More on bikes and Red 323

A book by an enthusiast

As part of my research for Cycle Revolution tours I'm reading and really enjoying 'It's All about the Bike' written by cycling enthusiast Robert Penn what I got from this book was an idea of how much excitement  there was at large around cycling at the end of the 19th century  and the passion for cycling that the writer has.

What I'm finding is that London needs to address three things to ensure greater uptake:

1) Greater security - bicycles are a target for thieves be they opportunistic or professional, some councils are working to provide facilities for securing bicycles  where they are less at risk. (This seems to be a bit of an ongoing problem for Blur front-man Damon Albarn)

Protect the skull

2) Safety : I've had two or three  serious accidents cycling two of them requiring visits hospital A and E.
Oddly the worst of them was when I was hit head on by a police car, a broken arm resulted and it could have been a lot worse but still unsettling many years after the event - at the time of my accidents helmets were a rarity and fortunately my injuries were not around the head- I suppose we should be looking at ways of improving helmets and making sure that their use is encouraged.

[I'm not sure what the figures are for cyclists hit be police vehicles but I'm not unique]

Part of the Cycle Revolution exhibition covers an idea where cycle-ways are separated from heavier traffic and this could improve the experience of city cycling.

3) Punctures - when I commuted by cycle to the centre of London one of the worst things to suffer was a puncture - I'd hope that technology has improved the resilience of tyres and that replacing inner tubes is now easier.


The Future

A photo' from my archive  and a China visit about 35 years ago

The future for Cycling then is a mixture of things, it's more use of bicycles for carrying some freight, it's about improvements to health and air and for developing countries it's about retention of some use of bicycles (where applicable) and a resistance to a culture that necessarily over values the industrial combustion engine.

Red 323

I remember some time ago a fellow broadcast 'engineer' showing me with a flourish his small disk saying that this was in effect his symbol of being a modern engineer- well this is far more compact and universal (and red). 

Amazing in red