Five free municipal bike pumps are to be installed across Bristol to make cycling in the city less stressful.
The locations for the pumps, installed by Better by Bike, a joint project between Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council, will be announced later this month.
They will be the responsibility of local businesses to maintain, and will act as advertising for the pursuit as well as handy top-up stations.
A spokesman told the Bristol Evening Post that the pumps should cement Bristol’s reputation as a leading city across the country for cycling provision.
The pumps have been paid for by the West of England Local Sustainable Transport Fund.
The pumps in Bristol are similar to two that were installed in the City of London in 2011, located in car parks in Queen Victoria Street and London Wall.
They’re designed by Cycle Hoop, manufacturer of innovative locking systems for urban spaces, and are engineered to neatly integrate into a row of street bollards.
Housed inside a robust stainless steel body with a solid steel pump handle and an armoured air hose, the hand powered pump is designed to withstand constant public use and vandalism.
Also this year, the scheme has been extended to Clapham, Tower Hamlets, Paddington, Brixton and Waterloo, along with Sheffield and Lincolnshire.
To see if there is a pump on your commute or regular ride, click here.
After an unpromising start, having to be bribed by her parents to learn to ride without stabilisers, Sarah became rather keener on cycling in her university years, and was eventually persuaded to upgrade to proper road cycling by the prospect of a shiny red Italian bike, which she promptly destroyed by trapping a pair of knickers in the rear derailleur. Sarah writes about about cycling every weekend on road.cc.