Tag: Cycling
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How to breathe new life into your bike
We all grow attached to our bikes, sharing some great cycling memories with our trusty steeds, but they can become the worse for wear. Some say the frame is the heart of the bike so without changing the frame, here are some suggestions of how to breathe new life into your bike. Handlebar tape This…
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Tell tale signs of cyclists off their bikes
Cyclists walk among us and here’s how to spot them hiding in plain sight. You may find out one of your friends, family or colleagues next to you right now is a secret cyclist! The helmet hair This one is no secret. The dreaded helmet hair is particularly noticeable if the helmet goes on wet…
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5 essential cycling documentaries
A Sunday in Hell (1976) Arguably the best film ever made about professional bike racing, A Sunday in Hell chronicles the 1976 Paris-Roubaix one day classic. The visual equivalent of Tim Krabbe’s The Rider (see our list of great cycling reads) this is about as close as most of us will ever get to riding…
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Fun, fantastic and forward-thinking cycling infrastructure
Cycling infrastructure: the first things that will probably come up in your mind are painted cycle lanes and curb segregations. There are always some cycling infrastructure projects in the works but here are some existing cycling infrastructures with the wow-factor that take cyclists over, under and through obstacles. Hovenring (Eindhoven, Netherlands) This suspended cycle path…
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Don’t just ride to work, ride for work
If the two favourite parts of your day are the cycle ride to the office, and the cycle ride home, perhaps it’s time to consider an alternative career. Here are a few different ways to make a living on two wheels. Professional racer OK, so this won’t be a viable option for most of us,…
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Cycle to work day: how to get involved
Every single day of the year is now National or International Day of something or other. 3 March is If Pets Had Thumbs Day. And 30 April is, I swear on my life, not a word of a lie, National Honesty Day. Squeezing into this busy schedule on 14 September 2016 is National Cycle to…
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Back to school: but how?
September sees about 8 million pupils returning to school, or going for the first time. Around 35% will be driven to and from primary school, a journey with an average distance of 3 miles (significantly less in London where catchment areas are much smaller). Just 2% of primary school pupils and 3% of secondary school…
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Will Olympic success have a trickle down effect?
British cycling enjoyed another golden fortnight as Team GB topped the cycling medal table at the Rio Olympics with 12 medals, six of them gold. The Brits have now exerted a period of sustained dominance, coming out on top in London 2012, and also four years earlier in Beijing. How does this high profile success…
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Changing lives with bicycles
We love cycling as it adds to our sense of freedom, independent mobility and sustainability. For people living in precarious circumstances, these same qualities can make bicycles a life-changing asset, by improving access to basic essentials. Critical Mass to Calais Last year Critical Mass organised an event which saw eighty cyclists ride seventy miles through…
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A guide to buying a second hand bike
This post will look at how to buy a second hand general utility bicycle, as opposed to a high performance road machine, or vintage collector’s item, which is another kettle of (more expensive) fish. Buying second hand can offer the chance to get the best possible bike for your budget, and for London commuters who…