from cycle-friendly Oxford. There were more cyclists than ten years before, however the differences with Utrecht, my home town, were still considerable. In Holland the cyclists are the kings of the road; motorists are cautious, keeping in mind that they are usually liable in case of an accident. In England, I discovered, it was not allowed to take a passenger on a bike (‘a backie’) and venture into one-way streets. And back-pedal brakes were illegal, to my surprise.

Wake-up calls

Soon I had a couple of nearaccidents. The first happened when a black-cab passenger carelessly opened the door. It taught me to keep my distance from stationary cars, especially when going

downhill — the 'Dutch reach' is still not widely practised. In Ladywell I hit the side of a car when a motorist turned left without looking in the side mirror. I started to realise that many motorists still thought that simply signalling means they have priority, which is of course not the case. And the most basic rule: never stand next to a van, coach or lorry while waiting for a red light.

Despite the close calls I began to enjoy cycling in London, especially since I started to use Strava back in 2017. I have clocked more than 53,000km since, in London, as well as Manchester, Liverpool and the south-east and never had, touch wood, serious problems on the road. What I have noticed, though, is a persistent animosity towards cyclists, fuelled by populist newspapers like The Daily Mail, The Sun and The Daily Telegraph. One afternoon a plastic waterbottle was thrown in my direction from

the open window of a van, as I was quietly minding my cycling business along Shooters Hill Road, near Welling.

After his premature death, I brought my dad’s Gazelle to Greenwich, where I had moved after living in Forest Hill for a couple of years. A very sturdy bike with a drum brake, which turned out to be a tad inconvenient when changing tyres. The pride of the bicycle was the dynamo-powered lights. This old-fashioned and durable feature even caused some confusion. One evening I was waiting for a red light to turn green when a young bobby approached me. "Where's your light?" he asked. "Wait until I start moving," I replied. And he was astonished when the lamps started to brighten the darkness.

Wot no helmet?

One contentious matter turned out to be my refusal to wear a helmet. Some school parents thought I was setting the wrong example for my son — even the local priest tried to change my mind, but has given up. In my opinion a helmet offers a false sense of security, but I must admit that the white ghost bikes at dangerous junctions made me think twice. Over the years I twice hit the floor. First when I underestimated the depth of a puddle on Blackheath and the second crash involved hitting a park bench in a pitch dark Greenwich Park.

Also cycling to school is common in the Netherlands, but much less so here. When my son was at primary school we cycled in daily — he'd use the pavement,

with me on the road next to him. None of the roads near the school were safe enough for him to cycle on. But the older he got, the more difficult this turned out to be, and pedestrians started to complain, even if the pavement was wide enough. It wasn’t hard to see why the bike racks the school, Invicta, had placed near its new building were underused. When he went to secondary school he started walking, like all his friends. Mission unaccomplished.

The welfare of children was the reason the Netherlands changed from four to two wheels. Dutch cycling was revolutionised after the Stop de Kindermoord movement developed in the 1970s, so much key infrastructure has been embedded for 50-plus years. Whereas, despite LCC's efforts since the late 1970s, it seems British policymakers have only been taking cycling seriously for the last couple of decades. Interestingly, it's clear that the recent surge of e-bikes is also helping to remove the much repeated argument that the British landscape, with all its hills, is unsuitable for a biking revolution. In Holland there are hardly any hills, but the strong winds offer a similar challenge.

Cultural differences

There shouldn't, in principle, be a huge difference between cycling in Dutch cities and in London. Being both assertive and polite has always been my principle. Just accept that everyone makes mistakes, or bends the rules of the Highway Code, motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. But sometimes I feel the London streets are a

battlefield about rights, between two and four wheels, which maybe reflects the competitive and rightsbased nature of British society. The general 'pace of life' in London differs from the laid-back attitudes in capitals like Berlin, Copenhagen and Amsterdam.

A few high-profile politicians such as Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson have done their bit to try to ‘normalise’ cycling, make it less of a sport. And I applaud councils like Camden, Hounslow and Waltham Forest who are delivering lots of safe cycle routes. One telling difference between the North Sea neighbours is linguistic. In Dutch there are two words for cycling: fietsen and wielrennen. The first is cycling in everyday clothes, at normal speed on utilitarian bikes; the latter is racing. In the English language, and culture, there doesn’t seem to be a difference between the two.

Another quirk between Dutch and English cities involves the importance of a zebra crossing. Stopping for pedestrians at such crossings comes naturally for an Englishman and I quickly adapted to this habit. But when I slow my speed for a pedestrian who is about to make such a crossing in a Dutch city, I run the risk of causing an accident with impatient cyclists behind, or to be at the receiving end of a mouthful. The Dutch are direct, in traffic too. London has one more advantage: there are less rude, boorish and mendacious scooter drivers than in Dutch cities.

A very welcome development in the UK capital are the major cycleways, all leading to the centre. Some of them are nearly

as wide as the road, like the stretch on C4 between Deptford and Surrey Quays. The ‘floating bus stops’ likewise are a nobrainer, though for some reason, unlike in Holland, they are deemed to be unsafe by critics.

A far bigger concern, across the UK, are the potholes in the roads; these are hideous for cyclists, especially in the darker hours.

Still more to improve

Progress has been impressive, but there remains a lot more to be done to make the roads truly cycle-friendly. For example, the City of London has done a great job making previously lethal junctions like Bank safer, but at Bishopsgate cyclists are quite literally thrown in front of the red buses thanks to changes made during the pandemic, like widening the pavements. Another example of this dangerous development is Waterloo Road, next to the station. The oft-stated claim that there is no

space for cycle lanes in old cities is false. The Dutch learnt that it is not about the amount of space, but how it is being used.

The bridges across the Thames are a classic example of ‘hit and miss’ infrastructure as well. While the bridges of Westminster, Southwark and Blackfriars are superb for cyclists, Vauxhall and especially the north side of Tower Bridge are hazardous at busy times. And crossing the river east of Tower Bridge involves either the DLR, the Woolwich Ferry, a shuttle service at Dartford Bridge, or using one of the two foot tunnels. There was an excellent opportunity to address this by creating a cycle lane in the new Silvertown Tunnel, but that was deemed to be too expensive — a lost chance that unfortunately shows cycling is still often seen as an optional extra.

The same seems to be the case for bike theft. Not even 2% of the thefts are being solved by the police — a percentage that isn’t, by

the way, much higher in the Dutch cycling paradise.

Ride like a Londoner

The real cycling danger in my experience lies outside London, in counties like Kent, Surrey and Sussex where I sometimes venture. Cycling on country roads is dangerous simply because of speeding cars.

Having said all this, I have noticed that more and more Dutch friends want to cycle in London during their stays. My advice is always to use common sense and cycle like a Londoner, not like a Hollander. Don’t wear headphones, don’t take phone calls, use your arms to signal (especially at roundabouts), be assertive, have eye contact with lorry drivers at junctions, don’t daydream, don’t carry an umbrella and don’t overtake buses that are about to leave. And avoid Holland Park Road, one of the worst places to ride in town. Despite its name.

ELECTRIC BIKE GUIDE

Whether it’s longer commutes, the school run, shopping or recreation, there’s an electric bike to suit your needs...

TERN QUICK HAUL LONG D9

(pictured above)

Little brother to the award-winning Tern GSD, this is a compact cargobike for families. It is similar in length to a regular bike, but safely carries two children or your biggest supermarket shop. With a maximum gross vehicle weight of 190kg (419lb), it’s more than capable of your daily hauling needs.

The long wheelbase combined with a low centre of gravity ensures your ride remains stable even with an ambitious load, while a low step-through frame makes

getting on and off effortless. The Quick Haul Long is made for sharing. It fits riders from 155-185cm (5ft1in to 6ft1in), with adjustable handlebars and saddle. And a range of accessories turn the Quick Haul Long into the ideal family adventure machine — you can even tow an extra bike, or link a trailer to bring the dog.

Powered by a Bosch Cargo Line motor, the battery has a range of 42-85km. n £3,500; ternbicycles.com/uk

RIDGEBACK ERRAND

EOVOLT AFTERNOON PRO

The Afternoon Pro features 39 upgrades and six design patents on previous 2023 models. Foldingwise you have a sophisticated and patented hinge mechanism, with a reassuring click closure when unfolded to full size. The bike can be unfolded in less than five seconds, and when folded again the new ‘fold and go’ patented clasp is near inseparable. There has been a significant advance with the hub motors on Eovolt bikes too, courtesy of Bafang. Incoming models carry an automatic two-speed gear shift inside the hub motor’s shell. In short all you have to do with the Afternoon Pro is pedal, while the bike does everything else — it changes gear and even turns the lights on automatically. n £2,999; eovolt.co.uk

SHARK MAKO

Errand: the perfect name for an all-purpose e-bike. Your ideal transport solution, effortlessly taking you from commuting to work, shopping trips, or coffee outings. Its 20in wheels with wide tires are ideal in an urban environment, while the compact frame makes storage a breeze. Despite its small size, it fits riders from 153-194cm tall. Powered by a Promovec hub drive system, boasting 54Nm of torque, the Errand has ample power to transport you and your cargo effortlessly, and you can customise the drive system using the smartphone app. The sturdy front rack is perfect for carrying bags, boxes and crates, while the rear rack mounts provide even more capacity. Power, versatility, and convenience in one slick package! n £1,799.99; ridgeback.co.uk

The Shark Mako is fitted with the latest silent Bafang M420 motor and is a highly functional e-bike that’s extremely comfortable to ride for everyday use. With its minimalist design, the M420 drive system perfectly fits modern and stylish city living, but will still help you tackle other adventures. The latest iteration of the M400 range, with a rated power of 250W smoothly supports your pedalling up to the legal speed limit of 25km/h. Powerful 80Nm of torque and sensitive controls result in a very user-friendly character.

In addition, the Mako comes as standard with the Gates carbon drive — the reinforced carbon belts last longer than chains, never need lubing and are pretty much maintenance-free.

n £2,600; sharkebikes.com

LARRY VS HARRY eBULLITT

Meet the eBullitt, the ultimate family transport solution designed to replace a car. Powered by Shimano’s EP8, boasting 85Nm of torque, the eBullitt delivers adventures, quiet rides and is a tried and tested favourite for school runs, family outings, even camping holidays. A comprehensive range of accessories allows you to customise the bike to your individual needs.

The eBullitt — where practicality meets cuttingedge technology — is available in nine colours with two motor options, either chain and belt drive, as well as with internal hub gears and electronic shifting. All options are fully customisable and prices start from £4,550. Get in touch to book a test ride at Mamachari, the family cycling and cargobike specialists.

n From £4,550; mamachari.co.uk

TENWAYS CGO009

HIMIWAY LONG RANGE FAT TYRE CRUISER

The Himiway Cruiser is specifically designed to combine unparalleled adaptability to a multitude of cycling conditions and exceptional comfort. That comfort comes from the chunky 26in tyres — which can handle everything from hardpacked towpaths to bumpy gravel trails — and a front suspension fork.

With 250W of pedal-assisted motor power and an 840Wh Samsung battery capacity, a single 60-mile (95km) range can be guaranteed, roughly equating to 6-7hr of riding. What’s more the bike has a load capacity of 155kg (350lb), which makes it ideal for large weekly shops or even family camping trips. It’s the most professional and cost-effective, all-terrain, fattyred electric bike in the UK.

n £1,549; electricbicyclecompany.co.uk

The Tenways CGO009 is a brand new singlespeed belt drive model, succeeding the very well-received CGO600 Pro and the CGO800S (reviewed in the summer edition of London Cyclist). The 009 looks to build on Tenway’s low maintenance, easy-to-use credentials, with the introduction of its own-brand C9 rear hub motor, its most powerful yet, coupled with a removable 374Wh battery. A 40Nm torque rating is impressive for a rear hub motor and gives outstanding hillclimbing for a singlespeed. Its super sleek looks, including integrated lights, betray the sophisticated tech hidden within its frame: a GPS unit that allows remote tracking from your smartphone and automatic navigation too.

n £2,399; eco-move.co.uk

OSBORNES LAW recently settled a claim for a cyclist who was knocked off her bike by a van driver, who turned into her path at a junction near Swiss Cottage. The impact of the collision caused serious long-term injuries, which in turn resulted in significant bone loss. She also had to undergo surgery on her arm and sustained a fracture to her toe, plus heavy bruising.

The cyclist instructed Laura Swaine, a specialist cycling lawyer at Osbornes Law, to represent her. And, as we so often find, the driver’s insurance company initially blamed the cyclist for the collision. They reasoned that as she was filtering through the traffic, she should have known that the van would be turning.

Osbornes argued that the insurance company had failed to acknowledge that the driver lost control of the van after colliding

USE EXPERTS TO SECURE A FAIR PAYOUT

If the worst happens and you suffer a collision, Osbornes Law will chase your case

with the cyclist and crashed into a wall causing serious structural damage. The insurance company attempted to settle the claim for a nominal amount that would not have even covered the value of the cyclist’s injuries and ongoing medical treatment.

Swaine therefore arranged several reports from medical experts, including one from a specialist upper limb surgeon and a consultant psychiatrist to build up a full picture of the cyclist’s injuries and prognosis. These medical reports concluded that the cyclist was suffering from ongoing restrictions in her arm movement. While she is able to

hold down a full-time job, she would be restricted in household tasks and heavy lifting. The reports also concluded that sadly it would be very unlikely that she would be able to return to cycling, the hobby she loved.

Using these reports, Laura was able to negotiate a six-figure settlement with the insurance company, which will help the cyclist deal with her restrictions as she ages.

CYCLE BUDDIES DEVELOPS NEW PARTNERSHIPS

There’s more help than ever for new and returning cyclists, thanks to LCC’s expanded scheme, as Mike McSherry explains

WITH HUNDREDS of cyclists already ‘matched’ during its original rollout, what’s in store for the next phase of LCC’s Cycle Buddies, the online pairing platform that supports new and returning riders?

Well a soft launch earlier in 2024 saw more than 300 ‘helper’ buddies and 300 new or returning cyclists signed up. Which means there are now helpers in every borough of London — and LCC has been working hard to ensure Cycle Buddies helps many more people start cycling this year.

So now that everything is in place, and up and running, what are the plans to promote Cycle Buddies and increase uptake? And what are the opportunities for local groups, activists, organisations and employers to get involved?

Experimentation & evolution

Cycle Buddies started as an LCC member-led experiment during the Covid pandemic lockdowns and experimentation and evolution remain the watchwords for how the service will progress. Some ideas will doubtless be more productive than we imagined, while others may end up not being as successful as hoped. And if you’ve got an idea about a potential audience for Cycle Buddies, the team at LCC is keen to help you promote it, so do get in touch.

At the same time, our aim for Cycle Buddies is to evolve into an at-scale service, playing a major part in mass-behaviour change. This is an on-going piece of work.

Cycle Buddies is not in competition with council cycle lessons, or the wide range of

brilliant community groups such as Cycle Sisters, Joyriders, BCN, Wheels for Wellbeing and more. Instead, it should be complementing and promoting these groups and opportunities. Indeed, helper buddies will often be directing participants to the local groups in their area and vice versa. So what does this look like in reality?

While Cycle Buddies remains available to everyone via the matching website, LCC is also developing four models to deliver it in partnership with other organisations, These are:

n Working with local councils;

n Working with NHS trusts and other large employers;

n Working with universities and institutions;

n Working with local LCC groups, community groups and individuals.

CASE STUDY 1

Working with local council (Waltham Forest) active travel teams to help residents to start cycling

It is assumed that a new adult cyclist needs to cycle for 10-14 hours in a relatively short window in order to ‘catch’ the cycling bug. Most people can go riding with friends or family, but a surprisingly large number of people in London don’t have access to a friend or family member to help. The Cycle Buddies scheme pairs experienced and confident riders with new or returning riders that would like some support.

This makes it a useful scheme for local councils because there are lots of adults who have received cycle training, paid for by the council, but not all of these people go on to become regular cyclists. In the case of Waltham Forest, 29,000 people have received training in the last decade. Generally adults can only access one or two lessons, that’s four or six hours — this is where Cycle Buddies can help some of those 29,000 trainees keep going.

Cycle Buddies can be the perfect complement to cycle training, and LCC is working with Waltham Forest, the cycle training providers and instructors to make the signposting to the platform as seamless as possible for those people who would like more support.

On top of Waltham Forest’s huge cycling infrastructure changes and a big uptake in cycling numbers across the borough, Cycle Buddies can help even more people discover and take advantage of these award-winning facilities, like the mini-Holland schemes.

We will be working with Waltham Forest to promote Cycle Buddies and recruit helpers and participants by:

n Community newsletters and social media;

n Posters and flyers at cycle parking spaces, libraries, gyms and bike shops;

n WF-specific case studies;

n Follow-up emails to cycle training participants;

n Keeping instructors informed of Cycle Buddies (and helper buddies informed of lessons);

n Working with local cycling groups;

n And hopefully in the future, a Cycle Buddies video in public spaces (eg waiting rooms, gyms, libraries).

The Wild Bunch, Cycle Sisters and JoyRiders: Cycle Buddies as a ‘signposting pathway’

Of course, one of the places that new riders can get support to cycle is from London’s brilliant community cycling organisations. Waltham Forest funds organisations doing great work in the community — some of these are very well established and great at outreach, while others are very small with excellent in-reach locally but struggle reaching the general public. For example, groups which could be great for GPs to direct patients to, are missing out on potential participants, even though we know such users exist.

The Cycle Buddies platform can be a solution for these organisations because they can have a profile online and pick up new participants. This is already working for The Wild Bunch, JoyRiders and Cycle Sisters in Waltham Forest.

The Wild Bunch provides cycling opportunities to cardiac rehab patients from Whipps Cross hospital.

THE WILD BUNCH

We ride at a gentle pace, mainly on flat terrain, the bulk of our riders being recovering cardiac patients. We usually ride between 8-16 miles on a Wednesday.

Cardiac nurses at Whipps Cross point people to The Wild Bunch Cycle Buddies profile — the ‘signposting pathway’ — and it is a crucial way for health services to encourage patients to take up activities as part of their recovery.

There are half-a-dozen small projects funded by Waltham Forest in 2024 similar to The Wild Bunch. And LCC hopes to work with other councils in a similar way, to identify locally active groups, microcommunity groups and diversity groups, and set them up on the Cycle Buddies platform.

CASE STUDY 2

Working with NHS trusts and large employers to help staff to start cycling

We are engaged with Guys & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT) to help more of its staff choose cycling as an active travel option more of the time. Cycle Buddies is a good pairing platform for NHS trusts because it covers the whole city, which means staff looking for a buddy will be able to find someone on the platform whether they work in Southwark, Lambeth or Chelsea, and whether they live in Enfield, Croydon or Kingston upon Thames.

We’ve been working with GSTT for a year and have evolved an effective way of engaging with its staff which we feel can be replicated across trusts and other large employers. The purpose of engagement is to recruit both new riders and experienced riders to Cycle Buddies so they can form pairs and support each other. Pairs can be made with other NHS staff or non-NHS staff, whichever suits the person looking for help.

The GSTT project involves:

n CB presence at staff fairs;

n Newsletters to staff and Bicycle User Groups (BUGs);

ALEX

n Posters and flyers at cycle parking spaces;

n GSTT-specific case studies;

n On-site cycle lessons for complete beginners;

n Social media posts;

n And in the future, hopefully we’ll see Cycle Buddies videos on the salary sacrifice portal for the Cycle2Work scheme and related newsletter, and Cycle Buddies videos in the staff induction programme.

There are now 42 NHS Cycle Buddies profiles, and 147 profiles in the GSTT boroughs of Southwark, Lambeth and K&C on the platform.

A fully-trained ride leader for both LCC and British Cycling, I run the Lewisham Family Cycling Library.

According to the NHS report ‘Delivering a net-zero NHS’ (July 2022) approximately 3.5% (9.5 billion miles) of all road travel in England relates to patients, visitors, staff and suppliers to the NHS, contributing around 14% of the system’s total emissions. This includes approximately 4% for business travel and fleet transport, 5% for patient travel, 4% for staff commutes and 1% for visitor travel.

While the visitor and patient travel are not areas that can be

targeted for active travel, the 4% for staff commutes and business travel (travelling to appointments and between sites) represents a significant potential for behaviour change. NHS Trusts are huge employers with, for example, 25,000 staff at Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, 20,000 at UCLH, and 250,000 NHS workers across the capital as a whole.

Tim Le Rougetel, sustainable travel officer at GSTT said: “We’ve got ambitious targets in our Trust’s green travel plan and sustainability strategy to significantly reduce carbon emissions from staff, patient and visitor travel by 2030. Cycling is one of the easiest, most enjoyable ways that staff and patients can reduce their carbon footprint, contribute to better air quality and live healthier and happier lives.

“With such a large and diverse workforce, the peer-to-peer model of support that Cycle Buddies offers is a fantastic way of reaching out to our new and existing cyclists, to get as many people as possible riding to work and recreationally outside of work too.”

CASE STUDY 3

Working with Glasgow Caledonian University (London Campus)

At Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) we are specifically recruiting Cycle Buddies from the student population, both helpers and those needing help. Among the issues new students face, and that Cycle Buddies can help with, are:

n Safe routes between sites, home, campus and other destinations;

n Learning road rules and conventions of London cycling, particularly for foreign students;

n Learning how different bike share schemes work (Santander, Lime, Forest, etc);

n Confidence on a bike, secure locking and safety.

By recruiting confident student cyclists to be helper buddies, they are able to support their student peers to access the opportunities that cycling in London brings and enrich their student experience.

As an example, students quickly realise that if they choose to cycle to the Vallance Road site, the nearest cycle station is the smaller facility on Selby Street, in relatively close proximity. Within days of arriving on campus, some students boast that the journey could be done in under four minutes.

There are approximately 1,500 new students each year, many of whom are not only new to the capital, but new to the UK as well.

The first round of Cycle Buddies promotion at GCU will start in September. It is the first UK university from outside the capital to open a base in London, having opened in Fashion Street in April 2010 and, since then, has grown exponentially and become a hub for international students.

Students supporting students

When in January 2024 a new building was opened at 120 Vallance Road to accommodate growing Engineering and Health and Life Science programmes, it nevertheless presented a specific

TIM

Hoping to get as many people on bikes as possible: cheap, healthy, reliable, fun, what’s not to like!

challenge of keeping that strong sense of identity, community and cohesion going across the two sites, which are roughly 10-15 minutes apart on foot. That walk, as lovely as it may be, was perceived to be a potential barrier to some students, particularly in colder months. The cycle hire docks on Fashion Street were already well used, so when TfL heard of the GCU expansion it was quick to support students by ensuring that the hub was stocked and re-stocked at various intervals during the day as required.

Cycle Buddies, Active Travel and Climate Impact

Just as staff travel is part of the NHS carbon emissions, the way students access university is part of its climate impact. A GCU spokesperson said: “Cycling has a major role to play in any sustainability strategy and Cycle Buddies can be part of changing the behaviour of students, in a really positive, fun, rewarding way. And GCU has made a commitment to incorporate the principles of sustainable development into every aspect of its operations.”

Take on London’s iconic Urban Hill Climb

This event

Saturday 28th September from midday

Swain’s Lane, N6 6DU

“Osbornes Law took on my case after I was hit by van on my cycle to work. I learnt about them as a member of the London Cycling Campaign. I would recommend Osbornes Law to anyone who is unsure how to proceed following a traumatic cycling accident.”

Felicia D

Ride Guide

Photo:

AND PASSAGES SECRET SQUARES

THIS RELATIVELY short ride reveals the many littleknown, but delightful and varied, garden squares of Islington and Hackney. You’ll have to walk through a few secret passages, but that just adds to the fun.

The area was once a scattering of medieval mansions and hamlets before being developed in the 19th century as roads and railway lines connected the area to central London. Most of the housing consisted of classical-style Victorian terraces and squares, but the ride reveals several Tudor and Jacobean oddities, as well as the historically important Charterhouse and the Art Deco Highbury (Stadium) Square.

Many of the through-traffic restrictions, cut-throughs and safer junctions on the route were campaigned for by LCC's local groups in Islington and Hackney, and with some care at the junctions the ride is suitable for families.

The ride starts in Highbury Fields, the only parkland to survive in Islington, and passes several bonus squares too.

Local rides expert and LCC staffer Tom Bogdanowicz guides us on a loop of hidden historical gems

FACTFILE

DISTANCE: 18km (11 miles)

ASCENT: 30m

TERRAIN: all on road; mostly on quiet streets with a few crossing points and short passages on foot.

SUITABLE FOR: all bikes.

BEST STATIONS: Overground at Highbury & Islington.

GUIDEBOOK: CyclingLondon, by Tom Bogdanowicz.

DOWNLOAD FREE MAP

We have partnered with mapping specialist Komoot to bring you free downloadable route maps. Simply scan the QR code here to access the relevant page on your smartphone or tablet.

Ride Guide

S/F: Highbury & Islington station.

1 THORNHILL SQUARE

The largest square in Islington was developed by George Thornhill in 1847 and follows classical style. The gardens were opened to the public in 1947. At one corner is a curious Arts and Craftsstyle library and, at number 60, a green plaque to mark the home of Elizabeth Garrud, suffragette and ju-jitsu trainer. On a Saturday afternoon you can visit the secret Barnsbury Wood, London’s smallest local nature reserve, just north in Crescent Street. As you ride along Richmond Avenue you pass the former home of ex-PM Tony Blair at number 1 Richmond Crescent.

2 LONSDALE SQUARE

The plans submitted by Richard Carpenter were for yet another classical square, but the planner’s son, architect RC Carpenter, opted for an unusual Tudor design. Notable residents have included conductor Simon Rattle and writer Salman Rushdie. After circling the square cross over to the fine, but more conventional, Cloudesley Square where you will find a mini-version of King’s College Chapel Cambridge, designed by architect Charles Barry (1826).

3 MILNER SQUARE

SECRET SQUARES & PASSAGES

Almeida Street, home of the Almeida Theatre (also by Roumieu and Gough) .

Turn right into the old Islington sorting office zone, now known as Islington Square, and walk through the shopping area to Upper Street where you cross to St Mary’s Church and find, to its right, another mystery passage — St Mary’s Path (to avoid the barriers you can use Gaskin Street to reach Packington Street). The route takes you past another ex-PM, Boris Johnson’s, old house on Colebrooke Row. The City Road crossing here sees 1,500 cyclists an hour on busy mornings.

Passing through classical Gibson Square, spot the curious matching underground ventilation shaft in the central garden. You reach the unique Milner Square (1844), by Roumieu and Gough, loved by some but described as a vision from an “unhappy dream” by others. Purchased and renovated by Islington Council it now has a welcoming feel. At number 20 there is a curious narrow passage (it looks like a house door) providing access to

5 DE BEAUVOIR SQUARE

Another Jacobean Tudor curiosity among the many streets of classical terraces. Attributed to RC Carpenter (see above), but sometimes to Roumieu and Gough (also above), or William Lochner. The freeholder of some of the grand villas is still the Benyon family estate that developed De Beauvoir Town. Heading northwards (roadworks in Balls Pond Road currently obstruct the cycle lane) you cross the re-built Kingsbury Bridge, which local LCC groups campaigned for, and then you pass the impressive Clissold House, a grand neoclassical villa dating from the late 18th-century.

CHARTERHOUSE SQUARE

Charterhouse, occupying the north of the square, is considered one of the most important monuments in London. Some fragments of the 14th-century Carthusian Priory remain but most of the buildings from 200-300 years later. Elizabeth I was prepared for her coronation there by, then property owner, Lord North. Later the buildings became Charterhouse School, then Merchant Taylors School and are now a men’s retirement home. Tours from £18.

Also nearby are St Bartholomew’s church, one of the oldest in London (free entrance), the Victorian Smithfield market, and Art Nouveau pub the Fox and Anchor in Charterhouse Street.

6 HIGHBURY SQUARE

You enter this hidden square, and the former Arsenal Stadium of 1934, during daylight hours only, via a metal gate to the left of the East Stand. Claude Waterlow Ferrier and William Binnie designed the listed west and east stands in Art Deco style and they were integrated into the residential development when Arsenal FC moved 100m down the road to the Emirates Stadium in Ashburton Grove. The pitch area now forms a garden for residents. You then follow what was once a very busy street through this Liveable Neighbourhood (thanks to Cycle Islington, local campaigners and Islington Council) to reach the secluded Aberdeen Park. A final secret passage, at number 50 (with steps) leads to the imposing villas of Highbury New Park, or you can return to Highbury Fields by exiting to the west.

& PASSAGES

F 6 3 4 S 1

Simply scan the QR code here to access the relevant ride guide and map on a smartphone or tablet.

2 5

HOW TO... PROTECT YOUR BIKE

Sadly, as the boom in cycling continues, so does the rise in bike theft — and it’s the same across most big cities, from London to Amsterdam. So what can you do to protect your bike(s)? Here’s a selection of top tips from LCC’s security partner, Abus, on what to use and what to look out for. And, as ever, the single most important thing is covered in step 1 below — use two good locks!

1. USE TWO GOOD LOCKS

Whether you choose D-locks, chains or cables, each has its own pros and cons. Most important is that you use two good locks and that your frame and both wheels are secured. Use a D-lock or chain to secure the bike to a fixed object, with a smaller chain/cable for the front wheel. Frame-mounted wheel locks are also effective.

2. HOW TO LOCK

Ensure your main lock passes through the bike frame and around the stand. Never leave a lock on or close to the ground; this allows thieves to use hammer-style attacks. Position the key opening inwards, making it more difficult to attack the lock barrel. Avoid locking to signposts too; these are often aluminium and easily cut.

3. ON THE ROAD

When transporting your bike by train or car, or at cycling events, it is at high risk. Bikes on car racks should always be secured, ideally with a chain lock passing

through each bike and the rack. Fellow cyclists aren’t the only people attending sportives and races – thieves know exactly where the most expensive bikes are used.

More than 55% of bike thefts are from homes, garages and sheds, and many of these outbuildings are not very secure. Every access point is vulnerable: doors, windows

even shed roofs. Inside your bike cave any unwelcome visitors should find another layer of security — bikes locked with high security chains and floor/wall anchors.

Image: Thule

5. WORST CASE SCENARIO

Insure your bike — either as an add-on to your home insurance or through a specialist cycle insurer. Premiums can be reduced by choosing a higher-level excess or just covering the most expensive or rare ones if you have several. Be wary of lock brands with ‘protection offers’, these are often nighon impossible to fulfil.

6. YOUR DIGITAL TRAIL s

Selling and buying bikes using online marketplaces also comes with risks. They are rife with stolen bikes, and criminals scan the ads to see who’s selling what and where.

Always use a neutral location to meet buyers/sellers, and if an offer seems too good to be true, then it probably is! Don’t inadvertently fuel demand for stolen cycles.

In association with

7. REGISTER YOUR BIKE

It’s always a good idea to keep photos of your bike, noting the frame number (usually found on the bottom bracket shell). You should also register your

bike at BikeRegister for free. If your bike is stolen and recovered there’s nothing more frustrating for the police, than not being able to identify the rightful owner.

8. STAY STEALTHY

There’s a fine line between paranoia and caution, but you can reduce risk of theft with simple ‘theft mindfulness’! Use discrete security bolts to protect wheels and other components, or maybe cover branding and decals with tape. And if your bike storage is visible to the public, check no-one’s loitering nearby when you enter/exit.

NEW E-BIKES HOT TECH

RECENTLY A friend who has spent a lot of time riding the Diem described Orbea as a “quiet superbrand” and closer inspection of this new ‘urban mobility solution’, as the company calls it, certainly bears that out. The finishing and detailing is absolutely immaculate; from the highly polished alloy frame with its invisible welds, to the electrical integration, range of accessories and the sleek cable-free silhouette.

And while the frame catches the eye with its carbon-like curves, the really cool stuff is tucked away discretely. Shimano’s compact EP8 motor sits behind the chainring and is paired with a 630Wh battery, which offers enough range for a

week of mid-length commutes, or weekend recreational rides, before recharging. Shuffling between pedal assists modes is seamless and reliable, using a small bar-mounted controller — this indicates chosen mode and battery level (though not a % figure like you get on bigger display units), and it also has a button for the lights. The latter are another supremely neat solution — the front ones slotted in below the stem like a headset spacer and into the rack — and they switch on automatically to ensure you’re visible day or night; side visibility is excellent too. Before moving on from the motor, it’s worth noting how quiet it is. You barely hear the ‘whirr’ until you’re in the highest

‘turbo’ setting and only then when you’re away from traffic.

For those who like to navigate using smartphone mapping apps, there’s a mount built into the top of the stem, deliberately angled to make it easier to see your screen, plus a USB cable port to charge your phone as you ride.

Against so much tech the Envioli hub is almost unsung, but it’s the perfect match for the Diem — a ‘gamechanger’ as one tester said — offering continuous gearing and, as it’s sealed from the elements, zero maintenance. The same applies to the Gates belt drive; no lubing, no faffing, no issues.

It’s a lot to take in, but once you get to grips with just how capable

this bike is, you realise it offers the comfort of a modern hybrid, the off-road capability of a gravel bike, and the load-carrying capacity of a mini cargobike. Our main tester has used the Diem for race support (ferrying dozens of waterbottles and tools), pizza collections for the whole family, weekly shops and more. And the dropper seatpost (more typically found on mountain bikes) means

FACTFILE

n Three colours, four sizes.

n Two other models available, with different motors, starting at £3,499.

n Smart charger means it takes only 3.5hr to reach 100%.

n Shimano app provides ride metrics.

that riders of different heights have been able to share the fun.

There’s no escaping that the Diem 10 is expensive, but there’s two other models starting at almost £2k less. And when you consider exactly what this bike can do and that it’s plenty robust for city life, the real value shines. It’s another true option for ‘car swappers’ (see page 26) and busy families.

VERDICT

+ They call it an ‘urban mobility solution’, we call it a super transformer-like cargobike!

+ Powerful yet quiet motor.

+ Enviolo shifting a huge plus.

NEW BIKES

How does an entry-level e-mtb shape up for allround versatility?

AS ONE OF the world’s ‘big three’ bike brands (alongside Giant and Specialized), Trek was an early adopter of electric motors and tech, and there’s now a dozen model ‘families’ in its extensive range, from city hybrids and cargobikes, to road and off-road bikes which mirror the best-selling ‘analogue’ versions. And at the foot of the mountain bike ladder sit the entry-level Powerflys, for those who want a bike that can tackle easy trails as well as day-to-day duties; ‘Equipped’ versions come with mudguards, rear rack and lights included, but mostly they’re pared back like our test sample. Basic it may be, but there’s a few

key things that Trek does differently and for which it deserves credit. Firstly, unlike pretty much every other manufacturer in the market, the vast majority of Trek’s e-bikes feature removeable batteries that click on/off from the downtube with a key. So you can take the battery indoors for charging and

effectively disable the bike at the same time.

Secondly, the smaller size mountain bikes come with smaller 27.5in wheels, while the bigger ones use 29in. We’ve been longtime proponents of proportional sizing as it makes a huge difference to ride quality and control, so kudos here.

We’ve ridden Bosch’s Perfomance CX motor on a lot of bikes and it’s a dependable unit, with widely available servicing if required — moving between assist levels is smooth, easily discernible without the big handlebar computer, but it’s a little noisier than we’d like in the most powerful settings. The controller does allow you to select ‘walk assist’ if you need a hand, pushing up a station or parking ramp, for example.

The Rockshox fork offers 120mm of suspension (80mm on XS bikes), enough for moderately bumpy tracks but nothing too serious. Plus it has a lockout dial on the top of the fork leg, so you can firm things up for more efficient road hauls.

The Shimano drivetrain and brakes are among our favourites, again highly reliable and faultless in use. But we swapped the standard Bontrager tyres for Continental Rubans, which gave us a bit more puncture protection and faster rolling, though they lacked a little traction on loose gravel.

In all honesty the Powerfly rates in our book as a decent all-rounder, a solid rather than inspiring ride, and the ‘mtb’ moniker is perhaps a bit misleading; it’s probably better classified as a sport/gravel bike. Its limitations are quickly apparent on tougher terrain, where no amount of added torque can substitute good riding skills. We’d pick an ‘Equipped’ model to get the most from it.

FACTFILE

n Powerfly models available in up to five colours and five sizes (XS-XL).

n Frame is designed so that lights, run off the battery, can quickly be fitted by dealers.

n Trek framesets are guaranteed for the lifetime of the original owner (usual usage terms apply)

VERDICT

+ XS and S size bikes get 27.5in wheels, bigger sizes get 29in, a big bonus for responsiveness.

+ Removeable battery makes charging much simpler.

+ We easily achieved a range of 50-60km on a single charge.

+ Get the ‘Equipped’ version to find the bike’s true versatility.

REVIEWS: Melanie Etherton, Katy Rodda, JK

CYCLING READS

A RIDE ACROSS

AMERICA Simon Parker simonwparker.co.uk; £19.99

“God. Guns. And Country,” Parker is warned, as he prepares to cycle 4,000 miles across the USA ahead of the 2024 elections. Over 10 weeks, he rides from the edge of Canada to the everglades of Florida, interviewing people he encounters along the way.

Cycling makes you vulnerable, perhaps never more so than in a country of huge freeways, loose dogs and the attitude that anyone mad enough to walk or cycle is probably a drug addict. But vulnerability makes for excellent journalism: not a single person refuses to be interviewed, everywhere people buy him beers. And the more people tell him the USA is divided, the more you wonder at how car culture keeps people separate and boxed in, as Parker on his bike is welcomed and challenged.

There’s no overarching narrative or big conclusions, but it does encourage all of us to chase adventure. ME

CYCLING IN SURREY: 21 HAND-PICKED RIDES

Ross Hamilton bradtguides.com; £12.99

Like many of the main travel publishers, Bradt has been expanding its cycling portfolio of late and this new 240-page guide from LCC member and history buff

Ross Hamilton explores 21 routes in the country’s most wooded county. The rides, aimed primarily at beginner and leisure cyclists, range from 14 to 44km, with most starting and finishing from easily-accessible railway stations within a short hop from central London.

Nature reserves, Roman roads, medieval churches, castles and abbeys are among the ‘must sees’, plus a 4,000-year-old yew tree and the UK’s smallest pub, mainly all accessed by country lanes or off-road trails. And like the best modern guidebooks, printed route descriptions are accompanied by QR codes that link to downloadable Komoot mapping (the same as used here at LC ).

1923: THE MYSTERY OF LOT 212 AND A TOUR DE FRANCE OBSESSION

Ned Boulting bloomsbury.com; £18.99

You might expect us to automatically like a book that describes LCC as “a force for change”. But flattery aside, this one’s a cracker. Emerging from Covid and in need of personal indulgence, Boulting didn’t spare himself. Peering into the dim remembrance and ever-deeper darkness that covers Le Tour of over 100 years ago, he unwraps story after story carefully and with great anticipation, perfectly reflecting the fragility of Lot 212 and its faint images. We fell through a wonderful rabbit hole that gripped us from the start; the whole book feels lovingly developed.

Against the backdrop of big European players on a tightrope, nowhere near recovered from the Great War, we find personalities and events great and small, some known, some which will now thankfully be far better known. Sumptuous. KR

GRAVEL RIDES

LAKE DISTRICT

Andrew Barlow adventurebooks.com; £15.95

Most of us don’t need much prodding to visit the Lakes, and discovering the best gravel rides in the national park is as good an excuse as any. Here there’s 15 routes, from 17km to 270km in length, graded either ‘easy’, ‘straightforward’ or ‘challenging’, that take you along beautiful lake shores, converted railway paths, through forests and up onto the famous fells. The images do a great job of showing you what you can expect on the ground and Ordnance Survey Landranger mapping (also available as GPX files for use with smartphones) makes navigation a doddle.

Old school mountain bikers, like ourselves, will be familiar with many classic trails like those at Loughrigg, Grizedale, Kentmere and Skiddaw, but there’s still plenty of lesserknown locations to sample. And the ‘Lakeland 270’ is a truly stunning showcase for any adventurous rider.

1890s ONWARDS

Bamboo bicycles

Easy to work with, sustainable and stronger than steel... John Kitchiner looks at the recent resurgence of plant-based frame

manufacturing

WHILE IT MIGHT seem a relatively recent concept to experiment with (and even recycle) bike manufacturing materials, the truth is the Victorians were well ahead of the alternative frame game, more than 130 years ago. At a time when steel was king, bamboo bikes were actually first patented in England by the Bamboo Cycle Company and introduced to the general public in April 1894 (a US patent was granted two years later).

Then, as now, the attraction and advantage of using bamboos was two-fold. Firstly the evergreen flowering perennials, part of the grass family, are among the fastest growing plants in the world, meaning supply is fairly abundant and sustainable. Secondly, there’s the inherent properties of bamboo itself: a very high strength-to-weight ratio, vibration damping, and the fact that it tends to grow straight, like traditional bike tubing, without knots. In fact studies have shown that bamboo has higher specific tensile strength than steel, as well as a higher specific compressive strength than concrete — which means it’s still widely used in construction

across south, south-east and east Asia, and to a lesser extent in central and south America.

Sadly it wasn’t until the 1990s that innovative bicycle firms started to revisit bamboo as a way of developing more environmentally-friendly production methods and reducing carbon footprints. Craig Calfee was one of the first to go back to the drawing board and by 2005 had brought a classy road frame to the market. Even the UN saw the potential, supporting projects like the Ghana Bamboo Bike Initiative, as a way of addressing climate change, poverty, youth unemployment and rural-urban migration; the scheme sold thousands of cycles worldwide.

Bamboo also lends itself perfectly to a DIY-style approach to framebuilding — you can create your own unique bike, with just a few basic tools, and without the training needed to fabricate metal or carbon frames. We did exactly this back in 2017, as guests of London’s Bamboo Bicycle Club, learning how to create a jig, shaping suitable ‘tubes’, and creating strong flax/ resin joints. We cannot recommend these workhops highly enough, so visit bamboobicycleclub.org if interested.

Illustration : David Sparshott