City Bikes

More cycling is done in cities than anywhere else. Yet unsuitable bikes are still pouring out of bike Shops and into the hands of unsuspecting Customers who will try to use them for riding in The city. There are limits to what you can do with Fat, knobbly tyres, no mudguards (fenders), no Racks, no chainguard and no lights. If you’re concerned mainly with getting to Work on time in all weathers, you want a bike That’s reliable, robust and simple to maintain. Fortunately, you now have that choice. Manufacturers have wised up! They’ve realised That city riding presents its own set of demands, And some superb city bikes have begun to appear In the product ranges of bike manufacturers Worldwide.

It’s obvious that a lot of thought has been put Into them. Low-maintenance, weatherproof Components, including the new generation of Hub gears, have been matched with well-designed, Lightweight frames to provide machines Ideally suited to urban use. Good acceleration Along with swift, reliable gear changes and Confidence-inspiring braking all help a cyclist to Integrate with urban traffic and remain safe. But that’s only part of the story. What if you Have to travel to the city first by train, bus, car or Plane? Or what if you live in the city and want to Get out? If you live in a country that has a good Integrated transport policy in operation then You’re one of the lucky ones. For the rest of us, We’d do well to carry our own integrated Transport with us, in the form of a folding bike. Forget the old image of the folder as a Heavyweight bundle of loose fitting tubes, Dripping with oil, and that you need a degree in Mechanical engineering and a spare weekend to Fold. Today’s folders are light, tight and just right! The best of them ride like conventional uprights And fold in seconds to a compact bundle Considerably smaller than the sort of suitcases Your fellow travellers will be wheeling along the railway platform. The use of new materials and New frame designs means they are light and Responsive. Kitted out with quality components, And often with suspension, you can ride them Comfortably all day.

The only problem with them is, you’re likely to Draw such an admiring crowd when you deftly Unfold your pride and joy at a busy station that The time you’ve saved by having one may well be Spent answering the questions of awe-struck Onlookers.

City cycling isn’t all about moving swiftly Through busy streets unfettered by baggage. Sometimes you need to carry a load. A regular Shopping trip or a visit to the recycling plant may Mean recourse to the car if you can’t face several Journeys with loaded panniers. But here, too, you Have a choice. Developments in cycle technology Have resulted in load-carrying devices which Swallow huge payloads with ease and yet are Light and manoeuvrable. Everything from small Detachable trailers designed to carry 30kg up to Four-wheeled recumbent hgvs that will carry a Quarter of a tonne.

In the business communities of Europe and North America there has been a resurgence in The use of pedal-power to carry loads around Cities. Courier companies now exploit the speed And versatility of recumbent trikes, quadricycles And cycles with trailers to get goods swiftly into The heart of the city. They bypass the gridlocked Traffic and the parking space nightmares, and Deliver goods door-to-door cheaply and Efficiently. Recent trials in London have shown That pedal-powered deliveries are not only far More economical than their petrol-powered Counterparts but are up to a third quicker and Are far more popular with the customers, too. With more choice than ever, life for the city Cyclist has never been so exciting.

Some dutch and german cities have been converted to ‘bicycle streets’, where of-way over the entire Breadth of the road. Cars may use bicycle streets but are prohibited from rushing bicyclists or otherwise interfering with them. In addition, Many lightly-travelled streets are one-way for cars but two-way for bicyclists, thus increasing their route choice. Cycling is the most neglected means of travel in the us; less than one per cent of all trips in american cities are by bicycle.by contrast, cycling Accounts for 28% of urban trips in the netherlands, 20% in denmark, 12% in germany, and 10% in switzerland. According to a 1995 rodale Press survey,6% of all commuters in texas would prefer to cycle to work over any other means, all other things being equal. When the danish cyclists federation launched a national ‘cycle to work’ campaign, supported by the ministry of environment, 30,211 people Took part and cycled to work for three weeks. Altogether, they cycled 3.5 million kilometres, preventing the pollution from 300,000 litres of fuel. One in ten participants was a ‘new’ cyclist, and had previously used the car, and 94% of the participants said that they would continue cycling.

In palo alto, california, all road-patching must adhere to high Standards for smoothness. Bicycle-detecting sensors, clearly Marked so that cyclists can easily activate them, are used to change Traffic lights.the city pays its employees a mileage rate for business Travel by bicycle, maintains a police bike squad and funds an on-road Cycling course for middle-school students. All new developments Except single-family homes must provide secure bicycle parking, and All new office buildings 10,000 square feet or larger must provide Showers for employees.

In freiberg,germany, 29% of all shopping trips to the centre take Place on foot, 24% by bicycle, 26% by public transport, and only 14% by car. Ninety per cent of the population of freiburg live in Areas where speed is limited to 30km/h.the authorities are building a New ‘bicycle centre’ next to the train station, with secure parking, Repair/retail shop, convenience store, café, etc.

Most developed cities devote at least one third of their land to Parking lots and roads.one city in japan has built a 12-story bicycle Parking lot, using cranes to lift and park up to 1,500 bikes at a time. The dutch population travelled 191.5 billion kilometres within the Netherlands in 1998.train journeys increased, while travelling by Car fell slightly compared with 1997. 12.6 billion kilometres were Covered by bicycle, almost 1 billion less than the year before.it's Thought this was probably due to the bad weather in 1998. Holland Has over 19,000km of bike lanes.

Community bike loan schemes are cropping up all over europe and North america. In some schemes you pay a deposit to borrow a bike For as long as you need. In others you simply take a bike, use it, and leave it at your destination for someone else to use. Places where Such schemes operate include california, colorado, florida, Oregon, denmark, holland, norway, switzerland, germany, Denmark and canada.

David steed of tucson, arizona set the record for the longest track-stand in history. He remained balanced on his bike, with both feet on the Pedals and without either of his wheels making a full revolution forwards or backwards, for 24 hours and 6 minutes between 10 and 11 march 1986.you'd think by then he'd have realised the traffic lights were stuck on red!