London Cyclist - Spring 2020 edition

SPRING 2020

CLIMATE CRISIS

ZERO CARBON ROADS 2030 CONSOLIDATING FREIGHT YOUR LAST EVER BIKE? FLIGHT-FREE BIKE BREAKS

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MAGAZINE OF

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SPRING 2020

contents

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

HOW TO 46

GUIDES HOW TO

WRAP BAR TAPE

Adding new tape to your drop bars needn’t be a hassle says Jenni Gwiazdowski

Jenni Gwiazdowski Founder of London Bike Kitchen and book author

Handlebar tape is hugely personal and can completely change the perception (and feel) of a bike. However wrapping drop bars is a skill that requires practice and patience. Properly-fitted bar tape is a beautiful thing, but wrapping it seems to be a love-or-hate affair for many people, so we’ve got Jenni Gwiazdowski to explain her simple six-step process

1: GET IN POSITION To start, make sure that your brakes are fixed in the position that you want them. Tape any brake or gear housing that pops out the back of the lever to the front or back side of the bars using

electrical tape (some bars have an obvious groove).

Allow enough cable so that you can swivel the bars easily to the right and left without the housing tightening up against the frame.

3: (DO) SWEAT THE TECHNIQUE Bring the tape back up and sure the sticky bit is touching away from the bike, but angle the bar (not the tape) – this it about 30 degrees from the will ensure that you keep an bar end. Line up the edge even spacing and prevent of the sticky underside with slipping. Remember to pull the edge of the fitted tape consistently taut (but not as you go around, making too tight).

2: TIME TO TAPE Unroll one of the new tapes and peel off a couple of inches of the sticky backing paper. Place the edge of the tape at the end of the bars, perpendicular to the bar, with the roll of tape on the inside

of the bike. Line up the edge of the sticky bit with the edge of the handlebar, then press on up, over and away from the bicycle and then back down, completing the first circle around the bar.

4: FILL IN THE GAPS When you approach the lever, the easier way to cover this is to use the extra rectangular square or pads that probably came with the box of tape (A). If it didn’t, cut your own 7-8cm piece. Pull

A

B back the hoods of the brake lever, peel off the backing paper and wrap this extra section around the unsightly clamp holding the brake lever in place. Then continue to wrap around as before (B).

THE OYSTER WHEEL

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How to get involved in LCC’s new ‘Zero Carbon Roads 2030’ campaign FEATURE > 19

In-depth report into the ways London can decarbonise its roads before 2030

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Electric vehicles and consolidation hubs are key to emissionfree future for freight

The single most important thing the next Mayor can do... is decarbonise our roads ASHOK SINHA, OPINION, PAGE 9

TRAVEL, 42

FEATURE >29

’Shared mobility’ could mean that your current car and bicycle are the last ones you buy

We should be able to move freely in our city without fears TIFFANY LAM, OPINION, PAGE 11 LONDON CYCLIST Spring 2020 3

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CONTENTS | SPRING 2020

Cover image: Jenna Selby (London Borough of Waltham Forest) EDITORIAL

History in the making I

T’S BEEN a momentous few months since we last convened on these pages, both on the home front and internationally. In fact this edition was originally due to land with you earlier (to tie in with the launch of LCC’s mayoral election campaign), however just as we were going to press coronavirus arrived and things have taken a few swerves.

The local elections have now been pushed back to 2021, which means that a couple of the articles here will seem a little out of date. But we took the decision to publish rather than delay further — hopefully you’ll understand and the LCC team will be publishing further updates shortly.

In the meantime our climate campaigning continues. We can’t afford for it not to. As global governments shilly-shally and procrastinate on action, wildfires, cyclones, landslides, rising temperatures and record floods have caused devastation from Australasia to Europe. And on it goes.

Recognising the role transport plays in the crisis, LCC’s key focus — to decarbonise London’s roads by 2030 — is vital, and on page 19 you can find out how to get involved. We also look at how mobility around our cities must change and how freight finally has the potential to deliver a greener future.

In addition there’s rides, reviews, top tips and a feature on inspiring women’s cycling groups to tuck into. Until next time — stay safe!

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, Sarah Flynn, Ashok Sinha, Carlton Reid, Darren Kisner

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

London Cyclist is printed by Buxton Press on FSC carbon-balanced paper from responsible sources.

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Spring 2020

PROTECTED SPACE IN LONDON TRIPLED THANKS TO LCC Mayor Sadiq Khan and team celebrate meeting our Sign for Cycling pledge for safer cycle routes in the city

F

OLLOWING HIS commitment to our Sign for Cycling campaign, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced he has tripled the mileage of protected space for cycling on main roads in London since his election in 2016.

This important milestone not only makes London safer for cycling, but as LCC’s CEO Ashok Sinha said, “it will also help more people to reduce their carbon footprint by getting out on their bikes”.

However, Sadiq hasn’t just tripled protected space for cycling in London in four years. TfL’s quality criteria for Cycleways has also decisively ended the ‘blue paint’ era on main roads (though still has to be improved to avoid using heavy ratruns as cycle routes) and it has delivered a bar for boroughs to buy into or miss out.

As a result, safe cycling routes have spread further into outer London. Boroughs like

Waltham Forest, Enfield, and Camden have accelerated progress, and been joined by boroughs such as Lambeth, Hounslow and Newham. And coming next? A joined-up network of routes that enables far more people to go door to door without facing hostile road conditions. And boroughs such as Kensington & Chelsea joining the party.

A network of safe, comfortable and direct cycle routes is what has been needed to get other cities to mass cycling levels. That’s why one of the key pledges we will be asking Sadiq and the other mayoral candidates to commit to in the forthcoming election will be the network’s rapid expansion, to ensure our road transport system is carbon neutral by 2030 (see page 19).

We hope this is as effective in getting our Mayor to raise the bar again, as Sign for Cycling and Love London Go Dutch were previously.

BIG WIN FOR LCC: CEO Ashok Sinha joins the Mayor and others for ‘tripling’ milestone

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NEWS

EU GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO NEW RULES FOR LORRIES IT’S OFFICIAL – lorries with minimal blind-spots are going to become the industry standard.

The European Union regulation (General Safety Regulation) to enable this has been formally approved by the European Council of Ministers. As of mid-2023 all new model HGVs (fully new designs) will have to meet the new rules and by 2027 all new heavy lorries will have to meet them.

The very welcome measure to improve vehicle design took several years of hard work by the European Parliament, London’s Mayors, TfL and consistent lobbying by LCC and our partners in the Action on Lorry Danger group, as well as fellow activists in Brussels (including Transport & Environment and the European Cycling Federation).

We thank all LCC supporters who have backed our numerous petitions for safer lorries and those who have responded to TfL consultations on better ‘direct vision’ for HGVs.

THE FACTS:

London’s Cycle Hire scheme

SIGN UP FOR A CHALLENGE EVENT AND SUPPORT LCC

10 T years since TfL launched the scheme on 30 July 2010

87m number of trips made

by Cycle Hire bikes since the launch date

34

k

hires on Xmas Day 2019 alone (out of 10 million 2019 total)

781 number of current docking stations, with 12,000 bikes in total

AKING ON a sporting challenge and fundraising is one of the most impactful ways you can support LCC’s work.You’ll be joining other passionate supporters at the start line, in our stunning Team LCC kit.

Our traditional ‘big sportive’ events this year are the iconic L’Etape UK and RideLondon 100, in July and August respectively. Or if you fancy a ‘through-the-night’ adventure, starting and finishing at the Olympic Park there’s June’s London Nightrider.

Lastly, we have two late-summer September challenges: the London to Amsterdam David Eales Memorial Ride, organised and supported

by Ealing Cycling Campaign; plus the London to Brighton classic. Both of these rides are accessible if you want to ride at a more leisurely pace or with friends.

Summer might seem a while away but it’s really just around the corner, so why not sign up to support LCC by completing one of this season’s special challenge rides? For more details, go to lcc.org.uk/teamlcc. Or if you need any more specific info about the events in question or the fundraising, you can contact us direct at teamlcc@lcc.org.uk.

JOB VACANCIES — APPLY ONLINE WE’RE CURRENTLY recruiting for two positions in our Marketing and Membership team — a marketing officer and a challenge events officer. So if you’d like to help us make London a truly great cycling city, please apply today. You’ll be working with a great team of passionate cyclists (and the occasional friendly dog) at our riverside office in Wapping. n For full job descriptions and to apply, visit lcc.org.uk/current-vacancies.

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OPINION

Let’s do this...

If you take just one action this year, says Ashok Sinha, then supporting our Climate Safe Streets campaign is it

H

ERE WE are again.

We’ve had Ken, Boris, Sadiq, and now possibly someone new as London’s Mayor, come the morning of Friday 8 May. But while the incumbent with the top job at City Hall may or may not change, LCC’s four-yearly rise to action does not.

We therefore, once again, hope all of you are so inspired by LCC’s Climate Safe Streets mayoral election campaign this year that you need no bidding from me to get behind it. We hope we can count on you to give just a few moments of your time to add your voice to our call on the next Mayor of London to commit to decarbonising London’s roads by 2030.

I know we reach out to you a lot.

Some of you regularly answer the call on the day-to-day issues — to press for safer junctions, more cycling infrastructure, more liveable neighbourhoods and safer lorries. Others of you are simply content to pay your subs and leave it to our excellent staff team to be your champions and advocates for a better London. But whether you are one of the former, latter or something in-between, we need all of you now.

When we came up with the Climate Safe Streets idea we wondered if the goal of zero carbon

roads by 2030 was too much of a stretch. But we’ve done our research and published exactly how we think this goal can be realised (see page 19 for summary, with the full report on the LCC website). With a fair wind we know it can be done, however great the obstacles to be overcome, provided the political will and courage to lead, and win hearts and minds, is there.

Zero net carbon London Excitingly, the recent announcement of our current Mayor, Sadiq Khan, that he will bring forward his existing target of a zero net carbon London from 2050 to 2030 has upped the ante.

Naturally, we congratulate Sadiq on making this commitment and exhort all candidates in the race to match it. And if they all do, then this cross-party consensus will immediately remove one fundamental obstacle to making London’s streets ‘climate safe’ by 2030. Each candidate that

“The single most important thing the next Mayor can do... is decarbonise our roads”

Ashok Sinha Chief Executive of London Cycling Campaign

commits to doing so will get our congratulations and practical support, if elected.

But mind the reality gap. You will hear a lot in this election about the government’s obligation to use its big levers to decarbonise our power and heat. So what of road transport? Mode shift away from private motor cars towards cycling, buses and smart on-demand/shared mobility is absolutely critical to decarbonising London’s roads. And crucially, this is the area where the Mayor of London (and also the boroughs) have more power to effect change than anyone else.

The next Mayor must therefore use that power decisively to implement a London-wide, safe cycling network, create a regulated market for the private sector to supply a huge number of shared e-bikes, e-cars, and other vehicles, and apply smart road user charging across the whole city. All between now and 2030.

The climate emergency is the most important threat facing us.

The single most important thing the next Mayor can directly do to address this is to decarbonise our roads. And as an LCC member, the single most important thing you can do to make that happen, is to back Climate Safe Streets. I hope you will.

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OPINION

The right to the city Tiffany Lam explains how a Colombian city is leading the way on addressing the gender gap in cycling

W

HEN I ‘became a cyclist’ eight years ago in Washington, DC, I felt liberated from street harassment. I was never still long enough to be approached by a potential harasser, and if I was I could escape more quickly on two wheels than on two feet. But cycling increased my exposure to road traffic danger. This unfair trade-off between safety from street harassment and safety from road traffic highlights the importance of the right to safe urban mobility.

Everyone deserves to be able to move freely around their city without fears like these.

This is why I was delighted to be invited to the first ‘50-50 More Women on Bicycles’ International Congress in Bogotá last September.

Bogotá is the first city to put gender parity in urban cycling on the public policy agenda. Former Mayor Enrique Peñalosa and Gender Secretary Ángela Anzola de Toro spearheaded the 50-50 initiative, which has not only expanded a public dialogue about the gender gap in cycling, but also created an impetus to address gender-based harassment and violence in public spaces and on public transport.

Just one fifth of cyclists in Bogotá are women and there is a similar gender gap in cycling in many cities

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worldwide. In industrialised, English-speaking countries with low levels of cycling (UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia) the gender gap in city cycling is consistent: for every female cyclist, there are three or four male cyclists.

What sets Bogotá apart is it is the first city to make gender parity in cycling an explicit policy goal.

Not only has this elevated inclusive cycling on the policy agenda, but also it has elevated the importance of gender-inclusive urban design and planning.

Safe, sustainable cities As de Toro explained: “The idea of 50-50 in Bogotá arose because we realised that although this is a cycling city, men and women didn’t cycle in the same proportion.

Of the over 800,000 daily bicycle trips, women accounted only for 22% of those. Therefore the local government had to understand this problem in order to provide the right conditions for women bicycle users, empower activists, and

“Promoting cycling is about ensuring that everyone has safe access to urban space”

Tiffany Lam is a consultant at NEF Consulting, specialising in inclusive cycling

foster the interchange of ideas and lessons learned between activists and users.”

And in contrast from cycling initiatives in North American and Western European cities, which are typically framed around climate action and public health, the 50-50 initiative was framed around the right to the city — the right of all inhabitants to use, occupy, produce, govern, enjoy and inhabit just, inclusive, safe and sustainable cities.

Promoting cycling is about ensuring that everyone has safe access to, and passage through, urban space. And an impressive range of feminist cycling activist groups at the Congress echoed this call to action.

As de Toro added: “The most important aspect of 50-50 was the wide participation of all the activists and collectives that foster bicycle use as an empowerment tool and as a sustainable transport method.

We want Bogotá to become the cycling capital of Latin America but this is not possible without taking into account the differential needs and risks that women face when cycling.”

At the heart of it, inclusive cycling is not just about cycling. It is about democratising the right to safe urban mobility, and in turn, the right to the city.

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OPINION

Birthday cheer As London’s hire bikes celebrate a ten-year landmark, Carlton Reid looks at how the concept first originated

H

APPY 10TH birthday to London’s iconic city hire bikes. Now liveried as Santander Cycles, the fleet was initially sponsored

by Barclays, but the machines are known to many, misleadingly, as ‘Boris Bikes’. Misleading because a city-owned hire bike fleet was not commissioned by our current PM when he was Mayor of London, it was the previous mayor’s project.

Livingstone’s Bikes hardly rolls off the tongue, though, and Sadiq Cycles has yet to catch on.

I’m a frequent user of the bikes, and, when available, always try to bag one from the 5000 series. These are the higher quality, Pashleysourced bikes introduced in 2017.

The original bikes, made by Bixi of Montreal, had a ten-year lifespan and many are still on the streets.

It’s ironic that two banks have been the sponsors of the scheme so far because the concept of cityowned hire bikes has anarchist roots. The idea can be traced back to the magisch centrum — or magical centre — of Europe’s countercultural movement: 1960s Amsterdam, where drugs, free love, environmentalism, and homosexuality were all on the menu.

It was here that spawned, in 1965, the ‘Provos’, a lighthearted, arty, anarchist-leaning group

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that took its name from the Dutch word provoceren, meaning ‘to provoke’. According to the group’s propaganda sheet, the Provos were “beatniks, pleiners, scissor-grinders, jailbirds, simple simon stylites, magicians, pacifists, potato-chip chaps, charlatans, philosophers, germ-carriers, grand masters of the queen’s horse, happeners, vegetarians, syndicalists, santy clauses, kindergarten teachers, agitators, pyromaniacs, assistant assistants, scratchers and syphilitics, secret police, and other riff-raff.”

Early days of bike share The group’s lasting legacy sprang from their ‘White Bicycle Plan’, a proposal to close central Amsterdam to motorized traffic and create a free bicycle-sharing scheme, using bicycles that had been (poorly) painted white.

“The asphalt terror of the motorized bourgeoisie has lasted long enough,” mused a Provo poster promoting the coming of the White Bicycles.

“It was only when city bikes became ‘smart’ that the concept truly flourished”

Carlton Reid Transport Journalist of the Year (Specialist Media) 2018

The Provos’ Plan stated: “Every day, human sacrifice is made to the newest authority that the bourgeoisie themselves are at the mercy of: the Auto-Authority. The Plan presents liberation from the car-monster...The White Bicycle can be used by whomever needs it and afterward must be left unlocked. More White Bicycles will follow until... the automobile danger is eliminated.”

There were only ever a handful of these free bikes in circulation — the Provos were stumped by a Dutch law that said all bicycles had to be locked when not moving — although legend claims thousands were on the streets. What the Provos did manage to do was get international press coverage for their ideas, which, in the years that followed, led to city bike schemes in Copenhagen and other cycle-friendly cities.

But the idea of free bicycles never worked; the bikes would be invariably dumped in canals (Mobike, anyone?). It was when city bikes became ‘smart’ — with locks and micro-payments — that the concept truly flourished.

The first successful scheme started in 2005 in the French city of Lyon. The Vélo’v scheme was later translated to Paris, from where the idea spread around the world, civilising cities in the process.

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CLIMATE

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We can’t wait more years Fran Graham shares the importance of the next four years in avoiding catastrophic climate chaos — and what you can do to help

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HIS MAY sees the biggest event in London’s political calendar — the mayoral election.

Since the creation of the role in 2000, subsequent Mayors have vied for our votes for a chance serve London and carve out a name for themselves. With the eyes of the world now on every elected politician to see if they will rise to address the climate emergency in the precious few years we have left, this is the most important poll in London’s history.

With powers that cover policing, the fire service, housing, planning and transport, the Mayor has responsibility for setting the direction for Greater London. As a global mega-city with a population expected to rise to 9.84 million by 2031, it’s a lot to cover.

On top of that, London competes at an international scale, looking to be a world leader on everything from tourism to transport. Where London leads, other cities tend to follow.

It’s why this election will be a turning point — but only if we make it so. Here we explain what you can do make sure the next Mayor uses the next four years to do

everything they can to decarbonise London’s roads by 2030...

Zero carbon future In 2016, the world’s nations signed up to the Paris Agreement.

Taking their lead from the climate scientists, understanding and acknowledging the threat of the climate emergency, they agreed to work towards keeping global temperatures below 2 degrees of warming, ‘pursuing efforts’ to keep it below 1.5 degrees.

However, a legacy of inaction from all our politicians has left us with little time left to respond to the climate emergency. We can no longer rely on gradual, incremental change. If we had taken action to reduce carbon emissions at the rate needed to keep warming below 1.5 degrees back in 2000, we would have been looking at a 3% year-

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on-year reduction for the past 20 years. Now we are looking at a 15% reduction every year until 2040.

And given that the ‘low hanging fruit’ of carbon reduction steps have started, we are now left with the stubborn, tricky sources such as road transport, where emissions continue to rise in the UK, despite jumps forward in engine efficiency.

We now need radical and visionary solutions from our politicians, and the sooner they are implemented, the easier it will be. The current Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has a plan for decarbonising London by 2050. But he has recently acknowledge the need to decarbonise much faster than that, pledging to make London carbon neutral by 2030, stating at the announcement that “we can’t afford not to try”. This is why this next mayoral term will decide how

London responds to the climate crisis. In order to reach a 2030 target, action needs to start now.

What we are asking and why?

As you may have seen in previous articles in London Cyclist, LCC is campaigning for a zero carbon road transport system by 2030.

This is not a short-term campaign — big ambitious, necessary change like this rarely is. It will need London’s Mayor and all the borough councils to work together to achieve it.

Which is why we will be asking all the mayoral candidates for the upcoming elections to commit to zero carbon roads by 2030.

As the next four years are essential to achieving this goal, over the next term, the next Mayor will need to do three things:

1. Rapidly expand the cycling network by building much more cycling infrastructure. More cycle tracks, more filters, more bus gates and more interventions that make cycling a much more comfortable and enjoyable experience.

2. Introduce Smart Road User Charging, so that the most damaging and polluting motor vehicle journeys pay for the harm

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they cause to our city and health.

3. Proactively work with the boroughs to enable the roll-out of zero carbon shared mobility — from dockless bikes and e-bikes, to electric cars — to expand the range of options available to those who want their current car to be their last.

While this isn’t an exhaustive list of everything that will need to occur over the next 10 years to decarbonise our road transport system (see page 19 for more detail on what else needs to happen), these three things will cut a significant chunk of road transport emissions, and put us on the right track for the next decade.

Because up until now, our roads have been arranged for the convenience of cars. The result has been hugely congested roads that are hostile to anyone not in a vehicle, restricting the sustainable travel choices for Londoners.

Not only has this resulted in

an extremely inefficient road transport system, it’s also one that is incredibly carbon intensive. Our over reliance on the car means that road transport accounts for 20% of London’s carbon emissions, even though a third of trips are less than 2km.

Despite survey after survey showing that people are willing to change their habits to reduce their carbon emissions, safety concerns still mean that many don’t feel like cycling is a choice for their

everyday journeys. With powers over the roads and transport, the Mayor needs to lead the charge in transforming London’s roads.

Decarbonising the roads All three of our aks for the next mayoral term (expanding the cycle network; introducing Smart Road User Charging; and supporting the roll out of zero-carbon shared mobility options) enable each other.

By cutting the number of motor vehicles on the road, you create the space for the cycling infrastructure, and the quieter roads that will enable people to choose cycling for their everyday journeys. With Smart Road User Charging and a dense cycling network, you reduce the need for a private car, and access to shared options means that for many, the sensible choice will be to make their current car the last one they own — the options and choice of alternative, sustainable modes of

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CLIMATE

travel will be easily accessible.

By decarbonising the road system, not only will we have cut climate wrecking emissions, but we will have created a better London.

For example, Oslo has committed to cut carbon emissions by 95% by 2030. To reach that, they have been restricting motor traffic in the city centre and improving cycling conditions. The result was that in 2019, only one person died in a road traffic collision in Oslo. Through methods designed to decarbonise the streets, Oslo has also made massive road safety improvements.

The same is true of air pollution.

It shares a common source with carbon emissions — road transport.

So by switching to zero carbon transport options, we can not only reduce climate wrecking emissions, but also the lethal and continually illegal levels of air pollution in the capital.

This can been seen in action in London already with the UltraLow Emission Zone (ULEZ). The introduction of which has seen roadside nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution reduced by 36% in the

zone, and carbon dioxide emissions from road transport in the central zone are 4%.

What can you do?

With your help, LCC has delivered real change. Our 2012 Love London, Go Dutch campaign transformed the acceptable standard for cycling infrastructure from blue paint on the roads to physically protected space for cycling. In 2016, Sign for Cycling won the commitment from all main mayoral candidates to triple the length of protected main road tracks, provide funding for mini-Holland style schemes and make ‘direct vision’ lorries the norm — commitments which Sadiq Khan has worked hard to reach.

The evidence of these campaigns can been seen emerging on streets across London, from the snaking miles of segregated cycle lanes to the Liveable Neighbourhood programmes coming to life in boroughs across the city. It couldn’t have been done without the support of all of you, our members and activists.

In the run up to the mayoral

election, we will be putting pressure on all the candidates to commit to our call for a decarbonised road system. It is vital that they hear from as many people as possible before we head to the polls — it will demonstrate just how many people want to see London change for the better, and how vital the next four years are.

To stay up to date with the campaign, sign up to our climate mailing list (lcc.org.uk/climate).

We’ll be sending out info about the campaign, including everything you need to put pressure on the mayoral candidates to deliver Zero Carbon Roads by 2030.

THE 5 MAIN MAYORAL ELECTION CANDIDATES SADIQ KHAN (Labour) SHAUN BAILEY (Conservative)

Photo: Max Turner

SIAN BERRY (Green) SIOBHAN BENITA (Liberal Democrat) RORY STEWART (Independent)

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CLIMATE SAFE STREETS O

UR BIGGEST campaign focus over the next 12 months will be to put London firmly on track to decarbonising its roads by 2030.

While we know that this will have to be an essential part of London’s response to the

The LCC campaigns team summarises its in-depth report on how we can decarbonise London’s roads by 2030

climate emergency, we also know that it won’t be an easy transformation. This is a summary of our report (which you can read in full here: lcc. org.uk/ClimateSafeStreets). It not only makes the case for this transition, but also describes precisely how it can be achieved. In particular, LONDON CYCLIST Spring 2020 19

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Capri’s mobility pod: being trialled across the UK, it offers a solution for shorter journeys

it sets out the priority policies London’s next Mayor must implement during the following four years in order to achieve zero carbon roads by 2030.

London’s urgent need for Climate Safe Streets In recognising the need for urgent action, the UK Parliament, the Mayor of London and now over three-quarters of the 33 London boroughs, have rightly declared a climate emergency.

Yet the most important and fundamental question remains unanswered by all of them: what action will they take to get to zero carbon in the next 10 years?

Greenhouse gases (chiefly CO2) are the primary cause of global heating. The transport sector is the main contributor to total UK and London CO2 emissions — with road emissions rising, not falling. Decisive and transformative action to slash transport, and especially road, emissions is therefore especially urgent; London has the opportunity, the potential, the status and the responsibility to lead the way.

The Mayor’s Transport Strategy, published in

2018, has a target for 80% of all trips in London to be made on foot, by cycle or using public transport by 2041. But a recent study revealed that even if London had already met that target, it would still have more car use than four comparable world cities had back in 2014.

The climate emergency demands the pace of change must now be greatly accelerated; and indeed the current Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has joined leaders of other cities in setting out his ambition that London should be carbon neutral by 2030. This ambition would demand far more and faster action than the Mayor’s Transport Strategy currently sets out.

The urgency is further increased by the public health crisis that’s also associated with our current travel habits: toxic air on many streets and shorter lives resulting from inactivity.

The need for much greater speed is now inescapable. The next 10 years are crucial, and the first few especially so if the remaining time is to be used to maximum effect.

The work needs to start on day one of the next mayoralty, to create zero carbon roads within the next decade.

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Changing how we travel That work can’t be limited to just turning all vehicles electric. It is tempting to think technology can save us; and, when it comes to reducing the carbon footprint of transport, a lot of hope is being pinned on EVs. But, however comforting, these hopes are misplaced. Transitioning from a fossil-fuelled fleet to one that’s clean-fuelled, and embodies zero emissions in its manufacture, is essential but insufficient. Provisional work has found that even if all new cars were Ultra Low Emission Vehicles by 2035 (80% battery electric, 20% plug-in hybrids), a 58% reduction in car mileage would be needed to keep global temperature rise below 2°C. The simple fact is that, however clean, the private car can no longer be king. What’s urgently needed is that we travel differently.

The UK Committee on Climate Change observed: “The continued rise in road transport emissions highlights the urgent need for much stronger policies to reduce growth in demand for travel.” It has urged the government to set out a vision for future travel demand planning “for economic growth while reducing car traffic, by promoting walking, cycling and public transport and deterring car and van traffic”.

In other words, the climate emergency demands not just electric vehicles, but mass

The climate emergency demands the pace of change must now be greatly accelerated. mode shift too, as a top priority. In turn this means London’s streets must become safer and more convenient for walking and cycling; that bus travel must become cheaper, more reliable and more convenient; that people must have easy access to zero-carbon shared motor transport as an attractive alternative to car ownership; that freight operations become much smarter and cleaner; and that motor traffic on London’s roads is managed equitably on the ‘polluter pays’ principle.

The wider benefits The case for changing how we travel isn’t simply about staving off the worst effects of climate change: it’s about a better quality of life and better health for everyone — more choice and less congestion, greater fairness, affordability and convenience, increased business and job opportunities, and thriving high streets. For London as a whole, the case for change is also about giving our city a globally competitive edge, and about the transport sector integrating more closely with decarbonisation in other sectors to enable greater coherency and impact of these combined efforts. Climate Safe Streets are a good news story for all.

Making our streets Climate Safe The need to make London’s roads zero carbon by 2030 is clear, as is the need for change in how we travel to empower this, and the wider benefits of doing so. The big question is how?

With rapid and substantial shift to sustainable options as the over-arching goal, everything that can be done to enable people to choose non-car modes must be done. This means major investment in schemes and initiatives that are likely to have most effect.

And it also means investment (albeit on a more modest scale) in other, less glamorous, measures

Gridlocked roads: will become a thing of the past as people swap to different transport modes

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mobility sector, which is champing at the bit to embrace new opportunities to innovate in London. This really is a case where a partnership between all levels of government in London and the private sector can deliver the revolutionary change we need.

We deserve Climate Safe Streets

In the zone: city-wide smart road charging is urgently needed

designed to make it that bit easier for people to leave the car at home — or indeed to find they don’t need one at all.

That means we need to: n Rapidly expand the strategic cycling network, at the highest quality n Rapidly co-ordinate easy access to low carbon shared mobility services (see page 29 for more detail) n Develop and implement a smart, Londonwide road user charging system n Rapidly expand the coverage of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, to make walking, cycling and scooting the natural choice for short journeys n Rapidly expand and optimise a network of conventional and demand-responsive zero-emission bus services n Proactively support the transition to low carbon freight transport n Enable the shift to low-carbon vehicles n Enable car-free planning.

Climate Safe Streets are a necessity for London, and we believe that, combined, these actions will meet that need. The data, the science, the expert commentary, and the practical experience of others demonstrates the need and pathway. It demands the Mayor, and the boroughs, must be bold — not least to capitalise on what is now offered by the private

The presumption that people will inevitably resist change, rather than choose it, is false.

Although politicians and practitioners may be all too familiar with the voice of the loud minority, the vast majority of Londoners are deeply concerned about the effects of climate change and are looking for leadership about how they can make a difference.

Those same people, however, won’t choose alternatives that don’t meet their needs. They need to be enabled to change; and that’s what the actions we call for will do. Put simply, the climate emergency demands, and Londoners deserve, much better transport options.

They deserve better than to sit in traffic, making it worse; than to breathe toxic air; than to feel unsafe while walking or cycling; than to suffer delayed and crowded buses; than to feel unable to turn the school run into a stroll; than to think they have no option but to spend so much money on owning and running cars that sit idle 95% of the time.

Enabling all Londoners to travel differently and therefore live better is within the city’s grasp. The task of creating zero carbon, Climate Safe Streets is tough, but achievable.

The decisions taken by the next Mayor of London, and by the leaders of London’s councils, will be make or break. They can and must lead the way towards decarbonising London’s roads by 2030, and inspire not just the country, but the world as well.

MORE INFO n Find out how you can support the #ZeroCarbonRoads2030 campaign on page 14. n Read the full Climate Safe Streets report here: lcc.org.uk/ClimateSafeStreets

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ELECTRIFYING FREIGHT The toughest practical barrier to decarbonising London roads is making freight emission-free.

Tom Bogdanowicz examines both the challenges and solutions, from smarter operations to clean fuels, to accelerate progress in this sector

L

ONDONERS CAN’T survive without freight — and it’s not just those ‘must have today’ Amazon deliveries, but food, medical supplies, building materials, waste and much more.

Food and drink alone account for a quarter of the tonne/kms travelled by trucks. Which is why there are some 400,000 lorries in the UK, of which 250,000 enter London each year at least once.

Transport accounts for 24% of UK greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Of those emissions, 19% are attributed to road transport (with 3% each attributed to aviation and rail). And while other types of emission (including industry and residential housing) are falling, transport emissions are flat. The switch to bigger cars is

undermining greater engine efficiency; while increased deliveries are undermining the advent of hybrid and electric vans.

And HGVs — which account for 5% of the miles travelled in the UK — are over-represented in emissions, being responsible for 17% of transport GHG emissions and 21% of NOx emissions.

Eliminating the carbon emissions generated by heavy vehicles is perhaps the most challenging of targets for a zero-emission London, notably because zero-emission HGVs (and associated fuelling infrastructure) are only in their infancy, preventing the Mayor from mandating their use. But, as with cars, there is a second, parallel, approach which is to reduce the number of freight journeys.

And, on the technology front, help is coming: the EU has committed to sign a Climate Law in June 2020 that, in addition to a target of being climate neutral by 2050, will set a new standard for zero emission vehicles (Euro 7) covering cars, vans and lorries.

The new law may not affect Britain directly but leading European truck makers like Mercedes, VW, Volvo and DAF — who account for most HGV sales in the UK — will have to manufacture emission-free vehicles or lose business to newcomers like Volta, Nikola and Tesla (see below).

Consolidation ideas Two statistics stand out from the recent government report on decarbonising road freight: 28.6% of HGV vehicle kilometres are

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running empty, and vehicles are utilised to only 63% of their capacity. It can be hard to get so called ‘back-loads’ from some destinations but what the government describes as ‘organisational constraints’ or more simply a lack of cooperation between firms also plays a key role.

When Kimberly-Clark (toiletries) and Kellogg’s (cereals) cooperated they saved 430,000 vehicle kilometres. At a recent freight conference, a new start-up demonstrated an electronic freight exchange system marrying up suppliers with empty vehicles.

In London, several construction consolidation centres are already in place: goods are delivered in bulk to the centre, then a single vehicle takes a mixed load of materials

to their final destination. E-bike delivery firm Pedal Me has pioneered delivery of goods to construction sites showing that some goods, such as generators, do not require diesel-powered transport at all. And, in Hammersmith, Parcels Not Pollution will be offering a full e-cargobike delivery service to a large number of local employers from a Ladbroke Grove warehouse.

Hubs for heavy goods For heavier goods, out-of-town ‘sustainability hubs’ have been proposed. If disused land (for example old industrial sites) are earmarked now then the generation of energy from sustainable sources (wind, solar, biogas) could be co-located with giant lorry parks

that provide fast electric charging, plus consolidation of goods and a transfer of freight from long-haul lorries to electric or hydrogenfuelled urban vehicles.

Local deliveries can similarly be based around hubs us such as those suggested by CoMoUK. In one such ‘mobility hub,’ you could have access to shared e-bikes, electric cars, smart lockers for deliveries, public transport connections, shops and a community centre. CoMoUK provides case studies of hubs in Norway, Germany and Belgium.

The City of Bremen, for example, already has 40 mobil punkte and is expanding at 8-10 per annum. In effect, such mobility hubs mimic the ago-old concept of village centres which are now driven by the need to stem climate change.

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Switching to electric (clockwise from above): a DPD courier with the latest EAV e-cargobike; Volvo’s electric truck; the new Mercedes-Benz eActros. And Volta’s trial vehicle (below right).

In dense city areas one UK innovator is trialling a simple and sustainable delivery system he calls ‘porterage’. Instead of hundreds of Amazon and DHL vans stopping and blocking traffic while the driver gets the lift to the 20th floor and then does the same thing a few hours later, the porterage system employs three porters served by one slow-moving electric van which starts and ends its trips at a (costeffective) consolidation centre for the area.

This model could become reality when the City of London enforces a new requirement that every large new development has a consolidation centre built in from the start.

Electric solutions Development and sales of electric vans, cars, bikes and scooters is proceeding apace. Leading delivery firms like UPS and DHL promote

the fact that they are now using electric vans and bikes. The national Committee on Climate Change (CCC) anticipates that electric vehicles will fully decarbonise light freight delivery. But HGVs are a more complex proposition with the option of different power sources.

Tesla is clearly betting on electricity and says production of its much awaited ‘Semi’ (an artic with a 36-tonne capacity and an 800km range) will come in 2020 with prices starting at $150,000 (a diesel-powered Mercedes Actros costs around £100k plus £60k for the trailer). Mercedes already has 18-tonne and 24-tonne rigid electric lorries in trials and says they will be in series production in 2021.

New entrant Volta says that it will have trial (rigid) vehicles in London and Paris by mid-2020.

Smaller (7.5-tonne) vehicles are already in series production (eg Mercedes eCanter) and some

manufacturers say they are already cost effective when the increased lease cost is set against the fuel cost savings (recouping the increased leasing costs after three years).

Lorry replacement cycles are typically 7-8 years for established operators and 10 years for smaller ones who may buy used vehicles.

Even assuming operators see the financial gain from switching to electric, it may take a while to effect the change unless incentives or regulations are in place.

Switching from fewer large diesel vehicles to more, smaller electric ones is possible right now but to prevent increased congestion it also demands coordinated efforts by industry and government to ensure consolidation and cooperation are maximised (see above), and that fast charging stations for HGVs become as common as petrol stations.

Overhead cables and induction charging One long-haul power source option, already pioneered in Sweden and Germany, is overhead cables for electric lorries. According

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to a UK government report we have some 7,000 miles of suitable roads for eHighways. The cost of fitting all of them with cables would be about £7bn.

Another option is induction charging via induction pads located in the road, which the same report suggests could be more suitable for urban roads where loading and unloading is frequent and stationary vehicles could be fast charged.

Alternative fuels Vehicles powered by liquid hydrogen or bio-methane are a nearer prospect in terms of manufacturer delivery and offer faster (comparable to diesel) re-fuelling than electricity — but they require a new fuel distribution network and adequate fuel supply which will, almost certainly, require government intervention. A CCC report suggests that hydrogen fuelled HGVs are a more affordable option than electric battery power.

Hyundai has staked its future success on hydrogen-fuelled vehicles and is due to deliver 1,600 trucks to the Swiss commercial

market by 2025 where re-fuelling infrastructure will be provided using green hydrogen — this is unusual because commonly the production of hydrogen fuel involves burning fossil fuels. The first 50 Hyundai H2-XCIENT trucks are due to be delivered this year.

Bio-methane is the sustainable-ish fuel that’s nearest to market. John Lewis already runs more than 50 bio-methane trucks which generate significantly less emissions than a diesel lorry. The company aims to switch its entire fleet of 5,000 lorries to bio-methane by 2028.

The limiting factor of this option is the limited supply of bio-methane which comes from waste (eg landfill) or from so-called ‘energy crops’ (which can disrupt land use patterns). Another problem is methane leakage from vehicles which can counter the CO2 savings.

Vehicle and training improvements A multiplicity of changes in aerodynamics, capacity (double deck trailers can cut CO2 by 20%), engine idling, driver training

(5-13% less CO2), vehicle weight, tyres, and even tyre inflation can all make a difference to emissions.

Cross-border cooperation The work done by TfL, with strong backing from LCC, to secure an EU requirement that all new lorries will have to have far improved direct vision by 2027 shows how political pressure can result in mandatory changes to vehicles (reducing road danger in this case).

Addressing climate change has now been recognised across Europe (including the UK) as a vital political issue. Lorry manufacturers may be hesitant to introduce new emissionfree models, but they know that the prospect of new lorry models could be a fresh income stream as demand grows. If governments decide that lorries not only have to be safer but emission-free they have the powers to legislate for such a future.

Once series production is in motion, prices will fall and the freight industry will not only be able to improve its sustainability record but, as the CCC report clearly shows, it will discover that emission-free is ultimately cheaper as well. n For more info on EU Green Deal — tinyurl.com/GreenDealEU.

TIPS ON JOINING THE E-CARGO REVOLUTION Two great financial incentives have just come on stream: n The ‘Cycle 2 Work’ tax scheme (which allows up to a 40% reduction in the price of a bike) is no longer capped at £1k, so e-cargobikes can be yours for much less. n And, for businesses and organisations, the government is offering grants of up to 20% off the value of new e-cargobikes (max £1k per bike up to 200 bikes).

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COULD THIS BE YOUR

LAST BIKE?

‘Shared mobility’ could mean that your current car and bicycle are your last. Moreover their replacements could be the key to a zero carbon city. Simon Munk goes dockless…

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OR MANY, their car or their bike is like a fingerprint — completely individual. The make and model, the ‘cockpit’ set-up, the individualised touches and custom components. But is that what the

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future holds? New apps and technologies are threatening the concept of you owning the car on your driveway and the bike in your shed.

And they could well hold the key to a zero carbon city too.

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mobility’ approaches are rapidly gaining ground, not just in the world of cars but bicycles too, and indeed even in public transport. But obviously it’s in cars that the big potential lies.

The average UK car sits unused more than 90% of the time and car parking takes up more than 8,000 hectares of central London land.

That space is the reason why so few cycle tracks can be built, so many pavements are so narrow.

Even when cars are in use, around 60% are being used by just one person. TfL estimates there are millions of daily car journeys that could easily be cycled or walked: those featuring light loads, point to point, single occupant, etc. The majority of journeys are short and could be cycled, but many car journeys are necessary.

So we can do much to swap car journeys for cycle journeys — a network of safe routes being the most obvious one. And this in turn will enable us to take more space for cycling and walking, and enable more people to ditch the car. The rise of car share and car club vehicles points to a future where those remaining private motor vehicles are being used far more efficiently. Again, this will further deliver road and parking space from cars to other, more efficient modes. Using electric vehicles also ensures remaining drivers aren’t idling in traffic or increasing emissions.

0n-demand buses: now being trialled in Ealing and Sutton

Making smarter car journeys “Car sharing vehicles replace 10-plus private cars each, are cleaner than the vehicles they replace and in most cases people drive fewer miles. As they’re paying by the mile there’s a direct relationship between driving and cost; when you own a car you’ve a lot of sunk or ignored costs (ie VED, MOT, etc),” said Joseph Seal-Driver, Trustee of CoMoUK and Managing Director of Havn (the electric chauffeur service from Jaguar Land Rover).

“If we want London to become a cleaner city, we can’t hold a simplistic view of ‘four wheels bad’. We have to provide real alternatives to owning a vehicle, that means supporting other shared mobility services like the on-demand buses being trailed by TfL in Ealing and Sutton, electric private hire like Havn and car clubs.

“If we’re serious about reducing car dependency in our cities, we need both carrots and sticks. ULEZ and the Congestion Charge are clear policy positions, but without an effective mix of supporting services like car clubs and shared bikes, they will be less effective. Car sharing has been growing, but it needs support from cities and government.

“Working in London with all the boroughs is difficult, services need to be able to operate across all of London, so policy from TfL and

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London Councils is really important,” added Seal-Driver.

E-bikes versus e-scooters?

Car share and car club companies aren’t the only ones that point to London’s 33 boroughs and the fractured way roads are controlled (the boroughs control 95% of London’s road network, TfL doesn’t even control every road buses go down) as a reason why shared mobility services haven’t taken off as fast as in other countries and cities.

“We have been engaging with TfL and boroughs across London with regard to a proposed bylaw for dockless vehicles.

Improving pan-London travel could have huge advantages for existing and future shared mobility schemes which currently navigate individual borough-by-borough decisionmaking processes,” said William Woodward, Public Affairs Manager UK, Lime.

Lime has been growing fast globally — it has dockless hire e-bikes and/or e-scooters in over 125 cities on five continents since it launched in 2017. The app launched in December 2018 in London with just the e-bikes (rivals Jump by Uber launched the following May).

By November 2019 Lime had more than 2,000 dockless vehicles in the city and Londoners had made one million journeys using them.

That’s just e-bikes, however. Waiting in the wings are e-scooters. These have been the source of much ongoing conversation at LCC — in our policy forum and at the AGM. Are they here to stay? Are they safe? Are they ‘active travel’, if you don’t need to push or pedal them?

Are they replacing cars or do they risk replacing

Coming to a street near you: e-scooters are already popular in Paris and many US cities

bikes, or even people walking? Should they be allowed in cycle tracks? On the pavement? In the road? Or nowhere?

“Between June 2018 and September 2019, Parisians adopted e-scooters at a phenomenal rate, replacing the equivalent of 1.2 million motor vehicle trips. In Santa Monica half of journeys made on Lime e-scooters have replaced a car journey. Globally, 1 in 4 Lime rides replaces a car trip,” said Woodward.

“The UK remains one of the last major countries in Europe to embrace electric scooters and the government is looking into this area of policy. We’ve been working with stakeholders to look at key areas that any regulation would need to consider, from specification and safety of e-scooters, where they could be used on the highway, and management of shared schemes in cities. As we’ve seen internationally, e-scooters have the potential to dramatically change the transportation of major cities. Since launching in Paris 18 months ago, e-scooters usage now accounts for up to 2% of all journeys made there.”

Some e-scooter journeys may come from journeys that would otherwise have been cycled, but many will also come from cars, or alleviate overcrowding on public transport.

And e-scooter riders fear, face and need many of the same things that those who cycle do.

“E-scooters also attract a whole new group of users, who may never have cycled in their city or ever have experienced some of the issues faced by regular cyclists. These new green travellers are great potential allies and campaigners for increased funding and infrastructure changes,” explained Woodward.

Whatever happens with e-scooters, the shared e-bike isn’t going anywhere — for longer, hillier journeys with larger loads and suchlike.

A survey by shared mobility organisation CoMoUK found nearly half of shared e-bike trips were previously done by car.

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assist set to be mandated on cars soon, other driver-assist features coming forward rapidly, and indeed the Metropolitan Police finally beginning to do more ‘Vision Zero’ driving enforcement on speeding, close passes, etc., the Top Gear mentality of go-faster stripes, long a fantasy for urban driving anyway, is starting to be dismantled. So then what is that large lump of metal taking up space for?

“I’m a cyclist (roadie and occasional commuter) but I’m not just a cyclist, I’m also a pedestrian and occasionally a motorist. If I don’t have a range of on-demand car services available to me I’m far more likely to own a car — and if I own a car, I’ll drive much much more,” said Seal-Driver.

The future, most experts in the field reckon, is instead localised ‘shared mobility hubs’ as well as shared mobility solutions on every street, near enough for anyone and everyone to use. Where mobility hubs are being pioneered — in several German, Belgian and US cities and Exeter in the UK — they typically offer shared e-bikes (and e-scooters) and (zeroemission) cars usually next to a public transport interchange. The same hubs could also offer secure cycle parking, freight consolidation, deliveries’ lockers/pick-up, EV charging points and more, with the different shared mobility modes potentially accessed by a single app.

“Support from the cycling community for other shared services is really important,

Car clubs: like this one in central Berlin are growing in the UK

pushing councils to try new things and to be brave,” said Seal-Driver. “Hackney and Waltham Forest’s focus on cycling has also gone hand in hand with the provision of car clubs, for example.”

According to CoMoUK’s case studies, the distribution of mobility hubs in urban zones should be roughly one per 2,000 residents (or about 100-150 per London borough). Or one every 300m in denser inner London boroughs. The 300m figure is considered typical distribution for bike-share docking stations and shared cars. While mobility hubs that involve electric cars obviously require greater space, a mobility hub offering e-bikes or e-scooters can be much smaller.

“We want to see shared mobility and public transport becoming the go-to choices for making journeys in cities and towns,” said Woodward.

“On every street and at every major transport interchange there should be a mobility hub, with a range of low or emission-free vehicles for hire simply via an app on a smartphone. Shared mobility options could service most of the journeys made in our urban centres.”

Lack of space, as well as clarity and coherence on regulations, for shared mobility in London has hampered its growth as part of the transport mix. Going forward, the Mayor will need to work with boroughs to establish a shared mobility strategy to free up space for shared mobility and cut car ownership. This should include using space freed up by road pricing and the re-development of TfL and other publicallyowned land to build hubs. A virtuous circle would be created enabling more people to fully switch to zero-emission modes, as hubs become more common.

However it’s delivered, it’s clear London will need to rapidly embrace shared mobility in a big way to get to zero carbon. It’s why it’s one of the strands we’ll be asking the Mayor to commit to in our upcoming campaign (see page 14). n CoMoUK – como.org.uk n Lime – li.me n Havn – ridehavn.com

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06/02/2020 22:09

Cycle Sisters Joyriders

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Darren Kisner meets two inspirational grassroots groups founded by and for Muslim women, each spreading the joys and benefits of cycling in their communities and beyond

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N WALTHAMSTOW, the diversity of London cycling has been thriving, thanks in no small part to two relatively ‘new’ grassroots groups: Cycle Sisters and Joyriders. Hundreds of Muslim women have joined their rides to date and they’re working with local mosques and madrassas to kickstart new initiatives. As they grow, both groups are also inspiring spin-off projects.

And all this in a community where, according to the latest TfL Cycling Action Plan, “barriers to cycling are particularly acute”. So, what’s going on?

First, let’s meet the two groups and their founders.

Cycle Sisters

Joyriders London When Carolyn Axtell founded Joyriders London in early 2017, she didn’t know that Cycle Sisters was also starting out, just a short bike ride up the road. That both groups took off independently in the same area, demonstrates the huge demand they tapped into.

For Carolyn, a big motivation to cycle was the school run: “It was really stressful doing it by car, so we gradually started doing it by bike. And it liberated us.”

Speaking to other women, and particularly those, like her, from a Muslim background, Carolyn found that while hardly any cycled, “they were really interested, they just had all these barriers that stopped them.”

Carolyn decided to organise some informal social rides. “I just added all the women in my network to a WhatsApp group and asked if they were interested.” The response was overwhelmingly

Photo: Jenna Selby/LBWF

In 2016, after the birth of her second child, Sarah Javaid decided to get back into cycling. She looked at the local groups but found them intimidating.

“For me, it wasn’t about long rides and specialist equipment.

I just wanted to cycle.” Added to that, she would often be the only woman — and always the only woman wearing a hijab. Not that she experienced any hostility, she just felt a bit out of place.

Most groups cater, naturally, to their majority; if your needs are different, joining isn’t that easy.

Her solution? Start her own group. At first, it was just her, two sisters-in-law and a friend, meeting up and riding around the neighbourhood. But thanks to some shared messages on WhatsApp, word spread that there was a small group of Muslim women cycling.

“People just started turning up. It was very informal at the beginning, we’d just meet up

and head off exploring. But right from the beginning there was this massive demand.”

Sarah puts that down to the group’s Muslim identity. “Cycling feels exclusive. If you don’t see people like you doing it, it doesn’t feel like a realistic option.”

Cycle Sisters is now a hugely successful group, running two rides a week. “We regularly get up to 20 people on a ride,” adds Sarah. “And that’s without ever doing any real promotion, just WhatsApp and Facebook.”

The group is not just about riding, it’s also about creating opportunities for Muslim women through cycling. “We provide a pathway for riders, from learning to ride to becoming a ride leader.

We now have 20 female leaders.”

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positive, and she started leading a women’s social ride and a family ride once a month. Three years on and there’s 183 women on the WhatsApp group.

Joyriders is open to anyone, but has a focus on women from BAME backgrounds and a strong community of Muslim women participants. Carolyn says: “For me it’s about empowering women more broadly. Cycling is a tool — it can build confidence in so many different areas.”

Now, Carolyn and her team are developing Joyriders London as a social enterprise offering cycle training and courses designed to build on the confidence and assertiveness women have gained through cycling. Between the two groups, Carolyn estimates more than 500 people have participated over the last three years.

One thing both Carloyn and Sarah acknowledge is that Waltham Forest’s brilliant new cycling infrastructure and associated investment has created fertile ground for the groups to develop. But, as Sarah adds: “Infrastructure alone does not get people cycling. There’s other barriers to overcome before people have the chance to use it.”

So, why don’t Muslim women cycle?

“I ask pretty much every woman I come into contact with, if she’s not cycling, why not?” Carolyn estimates 90% of women she asks are interested in cycling but haven’t taken it up. This ‘latent demand’ is something which Sarah has also found with the growing numbers joining Cycle Sisters’ rides.

One of our first questions to Sarah was about cultural barriers, but she quickly sets us straight, “It’s really only a minority where negative cultural attitudes act as a barrier to women cycling. On the whole it’s more practical things.”

And when Carolyn refers to the “deep social and cultural barriers” that prevent Muslim women cycling, she’s actually referring to the barriers imposed by cycling culture and society in general, not by communities themselves. She likens it to the Social Model of Disability — the idea that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their own impairment or difference.

An online survey conducted

by Joyriders gives an insight into some of the barriers for women, particularly from BAME

communities. Respondents talk about lacking confidence, safety fears, the time restraints of family life, as well as the fundamental barriers of not being able to cycle and, crucially, not having access to a bike.

That’s worth repeating. We can deep dive into the cultural reasons for people from BAME communities not cycling, but as Carolyn says, “most first-time participants in our rides need to borrow a bike.”

That is not to say all barriers are purely practical. One respondent revealed how experience of racial and Islamophobic abuse on public transport discouraged her from cycling: “I felt being on a bicycle as a woman on my own would make me even more vulnerable.”

That feeling of vulnerability and being alone highlights another barrier: a lack of role models. As Carolyn says: “What if you never see someone who looks like you cycling? You just wouldn’t even consider it an option.”

Not seeing cyclists who you identify with reinforces a message that maybe cycling isn’t for you.

For Muslim women, part of that identity is Islamic dress and in Carolyn’s experience women

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thinking it’s incompatible with riding a bike is a common barrier.

“So the women who wear face veils on our rides, and the two instructors who wear full-length Islamic dress for cycling, make brilliant role models.”

Before Cycle Sisters and Joyriders, it was rare to see women wearing the hijab out cycling in Walthamstow. Now, the pair agree, you don’t ride for long without seeing a Muslim woman on a bike. And they’ve probably come up through their groups.

Addressing needs, not breaking barriers

n FOUNDED: October 2016 n WHERE: Waltham Forest n WHAT: a Muslim women’s cycle group running weekly guided rides for intermediate-level cyclists. n WINNER: ‘Best Community Cycling Initiative’ at Waltham Forest’s Love Your Borough Award, 2018 n MORE INFO: cyclinguk.org/group/ cycle-sisters

major factors in the success of both these groups.

Thanks to the London Brorough of Waltham Forest’s free bike hire scheme, for just a £30 deposit people can hire a bike without having to commit to the cost of buying one. The council also funds free cycle training with Cycle Confident for borough residents.

With so many women identifying confidence and lack of cycling skills as a barrier, signposting this training is a necessity.

It’s not just about the bike (or lack of) “You can’t underestimate how scared some women are: they can face issues around mental health, domestic violence, isolation, immigration and housing. And some women haven’t had much of a life outside the home, or haven’t ridden for a long time, or ever.

This is well outside their comfort zone and they can be terrified,” explains Carloyn.

Simply offering training wasn’t enough. “But knowing there’ll be people you feel comfortable with, female instructors or women from your community, that really makes a difference.”

She continues: “I recognised

that ride leaders needed to reflect the diversity of the group, so we developed a pathway for participants.” Developing leaders from the community creates more role models which encourages more women to join. It’s a positive feedback loop.

Her vision goes beyond training ride leaders. It’s also about empowerment. “A lot of women in my network have been stay-athome mums who are thinking, ‘what do I do next?’. I realised that through training they could be empowered economically.

Volunteering as a ride leader is a great way to build confidence, and becoming a professional instructor is a brilliant progression from that.”

The wider benefits are just as important for Sarah and Cycle Sisters : “It’s not just out on the road. The skills people develop with us builds their confidence in other areas of life too.”

Does a Muslim women’s group improve diversity?

Yes, simply by creating more Muslim women cyclists.

According to TfL’s most recent Analysis of Cycling Potential, women account for 27% of

Photo: Jenna Selby/LBWF, CycleSisters

Talking to Sarah and Carolyn, we realise how something easily taken for granted could be the difference between someone participating in a ride or not.

Part of their success has been addressing basic needs, like organising rides at times to suit mums with kids at school, or starting rides somewhere accessible for nervous beginners.

They also, naturally, cater to the specific needs of Muslim riders.

For Sarah that includes, “taking into account prayer times, or making sure if we do any rides during Ramadan, they’re quite short and flat… so no one faints!”

There’s also a lot of chat on the WhatsApp groups about what to wear and how to wear it, whether that’s Islamic dress or anything else. “Riders wear what they want.

You don’t need to compromise who you are or what you wear to ride a bike.”

Creating an accessible, nonjudgemental environment is only part of the story. Access to bikes and cycle training are also

CYCLE SISTERS

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London’s cycling trips and BAME groups account for just 15%. The report doesn’t give a figure for trips made by BAME women, but it’s likely less than the 4% the report suggests.

To tackle London’s cycling diversity problem, there is a clear need to get more women from BAME backgrounds riding independently. Exactly what Cycle Sisters and Joyriders are doing so successfully. Both groups are also inspiring spin-off projects which in turn have the potential to increase diversity in cycling.

In February, Seema Vawda of Cycle Sisters led the first Teen Biker ride, a group for 13 to 17-year-old girls. A mother of two girls herself, Seema hopes the group will encourage girls to continue cycling through their teenage years.

Another successful spin-off is the FECycle club at Walthamstow’s Fatimah Elizabeth Madrasah. They run family rides, parents’ rides and more thanks to cycling-mad headteacher (and now trained instructor) Hamid Mahmood.

Cycle Brothers is a new ride club for Muslim men, many of whom are the husbands left at home by Cycle Sisters and Joyriders members! Meanwhile, Sarah is running TfL-funded cycling projects with two local mosques, and that community endorsement makes a difference.

At one family funday there were women queuing in the hot sun to sign up for cycle lessons.

And it’s not restricted solely to the Muslim community.

Umamaheswari Govindan, a Joyriders member and ride leader, hopes to qualify as an instructor to train women from her own Tamil community. Uma believes that by following the Joyriders

model, she’ll be able to replicate its success. So it seems like Cycle Sisters and Joyriders are onto something major: a grassroots model that’s opening up cycling to communities where participation is historically low.

Ongoing funding and partnerships Among their other projects, Sarah and Carolyn are planning to create a toolkit to help people in other areas and communities set up their own similar groups.

Cycle Sisters now has funding to start a group in Redbridge.

Sarah says: “We’ll be able to see how the model translates to another borough, bearing in mind they don’t have the mini-Holland infrastructure or the same level of investment from the council.”

Funding and partnerships with supportive organisations have also played an important part in their successes. Carolyn emphasises how building those relationships is a key task for any new group.

“You need to find champions

JOYRIDERS LONDON n FOUNDED: January 2017 n WHAT: a cycle group for women with a Muslim-friendly feel, but open to all, running weekly beginner and intermediate rides, plus monthly family rides. n WINNER: ‘Club of the Year Award’ at London Sport Awards 2019 n MORE INFO: joyriderslondon.org in the community. Passionate, energetic advocates. And funding — ideally ongoing funding — to make these groups sustainable in the long term.”

In less than three years Sarah and Carolyn have achieved great things. Creating thriving groups, developing ride leaders and instructors and inspiring numerous spin-off projects. But perhaps their biggest achievement is the way they’ve demystified cycling for their community.

They’ve made it a realistic option for hundreds of women who, without them, wouldn’t now be regular cyclists.

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05/02/2020 21:01 07/05/2019 20:44 03/04/2019 10:44

Peace of mind

Stuart Kightley from Osbornes Law explains why liability insurance can provide peace of mind for every cyclist

W

E TAKE out insurance for different reasons: sometimes because we have to by law (in the case of motor vehicles), but also because we want to. The latter applies to our lives, health, pets, bikes, and almost anything else where we value the peace of mind of small regular premiums over the risk of financial ruin. And Britain writes more insurance than any other European country by some distance, so we may be thought to be comfortable with more insurance.

In this context, an otherwise unremarkable county court civil case caused quite a stir in the national media when it was reported that an uninsured cyclist was facing a personal liability of £100,000, for colliding with a pedestrian who walked out in front of him while looking at her mobile phone. The cyclist, a Mr Hazeldean, was said to have made a plea to

fellow cyclists to be sure to take out insurance so as to avoid a similar plight.

On closer inspection the case was indeed unremarkable: according to the claimant’s lawyer the evidence was that Mr Hazeldean accelerated towards a number of pedestrians on a crossing, so even though he had right of way and sounded his horn just before the collision he was partly at fault and the judge was right to apportion liability between the parties. He was ordered to pay £4,000 in damages, being 50% of the claim, plus costs. He had failed to make a counterclaim in the proceedings for his own injuries and losses and therefore had no damages claim to offset against this judgment.

In the event the costs order against him reportedly came out at £30,000 and, in a happy ending, a sum in excess of the claim and costs was crowdfunded and paid by well-wishers.

Expect the unexpected: even on the safest streets and crossings

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INSURANCE

But what this case highlights for cyclists is the financial jeopardy, for potentially large sums of money, if they cycle negligently and cause loss or damage to others on the roads.

Civil liability: is a faultbased system in the UK

Illustrations: Boing Graphics

Why we need liability insurance?

So do cyclists need to worry about insurance?

First, the issue needs a bit of context.

Liability insurance is not compulsory for cyclists (or e-cyclists) — it is only required for motorised vehicles (including e-scooters and other powered transporters).

Second, the risks are relatively low. In the UK we operate a fault-based system for civil liability, which is less than ideal — in many countries there is a legal presumption that in an accident with a cyclist (or pedestrian) the motor vehicle driver is at fault. But it means that a party is only liable to compensate another after an accident if they were at fault, and the overwhelming majority of accidents are caused by the driver, not the rider.

Where a cyclist is at fault in a collision with a motor vehicle the damage caused will usually be modest. And where the accident involves a pedestrian there may be a high value claim for injury or even death, but the risks are very small.

For example, only 0.7% of the 448 pedestrian fatalities in 2016 were caused by cyclists. That’s why calls some politicians and pundits make periodically that cyclists should have mandatory insurance are as misplaced as calls for mandatory helmets, number plates or to pay ‘road tax’.

Cyclists are such a low risk to others that the costs to administer any mandatory scheme would be far bigger than any benefits.

Third, a cyclist may already have insurance that covers their potential liability following an accident. Many policies, particularly household insurance, will cover the policy holder or a family member in this situation. As ever, the small print should be checked.

insurance will pick up the repair bill and any associated legal costs. If a cyclist runs a red light and knocks down a pedestrian causing injury, then the insurance will meet the damages claim.

The amount of such a claim can vary considerably from case to case because each person and each injury is different, and the law of damages is that the at-fault party has to compensate the injured party for the full extent of their losses. If a cyclist runs a red light and causes cuts and bruises to one pedestrian and a spinal cord injury to a second pedestrian, they will be liable for damages of perhaps £500 in one case and £5 million in the other. The legal costs associated with these claims will also be covered under the policy.

But we are looking through the wrong end of the telescope here. The fact is that cyclists very rarely cause accidents: they are invariably the victims of accidents caused by the negligence of motorised vehicle drivers, and sadly their injuries and losses can be severe and substantial. In these cases the cyclist does not need insurance — they just need a good lawyer, who will bring their case under a ‘No Win No Fee’ agreement that gives them access to justice and means they are not left out of pocket.

Ultimately the question of insurance for cycling is a personal risk-benefit decision. For the more risk averse (or accident prone) cyclist there are stand-alone policies on the market for less than £20 a year. Or with standard annual LCC membership only costing £49 (£25 for concessions), peace of mind can come quite cheap.

What does it cover?

It covers third party losses arising from a cyclist’s own negligence. So if a cyclist rides into the back of a car causing damage to the vehicle, the LONDON CYCLIST Spring 2020 41

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FLIGHT-FREE BIKE BREAKS If you’re planning a bike escape, here’s a few ideas from London Cyclist travel partners to the best sustainable cycling holidays in the UK and Europe

PHOTO: Dan Glasser

F

ROM THE HIGHLANDS and islands of Scotland to the coastal delights of Devon and Cornwall, the UK has endless possibilities for cycling trips of any type. Whether you’re a city cruising culture vulture, a serious Strava-plotting roadie or a mud-loving mountain biker, there’s so many places to explore on our shores that you needn’t look to far-flung destinations for your next holiday.

With a little planning (and early booking), all these places can be accessed by train and maybe the odd ferry. There’s really no need to fly and extend your carbon footprint.

Likewise, by using some of the excellent new travel apps, you can easily plot an escape to the Continent. An efficient train network, with (usually) well-considered cycle storage, means that these days the Alps, Scandinavia or sunny Spain are only a few hours away...

MOUNTAINS, LOCHS & GLENS redspokes’ Scottish mtb adventures and road cycling trips include long weekends and fortnight staycations, taking the high roads through picture postcard landscapes of red deer, wild salmon and soaring eagles.

Try the 9-day, off-road ‘Mountains, Lochs and Glens’ trip with spectacular views, challenging climbs and thrilling descents, or the 5-day Great Glen Way on glorious singletrack, towpaths and woodland trails.

Alternatively bask in glorious wilderness road biking across the Black Isle and Sutherland to the west coast on 10-day ‘Highland Highlights’. Or follow the 5-day ‘Highland Fling’ around lochs, on coastal roads and forested tracks. Both trips include Bealach na Bà, the UK’s highest surfaced road! n redspokes, 01463 417707 n redspokes.co.uk

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ADVERTORIAL TRAVEL in association with Cicerone Travel Guides

ISLE OF WIGHT

BY E-BIKE

Imagine a holiday that combines a love of good food, enjoyment of the natural world and a passion for cycling – but with a little support if you need it. Well, a Seaview Hotel E-cycling Gourmand short break could be just the ticket!

Not only will you discover the beauty of the Isle of Wight and exciting new gourmet destinations, but by using electric bikes you will be making a greener sightseeing choice. Priced from just £380 per couple, the package includes two-nights’ accommodation in a standard room, e-bike hire with versatile step-through bikes, dinner every night and self-guided GPS tours, including lunch at a gourmet rest stop on one day. n Seaview Hotel, 01983 612711 n seaviewhotel.co.uk

CYCLE TOURING AROUND SCOTLAND Pedal Nation is an independent cycle tour operator based close to the Peak District and offers fully supported cycling holidays in the UK, Europe and India.

In the UK it offers two very popular trips: the North Coast 500 in the Highlands of Scotland, and the classic LeJog (Land’s End to John o’Groats). You don’t need to be super fit to do either, but experience of multi-day trips of 60-70 miles is recommended. Group size is limited to 12 – a good number for the social experience, but not so many that you get lost in the crowd.

Pedal Nation is always looking to add new trips and is working on more tour options in the UK in the future.

Lastly, and importantly, the company is fully bonded with ABTOT so your money is protected. n Pedal Nation, 0114 352 0060 n pedalnation.co.uk LONDON CYCLIST Spring 2020 43

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ADVERTORIAL in association with Cicerone Travel Guides

LAND’S END TO JOHN O’GROATS

There is one big challenge that every eco-conscious cyclist should consider at some point – the classic Land’s End to John O’Groats (LeJog). Stuart Hall Cycling is once again running this trip over 10 days, from 22-31 May, and the team’s gone to extra lengths to ensure that the carbon footprint of the event is minimal. All cyclists are encouraged to transfer to the start and finish by train, and only one support vehicle is used to limit vehicle emissions. They can also transfer your bike from London to Penzance, then back from John O’Groats. n Stuart Hall, 07801 914929 n stuarthallcycling.co.uk/package/lejog

CICERONE TRAVEL GUIDES Cyclists, walkers, trekkers and mountaineers have trusted Cicerone for nearly 50 years to ensure they have a great time on their adventures. Their passionate team of authors, editors and designers produces inspirational and detailed guidebooks and e-books to the world’s best routes. The good news is that the catalogue of cycling guides is growing all the time and there are now more than three dozen to choose from, covering destinations in the UK and Europe. Visit the website below for more details.

Cicerone, 01539 562069 cicerone.co.uk

COAST TO COAST

The Way of the Roses is a wonderful 170-mile, coast-to-coast cycling route through some of the most spectacular scenery in Yorkshire and Lancashire. Beginning on Morecambe Bay, it passes over the northern edge of the Forest of Bowland before passing through the Yorkshire Dales and Yorkshire Wolds on its way to Bridlington on the east coast.

The ride can be completed in as few, or as many, days as needed, and Open Road Open Skies runs self-guided and supported tours for groups of all sizes with day options to suit all your needs. n Open Road Open Skies, 01524 424 117 n openroadopenskies.co.uk

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ESCAPE TO THE ALPS When you’re thinking about your next cycling adventure, the French Alps is a must-do destination. And from Rush HQ in Les Gets, there’s easy access to over 100 cols (climbs), many steeped in Tour de France history. The stunning scenery and quiet roads will make you want to return year after year, while the chalet provides comfortable B&B or half-board options.

What’s more, with new and improved train services from Paris, it’s never been easier to reach the high mountains by rail. n Rush Adventures, 0121 288 6131 n rushadventures.co.uk

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HOW TO

WRAP BAR TAPE

Adding new tape to your drop bars needn’t be a hassle says Jenni Gwiazdowski

Jenni Gwiazdowski Founder of London Bike Kitchen and book author

Handlebar tape is hugely personal and can completely change the perception (and feel) of a bike. However wrapping drop bars is a skill that requires practice and patience. Properly-fitted bar tape is a beautiful thing, but wrapping it seems to be a love-or-hate affair for many people, so we’ve got Jenni Gwiazdowski to explain her simple six-step process

1: GET IN POSITION To start, make sure that your brakes are fixed in the position that you want them. Tape any brake or gear housing that pops out the back of the lever to the front or back side of the bars using

electrical tape (some bars have an obvious groove).

Allow enough cable so that you can swivel the bars easily to the right and left without the housing tightening up against the frame.

3: (DO) SWEAT THE TECHNIQUE Bring the tape back up and sure the sticky bit is touching away from the bike, but angle the bar (not the tape) – this it about 30 degrees from the will ensure that you keep an bar end. Line up the edge even spacing and prevent of the sticky underside with slipping. Remember to pull the edge of the fitted tape consistently taut (but not as you go around, making too tight).

A 2: TIME TO TAPE Unroll one of the new tapes and peel off a couple of inches of the sticky backing paper. Place the edge of the tape at the end of the bars, perpendicular to the bar, with the roll of tape on the inside

of the bike. Line up the edge of the sticky bit with the edge of the handlebar, then press on up, over and away from the bicycle and then back down, completing the first circle around the bar.

4: FILL IN THE GAPS When you approach the lever, the easier way to cover this is to use the extra rectangular square or pads that probably came with the box of tape (A). If it didn’t, cut your own 7-8cm piece. Pull

B back the hoods of the brake lever, peel off the backing paper and wrap this extra section around the unsightly clamp holding the brake lever in place. Then continue to wrap around as before (B).

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5: THE PENULTIMATE WRAP Stop 4cm or so before the with the stem, holding the stem (often the point where diagonal alignment. You many bars have a bulge). should have a severe diagonal Pull the tape away from the cut on the tape. As you wrap bar, keeping the 30-degree this around the handlebar, diagonal going. Use scissors it will create a neat finishing to cut the tape parallel edge parallel with the stem.

A 6: TAPE, POP & PLUG Use electrical insulating tape to secure the end of the bar tape (A). Pop down the brake hoods, and don’t forget to pop in the bar-end plugs (B).

If they’re slightly too small, wrap masking tape round

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B the insertion side a couple of times and then press in.

This process is the ‘basic wrap’. But there’s loads of info about directional wrapping and the ‘figure of 8 method’ on the internet too.

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RIDE GUIDE

Join Tim Boden on a half-day leg of his newly devised circumnavigation of London by bike

Y

OU’D HAVE thought there must be an ‘official’ London orbital ride, right?

Well when he found out there wasn’t, author Tim Boden decided to create one — and he’s called it the Oyster Wheel. It’s a touring challenge that average cyclists can easily achieve, on a day-trip basis, and on a standard hybrid bike.

The Oyster Wheel is eight Oyster rail/tube stations in a loop, connected together by a mixture of national and regional routes, bridleways, Thames ferries, and minor roads to fill in the gaps.

Each day involves about 4-5 hours

THE

OYSTER WHEEL cycling (50-70km). You pass North Downs viewpoints, historic castles, palaces, houses and churches, and pretty villages with their share of cafes and pubs. It goes ‘off-road’ whenever possible, riding along disused railways, river valleys and canal towpaths, through historic forests and along ancient trackways, enjoying the best countryside that London’s hinterland has to offer, before finishing with the iconic ascent of Box Hill.

This ride concentrates on a halfday section, but to find out about the whole route, go to oysterwheel. wordpress.com.

FACT FILE START: Harold Wood Station (served from Liverpool Street station) FINISH: Ockendon Station (served from Fenchurch Street station) DISTANCE: 34km TIME: 2-3hr cycling time GRADIENTS: 130m height gain TERRAIN: mixture of tarmac and gravel paths suitable for hybrid/mtb/gravel bikes. Sections through Harold Wood and Mardyke Valley can be muddy.

SUITABLE FOR: adults and supervised older children. One section of busy road into Upminster, plus some cyclepaths alongside major roads.

Road crossings via traffic lights.

EAST LONDON/ESSEX THE OYSTER WHEEL

1

2 3

START: HAROLD HILL

INGREBOURNE VALLEY 11km

4 RAINHAM 16km

5 MARSHES 18km

6 MARDYKE 28km

FINISH: OCKENDON

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RIDE GUIDE

The ride largely uses National Cycle Network routes 136, 13 and 137 with a couple of road sections to link to the stations at either end.

UPMINSTER [2] On leaving Pages Wood, cross Hall Lane carefully, then follow NCN 136 signs on pavement cycleways and service roads to join the main road into Upminster. On the way, a tithe barn built in the mid-15th century now accommodates the Museum of Nostalgia, containing displays of agricultural and domestic machinery.

Upminster’s 13th-century church tower was used in the 1700s by its rector, William Derham, to produce the first accurate measure of the speed of sound with the help of paired pocket watches, a telescope and friends who would fire a distant gun at a precise moment.

Heading west out of town, a short detour can be made to the site where in 1803 James Nokes erected a windmill on his farm.

Recent conservation work has returned this attractive mill to working order and a visitor centre has been built.

late bronze-age (900 to 800 BC) artefacts was found nearby. In 2020, this collection will be on show at the Museum of London.

RAINHAM [4] On leaving the park, NCN 136 follows more pavement cycleways before merging into NCN 13 and heading into the centre of Rainham. For much of its history, Rainham has been an agricultural settlement, providing foodstuffs to London via the Thames.

As trade developed, merchants built their houses here, one of which, the Grade II listed Rainham Hall, has been recently restored by the National Trust and has been recognised as one of the finest and best-preserved examples in England of a medium-sized early Georgian merchant’s house. It also has a peaceful community garden and a café.

In 2018, the Havering hoard of 453

MARDYKE VALLEY [6] A short distance on local roads and pavement cycleways, signposted as NCN(13), heads through Purfleet to reach the northern end of the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. From here a short section of pavement alongside a minor road links up with NCN 137 and heads up the Mardyke Valley to the Davy Down Riverside Park. This pretty wooded trail soon passes under the Victorian railway viaduct with its 14 arches. Towards the end, Stifford Pumping Station can be glimpsed through the trees; this impressive building was built by the Essex and Suffolk Water Company in the 1920s to extract water from an aquifer 40m below ground. Nowadays, electric pumps provide over 1 million gallons of water a day to surrounding households.

On reaching Stifford bridge, the ride turns north, following cycleways to South Ockendon, from where local roads lead on to Ockendon station for trains back to Fenchurch Street.

RAINHAM MARSHES [5] Heading across the level crossing and overbridge at the station, NCN 13 heads out across the Marshes to the Thames Estuary.

This former military firing range provides 411 hectares of ancient low-lying grazing and ditches, and is famed for its water voles, wintering wildfowl, breeding waders and birds of prey. Towards the end can be found the RSPB visitor centre and café, which won prizes for sustainable design in 2006, before crossing the new bridge across the Mar Dyke into Purfleet.

©Crown copyright 2018 Ordnance Survey. Media 060/18

Photos: Tim Boden, Mark Brearley/LMU

THAMES CHASE FOREST [1] On leaving Harold Wood station, head north-east on local roads to pick up NCN 136 in the grounds of Harold Court, built in 1868 as a private home, but which since has been a hospital, sanatorium and college, and now flats.

The surrounding woods (and Pages Wood which follow) are part of the Thames Chase forest, a network of 47 sites which promote public recreation and the development of green space on the edge of east London and south Essex.

INGREBOURNE VALLEY [3] Staying on NCN 136 through the Ingrebourne Valley, a collection of country parks and SSSIs follow the river to Rainham and provide a mixture of habitats rich in wildlife.

The marshes are the largest area of freshwater marsh in Greater London with nationally rare species of hoverflies and damselflies, as well as 61 species of bird.

Further on, Hornchurch Country Park is the site of the famous Hornchurch airfield from which Spitfires flew in WW2 and biplanes in WW1, and of which evidence such as pillboxes can still be ridden past today.

It hosts a café, provided by the Essex Wildlife Trust.

CUT-OUT AND KEEP

Route Guide THE OYSTER WHEEL

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THE OYSTER WHEEL

S

CUT-OUT AND KEEP

1

2 3

F 4 5

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L ATEST | BIKES | GEAR | MEDIA

PRODUCTS

BIKES

ARCC & ENIGMA 54

LOCKS 56

SMART LIGHTS 58

MUDGUARDS 60

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BIKES

BIKE REVIEWS

MODEL: ARCC ABINGTON ELECTRIC (with Rohloff hub), from £3099 n arccbikes.com

A

RCC IS a Cambridgebased firm well known for its elegant e-bike conversion kits for Bromptons and Moultons. The Abington looks much like a conventional hybrid, but every cycle nut who saw it was awed by the detail: the near-indestructible Rohloff 14-speed hub, the Gates belt drive, the nifty magnetic controller and a meticulously CNC-machined battery mount with its plethora of USB sockets for charging your phone and lights. Even the steel frame is unique — handbuilt by Toby Gallagher with twin toptubes that gracefully curve around to create the seatstays.

We couldn’t restrain ourselves from riding every hill (on and

off road) between Hampstead and Highgate and conquered all with ease. With seven years of development behind it, ARCC’s e2 pod front hub motor delivers consistent, predictable and stable power. Like riding a regular bike but with Egan Bernal’s legs. There is a choice of manually selected (six levels) or auto power. Set on auto, our preference, you select (on the fly) a power level for flat ground and the software provides extra power on inclines as needed.

ARCCs choice of a standard Bosch power tool battery size means that replacements are far cheaper than most e-bikes. It even offers a spare battery carrier for the bottle cage which could extend your range to a whopping 100km.

FACTFILE n You can also buy the e2 pod fitted to a Brompton, Moulton or Airnimal. n Be wary of thieves. A battery lock is available for £25 extra. Removing the controller only slows down, rather than cuts e-power. n The 6Ah Bosch batteries cost £160 in tool/hardware shops. n While the iOs app is here already, Android is coming shortly.

VERDICT + A no-expenses spared e-bike with an efficient, well-tested motor and top-notch parts. + The cost is high but you can swap the 14-speed hub for an 8-speed, saving £1200. Spare batteries are relatively cheap. + Weight from 14.4-20kg.

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BIKES

MODEL: ENIGMA ENDEAVOUR, £2999 n enigmabikes.com

REVIEWS: Tom Bogdanowicz, Katy Rodda

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USSEX-BASED Enigma made its name building titanium road bikes, but has also made classy steel bikes for a few years now. The Endeavour, based on the existing Escape (Ti) model, is built from Columbus, Dedacciai and Reynolds tubing, with carbon forks.

For the first time we opted for a proper bike fit, an integral part of the Enigma experience; a fitting either considers standard frames with small adjustments (saddle position, stem, bars/bar height, cranks, etc), or forms the basis for a bespoke frame and is free if you’re buying a bike (a stand-alone fitting is £150). After the measuring and tweaking we hit the road and found the Endeavour perfectly embodied

what we love about premium steel — everything felt light, touchsensitive almost, meaning we could save our energy for the terrain ahead.The ‘signature’ shallow, flared handlebar drops are as easily reached as the hoods, giving two genuinely comfy options for long trips and greater control off-road.

The Endeavour is available as a 1x (single ring) chainset, but we chose a 46/30t double with 11-32t cassette for those days when we’re laden with bikepacking kit and rougher trails, but it’s also been an added blessing when feeling heavy-legged or riding into headwinds.

Perhaps it’s just us, but we enjoy speed as acceleration, not for record breaking, and the Endeavour has been hugely responsive, providing

the sort of effortless on-road ride of great touring bikes. We’re currently running 700c wheels, but it will take 650b wheels with wider 3543mm tyres, ideal for flying over gravel and probably our only likely upgrade/swap going forward.

FACTFILE

n Range of options for the specific build (and price) you want. n Optimised for 35-43mm (650b) tyres, but can just fit 45mm.

VERDICT + Sturdy, swift, and fun. + No sofa is this comfortable, but we’ve never had a custom-fitted sofa… + You get what you pay for.

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BICYCLE SECURITY

PHOTO: Kyle Fitzgerald

Our experts test six of the best new D-locks, incorporating Bluetooth tech, alarms and secondary accessory cables ABUS 770A SmartX

HIPLOK DX+ (with cable)

n £219 n Weight: 1.8kg n Size: 23x11cm

n £79.99 n Weight: 1.5kg n Size: 15x8.5cm

With its new SmartX design long-time security innovator Abus is now looking to set the standard for gold-rated keyless (Bluetooth) lock tech. As always we were slightly wary about over-reliance on electronics on an item that takes a regular pounding, but the SmartX didn’t let us down once. The app downloaded smoothly and, once registered to ourselves and a partner, allowed one party to lock a bike in the morning and the other to pick it up later; the Bluetooth operation was simple and intuitive. When locking, you can also switch on a 100db alarm. The lock itself is based on the hefty Granit-X which has dual locking points and this costly newbie is promoted to e-bike owners. The shackle has space inside for bike stand, frame and rear wheel, plus removed front wheel. If you are never without your phone, this is a great key-free solution.

For years couriers and commuters have been hanging D-locks off their belts and Hiplok has cleverly turned that into a design feature on its DX range — each model includes a durable plastic belt attachment. There’s no bracket for attaching to your frame, so if belt-hanging’s not your thing the DX+ also hangs/slots into the front or side pockets of many rucksacks. The significant difference from earlier DX locks is that the new edition is gold-rated for security with a dual locking, anti-twist shackle (dual locks can’t be broken by one cut, both sides have to be cut). The DX+ is the smallest lock tested here, so the extra cable is needed to secure the wheels.

It will, just, lock the frame to a street sign, or frame and front wheel to a standard bike stand; that tight fit deters ‘levering’ type thefts. You get three keys and replacements are available.

REVIEWS: Tom Bogdanowicz, Simon Still

extrauk.co.uk

hiplok.com

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REVIEWS

KRYPTONITE Evolution Mini-7 (with cable)

ONGUARD Pitbull DT 8005 (with cable)

n £59.99 n Weight: 1.6kg n Size: 18x8.5cm

n £53 n Weight: 1.6kg n Size: 23x11.5cm

A courier favourite, and with good reason: the Mini-7 is small, tough and affordable. The gold-rated D-lock is covered in durable plastic and can, at a push, be stuffed in the back pocket of your jeans. The company offers a free key replacement service (three keys provided) and anti-theft protection up to a £1500 limit. And unlike cheaper locks it has a dual locking system requiring two cuts to break. The compact size of the Mini-7 means it’s harder for thieves to crank open, but the space only allows you to attach wheel and frame to a bike rack – this is where the flexcable comes in. The cable’s not gold-rated but is perfect for securing wheels or helmet to your bike.

If looks alone could deter thieves, the Pitbull would be the one to choose; covered in bright yellow and black plastic this Sold Secure gold-rated lock looks mean and heavier than it actually is (though with bracket and cable it tips the scales at a whopping 1.9kg). The shackle’s relatively large internal space means that you can comfortably attach the back wheel and frame to standard street furniture and use the cable to protect the front wheel. In a high theft area you can protect frame and both wheels with the lock (reducing the prying space) and use the cable for the saddle. The locking mechanism also has four-sided protetction.

While the bracket may not be as tidy as some, it works fine and with five lazer-cut keys included the Pitbull offers great value.

OXFORD Alarm-D Midi

SQUIRE Inigma BL1

n £55 n Weight: 1.3kg n Size: 26x17.5cm

n £159 n Weight: 1.25kg n Size: 19x10cm

The Midi is the only Sold Secure silver-rated lock in this test (the rest are gold-rated); while it has a hardened 14mm steel shackle it does not have dual locking like the others. However we have heard of this lock surviving attack by bolt-croppers and only failing with sustained cutting with an angle grinder, so it’s far from a ‘lightweight’. Additional security is afforded by a 120db alarm which is triggered by attempted theft; you can follow instructions to leave it switched off (handy in a crowded office bike park). The lock is roomy enough to secure frame and wheels to a street sign, or more comfortably to a bike stand.

The package includes three keys and a new bracket design which uses the lock closure itself to prevent it coming off the bracket.

Another Bluetooth smartlock, though our experience with this stylish gold-rated lock was much more mixed. The software was easy to use and the process for sharing the lock with other people was intuitive; the app lets you see who has accessed it and when, which could be handy with an office pool bike. But even after updating firmware we couldn’t get it to work with Android phones and on iPhones it only worked consistently with the app’s ‘active mode’ on. Press the button on the lock to wake it up, open the app, hold the phone close to the lock and click ‘unlock’. But second and third users often had to search to ‘find’ the lock too. Which was a shame as overall finishing is very sleek. A smaller gripe was that the rubber bung protecting the USB charging port wasn’t attached; hard to remove and easy to lose.

freewheel.co.uk

PHOTO: Kyle Fitzgerald

oxfordproducts.com

moorelarge.co.uk

squirelocks.co.uk

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REVIEWS

SMART LIGHTS Movement sensors and app-based technology are making the humble bike light smarter than ever. We ride and rate three of the best

PHOTO: Lezyne

I REVIEWS: John K, Jon Collard

T’S ONLY a few years since the majority of bike lights still required multiple alkaline batteries or chunky add-on packs; now smaller integrated batteries and USB charging is the norm. With this advance, units became lighter, more compact and ever more versatile, and the industry obsession became cramming in as many function modes and lumens as possible. Thankfully manufacturers have moved on once more and now the technology battle is about ‘smart’, app-based connectivity and motion sensors — so let’s see how useful and friendly our testers found this latest ‘first generation’ tech...

CATEYE SYNC Core/Kinetic zyrofisher.co.uk

n £119 (set), £59 (rear) n Lumens: 500 (F), 50 (R) n 140g Billed as ‘one-touch tech’, you can turn on/off all SYNC lights just using the button on the front Core light. And by downloading the free ‘CateyeSYNC’ app (for iPhone or Android) you can monitor up to seven lights at once — so you can control your family’s or kid’s lights quickly, or there’s additional wearable lights that can be clipped onto bags or clothes. The app is simple and clear, perhaps the most useful feature being that it shows exactly how much charge is left on each light.

In appearance and use the Core is very similar to other Cateye lights we’ve used, with a run time of almost 2hr on full beam (for dark lanes only) and a week’s use on low mode around town. While the stacked design and transparent casing mean the Kinetic’s side visibility is excellent, seemingly brighter than its nominal 50-lumens, it’s been our go-to light this winter. Charging times averaged 5-6hr for the Core and 2hr for the Kinetic. Easy to attach and remove, all in it’s been a trouble-free set-up so far.

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LEZYNE KTV Pro Smart pair

upgradebikes.co.uk n £65 n Lumens: 200 (F), 75 (R) n 95g

PHOTO: Lezyne

Small, lightweight and versatile — that’s the popular KTVs in a nutshell. Only now you can download Lezyne’s ‘LED Ally’ app and choose to set each light to one of four modes and, even more usefully, set up your own front/rear combination. Want full blast on the front and pulse at the rear, then it’s two quick screen touches. Daytime flash front and rear? Again sorted in seconds. You even get to name your lights if that level of customisation is your thing.

The compact front light has a very bright 200-lumen daytime flash mode, otherwise we used the full beam mode at night which lasted just under 2hr; the casing cutout gives good side visibility too. The rear is another of our confirmed faves thanks to its brilliant wide angle illumination.

Both lights recharge in a similar 2hr time and have super waterproof USB ports.

One of the best mini sets just got better.

LIGHT & MOTION Vya Pro Commuter Combo freewheel.co.uk

n £99 n Lumens: 250 (F), 100 (R) n 60g This L&M combo offers a different take on ‘smart’ with the latest in sensor technology. Auto on/off sensors have proven reliable and way more consistent than rival designs we’ve tested previously; start riding and the light turns on straight away and will shut itself off when you stop, with a built-in delay to remain on at traffic lights. Rather neatly the front unit also senses ambient light and knows to pulse in the daytime and remain steady at night, adjusting automatically to the safest riding mode possible; the rear will always pulse for effective visibility.

Fitting is straight forward and for charging (2hr-ish) you just twist the light off the mount and pop it into your computer.

We haven’t actually had any issues, but the USB stick does look particulary fragile. The front light has a very bright focussed beam, lasting 2hr in high mode, with an amber side light for a little extra visibility. And a ‘bio-renewable’ outer is a bonus cherry on top.

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REVIEWS

BICYCLE MUDGUARDS With weather becoming more unpredictable, mudguards are becoming a year-round cycling accessory. Our testers assess four quick-to-fit sets...

FLINGER F35 Deluxe

RRP ProGuard

n £39.99 pair n Weight: 550g

n £25 (front), £24 (rear) n Weight: 120g (front), 65g (rear)

Full wraparound mudguards offer by far the best splash protection, but they’re often fiddly to fit and prone to annoying rattles. Certainly the Flingers take longer to attach than the others reviewed here, though it’s really only a five to 10-minute job per wheel and you only need a basic multi-tool. The big deal, however, are the chunkier 4mm stainless steel stays which hold the polycarbonate cover rigid, making these the stiffest 700c ‘guards we’ve ever used; these stays are also kinked to offer clearance for disc brakes and racks.

Both front and rear have mudflaps, the latter a Cateye reflector and there’s options for up to 40c tyres. Fantastic value, but it’s performance that really impresses.

Designed specifically to work on bikes with disc brakes (without traditional mounting bosses) and with wider tyres (mtbs or new-style ‘adventure’ bikes), the ProGuards attach simply using the supplied zip-ties. The front comes in two lengths – standard or ‘max protection’ – and there’s also a ‘bolt-on’ model (£36) which foregoes the zip-ties and screws directly into the back of suspension forks for an even cleaner look. The longer front guard really helped minimise spray and offered plenty of mud clearance, but it’s the rear (pictured) that’s the star as it sits much closer to the tyre than our long-time fave (Crud’s RaceGuard), resulting in cleaner clothes and less eyebrow raising at café stops.

REVIEWS: John K, Jon Collard

chickencyclekit.co.uk

rapidracerproducts.com

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RIDEGUARD PF1 & PF2 set

rideguard.co.uk n £17 set n Weight: 31g (front), 20g (rear) The Bristol-based company has expanded its range since we first featured them and now offers clip-on front and rear mudguards for mtbs, cyclocross, gravel and road bikes, plus scaled-down versions for kids’ bikes. And while there’s dozens of colours and fun designs to add style to your ride, the thing we’ve really loved is that every fender has been made from 100% recycled post-industrial plastic waste. But for 2020 the team has upped the ante and, as part of its OceanX initiative, will be making guards from shredded recycled fishing nets too – it’s genius. The front guards attach to forks, and the rears to saddle rails. with zip-ties. Simple wet weather solutions with a ‘green’ ethos.

QUICKGUARD

bicyclequickguard.co.uk n £35 each n Weight: 215g As its name suggests, the funky-looking Quickguard is all about winter-proofing your road bike fast and with minimal fuss. And it doesn’t get much quicker than removing your wheel’s skewer (or thru-axle), adding the dedicated nut and installing the Quickguard – thats it! Admittedly the first fitting takes a smidge longer as you have to tweak the number of washers needed to ensure there’s about 1cm of clearance with the tyre. As this guard is fitted at the axle it’s another that’s ideal for disc brakes, no brackets required.

The single-sided stay has withstood three months’ use so far without moving and we’ve had no issues with 28-32mm tyres.

They might look odd, but they’ve proven highly effective.

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ICONIC BIKES

1900 onwards

Classic ‘Dutch’ bike They may be a proud national symbol for our continental cousins says John Kitchiner, but their heritage derives from a lot closer to home

F

sprung (usually Brooks) leather saddle. This multi-million-selling Raleigh workshorse wasn’t in itself particularly innovative, it simply brought together ideas first seen and refined since late Victorian times. Its DNA is clearly visible in the likes of Starley’s Rover Safety (1888), Star’s Combination Roadster (1896), Humber’s Standard Special (1903), various army-issue bikes like BSA’s Mark IV General Service (1901) or Ordonnanzfahrrad’s Modell 05 (1905), and even the later Rudge-Whitworth Roadsters of the 1930s. All utilitarian bicycles, intended primarily for heavy use around town, but with the potential to go almost anywhere.

Omafiets translates as ‘grandmas’ bikes’ and typically they have step-through frames and swept-back bars which provide a very upright riding position. Originally singlespeed or threespeed, hub gears are often used nowadays, while roller/coaster brakes remain the most common front/rear set-up.

In a country of 17 million people, the Netherlands has more than 18 million bicycles – they’re part of the national identity. If we’re to really ‘Go Dutch’ in the UK, then it will be on modern (likely electric) versions of this iconic bike. ‘Britfiets’ anyone?

Illustration: David Sparshott

EW CITIES CAN be readily identified by a particular form of transport alone. Perhaps only London with its red double-deckers or New York with its yellow taxis. Maybe also, at a push, Venice or Bangkok with their gondolas and tuk-tuks respectively. But there’s only one place so synonymous with two-wheeled travel that its name now represents a generic type of utility bicycle: Amsterdam and its omafiets. Better known as ‘Dutch’ bikes.

What most people don’t realise, however, is that these sturdy, pragmatic, low maintenance bikes aren’t Dutch at all, rather modified copies of English designs. As design professor Timo de Rijk says (re-quoted in Carlton Reid’s Roads Were Not Built For Cars): “The familiar black city bike is not of Dutch origin: the basic Dutch fiets is nothing more than a perfected British ‘safety bike’.”

In fact the Dutch bike of today takes many of its cues from the Raleigh Superbe. Produced in 1950 and “built to last for a hundred years”, the Superbe comprised a bombproof allsteel frame, with fully enclosed chainguard, full wraparound mudguards, rear pannier rack, dynamo lighting system and

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