London Cycle Hire

Whos up for a Boris Bike Tour of London? I'm thinking road race, team and individual TT and mountain stages/hill climbs.

Jerseys for each classification winner...

As a bonus, they force a 20min break between consecutive hires. Just about the right amount of time for a pint...

more like a 2 minute break

I thought it was 5

Well you wouldn't want to rush a pint, what ever time it was now would you?

Still think there should be a Death TT race from Camden and back. At least the gearing is right for Swains...

its 5mins between hires to reset the timer.

I want to organise this but i live 412km from the nearest boris bike so its a bit difficult to get things on teh ground done. occasionally down maybe once or twice a month though.

From Dutch TV
http://www.rtl.nl/components/actueel/rtlnieuws/miMedia/2010/week30/vr_1930_fietsen_in_londen.avi_plain.xml

(and CTUK's Anne Caroll explains why segregated cycle lane network isn't practical in London)

Using the ken bikes in the rain really isn't fun, might as well be riding brakeless.

The braking performance of the internal brakes shouldn't be affected in the rain at all, unless you mean the tyres isn't as grippy as it should in the rain.

Using the ken bikes in the rain really isn't fun, might as well be riding brakeless.

Really? I found them fine. Nowhere near as bad as my brakeless bike in the wet. Plus they are fully mudgarded up, so I stay helluva lot drier than I do when I use my normal bikes.

'kencycles' if you please.
ta

Only 1/4 of the schemes riders are women...
Beacuse, (according to the Standard) of the traffic, they get sweaty and the bikes are too heavy

You'd only get sweaty if you treat it like a racing bike.

the weight is irrelevant when you're riding a dutch bike, just take it easy, and you'll get there.

I get sweaty walking, sweatier travelling on the tube and stink of someone elses sweat (and pine) when going by taxi

Cycling makes me smell perfumed...

the weight is irrelevant when you're riding a dutch bike, just take it easy, and you'll get there.

My experience with trainees recently suggests otherwise. All of the ones who have started out on the TfL bike and then had a second session on a Raleigh shopper have preferred the shopper. The TfL bikes are just too bleeding cumbersome and on any kind of slope, let alone a hill, that weight really does matter.
I am generally a supporter of the scheme but I certainly think the bikes themselves are heavily compromised by their design.

^Will, they just prefer the scent of my shopper

How heavy is the Paris Velib? (comparing the 23lbs of the Borisbike).

23lb? I don't think so. 23 kilos maybe.

^Will, they just prefer the scent of my shopper

Well, we weren't going to tell you but the truth is we spent quite a lot of money having it professionally de-odorised. It now smells of Primary Position by Calvin Klein.

You'd only get sweaty if you treat it like a racing bike.

^This, although it may be an oversimplification. Allowing for the weight, which is about half the all up weight of a petite woman, it should still be possible to do 8-10mph for the same exertion and walking at 3mph. The trouble is, if you ride properly on many roads at 8mph, you really feel you're holding up the traffic, which some people are not comfortable about. So they ride faster and get sweaty.

I fail to see the issue, here we have ladies, more importantly, biking ladies, getting sweaty and needing washed more regularly, probably at teh workplace, and we have Boris to thank for this*

*this sounded much better in my head. Written down it looks damn right perverted, or maybe thats what Boris wanted?

Only 1/4 of the schemes riders are women...
Beacuse, (according to the Standard) of the traffic, they get sweaty and the bikes are too heavy

The registration percentage is roughly in line with fewer women cycling--no really reliable estimates exist, but they usually have about a third as their upper limit. The Standard's explanation sounds like prejudice. The reasons why women don't cycle as much have been well-researched in the past and the explanations of course aren't anywhere near as simple.

Oliver, I was at a meeting with some TfL people today (John Lee, Jen Calvert) who commented on the Standard's article. They're claiming that the number of women cycling now is almost equal to the number of men (so c.50%) and that they are concerned about the lower % take up of the hire bikes. They are investigating this and seem to be taking this quite seriously

There is error in the method for counting the schemes riders, I have two keys on two different accounts one for me and one for her but the count method used would say two men and no women.

Boris Bike user animation. Strangely beautiful to watch:

http://www.oobrien.com/vis/bikes/timeline.php