Royal Mail unveils golf-buggy style e-bikes to be used “on roads, cycle lanes and cycle paths”; “Why aren’t you on the motorway?” Cyclist’s perfect response to irate driver; Robin Gemperle wins Transcontinental + more on the live blog
Another day, another live blog, another chapter of a doping story that Callum is left processing…
Thu, Jul 30, 2026 10:18
30 July 2026, 09:52
E-buggy-bikes?
It’s a brave new world, and the post is moving into it…
Royal Mail has announced it is to start rolling out 20 ‘electric cargo cycles’ to improve their deliveries.
The cycles themselves… don’t really look like e-bikes, and that’s because they’re not, although they do have an EAPC-compliant top speed of 25kph (15.5 mph). They also have four wheels, with a cabin-structure built around the saddle, whilst a storage space behind for letters and parcels.
The Pedal 4 has a weight limit of 300kg, whilst a single battery only lasts up to 30km, though for all we know Royal Mail might have purchased additional batteries, which can be charged with a standard plug socket.
The cycles have been made by British tech start-up Minimal, who have hailed Royal Mail’s investment in the project… “Their decision to scale Pedal 4 throughout the UK is the clearest possible signal that right-sized electric vehicles will be central to how we move goods through cities more efficiently.”
Royal Mail are meanwhile keen to tout the cargo cycles’s environmental benefits: “Our new electric cargo cycles mark another important step towards reaching Net-Zero by 2040 and making our delivery network more efficient for the future. They will help reduce emissions and improve air quality in the communities we serve, while creating new opportunities for people to join Royal Mail without needing a driving licence.”
That last point might prove to be the most contentious… with Royal Mail saying their fleet will be able to “operate on roads with speed limits of up to 30mph, cycle lanes, cycle paths and greenways.”
Fingers crossed it doesn’t become ammunition when cars feel held up by the slower-moving car-shaped vehicle in the road, or when the Pedal 4 rider suddenly parks up to make some deliveries and ends up obstructing either a pavement or cycle lane in a manner more obstructive than a bicycle with panniers.
For now, unless you’re in London, Brighton or Cambridge you won’t be seeing one of these machines for a little while, but fingers crossed they can be used and respected on the road a bit more than ordinary cyclists are. I suspect they might end up being perceived like a motor vehicle on bike lanes and paths, and an e-bike on the roads.
30 July 2026, 12:06
A useful retort?
When heckled by a driver, there may be all manner of thoughts that cross your mind. Do you plead ignorance, play deaf, or retort? If it’s the latter, rudeness is never ideal but often comes across for merely having the nerve to express an opinion in the same manner as the driver.
It’s a tricky conundrum, but one Reddit user thinks they’ve come up with an excellent response…
“Whenever you come across one of these specimens who blurt out [“Why aren’t you using the cycle lane?] Rebuttal [sic] them by asking why they aren’t using a motorway. I’ve started using this as a default response to being asked why I’m not in the bike lane.
“It does really beg the question though… why aren’t you using the motorway? It’s almost as if using fragmented “infrastructure” doesn’t always take you to your destination. In this case motorways aren’t really fragmented so the argument of why people don’t use them are even more in our favour.
“To state the obvious I am aware people drive around children and also those who genuinely have to drive to get around. I am not having a go at drivers, just the ones that blurt out the bike lane nonsense.
“This morning, I had a driver tell me there was a bike lane and I should be in it. To which I asked him why he wasn’t using the motorway.. window rolled back up and off he went.”
Despite the merits of this specific encounter, other users were cautious of setting a precedent of engagement, warning them to “Let [the driver] drive on and forget about it,” a sentiment the original poster agreed with.
We’d be interested in opening this up though, if you have any good quips you’ve used in the past, or any instances that have reinforced for you the importance of ignoring a diatribe, let us know!
30 July 2026, 11:49
...Yes
“We need a public debate on the role of cycling in London”
Yep 👍
And the debate topic is:
“how do we rapidly accelerate the reallocation of road space to cycling in order to accommodate the soaring demand from Londoners for better cycling infrastructure”
— OpenChiswick (@OpenChiswickW4) July 29, 2026
30 July 2026, 11:00
Cyclists like watching cycling
We will… eventually… move on from the men’s Tour de France (not least since we’re now two days away from the women’s race getting underway) but this is quite a lovely video.
It’s also reassuring to know that pros actually like the sport they do…
View this post on Instagram
30 July 2026, 10:28
Robin Gemperle wins Transcontinental
Was it ever in doubt? Robin Gemperle started fast, built up a lead, then never gave his rivals a chance to catch up. He finished his odyssey this morning, travelling from the northern tip of Norway to the southern tip of Greece in 10 days, 8 hours and 55 minutes,
View this post on Instagram
The only man who closed the gap to the Swiss off-roader was Nicolas Chatelet but that appeared to be through sleeping less than going faster. Gemperle reached the finish at 5:55 local time this morning whilst Chatelet should make it to Kalamata in the next hour or so…
It’s difficult to exaggerate how far ahead they are over the rest of the field however, with the majority of competitors still in Poland, Czechia or Serbia. Meanwhile Albania is where we find the leading women, with Sarah Bosslet having opened up a small lead overnight on Camille Albissier, with Lea Hamberger close behind. I’m sure our friends at off-road will be all over this in the coming weeks…
30 July 2026, 10:20
The story UAE didn't want...
This is a really good piece from Ryan. We can’t stress enough there’s no evidence of doping within any UAE squad, but the association of both the men’s and women’s teams with individuals like Napolitano doesn’t help anyone (the team, fans’ trust or the athletes who are questioned on this)
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Callum is a News Writer for road.cc, having initially joined as a freelance journalist in September 2025. He is also a Road Book contributor and has written for the almanac since 2023. He has a master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from Cardiff University, where his dissertation focused on Geraint Thomas’ retirement and the boom and bust of the domestic racing calendar. He also has a degree in Scandinavian Studies & Politics which is somehow even more niche.
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Latest Comments
mdavidford 25 minutes ago
"One of the very few in the country" is an interesting claim, considering there appears to be a Cycling UK funded bike park not far up the road: https://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/lucywatherston/discovering-new-place-cycling-stoke-park-woods-bishopstoke Notable, though, that the council in question is one of the other funders of that park - raises a question as to whether they may have been somewhat prompted by not appreciating the 'competition' taking attention from their own project.
mdavidford 51 minutes ago
Aarghh! Unbalanced brackets!! ) Phew - that's better. I'm sure the UCI will be along shortly to punish those riders for not 'defending their own chances'.
danvanspam 1 hour ago
There is a legal framework for the driver of the hybrid vehicle turning right into a side road, suddenly, and without signal; https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/3 This is a textbook example of not paying attention or giving due care to other road users. West Yorkshire Police need their heads sorting.
es53xb0y 1 hour ago
No. I am new here. I literally have no idea what you are referring to about a pattern?
Rendel Harris 1 hour ago
@es53xb0y Is that leafyessexboy? There really does seem to be something of a pattern emerging here.
Tom_77 1 hour ago
Local news from Hampshire - Eastleigh Council is trying to shut down the local bike park. Apparently it doesn't have planning permission. I've cycled past it probably hundreds of times and I didn't even know it was there, so I don't think it's causing any problems.
wtjs 1 hour ago
I'm not opposed to any electric vehicle where the operator isn't wearing a face-covering and where the police aren't determinedly looking the other way when they pass.
jackcycles 2 hours ago
That royal mail "e-buggy bike" looks suspiciously like a milk float. I quite like the idea, quaint.
Rendel Harris 2 hours ago
@spen Come on now, did you not read Nigel's absolutely sane and completely not vexatious or stupid explanation? There could easily have been a six-year-old dwarf wearing an all black ninja outfit crouching in the passenger footwell ready to spring out at any time.
wtjs 2 hours ago
We have pretty much eliminated jackcycles and courteousdriver from consideration, but headingley is a little different as a representative of the Provisional Pro-Police wing, as opposed to the Official Anti-Cyclist agitators. He claims that almost all of his submissions 'result in positive action' but is unwilling, and probably unable, to provide a single submission with this verified 'positive action by the police'. His function is Police Black Ops to endorse the police's own distorted and manipulated statistics but is, appropriately for a police officer or associate, not very good and not at all credible. I urge you again, headingley, to Show Us the Goods! You should, at least, be able to come up with a worthless 'advice letter'!
6 thoughts on “Royal Mail unveils golf-buggy style e-bikes to be used “on roads, cycle lanes and cycle paths”; “Why aren’t you on the motorway?” Cyclist’s perfect response to irate driver; Robin Gemperle wins Transcontinental + more on the live blog”
Actually we already have a significant number of these vehicles (I don’t know if it’s a name in common usage, I refer to them myself as e-quads, short for electric quadricycles) in London, used by Amazon, DPD and a number of other delivery services and small businesses, and they don’t really cause a problem. Car drivers seem to regard them as one of their own and don’t hassle them (that I’ve seen, at least) and cyclists are usually tolerant of them. At 15 mph they don’t get in most cyclists’ way in cycle lanes and they are not really any wider than large bloke on a mountain bike so they are quite easy to overtake if you want to. They can be a bit frustrating on one-way narrow cycle lanes but it’s not often that there isn’t a chance to overtake fairly quickly and anyway, if one is exceeding 15 mph one should really be thinking about not using the cycle lanes and using the roads instead. I should think the drivers get fed up with the number of people saying “I wish I had one of them” when it’s raining, but in general they are a good solution to urban deliveries and definitely preferable to sharing the road with enormous limited visibility Transit vans.
That royal mail “e-buggy bike” looks suspiciously like a milk float. I quite like the idea, quaint.
I’m not opposed to any electric vehicle where the operator isn’t wearing a face-covering and where the police aren’t determinedly looking the other way when they pass.
Local news from Hampshire – Eastleigh Council is trying to shut down the local bike park. Apparently it doesn’t have planning permission.
I’ve cycled past it probably hundreds of times and I didn’t even know it was there, so I don’t think it’s causing any problems.
“One of the very few in the country” is an interesting claim, considering there appears to be a Cycling UK funded bike park not far up the road:
https://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/lucywatherston/discovering-new-place-cycling-stoke-park-woods-bishopstoke
Notable, though, that the council in question is one of the other funders of that park – raises a question as to whether they may have been somewhat prompted by not appreciating the ‘competition’ taking attention from their own project.
Aarghh! Unbalanced brackets!!
)
Phew – that’s better.
I’m sure the UCI will be along shortly to punish those riders for not ‘defending their own chances’.