It’s my birthday! To celebrate, I’d like to give you a sneak preview of a new app I’ve been working on for London’s cyclists.
Update! The app is now available here: http://bit.ly/ldncyclistapp
I know you’re going to love it but I need your help to make it a reality. Read on!
The app will list all of London’s:
- Bike shops – currently 239 of them!
- Cycle cafes – including Look Mum No Hands, Rapha Cycle Club and FullCity.
- Community initiatives – including London Bike Kitchen and 56a Bikespace
- Rentals – for when your friend visits town or for when you need a road bike for an event!
- Mobile repair services – let the puncture repair man come to you!
It’ll be perfect for when you are looking for a well recommended bike shop, a cycle cafe to rest your legs or a great place to get a reliable second hand bike.
There are many places in London that few cyclists know about, so I’d like to bring these great shops, cafes and services the attention they deserve.
We created a similar app back in 2010 but it was missing some key features, such as allowing people to rate their favourite bike shops. Plus, the app was paid and this one will be free!
I’m also hoping it will be a good way to bring bike shop discounts to readers of London Cyclist – thus saving you money whilst helping you keep your bike well serviced.
Help: Spread the word
If you think this is a good idea, please copy and paste the link to this post and share it on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you!
Help: Pictures of bike shops
Is there a bike shop you pass every day? One really near your office or home? Please take a landscape picture to be used in the app and send it over to me. You’ll be given credit in the listing page and help me make the app more useful for everyone.
Help: Reviews of bike shops
Have a bike shop you love? Help me make the app immediately useful – write your review in a comment below or send it to me! I’ll make sure we include your words in the app.
When?
Apple is predicted to release the new iPhone and iOS 7 on September 10th. Rather than create an app for the old version of iOS, I’ll be focusing on 7, so we can use the latest features such as AirDrop, which allows you to wireless send information to other iPhones near you. The downside is I have to wait for Apple to release the update.
Help: Let’s bring this to Android
73% of mobile visitors on London Cyclist arrive on Apple devices, that’s why I’m starting there.
However, I don’t want to leave out Android users.
The problem is, I don’t know a good Android developer.
Do you?
Please put me in touch with them.
Alternatively, if you’d like to develop this app, then I’d be happy to support you by making the database open source and giving you access to integrate it into an app.
For Android users, I’m also planning on creating a mobile version of the site, so you’ll be able to see the results on your browser.
The database: Could you improve it? / Could you use it?
I want to open source the database for anyone who may wish to freely use it. Just drop me a message via contact page to let me know what you’ll be needing it for. A lot of hours (20+) have gone in to making this the most accurate and useful listing out there of London’s bike services and I’d like to see it well used.
How to download the app
The app is called London Cyclist and can be downloaded for free here.
Have a look for a windows 8 app developer at the same time… there is more than just apple and Android.
Plus its a lot easier to develop apps for Windows 8 phone than iOS/Android 🙂
Agreed, and to start with we’ll be launching a mobile version of the content that is accessible through your web browser. That way we’re not leaving anyone out. In mean time, if there’s anyone out there who’s pretty handy at mobile app programming for Android or Windows 8 then please do get in touch!
Welling Cycles in Welling (strangely enough). Old school shop, doesn’t have a massive range of new bikes but the help and service they offer is absolutely second to none. It’s been there forever but they are busy which is a good sign. They won’t rip you off and do good work.
Thanks John – we’ve got Welling Cycles in the app – will add your positive feedback about them in the description 🙂
Cafés. Not café’s. 😉
http://wps.ablongman.com/long_faigley_penguinhb_1/7/1977/506165.cw/index.html
or just plain old cafes without the accent. The accent is for the French, although these days we’re all one big happy European family so it doesn’t really matter how you spell it.
http://cafe.askdefine.com/
Oooops thanks guys! Have corrected.
Cycle surgery in Camden (http://www.cyclesurgery.com/store-camden/content/fcp-content) is great – bought my bike there and got it serviced there a few times. They gave me a free tune-up about 6 weeks after buying my bike and the staff are always super friendly and helpful (especially for someonone like me who doesn’t know much about bikes!). They even let me pop in to borrow their pumps to pump up my tires whenever I needed to. Only a wee store, but brill customer service, highly recommended!
Thanks Hayley – appreciate you leaving your thoughts on your local bike shop. Will share some of your comments in the app for others to see 🙂
Bike &Run in East Finchley: very professional service,staff are cyclists themselves,reasonably priced repairs,fantastic advice when buying clothing or shoes,they have 2 shops on E Finchley high street. I’m regular customer and was never disappointed.
Hi Andreas, there is a whole forum dedicated to android development (I get my custom roms from them) called xda developers, you might want to get in touch with them, they might be interested in helping you with your app for android.
Hadron Cycles on Hornsey Road. Small shop but with a great selection and personalized service.
http://hadroncycles.com/
Action Bikes Wimbledon.
I have tried a surprising number of bike shops and this is one of the few that has impressed.
I took my biker there to get an emergency tyre replacement and they went out of their way to get the tyre in that I wanted (marathon plus for brompton) other bike shops just said we don’t stock that.
They noticed the LCC sticker on my bike and gave me 10% discount without me ever asking for it.
Please make it for Blackberry users (OS 7.1), yes?
I’m another Windows 8 user.
Hello! I’m only a newbie to cycling and have been using the Barclay bikes but I really want to get myself a bike but I want to get a cheap second hand bike because I just want to test it out and I don’t want it to kill me if it gets stolen so I was just wondering if this app will also have people selling their bikes?
This app will have listings of bike shops that sell second hand bikes. For now however you may wish to look here: https://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/buying-a-second-hand-bike-in-london/
Hi there, I could not find this app in app store! I searched for “london cyclist”. Is this app available right now?
Hey Sarah – not available yet I’m afraid. Should be out around mid september!
I think there’s probably something wrong with your stats package like it can’t distinguish mobile Firefox and opera from their desktop relatives. But a mobile website is better than most apps anyway- book sneaking around eating battery and running up data bills.
Waldens Cycles in Kingston: Waldens is a great shop particularly for bicycle repairs and essential components, especially a huge range of tyres and baskets. If you don’t see what you want ask for it. The owner has extensive knowledge of bikes and gives good service and advice and competitive rates. He sells Pashley bikes and town bikes such as Bronx and Bobbin.
Two bike shops I’ve visited recently:
Central London:
Cloud 9
38 Store Street
Camden Town
England
WC1E 7
United Kingdom
Croydon:
Bike Plus
429 Brighton Road
Croydon
England
CR2 6EU
United Kingdom
Both very helpful and friendly staff – which was very useful for me as a novice just really trying to get into cycling to get fit.
Another I visited in London – Holborn – not very helpful or friendly so I won’t mention them.
Hey Andreas – Any more updates on this? I’m rocking a Galaxy S4 and would love to be able to get this app on there…
Hey Trev – yep, someone has approached me and I’m hoping we’ll be able to work on it together! It’s up there on my todo list! I’ve bought a samsung galaxy s3 so I can test it out and see how the app would work on there.
Hey Andreas, would happily be a tester for you on the android side if you needed any help.
Thank you kindly Trev 🙂
Andreas, have you found any Android developers? I’d recommend these guys: http://www.infinum.co/ — they are very good, inexpensive and have experience with traffic apps.
Thanks for the recommendation. Have made a note but I think we’ve found the right guys to work with 🙂
Is this app out yet? Would love to get it! Name? Release date? In apple itunes store?
Not yet James – hopefully in the next week or two!
Thanks for the update – looking forward to the app when it’s ready!
I tried with Nokia Lumia, I couldn’t find the App.