Cycle Lifestyle

Inspiration for writing these blogs comes from all sorts of places, including the many conversations I have with non-cyclists. Good advocacy requires not just consistency and determination but sensitivity to the state of mind of the people you are trying to convert to your way of seeing things.

Yesterday I was talking to a non-cyclist from London and she made a remark which struck me as very wise. She pointed out that cyclists often put themselves in danger because they take up a position on the road which they believe they have a right to take but which is not the safest option.

How true! Here are two examples.

Sometimes cyclists observe that a vehicle in front them is not indicating left and therefore they conclude that proceeding down the left hand side of the vehicle is their “right of way”. In fact, cycling down the left hand side of a vehicle is by far the most dangerous thing you can do on a bicycle; the vehicle may suddenly turn left into a side street even though the driver was not indicating to do so. Hence, in this situation cyclists’ perception of their “right of way” puts them in grave danger.

In the latter example, I am not even sure whether it is correct to use the term ‘right of way’ – which is why I have put it in scare quotes. Cycling up the left hand side of a vehicle is so dangerous perhaps it should never be considered to be a cyclist's ‘right’. In any case, some cyclists perceive it to be their right and therefore they neglect the danger: this is precisely the problem.

Here’s another example. Sometimes when a cyclist approaches a T-junction (a junction which intersects with either the left or right side of the road which the cyclist is riding along) a car may simultaneously approach that T-junction. The cyclist, certainly correctly in this case, concludes that they have a right to proceed down the road: it is the driver’s legal obligation to stop at the T-junction and let the cyclist pass. However, the driver may not always see a passing cyclist. The human eye jumps from focal point to focal point, and sometimes a cyclist falls in the gaps in the driver’s vision and doesn’t get noticed. In correctly understanding their right of way in this situation, cyclists may be blinded to the risk that the driver hasn’t seen them. Cyclists may swoop past the T-junction assuming the driver will stop – and the driver doesn’t stop.

I am not suggesting instead that the cyclist should, as a rule, completely stop for the driver. Rather, it is sometimes prudent to make small (or even big) adjustments in advance of a potential flash point when you are cycling. In the latter example, you can perhaps slow down a little until you are sure the driver has seen you, especially if the driver is approaching the T-junction very fast; try to make eye contact with the driver before you pass the junction. Or, if a vehicle is approaching a T-junction to the left of the road you are cycling along, you can quickly look over your shoulder to check that there are no vehicles behind you then move slightly to the right of the lane, to give yourself more room for manoeuvre just in case the driver approaching from the left does swing out into the road.

This style of cycling is called riding ‘positively defensively’. It means knowing your rights and asserting yourself but always being aware that drivers do not necessarily know your rights. Sometimes proceeding on what you believe to be your right of way on a bicycle can put you in danger; I'll be interested to hear from readers of any other examples of this. Always proceed with caution on a bicycle if you would rather be alive than right.   

What are you doing next weekend? Fancy checking out cool bike stuff?

The London Bike Show – the biggest in the UK – is running this Thu 13 to Sun 16 Feb at ExCeL, Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway, E16 1XL, London.

Cycle Lifestyle has attended the London Bike Show the last few years. All the big bike brands are there, making it the perfect place to find a bike or kit. There’s even a 500m test track to take alluring new wheels for a spin.

The exhibition will be full of expert advisors on training and performance, plus there will be a programme of talks running in the Cycling Performance Theatre. For those that like stunts, tricks, and enthralling racing, there’ll be demos from the daredevils of the Animals WD-40 Action Sports Tour, road-bikers on the DMR Pump Track and Indoor Criterium, and BMXers on the iON Half Pipe. Come find out who has the Fastest Wrench in town and, on the Thursday evening, the 16 prize-winners for the Total Women’s Cycling Awards 2014.

The London Bike Show is open Thursday 1-8pm, Friday 10am-5pm, Saturday 9am-6pm, and Sunday 9am-5pm.

Ticket prices are: £20 on door/£16 online for adults (plus Thursday after 5pm, £7/5); £15/13 for students; and kids under 16 are free with adults. Your ticket also gets you full entry to three other cool events at the same venue: the Telegraph Outdoor Adventure & Travel Show, the Triathlon Show, and the London International Dive Show (weekend only).

The hands-down most striking piece of bike kit to arrive on the European market in recent years is Hövding, the so-called invisible bike helmet.

The result of a seven year design mission and oozing with Scandinavian urbanity, Hövding has garnered swags of design and innovation prizes and is currently a frontrunner for the European Business Awards 2013-14.

The best introduction to the product is this viral video (well worth watching!), which has now been seen by over 12 million people. Then there’s the website, which makes you want to move to Sweden and hang out with super attractive people, hair blowing in the wind, laughter rippling through the streets…

So Hövding certainly looks good, but what’s it like to use?

On first unpacking Hövding from an enticing yellow cube (the team has spared nothing in their attention to design), I was struck by the serious tech that is packed in the neck. At 780g, the collar is somewhat weighty in your hands, and certainly heavier than a piece of sealed styrofoam. Most of the weight comes from a carriage at the rear, which holds a gyroscope, accelerometer, helium canister, lithium-ion polymer battery, black box data system, and a full-scale airbag for your head. Nevertheless, careful ergonomic design means that the collar sits comfortably once riding, with the weight evenly distributed across your shoulders. My favourite aspect is the moment when you put it on; zipping, clipping, and being rewarded with a satisfying set of Rocketman blips and lights. The collar is certainly not unnoticeable, but after a week of cruising around with one, I’d adjusted fairly well. For greatest comfort, I’d recommend the Medium, as the Small is pretty tight.

Hövding is currently only available in Europe, but the company is looking to launch globally, particularly in upwardly mobile markets where helmets are compulsory such as Australia, New Zealand, and scattered states in North America. Of course, in parts of the world where the sun always shines, the somewhat bulky high neck might prove tedious. After a couple of longer, sweatier rides, I felt ambivalent about the prospect of using Hövding for a long-distance cycle tour (particularly because the battery needs recharging every 18 hours), but if you’re casually commuting in chic, wintry European cities, then it seems just the ticket. There’s also the fact that it currently blows all competitors out of the market on safety testing.

Hövding works by constantly computing your movements while cycling and comparing them against clever algorithms developed from extensive analyses of patterns of normal riding and cycle accidents. In the much-vaunted Internet of Things, one might legitimately ponder what data is being collected as you ride. You can, nevertheless, cruise easy. The box constantly tracks and records movement, ready to react in milliseconds, but that information is only retained in the event that the unit inflates (something I didn't actually test), and then is only accessible upon returning Hövding physically to the company for analysis.

All in all, Hövding stands unparalleled in two respects. The first is style. Hövding lends immediate street-cred, particularly with its suave range of patterned cotton scarf covers, or shells. The second aspect, and the reason you may be seriously tempted to fork out the hefty RRP of €399, is safety. Hövding has significantly and consistently outperformed all competing helmets on the market. The debate about traditional cycle helmets is long and controversial, but there is certainly evidence that they need to be replaced frequently (as often as every three years), and that they can occasionally do more harm than good. Hövding allays all those fears. Further, although it is single use only, in many countries where it is available, it can be insured for replacement if inflated.

Beyond the lucrative urban cycling market, Hövding is looking to expand into other areas, from equipping alpine explorers and ocean adventurers to providing support for those prone to life-threatening falls. As uptake rises and the company starts to claw back the very significant costs of innovation, testing and design, we can all look forward to being just a little more Scandi.

Scores: Aesthetics 5/5; Functionality 3/5; Quality 5/5; Fit 4/5; Value 3/5.

In a development with huge significance for the London Cycle Map Campaign, Transport for London has published a report entitled Central London Grid: Changing the Culture of Cycling in London.

Much of the report reads like a recap of the points I’ve been making on cyclelifestyle.co.uk for years.

TfL are promising to build ‘a new network of routes for a new kind of cyclist’ in the capital; ‘routes for people who want to cycle slowly, in their ordinary clothes, away from most of the traffic’. These ‘Quietways’, on ‘quieter side streets – along with routes through parks and on canal towpaths’, will provide ‘secret cycling passages through London’; they will ‘take you everywhere you need to go, directly and easily’. Ultimately, the network will ‘reduce conflict between other vehicles and cyclists’ and get ‘more woman and older people cycling’.

The report rightly acknowledges that ‘many of these routes already exist – it is often just a matter of guiding cyclists to them’; in addition, the network will incorporate the existing and forthcoming Cycle Superhighways. The overall goal will be to ‘use the quietest roads possible while balancing the need for directness, usability and safety’. ‘Critically’, the routes will involve ‘fewer or no heavy goods vehicles of the type which are hugely over-represented in cycling injuries and deaths’.

As for how the network of Quietways will be engineered, these will be ‘low intervention routes’ on which ‘segregation will not usually be necessary’, since ‘traffic is lighter and travelling more slowly’, and (once again) ‘there are fewer or no heavy goods vehicles’.

It is difficult to overstate the consistency between all of these points and the message the London Cycle Map Campaign has been disseminating for years. For instance, almost nothing in the report hasn’t already been argued for in the 100 Reasons for a London Cycle Map I compiled last year.

To this extent, the Central London Grid report represents a major step forward for the campaign, not to mention a vindication of our efforts, which have been almost entirely unsupported by the major cycle advocacy groups in London as well as nationally.

However, the campaign champagne will remain on ice until the final make-up of the promised network has been established. The report features a few pages of maps showing proposed cycle routes in central London. TfL is inviting feedback on these routes and on any other routes that ‘you think might be missing’, as well as general feedback on the Central London Grid. Also delayed for the time being is ‘any decision about the design of the signs and markings’; TfL needs first to ‘consider the findings from focus groups and research that we commissioned’.

I have written to TfL to emphasise the specific proposals that the London Cycle Map Campaign favours in regard to how London’s cycle routes should be organised, signed and mapped. You can do the same, or explain your own views to TfL, on grid@tfl.gov.uk. The deadline for feedback is 14 February, 2014.

Here is a segment from my message to TfL:

For almost four years, [Cycle Lifestyle magazine has] been running the London Cycle Map Campaign, calling for a single 'London Cycle Map' that is clear and easy to use and corresponds to a unified network of signed cycle routes throughout London: the cycling equivalent of the London Underground Map.

Our campaign, which won Ordnance Survey’s GeoVation competition in 2011, has attracted almost 2000 petition signatories and the support of Rob Penn, and has been meticulously articulated in a number of ways, including...

100 Reasons for a London Cycle Map

London’s True Colours: the film for the London Cycle Map Campaign

The London Cycle Map Campaign Guide

‘Leading the campaign for a simple London Cycle Map’ [Guardian article]

...as well as through numerous press releases and blogs which can be read under the ‘London Cycle Map’ menu heading on www.cyclelifestyle.co.uk.

In large part, we have championed the London Cycle Map envisaged by Simon Parker, which employs his clever Compass Colour System.

The Compass Colour System shows how London’s tangle of cycle routes could be re-organised as a series of long, straight, parallel coloured routes. With signs and markings on the roads corresponding to those routes, cyclists could get from anywhere to anywhere on the network by following no more than three coloured routes – an economical solution to mapping, coding and signing the routes on the existing cycle network.

Has TfL been listening to the London Cycle Map Campaign all along? It certainly seems so, but who knows.

I just hope they take this latest piece of advice. After all, the success of the cycle network they are promising will depend on how easy it is to use, and to my knowledge no-one has come up with a better blueprint for creating a useable network of cycle routes in London than Simon Parker.

We’re almost there; let’s hope it’s not so near, so far.

Once again, TfL can be contacted on grid@tfl.gov.uk. Deadline 14 February 2014.

TfL's Central London Grid report...

Image from the report: ‘Potential examples of wayfinding signage (left) and carriageway markings (right)’