Grim Fandango

One of our bicycles is missing. Brockley Bikes write:

Earlier in the year we had the embarrassment of losing one of our courtesy bikes. Thankfully, after emailing our customer base, we were able to recover it. This is a much sadder day!! Someone has stolen our shop bike, The Orange Fandango.

It has been our company mascot for nearly a decade and is the reason everything we have is orange. We truly believe her to be one of Brockley’s Icons!! I am personally very upset about this event and feel the only way my faith in humanity can be restored is if we can get her returned to her rightful place.

We are offering a reward of between £50—£100 (depending on condition) for the safe return of our beloved Orange Fandango. It was stolen on the 6th November during the day from outside a house on Arica Road. We have had a couple of search parties out, but we have been unable to locate her.

CONTACT BROCKLEY BIKES IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON (020) 70645222 orangefandango@brockleybikes.com

Wanted: Bike

Brockley Bikes write:

We are offering a reward of between £50—£100 (depending on condition) for the safe return of one of our courtesy bikes. It was lost in the early hours of Saturday 27th of July in the area of Camberwell Church Street and Peckham Road. We have had a couple of search parties out, but we have been unable to locate it.

It is nearly identical to the picture with a few little changes such as extra lights and a black rear rim. It is unlikely that someone would be able to use it as there is a Trelok frame mounted wheel lock on the rear and this would have to be ground off to make it usable—we have the key here!!

We are happy to pick it up and just need to know the location if anyone sees it so it can be returned to its stable for our customers to use.

Please contact (020) 70645222 or lostcourtesybike@brockleybikes.com

Plural Rides - local group cycles this summer

Lewisham Council says:

The Sky Ride Local this Sunday, 2 June (from 2pm-5pm), and get on your bike. Leaving from outside Matalan in Lewisham, the ride, classed as a ‘steady level’ will take you to Surrey Quays using  a mix of quiet back roads and where possible, off-road cycling.

There will be a different ride every two weeks on a Sunday from June until October and all are free. Led by friendly British Cycling Ride leaders along pre-planned routes, the rides are classed as ‘easy’, ‘steady’ and ‘challenging’.

The ‘easy’ rides are ideal for those who are new to cycling or families who prefer to ride off-road. The routes may be along the Waterlink Way for example or through different parks and open areas. The ‘steady’ rides are longer and combine quieter routes with off-road where possible. The ‘challenging’ rides are as you would expect longer and more strenuous, usually encountering a hill or two and moving at a quicker pace.

For more details of this week’s ride, other rides throughout the summer and all cycle schemes in the borough,  go to www.lewisham.gov.uk/cycling

Hoop dreams for Brockley bikes

Coming soon to Lewisham's streets

Cyclehoop is a design firm that specialises in creating cycling infrastructure for cities and they are looking for locations in Brockley to install secure bike parking for people who can't squeeze a bike down their hallway. They explain:

Lewisham is the latest London Borough to adopt the bike locker scheme; a service providing secure residential bike parking for a small annual fee. 

Working with the London Borough of Lewisham we are currently in the stage of selecting the locations to install the bike lockers. It is in our interest to place the lockers in the locations of the greatest demand so if you are interested in having a bike locker near you, please complete the form.

So, bearing in mind you need a decent chunk of pavement to fit these things on or to lose a parking spot on a street, what bits of Brockley could benefit? Outside the sorting office or on the vast pavement flats of Brockley Cross would seem obvious candidates - Crofton Park, opposite the Brockley Jack too.

With thanks to Sean.

Do the Brockley Squeeze

The Guardian is collecting examples of lamentable London cycle provision. Today's entry is called the Brockley Squeeze and stars a pathetic scrap of cycle lane on Mantle Road:

Less than zero use

Never mind the building works creating a bottle-neck, these sorts of lanes are worse than useless. No cyclist would bother with it and no pedestrian would be careful when straying across it. It's just an excuse to put a line on a map at TfL.

Bike loan scheme to boost Lewisham cycling

Lewisham has launched a cycle loan scheme to make it easier for locals to take up cycling. They say: 

Anyone who lives, works or studies in Lewisham can borrow a bike for one month for £10 and use it for any/all your journeys. You are also given a helmet, high-viz vest and lock and at the end of the month, you can either buy the bike at a reduced cost or return it.

Full details here.

New London Cycling Vision Unveiled

The Mayor of London announced his new Vision for Cycling in London today. His office says:

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will create a “Crossrail for the bike” as part of his plans for a nearly £1 billion investment in London cycling. 

The route will run for more than 15 miles, very substantially segregated, from the western suburbs, through the heart of London, to Canary Wharf and Barking. It will use new Dutch-style segregated cycle tracks along, among other places, the Victoria Embankment and the Westway flyover. 

It is believed to be the longest substantially-segregated cycle route of any city in Europe. The Mayor said: “The Westway, the ultimate symbol of how the urban motorway tore up our cities, will become the ultimate symbol of how we are claiming central London for the bike.” 

The Mayor today announced that the main cross-London physical legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games will be a proper network of cycle routes across the city. As in the public transport system, London’s "bike Crossrail" will lie at the heart of a new bike "Tube network." 

Other elements in the “Mayor’s Vision for Cycling” include:

- more Dutch-style fully-segregated lanes
- more “semi-segregation” on other streets, with bikes better separated from other vehicles
- a new network of “Quietways” – direct, continuous, fully-signposted routes on peaceful side streets, running far into the suburbs, and aimed at people put off by cycling in traffic
- substantial improvements to both existing and proposed Superhighways, including some reroutings
- a new “Central London Grid” of bike routes in the City and West End, using segregation, quiet streets, and two-way cycling on one-way traffic streets, to join all the other routes together.

These measures would constitute meaningful change for London's cyclists (and prospective cyclists) and have won praise from some commentators.

The "Crossrail for the bike" scheme is basically what everyone expected in the first place, when the Mayor started talking about "superhighways". Properly segregated for much of the route, it should offer a genuinely new cycling experience in London. Like the real Crossrail, it doesn't do a great deal for South London, but it's great to see real investment being made in cycling infrastructure.

The segregated track on Victoria Embankment sounds like a sneaky way to resurrect the pedestrianisation plan that Boris killed when he came in to power.  Maybe it was his way of doing a U-turn without anyone noticing or maybe TfL knew he'd forget he used to be against the idea. Either way, it's great to see it return in this guise.

The plan also notes that:

We will take a case-by-case approach to the use of 20mph limits on the TLRN and we will reduce
the speed limit to 20mph at several locations on the TLRN where cycle improvements are
planned. For example, in Camberwell and New Cross Gate on our proposed Cycle Superhighway
5, and around Waterloo.