Quick heads up to Romster Bike Wear who sent me this awesome cogs t-shirt! They’ve even set up a 10% discount code for any London Cyclist readers who likes one of their designs. Isn’t that nice? Use the code LONDON10 at checkout.

Thank you to our Sponsors!

Access Legal who provide legal assistance for cyclists in accidents – make a note of them! And Going Going Bike who are building an awesome bike auction site – make sure you sell your stuff on there!

This Month on London Cyclist (17 awesome posts!)

We launched the London Bike Shop app which got featured by Apple for about 3 weeks (might still be up there!). Around 600 of you have already downloaded. If not grab it from Apple App Store (It’s only £1.19 and contains all of London’s bike shops with opening times).

Other than that we also did an awesome giveaway of some Proviz gear and Breezeblockers for anyone on the newsletter.

In the comment Friday’s we checked out how everyone’s winter cycling was coming along and asked whether HGV’s should be banned from the city centre. There was also some interesting reviews of a great looking eBike and the Knog bike lights. In cycling gear we took a look at waterproof cycling trousers.

This Month on other cycling blogs

• Safer riding in the cold tips by Road Cycling UK
• Dear Mr Angry Taxi Driver – a letter many of us no doubt want to write!
• Mark asks “How can we encourage cargo bike culture?”

We joined Facebook!

Shock-shock-horror! We’re now also on Facebook where you can “Like us”.

Skyrides, tube strikes, winter cycling gear, puncture proof tyres and ArtCrank. There is certainly never a dull month for cycling in London! It seems for the month ahead everyone is thinking about winter cycling. That includes Boris Bikers who’ve been emailing me asking me what gear I would recommend. If you’re planning to keep going this winter then I’m with you all the way with plenty of good, motivational advice! 

October will also be an exciting one for me as I’ll be working to bring you guys two more useful mobile applications. The first of which is the long promised Android version of the Bike Doctor app. I’ll also be adding 6 more repairs to Bike Doctor. This will bring the grand total from 24 to an impressive 30. The second application remains unannounced so you’ll have to keep your eye on the blog to see what I have in-store for you!

Fellow London Cyclists

Here’s a roundup of what’s been happening on fellow cycling blogs:

• A bike thief tells you how not to get your bike stolen – astronomically popular article by the Guardian bike blog. (500 clicks from my Twitter alone!)
• Cycling gear – why the cost difference? – The Bike Noob takes a shot at answering a question we all often have in our minds
• Lidl give away cycling gloves for £3.99 and a bike stand for £29.99 – well spotted bargains by Road.cc
• Bike shops? It’s all about the customer service – Mark sharing an excellent video about Push Cycles
• Advice to new commuter cyclists from a new cyclist – Random London Cyclist shares his recommendations.

Coming up next month on London Cyclist..

• I’ll be covering the London Cycle Show with all the latest tech and so forth for the year ahead.
• We’ll be launching two new mobile phone applications! Both of which I’m sure a lot of people are going to find very useful.
• “Forum Friday’s” including: Your bike maintenance – do you do it yourself or take it to a bike shop?
• Helmet cams roundup – as a lot of people have been asking about this..
• Tips to help you keep cycling this winter.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the London Cyclist newsletter to get weekly roundups.

A big thank you goes out to everyone who has joined and I hope you will enjoy the content I’ll be sending!

But enough about London Cyclist and blowing my own trumpet. Here are what some of my lovely fellow cycling bloggers have been up to..

Fellow London Cyclists

• Mark – has been as excited as me about the Cycle Hire Scheme launch and has been cautious about the beginning of the superhighways. He was also rightly annoyed and investigated the person who didn’t want a cycle hire stand outside their house.
• The Guardian – had to fight to find the answer to is driving into bike zones illegal? They also compared the London to the Paris cycle hire scheme and were heavy on their coverage of the cycle hire scheme launch.
• Caz – I met Caz for the first time (finally!) at the Going Going Bike launch. Caz also highly recommended adding Cyclelab in Shoreditch to your little black book.
• Amy from Cyclodelic – has as always been getting tons of press coverage of her excellent range of cycling gear and also put on the I Bike Cambridge event.
• Rob – has been reporting on the cycle hire scheme and also had a full report from the Dunwich Dynamo.
• Grant – also tried out the Dunwich Dynamo and had some funny conversations about it with passers by. He was also quite happy admiring some fixed gear tricks that apparently were very similar to how he cycles home.

London goes Cycle Hire Mad

I don’t know if you’ve heard but the cycle hire scheme launched yesterday. Yeah, no, really. Here’s some highlights of the launch day coverage:

• 6 Silly ways to use the London Cycle Hire Scheme. Tom Hall
• There has been some protesting surrounding the Barclays sponsorship of the scheme with stickers placed on some of the bikes.
• Londonist also takes a look at the different cycle hire apps to assess which is the best one of the ones available so far.
• TimeOut has created a guide to the scheme.
• Barclays have defended the marketing of the scheme
• BoJo bikes, VeLondon and Boris Bikes are three of the popular names emerging for the scheme

Coming up next month..

London’s first bike valeting restaurant, Ixon IQ bike light review, The swiss army knife of bike shops – MiCycle shop review, 5 things you can fined for, Android apps for cyclists, 37 quick cycling tips and the campaign to saves the posties wages on. I also want to publish one more bit of content from my eBook as a little preview to those that have not yet downloaded. Also if all goes to plan another big announcement from London Cyclist (feel free to spread wild rumours)..

Picture of the Midsummer Night Ride from London Cyclist reader Anna-Maria. Source

Clothing Competition Winners

After the guys from @hellojoe_ltd agreed to giveaway 4 t-shirts to London Cyclist readers we put together a twitter competition. Little did I know 150 people would enter!

I’m happy to announce that through assigning everyone a number between 1 and 150 in order of which you entered and then using the Excel random number calculator the numbers are:

I’ll shortly be messaging the winners. If they don’t respond then I will contact the next set of winners. Thanks to all who entered and I’ll keep competitions like this coming so you can win plenty more great things.

Special thanks to Hello Joe for offering this to London Cyclist readers.

This month in London

• Would you like a fine or a safety course for jumping that red light? – Police are stepping up their operations against those who break the law on London’s roads.
• Bike Week came and went
• London Cyclist got naked for the naked bike ride
• Bike thieves are under threat as a new police force hits the streets

Last 24 hours when you can get the new Bike Doctor iPhone App for 60% off!

The new iPhone app we released that shows you how to look after your bike with 20 easy to follow step-by-step repairs is still 60% off if you get in on the action today!

Checkout: http://bikedoctorapp.com/

To the 114 people who downloaded on the first day: Thank you so much! I was truly overwhelmed by that figure. If you have already downloaded the App then please do leave a review in the App Store.

Cycle Challenge Ends: 19542.61 miles covered!

Thanks to everyone who helped out with the London Cycle Challenge. We covered a total of 19542.61 miles between us. That is the equivalent of travelling 78% of the circumference of the world!

Unfortunately we came 3rd in our category (out of 3!) but none the less it was interesting to keep track of our mileage.

Other cycling blogs

• http://iridebecause.tumblr.com/ – Head to this Tumblr blog to enter your story of why you cycle.
• London Bike Green-ways funding slashed http://bit.ly/99oKK8 (BikeRadar)
• Police to use more ‘bait’ bikes to catch thieves but some people are against the idea http://bit.ly/aDk76Z (Guardian)
• It cost the equivalent of a metre of highway and led to an estimated increase in cycling of 70% http://bit.ly/dAwTYu (Guardian)
• London Cyclist has been listed as the number 1 UK cycling blog. Thanks guys! http://bit.ly/apHtDs

What you missed out on in the Newsletter

If you had already subscribed to the newsletter you would be hearing about how you can leave your bike anywhere without the fear of it been stolen. You can still receive this as well as more extra exclusive content by subscribing today:

Two dates to put in your calendar

• Friday 30th July – Barclays Cycle Hire scheme launches
• Monday 19th July – First two Barclays Cycle Superhighways launch

• The Cycle Hire Scheme is henceforth known as “Barclays Cycle Hire”. At least the investment may help the scheme expand – something I feel is crucial to its success (Or at least crucial to me using it as I live just outside the zone of coverage!)
• The London Cycle Challenge was opened for registration and London Cyclist joined up. During June our aim is to cycle as many miles as possible. Join the team!
• Smoke inhalation is something we are now being told to worry about. New research suggests cyclists breathe in far more fumes than pedestrians and drivers causing health problems such as heart disease in the longer term.

Grabbing a bargain

Evans Cycles currently have their big sale on the go and the prices are pretty good on certain items. For example I’m currently investing in some new panniers and they have the Altura Arran 16 for just 24.99, which I couldn’t find cheaper anywhere else. Take a look and see if there is anything you fancy:

http://www.evanscycles.com/

Cycling Villains..

Jeremy Clarkson is one of this months cycling villains as tube users may have noticed with a new advert which promotes his book as “Develop your dislike for cyclists, vegetarians and Canada”. Jonathan brought this to my attention and encouraged people to complain to ASA about the advert.

As important as Jeremy Clarkson may think he is, he is not important as this months next cycling villain. It is none other than the new Transport minister who was quoted in the Evening Standard as being too scared to cycle in London. He also joked that cyclists should have mirrors fitted to their bikes.

Best quote I received in my inbox

“The best advice I can give is to treat everyone (apart from yourself) as a homicidal maniac with a very low IQ who will try to kill you at every opportunity. Once this is firmly embedded in your brain you will ride accordingly.” Johnny

Charity events and links

Of course as we head towards the summer the number of charity cycling events explodes and so do the cycling projects. Here is a selection:

• A campaign to have a tube style London Cycle Map
• Afasic coastal challenge
• Let’s go ride a bike launches the lgrab summer games
• Smithfield Nocturne Folding Bike Race
• ITV Fixers is looking for people to put together a video on an issue about cycling they want to see fixed
• Europe by Tandem
• London Bicycle Music Festival

What you missed out on in the newsletter

I’m happy to say the London Cyclist newsletter has reached the milestone of 600 subscribers! If you join you get tips such as how to save money with all cycling purchases and advice such as what 3 close calls taught me about cycling in London. You also get a chance to enter exclusive competitions such as the recent Evans Cycles free repair giveaway which was worth £120. It is the best way to keep in touch with London Cyclist and you can join by using the form in the top right.

Next month in one sentence..

I’m testing out the cycle superhighways with TfL, I’m being interviewed by Sky News about the Cycle Hire Scheme and bike week launches. All of which will of course be covered here on London Cyclist!

April on London Cyclist

• TfL foolishly allowed me to test out the new London Cycle Hire Bike. I took a look at how its design makes it one of the most user friendly bikes around.
• Having changed my cycling technique completely after a 2 hour course from Cycle Training UK I decide it is only fair to pass on the tips to you.
• I also mentioned 10 London Cycling Events you shouldn’t be missing out on
• We talked about the logistics of cycling to a night out
• The Top 50 cycling blogs list was updated after over a year of neglect!
• The DHB Amberley waterproof cycling jacket was thoroughly reviewed
• From cycle training to maintenance training – it’s all covered on London Cyclist

Stuff I’ve been reading..

• Mark from iBikeLondon did an amazing roundup of the 2010 Tweed Run. Mark also discussed arguments for and against red light jumping cyclists.
• The 3FeetPlease campaign has been resurrected in the UK
• A visitor to London passes his opinion on cycling in London
• Royal Mail is going ahead with removing bike powered deliveries
• Arleigh, as always, is doing a great job covering cycling for women and talks about female cyclists wearing mens cycling shorts
• A lorry driver is sacked after a member of the LCC reports him to police using a new website
• Box Bikes are great for carrying kids, shopping and anything else you can think of. iBikeTo have this review.
• Utility Cycling roundup the different ways you can carry stuff on a bike.
• Dancer a la Mode talks about how a 1980s Swinn and a bicycle thief changed her life in a very entertaining post

Next month on London Cyclist

It’s holiday time for this London Cyclist as I’m travelling to Argentina for a couple of weeks. I’ll be returning on May 17th. However, I’ve prepared 5 posts for you guys that will automatically be added to the blog. I’ll be covering ways to get around the no shower at work problem, a solution to London’s HGV issues and a couple more interesting posts. If I get some time and internet access while I’m out there I’ll let you know how I’m getting on – needless to say lots of cycling and wine drinking is planned!

Muchas Gracias!

From London Cyclist

• London Cycle Routes – eBook was successfully launched this month and so far there have been around 114 sales and a lot of happy customers
• New London Cyclist Logo – we also launched the new logo and new webdesign
• Overtaking other cyclists. Is it rude? – with 40 comments and counting this popular post poses a moral conundrum
• 3 of the most circular cycle routes in London – sticking to the cycling routes theme, here are 3 routes for training
• Cycling in Rio De Janeiro – a write up on my experiences in Brazil
• Get 10% off at the new Evans Store – if you are in need of some new bits then take advantage of the new Evans Store and the discount that is on offer during April

Other cycling blogs

• Danny McAskill in Chamonix – Cool video on Cyclelicious of Danny McAskill doing his thing
• What to do incase of an accident – this is a fantastic post on LFGSS that has been around for a while and useful to refer to in an accident
• Murphy’s Law of Cycling – a funny post on Cycling Tips about the unluckiness you will experience with cycling
• Thank you London Cyclists – a write-up by Mark on the critical mass ride
• The art of painting a bike lane – RealCycling encounters a bike being painted on the cycle path
• What pleases a Dutch girl? – on Velorution. I like this clever little ad. We should see more of these for cycling.

April on London Cyclist

Next month I want to revisit the most popular post on London Cyclist ever.. the top 50 cycling blogs list and create a new list. This will take me a long time but people seem to appreciate it so I think it is about time for an update!

I also plan on writing a post on cycle training as so many people have emailed me about this. Another post I will be putting together is on the various mobile bike repair companies in London that a lot of people have been leaving comments about.

I’ll also have an exclusive competition for newsletter subscribers only so if you are not yet subscribed then do so now!

Image via Bill M Flickr

This month saw the launch of the London Cyclist Blog Newsletter. Some described the event as more emotional than the last ever episode of Friends. Okay, nobody described it as that but there was definitely some emotion there.

There was also the launch of the Bicycle Maintenance Made Ridiculously Easy eBook. The eBook signalled the end of confusion about how to maintain a bike. A couple of people even asked me how much it costs to buy. It’s completely free and done out of nothing but pure hatred for complicated bike maintenance! To date it has been downloaded 675 times.

Of course, these two big launches didn’t impact the regular quality content that people expect from London Cyclist. In the popular buying guides series we took a look at bike locks that will keep your bike safe. We also expressed anger at the grouping of cycling on the pavement with guns and burglary. When we were not venting anger at leaflets from the police we were enjoying a nice bit of cycling in Richmond Park on a route which is courtesy of the Cycling Britain book. We also talked about cycling technique and shared some tips for dreaded uphill cycling.

The one post that got a lot of coverage on other cycling media and was possibly one of the most fun ones to do ever was my race against the London Underground. High on the fun factor was also all the polls we had this week. But it’s not only about London Cyclist it’s also about all the other wonderful cycling blogs out there…

Other wonderful cycling blogs

• Has the economy affected your bike commuting? asks BikeCommuters
• Useful repair tips on Commutebybike
• How to turn your cycling commute into a workout by the Evening Standard
• Copenhagen builds hand rails to allow cyclists to rest and push off at traffic lights and also to make us even more jealous of cycling over there
• We may soon be able to turn at red lights as trial gets the go ahead
• Government says no. To three feet to pass petition. They said cars should already be giving you plenty of space aren’t they? Obviously the person who wrote the response is a non-cyclist.
• Pedestrians footsteps are being converted to energy. If only we could hook up the power all bikes create to the power grid then the energy problem would be solved for at least 10 households.
• Keep the posties on their Pashleys says Mark
• Cyclist accidents mapped reminding us to keep our wits about us on the busy roads

Offers, offers and some more offers

Evans cycles are running their end of season sale. The sexy Fuji CCR-1 ’09 is now £1599.99 down from £2299.99. Saving a lucky someone £700. Click here to see more of the offers.

High on my to buy list are these power straps. Great for making full use of your pedalling motion and easy to slip in and out of with any pair of shoes. Click here to check them out.

]]> http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/site/best-of-the-web-january/feed/ 3 http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/site/best-of-the-web-december/ http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/site/best-of-the-web-december/#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:50:00 +0000 Andreas http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/site/best-of-the-web-december/

Pic by: Debarati06

Best of the web is a London Cyclist monthly series that highlights the best cycling content from around the web. We go out there and find all of the best bits so you don’t have to!

Well another month and year comes to a close and I hope everyone has thoroughly enjoyed their Christmas.

This month it has been snowing in London and we have been talking about winter cycling gloves to keep our fingers from falling off. There has also been big debate about what to do when approaching a traffic light and what we cyclists think about the proposed £100 fines for anti-social cycling. Review wise I’ve praised Al Humphreys book, the Kryptonite New York 3000 and the Bicycle Travellers Blueprint for those of us on the hunt for some good bike tours in 2010.

Let’s also take a look at what has been happening on other cycling blogs..

Cycling blogs

• Guardian asks: do cyclists need speed restricting?
• Realcycling takes a look at London’s new contra-flow lanes
• Islington is introducing 20mph borough-wide speed limit
• Evans cycles have done a good comparison of their rechargeable high-end lights if anyone is in the market for one
• 100 Mile Bike Ride has a few tips to keep you safe as a bike messenger
• A bicycle Christmas tree has appeared in se1
• The number of drivers illegally using their mobile phone has doubled in the past two years
• An adventure called bicycling shows you how to thoroughly clean your bike

Hitting the sales

January of course can only mean two things. The gym will be packed with people that won’t be keeping their new years resolutions for long and it’s sale time! I’ve had a bit of a look around the Wiggle sale and picked out these two bits you may be interested in if your wallet has not been completely emptied already!

The dhb Wickham eVENT Waterproof Cycling Jacket is the more upmarket version of the DHB Amberley I have previously recommended. It comes with 8/10 from What Mountain Bike and 9/10 from RoadCC. It currently has 25% off so you save £30. At £89.99 it offers very good value.

Knog Baksak Large Messenger Bag has 25% off so it is now only £31.49. It is great for carting things around town. With water resistance it is also good for keeping the bag contents dry and keeping the bag easy to clean. Definitely a great bag that is not just for bike messengers.

]]> http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/site/best-of-the-web-december/feed/ 0 http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/site/best-of-the-web-november/ http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/site/best-of-the-web-november/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000 Andreas http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/site/best-of-the-web-november/

Pic by: kate / for me, for you

Best of the web is a London Cyclist monthly series that highlights the best cycling content from around the web. We go out there and find all of the best bits so you don’t have to!

Before I jump into this months roundup I wanted to quickly mention that Wiggle online cycle shop have a £10 off £50 and £20 off £100 orders voucher. Unfortunately this ends today (Monday 30th Nov)! I know this will be useful to some doing their Christmas shopping. Details are on the page here.

Cycling blogs

• Top 10 facts from America Bikes by EcoVelo including “Bicycling and walking make up 10% of all trips made in the U.S., but receive less than 2% of federal transportation funding.”
• 33 reasons to cycle by BikeRadar including look younger
• World’s Top 10 Greatest Cycling Routes though I could name a few more they have missed out. Found this via lukebream
• Huge list of bike quotes including “the bicycle gets the equivalent of 3000 miles per gallon”
• Beauty and the bike a documentary exploring why girls choose not to cycle
• The stupidity of focusing on anti-social cycling is highlighted by the Guardian blog
• The frustation of teaching a kid to ride a bike by Karl
• Danny MacAskill is interviewed in Times after his successful youtube videos
• The perfect commuting bike type poll by Commutebybike
• Bicycle touring pro asked people to describe their worst bicycle crash
• 101 reasons to cycle in London continues and now includes “seeing things” by new London cycling blogger Mark

From London Cyclist

If all goes to plan London Cyclist will have a brand new sexy look in less than 10 days. Alongside with this I will also be starting a newsletter that will provide a weekly roundup of London Cyclist updates and a few more bonuses such as a free eBook. I’ll let you know as soon as all is ready!

I’m very pleased to say November has been a very successful month here on London Cyclist with a record breaking 15 posts and over 100 comments. Thanks everyone! This month also marked the beginning of reviews and I’ve had nothing but positive feedback from you so I’ll be continuing it into next month. I know for certain one of the reviews will be on Alastair Humphrey’s books.

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