The Bike Blog

According to an article from the Islington Tribune, 21 cyclists were been killed in accidents involving lorries in London between January 99 and May 2004, 85% of which were women.

Velorution suggest that this odd statistic is because women tend not to ride as aggressively as men, and therefore are more prone to being forced to the side of the road or hit by lorries. Whatever the reason, they are spot on with this;

But we are aware that as a society we cannot and should not expect everyone to reach quickly a high degree of confidence on the road. It is the duty of traffic authorities to protect vulnerable people from the violence and intimidation of bullies on wheels.

I’ve recently started writing for Treehugger, and my first post, on how pollution affects cyclists, is up now. Head on over and have a read.

Transport is something that Cambridge has got pretty right; cycles and punts. The city has one of the best universities in the world, and I think that this proves a direct correlation between intelligence and choosing to commute by bike.

I’ve spent a lot of time in Cambridge and Amsterdam, so moving to London was a bit of a shock. Cycling to work in London is a life threatening practice, unlike Cambridge and Amsterdam, where it’s so common and so relaxing.

I hope that Ken achieves in making London the bike capital of the world, and I hope he does it before I get run over by a bendy bus.

We posted recently about 25 year old Jane Gauntlett, who was knocked from her bike and mugged.

The BBC is reporting that one 17 year old was arrested yesterday, and that four other people are being questioned. Jane still remains in a critical condition.

Bikely is a website that lets you create and share cycling routes. I’ve created my morning route to work here.

It can be quite tricky traversing a car dominated city by bicycle, particularly when you need to travel an unknown route to a new destination.

But the chances are, someone has cycled that way before you. Bikely makes it easy for him or her to show you the best way.

A 25 year old female cyclist was attacked by two men on mopeds in Paddington Green, West London.

The attackers stole her bag and knocked her to the ground where she hit her head. The woman is yet to be identified by the police, but they are appealing for any witnesses to come forward.

Anyone with information can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

It seems that the idea that the wheels act like gyroscopes isn’t true, and to prove it a Cambridge University professor rode about on a three wheeled bike. Why didn’t I become a physics professor?

Here I am riding an ordinary bike, but with an extra wheel attached to the front axle. The tyre has been removed to give a little clearance from the road and some copper cable (earthing cable with green insulation) wound around the rim in its place to replace the moment of inertia due to the tyre.

The science can be found here, and some more chatter here.

I’ve had a hectic fortnight with a lot of traveling back and forth, so I hired a little car.

It was supposed to save me time and money and generally make my life easier. What it actually did was drive me mental and cost me a fortune.

This is why four wheels is two too many…

Firstly there is traffic. It seems that since the last time I drove, the number of cars on the road has doubled. Drivers have got considerably more idiotic as well, and it’s now apparently OK to pull out in front of people on the motorway, slow down and wobble from side to side.

I have spent longer in traffic jams than I would have on trains, and you can’t read or type whilst driving. I did manage to move some furniture, but what it cost me in petrol and parking tickets I could have just bought replacement stuff in London.

There’s also the issue of the constant surveillance that car drivers now have to endure. Speed cameras, traffic-light cameras, parking cameras and the Orwellian overlords of all this technology; over-zealous traffic wardens, blind to logic and reason.

I was given a £100 fine for parking with my wheel on a kerb. It wasn’t causing an obstruction, but it did help to fill the warden’s quota for the day.

There’s also the green aspect - my 900 miles contributed more carbon emissions than a whole lot of train journeys would have.

Possibly the only benefit was that I got a glimpse of city traffic from the other side of a car window.

Thank you to the man on a moped in Brixton (GP53 OLC), who smacked into my wing mirror, then stopped in front of me at a red light and desperately stared ahead, pretending that he hadn’t noticed.

The cycles and motorbikes that crowded me at every junction, swerving in front of me and narrowly missing my deposit-pending-paintwork showed me what a pain I must be when riding.

I’m not sympathetic though, anyone who chooses to drive rather than ride must be a masochist.

Bicycle couriers in London are being forced to take dangerous routes as they are not allowed to use certain cycle paths. London parks have laws forbidding access to commercial vehicles and despite the fact that these are bikes, on bike lanes, the police have been enforcing this law.

It seems like police time may be better spent elsewhere, but I imagine it’s quite a lot easier to catch a courier in broad daylight than it is to catch a proper criminal.

Lambeth Council are giving away 40 prize packs worth £50 each. That’s £2,000 worth of… whatever is in them.

All you need to do is tell us what you think Lambeth Council can do to motivate people to start cycling or cycle more.

Send your responses to cycling@lambeth.gov.uk or post to: Cycling Competition, 1st Floor Blue Star House, 234-244 Stockwell Road, Brixton, SW9 9SP.