Tag Archives: London

The London Bike Show 2016

The London Bike Show was the place to be for Cyclists in London last weekend (11th to 14th of February 2016). It was for me a new experience since I had not been to one before. It was a bit of a Marathon to get to the ExCel, with trains, the underground and the DLR, but it was worth it. Since I was covering the show for the Brazilian Cycling Magazine “Revista Bicicleta” I manage to get a press pass to the show.

Now, with the show over, the stats I found on their website indicates that they had over 50.000 visitors and more than 300 different brands in categories such as Clothing, Bicycles, Electronics, Innovation, Performance, Charity, Components, Nutrition, Tourism, Retail, Accessories and others.

There where over 50 different bicycle brands or manufacturers exposing the best of what is available in cycling today. Among them some brands I personally had never heard of (doesn’t mean they are unknown) such as Radon, from Germany and Wilier from Italy. Of course, most of the big names were there too in the likes of Specialized, Cannondale, Cube, Giant, Scott, Boardman, Surly, Orange and many others and they have taken a lot of the space of the show. I felt, however, that there were names missing there also. For instance I don’t recall having seen booths for Fuji and Bianchi in the show, but then I could have missed them, even though I was there for 7 hours (and they are not in the list of brands I got either).

P1000322
Stealth Bike

My impression was that electric and hybrid bikes were big on this year’s show, but then I didn’t go to last year´s show to make a proper comparison. Every brand in the show had at least 1 electric or hybrid option available and there were those brands that all they do is electric bikes such as Oxigen from the UK and Stealth from Australia.

There was really a bit of everything in the show and sometimes it felt like there was too much of something as well, enough to get a bike loving person somewhat dazzled by what it was on offer, especially those with big pockets. It wasn’t hard to find bikes with £7,000 to £9,000 price tags in them.

The show also brought to stage cycling celebrities like Sir Chris Hoy, the most decorated Olympic cyclist of all time, with six gold medals in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics and 11 times track world champion. Other celebrities included Greg LeMond, 3 times Tour de France winner, and Steve Peat, a downhill MTB legend.

During the show over 40 of the best freestyle bikers competed for a € 10,000.00 price on an event called “Air to the Throne“. They competed on a purpose built course with some huge ramps that allowed the riders to showcase some mind-blowing tricks for the crowds. It was nice to watch their domain of the bike.

P1000425The ticket to the bike show gave also access to 3 more events taking place in the same area: The Triathlon Show, sponsored by Honda, the Outdoor Adventure & Travel Show, sponsored by the Telegraph (a British Newspaper), with lots to see for nature loving camping people and the London International Dive Show, that enabled visitors to actually try the equipment in the big swimming pools built on site.

P1000405Although those were nice to see, the bike show was the main event, at least for me. Given that my current interest is in bike touring and long distance cycling, that is where I tried to focus my attention to.

I did look around in the outdoor and adventure area to check the options for tents and other camping equipment which I intend to use in my next long distance trip. Here the highlight goes to the Terra Nova Laser Ultra 1 tent with a total weight of less than 0.5 Kg (1.1 lb). I bought myself an all-in-one stove and cooking pot that I thought was on offer for a good price in the show (that was actually the only thing I bought during the show).

The number of items in the show were in fact so varied that a visitor that didn’t have in mind something specific to look for, could easily be visually overwhelmed by all the information available and by what was on offer.

The show had a large circular test track on one side which enabled the visitor to “test-ride” many of the bikes on display. Of the 7 hours I was there I only tested 3 bikes: 2 electric and an urban one. I didn’t find many touring bike options during the show and that was for me a bit disappointing, but I found interesting innovations in areas such as lighting and efficient use of space and weight, which for those who intend to travel long distances by bike are worth checking.

P1000345I was impressed by how far dynamo technology has come since the old days of the mechanical bottle dynamos. Exposure lights had an electromagnetic dynamo + lights kit, the “Revo Dynamo” on show and I was amazed by how little drag the dynamo produced on the wheel to keep the 800 Lumens light on full power. On the same booth they had their battery operated LED lights on display. The strongest one, the “Six Pack MK6“, with a massive 4,000 lumens of power and a battery to keep it going for 4h at full power or 31h at low power (which is actually quite strong). I liked the small OLED displays on the back to indicate their status and remaining power left in the battery. Needless to say all of these don’t come cheap, with the Dynamo kit costing around £300 and the big 4,000 lumens light at around £400. There were several other brands showing their innovations in this area.

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AQUAir from NEOS

Topeak brought to their booth some very interesting bicycle bags. From frame and tool bags to a variety of panniers. Things that captured my attention were the a combined water bottle cage with a small tool bag underneath and the air pump designed to fit into the seat post, part of their Ninja series. Another interesting product I’ve seen in this area was a behind the saddle support made by NEOS called AQUAir which allows you to have 2 water bottles, as well as 2 CO2 cartridges, an inflation tube and an extra inner tube all neatly stored behind and under your saddle.

P1000272For those that like gadgets, Kodak was showing their latest 360º, 4K action camera. In this area, I missed the presence of players such as GoPRO and Sony, which I believe are market leaders in this segment.

Another area I though was under-represented was the one for special bikes, like Recumbents and Tricycles. Yes, there were a few brands showing their products, but in relation to more conventional types of bikes (Road, MTB, etc) their presence was almost insignificant. In this area one bike that made me turn heads was a rather strange looking tandem from Circe Cycles named Morpheus Aurora. The rear cyclist seats in a conventional saddle and pilots the bike, while the front cyclist seats and pedals in a reclined (recumbent) position and holds a fake handlebar for support. A very interesting concept to say the least.

In terms of accessories I must confess this was an area I didn’t particularly focus on, but I did visit the booths of Continental and Schwalbe on the look for the ideal tyres for my future bike travel plans to Rome. I also found some interesting devices such as LiteLok’s Boa Green lock which, according to them was awarded the highest ever Secure Gold standard by Sold Secure, a British testing agency for security products.

P1000387Also worth mentioning is the Overade folding bicycle helmet, which due to its folded size might be an interesting product for those short on space on long bike journeys.

Those of us living in cold winters might also have also been interested in the Virtual Reality Cycling Simulation
game brought by Tacx to be used with their Turbo Trainers (rollers). The online game connects to servers on the internet and allows the rider to compete with other riders (that obviously have the same system) anywhere in the world.

The simulation has several types of tracks available and the resistance in the roller is controlled in accordance to the terrain displayed on the high resolution simulation in the screen in front. I do believe that depending on the size of the screen the simulation has the potential to be very immersive and it is an excellent exercise, as I could myself experience in the 2 times I had a go at it (it was fun).

P1000338In conclusion, those owners of Basic Lamborghinis will now be happy to know that they can carry their precious bikes on the roof of their vehicles through a support with special suction cups and but if they end up scratching the red paint of the car, please don’t come complaining to me.

London Bike Show 2016
Click on the image above to go to the Flickr Album with pictures of the show.

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EyeCycled from Twickenham Stadium to Richmond via Bushy Park, Kingston and Richmond Park + Teddington Lock

Twickenham Rugby Stadium
Twickenham Rugby Stadium

As my way to celebrate the Rugby world Cup happening in Twickenham this month, I got together with a friend and rode from the Twickenham Rugby Stadium to Richmond via some of London´s best landscapes.

For those that never been to London before, this side of London is not usually part of a 1 or 2 days visit, as most tourists will prefer to stay within Zones 1 and 2 where the most recognizable landmarks are (you know… Tower Bridge, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Piccadilly, Trafalgar, etc, etc). Yet if you want to know how London works and the natural beauty the city has to offer these places are are a good option.

London is, I think, Western Europe´s biggest city. With a population of almost 7 million inhabitants (which for Europe is quite unusual when compared to Paris with just 2 million and Berlin with 3.5 million), London has managed to maintain an excellent balance between the grey of concrete and the green of nature. There are many parks and green areas in London and on this ride we cycled through 2 of them: Bushy Park and Richmond Park. We also cycled through the Crane park which is a small park part alongside the river Crane that got it´s name due to the bird and if you are patient you can still find several Crane nests alongside the river.

I think it´s fair to say that Bushy Park is not very well known to outsiders, yet it´s beauty is fantastic. There are water ways, fountains, tress, lots of green and plenty of deer roaming around.

Richmond park on the other hand is internationally known and is one of London´s biggest (perhaps the biggest) city inner park. A huge green area in the middle of the city much loved and used by its inhabitants, especially cyclists that come from all parts of the city and even outside London, like me, to appreciate the wonders that a bike ride provides. The only problem with Richmond park are the weekend drivers (sometimes a single person) that come to appreciate nature sitting inside their air-conditioned, fossil fuel powered mechanical monsters… no wonder Aliens might think of us as a highly inconsistent species 🙂

Sweet Delights.
Sweet Delights.

As we arrived in Richmond town centre we gave ourselves a treat of sorts in the form of a huge cappuccino and some tasty cakes (mine was a Black Forest), so this ride is divided in 2 sections:

Part 1 is from Twickenham Stadium to Richmond.

Part 2 is after we finished with our delicious cake eating activities and continued on to the Teddington Lock alongside the river Thames.

I hope you enjoy the videos and let me know if you have any questions by sending me a message through the contact form.

Thanks for visiting.

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Prudential RideLondon 2015, Part 2 - Free Cycle Day

As promised here is the “Part 2” of the Prudential RideLondon which I did with my two sons on August 1st.

If you didn´t see part 1, click here.

It´s essentially the way back to Buckingham Palace from the Guerkin with a stop at the Leadenhall Market (which is close to the Guerkin), for some food. The ride back was much faster as there were not as many cyclists on the streets by that point.

The only edits made to the video were parts in which we took the wrong way for a moment and when we were stationary. Everything else is as it was on the day. Video is 33 min long, so feel free to jump around if you don´t want to see everything.

Unfortunately, we didn´t get to ride the part along the Thames as we were quite late and our ride home was already waiting for us. Something for 2016…

About one hour later we were back home, in Bracknell, and then watched on TV the professional woman cyclists ride this same route (or a part of it) and that was cool.

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Prudential RideLondon 2015, Part 1 - Free Cycle Day.

Hey,

this is the 1st part, of 2, of the Prudential Ride London ride I did with my 2 sons on the 1st of August 2015.

What a party! 70,000 people riding bicycles on the streets of one of the busiest capitals of the world. It´s a rare opportunity to see a “calm” and safe for cyclists London. Things are definitely improving…

Before you watch the video you need to know a few things…

  • This is the 1st part of the ride, from Hyde Park Corner were we started to “the Guerkin” building in the city.
  • This is the FULL video! I only cut out the parts we were stationary, as these wouldn´t add any value anyway…
  • Still this video is 49 minutes long.
  • No need to comment it is TOO long. I know. Feel free to jump around.
  • I will produce a PART 2, which shows the way back to Buckingham Palace. It will not be as long as this one as the streets were more empty, but it will still be long for YouTube standards.
  • If I have the time I will then produce a shorter 5 to 10 min video with the best moments of the ride (this is NOT a promise though).

So, here it is… Enjoy!

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