London Cyclist - Summer 2020

SUMMER 2020

CYCLING & COVID-19

STREETSPACE PLAN 10 YEARS OF CYCLE HIRE LOSING THE RAT-RUNS CYCLE TOURING IN SCOTLAND WHEELS & WELLBEING

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MAGAZINE OF

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SUMMER 2020

contents

News | Features | Travel & Rides | How To | Bikes & Reviews FEATURE > 14

HOW TO 46

GUIDES

Celebrating 10 years of London’s now ‘iconic’ cycle hire bikes

HOW TO

GIVE YOUR BIKE AN ‘M’ CHECK

A quick once-over is a good habit to get into on a weekly basis says John Kitchiner

With so many new (and returning) cyclists right now, it pays to share a few basic tips to keep those bikes running smoothly and safely. A simple ‘M’ check is a good place to start.

NB – this is a summary on what to check, see previous issues of London Cyclist (or online guides) for fuller explanations on fixes themselves. Trust us, they are all simple, even for new riders.

1: THE ‘M’ EXPLAINED This is a simple way to check all the key parts of your bike are working as they should.

Back to front, or front to back? It really doesn’t matter as long as you do it regularly.

We prefer to start from the

rear and work forwards, which also makes more sense when following the ‘M’ above (ie from the driveside).

An allen key set and pump are the only tools you might need for any ‘fixes’.

2: REAR WHEEL & REAR BRAKE ■ Quick-release skewer (or ■ Brakes: check the wheel is bolt-thru axle, or track nuts): spinning freely in the brake check it’s tight and securely caliper and not catching. holding wheel in frame.

■ Gears: if your gears are ■ Tyre pressure: hard for clicking/slipping, try adjusting road riding, a little softer for the derailleur barrel adjuster off-road and wet conditions. by one quarter turn at a time.

3: SADDLE & SEATPIN ■ Saddle: grip the saddle at the front and back and rock it to see if it moves up and down, or side to side. If it does then you can tighten the bolt(s) on the clamp underneath the saddle (the

part that holds the ‘rails’).

■ Seatpin: likewise check there’s no movement in the seat-clamp (the collar holding the seat-post in the frame). An allen key tighten should resolve any issue.

FEATURE > 21

Cycling & Coronavirus: how cities around the world are enabling more cycling

4: PEDALS, CRANKS & CHAIN ■ Pedals: hold the crankarm the crank bolts might need a with one hand and wiggle the tighten. Don’t overdo it, the pedal with the other. If it’s cranks must spin freely. loose, tighten with a pedal ■ Chain: spin the pedals spanner or allen key. backwards to check the chain ■ Cranks: if there’s any play moves freely and there’s no when tugging the crankarms, seized links. Lube if needed.

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NEWHAM’S PARKS

Join Newham Cyclists’ Bernard McDonnell on a newly-devised route in east London

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& GREEN SPACES charity, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). The ride was originally set to debut as part of Newham Heritage Week in May, but this was postponed due to the Covid-19 restrictions. We’re unveiling it here instead as it also serves to highlight numerous spaces where Londoners can exercise safely.

CPRE London is part of a consortium of organisations promoting London parks through the GoParks website (goparks. london) and is keen to promote similar rides linking green spaces in other London borough.

FACT FILE START/FINISH: Stratford station DISTANCE: 27km (17 miles) GRADIENTS: almost entirely flat, 30ft is the highest point!

TERRAIN: almost the whole route is on quiet roads and bike paths, but there’s some short stretches on busier roads SUITABLE FOR: all types of bicycle. The ride is designed for cyclists riding at a leisurely pace and those who wish to enjoy the delightful environments and varied parks along the route MAP: a Strava route file (www.strava. com/activities/3206979438) can be downloaded as a gpx file for uploading to apps or GPS

NEWHAM’S PARKS & GREEN SPACES

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START: WEST HAM PARK STRATFORD 1.7miles

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5 ROYAL DOCKS 11 miles

NATURE RESERVE 6 miles

CODY DOCK 14 miles

FINISH: STRATFORD

TOOLS 58

LONDON CYCLIST Summer 2020 49

BUILD YOUR OWN HOME WORKSHOP INKERING AROUND with your bike is one of life’s great pleasures. And learning to fix stuff yourself will save you a small fortune over the years.

Luckily the basic skills are also easily learned — via courses, online tutorials or friends — and it’s never too late to start. Slowly build up your own home workshop with essential tools (most of which will last a lifetime) and you’ll be selfsufficient in no time.

In the next issue, we’ll be looking at another important mechanic’s staple — the track pump.

#1 BB/LOCKRING TOOL

Leverage is key when working on sticky bottom brackets and lockrings. This well balanced rod allows you to swap ‘heads’, so no need for multiple bulky BB tools.

■ Lezyne CNC Rod (£25), EXT-BBT Tool (£17); upgradebikes.co.uk

#2 CHAIN WHIP

This is the partner for the tool above.

The chain section neatly grips the teeth of a cassette in one hand, while you use the other to loosen the lockring.

■ Lezyne CNC Chain Rod (£25); upgradebikes.co.uk

#3 TORX WRENCH

Bikes and accessories are using Torx (starshaped) bolts more and more. This ‘Y’ wrench fits three sizes T25/30/40, while

a second T10/15/20 will also be useful.

■ Cyclo Y Torx Wrench (£6.99); zyrofisher.co.uk

#4 CHAIN TOOL

Used to break or link chains, this tool is also called a ‘rivet extractor’. Slots hold the chain, while a punch drives the rivet in/out. Works with all types of chain, including the latest 12-speed options.

■ Lezyne Classic Chain Drive (£45); upgradebikes.co.uk

#5 CABLE CUTTERS

It’s hard to understate how important quality cutters are to avoid cable fraying, or damage to outers and brake hoses.

Keep clean and sharpen every so often.

■ Park Tool Pro Cable & Housing Cutter (£35); freewheel.co.uk

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REVIEWS: John Kitchiner

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FEATURE > 31

How we can lose the local rat-runs forever and create safer, healthier streets for all

We must hold the Mayor to his word, but defend the Plan when it hits opposition ASHOK SINHA, OPINION, PAGE 9

INTERVIEW, 26

FEATURE >36

With bike shops increasingly busy, now is the perfect time to get kitted out at home and polish up those maintenance skills

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Photo: sleepyhead/LDA

HE LONDON 2012 Olympics, held primarily at Stratford, partly within the borough of Newham, helped to kickstart a transformation of previously neglected parts of east London. And from 2008 to 2012, Newham Cyclists (LCC’s local group) led a series of popular New Newham rides around what’s now called the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the largely unknown architectural sights of the borough.

Now the group has designed its new Parks & Open Spaces ride for 2020, in conjunction with the council and environmental

TRAVEL, 40

The health benefits of cycling are obvious, but what about its role in mental wellbeing

It’s the most ambitious plan for walking and cycling so far FRAN GRAHAM, OPINION, PAGE 11 LONDON CYCLIST Summer 2020 3

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CONTENTS | SUMMER 2020

Image: Andy Donohoe Location: Roman Road, E2

EDITORIAL

Life after lockdown T

HERE I WAS just a few weeks ago talking in this column about how “momentous” the preceding months had been, after the triple whammy of general election, Brexit and (at that time) the global ‘threat’ of the coronavirus. Few of us could have predicted how events would unfold over the spring.

So before saying anything else, I’d like to thank everyone for all their help during this rollercoaster period. Supporters, friends in the trade, advertisers, it’s much appreciated. But my warmest thanks go to our wonderful contributors, especially those also dealing with recent family tragedy or loss — you’re an incredible group of people.

Unsurprisingly, a large slice of this edition looks at cycling and the various post-lockdown, what-happens-next scenarios.

I can’t remember a time when there were so many cyclingrelated headline stories in the news, so we look briefly at what’s going on in London and other cities around the world.

It’s a fast-moving situation as we go to press, so we’ll have fuller updates on the Mayor’s Streetspace Plan and borough developments in the next issue.

We’ve also got inspiring features on health and wellbeing, cycle touring in Scotland, bike checks, how to build a home workshop, plus the first in our new series on ‘Green Gear’.

Happy riding!

John Kitchiner Editor

LCC MEMBERS’ LEGAL HELPLINE Osbornes Solicitors 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.

LONDON CYCLIST Unit 201 Metropolitan Wharf, 70 Wapping Wall, London E1W 3SS n 020 7234 9310 n lcc.org.uk

EDITORIAL

Editor: John Kitchiner (londoncyclist@lcc.org.uk) Design: Anita Razak Contributors: Fran Graham, Simon Munk, Tom Bogdanowicz, Rob Eves, Ashok Sinha, Carlton Reid, Darren Kisner, Mike Wells

ADVERTISING

Allie Gill, 01306 621147; allie@lcc.org.uk

SOCIAL MEDIA

TWITTER: @london_cycling FACEBOOK: @LondonCyclingCampaign INSTAGRAM: @london_cycling 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. OUR AIMS: lcc.org.uk/strategy MEMBERSHIP: lcc.org.uk/membership TO DONATE: lcc.org.uk/donate LCC is a charitable limited company, reg no 1766411; charity no 1115789

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Summer 2020

STREETSPACE PLAN MEANS HUGE SHIFT FOR LONDON Coronavirus crisis sparks bold new moves towards more cycling and walking in the capital — and a greener future

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HE MAYOR Sadiq Khan and his Walking & Cycling Commissioner, Will Norman, have announced a bold ‘Streetspace Plan’ to reallocate roadspace in response to, and during, the Covid-19 pandemic. Norman, writing in Bikebiz, called it “unparalleled in a city of London’s size”.

The plans are in response to a respiratory crisis that potentially looks like it is exacerbated by pollution, and the near total collapse for the foreseeable future of public transport capacity.

TfL estimates even running trains and buses at previous frequencies, our public transport capacity will be at approximately 15% because of the need for social distancing.

London, and most cities, are now looking at two possible outcomes: either build cycling (and to a lesser extent walking) capacity very fast, or face higher motor traffic levels than we’ve seen for decades as workers and students start going back — and with them, pollution, road danger, inactivity and climate-changing emissions.

The plan so far includes the following:

n Large parts, and potentially the whole, of the City of London going essentially ‘car-free’. n Waterloo and London Bridges bus/cycle only. n Temporary cycle tracks at locations including Park Lane, Euston Road, Balham High Road, Holborn, Old Street, Clerkenwell Road and Theobalds Road. Plus 30km of permanent tracks completed over the next few months. n Targeting high priority ‘Low Traffic Neighborhoods’ for urgent delivery by London’s borough councils. n Extending Congestion Charge hours and upping price to £15 daily. n Temporarily removing free public transport travel for secondary schoolchildren and OAPs. This appears to relate partially to secondary school bus travel overwhelming the network — and kids being generally fitter and healthier.

In addition the government has also published statutory guidance, in essence telling every council in England that it must respond to the crisis by reallocating roadspace. n FOR LATEST UPDATES: lcc.org.uk.

SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME: our city streets could be filled with bikes on a permanent basis

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NEWS

CYCLE ROUTE MAPPING GETS NEW BOOST TfL’S HIGHLY detailed Cycling Infrastructure Database (CID) is set to go into OpenStreetMap later this year. CID was released in 2019 and listed over 240,000 pieces of cycle infrastructure — everything from 146,000 cycle parking spaces to 2,000km of cycle routes from across London.

Keeping it up to date was a huge challenge. TfL and LCC set up a partnership trial to ‘crowdsource’ on-street changes via our local groups. While this work was successful, the use of OpenStreetMap (OSM) as the background app highlighted both the speed at which the OSM community adds new features and showed just how much value CID data could add to OSM. So, the project will now focus on importing the CID data into OSM. In future this means OSM-based route planners (such as Cyclestreets.net and Cycle.Travel) should deliver better routes in London, plus more accurate cycle parking info.

We will be encouraging LCC groups to start updating OSM directly, with training for those interested, later in 2020.

THE FACTS:

Changes in air pollution during Covid-19 crisis

OFFERING CYCLING ADVICE DURING CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

60 % decrease in NO2 over China, Western Europe and US in early 2020 compared to 2019

20 to38 NO2 decreased by this % over European & US cities during lockdown

10%

Drop in PM2.5 across Europe compared to same period last year

11k

Number of ‘avoided deaths’ across Europe from air pollution (Sources: AGU, CREA)

AS PART of our response the coronavirus Crisis, LCC recently launched a new cycling advice service, drawing on a wealth of cycling experience and knowledge within the organisation to help answer questions via phone, email and Facebook messenger.

The team has been supporting people starting or returning to cycling and providing information on topics including cycling safely in traffic, cycling near HGVs, safe route planning, and basic maintenance.

The service has been available to key workers who have needed to ride to work during the crisis, those who need to cycle for other essential journeys, and people turning to cycling as a safe form of exercise.

In addition to the advice service, we have also provided free, temporary LCC membership to London NHS staff and care workers (so they can benefit immediately from liability insurance and other member benefits) and offered practical advice and support to hospitals and NHS trusts who have had to cater for increased numbers of staff cycling to work.

Long-time LCC member, Dr Jonathan Kelly of Bart’s Hospital, told us how welcome this scheme has been: “The free LCC member’s insurance is clearly a big draw, but my colleagues are finding the LCC support network really helpful. Being new, or ‘returnees’ to cycling, LCC has been a great go-to place for all manner of information.

Some have connected with their local LCC groups and have found that local advice really helpful.” n CONTACT: advice@lcc.org.uk / 020 7234 9310.

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OPINION

Grasp the nettle After the pandemic’s tragedies, Ashok Sinha argues that the opportunity for change must not be missed

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’VE LOST track of how many times I’ve heard people saying how wonderful it is to hear birdsong again. It is indeed.

But how many of us realise that songbird populations have been in serious decline for decades, due to our despoilation of their habitats?

If society returns to business-asusual after the Covid-19 crisis, including roaring, traffic-choked streets, we won’t even notice when the last songbird has gone.

Melodramatic, maybe. But no-one should be under the illusion that bringing the coronavirus under control will bring a return to full health. We would simply return to toxic air, a chronic public health crisis caused by inactivity and, above all else, the ecological and climate emergencies. Indeed, there is mounting evidence that the current pandemic, like other zoonotic infections before it such as nipah and ebola, was made more likely by humanity’s destruction of ecosystems. A return to the status quo ante cannot be allowed.

The motor car is a fabulous tool, bringing mobility and loadcarrying benefits to many. But our pre-lockdown, car-sick urban centres were both a material and symbolic manifestation of how we’ve got things so very wrong.

Conversely, the large number of

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people now taking to their cycles because of the current quietness of our streets is a parable for how we can make things right.

Unparalleled changes Just as Covid-19 hit the UK, LCC published its Climate Safe Streets report. Intended to kick-start our campaign around the now postponed London mayoral election, it lays out how we can and must decarbonise London’s roads by 2030. And now, witnessing how effective and attractive homeworking is for many (if not everyone), we can add that the case for government investment in UK-wide high bandwidth digital infrastructure to reduce travel demand — and hence motor traffic — has never been greater.

Plus, this is also a social justice issue: with social distancing restrictions on public transport and fares rising in London due to the conditions attached to TfL’s bailout from the DfT, the obstacles to people choosing the cheap and

“We must hold the Mayor to his word... but defend the Plan when it hits opposition”

Ashok Sinha Chief Executive of London Cycling Campaign

convenient option of cycling must be removed. It’s only fair.

But the real, and most exciting point is that there now may be enough public and business appetite for this to happen. Credit then to Sadiq Khan for his new Streetspace Plan, which promises to enable “millions more people” to walk and cycle through changes “unparalleled” for a city of London’s size. As ever, we must hold the Mayor to his word, but we must also defend the Plan when it hits opposition.

I’m aware of the dangers of rose-tinted spectacles. After the tragedies of the pandemic it will only be natural to want a return to ‘normal’. It is surely only a matter of time before the government unleashes an economic stimulus.

Its choice is clear: prime a return to the previous polluted, unhealthy ­ as many governments reality or — have already decided — pursue a green, fair pathway out of recession.

In the case of transport in London, that means taming the car more than anything else. The challenge is huge, but this is a once in a hundred year opportunity for radical change that must not be missed. Sadiq has grasped the nettle with his Streetspace Plan.

History beckons if he can make this Plan the shape of things to come.

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OPINION

Road to recovery Your support will be vital, says Fran Graham, as we push to ensure the Mayor’s Streetspace Plan delivers

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EW PEOPLE could have predicted how the first six months of 2020 would end up playing out. In an incredibly short time our lives have changed beyond recognition.

Now, as we start to transition out of lockdown, cities around the world have been grappling with what that actually looks like.

The worrying conclusion many arrived at was that without any kind of intervention, and with social distancing measures likely to be in place for the foreseeable future, not only would the motor traffic swiftly return, but very possibly would exceed that of prelockdown times. Worsening the gridlock, pollution, emissions and damage that cities that have been struggling to eliminate for years.

At the start of the lockdown, LCC laid out its plan for keeping Londoners safe and how they could stop the motor traffic tsunami once lockdown lifts. Thankfully, the Mayor and TfL agreed with us.

Stating that the “road to recovery cannot be clogged with cars”, Sadiq Khan unveiled his Streetspace Plan in early May. It’s the most ambitious plan for enabling walking and cycling in the city so far, and it’s claimed to be “unparalleled in a city London’s size”.

The proposal’s highlights

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include acceleration of delivery on agreed routes such as Cycleway 9 and Cycleway 4. With the City of London’s announcement that it would be making a number of streets car-free, the Streetspace Plan looks to expand on that, potentially making Waterloo and London Bridges, as well as the ‘London Boulevard’ (the collection of roads connecting Old Street to Holborn) bus and bike only.

Healthier, happier city This programme is an essential step right now. Because with all the uncertainty about the transition out of lockdown, and how our daily lives might change after Covid-19, we do know that putting in the infrastructure to support more cycling and walking will cut air pollution, drop carbon emissions, and build resilience into our transport systems — as well as making it a healthier, happier place for all residents to live.

But it’s not going to be plain sailing from here. There are certain

“It’s not going to be plain sailing. There are certain boroughs still dragging their feet”

Fran Graham is LCC’s Campaigns Co-ordinator and works with local groups

boroughs that are still dragging their feet on installing any kind of infrastructure, plus there has already been pushback on the plans from the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association. We’ll need your help in the coming months to make sure the Streetspace Plan delivers.

The Mayor’s announcement also came hot on the heels of the news on TfL’s £1.6 billion bailout.

Given that it receives about 50% of its funds from fares, and the Covid-19 crisis has cut the number of people using public transport by 95%, TfL is facing a serious hole in its budget. The bailout will cover TfL’s operating costs for about four months, with uncertainty still looming on how its long-term financing will work.

At the same time, the Department of Transport released £250 million of emergency funding for councils to access for emergency walking and cycling measures — it’s good, but nowhere near enough for every council across England to put in the emergency measures they need.

Especially when compared to the £27 billion for roads promised in the Chancellor’s February budget (that at the time of writing the DfT was still standing by). Thankfully this is already being challenged in the courts on the grounds that it breaches our climate commitments.

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OPINION

The door is ajar...

Brits are getting on their bikes in impressive numbers.

Now let’s make it stick says Carlton Reid

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SPY ON cyclists. Ironically, it’s usually when I’m washing my car. I live in an urban park, with a road outside our front door that, when there’s no motor traffic, resembles a quiet country lane.

On warm weekends I’ll normally clock a few cyclists.

Thanks to the horrors of Covid-19 there are now flocks of them. And no longer just ‘cyclists’ but most definitely ‘people on bikes’. People quite obviously new to cycling. Or at least new to cycling on roads, albeit seemingly rural, motortraffic-zero roads.

Fat people. Thin people. Young.

Old. BAME. Not BAME. Helmets. No helmets. Wobbly. Wheelie-pulling.

Families. Couples. Lost. Purposeful.

Fast. Slow.

Washing my car has never been so much fun.

Bikes selling out The wonderful reports about bikes selling out almost everywhere (wonderful, that is, unless you’re in the market for a bike — it’s the new toilet paper, apparently) vividly highlight that what I’m spying from behind my bucket of suds is the ‘new normal’.

Beautifully, Brits are genuinely getting on bikes in impressive, country-changing numbers.

But — if a recent government

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announcement is any guide — we’ve got less than a year to make this stick.

On 23 May the government unveiled emergency legislation to amend three 1990s-era traffic laws.

“The amendments speed up making Emergency Traffic Orders that may be needed to, for example, widen pavements or install cycle lanes,” said a Department for Transport (DfT) note.

The main change is to the means of advertising the order, which can be via digital means rather than having to advertise it in the local print media. “The amendments will cease to have effect as of 30 April 2021,” concluded DfT’s note.

Pop-ups everywhere Many English cities were ahead of the curve. Leicester, for instance, is promising to build a mile of new pop-up cycling and walking lanes every week for 10 weeks. (You know what else is in short supply at the moment? The sort of plastic barriers local authorities have been

“The Park Lane pop-up shows major changes can be made to the streetscape rapidly”

Carlton Reid is a book author and leading transport journalist

slapping down on roads to create pop-ups).

London, too, grasped the nettle reasonably early. I had my worries about the pop-up cycleways on Park Lane, fearing they would be installed on the straights only, leaving newbie cyclists to deal with feral motor traffic at junctions (and thereby negating the whole shebang), but then came the social media posts showing protection at Hyde Park Corner.

Where there’s will And the Park Lane pop-up is protected in part with quicklyinstalled concrete kerbs, showing that major — hopefully permanent — changes can be made to the streetscape rapidly when there’s the political will.

Improvements to the public realm have been planned and executed in days when normally they would take years. This speed is power to our collective elbows: it shouts that swift, meaningful change is possible.

Right now we’re pushing on an open door, but the work of cycle campaigners will get tougher in the months ahead as lockdown eases.

Still, we’re in a place we thought we’d not be in for some years.

Not quite Amsterdam yet, but closer. Much closer.

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CYCLE HIRE

The capital’s cycle hire scheme celebrates a milestone birthday this summer. In these tough times, Darren Kisner finds it giving Londoners something to cheer

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AS IT REALLY been 10 years?

It’s hard to remember the city without its fleet of sturdy red and blue bikes. It feels like they have been a permanent fixture, as familiar as our buses and black cabs, and loved just as much by visitors.

But London’s cycle hire scheme is more than an attraction. It has always been about serious sustainable public transport. And while coronavirus could have overshadowed the 10year anniversary, it’s actually shown the scheme at its most vital.

In July 2010 TfL’s cycle hire scheme rolled out with 315 docking stations and 5,000 bikes.

Officially named Barclays Cycle Hire (after the first sponsor), they were swiftly dubbed ‘Boris

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HIRE BIKES

almost 10,000, with more than 700 docking stations. For many, this stately new presence on our city streets represented progress — London had joined a global family of cities, from Paris to Montreal, who finally took cycling seriously. At the same time, the bikes made city cycling more accessible. TfL research showed that 51% of hire bike users started cycling in London because of the scheme.

But not everyone was excited about the scheme’s success. After all, this is London, and cycling arouses passions that aren’t always rational. Critics claimed that its popularity would decline as the novelty wore off. Or that the scheme was dangerous because it attracted inexperienced riders.

OLD AND NEW: the two versions of the city’s hire bike pictured in Hyde Park

Year-on-year growth Back in the real world, however, the numbers told their own story. In 2014, annual hires broke the 10 million mark. That year there were just 79 reported injuries involving the bikes, and a study published in the British Medical Journal found that overall health benefits for hire bike riders outweighed any of the risks.

Thanks to a tube strike on 9 July 2015, the scheme had its biggest ever day — 73,094 hires in 24 hours. The daily average for the year was 27,046. That summer’s day proved how resilient cycle hire can be when other modes fail.

The same month, Spanish bank Santander took over sponsorship in a seven-year deal worth £43.75m. The official name changed to Santander Cycles, and the bikes were re-liveried

Photos: TfL

Bikes’ (after the incumbent mayor) by the press and public. It cost just £1 to access for 24 hours.

And by 2020, the scheme had clocked up 88 million hires and doubled in size to cover 100 square kilometres, with 781 docking stations and 12,000 bikes. It had also doubled in price, to £2 for 24-hour access.

The Canadian-built bikes were designed around a step-through frame, with three-speed hub gear, twist-grip shifters and drum brakes.

They weighed in at 23kg and felt reassuringly steady. But city bikes aren’t built for speed, they’re built to serve.

In its first 12 months the scheme attracted 6.2 million hires. Over the next three years the network expanded east, west and south of the city centre. The total number of bikes grew to

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in a striking corporate red. The Santander Cycles App was also released, simplifying the hiring process further.

Time for a refresh In 2016 Sadiq Khan became Mayor of London and within his first year the fleet received another refresh, with the launch of a second generation of bikes. The new model, built

by British brand Pashley, featured improved handling, comfort and safety features, as well as some clever technology for engineers to pull performance metrics from the bikes.

All the time annual ride numbers continued to climb. They hit 10.5 million in 2018, the biggest year to date, and stayed above 10 million for the fourth year running in 2019.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, 2020 was on track to be bigger still, with a January record of 709,514 hires.

Along the way hire bikes have been ridden up Alpe D’Huez (and home in time to avoid a fine), round Herne Hill Velodrome in a heroically futile attempt on the hour record (but still at an average speed of 19.4mph!) and even round the world (£300 late return fine). All for charity, and all helping to cement the now iconic image of London’s very own hire bike.

From blue to red: the livery changed as Santander took over as sponsor from Barclays

Costs and benefits The latest TfL budget shows there were 10.9 million hires in 2018/19, which generated income of £1.07 per hire against direct operating costs of £2.03.

Over the year, that equals £22.1m in direct operating costs. £11.6m came from hires and £7m from sponsorship, with the remaining £3.5m from subsidy.

What’s more difficult to quantify are the benefits the scheme delivers.

There are the clear health benefits of active travel and reduced pollution, which in turn reduce the burden on the NHS. Added to the financial benefits of moving people around the city so they can work and spend. And right now, of course, people are turning to cycling as a responsible way to maintain social distancing.

All in all, you’d have to say it’s pretty good value.

A beginner’s guide LCC members and supporters tend to own a bike or several, so there’s a chance some LC readers have never needed to hire one. For those who haven’t had a go, this is how it works.

The pricing is structured to encourage short journeys. It costs £2 to access the bikes for 24 hours, and during that period you can

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HIRE BIKES

THE PASHLEY 5000-SERIES The second-generation London cycle hire bike launched in 2017.

Made by British company Pashley, the new model retained the same step-through frame for ease of use, but added extra features and refined others to make it more user-friendly.

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make as many journeys as you like. The first 30 minutes of a journey are free, then it’s £2 for every 30 minutes after that. You hire a bike from a docking station, ride, and return it to any docking station with available space.

Hiring is simple. You don’t need to register, just turn up and hire. Every docking station has a terminal which accepts cards, including contactless payment. Alternatively, download and use the Santander Cycles App to locate and hire bikes.

There’s also a membership option, more suited to frequent users. A £90 annual fee covers your access costs and you get a physical key which lets you release bikes without a card or app.

You can hire up to four bikes at a time, great for family trips, tourists or enthusiastic groups of teenagers. If you’ve never tried it, give it a go.

1 Award winning ‘Special Purpose Bike’ gold award winner, Eurobike 2018 2 Brighter lighting Brighter front and rear lights, even in daytime 3 Improved visibility Beryl laser lights project an image of a bike onto the road in front 4 Performance data Onboard data capture to optimise maintenance 5 Smaller wheels 24in wheels for tighter handling and faster acceleration

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6 Fewer punctures New tyres feature an Aramid belt and 4mm puncture protection 7 Extra comfort Lower step-through height and a comfier saddle 8 Easier to adjust Chunky one-handed seat clamp for easier saddle adjustment 9 Better weather protection Longer, deeper mudguards for better rain protection 10 More stopping power Upgraded Shimano brakes for enhanced stopping power

Behind the scenes With the whole system geared toward ease of use, it’s easy to overlook the enormous logistics needed to keep the operation running smoothly.

Serco is the company responsible for bike supply, distribution and maintenance. They’ve been running the show since the scheme started in 2010. Operations run from two depots, one tucked away in King’s Cross and LONDON CYCLIST Summer 2020 17

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one in Clapham. Each home to a small army of support staff.

The mechanics have their work cut out for them too. A 2018 freedom of information request revealed the most common repairs that year included 10,782 broken pedals, 6,684 wheels and 5,916 inner tubes. And that’s on top of regular servicing.

The King’s Cross depot also houses a control centre, where staff track live data feeds to manage the distribution of bikes across the network.

Crucial for making sure there are bikes and docking spaces where people need them. They direct the van drivers who do the redistribution, as well as a team of mobile mechanics who zip around fixing bikes reported as faulty.

Bikes are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, whatever the weather. And as we’re finding out, even when we’re in the grip of a global health crisis. So next time you hire a smooth-running bike, spare a thought for the team that made it possible.

Coming of age This 10-year milestone could have been overshadowed by the pandemic that’s turned our lives upside down. But instead, it seems

Still growing: there’s now 12,000 bikes on our streets and 781 docking stations

Pictured right: nurse Habiba Khanam, the March winner of TfL’s 10 year anniversary story comp

London’s cycle hire scheme is coming of age.

In a strange new world where travelling by bus or tube poses a health risk, cycling to work has become a lifeline for key workers and by extension, all of us. In response, TfL has given NHS staff free access to hire bikes and prioritised docking stations near hospitals.

At the peak of the crisis, when public transport use had all but ceased, people still hired bikes. To get to work, to take daily exercise, to taste the fresh air and freedom that we craved

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HIRE BIKES

Q&A WITH DAVID EDDINGTON, HEAD OF CYCLE HIRE AT TfL Happy 10 years! What’s your highlight of the first decade?

‘Go-live day’ 10 years ago. Cycle hire was something brand new for London and there was a mix of excitement and trepidation. Would anyone use it? But we quickly knew we’d got it right when people started complaining the area wasn’t large enough and there weren’t enough bikes.

If you could improve one thing about the scheme, what would it be?

Bigger stations at the most popular locations. It’s as simple as that.

It’s a constant frustration, especially for commuters, when you can’t dock your bike where you need to.

If we see the predicted huge post-pandemic increase in cycling, is the scheme ready for it?

A small silver lining in these distressing times is people’s clear appetite for cycling. The first weekend after the initial lockdown easing we had a record 97,000 hires over two days. The scheme has capacity to maintain that level of use. We’re ready and we can cope with demand.

On a lighter note, are there any plans to go electric?

in our locked-down lives. Now politicians and the public are turning to cycling as a solution, a way out of lockdown and back to life. Whatever the future holds, it’s clear cycle hire needs to be a critical part of our public transport mix.

It’s not the birthday anyone would have wished for, but out of this crisis London’s cycle hire scheme will emerge stronger and more vital than ever. And that is surely something to celebrate. Happy 10th birthday London cycle hire!

It’s something we are looking at, but no firm plans yet. We had some trial pedelecs at Car Free Day and we’re keeping abreast of the market.

Remember we are, and intend to remain, a docked scheme so we need to make sure we have the facility for either battery swap or in-dock charge. We’re looking at how that could work with our scheme should we be asked to do it.

How would you sum up the scheme’s impact in its 10 years?

I think it has been one of the drivers for building cycling in London.

The numbers we get are phenomenal. From a market that wasn’t really there when we started, to seeing queues on Blackfriars Bridge when I ride to work in the morning. It’s incredible to think we’ve got so many people on bikes that now there’s traffic jams of bikes in some places! To a degree, it’s changed the face of London. We’re now part of the landscape.

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COVID-19

CYCLING & CORONAVIRUS Where does cycling fit into public health at a time of emergency?

Naira Antoun looks at what’s been happening around the world

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THIRD OF the global population is under some form of lockdown as this magazine goes to press. The way we live our lives, how our cities look and feel, has shifted in a very short space of time.

Anecdotal evidence from the cycling industry in various countries suggests that many people have been turning to their bikes, some for the first time in years. Yet again it seems the utility of the humble bicycle has been rediscovered at a time of crisis and disaster.

When Hurricane Sandy hit New York in 2012, leaving the subway dysfunctional and leading to gas rationing, people turned to the bike.

Likewise, following the 2017 earthquake Mexico City was in chaos, with mobile networks and electricity out and streets massively congested.

Here bikes were ideal not only for mobility in heavily crowded streets, but for transporting medicines quickly and scouting damaged areas.

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from states that shut their borders when reported cases were still few to those that declared business as usual even as cases mounted — so too has cycling featured differently in the Covid-19 response.

Those encouraging cycling stress it offers a relatively low risk way to get around for essential travel and that keeping large swathes of the population inactive has serious public health repercussions. Meanwhile those discouraging cycling have voiced concerns about it potentially stretching an already fragile health service in the case of accidents and injuries.

Different responses globally As India announced a complete lockdown for 21 days in mid-March, bike sharing apps and the cycling food delivery services (dabbawala) in Mumbai all immediately suspended their operations. At the same time, in London, cycle hire companies were shifting their attention to NHS workers. LCC itself has been providing free cycling advice, as well as free membership for hospital workers, many of whom ordinarily rely on public transport to get to work.

New Zealand was the first country to provide governmental funding for emergency measures for walking and cycling — local authorities were able to apply for funds to implement temporary cycle lanes and the widening of pavements.

And in California, Oakland’s mayor announced ‘Oakland Slow Streets’ which temporarily banned motor traffic on 74 miles of streets (10% of the city’s total).

In Bogota, the Ciclovía scheme — which turns over 75 miles of streets to cycles one day a week — was extended to operate all week long, plus a further 50 miles of temporary bike lanes were put in place. And in late March, it was reported

Simple and effective: Germany was quick to set up temporary cycle lanes in many cities

that the Mexican government was considering similar plans for Mexico City.

Before New York went into lockdown, cycling increased dramatically as people jumped on their bikes to get to work while social distancing.

Cyclist injuries increased by 43% in early March and the mayor came in for criticism for calling on New Yorkers to bike to work without building any new protected lanes to protect the increased number of riders. City leaders then unveiled plans to rapidly extend their cycling networks.

What was Europe’s response?

Closer to home, countries in Europe have treated cycling very differently too. The most prominent to encourage cycling has been Germany, where emergency cycle lanes have been added and existing lanes significantly widened. In Denmark, Copenhagen has also seen some radical roadspace reallocation, with six-lane roads being reduced to two lanes and the remaining space used for uni-directional protected bike lanes and new green space.

In Italy cycling was explicitly mentioned in government advice as an appropriate means to reach work or shops and for exercise,

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COVID-19

Park Lane: the famous Mayfair road has seen a pop-up cycle lane opened

Mixed bag at home In the UK, in the weeks leading up to the lockdown, bike shops saw a huge increase in demand for workshop and repair services, as well as purchases from broader age ranges and demographics than usual. The lockdown announced on the evening of 23 March, initially for a period of three weeks, enforced the closure of all non-essential shops and services. But in his televised announcement, the Prime Minister stated people should only leave their homes for essential jobs, to buy food and medicine, or to exercise once a day — and here mentioned either walking and cycling explicitly.

Halfords closed its stores the following day, only to re-open many of them a day later as it became clear that cycle shops were permitted to open. Meanwhile the Evans Cycles chain initially shut up shop, but u-turned a short time later by opening 11 of the stores nationwide.

Most bike shops around the country have remained open, though some were only operating their workshops rather than the full retail side. Concern about shortages of parts as supply lines became disrupted were generally overcome by April.

More than 80 researchers called on the UK government to follow the lead of those European states actively encouraging cycling and walking. They pointed to the health risks of confining the generally asymptomatic population to their homes for a long period. “Confinement, sometimes in overcrowded accommodation with little or no private green space, and particularly during times of anxiety has health risks,” they wrote, highlighting the importance of outdoor exercise for maintaining both physical and mental health. Indeed, for many

The most prominent to encourage cycling has been Germany... cycle lanes have been added and existing ones widened

Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA

although there were restrictions on leisure cycling. In Milan plans were later announced for improvements to more than 22 miles of streets over the summer to enable safe cycling and walking as lockdown restrictions are lifted.

In France and Spain, while using the bike for essential travel was permitted the restrictions were greater. Spanish local media reported several stories of police stopping and fining cyclists, including those going to the shops or other essential travel; fines began at 100 euros, but there was the possibility of up to one year in prison if a cyclist refused to obey.

In both these countries, the logic again was concern about taxing health services.

In France, cycling alone for exercise was initially allowed in mid-March, but three days later curtailed.

Leisure riding was banned as people were restricted to 1-2km limits and, for the duration of the lockdown, every citizen has had to carry a printed,

signed, dated and timed ‘attestation’ every single time they left the house to prove they were abiding by a one-hour outdoors limit.

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people, home may not be a safe place at all, and many will need respite. The researchers called on decision-makers “to protect the right to walk and cycle safely (from risk of infection and traffic injury) for those who are not symptomatic”.

Specifically, this means ensuring parks and other green spaces stay open to the public — with appropriate social distancing measures — and emergency infrastructure to make cycling and walking safer. As the situation unfolded on the ground — from increased car speeds to untenable pressure on green spaces — there was a case increasingly to be made for reallocating roadspace and filtering traffic, along with other temporary measures, to ensure safe travel during the lockdown.

Car speeds on the rise As the number of cars on the road dropped, speeding rose dramatically. The increased likelihood this entails for road collisions would put pressure on the NHS and other services, hence the call for emergency provision of cycle routes that would both protect cyclists, and by narrowing the space available for motor traffic, also reduce driving speeds.

There has also been concern that the pressure on green spaces is untenable. Some parks closed entirely and others placed limitations — such as the controversial decision by Royal Parks to ban non-keyworkers from Richmond Park. However, closing public parks and green spaces can prove

Safer streets: opened up quickly across multiple Canadian and US locations

detrimental for public health, particularly on the poorest in society who are more likely to be living in overcrowded accommodation without access to private outdoor space.

At the start of May, Mayor Sadiq Khan revealed his bold Streetspace Plan (see page 6), though some boroughs were already making moves.

Lambeth has embarked on emergency action on wider pavements, cycle tracks and low traffic neighbourhoods. Lewisham is also taking emergency action on low traffic neighbourhoods, while Hackney has introduced a package of emergency measures to improve road safety and social distancing throughout the pandemic.

Richmond is building a post-Covid transport action plan promoting active travel. However, while a number of councils are taking these vital steps, there remains a large gap between them and those that are doing very little.

Down in Brighton, after pressure from local campaigners, the council closed two major seafront streets to motor traffic from mid-April, to allow residents more safe space for cycling, walking and other exercise.

The ‘new normal’ Like all crises, the pandemic has brought into sharp relief what was taken to be normal.

Whether it is the question of government priorities or how human life (and whose) is valued. Every Londoner will be asking themselves what of the old normal they want to go back to and what to do away with, what parts of life in lockdown we might want to keep. Many will be certain that they do not want a return to a car-sick city when the Covid-19 crisis is over.

To do that we need to decarbonise London’s roads and facilitate a massive shift away from motor vehicles and towards cycling, walking and clean public transport, and cut climate emissions, air pollution, noise and danger.

While most London authorities have declared a climate emergency, there has been too little action to match. But if this period teaches us anything it is how quickly orthodoxies can be swept aside in the face of crisis as the horizons of what is possible, or ‘realistic’, shift.

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

THE WORLD’S BEST HELMET ISN’T A HELMET

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ÖVDING 3 — the airbag for urban cyclists — is worn like a collar around the neck and, using built-in sensors, registers a cyclist’s movements 200 times every second. In the event of a collision the airbag inside this collar inflates in 0.1 seconds, efficiently supporting the neck and protecting the head from injury. And as it is also Bluetooth connected, selected emergency contacts can be automatically notified.

The concept was originated by two industrial design students in Sweden in 2005. They set out to make a “helmet that wasn’t a helmet”, but rather a comfortable, wearable airbag. The first product, Hövding 1.0, was launched in 2012 after years of software development, testing and design.

Hövding’s accident detection system consists of an algorithm based on AI technology. The algorithm is trained by providing it with data, corresponding to both collisions and non-collisions, to learn from. This crash data is created by collecting the movement

patterns from staged events — professional stunt performers simulated over 3,000 collisions of different types and intensity. Noncollision data was collected by over 300 Hövding fans generating more than 2,000 hours of normal biking data. These two sets of data created a solid base for Hövding’s accident detection algorithm.

Today, with more than 200,000 Hövdings sold around Europe — and 5,000 collisions where Hövding has protected from serious injury — the third generation of Hövding has evolved into a connected everyday product for the urban cyclist who wants to stay safe and ride free.

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INTERVIEW

ANNA HUGHES The cycling writer, blogger and director of Flight Free UK speaks to Tom Bogdanowicz in the early days of the national coronavirus lockdown The pandemic has already seen a lot more people on bikes. Do you think that ‘active travel’ will get a boost in the longer term?

I hope so, because cycling is an important form of private transport. We can do it independently, separated from other people — and it’s also a lot better for the environment, and for our health, than sitting in cars. It’s always difficult when something as disastrous as this causes upheaval, but we can always push for longer term behaviour change to come out of such crises. It would be wonderful if more people were to start using their bikes more frequently.

You live on a narrow boat, so what’s your experience of the lockdown been like?

It’s quite a unique way to live, but I work from home anyway as lots of people around me do, so we say hello to each other and talk across the water. I usually cruise my boat up and down the River Lea, but we were told not to do that, so I’ve been staying in one place and enjoying the Marshes. I’ve been going for my one daily run around Hackney Marshes and that’s lovely. My shelves are always pretty full of lentils, so I won’t got short on that front.

You’ve recently set up Flight Free UK (flightfree.co.uk), challenging people to forego air travel — something that many people will now likely do this year for obvious reasons. Why have you chosen to campaign on aviation as opposed to other climate change issues?

I’ve been an environmentalist all my life, and I’ve tried to live as sustainably

as possible. I haven’t flown for more than a decade because I learned what the impact was of flying. I’m vegan, I ride a bike, I don’t own a car, I’ve got a solar panel, but when the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) report came out in 2018 and said that we have a decade to sort things out, that inspired me to talk about this with other people and get people to change their behaviour in the same way as I had done.

And flying is the big one. If you take a flight, even one flight can overshadow everything else you do for the environment. So, if you eat less meat and drive less and so on, just one flight can wipe out all those savings.

For an individual, if you do fly that can be a large part of your carbon footprint. And that’s what I’ve been trying to communicate to people, encouraging them to make changes: for example, travel by other means or travel closer to home, but not jump on a flight as if it were a bus.

In the same way that raising cycling levels comes down to social shift, the same needs happen for aviation. The age of cheap flights has encouraged us to fly without thinking because it’s there and it’s available but people are not really conscious of what it means in terms of our climate change emissions and the massive challenges we face.

How can you persuade people who haven’t travelled, or who can’t afford rail travel, to stop flying?

There’s often a perception that flying is a lot cheaper than other forms of transport, and in some cases it is. But I went to Nice last year and I cycled there, but I got the train home and it cost me a hundred quid; the flight would have been about £60, though by the time you’ve added costs of getting to the airport, all the extras you can pay for, the cost can actually be quite comparable. One of the reasons flying is often cheaper is because there is no tax on aviation fuel; we pay tax on everything else yet in terms of climate change our tax levels should reflect environmental cost and it doesn’t at the moment.

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more than we subsidise aviation which would mean train prices would come down, they would be more accessible to more people, air prices would go up to reflect the environmental cost and that would encourage modal shift away from flight onto rail — the whole of Europe is on our doorstep and there are some incredible places we can easily get to. Not flying doesn’t mean not having your beach holiday, it just means it may take you slightly longer to get there.

One thing you’ve advocated is a ban on flight advertising. But is that enough? In normal times luxury cars, overseas travel and fast food account for a large part of advertising spend?

No one thing is enough. Our campaign is just one tiny part of reducing aviation anyway. We can inform people of the climate impact of aviation, we can inspire them to travel by other means, but there also needs to be those structural things in place like taxation, like better routes, and advertising is just one of those elements. We are encouraged to fly because we are told to, maybe on a subconscious level. We are shown these incredible places that you can only get to by flying, and we aspire to them because we are told that’s what we need. It’s the same with all advertising, but when that’s something that’s so bad for our planetary health and our public health that leaves a question — should we be doing this? In the same way that tobacco advertising was banned because it became clear that it was a public health issue. We could argue that aviation was a public health issue in the same way, because it causes air pollution and in terms of climate change it’s causing huge problems.

What do you think is the most effective way of persuading people to live more sustainably?

I think it’s showing the benefits. Some people will be scared of the threat of climate change, and that is powerful, but we generally need to communicate the benefits and the benefits of sustainability are not just the long-term survival of the human race and the planet, it’s the short-term stuff too.

If we are using a cycle, for example, as a sustainable way to travel it’s also much better for your pocket, you don’t have to pay for fuel, parking or vehicle upkeep, and it’s also really good for your health. It is a great form of exercise if you cycle several miles to the office every day, and you then don’t have to go to the gym either, saving more time and money.

It is also fantastic for our mental health and in my

Taking the high road: on an extended bike tour of the UK

Pedal Power book there is a whole chapter on cycling and mental health.

And in these times, when we have a lot of worries and a lot of anxieties, one of the very best things you can do is get out on a bike.

If you were London Mayor what would you do to reach a target of zero carbon by 2030?

I would scrap all airport expansion.

In fact I would probably scrap all the airports [laughs], but I’d definitely close City Airport. I would massively invest in cycling infrastructure — and by infrastructure I don’t just mean cycle lanes, I mean everything that enables us to ride a bike. Some of London is fantastic and some of it is just dreadful in terms of cycling facilities.

LCC’s Climate Safe Streets report recommends smart road user charging across the whole of London?

London should be private car-free!

Pricing and taxation will always change behaviour for some people and it’s a good method, but I think it should go hand in hand with the opposite, so charging is a stick measure and it would need a carrot measure — like some of what is already going on with free cycle training, free bike checks or free cycle hire. Ultimately Zone One should be private car-free.

Having ridden solo around the UK coast and written a book about it, and ridden across

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France, how do you compare those two experiences?

In the Netherlands they laugh at the idea of a job as a cycling instructor. It’s just so unnecessary as they’re a cycling nation

Cycling across France, mostly along river valleys, I truly discovered the scale of the place.

While my journey around Britain was longer in terms of miles, the spacing out in France was completely different. I cycled along towpaths and disused railway lines and there were huge gaps between settlements. While here in Britain, things are a little more compact so the variety of your surroundings changes just that little bit quicker. I also came to the conclusion that if the roads in France hadn’t just been Tarmac’d, they were just about to be. Not the cities so much, they were a disaster — in Marseilles the Tarmac was awful.

In your book Pedal Power you’ve written about the legends of cycling. One chapter features women like Beryl Burton, Eileen Sheridan, Eileen Grey, Nicole Cooke, Sarah Storey. Who do you admire most and why?

the Giro against all the odds and against all the men who said you can’t do it. She did it, she finished it — that’s the sort of thing I think is brilliant.

And Beryl Burton beat quite a lot of men...

Didn’t she just! There are quite a few anecdotes of her just passing the men and smiling and waving.

She was super fit, a force to be reckoned with.

However, women continue to be underrepresented in regular cycling, both in London and UK as a whole. What will it take to change that?

Life on the water: Anna has made east London’s canals her home

I’ve worked as a cycle instructor for a long time, trying to get others to ride, and the majority of my students have been women. Maybe that’s indicative that women don’t feel safe on the roads. I guess there’s a perception that it’s unsafe and I think that’s something that affects women more than men.

Ultimately though it’s about infrastructure — when you look at places like the Netherlands they laugh at the idea of a job as a cycling instructor. It’s just so unnecessary as they’re a cycling nation. Everybody grows up riding a bike, there are safe places to do it, the drivers are sympathetic to cyclists because they’re cyclists themselves. It’s just the culture. And for that cultural shift to take place here it will take time, it will take investment and political will.

I think the women who were taking part in rides and races when that wasn’t really the thing to do. When it was very much a man’s world — and I know there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of equality in cycling, as well as many other sports and leisure activities. But I admire the women who really went out there and just did their thing in a man’s world, that really knocks me sideways.

In the Giro d’Italia, in 1924 I think, a young lady [Alfonsina Strada] entered under a man’s name so that no-one would ask any questions about her being a woman. And, of course, by the time she ended up on the start line it was too late — and so she took part in LONDON CYCLIST Summer 2020 29

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26/05/2020 21:16 07/05/2019 20:44 03/04/2019 10:44

CAMPAIGN

SAY GOODBYE TO THE

RAT-RUNS Don’t miss out on the best thing your borough can do to boost cycling, walking and community. Simon Munk charts the rise of London’s ‘low traffic neighbourhoods’

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F LATE, many of us have had a taste of what ‘low traffic neighbourhoods’ could mean for our cities. Birdsong (and the banging of pots and pans for NHS workers) has been clearly audible without traffic noise, though due to the lockdown restrictions unfortunately most of us will have missed the unique opportunity to chat to neighbours without raising voices and, most of all, for kids to play out without traffic fumes and road danger. Life has been very different since late March, however, and we’ve been given a real insight into how low traffic neighbourhoods with ‘modally filtered’ streets could be implemented in the near future, just like those Waltham Forest and Hackney.

While 2020 will be remembered for the coronavirus crisis, it also could well be the year when the UK and London embraced the concept of low traffic neighbourhoods too. Many now see their potential, and many London boroughs were starting to embrace them just before LONDON CYCLIST Summer 2020 31

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CAMPAIGN

walking 32 minutes more. What’s more, traffic inside the first area done in Waltham Forest dropped by over half, and on the surrounding main roads by over 10%.

What about those main roads?

the virus hit. We hope that work picks back up at pace and that other boroughs including Camden, Enfield, Lambeth, Lewisham, Tower Hamlets and others soon join the fold, with Greater Manchester, Bath and Birmingham also looking to embrace the approach.

Low traffic neighbourhoods (lcc.org.uk/ low-traffic-neighbourhoods) are primarily residential areas which are bounded by main roads, train tracks, rivers where ‘rat-run’, or through motor traffic, is largely or wholly eliminated. This is most often done using ‘modal filters — bollards, planters or other physical restrictions, and/or ‘bus gate’ cameras — to stop traffic going from one side of the area to the other. Drivers can’t cut a corner to save 30 seconds waiting at a set of lights on the main road, nor in a low traffic neighbourhood can they cut right through from one main road to the next. But people walking, cycling (and often on the bus) can.

The results of these schemes are spectacular.

Most transformative, but hardest to quantify, are the gains for community cohesion. But the work of Donald Appleyard, much replicated since the early 1980s, shows typical results for what happens when most motor traffic goes from your street — people get to know each other. On top of that, after one year, residents in the low traffic neighbourhoods in Waltham Forest were cycling nine minutes a week more than other residents in the borough, and

Rat-running nightmare typical on hundreds of London streets: on Gillespie Road, Highbury

One of the most common arguments against low traffic neighbourhoods, which can be controversial to implement, is they displace all the traffic to the main roads, which bung up and so air quality worsens. Campaigners against low traffic neighbourhoods often point to schools located on main roads, and that the poorest live there — their argument is that any scheme which increases pollution on main roads is a scheme that goes against social justice and risks impacting our most vulnerable children’s lungs.

Our answer, having dealt with many such schemes across London now, is that significant rises of traffic and congestion on main roads are rare. Main road traffic does indeed go up for a bit — sometimes catastrophically so, for months.

But after six months to a year traffic patterns settle back roughly to where they were before.

Indeed, as motor traffic levels on main roads have been falling for decades now, patchily, most main roads after a year start to drop down again. In other words, the main roads suffer short-term pain. But looking at bus times (a good measure of congestion on main roads) and traffic volume decline, Hackney and Waltham Forest’s main roads right next to low traffic neighbourhoods quickly look identical to, well, main roads all over London. Indeed, air quality data for Waltham Forest’s areas shows main road pollution going down since the schemes went in, not up as some opposition maintains.

So the long-term gain is felt by all.

More, this isn’t an either/or fight, or a first one then the other. Indeed, schemes where cycle tracks go in on main roads, or bus lanes, often displace traffic into neighbourhoods that aren’t filtered — because Waze and Google Maps spot an opportunity to save time for drivers. So they do. In other words, we need both main road schemes such as cycle tracks,

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CAMPAIGN

wider pavements and bus lanes as well as low traffic neighbourhoods — the two complement each other.

And certainly it’s a rare borough that backs down on one type of scheme that then goes on to deliver the other soon after. So our advice is if you get the chance of a main road scheme or a low traffic neighbourhood, grab it — and campaign to ensure the council gets its engagement and consultation on these schemes right (see panel overleaf).

Reducing car use

or school? Most of your riding for shorter journeys (and walking) will be through residential areas ­— and then you can pick up the cycle tracks on the main road for the last bit.

Low traffic neighbourhoods are also cheap, in comparison to just about any other type of Highways schemes. And amazing value for money — for the price of engagement, consultation and a few bollards, you can transform entire areas. There’s simply no other type of walking, cycling and motor car reduction scheme that comes close per pound to delivering the results of these.

That means that they don’t rely on TfL funding directly — unlike most Cycleway schemes. And, as Brian Deegan is extolling with the Manchester Beelines project, by installing crossings between low traffic neighbourhoods across main roads, you actually get Quietwaystyle routes worth supporting.

Deegan’s approach in Manchester, based on his time at TfL, is written in the 2019 Bee A Champion handbook — and it’s being used now by some London borough campaign groups and councils to map out where every low traffic neighbourhood in a borough should be.

The approach is simple (with apologies to Catriona Swanson and Brian Deegan): 1. Take a map of the borough and a bunch of locals.

2. Mark lines of severance — hostile main roads, rivers, major rat-runs too hostile for most people to cycle on, etc – in red. Between those red lines are existing low traffic neighbourhoods.

3. Mark all crossings between areas that are good for walking and cycling as green.

4. Mark all missing crossings to connect cells in

Photo: E17modalfilters

Low traffic neighbourhoods are also a vital part in reducing car use, and enabling walking and cycling alongside main road cycle tracks anyway. These schemes massively disincentivise residents from making stupidly short car journeys if they don’t have to. A common attack on low traffic neighbourhoods is “my two-minute car journey is now 10 minutes”. To which the only answer is, why were you driving two minutes if you don’t absolutely have to, in the first place?

We know that more than a fifth of school trips are done by car, which results in a fifth of peak traffic being school run. Yet the vast majority of secondary kids can travel independently (by bus or public transport) and the average trip to a primary school is just over a mile. Similarly, of all car trips in London 15% are less than 1km, and most are less than 4km.

Also low traffic neighbourhoods enable journeys by cycling and walking that are different to main road tracks. And the two, again, combine well. Want to ride to the shops,

How to use filters effectively: using a mix of bollards & planters in Eden Road, Waltham Forest

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CAMPAIGN

EARLY ENGAGEMENT

blue. You can colour cells without crossings red, with some crossings to other cells orange, and cells which are connected to all surrounding cells green.

5. Link together crossings across multiple cells — these are your ‘Beelines’.

6. Add black lines on main roads where cycle tracks should be.

7. Finally, hatch any broken cells where rat-runs or other red lines are creating severance that could and should be dealt with, to create your high priority low traffic neighbourhood schemes.

Given the results, and the simplicity of planning them, it’s little wonder low traffic neighbourhoods are one of the key eight recommendations in our Climate Safe Streets report. In the report, we ask London councils with TfL to develop plans, such as above, to improve local journeys in all non-distributor roads by next year; ask TfL to mandate low traffic neighbourhoods and ‘School Streets’ as part of their LIP (Local Implementation Plan) funding programme for boroughs; to use the next three years of LIPs to improve all nondistributor areas; and for boroughs and TfL to have improved all non-distributor areas within three years, eliminating through motor traffic by 2028.

A glimpse of the future The Covid-19 crisis has created low traffic neighbourhoods faster than any of us expected.

As it begins to recede, we need to ensure the motor traffic doesn’t come back.

Low traffic neighbourhoods can be controversial, particularly if consulted on wrongly. We are preparing a best-practice guide for boroughs. Here’s the potted summary: n Get specialist communications/engagement expertise – boroughs need this from TfL, consultants, or those employed by them. Folks who design junctions aren’t necessarily best at talking to the public. n Get loads of baseline data – traffic volumes on main roads, inside residential areas, air quality, speeds, real parking use outside businesses, etc. n Ask residents – do ‘perception surveys’, ask residents what they like and don’t like about their area. Loads will answer “too much traffic”. n Create principles – use policy, resident surveys and data to create principles the scheme must stick to. And check those principles with residents and key stakeholders. n Give them options – give residents options as to how schemes might fulfil these principles, engage them widely, let them tweak and modify schemes but only as far as they stick to the principles. n Create a final scheme – show residents and stakeholders how their feedback has shaped the scheme. “You said this… so that’s what we did.” n Build, monitor and mitigate – every Highways scheme ends up having negative impacts for some. Be ready to mitigate these after monitoring and/or extend the scheme. Learn from each scheme to build the next ones better and faster.

In Enfield, our LCC local group has been championing these schemes despite concerted opposition and some resident concerns. In the thick of the crisis, residents have been contacting the local group to talk about neighbours able to chat across previously deafening rat-runs, and one previous doubter has written: “With the plans of road closures I did think there would be congestion and it would be hard to emulate other countries that have less traffic. Now because of the lockdown...

I lean out my window and I cannot hear cars, the air smells fresh and for a moment I thought this would be what it would be like. It has taken this lockdown to give us a glimpse.”

At time of writing this feature, cities across the world were beginning to consider life after lockdown. In Wuhan, initial results were motor traffic levels massively up, public transport down. Other cities, such as Milan were beginning to consider not going back to the way things were. Low traffic neighbourhoods will be vital as London eases its lockdown to avoid every outer London residential road becoming a mega rat-run. Now is the moment.

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Cycling & Mental Health Sarah Strong, LCC trustee and writer of the Bikes and Brains blog, takes a look at the unique tool for unlocking mental wellbeing

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WELLBEING

I

BECAME A cyclist by happenstance over 15 years ago, when I was asked to help marshal a bike race in east London, on the site where the Lee Valley VeloPark now stands. I was recovering from a period of depression and thought that getting out of the house and going somewhere new might help my mood.

I had a 10-year-old steel mountain bike which sat in the corner of my shared flat, frame accruing dust and tyres leaking air.

A last resort method of transport.

Rather against my will I used it to ride over to the circuit.

The atmosphere among the helpers and the riders was so friendly and encouraging that I returned week after week, adding

sign-on and line judging to my duties. I ended up helping to run the series for the next nine years.

This volunteering marked my entry into cycling in London. I started commuting to work — an ambitious round trip of 20 miles for a newbie. I got fit, I lost weight, I saved money. I began to realise what a positive effect the bike had on my mood; I felt considerably happier and arrived at work far more energised than when I had travelled by tube.

Though the causal link between cycling and improved mental health has not yet been fully established, there are studies — such as the one in the British Medical Journal in 2017 — which links bike use, specifically commuting, to lower levels of

anxiety and stress. Alongside which, I’d hazard that most of us find our wellbeing enhanced by riding. For me, there are various factors that make the bike a unique tool of mental health recovery and management. It can give you a social circle. It is a method of transport. There’s always something new to learn about the bike itself. It gives you exercise. It can provide a means of access to the countryside and open spaces without a car.

In London, it provides a way to navigate and experience the city. Faster than walking, rarely much slower than driving, you move at a speed which keeps you present and connected to your surroundings. It can be a very mindful experience.

Illustrations: Boing Graphics

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Cycling on prescription Over the last four years a ‘cycling on prescription’ scheme has been trialled in four areas of the UK, including London. It provides a programme of training with the focus on improving mental health rather than physical, boosting self-confidence and providing practical skills for riding on the road. It’s been so incredibly successful that there is interest in rolling it out across the country.

As someone who discovered cycling during recovery from depression, I’d love to see this.

Our health services still tend to separate physical and mental

health, but this programme shares what many cyclists already perceive — that their bike is integral to their wellbeing.

There are some other great initiatives that are also building on that link, such as Innercycle, which puts the bike at the heart of recovery from mental health concerns, in conjunction with accredited therapists.

There are also organisations that aren’t specifically focused on mental health but boost general wellbeing through bike-related activities. Wheels for Wellbeing supports physically disabled people of all ages and has a large

fleet of inclusive and accessible cycles, and The Bike Project which fixes up secondhand bikes to give to refuges, alongside providing cycle training for refugee women.

The Silver Cycles Scheme in Lambeth gets older people back on their bikes, not only for exercise but to reduce isolation — a factor which often exacerbates anxiety, depression and low mood.

Enabling people to cycle All this presumes you are well enough to cycle in the first place.

When riding is a mental health need, how do you manage when you can’t? If you’re injured and

MOMENTS OF JOY “As we went to press, Mental Health Awareness Week 2020 was taking place. I generally have mixed feelings about these events; I see the value in highlighting mental health but awareness needs to be followed up by actions. Talking is just the start. For me, the action was cycling. I can’t say cycling saved my life, it’s not that straightforward. What it has done is improve it immeasurably for the better; it’s saved my sanity instead. It’s the best single long-term management tool for low mood that I know of.

“Sometimes it’s incredibly hard to step beyond the front door to ride somewhere; there are times when I know I’m

procrastinating. I can drag my heels so hard I almost leave marks on the floor, yet I know full well that I won’t regret riding and the chances are I’ll feel a hell of a lot better on my return.

“A smile from a fellow cyclist, the smooth slingshot round an empty roundabout in West Wickham, the tailwind up over Blackfriars Bridge, the intensity of smells in Chinatown or from The Happening Bagel Bakery in Finsbury Park on a cold day, the sun glittering down the Thames as it sets – all these passing moments of joy help to keep depression at bay.” n Sarah runs a blog on the subject of cycling and mental health (bikesandbrains.com). If anyone would like to share their stories on riding and mental health, please drop her a line.

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unfit, or when work and family commitments prevent getting on the bike? Cycling isn’t a cure, and it shouldn’t be solely relied upon to manage issues such as depression and anxiety.

You have to pay attention to your cognitive state. I stepped back from crit racing (closed circuit racing) a few years ago because I wasn’t enjoying it any more. Low mood and low selfesteem alongside lack of fitness led to self-sabotaging my chances and dropping off the back of the bunch almost as soon as the race had begun. Then there are those times, usually during the winter months when I can’t face going out at all.

I have learnt to be open to change and to alter my riding depending on mood and will switch to shorter rides, indoor training, or even running instead.

Work is usually the trigger for my depression and in the winter I often use group turbo sessions to pedal out the stress and tension from the day. It is a very conscious transfer of mental stress into physical effort.

When I first started riding to work there was little cycle

infrastructure to speak of, not even blue paint. I followed the main roads and followed the bus routes — not exactly what you’d call a relaxing commute! LCC has been instrumental in making the roads safer for riders in that time and brought about changes to infrastructure that I wouldn’t have dreamed possible when I first launched myself down the Camden Road in 2003.

The carving out of protected space is vital to encourage cycling, enabling people to reap the physical and mental wellbeing it provides. The huge success of the few physically-protected cycle lanes in London demonstrates this — I certainly feel more relaxed across the city when I don’t have to constantly stake my claim to the road.

Wellbeing under social distancing conditions At the time of writing, the whole country is under physical distancing restrictions due to Covid-19. The travel constraints have provided a stark reminder that people can change their behaviour very rapidly in response to an outside threat. The climate emergency is yet to be considered as such an immediate danger, despite the evidence and warnings, but I hope that we can carry some of the lessons learnt into post-pandemic times.

Pollution levels have dropped, smaller sounds can be heard in the absence of the usual motor and aircraft traffic drone. Many of those still travelling for their essential journeys have moved away from crowded public transport onto bikes, and

thousands of others have turned to the bike as a way to get their daily exercise in a socially responsible manner. Bike shops have been designated an essential service for these reasons, permitted to remain open during this time.

Even though my turbo trainer kicked into use during full lockdown, it’s been hard to shift the underlying anxiety — whether it would be enough to keep my mood buoyant? Mental health services have been preparing themselves to handle their own pandemic. Many of us will struggle — but there is help out there. In the past I’ve accessed Cognitive Behaviour Therapy several times via my local NHS psychological therapies services.

I’ve also attended Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, and counselling. Each have had their benefits for me alongside, or when coming off, the anti-depressants which lifted me out of the severest phase of illness. Waiting times for NHS services can differ greatly depending on your area and it can be worth checking out other available resources (see below) that might be able to provide useful advice and help until you are allocated sessions.

USEFUL RESOURCES TO HELP YOURSELF & SUPPORT OTHERS n MIND – mind.org.uk n ANXIETYUK – anxietyuk.org.uk n RETHINK MENTAL ILLNESS – rethink.org n THE BLURT FOUNDATION – blurtitout.org n SANELINE – sane.org.uk n GIVE US A SHOUT – giveusashout.org n CALM – thecalmzone.net LONDON CYCLIST Summer 2020 39

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HIGHLAND HIGHLAND FLING FLING I With international travel off the cards for a while, many of us will be considering breaks closer to home. Mike Wells suggests the perfect cycle-friendly alternative: a classic tour of the Scottish Highlands

MAGINE HUNDREDS of miles of unspoilt wilderness with a varied landscape of craggy mountains, verdant glens and rolling open peat moorland dotted with lochs (lakes) and lochans (smaller lakes), from which pristine streams feed into trout-filled rivers. All this surrounded by rugged coastlines where rocky cliffs are interspersed with sandy bays and deep sea inlets capable of sheltering ocean-going ships.

Dotted across this wilderness are tiny communities, where a modern form of crofting (subsistence farming) flourishes, and a few small towns that provide the accoutrements of modern-day life. A filigree network of narrow roads and country lanes link these communities, enabling access to the hills and lochs. But you do not need to imagine, for it all exists and can be found in the north Highlands of Scotland.

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(NC500). This is a circular route of just over 500 miles for tourists in cars, campervans and on motorcycles. Nicknamed ‘Scotland’s Route 66’, it has been very successful in showcasing what the north of Scotland has to offer and attracting motorised tourists from around the world to experience it first-hand. Though set up under the charitable auspices of the North Highland Initiative, the NC500 is promoted and managed by a private company that generates its income from licensing local businesses who use the NC500 logo and appear in its supporting literature. They are fiercely protective of the name and as a result neither the logo nor name appear on official roadsigns.

Tastes of the High life: the alpine-like An Teallach and Castle of Mey, former home of the Queen Mother

Separated from the rest of the country by the Great Glen ­— a deep gash formed by an ancient faultline — the human history of the north is one of isolation and independent living. Ancient tribes, such as the Picts who prevented Roman incursion and later Highland clans who fought brutally over the small areas of tillable land, maintained this separateness.

It was not until governments in Edinburgh and London felt threatened by Jacobite rebellions, which originated in the Highlands, that action was taken to integrate the region with the rest of Britain.

Military roads, bridges and fortifications were built which opened up the country. A revolution in agriculture saw thousands of peasant crofters driven from the land as smallscale farming was replaced by large-scale sheep rearing. Many of the displaced crofters emigrated, others were resettled in planned coastal villages. Some found employment in a 19th-century herring fishing boom, which led to the construction of fishing ports around the coast with more new roads and eventually a railway to take away the fish and connect them to the south.

But despite improved communications and links with the outside world, the north of Scotland has remained a harsh place to live and many youngsters move away to find jobs.

Over the years, various national and local government agencies, together with charitable foundations, have attempted to improve the living standards of the highland population.

In 2015 the latest of these, the North Highland Initiative, a body set up under the patronage of Prince Charles to integrate the promotion of business, tourism and agriculture, created the North Coast 500

A grand tour for cyclists Unsurprisingly, cyclists too have been attracted to ride the route, but many have been put off when they find that parts are on potentially dangerous main roads and other parts are on very steep hills that are impassable for all but the super-fit. So I have devised a cycle route around the north of Scotland as an alternative to the NC500 that seeks to address some of these problems. It starts in the regional capital Inverness, then follows a circular route through the ancient counties and districts of Wester Ross, Sutherland, Caithness, Easter Ross and the Black Isle, before returning to Inverness 528 miles later.

To make the route cycle friendly, it avoids the Bealach na Bà pass (the third highest and steepest road in Scotland, with a gradient of 20%) and provides an alternative route to the very busy but hilly and narrow road around the Assynt peninsula. On the way back from the northern coast to Inverness it uses deserted country roads through the gently rolling moors of the Sutherland flow country rather than the main A9 trunk road along the east coast.

En-route it passes the foot of 27 Munros (Scottish mountains over 914m) and countless beaches, bays and sea lochs where fish and seafood are caught to grace the menus of the many local hotels, inns and restaurants. There are eight active whisky distilleries (plus one for gin) and five craft ale micro-breweries, producing alcoholic beverages from barley grown on the Black Isle. The mountains and glens are home to large numbers of wild red deer and farmed Cheviot sheep, both of which also appear on menus as venison and lamb. Avian raptors, including golden eagles, cruise the sky above, while around the coast you can find grey LONDON CYCLIST Summer 2020 41

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seals, sea otters and bottlenose dolphins, with minke whales as seasonal visitors.

Starting from Inverness Castle, an impressive 19th-century faux fortress that dominates the city centre, the route crosses Beauly Firth onto the misnamed Black Isle which is neither black nor an island, rather a peninsula of highly fertile rolling farmland where barley is grown and cattle raised. Heading inland, the Blackwater gorge is picked up, passing Rogie Falls where salmon can sometimes be seen leaping as they migrate upstream. Continuing up Strath Bran then gently descending Strath Carron, the west coast is reached at Lochcarron village.

The Bealach na Bà stands between Lochcarron and the Applecross peninsula. This ultra steep hill provides a serious challenge to cyclists, but can be avoided by cycling directly to Torridon, avoiding Applecross, where three lofty Munros (Liathach, Beinn Eighe and Beinn Alligin) tower over the village.

Continuing north, past Loch Maree and Gairloch, the route reaches Loch Ewe and the world famous Inverewe botanic gardens. Here a mild micro-climate (due to the influence of the gulf stream) allows over 2,500 exotic plants from all over the world to grow and flourish providing a riot of colour. The gardens were created by Osgood Mackenzie between 1862 and 1922 on a formerly barren hillside.

The estate was gifted to the National Trust

by Mackenzie’s daughter and has become a popular tourist destination.

TRIP HIGHLIGHTS: Inverewe botanic gardens, An Teallach and the Munros, Moine Thrust, whisky tasting THURSO

ULLAPOOL INVERNESS

SCOTLAND

Idyllic touring country: around Strath Naver

The route now circles An Teallach (1062m), the most impressive of the Munros passed, climbing steadily over a pass before descending along the shore of Loch Broom to reach Ullapool, the first town since leaving Inverness.

Originally built in 1788 as a herring port for the British Fisheries Society, the grid layout of the town, harbour, church, salt warehouse/customs house and road connecting Ullapool with the south were all designed by Thomas Telford.

Nowadays it is still a small fishing port but is also a tourist centre and ferry terminal for boats to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. The gulf stream moderates winter temperatures enabling exotic plants such as New Zealand cabbage trees (often wrongly called palms) to survive.

Geological interest Beyond Ullapool, the countryside becomes wilder as the route enters the UNESCO designated North West Highlands Geopark, an area dominated by a geological feature known as the Moine Thrust which is clearly visible at Knockan Crag. Here, about 430 million years ago when two plates collided, part of an older rock strata was displaced laterally over the top of younger layers of red sandstone and limestone. This thrust created a dividing line between higher jagged mountains to the west and lower, rounded hills in the east. Its identification by geologists John Horne and Ben Peach in 1884 led to the theory of plate tectonics which explains the movement of the earth’s crust.

The ruins of Ardveck castle and neighbouring Calda House, which stand on the

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shore of Loch Assynt, tell tales of violent interclan struggles between the Macleods (who built Ardvreck in 1590) and the MacKenzies (who captured and destroyed Ardvreck in 1672 and built Calda in 1726). The surrounding lochstudded land of Assynt was subject to early 19th-century clearances with crofters being moved to 13 planned coastal villages on the Assynt peninsula to take up new trades such as fishing and lime burning.

The north coast is reached at Durness, a little island of green agricultural land amidst miles of barren rocky moorland. Here a wartime radar station has become a craft village, while outside the village hall a small memorial garden records the fact that a young John Lennon spent his summer holidays here staying with cousins.

Nearby Smoo Cave is unique within the UK, being a combination of limestone sinkhole (cut from above by water seeping through the surface) and sea cave (cut from below by wave action) that have joined together underground. Inside the cave, the Alt Smoo river drops 20m over a waterfall between the two elements.

Post-glacial uplift has raised the 40m-wide by 15m-high sea cave entrance above sealevel, making it accessible to visitors.

Towards the northeast corner of Scotland, the coastal towns of Thurso and Wick developed as busy ports during the Scottish herring

Time for a taster: at one of Scotland’s best loved distilleries

boom. They were connected to the south by a long winding railway, nowadays Scotrail’s ‘Far North line’, which carried the fish away for export to Germany and the Baltic. Both subsequently went into decline but were rescued by the growing energy sector; Thurso by the construction at nearby Dounreay of a large nuclear research station dedicated to producing electricity using fast breeder reactor technology and Wick by the supply and servicing of first off-shore oilfields and latterly wind farms.

Reaching the far north Between the two towns, John o’ Groats is mistakenly described as the most northerly point in Britain. It is not, that is nearby Dunnet Head, but it is the northern end of the longest possible journey between British settlements, being 874 miles from Land’s End in southwest England. The nearby 16th-century Castle of Mey overlooking the Pentland Firth, is best known as the Scottish summer residence of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. She bought it in 1952 in a semi-derelict state, shortly after the death of King George VI. The interior was renovated and restored while outside beautiful gardens were created.

Ownership is now with a charitable trust which has managed the property since the Queen’s death in 2002.

The route passes the foot of 27 Munros, beaches, bays and sea lochs... plus eight active whisky distilleries

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The NC500 turns south from John o’ Groats following the A99/A9 trunk road along the east coast back to Inverness. This is a fast road and not at all cycle friendly. There is, however, a very appealing alternative that uses National Cycle Network route 1 (NCN1) to follow a series of very quiet country roads through the Sutherland flow country, a vast area of blanket peat bog that covers 1,500 square miles of central Sutherland and Caithness. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), has purchased an area around Forsinard and created a 25,000-acre nature reserve with a visitors’ centre and viewing tower.

Strath Naver, on the southern edge of the flow country, was the scene of some of the most aggressive land clearances. Patrick Sellar, the factor for the Duchess of Sutherland’s estates who oversaw these clearances, was the grandson of an evicted tenant who had moved out of the Highlands for a better life.

Sellar attended Edinburgh university before returning north and being convinced that clearances were, in the long run, in the tenants’ best interests. In Strath Naver crofts were burnt, resulting in the death of an elderly lady. Sellar was prosecuted for murder and arson, but was acquitted. The result was a transformation from subsistence agriculture to large-scale sheep farming.

Heading south to Inverness Near Lairg, the Falls of Shin provide another opportunity to watch salmon leaping the torrent, a phenomenon seen from May until late autumn and at its height in midSeptember. The falls were previously owned by former Harrods’ proprietor Mohamed Al-Fayed as part of his Balnagown estate, with a visitors’ centre that included a small branch of Harrods and a waxwork of Al-Fayed. After this centre

Steepest ascent of any road in the UK: Bealach na Bà

was destroyed by fire, the falls were acquired by a community trust and a new visitor centre, designed to represent a salmon, has been built.

At Tain, the route passes Glenmorangie distillery which produces the largest-selling single malt whisky in Scotland. Distilling started in 1843 though the operation remained small scale until after the Second World War. Steady expansion since 1977 has seen 10 extra stills installed, the tallest in Scotland. Legend has it that from the beginning the distillery was operated by ‘16 men of Tain’. Despite massive expansion, automation means that there are the same number of operatives today, although many more are employed in distribution, sales and marketing.

The north coast route is already popular with motorised tourists. Now cyclists following this epic tour can discover for themselves why this iconic route has become one of the greatest coastal journeys in the world.

Ardvreck Castle: destroyed during inter-clan struggles

GET A COPY

Mike’s book – Cycle Touring in Northern Scotland – covers the entire 528-mile route, with easy-to-follow navigational details for each section and dozens of clearly-annotated maps.

At the back there’s also lists of hostels, bunkhouses and campsites, plus bike shops, distilleries and tourist info. n cicerone.co.uk

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HOW TO

GIVE YOUR BIKE AN ‘M’ CHECK

A quick once-over is a good habit to get into on a weekly basis says John Kitchiner

With so many new (and returning) cyclists right now, it pays to share a few basic tips to keep those bikes running smoothly and safely. A simple ‘M’ check is a good place to start.

NB – this is a summary on what to check, see previous issues of London Cyclist (or online guides) for fuller explanations on fixes themselves. Trust us, they are all simple, even for new riders.

1: THE ‘M’ EXPLAINED This is a simple way to check all the key parts of your bike are working as they should.

Back to front, or front to back? It really doesn’t matter as long as you do it regularly.

We prefer to start from the

rear and work forwards, which also makes more sense when following the ‘M’ above (ie from the driveside).

An allen key set and pump are the only tools you might need for any ‘fixes’.

2: REAR WHEEL & REAR BRAKE n Quick-release skewer (or n Brakes: check the wheel is bolt-thru axle, or track nuts): spinning freely in the brake check it’s tight and securely caliper and not catching. holding wheel in frame. n Gears: if your gears are n Tyre pressure: hard for clicking/slipping, try adjusting road riding, a little softer for the derailleur barrel adjuster off-road and wet conditions. by one quarter turn at a time.

3: SADDLE & SEATPIN n Saddle: grip the saddle at the front and back and rock it to see if it moves up and down, or side to side. If it does then you can tighten the bolt(s) on the clamp underneath the saddle (the

part that holds the ‘rails’). n Seatpin: likewise check there’s no movement in the seat-clamp (the collar holding the seat-post in the frame). An allen key tighten should resolve any issue.

4: PEDALS, CRANKS & CHAIN n Pedals: hold the crankarm the crank bolts might need a with one hand and wiggle the tighten. Don’t overdo it, the pedal with the other. If it’s cranks must spin freely. loose, tighten with a pedal n Chain: spin the pedals spanner or allen key. backwards to check the chain n Cranks: if there’s any play moves freely and there’s no when tugging the crankarms, seized links. Lube if needed.

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John Kitchiner is the editor of London Cyclist and confirmed bikeaholic

Sunday 13 September 2020

Ride for the charity of your choice.

Sign up today.

Go to lcc.org.uk/teamlcc/ and register for your place 5: STEERING & CONTROLS n Brake/gear levers: check the stem clamp bolts might the shifters move freely. need a little tighten.

Brake levers should not be n Headset: check there’s no too firm or pull to the bar. rocking by pulling the front n Bars/stem: grip the bar in brake lever with one hand, all the usual positions and while the other holds the pull up and down. If it moves, upper headset/headtube.

6: FRONT WHEEL & FRONT BRAKE n Quick-release skewer (or the tyre (not push the top) bolt-thru axle, or track nuts): to see if it needs more/less check it’s tight and securely air. All tyres have a suggested holding wheel in frame and pressure range on the side. not rocking. n Brakes: same as rear brake. n Tyre pressure: same as the Also check both sets of pads rear tyre. Squeeze the side of aren’t worn.

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Join Newham Cyclists’ Bernard McDonnell on a newly-devised route in east London

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& GREEN SPACES charity, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). The ride was originally set to debut as part of Newham Heritage Week in May, but this was postponed due to the Covid-19 restrictions. We’re unveiling it here instead as it also serves to highlight numerous spaces where Londoners can exercise safely.

CPRE London is part of a consortium of organisations promoting London parks through the GoParks website (goparks. london) and is keen to promote similar rides linking green spaces in other London borough.

FACT FILE START/FINISH: Stratford station DISTANCE: 27km (17 miles) GRADIENTS: almost entirely flat, 30ft is the highest point!

TERRAIN: almost the whole route is on quiet roads and bike paths, but there’s some short stretches on busier roads SUITABLE FOR: all types of bicycle. The ride is designed for cyclists riding at a leisurely pace and those who wish to enjoy the delightful environments and varied parks along the route MAP: a Strava route file (www.strava. com/activities/3206979438) can be downloaded as a gpx file for uploading to apps or GPS

Photo: sleepyhead/LDA

HE LONDON 2012 Olympics, held primarily at Stratford, partly within the borough of Newham, helped to kickstart a transformation of previously neglected parts of east London. And from 2008 to 2012, Newham Cyclists (LCC’s local group) led a series of popular New Newham rides around what’s now called the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the largely unknown architectural sights of the borough.

Now the group has designed its new Parks & Open Spaces ride for 2020, in conjunction with the council and environmental

NEWHAM’S PARKS

NEWHAM’S PARKS & GREEN SPACES

2 1 START: WEST HAM PARK STRATFORD 1.7miles

3 NATURE RESERVE 6 miles

4 5 ROYAL DOCKS 11 miles

CODY DOCK 14 miles

6 FINISH: STRATFORD

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Route Guide NEWHAM’S PARKS & GREEN SPACES

Photos: Cody Dock, Newham Recorder, Lost City

WEST HAM PARK [2] The largest park in Newham (other than the Olympic Park), it opened to the public in 1887. One of the most beautiful parks locally, it was laid out on the former grounds of Upton House, an estate dating back to the 16th century. From

EAST HAM NATURE RESERVE [3] This is found in the grounds of the St Mary Magdalene Church, built around 1130 in the Romanesque style. It is the oldest Norman church in London. Lime wash was removed from interior surfaces to reveal Cistercian wall paintings. The 9-acre churchyard is one of the largest in London.

THE ROYAL DOCKS [4] The first of three docks opened in 1880.

The building of the 87-acre Royal Docks introduced a new world of commerce to the capital, drawing produce and people from all over the world. They survived the bombings of World War II and the economic downturn of the 1970s and 1980s to become a hive of industry and activity once again.

Thames Barrier Park overlooks the magnificent Thames Barrier engineering structure that continues to prevent London from flooding.

CODY DOCK [5] One of our favourite places to visit in Newham. The Gasworks Dock Partnership has rescued a derelict dock on the River Lea and turned it into a community-based arts and creative industries quarter. A great place for a café stop.

THREE MILLS GREEN & THREE MILLS ISLAND [6] Mills in this area are mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book. The House Mill is a grade 1 listed 18th-century tidal mill, set in a beautiful riverside location. The island also contains 3 Mills Studios, the largest film and TV studios in London. n CPRE London is a regional branch of the national environmental charity, Campaign to Protect Rural England. And as London’s countryside charity, CPRE London is passionate about making the capital a greener and healthier place for everyone to live, work and enjoy.

CPRE is one of a group of leading environmental organisations that have produced a joint manifesto outlining ambitious programmes of action needed in London to reduce pollution and waste, improve health and wellbeing, secure nature’s recovery and increase resilience to climate change. n Newham Cyclists (newhamcyclists. org.uk) is the local borough group of LCC. The Parks & Open Spaces ride will be added to the group’s programme once it is safe for activities to recommence fully. Please visit the website for further information about all the rides.

©Crown copyright 2018 Ordnance Survey. Media 060/18

ABBEY GARDENS [1] The first stop is the site of Langthorne Abbey, founded in 1135. At the time, Stratford was then part of Essex.

This Cistercian monastery was also often called West Ham Abbey after the parish in which it was located.

By the time of Henry VIII, Stratford Langthorne was reputed to be the fifth largest abbey in the entire country, making it a prime target during the dissolution of the monasteries.

1762-1780 it was owned by Dr John Fothergill, a Quaker physician and noted botanist, who planted a famous botanic garden here.

The Central Park community café is an ideal coffee, or early lunch, stop on the route.

CUT-OUT AND KEEP

This ride does not visit the Olympic Park itself, most of which lies within Newham. Instead, the route concentrates on the many attractive smaller parks and open spaces, passing through or past Abbey Gardens (the site of Langthorne Abbey), Stratford Park, West Ham Park, Plashet Park, Priory Park, Central Park, East Ham Nature Reserve, Beckton District Park, the Royal Docks, Thames Barrier Park, Lyle Park, Bow Creek Ecology Park, Cody Dock, Memorial Gardens and Three Mills Green.

Here’s a few select highlights on the route that shows the long history, and continuing interest, of the area.

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Bikes & Reviews L ATEST | BIKES | GEAR | MEDIA

PRODUCTS

BIKES

KINESIS 54

GREEN GEAR 56

TOOLS 58

BOOKS & FILMS 60

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BIKES

E-BIKE REVIEWS

MODEL: KINESIS RANGE, £3150 n upgradebikes.co.uk

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ONG-TIME READERS will know we’ve been banging on about e-bikes for a fair while now, highlighting their potential to bring so many new people and groups to cycling.

They were already the fastestgrowing segment in the cycling business, but now the coronavirus pandemic has broadened their appeal to a whole new level.

A great time then for British brand Kinesis to be launching its first trio of electric-assist bikes: the Rise (hardtail mountain bike) and the Range (in both drop handlebar and flat bar guises). And it’s the latter we’ve been happily testing during our lockdown-restricted daily exercise quotas. Our actual model was due to be debuted at the

London Bike Show in March, but with the event’s postponement we managed to grab a few exclusive weeks in the saddle.

The LC team has tested more than 100 e-bikes across all the categories, but only two that, like the Range, employ the super lightweight Fazua motor/battery combination. And things really worked in our favour here as our test coincided with the release of a ‘Black Pepper’ software update that literally allows you to spice up your ride by customising the factory settings. It’s very impressive technology. By plugging the battery unit into your laptop (and downloading the relevant app), you can not only adjust the maximum level of power in each of the three

assist modes, but also the support and ‘ramp up’ — that’s basically the reactivity of the motor and the strength of acceleration. Having played with multiple options we found a sweetspot that noticeably smoothed the transition between the various levels of assistance; on the bike this translated to a very ‘natural’, much less jerky feel.

That discrete motor — about a third of the size of bulky Bosch or Shimano units — and slimline 250Wh battery concealed in the downtube, give the Range a fleetfootedness that most cyclists will definitely appreciate. We didn’t need to select the top ‘rocket’ mode on any of our local blacktop loops, only using it a handful of times for extra ‘oomph’ on looser gravel

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climbs; for the vast majority of outings the low or middle modes more than suffice. We got home with half the battery left after hilly 30km rides, so it should easily last most two-way daily commutes.

All the tech almost overshadows other key details that make the Range so versatile. The carbon fork is a star and does a brilliant job of reducing vibrations (and hence arm fatigue) on broken roads and tracks; like the frame itself, it also has mounts for bikepacking bags.

The chunky 44c WTB tyres and fork together make for a comfy and capable ride, there’s little they can’t handle. Ritchey finishing kit is also among the best you can get. Most passers-by comments, however, were reserved for the stunning,

sparkly iridescent paintjob which truly pings in the sunlight.

One final fact that warrants mention is that the overall package is light enough, with or without battery, to lift up stairs at home — that’s a significant bonus and not often the case with electric bikes.

FACTFILE n Battery can be locked in place with a key, or unclipped and taken indoors. n Clearance for 50c tyres, though 44c supplied as standard.

VERDICT +W eight 14.9kg (medium) makes it a true lightweight in the e-bike world. + A versatile, super capable all-rounder for work and play.

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GREEN GE R CLOTHING In the first part of our new series on environmentally-friendly products, we look at half-a-dozen items of bikewear with strong sustainability stories

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REVIEWS: John Kitchiner

YCLING IS rightfully touted (along with walking) as one of the ‘greenest’ forms of transport and recreation. But the same hasn’t always been true for the components and kit we use on our bikes. Luckily the penny seems to have finally dropped for the industry and many are now adopting cleaner manufacturing practices and creating products that are kinder to the environment.

In this new series we’ll be reviewing products which demonstrate this commitment, whether it’s the use of recycled fabrics, biodegradeable materials or waste-free production — sustainability is the key.

The recycled fabrics featured on these pages all start out as disgarded plastic bottles (ie landfill). These are cleaned, chopped, melted and turned into little chips. From these chips recycled fibres are made, which in turn are spun into fabrics. The start of a new onward recycling chain... n Next month: cleaners, degreasers and maintenance products

#1 SUB ZERO ANTI-MOZZIE SUMMER BASELAYER

#4 PEARL IZUMI

Better known for its award-winning winter baselayers and midlayers, Sub Zero has now introduced a lighter weight design for the warmer months.

The unisex tops are made with 68% recycled yarn and feature mesh zones to help dissipate heat, while a WHOapproved ‘Superbug’ treatment is used to keep biting insects at bay, including those vicious Scottish midges. n Sizes S-XL; £39.99; subzerostore.co.uk

For 2020 Pearl Izumi has expanded its cycling range to include a dozen men’s and women’s tops made from a lightweight, ultra breathable, 100% recycled polyester mesh fabric.

Available in three flavours (short, three-quarter and long sleeve), this one even has a hidden zipped pocket for stashing keys and card. n S-XL; £85; freewheel.co.uk

#2 FINISTERRE RAINBIRD

WATERPROOF JACKET

LAUNCH 3/4 JERSEY

#5 WILDOO CLUB ECO SS JERSEY

A new carry-anywhere women’s waterproof that packs away into its own hand pocket. The 100% recycled polyester fabric is finished with an FC-free coating and has enough stretch to ensure you don’t feel constricted when leant forward on handlebars.

Also features generous hood and high collar for really hunkering down into. n Sizes 8-16; £100; finisterre.com

Got a challenge event you want to celebrate with a one-off design?

Wildoo offers classic road jerseys made from Repreve fabric (essentially recycled plastic bottles). Send them your design, they’ll tidy it up and liaise with their partner factory, and in 2-3 weeks you’ll be able to proudly show off your unique style. No minimum order quantity either. n XS-XL; £48; wildoo.co.uk

#3 VAUDE CYCLIST

#6 HOWIES BODIE

Long-time sustainability pioneers Vaude now has hundreds of products under its ‘Green Shape’ banner; this isn’t just about recycled fabrics, but the highest environmental standards in manufacturing too. Like much of the range these casual shorts carry the important ‘Bluesign-approved’ stamp. n S-XXL; £90; vaude.com

Alongside its organic tees and Merino baselayers, Howies now has great sustainable outerwear. This insulated gilet uses 75% post-consumer waste for a lightweight fill that mimics bird feathers. The recycled outer has also been ‘dope dyed’, a process that reduces water usage by 89%. n XS-XXL; £89; howies.com

AM SHORTS

INSULATED GILET

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#1

#2

#3

#4

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BUILD YOUR OWN HOME WORKSHOP With bike shops increasingly busy, now is the perfect time to get kitted out at home and polish up those maintenance skills

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INKERING AROUND with your bike is one of life’s great pleasures. And learning to fix stuff yourself will save you a small fortune over the years.

Luckily the basic skills are also easily learned — via courses, online tutorials or friends — and it’s never too late to start. Slowly build up your own home workshop with essential tools (most of which will last a lifetime) and you’ll be selfsufficient in no time.

In the next issue, we’ll be looking at another important mechanic’s staple — the track pump.

#1 BB/LOCKRING TOOL

Leverage is key when working on sticky bottom brackets and lockrings. This well balanced rod allows you to swap ‘heads’, so no need for multiple bulky BB tools. n Lezyne CNC Rod (£25), EXT-BBT Tool (£17); upgradebikes.co.uk

#2 CHAIN WHIP

This is the partner for the tool above.

The chain section neatly grips the teeth of a cassette in one hand, while you use the other to loosen the lockring. n Lezyne CNC Chain Rod (£25); upgradebikes.co.uk

#3 TORX WRENCH

Bikes and accessories are using Torx (starshaped) bolts more and more. This ‘Y’ wrench fits three sizes T25/30/40, while

a second T10/15/20 will also be useful. n Cyclo Y Torx Wrench (£6.99); zyrofisher.co.uk

#4 CHAIN TOOL

Used to break or link chains, this tool is also called a ‘rivet extractor’. Slots hold the chain, while a punch drives the rivet in/out. Works with all types of chain, including the latest 12-speed options. n Lezyne Classic Chain Drive (£45); upgradebikes.co.uk

#5 CABLE CUTTERS

It’s hard to understate how important quality cutters are to avoid cable fraying, or damage to outers and brake hoses.

Keep clean and sharpen every so often. n Park Tool Pro Cable & Housing Cutter (£35); freewheel.co.uk

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REVIEWS: John Kitchiner

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6 4

#6 CASSETTE TOOL

An alternative to the chain whip and possibly easier for first-time fettlers to use. Again the chain sections are designed to grip a cassette’s teeth. n Park Tool Cassette Pliers (£59.99); freewheel.co.uk

#7 PRESSURE GAUGE

Tyre pressures make such a huge difference to how a bike rides, and this pocket-sized digital gauge gives accurate readings down to the nearest 1psi. n Topeak Smartgauge D2 (£29.99); extrauk.co.uk

#8 TORQUE WRENCH

Bolts have a torque value (how much they should be tightened) and you can prevent over-tightening on those sensitive parts

from 1-8Nm. No batteries required and super useful in tight spaces. n Effetto Mariposa Giustaforza (£110); upgradebikes.co.uk

#9 ROTOR STRAIGHTENER

A bent disc brake rotor is easy to fix, but rather than using a dirty rag and pliers this dedicated tool spreads the pressure more evenly and doesn’t slip while you work. n Cyclo Chainring & Rotor Straightener (£43.99); zyrofisher.co.uk

#10 CHAIN CHECKER

The simplest of all bike tools, with one single purpose — to check if your chain is worn or not. Cheap as chips, it’ll save you a pretty penny over your cycling life. n Cyclo Chain Wear Indicator (£5.99); zyrofisher.co.uk

#11 PEDAL SPANNER

Another workshop essential where leverage is important. They come in all shapes and sizes, but this 15mm spanner is built into one of DMR’s classic grips. n DMR Pedal Spanner (£20); dmrbikes.com

#12 HEX WRENCHES

These will be the most frequently used items in your toolbox, so invest in a quality, durable set that covers all the bases from 1.5-8mm. n Topeak Duohex Wrench Set (£22.99); extrauk.co.uk

8 12 9 10

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REVIEW

CULTURE

BIKE SHARE

ICARUS

Dir: Bryan Fogel

HACKNEY SCHOOL STREETS TOOLKIT,

HALF OF THE ROAD Dir: Kathryn Bertine

Routledge, £29.99

Netflix

Borough of Hackney, free

Available on iTunes or Vimeo

This book works on a few levels and will interest cycle campaigners, local authorities, and bike scheme operators alike. The former gain insight into what works (or doesn’t), councils can learn how to regulate and negotiate with providers, while operators can see how rivals have fared.

Key chapters include one on the business aspects of bike share (schemes don’t appear to be money-spinners); and one about the pitfalls (mandatory helmet laws and small-scale distribution result in low usage). Where motoring rules, as in Brisbane, the top reason for using bike share is that it’s “more convenient”. A key ingredient for success, on the other hand, is high grade infrastructure.

The main disappointment is that there’s no mention of e-scooters. In a note the author says it’s because they are “not considered a bicycle”.

But we’d wager they’ll be included in a second edition.

Icarus starts out as a sports documentary — one man’s attempt to personally investigate the effects of performance-enhancing drugs and how easy it can be to beat anti-doping tests. Fogel sees how far he can boost his own form with banned drugs and competes in the Haute Route, one of the toughest amateur road cycling events in the world. But when he enlists the help of Dr Grigory Rodchenkova, head of Russia’s anti-doping unit, to design a doping plan for him, the plot fast unravels.

The film evolves into a broader exposé of huge state-sponsored doping and Fogel inadvertently gains access to a key actor in one of the greatest controversies in modern sport. He becomes the trusted confident of a whistle-blower and director of a film that has parts for the FBI, Vladimir Putin and the New York Times. Compelling watching on all fronts.

If you are reading this you’re likely a cyclist; if you also have school age children, download this Toolkit, read it and send it to your local councillors.

School streets are about restricting motor traffic on roads around schools during ‘school run’ times.

It helps reduce driving to schools, encourages cycling and walking, helps address emissions and, typically, lasts 45 minutes in the morning and evening. It was being implemented successfully at a large number of Hackney schools before Covid-19 took hold. First pioneered at a Camden school using foldable bollards, Hackney is using enforcement cameras (number plate recognition allows exemptions for residents, blue badge holders, etc).

This guide gives you (and councils) everything you need to know about preparing, consulting, implementing and enforcing a school street — documents, posters, the lot.

Writer and former pro athlete Bertine pulls no punches in this film, exploring why women’s professional cycling is so underfunded, underresourced and lower profile than the men’s equivalent.

It was a project born of the director’s frustrations in her sporting and journalism work.

“Races were often shorter than the men’s events, prize money was pitifully lower, the female pros had no base salary or any sort of union to protect their best interests,” Bertine states. It is a feature film offering real insight into what it is like to try to make a living inside this inequitable world, with interviews from pro riders such as Emma Pooley and Marianne Vos. The film may now be a halfdecade old – it’s for us as viewers to reflect on what’s really changed since. n You can rent the film from Vimeo for £2.30, for 72 hours.

Go to halftheroad.com for more details.

REVIEWS: Tom Bogdanowicz, Rob Eves, Calum Rogers

Elliot Fishman

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London

BIKE SHOPS Whether you’re a cycling newbie, regular commuter or seasoned racer, one thing you need is a good local bike shop. LCC’s Retail Network brings together the best bike shops across the city to give members exclusive discounts* – show your membership card in store to make savings Cycles UK n cyclesuk.com n 299-301 High Street, BR6 0NN

Cycle Surgery n cyclesurgery.com n 275 West End Lane, NW6 1QS

Deen’s Garage n deensgarage.co.uk n 439 Croydon Road, BR3 3PP

Flying Dutchman n flyingdutchman.bike n 188 Eversholt Street, NW1 1BJ

Mark’s Cycle Repairs n markscyclerepairs.com n 31 Tilbury Close, BR5 2JR

London Green Cycles n londongreencycles.co.uk n 4 Chester Court, Albany Street, NW1 4BU

Equal Bikes n kisharon.org.uk n 25 Bell Lane, NW4 2BP

Panagua Bikes n panaguabikes.com n 50 Hayes Street, BR2 7LD

Lunar Cycles n lunarcycles.co.uk n 66 Wilkin Street Mews, NW5 3NN

Shorter Rochford n shorter-rochford.co.uk n 65-67 Woodhouse Road, N12 9ET

SE20 Cycles n se20cycles.com n 78 High Street, SE20 7HB

ondon Bicycle Workshop L n londonbicycleworkshop.com n 170 Clerkenwell Road, EC1R 5DD

BARNET Bike and Run n bikeandrun.co.uk n 134 High Road, N2 9ED Broadway Bikes n broadwaybikes.co.uk n 250 West Hendon Broadway, NW9 6BG

BEXLEY Bexley Bikes n bexleybikes.com n 265 Broadway, DA6 8ET BROMLEY Bromley Bike Co. n bromleybike.com n 27 Widmore Road, BR1 1RW

CAMDEN

CITY OF LONDON

Bikefix n bikefix.co.uk n 48 Lambs Conduit Street, WC1N 3LJ

Bycle Surgery n cyclesurgery.com n 72 Chiswell Street, EC1Y 4AB

Condor Cycles n condorcycles.com n 51 Grays Inn Road, WC1X 8PP

Cycle Surgery n cyclesurgery.com n 72 Upper Thames St, EC4R 3TA

Cycle Surgery n cyclesurgery.com n 44 Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8AJ

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DIRECTORY

CROYDON Bike Plus n bikeplus.co.uk n 429 Brighton Road, CR2 6EU Blue Door Bicycles n bluedoorbicycles.com n 5 and 7 Central Hill, SE19 1BG GREENWICH Cycles UK n cyclesuk.com n 135 Creek Road, SE8 3BU HACKNEY A&S Cycles n aandscycles.com n 1 Chatsworth Road, E5 0LH About the Bike n abouthebike.co.uk n 124B Dalston Lane, E8 1NG Big Fun Bikes n bigfunbikes.com n Arch 301 Frederick Terrace, E8 4EW CycleLab n cyclelab.co.uk n 18a Pitfield Street, N1 6EY London Bike Kitchen n lbk.org.uk n 28 Whitmore Road, N1 5QA Love Bikes n (no website) n 137 Church Walk, N16 8QW Mamachari Dalston n mamachari.co.uk n 18 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL Push Cycles n pushcycles.com n 35c Newington Green, N16 9PR SBC Cycles n sbccycles.com n 41 Cropley Street, N1 7HT The Hackney Peddler n thehackneypeddler.co.uk n 89 Stoke Newington Road, N16 8AA Two Wheels Good n twowheelsgood.co.uk n 165 Stoke Newington Church Street, N16 0UL

HAMMERSMTH Cycle Surgery n cyclesurgery.com n 658-662 Fulham Road, SW6 5RX HARINGEY Future Cycles n futurecyclesshop.com n 314 Park Road, N8 8LA Micycle n micycle.org.uk n 8 Ferme Park Road, N4 4ED HILLINGDON Bike Mech n bikemech.co.uk n Castle Climbing Centre, N4 2HA Bikewise n bikewisegb.com n 61 Swakeleys Road, UB10 8DQ ISLINGTON Bike Mech n bikemech.co.uk n Castle Climbing Centre, N4 2HA Cycle Surgery n cyclesurgery.com n 3 Procter Street, WC1V 6DW Cycle Surgery n cyclesurgery.com n 200 Pentonville Road, N1 9EN East Central Cycles n eastcentralcycles.co.uk n 18 Exmouth Market, EC1R 4QE Finsbury Cycles Ltd n finsburycycles.co.uk n 185 Seven Sisters Road, N4 3NS Micycle n micycle.org.uk n 47 Barnsbury Street, N1 1TP Micycle n micycle.org.uk n 58 Southgate Road, N1 3JF Vintage Haus Cycles n vintagehausbicycles.co.uk n 1 Thane Villas, N7 7PH

KENSINGTON & CHELSEA Personal Bikefit n personalbikefit.com n 12 Lexham Mews, W8 6JW KINGSTON Bright Cycles n brightcycles.co.uk n 137 Kingston Road, KT3 3NX LAMBETH Balfe’s Bikes n balfesbikes.co.uk n 87 Streatham Hill, SW2 4UB Bon Velo n bonvelo.co.uk n 495 Norwood Road, SE27 9DJ Brixton Cycles n brixtoncycles.co.uk n 295-298 Brixton Road, SW9 6AG De Ver Cycles n devercycles.co.uk n 632-636 Streatham High Rd, SW16 3QL LEWISHAM Compton Cycles n comptoncycles.co.uk n 23-25 Catford Hill, SE6 4NU Finches n finchesemporium.com n 25-29 Perry Vale, SE23 2NE Parts & Labour Cycles n pabdlcycles.co.uk n 148 Lewisham Way, SE14 6PD Pedal-It n pedal-it.co.uk n 288-290 Lee High Road, SE13 5PJ Vaidas Bicycles n vaidasbicycles.com n 74 Honor Oak Park, SE23 1DY MERTON Moose Cycles n moosecycles.com n 48 High Street, SW19 2BY

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DIRECTORY

REDBRIDGE Bike Trax n biketrax.com n 3 Cambridge Park, E11 2PU Woodford Cycle Centre n woodfordcyclecentre.co.uk n 53A George Lane, E18 1LN RICHMOND Bicycle Richmond n bicyclerichmond.co.uk n 120A Sheen Road, TW9 1UR Cowley Security n (no website) n 146 Colne Road, TW2 6QS Moores Cycles n moorescycles.co.uk n 214 Kingston Road, TW11 9JF Moores Cycles n 1 London Road, TW1 3SZ n moorescycles.co.uk Richmond Cycle Centre n richmondcyclecentre.co.uk n Richmond Station, Kew Road, TW9 2NA SOUTHWARK Balfe’s Bikes n balfesbikes.co.uk n 36 East Dulwich Road, SE22 9AX

ReCycling n re-cycling.co.uk n 110 Elephant Road, SE17 1LB

Heales Cycles n healescycles.co.uk n 477 Hale End Road, E4 9PT

SeaBass Cycles n seabasscycles.co.uk n 62 Camberwell Church St, SE5 8QZ

Walthamstow Cycles n walthamstow-cycles.squarespace.com n 63 St James’s Street, E17 7PJ

Wilsons n wilsonscycles.com n 32 Peckham High Street, SE15 5BP TOWER HAMLETS Bamboo Bicycle Club n bamboobicycleclub.org n 8 Jude St, Caxton Works, E16 1FF Cycle Surgery n cyclesurgery.com n 12-13 Bishop's Square, E1 6EG Honor Cycles n honorcycles.com n 61 Mare Street, E8 4RG Paradise Cycles n paradisecycles.co.uk n 63 Roman Road, E2 0QN WALTHAM FOREST Bike Shack Lea Bridge n bikeshackleyton.com n 532 Lea Bridge Road, E10 7DT Bike Shack Leyton n bikeshackleyton.com n 26 Ruckholt Road,E10 6RF

Bon Velo n bonvelo.co.uk n 27 Half Moon Lane, SE24 9JU

Flag Bikes n flagbikes.com n 324 Battersea Park Road, SW11 3BX Phoenix Cycles n phoenix-cycles.co.uk n 59a Battersea Bridge Road, SW11 3AU Psubliminal n psubliminal.co.uk n 17 Balham High Road, SW12 9AJ WESTMINSTER Cycle Surgery n cyclesurgery.com n 42-48 Great Portland Street, W1 Cycle Surgery n cyclesurgery.com n 26 Palace Street, SW1E 5JD Cycle Surgery n cyclesurgery.com n Brettenham House, Lancaster Place, WC2E 7EN Fudges Cycle Store n fudgescyclestore.com n 564-566 Harrow Road, W9 3QH OUT OF LONDON

Cycle Fix n cyclefixlondon.co.uk n 338 Kennington Rd, SE11 4LD

Corridori n corridori.co.uk n 203 Fir Tree Road, KT17 3LB0DJ

Edwardes n (no website) n 221-225 Camberwell Road, SE5 0HG

Cycle Surgery n cyclesurgery.com n 99 Fordwater Road, KT16 8HH

Machine n machinelondon.cc n 97 Tower Bridge Road, SE1 4TW

Fudges Cycle Store n fudgescyclestore.com n 21-23 Upper High Street, KT17 4QY

On Your Bike n onyourbike.com n 3-4 London Bridge Walk, SE1 2SX Rat Race Cycles n ratracecycles.com n 118 Evelina Road, SE15 3HL

WANDSWORTH

Shorter Rochford n shorter-rochford.co.uk n 27 Barnet Rd, Potters Bar, EN6 2QX

FOR MORE INFO: lcc.org.uk/membership

*All LCC membership offers and

discounts are presented entirely at the discretion of the provider

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ICONIC BIKES

1960s onwards

Moulton Spaceframe With over half a century of innovative design behind it, the British-built small-wheeler still offers a unique ride, as John Kitchiner explains

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with Alex remaining as consultant. It proved an uneasy relationship and was ended in 1974. Alex, however, continued his own development and within the next few years he had conceptualised the famous ‘Spaceframe’. The original factory was re-equipped and in 1983 the ‘AM’ entered production — and despite of (or because of) its unconventional looks became a huge hit with touring cyclists. In 1986 Jim Glover rode one at 51mph on a flying 200m course to set a world speed record, and Dave Bogdan completed the ultra-endurance Race Across America (RAAM) in just 10 days and 15 hours.

The ‘AM-ATB’ — credited as the first full-suspension mountain bike — emerged in 1988, while the 1990s led to the ‘APB’ all-rounder in partnership with Pashley. In the late 90s the ‘New Series’ found a legion of new fans, featuring the flexitor and hydrolastic suspension system, and offering increased refinement and improved ride comfort.

Alex died in 2012, but the company still produces a dozen models, with famed architect Sir Norman Foster (an owner himself) calling the Speedframe “a classic piece of British design”. That nicely sums up our thoughts too.

Illustration: David Sparshott

T’S FITTING THAT we celebrate Moulton as the next in our ‘Iconic Bikes’ series as, during the Covid-19 lockdown, the company celebrated 100 years since the birth of its founder Alex. The Cambridge-educated engineer and inventor, initially worked for the family rubber business after graduation, before setting up Moulton Developments Limited. And it was here that Alex helped design, develop and produce the suspension system for another iconic British vehicle, the Mini motor car.

The first Moulton Bicycle — the ‘F’ Frame — was launched in 1962, a kind of mini-bike to sit alongside those fashionable mini-skirts and mini-cars of the Swinging 60s. Moulton built its own factory in Bradford-on-Avon and within a year became the second biggest frame builder in the country. The ‘Speedsix’ followed — a versatile racing and touring bike, with a six-speed derailleur gear. Then, in 1966, came the Moulton ‘S’ Speed, with double chainrings, short wheelbase and lightweight Reynolds 531 tubeset.

As competition intensified the decision was taken in 1967 to accept an offer from Raleigh to buy the Moulton business,

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