Live blog: Do kids who take hire bikes just want to ride? Amazon Alexa bike; record breaking year for Boris Bikes + more
SUMMARY
Record breaking year for Boris Bikes
More than 10.5 million journeys were made using Santander Cycles in 2018, reports BikeBiz.
That’s an average of 29,500 hires each day – the highest daily average since the scheme began in 2010.
David Eddington, head of cycle hire at Transport for London, said: “Despite the Beast from the East, Londoners and visitors continued pedalling to help us reach our best year ever.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in the numbers of people choosing to cycle in London, with a 35 per cent increase since our cycle hire scheme was introduced, and hope that number will continue to rise.”
Bike chained to roof of Debenhams in Bournemouth
Do we need to add a line to our ultimate guide to locking up your bike?
Locking your bike up on top of a building surely adds another layer of security.
The Bournemouth Echo isn’t quite sure how long the one locked on top of Debenhams has actually been there.
Fashionably wide MTB bars need not apply
Cycling in Nepal. Two tips:
1. Check the brakes before cycling.
2. Don’t look down.pic.twitter.com/u6GGOvuIyW— James Melville (@JamesMelville) January 3, 2019
New roads should prioritise cyclists and pedestrians says NICE
Health watchdog recommends reallocating road space and charging motorists. Certain newspapers respond to this much as you’d expect they would. (Which is to say with frothing outrage.)
Gocycle's new GX e-bike folds in less than 10 seconds
Find out more over on eBikeTips
World's first Amazon Alexa-enabled bike is coming this summer
“Alexa, climb this hill for me!” Yep, you can tell the new Cybic Legend to switch lights on, play music and even order dinner… full article on eBikeTips.
Dashcam captures footage of cyclist with child on the back nipping between two HGVs
HGV driver Richard Hook was approaching a mini roundabout in Weybridge, Surrey when a cyclist overtook him.
The man had a child on the back of his bike, but this didn’t dissuade him from passing the lorry and sashaying past another that was turning off the roundabout heading in the opposite direction.
You can watch the video over at the Mirror.
Video: Peter Sagan – “Hey, life is too short to be too much serious”
This video starts with Peter Sagan’s massive “Why so serious?” tattoo – a phrase which represents his attitude to life.
Sagan certainly has an admirably easy-going approach to things. That said, ‘why so serious?’ is probably an easier philosophy to maintain when you ride a bicycle for a living.
Unprecedented interest since Geraint Thomas’s Tour de France success but Welsh cycling needs more investment
Welsh Cycling has reported a six per cent rise in membership from 2017 to 2018, but investment is needed to capitalise on this interest, according to its chief executive.
Bay Crits - Behind the scenes with Alex Dowsett
Katusha Alpecin pro riders Alex Dowsett, Nathan Hass and Marco Haller joined up with two local elite racers to compete in the Bay Crits. This series of Australian criterium races looks fast and hotly contested with a number of World Tour pros ditching the cold Northern hemisphere for the Aussie summer sun.
Looks like they did rather well too!
Do kids who take hire bikes just want to ride?
In the wake of this morning’s news about Santander Cycles’ record year, here’s an interesting piece by a criminal defence solicitor who regularly represents youths accused of stealing them.
He reckons that the thefts are symptomatic of a basic desire to ride from those who can’t afford to do so. He advocates handing out free bikes to address this.
London’s cycling commissioner hits back at critics of cycling strategy
Critics said there was no new infrastructure or funding and therefore little of consequence.
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Latest Comments
@Mat Brett ah, thanks Mat. In the picture it looks like it's made from wood, which I thought was unlikely...
@henryb It's a carbon bar from Darimo. I think it's the Nexum Drag. https://r2-bike.com/DARIMO-stem-handlebar-unit-Nexum-Drag-Carbon-Road-UD-matte-6-400-mm-6-Flare-100-mm
@markvr would 100kg of bricks hurt more or less than 100kg of person though? Of course me plus bike weighs more than me. And I often carry shopping. And I've moved house with the aid of a trailer. Would you suggest banning tandems? What's your criteria for safe use, or do you not think it exists?
@vw_mtbiker I get some people rave about 'the incredible supple riding experience of handmade open tubular tyres'. I would suggest these tyres will have an incredible supple ride that is 99.9% due to them being 50mm and 0.01% due to being open tubular. I used to run Open Corsa CX back in the day and they felt amazing at the time but ride them back to back with a modern 30mm tubeless GP5000 on a wide rim and you'll see what I mean. Also - check Bicycle Rolling Resistance.com - there is basically no performance advantage from open tubular style tyres (yeah the Corsa Speeds are the fastest, but that has much more to do with the uber thin rubber than the way they are made). They do look amazing though....
@mitsky The number of mobile phone offences doesn't surprise me - I see these multiple times a day when commuting - but the much greater number of people failing to wear seatbelts is frankly baffling.
In the second picture (above) of the VAGUS bike, what's the handlebar made of? It looks odd
As someone who is podiatrically girthy, I've always been forced to ride flats or toe clips. Even mtb shoes are hit and miss as to getting a good fit
Weird - what have they got against people from Enfield?
and I found that I had to tighten the laces more or less to the maximum to get my long and slim feet to feel secure - a nice 🖕 to e n 1 with wide feet
@kingleo Yep. Somehow a helmet prevented any serious head injury, in an impact strong enough to break an arm (a bone comparable in strength to the skull...) And people will quote this as proof, while ignoring that the person making the statement has relatively limited expertise. For useful data on effectiveness of helmets, see skiing - similar risk, similar level of protection (to the extent that some ski helmets are certified for cycling) and better data (usage tracked by lift gate photos; milage tracked by uplift from lift passes at lift gates; injuries tracked by piste patrol rescue against lift passes; recent massive changes in rates of helmet wearing). Oh; Huge reduction in all injuries; No impact on fatalities (and minimal impact on serious injuries); Basically for skiing, wearing a helmet is well worth it, because it means you don't lose half a day and pay a small fortune for the piste patrol to take you down to the clinic at the bottom to get your cuts bandaged. But the helmet isn't preventing death. Its preventing cuts that a decent first aider can treat. I suspect this is similar to why you should wear one mountain biking - the minor cuts and bruises become a LOT more serious when your in the middle of nowhere with access requiring specialist equipment or long hikes.