It has been an eventful first week for the Cycle Hire Scheme. First we were told a few days before the launch that you had to pre-register. Then lots of people had problems registering and their cards being accepted. Upon launch a number of people ...
Cycling in London
MiCycle: the swiss army knife of bike shops
Eyeing MiCycle in Islington from the outside you imagine it looks like your typical bike shop. Shiny bikes on display and bike mechanics carefully reviving neglected bikes. But something more is happening here behind the scenes. You could say MiCycle ...
120 miles of sweat, pain and absolute fun
Last Saturday was the Dunwich Dynamo. A 200km ride through the night from London Fields to a beach near Dunwich. I’m not one for preparation but this time I stocked up on the advice. From previous blog posts such in the Guardian Bike Blog and forums ...
Will you be registering for the Cycle Hire Scheme?
Registration for the cycle hire scheme was today launched and if you want to be one of the first to use the scheme you need to register. Registration for the year costs £45 which is generally considered the best value for money. Otherwise you can ...
The lessons London can learn from the Velo’V cycle hire scheme
Last month residents of Lyon in France celebrated 5 years of their cycle hire scheme by cycling up to the mountain that overlooks the city. The hire bikes have become a part of every day life and are considered to be a big success. In London, on the ...
Who are the least courteous drivers in London?
I’m often weighing up in my head who are the least and most courteous drivers in London. My opinion often changes. A white van driver fails to stop for me as I’m about to walk across a pelican crossing and they quickly shoot up to the top. A HGV ...
What would you do at this junction?
Here is this weeks Comment Friday or Forum Friday as someone suggested on Twitter (I could tell you who but Twitter only seems to work once every few hours!). This time it’s a question from Mr J. Who wanted to know what you would do if faced by this ...
Cycling to Wimbledon
After years of cheering for Tim Henman from behind a TV screen and starting every Wimbledon with “I think he’s going to win it this year” I think it’s about time I got myself to the actual tournament that has been voted “Best British Sporting Event” ...
Cycle superhighways – have you tried them?
Once again continuing London Cyclists “comment Friday” tradition (better names on a post-card please!) I want to hear some thoughts on the cycle superhighways. Vincent was kind enough to send me some pictures of the Cycle Superhighways along Narrow ...
Getting naked for the London naked bike ride
The prospect of cycling 7 miles around central London completely naked has never exactly been in my “100 things to do before I die” list. Nor, for that matter, has it ever featured in my nightmares. So I went along to this year’s London Naked Bike ...
Barclays Cycle Hire
The long awaited London cycle hire scheme is making progress every day. Whether that be new bollards springing up in the ground where the cycle hire bikes will be placed or announcements such as the name of the scheme. In fact this is one of the ...
Join the London Cyclist Cycle Challenge Team
As I feel we have a nice little community on the go here on londoncyclist.co.uk I thought it would be a good idea for us to join the London Cycle Challenge. Therefore I’ve created Team London Cyclist for anyone to join: ...
Riding around London on the new cycle hire bike
Scrambling down the stairs, looking for a clean pair of jeans it dawned on me. I am going to be late to yet another meeting! TfL had contacted me last Friday to see if I wanted to test the new cycle hire scheme bike. I was happy to oblige but with a ...
Past 48 hours cycling in London
Dave from Cycle Training UK shows me how I should be cycling around London for better safety and efficiency. Full write up next week with some amazing tips I learned. Cycling on the way back I came across the horrendous Oxford Circus roadworks ...
10 London cycling events you shouldn’t miss out on
Skyride Part of central London is closed off as 65,000 cyclists decent on the capital. The effect is like an endless sea of cyclists wearing fluorescent jackets. The event is very well publicised and incredibly popular. It is free to attend. I wrote ...
Cycling to a night out.. what do you do?
In my group of friends, arriving at the pub on a bike is still seen as a novelty thing. Usually, when I sit down, I pull out my rear light from my back pocket and place it on the table. Much in the fashion I imagine a cowboy would draw his gun out of ...
Sneak peek inside the new Cycle Hire app
At the critical mass ride a couple of weeks ago I got a chance to speak with Alex who is developing the London Cycle Hire app. He told me how he built the application on his train commute into work just to use it as a bit of a case study for work. I ...
Bike repair straight to your door – meet London’s mobile bike repairmen (and women!)
What? You still go to a bike shop for repairs? How very 90’s of you. When I put up a post about how much you should pay for bike repair in a bike shop a number of the responses surprised me. Quite a few people are removing the bike shop part of the ...
Where is your nearest London cycle hire stand?
The spots on the map above show the locations of all the London Cycle Hire cycle stands. This is according to the data that has been released by TfL. The map has been put together by the guys behind the Cycle Hire App. When I first looked at the ...
Overtaking other cyclists: Is it rude?
When I overtake a fellow cyclist I often wonder what they are thinking. Are they thinking “What a jerk showing off?” or “I want to go that fast”. After averaging some pretty ludicrous distances while researching the London Cycle Routes eBook I have ...