Boris Biking in London

[LexieB]

Hey, hubbers!

 

So I'm currently living the dream and traveling the UK and Europe, and I thought I'd share with you an experience from yesterday - Boris Biking in London.

 

For those that don't know, Boris Bikes are basically just public bikes that you can hire out in London - they have little bike depots all over the city, and you just pop your Pound in and hey presto, you have a bike for the day!

 

But not the kind of bike we're all used to. Quite far from it actually... It's what I like to think of as a Lady's bike - the kind of Lady that would be in a Jane Austen novel. It has a big cushy seat, high handlebars, and a little basket in the front. So, being used to a road bike, this was veeerrrry different!

 

It also only has three gears, all of which are illogical, ranging between 1: spinning without going anywhere; 2: pedaling and noticing a bit of contact, and 3: super-stiff-pedal-for-days-to-get-momentum. This took a lot of getting used to, but once I got the hang of it (basically as you start off you need to be in 1st, logically, but then in a matter of 3 or 4 rotations of the pedals, go up to 3rd and just stay there until you stop), it was great fun. Pedaling merrily away, feeling like Fancy McFancy Pants, I had an awesome day exploring London by bike.

 

London motorists are amazing when you're on a bike. I'm marginally terrified of riding in traffic at home, and as such tend to go out to remote coastline routes to ride far away from any vehicles, so imagine my fear when hopping onto a bike in the middle of one of the busiest roads city in the world. But, with Londoners' politeness and bike sense, this fear slipped away in a matter of minutes. I had my own cycle lane, even on the busy main roads, with cycle lanes between the vehicle lanes so that you're able to change over when you need to turn across an intersection. There are cycle boxes at every traffic light, putting cyclists in front of the cars, so that you can head off first and they can see you. They even go so far as to anticipate what you are going to do! Occasionally, bus lanes and cycle lanes merge, which means inevitably, a bus is going to pull over and stop in your way to collect passengers. So of course you need to pull out into the traffic lanes. Now in SA, this would probably result in you landing yourself in hospital and hosting a memorial service for your dearly departed bike. Not in London. Motorists see a bus stopping with cyclists behind it, and either slow down to an almost complete stop, or move over into the next lane, so that the cyclists can pull out without being knocked down. You can trust in this so much that I noticed most cyclists not even checking over their shoulder before pulling out.

 

These little "Lady Bikes" are such fun to ride, and an absolutely brilliant way to explore the city. It's also a great way to people-watch - you see some strange things from the vantage point of the middle of the road!

 

I've officially caught the Boris Bike Bug, and will be keeping an eye out for them on my travels, as they are in a number of European cities. To anyone heading overseas, I'd definitely recommend you try it out!

 

If I find any more on my travels, I'll update you on my experiences or if you're interested, you can follow my blog and see what I've been up to - http://bit.ly/29ZpDvH

[Joe Low]

Sounds great, did the same thing in Stockholm last week - so many pick/up - drop off points & cyclist friendly city.  You get used to the bike's capabilities - its got wheels and gears and brakes so nothing wrong.  Except getting used to the drum brake when you pedal in reverse.

[Lurch the stalker]

If they're over 10kg's, aren't carbon, and don't have disc brakes, most people on here will turn them down...

[BigDL]

We have the same bikes in Belfast. Absolutely brilliant initiative. Hard pushing in the top gear can be a nice little pulse raiser between meetings

 

 

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[Odinson]

Most major European cities have these types of bike sharing schemes.

 

The most impressive I've come across is the one in Copenhagen. It's a 3-spd e-bike with a built in touch screen full colour navigation system. Works a treat as a tourist, as you can get on a bike and not have to worry too much about getting lost.

 

The only downside is that once you've drained the battery after about 4 hours, those heavy bikes are an absolute pig to pedal up any type of incline.