With Swytch, you can clamp a wheel, battery and sensor to any model and enjoy a power-assisted ride
I’ve been something of a sceptic about technological bike gizmos over the years, add-ons that too often seem to represent a solution in search of a problem, an attempt to reinvent something – the bicycle – that was not far short of perfect anyway.
I’m no luddite. New developments make cycling even more enjoyable and useful, not least near-puncture proof tyres and tiny, retina-searing lights. Plus, of course, there’s the amazing world of electric-assist bikes, or e-bikes.
There’s not space to fully get into why e-bikes can be a cycling gamechanger, but they are increasingly common, even in the UK, whirring along with a passenger, or cargo of kids and shopping.
If I have an issue with e-bikes, it’s that some can be slightly … overengineered. Once you clamp a battery and motor on to a bike, weight becomes a slightly moot point, and the motors on modern e-bikes are so powerful they can easily get riders up to the 15mph maximum-powered speed allowed.
Cyclists! Why do they ride in the middle of the road? | Regit
Why do cyclists ride in the middle of the road? Because they’re allowed to: a poster from the Department for Transport advises “Cyclists. Ride central on narrow roads.”
See those potholes? Not good for your suspension, are they? To cyclists, they’re not just inconvenient; they’re lethal. The cyclist up ahead might be in the middle of the road for a few seconds in order to avoid a big gash in the ground. Cyclists are expert pothole – spotters. Use this inside knowledge to prevent costly damage to your car’s suspension.
Traffic heavier than before pandemic | The Times
Traffic on British roads is exceeding pre-pandemic levels, fuelled by a reluctance to use public transport and a big rise in internet shopping.
Official data shows that weekday traffic has reached 104 per cent of that before the pandemic. At the weekend, relative traffic levels are even higher, and on June 6 reached 113 per cent of the pre-pandemic total.
Analysis by the Transport Technology Forum, a research group, found that the rise was driven by new working, commuting and shopping habits in the past 15 months, saying there was a “clear change to the make-up of the traffic”.
It said that vans and trucks account for a greater proportion of vehicle journeys than before the pandemic, reflecting the rise in the delivery of food,
“The constant low-level bullying is starting to take its toll” – road.cc readers open up on the stress of riding on Britain’s roads, with one giving it up for good | road.cc
Forum topic prompts readers to share their stories – including one who has just sold a bike he built himself as he switches to off-road riding
A forum topic posted on road.cc last week that posed the question, “Know of someone who’s packed in UK road cycling due to safety concerns?” has prompted readers to share their own stories, including one who this weekend just gone sold his final road bike – one he had built himself, to boot – and who says he will ride exclusively off-road from now on, and another who described the stress brought on by “constant low-level bullying.”
The topic was begun by road.cc reader Shades, who said he had heard about a member of his cycling circle who had taken early retirement but “was really frustrated with the Covid restrictions as he has a small holiday flat in Germany and can’t pursue his various plans.
“My comment was why hadn’t he gone out on some long rides etc; then I was told he’d stopped, because he was sick of UK roads (safety), and was just going to cycle when he’s out in Germany (which he always raves about),” Shades continued.
He said he was “initially bemused,” but after reflecting on some near misses he had experienced, “I kind of sympathised.”
“The roads are like the Wild West post-lockdown”
Former Green leader slams Western Link | Eastern Daily Press
The controversial £198m Norwich Western Link road would be a waste of taxpayers’ money, the former leader of the Green Party has said.
Norfolk County Council’s cabinet and full council agreed to submit the business case for the 3.9 mile road, which would connect the Northern Distributor Road to the A47, at meetings on Monday.
But Baroness Bennett, ex-leader of the national Green Party visited woodland near Ringland, which would make way for the road, on Friday.
She said: “The eye-watering costs associated with this project – some £50m per mile of road – not to mention the damage done to nature, mean that this project should be abandoned, and the funds redirected into projects that will benefit our planet and which future generations will be proud of.”
Old Bethnal Green Road: Filtered Permeability Goes Large – The Ranty Highwayman
Last summer, I had a mooch around the Tower Hamlets – Hackney border looking at some neighbourhood schemes. Well, this week I am back for another look at the Old Bethnal Road project which has been recently completed.
I’ve seen this scheme on Twitter a fair bit, but as ever, I like to make my own visits to see things in the flesh as well as to get a sense of how something “feels” which is very important as a designer.
The Old Bethnal Green Road scheme is part of a much wider “Liveable Streets” project developed by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At it’s simplest, the project is just a piece of modal filtering, but it fits within a wider jigsaw of pushing through traffic back onto main roads.
Designing streets that care for city cyclists – transportxtra
Light Protection Cycle Lanes design competition promotes safer cycling and beautiful streets
Talking Heads’ singer David Byrne, a keen cyclist, is among the judges of competition seeking to find more aesthetically pleasing ways of protecting cyclists and pedestrians on busy roads.
The competition has been launched by the Construction Industry Cycling Commission (CICC). The competition has been inspired by the London Festival of Architecture (LFA), whose theme for 2021 is “care”.
The light segregation of cyclists and pedestrians from car traffic become increasingly common in recent years, and accelerated by responses to COVID-19. London alone has installed some 100km of bike lanes in the capital as part of the Mayor’s Streetspace programme.
Birmingham pledges to make Low Traffic Neighbourhoods work for all – transportxtra
Birmingham City Council has made a commitment to work with residents and businesses to adapt and improve Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) schemes in Moseley and Kings Heath.
The council has also promised to implement a series of “quick fix” measures to improve traffic flow in congested locations including better signage and changes to traffic signal timings.
A dedicated project board will be created to oversee future phases, including the continued development of travel plans to encourage walking and cycling to school, as well as a full public consultation on new designs.
road.cc staff: London cargo bike mum who was victim of social media pile-on for cycling on pavement explains why she does it | road.cc
A London cargo bike user and cycling campaigner who was this week subjected to a social media pile-on after pictures of her riding on the pavement, with her daughter in the cargo box, were shared to a local Facebook group and other platforms, has given a detailed explanation of why she avoids riding on the road at the location in question.
In an opinion piece for road.cc Sylvia Gauthereau, who is a trustee of London Cycling Campaign and co-chairs its policy forum, outlines why she uses “that pavement and that crossing at that location consciously, deliberately, and regularly, for my own and my children’s safety,” and highlights that “The real issue here is the complete lack of safe cycling provision on the A5 and the lack of connectivity to the side streets.”
Ban sale of SUVs and charge drivers per mile to meet climate goals, ministers told | The Independent
Transport is the largest driver of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK
Wednesday 02 June 2021
Ministers must ban the sale of the most polluting vehicles such as SUVs immediately and bring in a charge on drivers for each mile they travel if Britain is to meet its climate goals, experts have warned.
Transport is the UK’s most polluting sector, accounting for around a third of the country’s CO2 emissions before the start of the pandemic.
Ministers hope to slash these emissions by encouraging a switch to electric vehicles, with a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 part of Boris Johnson’s 10-point climate plan.
But experts have warned that it is “delusional” to believe that emissions can be tackled through a switch to electric cars alone – and pointed to more drastic action and “hard choices” to end transport’s contribution to the climate crisis by 2050.