4ucycling

Do you think that cycling to work sounds like extra effort, time consuming, dangerous or just plain crazy? Think again! Cycling to work is rewarding in many ways. It's easy to feel nervous and unsure before you get into bike commuting, but by actually taking action and getting on your bike you may find that bike commuting becomes one of the happiest parts of your busy day. To find out how you can benefit by riding to work, let's take a closer look at what you will gain: 1. Save time: You save yourself substantial time if you live in an urban area and work in a city centre. On a bike you pass the traffic instead of sitting in it getting bored, stressed and fed up. You can arrive at your desk, or back home earlier than you would by car. You also save time because you'll have done your fitness for the day. By riding to work you have no excuses to ride back home again, so you get your exercise done for the day and can then enjoy more family time or relax in the even...

So, the last time I hopped on my bike and decided to have a lovely bike to work experience, the adventure was over soon - before it had a chance to actually develop into something long term. It lasted a day. And a sweaty day, full of cycling disappointment it was. Almost three years later I was ready to give it another shot. I was quite happy with my car and congestion adventure until this May and yet another inhuman increase in gas prices. The fact that my colleague from work kept babbling on about all the wonderful benefits of cycling in combination with flashing her lovely cycling legs, just made me more determined to try again. I can do it, damn it! I too, with as little effort as cycling for 20 kilometers to and from work every single day, can have legs like that! Well, needless to say, my adventure began not like any adventure in any of the movies that Hollywood is able to produce. My once lovely little city bike became almost unusable after withering away for almost three ye...

I have a very interesting job title, I'd like to share it with you and talk a little about what I do. I am a strategic cycling officer and infrastructure consultant. Quite a mouthful right? Let me tell you what I do. I go to schools on a Monday (a different school every week) and I leave on a Thursday. On the Monday I hold an assembly with all the kids and teachers and tell them why I'm at school. Basically my job is to make an overall assessment of the school and its surrounding area in terms of its suitability for cycling. I tell the kids that I am here so that more of them can cycle to school. They are on my side. I spend the next few days cycling around the local roads and making reports about the suitability for cycle paths. I also look at the school itself, where can they put more cycle shelters- do they have enough cycle shelters? I liaise with the head of the school and give them information about funding - there is up to £5,000 available in grants for schools that ...

ecades ago bicycles lost their place as a primary mode of urban transport  in many cities from Los Angeles to Beijing, with a few exceptions such as Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Now, with the boom in bike-sharing, the bicycle is coming back to take its well-deserved role in cities. Unless we screw it up. Since the early 2000s, bike-share systems started to pop up around Europe. China is now  host to most shared bikes thanks to public incentives in last 5 years. Recently, 3 bike-share companies in China, Mobike, Ofo and Bluegogo, have raised collectively $1 billion, igniting a bike-share boom around the country. In most metropolises of China there are now several networks of bike rental providers one can choose from, with tens of thousands of bikes belonging to each. Until only two years ago, bike-sharing was not considered profitable without public subsidies due to expensive technology. However startups like Donkey Republic have managed to change that perception. It is likely...

To keep your bike in tip-top condition, before every trip, you should - Check that your tyres are pumped up Check that your brakes, lights, handlebars and seat are in good order and tightly secured. On a monthly basis, you should: Clean and lubricate your chain and check your gears are running smoothly; Wipe the dirt from your wheels and check the tread on your tyres.  If possible, check your brake pads and your brake cables. On an annual basis, you should: Give your bike a thorough service. Reputable cycle shops will have a mechanic who can do this for you. More detailed bike maintenance information is included in Sustrans’ Get Cycling guide, which can be downloaded below.  

Cycling Tips Equipment Know-How <<<(FAQ 6 of 12)>>> Back to Tip List Proper Shifting Helps Your Bike Last Longer, Work Better An important shifting rule is to reduce pressure on the pedals during shifts. Modern drivetrains will shift regardless of pedal pressure. But, if you can always ease up a bit, the shifts will be smoother and your chain, cogs and chainrings will last longer. Shift Before Hills The hardest place to ease pedaling, of course, is when you're struggling to get up a steep hill. The trick is to shift before the steep part of the hill so you can make the shift with little pressure on the pedals. Finesse Front Shifts Another thing to remember concerns shifting the front derailleur. You're shifting between chainrings that are significantly different in size. This means that the derailleur has to work hard to move the chain from one to the other. So, the light-pedal-pressure rule really applies here. If you can finesse this shift, yo...

Vintage bikes, especially steel racing and track bikes, have always had their fans and collectors. In the 2000's, a new generation of riders have also taken interest in owning, collecting and in the best case, riding these beautiful machines as an everyday commute or in events like L´Eroica or Tweed Rides. If you consider buying a vintage racer for yourself, make sure you are spending your money on the right one. What makes a vintage racer valuable? Some collectors favour nothing but handcrafted bikes that were manufactured only by the dozens to low hundreds. Bikes made by the master builders like Ugo De Rosa, Faliero Masi and Ernesto Colnago are some of the most sought after in the world. These bikes will probably retain their resale value the best in the long run. Other icons like Cinelli, Colnago, Pinarello, Peugeot and Gios are very desirable brands among buyers, even though some or all of their models were mass-manufactured in great numbers. Complete bikes usually cost mor...

The bicycle was invented in Mannheim over 200 years ago: the draisine, a velocipede. Since then the bicycle has experienced a revolution, also with regard to social development. It all started with the eruption of a volcano: the climate changed; harvests failed and many horses – which in those days were not only used in farming but also served as a means of transport for people and goods – starved to death. Without these animals life became even more difficult than it already was. Then Karl Freiherr von Drais had an idea: In 1817 he invented the draisine, which was supposed to replace the horse but was so expensive that the majority of the population were unable to afford one. For a long while after the invention of the velocipede nothing much changed. Not until the beginning of the 1860s, when Pierre Michaux began developing bicycles with pedals. Michaux presented his invention in Paris at The International Exposition of 1867. It was an out-and-out success. Only the well-to-do bourgeo...